#sorry for the delay. brain empty

[greenflowerceo]

pros of a rooftop date: cute and sappy moment with boyfriend

con: slipper at risk of falling off

[rafey-baby]

how did older!rafe and sensitive!reader meet?

c/w: fluff, their meet cute & first time, age gap (not specified), smut: p-in-v, use of dad, 18+ mdni!

wc: 1.5k 

posted this for @hittmeandtellmeyouremine and her only <3 (couldn’t help but edit this anyway cause it was all over the place tbh)

more of them on my masterlist btw!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

The Island Club is buzzing. 

Usually, she’s not too fond of spending her Friday night surrounded by preppy, intoxicated Kooks (a name she’s not too proud to carry herself) but it’s her friend’s birthday and she couldn’t exactly say no when everyone in the group chat kept gushing over how fun it was going to be.  

Nonetheless, she finds herself giggling whilst some drunken guy at the bar begins chatting about this little Dalmatian puppy he recently adopted with his boyfriend. He’s even going as far as showing them pictures of the all too adorable black and white furball on his phone screen, when her lovely bladder decides to remind her of the alcohol she’s consumed before she’s excusing herself to the restroom—weaving through sweaty bodies with mumbled apologies and wobbly legs.  

Then, completely out of the blue, icy liquid is soaking through her top and halting her movements. 

“Shit, sorry,” the guy who stumbled into her drawls out and she blinks up—meeting broad shoulders and shard features that belong to an older man easily twice her age and entirely too handsome to be considered fair.  

“Oh, it’s okay,” she squeaks out, delayed, star-struck, attempting to continue on with her journey before she embarrasses herself even further. However, she doesn’t get the chance to do anything before a warm palm on her upper arm tugs her back.  

“Nah, s’fully my fault, let me—uh, do they have any...” he looks around, searching for something before his expression brightens. “Right, yeah, the bathroom,” he slurs, seemingly proud of himself, and she figures he must’ve had one too many glasses of the whiskey currently seeping through the lacy material of her bra.  

She opens her mouth to tell him it’s fine but he’s already dragging her towards the back with a hold on her wrist before he’s setting her on top of the dirty bathroom counter where a few girls are fixing each other’s makeup. Upon his arrival, one of them rolls her eyes—the door slamming shut behind them soon after. But he doesn’t even seem to notice, already patting at her chest with some paper towels, as if it’s the most casual thing in the world.  

“Um, thanks,” she mumbles, already teetering on the edge of tipsy and absolutely wasted herself, which is why she doesn’t question his strange behavior too much; merely sits there and lets him concentrate on the soggy spot on her shirt.  

“Look, you can’t even see it, s’a good thing you wearin’ black, huh?” he grins before throwing the damp pieces of paper into the trash while she grabs some more tissues to dab underneath the fabric, the skin of her chest sticky and gross.  

“We haven’t, uh, we haven’t met before, right? M’Rafe,” his voice is smooth syrup when he suddenly holds out his palm for her to take. And for a moment, she merely stares at it with rounded eyes before realizing how dumb she must seem.  

“Hi, sorry, no, we haven’t,” she quickly answers before taking his much bigger hand into her own, holding onto it for far too long to be considered appropriate as she stumbles over her own name—something amused blooming on his face in response.  

“S’nice to meet you,” he smiles, gaze holding her hostage while she struggles to look away.  

“Thank you,” her cheeks heat up when her apparently empty brain has the chance to process her mistake. “I mean...you too?” a flustered giggle bubbles out of her throat, wishing she could evaporate into thin air right about now.  

However, he doesn’t seem to mind her making a complete fool out of herself because he merely chuckles, seemingly entertained as his eyes flit over her features in curiosity.  

“You, uh, you want another drink?” he asks. “...as an apology for ruinin’ your top ‘n shit,” he adds when she seems hesitant.  

“Oh, um…yeah, that’d be—uh, great. But m’actually here for my friend’s birthday so...I can’t,” she manages out, confused when something akin to disappointment in cerulean blue greets her. 

“Shame.”  

- - - - - - - - -  

For the following weeks, Rafe sticks to the forefront of her mind like honey until one night, she bumps into someone after leaving the restaurant her date never showed up to—far too occupied deciding that she’d never listen to her friend again to realize who it is. Because why would she make her believe that some stupid guy they met at the library of all places, would be perfect for her? 

“Y/N? What’re you doin’ here all by yourself?” Rafe’s familiar rumble makes her annoyed thoughts vanish, causing her to look up in surprise. 

“Oh, hi...this is, um, kinda embarrassing,” she mumbles while his gaze flits over her dress and the heels that were already making her feet hurt. And she has no choice but to explain what had happened, for some reason growing teary-eyed in the process because he listens so patiently, a concerned crease between his brows making her feel like he actually cares. 

“Listen, that guy was a fuckin’ idiot if he stood you up, alright?” he scoffs, sounding exasperated and making her smile despite the few droplets already soaking her cheeks. And he seems so understanding, so considerate when he wipes away her tears and gives her a warm hug before offering to take her out for dinner instead. 

“I mean, it’d be a waste of such a pretty dress, yeah?” he makes it sound like the most logical thing and she can’t help but agree, thinking he’s merely being polite because she’s just humiliated herself in front of someone she barely knows.  

And she thinks he’s just wonderful when he takes her to the most expensive restaurant on the island—cracking stupid jokes that make her giggle while she wonders why she hadn’t met this dream of a man sooner.  

However, when their bellies are warm and satiated, she begins to feel entirely too guilty about him spending so much money on her, already insisting on splitting the bill. But when she’s going through her purse for her wallet, he merely lets out a humored chuckle, muttering out how she’s apparently so cute for even thinking he’d let her do that.  

And somehow, one thing leads to another, and the night ends with her splayed out on his bed—a whimpering mess of tears and smudged makeup while his big hands roam all over her skin.  

“You let me between these thighs so fuckin’ easy, huh? I mean m’old enough to be your dad, you know that, right?” he mocks while he stuffs her full. 

“Don’t say that,” she whines, embarrassed because she can’t help but squeeze around him when the word leaves his mouth.  

“Why? Cause that shit turns you on?” he chuckles, tone teetering on the edge of patronizing and genuinely curious while his stubble tickles the skin of her neck he’s smearing sloppy kisses all over.  

“…no,” she tries to hide her face behind her hands when he looks up.  

“No? Why you squeezin’ me like that then, hm?” he raises his brows, grabbing her jaw to force her to lock eyes with him when he suddenly pushes in deeper. 

And she’s so taken aback that he somehow managed to dig out this part of her, something she keeps locked away in the basement of her mind because not everyone gets it—not everyone’s able to pick up on the telltale signs of her addled little brain craving for something more than just a conventional boyfriend. 

She’s can’t answer the man above her though, not when he’s emptied her cerebrum in the span of a few moments and she feels so overwhelmed all of a sudden, unable to form anything audible when he’s molding her insides to his liking and looking at her like that.  

“S’okay baby, don’t need to be embarrassed, dad will take such good care of you, alright?” he coos, a grin tugging at his mouth when she gushes around him in response.  

The only thing she can focus on are his heady breaths brushing over her face while he paws at her hips—rutting into her over and over and over again until she’s soaking his cock and her cheeks are decorated in mascara stains and teardrops.  

“There you go, jus’ let it all out, yeah? Let me take care of you,” he croons, talking her through it before his thrusts grow lazy and he’s glazing her gummy walls in white; filling her up to the brim with the sticky mess until it begins to dribble down from where they’re still connected.  

And after he’s cleaned her up and given her his shirt to sleep in, he holds her close to his chest, strong and comforting arms wrapped around her middle making her feel safe, protected. It makes her eyes well up with soggy droplets all over again because everything wrong suddenly feels so right. As if a piece she’s been missing all her life has finally been placed in the shallow hole that she’s always carried around without even realizing—in the shape of a father.  

Suddenly, her always so heavy thoughts don’t weigh her down all that much anymore—not when her mind is blossoming in an entirely novel way with all things Rafe.  

And as his sleepy breaths and steady heartbeat pacify her more than anything ever has, she thinks she wants to feel like this forevermore. 

[inloveinsickness]

❝ 11:23PM ❞ — kageyama tobio

cw. gn!reader, soft bf kags, established relationship | wc: 446

rubbing your bleary eyes, you squint at the clock. shit, must’ve fallen asleep.

you pat the sheets on the other side of the bed only to find it empty. no sign of tobio.

throwing off the blanket and pushing yourself up, you shuffle into the living room to find your boyfriend hunched over on the couch. tablet propped up on the coffee table was playing the team’s performance during yesterday’s practice match.

you stood by the doorway watching him — he's focused but the bags under his eyes betray his facade.

practice has been running late with the new season coming up and tobio's gradually been coming home later in favour of more training. dinner as of the past week has been had alone, his portion packed in the fridge with containers labeled "for u ♡"

"tobi?" you quietly call out as you moved closer, trying not to startle him. glancing in your direction, his brows furrow but you know he means no malice, taking your cold hands in his, "hi baby, why aren't you in bed?"

sinking down on the couch, you rest your head on his shoulder as he wraps an arm around you and pulling you close. he presses a kiss to the top of your head and you melt into his embrace, mumbling, "i just woke up and you weren't there."

there's truth in your words and tobio knows this: sleep always comes more naturally when you're together — two lovers spooning, his chest flush against your back and legs tangled under the covers. he always has to be touching you in some way or another even in slumber, and it has now become something you can't live without.

he frowns apologetically with softened eyes, "i'm sorry, i'll turn in soon okay? just let me finish watching this part."

humming in agreement, you bring your intertwined hands up to your lips and leave soft pecks on the back of his.

nights like this aren't a first and definitely won't be the last, but you're happy just being in his presence. you just wish he takes better care of himself.

you very quickly start to drift off in his faithful hold, eyes fluttering shut as the warmth from his body envelopes you like a weighted blanket. you can't see tobio's expression but he's gazing down at you with such gentleness and awe in his eyes, like you're the best thing since sliced bread. better than his favourite yogurt drink.

he can't help but want to kiss you but is afraid of rousing you from your well deserved sleep and delayed slumber, totally his fault, instead settling with mumbling a soft "i love you."

notes. thank you for reading ★ it’s been a long while since i’ve written anything, i hope you enjoy this little piece of brain rot ( っ˶´ ˘ `)っ♡ (dividers: @/cafekitsune) reblogs & interactions are always appreciated !

© yogurtkags. please do not repost, plagiarise, or translate my work.

[dayasusays]

could you write a degradation dirty talk type bruce!! i imagine him to have the BEST dirty talk

oh, anon, he has the best dirty talk.

bruce is experienced, mature and i can tell he knows how to treat a woman.

warnings ! — SMUT, headcanons, fem!reader, husband!bruce wayne, dirty talk, cunnilingus, maledom, praise, compliments

summary ? — bruce has the best dirty talk.

౿ . . ` ౨ৎ ENJOY 🦇

husband!bruce wayne, who knows what his words do to you and uses them skillfully.

husband!bruce wayne, who only needs to open his mouth and talk to make you wet.

husband!bruce wayne, who massages your clit through the fabric of your underwear and whispers “so wet for me, yes? yes, princess, just for me?”

husband!bruce wayne, who will occasionally take a break from your clit just to talk; sure, he doesn't look like the kind of man who would be distracted by conversation in the middle of his favorite business, but my god, your face when you moan disappointedly is worth it, “are you okay, love? should i stop?” and he says it all with a satisfied soft smile, as if he doesn't realize at all what a mess you're becoming after him.

husband!bruce wayne, who's just admiring you and the way you're watching his movements. “that's it, love. my wife is so delicious,” he straddles your thighs and spreads them a little wider, not forgetting to look you straight in the eyes, “i could stay between those thighs all day. you're so beautiful from this angle,” he's so good with his words that you want to cum right now.

husband!bruce wayne, who knows where to push and where to kiss; with each movement of his tongue, your legs tense up more and more, and your hands reach for his hair, pulling him closer, closer, closer...

“so impatient,” bruce continues to murmur, “let me enjoy, princess, don't be so unfair,” he leaves a kiss on your clit, making you clench around his fingers. you lean back and try to relax, but it's almost impossible when the rough pads of his fingers press against the tender walls, “good girl,” he whispers and still continues to suck on your clit, “look at you. so beautiful when you cum.”

husband!bruce wayne, who fucks you so deep and slow that with each thrust you seem to see stars. “you were enthusiastic when we started,” bruce pulls back your hair a little, leaning over and whispering right into your lips, “look at you. cumming on my cock for the second time,” he speeds up a little as his fingers find your clit; it takes you a couple seconds to cum again, “good girl, so good.”

husband!bruce wayne, who continues to whisper short “my beautiful girl”, “that big cock makes you cum again, doesn't it, love?” and “you're so fucking tight”.

husband!bruce wayne, who wants another orgasm from you. he wants to empty you; to fuck your brain, to make you forget everything that might be in your pretty head. he pushes deep into you, unbearably slow and sensual, so that you want to scream out how good it feels, ”are you okay, my love?” bruce strokes your hair, twisting a strand on his finger as you mutter positively in response, “great, because i’m not going to stop until i fill you with my cum.” ୨♡୧

sorry for delay ! still having a little rest :)

like, comment & reblog? <3

🦇 abt me | m.list

[parkerluvsu]

day 18: punishment <3

authors note: this is totally late im so sorry.. also i am skipping day 19, partially because im extremely tired and also because i don't know how to incorporate food into sex <3

art knew what he was doing was wrong, he just didn't care. he was past the point of caring.

you've been away for weeks (2 to be exact) and art hasn't jerked off at all since you've left. sure.. he's brushed up against his pillow while he's going to sleep one too many times, and sure hes "accidentally" stroked himself a little too much in the shower.. but he's been good!! he's been your good boy and followed your orders. until now.

you texted art that your flight was running late, grounded for about 2 hours because of the winter storm currently running its course outside the airport.

"sorry artie, flight is delayed cuz of weather, don't wait up for me baby, might not even be home tonight"

"okay :( i miss you soooo much, text me when u land pls"

"alright angel, will do :) love u <3"

"love u too <3"

art sighs and flops on the unbearably empty bed, flinging his phone a little farther than he meant to and wincing. he looks down at his cock slowly filling out in his jeans and groans. what is he supposed to do without you here? as thoughts of you start to cloud his mind, art can't stop thinking that if he just jerked off really quick and got rid of all the evidence, you wouldn't know it, and you'd come back none the wiser and he wouldn't get punished. great plan right? wrong.

after furiously jerking off until he cums himself silly, art finds himself totally unable to clean up after himself, cum stating to dry on his blanket and stomach, as well as tissues strewn about the bed. art sighs and tries to fight the sleepiness that clouds his mind and makes his eyelids droop more and more. he thinks to himself that he'll clean himself up before you get back, and drifts off to sleep with a smile on his face.

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

you arrive at your apartment door hauling your heavy suitcase and back pack behind you, trying your best not to jingle your keys too much and wake up art. you carefully unlock the door and push your bags inside, slipping off your shoes and walking into the house tiredly, wanting nothing more to sleep for 20 hours. you're stopped however, when you round the corner and see art splayed out on your bed, absolutely naked, cuddling your pillow with a cum stained blanket bedside him. you sigh, leaning down to pick up the scattered tissues and throw them away. when you're done with that, you gently sit next to art, trying to pull away the dirty blanket from him and replace it with a new one.

art senses the movement and awakens, first being elated to see your face, and then shocked at the fact that he was caught red-handed. "h-hi.." art looks away from you and blushes. "hey artie.. you gonna tell me what happened?" you coo at him softly, tricking his brain into thinking he won't get punished. "w-well i jus' missed you so much and then when you said you weren't gonna be home for a while i just couldn't handle it anymore.. b-but i swear i didn't do anything while you were away!! except for that.." art rambles, trying to plead his case in front of you. you smile and nod, reaching out to cup his face. art sighs, he's safe. "... but you remember what the rule was, right?"

arts eyes snap open from their blissful state. "w-what?" art is starting to lose his composure, guilt washing through him. "the rule? remember.. before i left i told you that you weren't allowed to masturbate at all while i was gone. and you broke the rule artie.." you say with a pout on your face. "l-listen 'm sorry, 'm really sorry.. you understand right? i- just couldn't take it anymore.." you shake your head, "you know that i have to punish you right? it's what i told you would happen if you broke the rules.." art nods sadly, trying to charm you with his puppy-dog eyes but you're stronger than that, not falling for his tricks.

art tries his best to hide his obvious arousal from you, but you see how hard he is through the blanket he's covering himself with. you inch closer to him, gently pulling the blanket off of him, watching as his cock slaps against his stomach. art whines and looks away from you, moaning softly when you grip him in your hand. even though he's already practically empty from cumming earlier. you stroke him up and down gently, smiling happily when he bucks his hips up to meet your touch, feeling like he's halfway to heaven after not feeling your touch on him the whole time you've been away.

arts head is in the clouds, watching as you stroke him faster and faster, your hand getting slick from all of the precum drooling out of him. you know he's getting close, his hips move faster, almost fucking your hand, as his moans turn almost girlish. "'m gettin' close.. it feels s' good.. thankyouthankyouthankyou..." art doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence before you rip your hand off of him, leaving art to pathetically hump the air to try to finish himself off, but it's no use, his orgasm is completely ruined. art has tears brimming in his eyes, "w-why did you do that.. i- i was s' close.." his lower lip wobbles. you tilt your head to the side, hand smoothing over his milky thigh. "what do you mean artie? i told you that you'd be punished, did you forget so easy?" art frowns, shaking his head. "i- i didn't forget i just.. it's unfair" he pouts. you smile and bring art closer to you, cuddling him against your sternum.

"i know.. and im sorry.. you know i hate when you're sad, but you have to learn your lesson yeah?" you press a kiss to his forehead. art nods, cuddling up to you. "yeah.. 'm sorry really, it's just cuz i missed you so much" art says quietly, blushing a little bit. "i missed you too artie, don't worry, ill make it up to you soon" <3

[vinylmango]

Flower Delivery (pt.2)

crazy ex!Nicholas Alexander Chavez x black!reader

Warnings: obsessive behaviors, breaking and entering, gaslighting,

Word count: 1.3k

Note: Sorry about the delay, work has been kinda crazy recently. Anyways, some people were asking for a part two so here it is! Hope you like it!

part one

part three

masterlist

“Alright, that’s a wrap for today everyone!” The director shouted as you and your co-stars left the sound stage and headed for your respective trailers. You shut the trailer door behind you, exhaling when you heard the click of the lock. 

Spinning around, a smile grew on your face when there wasn’t anyone or anything waiting for you this time. No more flowers, just the vaseful that remained on the side table, the tiny folded envelope left next to it, your name scrawled in Nicholas’ messy handwriting. 

Huffing you grabbed the vase and card, throwing the card in the trash and walking over to the small stainless steel sink to dump the water from the vase. You hesitated, they were such pretty flowers, your favorite in fact. You shook the thoughts from your head as you dumped the water, watching it disappear down the tiny drain. You threw the flowers in the trash, pushing down on the trash can lid as it didn’t fully close due to the length of the flower stems. The lid finally shut with a little extra force as you set the now empty vase on the table. 

A content sigh left your lips as you relaxed into the plush of the sofa, taking a moment before you decided to return to your apartment. Your phone ringing disrupted the quiet you had been reveling in, a stark contrast from the loud and active set that you had been on today. “Hello?”

“Hi Honey! How was filming today?” It was your mother, checking in on you for the day. Since you had moved away to Los Angeles from your hometown, hundreds of miles away, your mom or dad had called you every day, missing having you close.

“It was good. We wrapped for the day about 20 minutes ago. I’m about to head back to my place in a few minutes.” You explained, glancing at the time for a moment. 

“How’s Nick? He’s a good guy for you, (Y/n/n).” Your mom asked, catching you off guard. You blinked a couple of times, making sure you had heard her correctly.

“Nick? When did Nick call you?” You asked, grabbing your bag and stepping out of the trailer as your eyebrows furrowed. 

“Oh I just spoke to him earlier today. He called to wish your father a happy birthday.” She explained. “Speaking of, did you call your father yet?”

“Uh, no. Not yet. It’s been a hectic day.” Your brain was still stuck on him calling your family. “Uh, Mom, I’ve gotta go. Something just came up. I’ll call you tomorrow.” You said quickly, not waiting for her to respond before you hung up. You got out of your parked car, locking it before you walked up the driveway, going through your settings at the same time, trying to find the blocked contacts list to make sure he was still on it. Sliding your phone back into your pocket as you went up the front stairs and stood at your door. You placed the key in the lock, opening the door and looking around outside before closing it and locking it behind you, placing the latch lock on as well. “What the hell is wrong with him?” You mumbled under your breath thinking about how Nicholas called your parents again. 

Turning the lights on as the sun now hung low in the sky, your cozy living room was bathed in a soft yellow glow. You hummed to yourself as you placed your bag on one of the chairs at the kitchen table, grabbing the watering can and walking over to the kitchen sink to fill it so you could water all the plants that were scattered around the living room and perched on the windowsills. “How’d filming go?” You dropped the watering can onto the large area rug, your eyes wide and mouth agape. 

“What the hell!” You screamed, your vision blurry with unshed tears. You weren’t even sure why you felt the urge to cry, chalking it up to a fear response as you blinked the tears away and picked up the watering can that was now empty since its contents were soaking into the rug as you stood there. You threw the watering can at your ex boyfriend, rolling your eyes when he caught it, though the most that it would’ve done was bounce off of him. 

“A bit dramatic, huh?” Nicholas chuckled as he set the empty watering can on your coffee table. “I like what you’ve done with the place.” He gestures around to the plants and slightly different layout from when he had last been there over a year before. 

“Dramatic?” You questioned. “Dramatic.” A humorless laugh escaped you as you narrowed your eyes at him. “How did you get in here? This is breaking and entering.” 

He dangled the key off of his finger. “Oh I just told Mr. Daniels that I lost my key at the airport and he gave me a spare.”

You gritted your teeth. This was the second time you had talked to your landlord, Mr. Daniels, about either changing the locks or something related to keys. “Get out.” You told him, pointing towards the door.

“Come on (Y/n/n), just hear me out.” His dark brown eyes bored into yours, and you weren’t sure why they were so disarming, why you were even considering listening to him right now. 

“I’m calling the cops, Nick.” You told him as you shook your head. “You can’t keep doing stuff like this. Just leave me alone! We’re done! We’ve been done for a year! Let me be.” 

“It was a mistake to let you go, (Y/n).” He shook his head this time, the cocky look on his face replaced by something genuine and sad. 

“You made your choice. We both did.” You interjected. “We aren’t little kids anymore, we’re adults. Start acting like one and accept that.”

“You know the cops won’t do anything.”

“Maybe, but I’m going to get a restraining order if you don’t stop. You need to stop and...and don’t call my parents! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You never told them that we broke up, did you?” You watched as a smirk began to pull at his lips.

“What?" Your voice faltered. "Don’t flatter yourself.” You scoffed at the tone of his voice. “I have told them…and if you don’t leave now, I’ll tell them everything else and we’ll see what they do.”

Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t be here if you hadn't blocked me.” 

“Ok, well...Goodbye.” You said, pushing him towards the door. You gave him one final push, though you were pretty sure he definitely could’ve put up more of a fight if he had wanted to. 

“I’m sure I’ll see you around, huh?”

“Goodbye Nicholas.” You repeated, not answering his question as you closed the door in his face, locking the latch back once more. Sure, you hadn’t answered his question, but you both knew the answer anyway. 

It was unavoidable, Hollywood was way too small to avoid him forever whether that meant seeing him at awards shows, working together on the same project, or just seeing him around, you knew he would never actually leave, and for now he seemed content with that knowledge and you were content with the conclusion of the night.

The living room returned to silence as you sat down on the sofa. You pushed your hair from out of your face, twisting a piece around your finger before letting it go. 

For now, things were manageable. Maybe you would regret it later, but you had convinced yourself, however naive your thought process, that you would deal with him later. He wasn’t a real threat, he was just annoying.

Future you could handle it.

Let me know if you want to be on a permanent tag list.

[holyblonded]

does azulita ever tell olga and alexia about her life back in la with like gangs and street fights and stuff like that and if so what would their reaction be like and i feel like azulita would just say it so casually

— she’s like a parent that randomly drops their lore 😭

— but azulita is a hot headed person. she had made her fair share of enemies

— azulita doesn’t sit them down to tell them about her past. there’s no dramatic reveal or emotional monologue. she just drops things mid-conversation like they’re facts about the weather. like “oh yeah, that scar? some girl tried to stab me once behind the 7-eleven” while peeling an orange.

— olga’s reaction the first time is slow. like her brain refuses to process what was just said. she blinks, tilts her head a little, and goes “i’m sorry, she tried to what?” and azulita just shrugs. “i was winning the fight. she didn’t like that.”

— alexia chokes on her coffee when azulita casually mentions being jumped after practice in LA once, completely unbothered. “they got the first hit in. i got the last.” she says it like she’s describing a weather delay, not a literal brawl.

— it takes a while for them to realize this isn’t her being dramatic or trying to act tough. it’s just her reality. it was her life. street violence, empty fridges, her mom passed out on the couch (when she was there), the constant hum of sirens. it was normal. or at least, it became normal to her.

— sometimes she’ll mention old friends and alexia will smile, until azulita adds something like “he’s in juvie now” or “she ran with a crew, real loyal though.” and olga just stares like her entire sense of reality is warping.

— she talks about fighting the same way other kids talk about group projects. like “i never picked fights. but i always finished them. sometimes people needed to be reminded not to talk sideways.” and alexia’s like reminded? girl.

— the only time it really hits olga is when azulita says, offhandedly, “i used to sleep in my shoes some days. just in case something happened and i had to run.”

— that’s when olga goes quiet. like truly quiet. she walks into her room, sits on her bed, and doesn’t move for a solid hour. later that night, she buys azulita five pairs of brand-new sneakers and leaves them by her door.

— alexia handles it by doing research. she starts reading about LA neighborhoods and school systems and violence in the area. she doesn’t say anything about it, just starts watching azulita more. noticing how often she scans a room. how she won’t sit with her back to a window. how she flinches when someone closes a cabinet too loud.

— the thing is, azulita never tells these stories to be pitied. she tells them because she doesn’t think they’re unusual. because in her world, that was growing up. and part of her still hasn’t fully accepted that it’s over.

— but alexia and olga, once the shock wears off, don’t pity her. they hold it all gently. they never make her feel like she’s damaged or scary or too much. they just start making sure she knows she’s safe now.

— even when azulita rolls her eyes and says “i can take care of myself,” they still lock the doors an extra time at night. they still make sure she always knows where her room is. they still keep the lights on in the hallway.

— because even if she never asks for it, they know she deserves a life that doesn’t feel like survival.

[sectumsempraaa]

And Now I Do

Pairing: Draco x fem!Hufflepuff!reader

TW: none really, pure fluff

Synopsis: You and Draco have been dating for a few weeks now. When you get a PT job in Hogsmeade, he disapproves of how much time it takes away from being together.

Word count: 2k (almost)

Hello everyone 🤍 This is my first fic ever! I've been reading all your lovely stories, fingers crossed I am half as talented as you all. Sorry if it's long? I'm a thorough gal. Enjoy :)

“Ugh, do you have to?” Draco groans into your neck as he sucks on your skin lightly, giving a gentle tug. You giggle, playfully pushing him away with a hand on his chest.

“Yes, Draco, I have to go to work.” you respond, as he gives you the biggest puppy-love eyes. You shift away from him because you know the longer you look at him, the deeper you’ll be under his spell. You two had just started dating a couple weeks ago and, to your friends’ dismay, very much want to spend every waking moment together. But you had also recently gotten a job in Hogsmeade at a coffee shop to make some money for yourself, since your parents’ vault at Gringotts was not the most… plentiful.

“Why did you get a job anyways? I could think of a thousand other, better, things we could be doing…” his voice trails off as he climbs across the bed and grabs your hand, kissing your knuckles, using his other hand to tug you by your shirt closer to him.You hum and shake your head, pulling away and stepping into your shoes next to the door.

“Because if we want to spend the holidays together, I have to be able to afford it.” He gives you a sympathetic look and sighs, dramatically falling backwards onto your bed. A pang of longing hits your chest and has you turning around. “And…” you saunter back to the edge of the bed, climbing up to straddle him. You feel his hands touch your thighs, crawling their way up your skirt. Leaning down, you take his face in your hands, your noses grazing. “All the gifts I want to get you.”

He smirks and sits up, engulfing your lips with his. The kiss becomes deeper with each stolen breath, you feel his hands grab your ass as your arms wrap around his neck. He smiles devilishly and whispers into your mouth, “I still think it’s rubbish.”

—

It’s been a few weeks now, the holidays drawing nearer. Late November at Hogwarts was always your favorite, and now it’s even better with Draco constantly cuddling you and taking any opportunity to wrap you in his Slytherin robes.

You’re in the library working on yet another essay for Charms class when you feel a familiar presence looming over you. You glance up to find Draco with both his hands leaning on the table in front of you, his smile fading quickly when he notices the bags under your eyes.

“Love, you need a break. Please take a break.” He begs as he slides your parchment towards him, forcing you to stop. “You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

Your vision feels delayed, eyes moving around the room, with no sense of time. It could be midnight or five in the morning. You don’t know how long you’ve been here, working endlessly to catch up on school after your shift. You work nearly every day now until 8pm, usually starting assignments and working on them late into the night. It hasn’t become uncommon for you to fall asleep in the library or in an empty classroom.

“I’m fine, really, I just…” your voice fades to a whisper as your eyes start to close. Draco taps a finger under your chin, lifting your gaze to his.

“Sweetheart, someone who forgets to take off their work uniform before diving into hours of homework isn’t fine.” You look down and notice you’re still wearing your apron from the coffee shop, covered in tea and food stains. Sighing, you lift your hands to your face, despite being too tired to be embarrassed.

“That’s it. I can’t stand to see you like this anymore. You’re not going to work tomorrow.” You hear him speak but it sounds so far away through the brain fog in your head.

“Can’t call out…” is all you could get out before your vocal cords give up.

You feel Draco walk behind you and start to untie your apron, resting it on his shoulder as he helps you out of your seat. “Arms, love.” He says as you wrap them around his neck, submitting to his instruction. He picks you up with one arm under your knees, the other supporting your back. The last thing you remember is snuggling your face against his shoulder and breathing in the lingering scent of his cologne before you drifted off.

—

You wake up the next morning, but not in your room. You recognize the dark green wallpaper instantly as you raise your head off the pillow. You grab Draco’s watch off his nightstand and nearly fall out of bed when you see the time.

“Oh my god, shit, shit, shit,” you curse under your breath, looking around the room frantically to find you’re alone. You grab your apron off the back of his armchair and bolt for the door, trying not to think about how late you are for your Saturday opening shift. You make it to the common room and slam into someone while rounding the corner, yelling in the midst of your rush.

“FUCK, Theo!” you shout as his eyes widen and a boyish laugh comes out of his mouth as he steadies you with his arms on your shoulders.

“Didn’t know the angelic Hufflepuff could curse,” he says while looking down at you. Your face turning red, you blow past him to the common room door. He starts calling after you again but you have no time to listen.

“No need to run, cara mia…” 

—

Entirely out of breath, you sprint your way off school grounds and all the way to Hogsmeade, trying to ignore the mess of hair sitting on top of your head and the racing heart beating in your chest. Right as you approach the door to the shop, you stop suddenly in your path when it opens in front of you, revealing a Draco that looks a little too pleased with himself.

“What… what are you…” you attempt to speak, choking on the dry air as it tries to fill your aching lungs. “Why didn’t you… wake me up?...” you manage to ask with a hand on your chest and the other on your knee.

Draco takes you in his arms, waiting a minute before giving you an explanation. “First, you need to come back down to Earth. Then I’ll explain. Gods, you look-”

“Careful.” You manage to interrupt him before he finishes the thought, throwing an angered glare up at him.

“Rested. Beautiful, and rested.” he says to you gently, enough to make you melt as he tucks a hair behind your ear while you catch your breath. He cups a hand on your cheek and you notice the smirk that hasn’t left his face since he walked out of the shop.

“Something’s up. What did you do?” you ask urgently, looking quickly between him and the shop.

“Why does everyone always assume I’m up to no good?” he jokes, earning him another angry glare from you.

“Maybe you are!” your eyes go a little wide as the volume of your voice surprises you. He takes a step closer to you, eyes narrowing, taking your face in his hands to make you look at him.

“Maybe I can’t stand to see you crumbling before me every night, maybe I’m tired of saying hello to my girlfriend in passing. Maybe I’m selfish and want you all to myself,” his words slow to a halt before giving you a knowing look. “And now I do.”

He lets go of your face, letting you step back with a face full of confusion. Eyebrows furrowed, you grow silent as you notice the shop owner behind the counter through the windows doing the side work you normally do each morning. Draco interrupts your puzzled thoughts by holding up a piece of paper to your face.

“I gave your two weeks.”

“You… what?” Your brain nearly shuts down. This isn’t real.

“Here.” He hands you an envelope, which you hesitate to take. Opening it slowly, your gut tells you that you already know what this is.

“I took your earnings to Gringotts this morning. The cash in your book bag. You can’t be carrying that kind of money around. We opened an account for you.”

“...we?”

“My father might have helped. Not many people can manipulate the bank, love.” You know he’s making playful banter but you’re still working hard to put the pieces together. You stare down at the check, watching a tear fall down to it, marking the paper. You didn’t have to ask about the extra couple of zeros that magically appeared next to what you actually earned.

“Don’t argue with me. You’ll lose. Let me, let us, take care of you. We can and we want to.” he says gently.

You look up from the check and receipts to the boy standing before you. A stern look on his face tells you enough. He’s right. You’re overworked, underpaid, and on the brink of failing classes. And maybe worst of all, you rarely get to spend time together. This isn’t benefiting anyone anymore. You just feel guilty that it took another person to fix it before you.

“Darling, as much as I’m a fan of the dramatics, I am starting to worry your silence is an indication of my quick and impending death.” he jokes, rubbing his chin with his hands.

“Okay.” you whisper.

He grabs a curl laying on your shoulder and twists it around his fingers. “Yeah?”

You smile up at him, quickly stepping onto your tippy toes to kiss him. His arms wrap around your waist, his fingers digging into your sides. Your kiss claims him, the only way you know how to thank him right now. This is your man, your man who provides. When you pull away, he rests his forehead on yours, relieved at your surrender.

“Yeah.” You let out a small laugh as the blush takes over your cheeks. A feeling of pride grows in you as you realize how much you’ve earned this. He took a huge risk in doing this at all, knowing how upset it could have made you.

“Good, because you really had me thinking I was a dead man there for a minute.”

“Mmm, maybe not dead but… a stupefy might have crossed my mind.” He laughs and pulls you in for a tight, warm hug.

You take his hand and lead him away from the shop, down the street towards The Three Broomsticks. He asks where you’re leading him to and, with a bright smile, turn back to him, walking backwards momentarily to face him. Your hand still clutched with his, he swings it back and forth.

“We are, finally, going on a date. And it’s on me. Yeah?” Biting your lip, you lift your eyebrows, waiting for his response. This time, it’s his face that goes crimson as he flips his hair, adjusting the buttons on his jacket to look more presentable.

“Yeah.” He stops and pulls you to him again, lifting and spinning you around this time, a loud laugh escaping your mouth. “Wait until my parents meet my girl. My wonderful, gorgeous, thoughtful, hilarious, and slightly threatening, girl. I can’t think of a more perfect Christmas present.”

“Hmm, that’s too bad, cause I was gonna buy you many, many more.” You kiss his cheek with enough pressure to make him burst into laughter again. He puts you down and looks at you seriously.

“Love, you’re smart enough to know I will beat you in that contest.” He reaches around your neck to untie your apron, letting it fall to the ground, leaving it behind.

 Yeah, he will.

🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

[misc-obeyme]

Could you write a short piece on Lucifer with an MC who has a tendency to shorten words? Granola = Nola, animal = amal, etc etc? I do it because of silly neurodivergent brain

Hi, anon! Uh, sorry for the seven month delay D:

Anyway, this turned out really silly, so I apologize for that, too. I just got an idea in my head and then that was it al;sdkfj. I'm not sure this is exactly what you were looking for, but I hope it turned out okay. I have this problem where I enjoy when Lucifer is flustered. Also I'm really really rusty with writing in general so there's that, too.

Lucifer x GN!MC

Warnings: none

Lucifer was purposefully striding through the halls of RAD, on his way to an important meeting about whether or not it was a good idea to introduce a unit on shadow hog dissection in Devildom Biology. He didn't have a strong opinion on it either way, but Diavolo insisted on his input whenever it came to changing the curriculum.

The school day was over and the halls were mostly empty, only a few lingering students here and there. Lucifer paid them no mind as he went. That is, until he heard the murmuring of your voice. It was coming from a classroom nearby and he could hear the voices of Solomon and Asmo as well.

Lucifer couldn't hear what you were talking about until he got closer to the open classroom door.

"-poor amal alone," you were saying.

Asmo's voice came next. "You're too nice, MC!"

"MC can't help their loving nature," Solomon said.

Lucifer heard only this as he passed by, but he was puzzled by the conversation. Who was Amal? And why did MC love them?

Lucifer put this out of his mind for the duration of the meeting in an attempt to stay focused on the conversation at hand. But the moment the meeting ended, he turned to Diavolo.

"Do we have a student named Amal attending here?" he asked with a frown.

Diavolo blinked. "No," he said. "I don't even know a demon by that name."

"I do believe that is a human name," Barbatos added. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Lucifer said. He stood up from the table. "If we're finished here, I'll return to the House of Lamentation now."

Lucifer caught the brief glance of curiosity that passed between Diavolo and Barbatos, but he chose to ignore it. He started on his way home, keeping his thoughts and his expression schooled.

That evening after dinner, Lucifer found himself knocking on your bedroom door. You called for him to come in and he did, shutting the door behind him.

You were seated at the table, homework spread out before you. You looked up and smiled when you saw him.

"Hi, Lucifer," you said.

Lucifer sat down at the table across from you and folded his arms. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Who is Amal?"

You stared at him for a long moment. "What?"

Lucifer blushed. He had not intended to ask so directly, but he couldn't keep that earlier conversation out of his mind. He explained to you that he had been passing by the classroom and what he heard when he did.

"I simply wish to know who you were speaking about," he finished.

Your smile became more of a smirk and he wasn't sure what to make of it. "Are you… jealous?"

Lucifer frowned. "Hardly."

You laughed. "You are!"

"I am not," Lucifer insisted.

It was clear you couldn't keep the smile from your face. You reached across the table and tugged on his sleeve until he unfolded his arms, allowing you to take his hand. "I meant animal," you said. "You know I shorten words all the time. You've heard me say it before."

Lucifer let out a heavy sigh. He leaned forward on the table and covered his face with the hand you weren't holding. He had forgotten entirely.

You squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry," you said, your voice suddenly quiet and almost embarrassed. "I know it's silly-"

Lucifer jerked himself upright and grasped your hand in both of his. "Don't apologize," he said. "It's one of the things I love about you. So much so that I can't believe I allowed myself to make such a ridiculous mistake. But the idea that you might love someone else…"

Your eyes widened, but your smile returned. You shook your head fondly. "You don't have anything to worry about," you said.

Lucifer sighed. "If you breathe a word of this to my brothers-"

You laughed, letting go of his hands and sitting back in your chair. "Your secret's safe with me," you said.

Lucifer decided to remain with you for the entire evening as you worked on your homework. It wasn't something he did often, but he found he wished to remain in your presence. Every time you shortened a word, his heart skipped a beat. It was adorable and now it also reminded him of just how important you were to him.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[chosaraki]

The Reunion.

—————————————————————————

The rain fell heavily on the Yamazaki residence, washing the blood scattered on the floor. The air was loaded with the metallic smell and tension of a battle that had just been won. Gun Park was at the center of it all, his breathing controlled, but his heart beating fast.

His jacket was torn and dirty, the sleeves folded up to the elbows, revealing the tense muscles. He wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand, his cold eyes sweeping the environment. Bodies of the members of the Yamazaki clan lay on the floor, some unconscious, others lifeless. In the center of the room, Shintaro's motionless body.

The old bastard was finally dead.

But Gun didn't feel relief. Not even satisfaction.

Because he still didn't know the answer to the only question that mattered.

Were you still alive?

Fear, a feeling he rarely experienced, burned inside him. Two years away. Two years without knowing if his biggest nightmare had come true. You were pregnant when he left—he never knew what happened next.

Without wasting time, he advanced through the corridors of the mansion, his steps echoing through the wooden floor. His fingers closed into fists. He was prepared for the worst.

He opened the door of his old room tightly. The environment was dark and empty. No sign of life.

For a moment, the overwhelming silence was all that existed.

So, he heard.

A voice. Soft, familiar.

"...Gun?"

Time seemed to stop.

He turned around, his eyes wide—and there you were.

You looked different, but at the same time, exactly as he remembered. His gaze still carried that unmistakable kindness, but also a strength that was not there before. You were standing, firm, and behind you...

Gun stopped breathing.

Two girls.

Two children who had the same eyes as him.

They were small, but not fragile. The oldest, Muichira, wore glasses, her hair in two well-organized braids, and her expression was calm, observant, serious. The youngest, Yoriichi, was the opposite—rebellious hair, bright and curious eyes, holding the sleeve of her kimono with a shy smile.

He looked at you, then at them. And then, for you again.

"They are..." His voice failed, something that never happened.

You nodded slowly. "Our daughters."

Gun felt something he had never felt before. Not anger, not satisfaction. Something deeper, more overwhelming.

His hands trembled slightly as he faced those two small versions of him mixed with you. He didn't know what to do. He, who always knew how to deal with any situation, who never hesitated in a fight, who never had doubts. Now, I was lost.

Muichira looked him up and down before fixing his glasses. "Are you our father?" His voice was neutral, as if he had already accepted that fact, but waited for a logical explanation.

Yoriichi tilted his head, studying him as if trying to fit his image with something he had heard before. "Mom talked about you sometimes."

He didn't know how to react. He, who always knew how to face any opponent, who never hesitated in the face of violence, was now... lost.

His gaze returned to you.

His face was serene, but his eyes said it all—pain, longing, maybe even a little anger.

"I didn't know if you would come back," you said, your voice calm, but full of weight. "I didn't know if I should tell them about you."

Gun ran his tongue over his lips, trying to find words. But the weight of the truth was overwhelming.

"You were pregnant," he murmured, as if only now his brain was processing what had happened.

"Yes," you simply answered.

He closed his eyes for a moment. His jaw contracted.

So, he did something he never imagined he would do.

He knelt down.

In front of the daughters.

Muichira raised an eyebrow, intrigued. Yoriichi just watched, his eyes shining with curiosity.

Gun watched them, absorbing every detail.

"...Sorry for the delay." His voice was low, but firm.

Muichira crossed her arms, pondering. "Do you intend to take us with you?"

Gun looked up, surprised by the maturity in his daughter's voice.

So, he looked at you.

You stared at him, waiting for his answer.

Gun stood up, closed the distance between you, and before you could react, he held your face firmly.

He didn't hesitate.

He kissed you.

It was an intense, strong kiss, loaded with everything that was stuck in these two years.

It took you a second to correspond, as if you were testing if it was real. Then, your hand went up to hold it by the collar of the jacket, pulling it closer.

When the two walked away, you were panting, but you didn't look away from his.

Gun kept one of his hands on his face, his thumb sliding gently down his cheek.

"I'm going," he said, his voice loaded with certainty.

You blinked, surprise.

Yoriichi smiled broadly. "Does that mean dad wants us?"

Gun turned to the girls and, for the first time in years, a small smile crossed his face."It means that no one will take me away from you."

And at that moment, Gun knew.

He had returned to Japan for revenge. But what you found was something much more important.

Your family.

And he would never leave her again.

—————————————————————————

Gun Park's return to Japan is like the rebirth of a broken man, returning to the home he onced knew, but which is now marked by absence and fear. In the heavy silence of the rain, he crosses a path of blood and destruction, not in search of revenge, but of a single truth: his family is still alive. Shintaro's death is just the prelude to something deeper, something Gun didn't know how to face until that moment.

When he finds the room empty, a sigh of despair takes him. But then, when you hear your voice, time bends, and the past is revealed. His beloved, with eyes as gentle as before, is there, alive, stronger, but still the woman he lost. Behind her, two small figures with his eyes, but with his mother's hair, reflect everything he feared and desired most—the legacy of lost love.

In an unexpected gesture, Gun kneels, as if the weight of responsibility, absence and guilt made him less before them. The silent question he has carried for years finds its answer in the eyes of his daughters, and the moment he faces them, the pain of the past dissolves.

The kiss with his wife is the fusion of what was never forgotten, the promise that, despite the lost time, he can finally be the man he promised to be. And there, in the heat of a reunion, Gun finds his reason to live: no longer out of revenge, but for the family that, against all odds, is still waiting for him.

The rain outside continues, but inside his heart, a new storm calms down.

—————————————————————————

The names of their daughters have nothing to do with the characters!

I only put it because I like the names!

……………………………………………………………………………..

[scoonsaliciousupdates]

10.2 Bucky

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Lily McIntyre, trainer for new SHIELD recruits at the Avengers Tower, has been in love with her best friend, Bucky Barnes, from the moment she met him. She's been content with her role of the #1 girl in Bucky's life, even if it means she has to sabotage a romantic relationship or two. It'll be worth it when he realizes that they're meant for each other, right? There's just one small problem: Lily McIntire never expected Bucky Barnes to fall for You.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, Bucky invading privacy and getting the wrong idea, then not letting Major get a word in edgewise.

Word Count: 1.4k

Previously On...: You thought the envelope may have come from Rand, but after talking to him, you're pretty sure he didn't send it.

A/N: Sorry for the delay-- was running errands and thought I would be back in time, but then I got held up at a train crossing :P

If you ever feel so inclined to support my work, hop on over to buy me a coffee; it's much appreciated! <3

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

He was about fifteen minutes early to pick up Major, but if he was being honest with himself, he couldn’t wait to see her again. He missed her every second he wasn’t near her, talking to her, holding her, just being in her presence. He was down bad for the girl, that was for sure, and he was going to take every extra minute he could get with her.

Opening the main door, he walked into the lobby and waved to Zadie as she was having a group of teenagers sign a waiver before arranging to have them go to a room. 

“Hey, Sergeant Barnes!” she called out to him. “Major’s back in her office if you wanted to go surprise her. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the interruption.” Zadie waggled her eyebrows at the implication, and Bucky stifled a laugh as he made his way back toward the door she’d pointed to.

The door to Major’s office was partially closed, and Bucky knocked, the force of it pushing the door open to reveal the empty office. Bucky stepped inside and, seeing her purse on the edge of her desk, assumed she must have stepped out to use the restroom; he was fifteen minutes early in coming to pick her up, after all. She would have thought she had time.

He used the opportunity to take in her space, the sophisticated office furniture colored in deep, earthy tones that gave Bucky a feeling of calm, similar to what he felt in her presence. He admired some framed medals on the wall from her time in the military, as well as some certificates of accomplishment, and he was pleased to see the orchid he’d bought her resting in a place of pride by the window. 

He ran his fingers over the fuchsia petals, smiling to himself before turning toward her desk.

That was when he saw it. The envelope that had Major so worked up earlier in the day, her name and The WarZone’s Midtown address written in blocky, all caps. He took a step toward it, hand outstretched, but then pulled himself back. No, he thought. He wasn’t going to go through her private work documents. It was none of his business, really.

But… she had been so upset earlier. Maybe there was something he could do to help. He could just take a quick peak; that would totally be fine. He tilted the envelope and a stack of documents and photos came pouring out onto Major’s desk. At first, he couldn’t make sense of what he was looking at, as if the input from his eyes wasn’t making its way to his brain. 

Every piece of paper that had come out of the envelope was about… him. He found himself flipping through the pages, barely allowing the contents to register. They were all photos of him, back when he was still the Asset, committing horrendous crimes. Each document was a report of something he’d done, a person he’d killed. As he flipped through them, his stomach fell through the floor, shame heating his face. Why did she have these? How did she get them?

Had she been looking into him? When she had told him, during their first date, that she would wait for him to tell her about his past when he was ready, had that all been a lie? But why? What would she have to gain from it?

He heard footsteps approaching and in seconds, Major was walking through the door of her office.

“Hey, you!” she exclaimed, her face lighting up in happiness when she saw him standing there. “You’re early! I hope you weren’t waiting too long on me. Just wanted to freshen my face before dinner tonight.” She walked around to where he was standing and draped her arms around his neck, leaning up to kiss him, but Bucky stood still, only turning his face from hers.

She pulled away from him, her expression concerned. “Bucky, what’s wrong?” 

Without thought, his eyes darted to where the documents and photos lay spread haphazardly across her desk. He watched her gaze turn to follow his line of sight, and he saw her posture seem to deflate. 

“Oh,” she breathed out. “Oh, Bucky, honey– I really didn’t want you to see those.”

“I’m sure,” he spat, and was rewarded when she pulled back from him in surprise. “Wouldn’t do you any good if I knew you were digging into my past, would it? Much better to keep me in the dark about it, right?”

“Bucky, what–” she began, but he interrupted her:

“Was all that talk about wanting to wait until I was comfortable with telling you about my past just a lie? Were you so goddamn curious, you couldn’t even wait to find all the gory details for yourself? You wanna know how many people I killed that didn’t make it into those files, because I promise you, sugar, there’s a hell of a lot. You want to know about the time Hydra sent me to kill an ambassador, told me to leave no witnesses, and I took out his wife and his two kids, too? ‘Cause they couldn’t have been more than ten years old. That kind of thing get you off, doll?”

She took a further step back from him, a look of disgust and confusion on her face, and Bucky suddenly didn’t want to deal with it. “You know what?” he said, stepping around her and walking to the door, “Fuck this.” He stormed out of her office and as he stomped through the lobby, he could hear Major calling after him, but he was beyond caring at this point. 

He slammed through the front doors of The WarZone and back onto the street. Hopping onto his bike, he threw on his helmet and kicked it into gear, speeding away from Major and his past as fast as he could.

* 

He reached upstate in record time; he was fortunate he hadn’t gotten pulled over for speeding. He certainly wouldn’t have taken that very well. He stopped at an intersection– one direction would take him back to the Compound, but the other would lead him into town. He considered his options for a split second before making his decision.

A few minutes later, he was pulling up to the front of a modest, but charming farmhouse. His safe haven for when life at the Compound got to be too much for him to handle, and he needed some peace and quiet to just decompress and be himself. He definitely needed that right now.

Bucky walked up the front path and onto the well-tended porch before giving the front door a series of strong knocks. Stepping back, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacked and waited, his eyes resting on the porch swing he had helped build two summers ago. He should probably check the chain to make sure it didn’t need to be oiled.

The door opened and there was Lily, a balm to his ragged psyche. 

“Jamie,” she breathed, obviously surprised to see him. “What are you doing here? I thought you had dinner plans with Nat’s friend.”

Bucky grunted and poked the toe of his boot at a floor board that stuck out a little higher than its neighbor. “Don’t really want to talk about her right now, Lil,” he said. “Can I come in?”

Lily’s eyes widened as she stepped aside, making room for him to enter. “Yeah, of course. Um, I was just thinking of ordering some takeout. Are you hungry? I could get some pizzas.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said as he followed Lily into her kitchen, “that sounds good.” He took off his jacket and draped it over the back of one of her kitchen chairs. “Let me pay this time, though, okay? Since you’ll have to order an entire second pizza just for me.”

Lily smiled at him softly as she picked up her phone and navigated to the delivery app. “Obviously,” she told him with a hint of teasing in her voice. “Ham and pineapple on one, pepperoni on the other?” 

Bucky sat down and stretched his arms over his head. “It’s like you read my mind.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[guccixstyless]

Intern (Pt. 4)

Author’s Note: My lovies, I want to sincerely apologize for delaying so much. This series started in 2018 then I started getting busy with university and other problems, I didn't know how to continue Part 4 of the series after keeping it hanging for years. I got major writer's block and lost motivation to continue. But I've been getting so many requests to continue this, so the last week I brainstormed a lot and came up with this. I lost my writing charm, so I'm very nervous posting this after these many years. I truly hope you enjoy this, Intern Series will have 2 more chapters before the ending. Thank you for sticking through, I love you all so much. xx

Word Count: 3033 words

Pairing: Harry Styles X Reader

Masterlist

***********************************************************

You reached Manchester by catching the earliest flight with Harry.

The whole plane ride he was panicking and you tried to reassure him everything is gonna be okay.

While in the plane he explained you that he couldn’t have done this alone, he had to bring someone but he cannot bring Camille, since his mum is still pissed at Camille for breaking her son’s heart.

You understood and held his hand in hopes to comfort him.

Gemma had a bad accident and right now she was in coma.

When you reached the airport, Harry looked around as one of Gemma's bestfriend said he's going to pick you both up from the airport.

"Ben," Harry called out weakly and dragged you towards Ben.

"Harry," Ben hugged Harry tightly before saying, "I'm so scared."

You heard Harry sob. You lightly patted on his shoulder.

You both got in Ben's car after Harry briefly introduced both of you.

"How is mum," Harry spoke, sniffing lightly.

"She's been crying non-stop, H, I'm worried about Anne.."

After reaching the hospital, Harry quickly rushed to the floor where his sister was.

He saw his mum, Michal and his grandma waiting in the visitor lounge.

"Harry," his mum quickly got up from his seat and rushed towards her youngest child.

"Mum, it's gonna be okay, alright? Gem's so strong, she will wake up," Harry said hopefully, hugging his mum tightly.

"I'm so scared baby," Anne sniffled.

The doctor came out of Gemma's room and Harry walked towards him, desperately asking him, "how is she? When is she gonna wake up?"

"Unfortunately, it was a serious accident, she lost a lot of blood, she also suffered mild brain stroke, we're trying our best." doctor assured him.

"Harry, take a seat dear," his grandma softly called out to him.

Harry walked towards her and kissed her forehead, his grandma spoke again, "and who is this pretty lady here?"

Harry looked at you before saying, "Y/N, please come here."

You walked towards them, seating in the empty seat beside Harry.

Harry took your hand and his other hand was intertwined with his grandma, "Granny, this is Y/N, my bestfriend, and Y/N, this is my beautiful grandmother," he said before placing a kiss on his grandma's knuckles.

"Also his forever love," his grandma said laughing lowly.

Harry chuckled before saying, "that's true!"

"It's so nice to meet you," you kindly replied, "H, you stay with her, I'm gonna go check on your mum, okay?"

Harry nodded slightly smiling.

You walked up to Anne, she was staring into space, a light frown between her eyebrows, that resembled Harry so much.

"Hello, Anne, may I call you that?"

She seemed to break from her stance and looked at you smiling softly, "of course my dear, you must be Y/N? Ben mentioned you were accompanying Harry."

"Yes I am, I'm so sorry this happened, but I know it'll be alright again, Gemma will be back to being healthy again."

"I so hope so my love, I wish we met under different circumstances, Harry talked so much about you, I was hoping to meet you someday, not like this though," she said sadly.

You hugged her. Also you were flattered, Harry talked about you? He probably talks about all his friends, don't be so dramatic, you thought to yourself.

You looked over at Harry, he was hugging Michal.

You looked back at Anne before saying, "did you eat anything?"

You saw her shaking her head no.

"This is not right, you have to come with me right now to the canteen and have something, alright?"

Anne tried to protest but you cut her off, "no excuses, you have to eat, imagine how bad Gemma will feel if she wakes up and hears you starved yourself."

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"Nah-uh," you replied, she chuckled before agreeing with you.

"Hey Harry?" You called out to him, he approached you both, smiling at how you and his mum were hugging each other.

"Yes?"

"I'm gonna take Anne to the canteen, she hasn't ate anything!"

"Mum, that's not right, go eat something, and don't worry we will be here," Harry said.

"Harry, mate you had a long flight, you also go with them and have coffee or something," Michal said.

"But-"

"Yeah go, we will be here, don't worry," Ben assured him.

"Okay then, grandma, will you join us?"

"No dear, you guys go, I'll be here."

"Let's go."

****************************************************

You spotted an empty table and made your way towards it.

You asked Anne what would she like to have, "just coffee and a sandwich will be fine."

"and H, you?"

"Y/N, you sit, I'll bring the food," Harry said.

"No, shut up, you sit here, I got this."

He started to protest again but you sprinted away before saying, "no need, I know what you'll order anyway."

Harry shook his head chuckling.

"Harry, she's wonderful," Anne gushed.

"She is," he agreed.

You brought the tray of food over and passed on to Anne and Harry before taking your coffee cup.

"Thank you dear," Anne smiled at you.

"You're most welcome," you replied smiling.

After eating quickly, you three returned to Gemma's floor.

You saw, Michal talking with the doctor. Seeing his demeanor it seemed stressful.

The doctor returned back to the room, Michal approached you guys before saying, "they're saying she might lose her memories as well," Michal had tears welled up his eyes.

Anne hugged him, Harry slumped before taking a deep breath.

You looked over around the room and your heart broke seeing all of them at this state.

Soon enough it was getting late and Anne suggested you and Harry take his grandma and go back to Harry's childhood home.

You both agreed and once you arrived at his place, you quickly settled the grandma at her room. Then Harry showed you your guestroom. He told you several times to make yourself at home and feel free to grab snacks or beverages from the kitchen whenever you want.

After taking a quick shower, you came downstairs to drink some tea, in the kitchen you saw Harry staring off at space, the kettle's sound confirmed he was making tea.

"Hey H," you said softly, going up to him and putting your head on his shoulder.

"Hi," he replied, "you want some tea?"

"Yes please," you answered.

He quickly made you both cups of tea, he went on to sit beside you.

"She's going to be fine, right?" he asked quietly.

"H, yes, I fully believe she will be fine, it might take some time, but she will be healthy again."

"I-i can't lose her," he sniffled.

"H, hey look at me," you cupped his face to make him look at you.

The low light in the kitchen made his emerald eyes so stunning, but the sadness made you want to hug him and protect him.

You got lost in his eyes, he was so beautiful, so ethereal.

"Y/N?" He spoke, breaking you from your stance.

"Sorry, yeah listen to me mister, your sister will fight and will be back to us real soon, I can't wait to meet her and together we can bully you," you smirked.

Harry chuckled, "yeah you both will get along well."

"Hmm," you slowly let go of his face and started sipping your tea.

You felt so strongly about him and it pained you that you couldn't do anything, he has a girlfriend afterall.

You sighed and told him you're going back to your room.

*************************************************

Ben chuckled at the tour incident that you were telling him.

"That's really funny though," Ben said sipping his coffee.

"Just one of the many stories," you chuckled shrugging.

You guys were at the hospital, just you, Harry and Ben. Anne and Michal went back home to get some rest and freshen up.

The doctor came out of Gemma's room and he looked hopeful, Harry sprinted towards him and the doctor informed him, Gemma is showing a lot of progress, it was a miracle.

You all sighed in relief.

"I'm gonna call mum," Harry said smiling.

Ben looked over to you and asked, "now since the tour is over, I'm guessing so is your internship?"

"Yeah, I wish it lasted forever though, it didn't feel like work."

"Yeah I bet, Harry is a really chill guy," he said.

"He is!"

"Would you be interested working in London? My brother works at a fashion company, I can hook you there?"

"That sounds wonderful, well if it works out then why not?!"

"Great! I'll tell him 'bout you then."

Harry comes back and sees you both chuckling, you both were getting in his nerve, he wished only you and him were here not Ben. You're his bestfriend, he won't let Ben steal you.

"Ben, if you want you can go back home to rest," Harry said politely.

"Nah man, it's okay, beside I got great company." He smiled looking at you.

You shyly smiled back.

Harry felt his blood boil. He saw how well you and Ben got along and it made him upset. He opened his phone and saw Camille's text, she asked about Gemma's condition and Harry started typing a reply.

***************************************************

After few weeks Gemma recovered well. She fortunately didn't lose her memory as doctors feared so now she's in her recovery phase.

In these few weeks Harry rescheduled the tour dates, so your internship will drag on two more months. You also bonded well with Ben. Harry showed you his favourite places in his hometown. Overall it felt nice.

Currently you all were sitting in Gemma's room at Anne's place. You sat beside Ben in the sofa while Gemma sat on her bed, head relaxing on the bed's headboard. Anne was feeding her fruits and Harry sat beside her. Laughter filled the room while you all were talking. You and Gemma got along well, and you were staying in Anne's guestroom, you wanted to book a hotel but ofcourse Harry and Anne didn't let you.

Ben joked about something and Harry rolled his eyes. Harry was pissed nowadays with Ben. Especially seeing you and Ben bonding was something he despised. Normally he wants his loved ones and friends to get along but this one didn't feel right. He was more annoyed with how close you and Ben sat, like personal space please?

"Hey Harry, let's talk?" You asked him.

"Yeah sure," he said getting up from bed and following behind you in the living room.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"I think I'll catch a flight tomorrow to Paris, Lambert wants me to go over some designs." You said.

"What? No you're going with me, I'll leave in 3 days," Harry protested.

"That's too long! I don't think Lambert will agree, I did some work online, but I have to be present there," you said.

"Okay then I'm coming with you," he decided.

"What? No, you stay here with your family."

"It's fine, I need to go anyway for the show," he shrugged.

"No, stay!"

"I can't leave you alone, you accompanied me, so I need to make sure to be on the same flight as you." He stubbornly said.

Ben interrupted coming into the living room, "I can accompany you Yn."

"You guys need to chill, I can travel alone, been doing it all along" you chuckled at the two men.

"No Yn, it's fine. I was planning a trip anyway," Ben said, "I'll be happy to accompany you, it'll be fun."

"Okay if you insist," you sighed but happily agreed.

Harry was shocked, that easy for Ben?

Later that night when you're packing in you room, Harry entered with two cups of tea.

"Hey," you smiled at him.

"Hi sweets," he smiled back handing you a cup.

"Ah thank you, I needed this," you smiled gratefully.

"So, done packing?"

"Yeah almost."

You sat on your bed, sipping the tea Harry had brought, trying to avoid the tension that hung in the air like a heavy storm cloud. You could feel his eyes on you, the silence thick between you two as the room felt smaller by the second. You’d been avoiding this conversation for days now, but it was inevitable. You knew it, he knew it.

"So, you and Ben, huh?" Harry finally asked, his voice laced with a quiet anger you couldn’t quite place.

You froze mid-sip, setting the cup down slowly on your nightstand. You couldn’t ignore the tightness in your chest, the nervous flutter in your stomach. "What about us?" you asked, looking up at him cautiously. His eyes were already on you, the familiar warmth in them now replaced by something darker.

He shrugged but there was no mistaking the edge in his tone. "I just don’t get it. You two seem… really close lately. It’s just weird."

You tried to laugh it off, but it came out forced. "Harry, we’re just friends, alright? He’s your cousin, for god's sake."

Harry clenched his jaw, stepping further into the room, his eyes never leaving you. "Yeah, well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? He’s always around. And you two are—" He gestured vaguely in the air, clearly frustrated, the words stuck on his tongue.

You raised an eyebrow, irritation creeping in. "What, Harry? You don't want me to get along with your cousin now? What’s the issue?"

He paced a few steps in the small room, running a hand through his hair. "You don’t get it. It’s not just that. It’s how much time you’re spending together. You know, like the way you guys sit so close, how you’re always laughing at each other's stupid jokes—" He stopped and turned to face you. "And then you just let him walk in here and offer to travel with you like it’s no big deal. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

Your heart began to race. Was this really about Ben? Or was there something else?

You stood up, the anger bubbling in your chest now too, your voice rising. "I don’t need you to make decisions for me, Harry. I’m not a child. I don’t need you to dictate who I spend time with. Ben’s a good guy, and I’m fine with him being there for me. If I want him there. You’re the one acting like I’m doing something wrong."

Harry’s eyes flashed with frustration, and you could see the hurt in them too. He shook his head, taking a few steps closer, his voice quieter now but still heavy with emotion. "I’m not trying to control you, Yn. I just—I don’t like seeing you so close to him. Don’t you get it? It’s just… it doesn’t sit right with me."

A pit opened up in your stomach, the words you had been holding back for so long suddenly spilling out before you could stop them. "You’re jealous, Harry," you said, the words tasting bitter on your tongue. "You’re jealous because you think something’s going on between me and Ben, when really, it’s just… friendship."

He flinched like you’d slapped him, his face falling. "I’m not jealous. I just care about you. You’re my best friend. You think I don’t want you to be happy? But this whole situation is making me crazy, Yn. And I don’t know how to deal with it."

You stared at him, the hurt and anger mixing in your chest, twisting into something almost unbearable. You didn’t know how to make him understand without sacrificing a part of yourself. "Harry," you said, trying to keep your voice steady, "I am happy. But you need to get over the fact that I’m allowed to be happy with other people too. You’re with Camille. You’re dating her. Why are you so bent out of shape about me and Ben?"

He stepped back, his face going pale. "This is about more than Ben," Harry muttered, his voice breaking slightly. "It’s about you and me, Yn. I’m not ready to lose you. And I don’t think I can just watch you go on without me, like it’s nothing. It hurts."

The words hit you like a punch to the gut. You stared at him, lost. "You think I’m just going to forget about you? Is that what you think? Because you’re dating Camille, you think I’m supposed to just—"

"That’s not what I mean!" Harry cut you off, his frustration boiling over. "I just don’t want you to think that I’m fine with you replacing me with someone else. With Ben." His voice cracked at the end, the emotion raw and unfiltered.

The silence that followed was thick and suffocating. You both stood there, words stuck in your throats, unable to bridge the gap that had suddenly opened between you. You felt the tears welling up in your eyes, but you refused to let them fall. This wasn’t about tears. This was about trust. About needing space and respect for each other’s choices.

"You know what, Harry?" you said, your voice shaking slightly, "I need to go. I need to get away from this for a while." You grabbed your bag from the floor, stuffing it with the last of your things, barely able to keep yourself together. "I can’t stay here and keep dealing with this. I’m going to Paris tomorrow, and I don’t need to be reminded of what’s wrong here every second."

"Yn, please," Harry’s voice was strained, desperate almost, as he stepped toward you. "Don’t do this. I don’t want to lose you."

You shook your head, not trusting your own voice. "You are losing me, Harry," you whispered, fighting back the tears. "But not the way you think."

You walked past him, the door of the room open, your heart aching as you turned back to look at him one last time. His face was a mixture of confusion and pain, but you couldn’t fix it. Not right now.

Without another word, you stepped out of the room and left the house.

And as you made your way to the car, the air felt colder, the distance between you both unbridgeable for the first time.

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

Taglist: @ever-since-the-kilt @pxrrishly @jld20047 @thecraziestcrayon @emma1998sblog @lovrrysworld-ally @jackiehollanderr @sassamanda77

[ncssian]

Take the Long Way Home

Three: Isolation

Read on AO3 | Masterlist

A/N: sorry for the delay like ten things happened to me back to back. also i read the newest shatter me book and jamesrosa is lowkey the grumpysunshine nessian shouldve been if canon cassian hadnt been a coward

WC: 7.5k

***

When Nesta awoke, it was dark outside and she was alone. 

The fireplace crackling in the corner was the only source of light in the room, but the heat was stifling enough to make her shove her heavy blankets off. She was still in the bathrobe she vaguely remembered changing into earlier, and her hair was stiff from her falling asleep while it’d been wet.

As if through a distant fog, the memories came back to her piece by piece. Cassian had been here. Cassian had bathed her and brought her her medicine. Since she’d arrived here, she’d lost track of the days slipping past her and hadn’t even known that he was scheduled to visit.

He must have left again.

Still nursing a headache and a gnawing hungry stomach, Nesta forced herself out of bed and to her feet, grasping the nightstand for support. She felt like shit, but she needed to get downstairs and find her meds before she felt like even more shit.

In the firelight, she spied something stacked atop her dresser. A sweater and thick flannel pants. Opening up one of the drawers, she found it full of her clothes, neatly folded and arranged. She opened up another drawer. This one was full of miscellaneous things: her hairbrush, her makeup, and…

Her meds. 

She scrambled for a familiar blue pill. She didn’t need it right away— if she was standing and walking without wanting to die, then she was fine— but it would feel comforting just to have one on hand. 

Her doctor had forbidden her from any more Adderall, among a couple other things, which Nesta couldn’t really complain about. Taking too many medicines had inhibited the effectiveness of all of them, and she could stand to sacrifice a few drugs if it meant she got to keep the important ones.

She forced herself to leave her room and go downstairs despite every protesting bone in her body. It wasn’t that she objected to starving herself indefinitely, but that Rhysand’s threats rang in her ears of what he’d do if he ever found her in less than good health. 

Getting sent back to Los Angeles would be a fate worse than death. Worse than her entire family finding out about her dirty sins.

If her reactions weren’t so delayed due to her brain fog, she would have jumped at the realization that the downstairs wasn’t empty. 

“You’re still here?” she addressed Cassian, whose back was turned to her as he stoked the living area’s fireplace.

He dropped the poker and whirled around with wide eyes. “Jesus, you’ve got quiet feet.”

Still in her bathrobe, she suddenly felt too exposed in front of this man. Even though he’d bathed her naked body just a few hours ago. Even though he’d used to find her at her slummy apartment half-dressed and missing her underwear.

He seemed to think along similar lines. “Why didn’t you change into the clothes I laid out? It’s too cold at night not to be wearing something thick.”

Nesta was too taken aback by him rummaging through her luggage and organizing her things to explain that changing outfits required an energy she didn’t currently have. But he was right that it was cold, because she found her feet leading her to the blazing fireplace against her will. She took a seat on the ground, as close as she could get to the fireplace while maintaining a distance from him, and stuck her toes out toward the fire. 

Cassian carefully cleared his throat and spoke again. “I wanted to be with you when you woke up, but it seemed like you planned to sleep for a long time, so I got up and started fixing up the house.” He picked up the poker and continued stoking the fire. “Are you sure you rested long enough? You seemed pretty out of it earlier today.”

Nesta internally flinched at the reminder of how she’d been in front of him. Still, she gathered the voice to answer, “I can’t sleep in long stretches. This is all I’m getting.”

He hummed in acknowledgement, staring into the fire with her. After a moment he said, “Both the fireplaces were untouched when I got here. Have you been staying here in the freezing cold for the last week?”

Yes. “I don’t know how to work a wood-burning fireplace.” Her admission came out in a whisper. She’d only ever handled those gas ones that went on and off with the flip of a switch. And even then, what kind of person didn’t just use central heating?

“Well, we’ll definitely have to change that,” he muttered.

A spark flew out from the fire and landed on her ankle, stinging for a millisecond before dissipating into nothing.

Cassian got up and walked away. Without turning her head, she heard him go up the stairs and return a few seconds later. He dropped some clothes onto the floor beside her. 

Nesta looked at the thick pair of socks, sighed, and reached over to pull them on. After a minute of consideration, she pulled the flannel pants on, too. 

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” he asked her as she readjusted her robe around herself.

For the first time in days, her stomach didn’t churn at the thought of food. But that didn’t mean she wanted Cassian sticking around to hand-feed her. “You can get going now. I can take care of myself from here.”

His lip curled wryly as if she’d said something funny. “It’s almost ten p.m. Where am I gonna go at this hour?”

She didn’t have the energy to scowl, though she wanted to. “Go home.” 

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m staying the whole weekend, sweetheart.”

That made her finally snap her head up to face him directly. “No you aren’t,” she seethed. 

He held his hands up in defense. “I know, I know, you asked to be up here alone.” He winced as if the fact hurt him. “But it’s just for a few days and I’m not in the mood for a fight, so I suggest sucking it up and telling me what you want for dinner.”

Nesta imagined opening her mouth to order Cassian out of the house—her house. She imagined standing up for herself, imagined fighting him back and winning. 

And then she imagined losing.

Her stiff shoulders drooped. Blinking, she turned back to face the warmth of the fire. “I don’t care what we eat.”

“That’s what you always say,” he tried to push. “You have to care about something eventually.”

No. She didn’t.

***

She was deeply changed from the woman that Cassian had used to know. 

Very occasionally, he managed to pull her old cruelty out of her, but for the most part Nesta was haunted and reserved in a way that was completely different from her drunkard days. 

On his second day at the lodge, Cassian had tried goading her into a fight just to see if a spark of life could be found in her, but upon failing he wasn’t able to stomach trying again. It felt too much like a joke bombing in front of a dead crowd: pitiful for the both of them.

By the time Saturday rolled around, he was growing restless. He’d organized everything there was to organize in the house. He’d carefully monitored Nesta as she followed her treatment plan, making sure she took her meds at the right hour on the dot, counting her pills after she fell asleep every night to confirm nothing was missing or left behind. There was a sunroom attached to the back of the house with a functioning Jacuzzi in the center, and he’d even cleaned that out and gotten it to start working again. 

He needed to leave the house.

He didn’t know how Nesta could stay upstairs in her bed all day. She’d already rejected his offers to go on a walk or visit the gas station, so he needed to think of something different.

He tried of think of what the lodge was missing. There was semi-functioning Internet, but no television, and many shelves but no games or books. Other than the Jacuzzi, the house lacked a single entertaining thing to do.

He knocked loudly on Nesta’s bedroom door. “Nesta?” he called out. “Can I come in?”

No answer, which he took as another I don’t care. He entered the room to find her sitting in her rocking chair and staring out at the blinding white mountainside through the window. 

“Hey, did you bring any books with you when you came here?” He already knew the answer since he’d gone through all her bags while unpacking them, but he wanted to give her something to say.

She didn’t look away from the window. “No.”

“Then let’s go buy some.” He didn’t frame it as a question that she could say no to. “Get ready and meet me downstairs in five.” He turned around and left.

She was going to go out whether she wanted to or not. He just wanted to see if she would do it on her own first. He dared to hope that her interest in books would convince her.

In the end, it took her fifteen minutes to meet him at the front door. He’d been losing all hope when she finally appeared on the stairs, in jeans and a nice buttoned sweater with her hair pulled into a tight knot, and then he’d grinned so widely he thought his face would split apart.

He was still feeling triumphant on the drive to the nearest town over, humming softly under his breath. “The lodge usually gets snowed in for a few weeks at least once every year, so now’s the time to get out of the house before peak winter comes in. The town we’re going to is too small to offer anything exciting, but it has the necessities— a grocery, a couple of restaurants, basic goods stores,” he babbled.

“Okay,” she said, watching the scenery as they drove by.

He nodded to himself. Okay it was.

“I can carry them for you,” he said at the bookstore later, concerned by the growing stack of novels in her arms. 

“No thanks.” Nesta seemed content just to be holding the books, her thumbs brushing along the sides of them as she continued browsing. 

Considering how remote the town was, Cassian hadn’t expected this place to have any kind of great reading collection, but Nesta was somehow an expert at finding and collecting what she liked— recent mainstream stuff along with some older hidden gems.

Eventually the stack really did get too big for her to carry, so he slid some books off of her pile without another word. He picked up the novel on the top and studied it. It was labeled a dark romance, whatever that meant, but the synopsis on the back didn’t tell him much about the plot.

He opened to the first page and raised his brows at the extensive list of trigger warnings. “Are you really into this stuff?” he said, flipping through the rest of the book. “Stalking, knifeplay, rape-but-not-technically-rape?” He wanted to get an idea of her tastes without judging, but it was difficult when every new thing she revealed about herself was a total surprise. 

“No,” she answered simply, even as she inspected another book that had a similar cover to the one he was holding. 

“Then why are you reading them?”

She put the book down and wandered into the literary fiction section instead; he trailed after her. “Because I keep hoping it’ll turn out different,” she said. “I read about horrible men because I want them to surprise me and turn out to be nice. I want the romance to turn out to be soft.”

Cassian whipped his head up to look at her. He hadn’t actually expected her to answer his question, yet that might have been the longest response he’d gotten from her… ever. “Why not just read another genre?”

She trailed her fingers across the spine of a tattered edition of The Hobbit. They were pretty fingers, he thought. Elegant like a piano player’s. “I like the idea of a bad guy going good for his girl,” she said.

“But if it never happens, why waste your time with all these books?” He gestured to the stack in her arms.

She raised a brow at him. “I’m stupid.”

The bluntness of her statement made him give a startled laugh. “I find that hard to believe, but okay.” When he moved to return the book to the stack, she startled him again by saying, “Why don’t you read that one now and tell me how it ends? Save me from wasting my time.”

He fumbled to open the book again. “Yes ma’am.”

So he followed her through the store as she collected more novels, trying to skim through the book in his hands and watch his step at the same time. 

“I don’t read much, but this all looks terrible to me,” he told her honestly after flipping through at least five different parts of the book. The writing, the characters, the dialogue, all seemed too egregiously low-quality for someone like Nesta to be reading. He eyed her with concern. What if her knife-sharp brain was dumbed down by this stuff? 

No, that wasn’t possible. If abusing drugs couldn’t do it, then some questionable books definitely wouldn’t.

“Specify what’s terrible,” she hummed. She was crouched on the floor by a table full of books now, resting her body while she flipped through a poetry book. “Most romance is an acquired taste. We probably won’t have the same standards.”

Something low in Cassian’s stomach tingled warmly at her voice— at the fact that she was speaking to him willingly in the first place, and giving him orders at that. 

He cleared his throat and willed the flush in his cheeks away. “Why don’t you tell me what you like to read about first? Then I can tell you if this has that.” 

Again, he didn’t know a single thing about her beyond the fact that her apartment from a few years ago had been crawling with romance books, smutty and clean alike. He knew because he’d peeked over her shoulder more than once while she’d read them to piss her off.

“Tell me if they’re kind to each other,” she said, sitting down fully on the ground now so she could stretch her legs out. “At least at the end of the book.”

Cassian furrowed his brow and flipped to where she’d directed him. It was a rough sex scene with dialogue, except only the man was speaking and the woman was just sort of laying there and taking it. There didn’t seem to be much affection to it. “Hm.”

“Is that a yes or no?”

“What’s another thing that you like to read about?” he redirected.

“Can the woman defend her boundaries? Can he respect her? Can they be friends with each other?”

Cassian read a seventh excerpt from the book just to be sure. “No.”

Nesta rolled her eyes from the floor— a surprisingly adorable expression that made him wish he hadn’t seen it. “Put it up, then,” she said. 

He tossed the book onto the table she was leaning against, though he still carried three other romance books in his free hand. “What now? Should we go through the rest?”

Nesta sighed as she scanned the bookshelves in front of her. “No point in being picky. I live on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere now.”

Cassian didn’t know why it annoyed him so much to hear that— it was only the obvious truth, even if it wasn’t ideal. But that reminded him— “We need movies.”

“To watch on what TV?”

Damn, she was right. “How about games?” he tried.

“Will I be playing against myself?” she said with acidity cutting through her usual monotone.

“We can play when I visit, obviously.”

She stared him down with an icy gaze. “So my new life revolves around waiting for you to visit me so we can play second-hand board games. Is it too late to kill myself?”

He gave her an alarmed look. “Yes it is.” Perhaps he would hold off on buying the board games for now, though.

Nesta’s mood was clearly soured by the fact that she was stuck living alone in the mountain house, which was why Cassian didn’t understand her refusal to leave it. On their way to the checkout line, he hesitantly brought up the topic for the second time that weekend. “If you don’t think the lodge is helping you, why don’t you come back home? We can work out something else for you.”

“Something else like what?” She stopped and turned to glare at him. “Do you and Rhysand have something worse for me planned in mind?”

“What? No—” he spluttered. 

“No matter what, you aren’t going to let me live in Velaris where my family is.” Her eyes burned with familiar fire. “So what is it to you how I get to recover?” She spat the last word out mockingly. 

“You know it isn’t up to me,” he tried to explain. “I just want something better for you than that stupid lodge—”

“And how would you know what’s better for me?” she sneered. “You don’t know a single thing about me or my situation, Cassian. You’re just the help. You’re my weekend chaperone so I don’t end up dead all by myself— that doesn’t mean you get to have an opinion about my life.”

He took a step back from her in surrender, his gaze dropping to the ground. “Alright. I got it.”

It was difficult to get upset at her words when they were so justified, but Cassian managed to feel hurt anyway. He didn’t understand what had gone wrong. They’d been doing so well— she’d seemed like she was feeling better, and now it was unraveling all over again. One thing was clear, though: that bastard Rhys had been right. Nesta wasn’t going to abandon the lodge anytime soon, no matter how torturous she found it. 

As they checked out her sizable pile of books at the register, he spotted her eyeing a small framed poster of a rugged nature scene. Despite it being spring in the photo, the mountainous location seemed to be much farther up north than where they were now. The title at the bottom declared THE YUKON. 

“You want that?” he asked her. She didn’t say anything and refocused on the books being bagged in front of her. He pointed to the poster behind the counter and told the cashier, “Can you add that, too?”

From his peripheral vision, he thought he saw Nesta flinch. 

***

“Where do you want to go next?”

Nesta looked pointedly at the town square they were in, surrounded by approximately five buildings and nothing else. “Gee, where do I start?”

“Okay, smartass,” he said, but he was biting back a smile. After getting her books and poster, her irritation seemed to have melted away, and he was eager to keep her this content for the rest of the day. “Let’s go thrift shopping,” he suggested. Girls liked that, right?

They both narrowed in on the building across the main street that said USED GOODS in plain white lettering. Nesta made a face. “You call that a thrift shop?”

“We can look through the belongings of all the old people that have died in this town.” It came out sounding less exciting than he wanted it to.

Despite Nesta’s reluctance, they ended up killing an hour at the thrift shop. Much like with the bookstore, Nesta had a knack for finding the things she liked among a sea of junk— in this case, it was vintage sweaters. 

He remembered unpacking and putting away her clothes, all of them modest yet suited to Nesta’s unique style. It didn’t match the image one would have of a substance-abusing stripper at all, and yet that was apparently who Nesta had been while she’d been away.

Watching her hold a knit vest printed with cats against her chest, Cassian felt that surge of curiosity in him again. He wanted to know more about her personal style. He wanted to know whether life in LA had been easier than Velaris or harder. He wanted to know if anyone had looked out for her while she’d lived alone in California, if she still had that little drinking problem or if it had dwindled away over the years. He wanted to know what her favorite books were and why.

But he couldn’t ask her any of these things, because he wasn’t a stranger that had noticed her from across the bar or a coworker with an office crush. He was Rhys’s lackey first and foremost, Feyre’s best friend second, and then…after going down the long list of people that Cassian owed his loyalty to, only then was he a man who was utterly enchanted by the woman across from him.

He picked up a brown zip-up with an interesting pattern, wondering if it would fit into Nesta’s tastes as well. “What about this?” He flipped it over to show it to her.

Though it was still difficult to pull more than two or three expressions out of Nesta, he could’ve sworn her eyes slightly widened with delight. “Wow,” she drawled, taking the sweater from him. “Maybe you aren’t totally useless after all.”

The compliment affected his pulse more than it should have.

But Nesta soon ran out of things to look at— this town could only offer so much— so he said, “Let’s go to the diner for a late lunch.”

Cassian was delaying returning to the lodge, he knew. There were only so many opportunities he could get to show Nesta around like this, and every minute she wasn’t spending in her room was a victory to him. 

Nesta just shrugged and said, “Whatever you want.”

They stopped at the truck to drop off her shopping and walked down the block to one of the three food establishments in town. Inside the diner, peeling vinyl booths and faded checkered flooring greeted them, like stepping into a time capsule from decades ago.

Nesta turned her nose up at every booth they passed, until finally reaching one at the back that seemed clean enough for her standards. They sat across each other and Cassian pulled a sticky menu toward himself.

“Shake and burger combo?” he suggested. He expected her to give her usual I don’t care, but she shook her head and grumbled, “Sounds like a digestive nightmare.” 

He bit back a smile and offered the menu for Nesta to inspect. She squinted at everything, not seeming to find a single thing appetizing, until finally saying, “I’ll have water and a side salad.”

Any amusement slid off his face. “Do you really want to get better, Nesta?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean it,” he said, leaning across the table to look into her eyes. “Are you really here to heal, or just kill time before you’re allowed to come back home?”

She met him with a fiery glare and hissed, “You think I want to be like this?” 

“No. Which is why you need food, Nesta. Nutrients.” He’d only gotten her to eat a couple of solid meals in the few short days he’d been at the cabin. Everything else had gotten thrown up or thrown in the trash, and he no longer believed it was a physical reaction more than a psychological one. He just needed to figure out how to get around the mental block that was hindering her. 

“At least add some fries,” he tried. 

She shook her head. “The smell of grease makes me sick.” 

It hadn’t been a problem just a week ago when they’d had burgers together, but he didn’t mention that. “If you’re not ready for a full meal yet, then I’m going to order for myself and you’re going to share off my plate. Fair enough?”

She still looked unhappy but reluctantly nodded. Perfect.

Despite everything smelling and looking delicious, Nesta couldn’t hide her disgust once the food and drinks arrived. 

“Relax, it’s not for you,” Cassian told her.

That seemed to ease her up, and her disgust gradually melted into curiosity. “What kind of sandwich is that?”

“Turkey.” He’d purposely ordered things that were plain but not too bland, not wanting her stomach to be upset by either too many flavors or none at all. He took half the sandwich and placed it on an extra plate before sliding it over to her. 

She stared at it for a long time, her features not revealing anything. Cassian continued to eat off his own plate while he waited for her to make a move. 

After about a minute, she finally pinched off a corner of the sandwich and brought it to her mouth. Tried to smell it, immediately regretted it, and shoved it into her mouth before she could change her mind. 

“How do you feel?” He watched her carefully for signs of sickness.

She sighed through her nose while chewing. “I miss eating.”

His heart was splintering. He didn’t know how Nesta had ever reached this point— knew that it had all been kicked off by her father’s death, but didn’t have the slightest idea of all that had happened between then and now.

“Once your stomach gets better, I’ll make you a feast,” he promised. “I’m a really good cook, too, so you can look forward to it.”

“Are you?”

“I am,” he insisted. “You wouldn’t know, of course. Your sense of taste is all messed up right now.”

Nesta still looked doubtful, but she didn’t push the topic. She never pushed anything, really, and it was usually up to Cassian to keep their conversations going. For now, though, he just let her continue picking at her sandwich. When she was almost finished with it and still looking fine, he passed over the side salad she’d asked for next.

It was a slow, tedious process to get her to eat, but Cassian had plenty of time. He even ate at the same pace as her so she wouldn’t be left behind, though he felt like a starving man being fed one grain of rice at a time. 

“Do you like cats?” he suddenly asked in the middle of dipping a fry into his milkshake. 

“What?” 

He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. “I could get you a cat. So you don’t have to be alone at the house.”

Nesta gave him the flat stare she only ever used when someone said something idiotic. “Do I look like someone who can take care of a cat right now?” 

“Maybe not right now,” he argued. “But one day, yes. I think you’d like having a cat. You remind me of one.”

“I don’t want a fucking cat, Cassian.” 

The sound of his name on her lips made him stop stirring his milkshake halfway. It certainly wasn’t her first time saying it, but it happened so rarely that it took him by surprise a little bit every time. Like having a valuable gift dropped straight into his lap.

“Alright, fine,” he conceded. “Try my milkshake.” He stuck the straw in her face before she could get snippy again.

She turned him down, of course, but by the end of the meal he was more than satisfied with how much she’d eaten. Not only satisfied, but deeply proud. He could only pray that her stomach would be okay for the rest of the night.

After paying and leaving a generous tip, they headed back through the main square for the place they’d left the truck. 

Evening was quickly coming in now, but Cassian was still dragging his feet at the thought of returning to the lodge. “Want to visit the grocery store next? We can look at fruits and vegetables.”

“I know you’re rich, but all the money you’re spending today is ridiculous.” Nesta said it like she hadn’t been the one buying everything. 

Cassian snorted. “Baby, this is Rhys’s business card. Spend away.” 

Nesta’s energy visibly diminished at the mention of Rhysand. “I don’t want his money,” she said quietly. “We can go home now.”

“His bank account won’t be hurt by it,” he tried to assure her. “Really, you don’t need to feel bad about some shopping.”

Nesta smirked as they arrived at the truck, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I remember him throwing quite the fit when I spent five hundred dollars on drinks in one night once.” 

Cassian’s jaw dropped open. “You spent five hundred dollars only on drinks? It’s my first time hearing about this.”

Her smile vanished so quickly it made him doubt that it had been there at all. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She pulled the truck door open.

“You’re the one who brought it up first,” Cassian tried to say, but Nesta was already inside the truck and shutting the door on him. 

That marked the end of their grand day out, for Nesta was quiet the entire ride back to the lodge.

***

Sunday rolled around and brought with it sunshine and a cloudless sky.

It also brought Nesta out of her bedroom before noon, a feat so rare that it had him staring at her from across the kitchen in awe.

“You’re leaving today, right?” she asked him as she sliced a banana into bite-sized pieces. She would slice and pop a piece straight into her mouth, which seemed like a lot of work compared to eating a banana normally, but he never could understand how her thought process worked.

Cassian refocused on her question. Rhys had ordered him to be back in Velaris by tonight, yes. But what he ended up saying was, “I’m going tomorrow morning. Someone needs to eat dinner with you or you’ll starve again.”

Nesta narrowed her eyes at him. “That isn’t necessary.”

“I’ll be meal prepping, too,” he continued, ignoring her. “Give me a list of what you’d like to eat by noon, please and thank you.” 

Cassian knew his efforts were the equivalent of an umbrella in a hurricane. What Nesta needed wasn’t meal-prepping, but a full-time doctor or counselor to supervise her health. Not a single other person seemed to agree with him, though, least of all Nesta.

The firewood storage stood off to the side of the lodge, a short walk away. Cassian was lugging an armful of logs with him when he found Nesta standing on the back porch in only her pajamas with no outerwear. “Put a jacket on,” he scolded from afar.

She didn’t move as he got close enough to see her clearly. “What is it?” he said, climbing the porch steps to meet her.

“I looked up and you were gone.”

Cassian raised both brows at that. It was an effort not to smile. “Why? Did you think I left without telling you?”

She frowned and he could’ve sworn there was a little indignation to the expression. “No,” she said.

“You did,” he insisted, teasing now. “You got scared.” 

The indignation was undeniable now, her lovely neck reddening in proof of her irritation. “I did not,” she hissed. “I’d only be thrilled if you left early.”

He smirked in response. “Thrilled is a big emotion coming from you. Now I know I definitely gave you a fright.”

He was still grinning as he set the stack of wood he had down in a corner of the porch. Though most of the lodge was humble, or as humble as Rhysand’s money could get, a lot had been spent on the back portion of the house: the sizable sunroom with the hot tub as a centerpiece, the massive fire pit with seating in the backyard, the cozy porch with a view of the expansive white grounds.

“I would never abandon you,” he went on as he turned back around to face her, more serious now. “That’s not something you’ll ever have to worry about, Nesta.”

 Her face was now taking on the familiar shade of pink it did when she got angry. “The only thing I worry about is you clinging to me every time you come up here. I only wish you would leave, Cassian. It’s been days already.”

Cassian had a difficult time believing her words as much as she did, and it brought a mirthful tremble to his lips that seemed to enrage her even more. Nesta crouched down to the ground.

He was already walking away to get more wood. “You keep telling yourself that, sweet—”

Something wet and cold smacked him directly in the back of the head, shutting him up mid-sentence.

Very slowly, he turned around to face her. “Did you just hit me with a snowball?”

She already was packing another one in her bare hands— she’d get frostbite, he worried to himself— and in answer threw it at him again. He dodged it easily, which didn’t make her happy at all. “What is wrong with you?” he demanded.

“You’re what’s wrong with me, asshole.” In only her pajamas and slippers, she suddenly ran at him. Cassian being double her size, the only reason he hit the ground was that he happened to be standing on a patch of ice that slid out from beneath his feet as she tackled him. 

He made an oof of surprise as his head hit the ground, and before he had any idea what was going on, Nesta was pelting him with handfuls of snow from above. In his face, down his jacket, even soaking through his jeans. ���So—fucking—sick of you,” she said with every hit. “Egotistical male troglodyte thinks I can’t live without him.”

Cassian choked, both at the words and the snow being shoved into his open mouth.

Yes, his blood hummed. This was who Nesta really was: persistent, aggressive, passionate. The complete opposite of the nonchalant facade she typically wore.

He was insanely attracted to this side of her.

It was too easy to flip her over to the ground and grab her wrists, but it wasn’t enough to stop her assault. He was shoveling snow onto her like he was trying to bury her, openly laughing with glee now, but she squirmed and bucked beneath him with such violence that it caused her hips to brush against his crotch. The rush of heat he experienced startled him so badly that he quickly scrambled off of her, and as soon as he let her go, she was trying to shove his face into the snow again.

Cassian was conflicted: he was genuinely sorry to have upset her to this extent, but also fighting the mounting desire to take her to the ground and kiss her senseless. Kiss her everywhere. As if that could possibly do anything to soothe her anger.

He turned around under her hold so he wasn’t eating snow anymore and blinked through melting flakes to find her straddling him, trying to shove more snow down his shirt. It was the funniest, most adorable thing he’d ever seen her do, and he knew he was letting this drag on for far too long.

He hadn’t planned to let Nesta win like this, but his options now were to throw her off his body or to let her stay and risk becoming obviously aroused. 

“Enough— I give up,” he panted, snow melting on his tongue and going down the wrong airway. “I give up.”

She stayed atop him even as he broke into coughs, watching intently like a hawk to see if he really wasn’t faking his surrender.

Slowly, like she was dismounting a rowdy horse, she released his collar and unstraddled him one leg at a time. She sat down in the snow beside him while he caught his breath. 

He stayed there on the ground, only reaching up to pat her back in congratulations before his arm fell again. “You’re a dirty player. But you won fair and square.”

“I think the point of playing dirty is that it wasn’t fair and square.”

“Ah, well.” He waved her off, still feeling short of breath for more reasons than one.

“You were going to let me win anyway. I just wanted it to feel earned.”

Cassian said nothing at that. He wanted to touch her back again; his fingers were twitching against the snow in restraint.

They sat next to each other like that in silence for a long time. 

“Did you mean what you said on the way here?” he eventually asked. “That they were just prescription pills?” The question had been sitting in the back of his mind for a while now.

Above him, Nesta pursed her lips. “No.”

“Oh.” He’d already thought so, so he didn’t know why he was disappointed.

“I couldn’t afford a doctor’s prescription because I had no healthcare,” Nesta continued. “So I had to prescribe them myself.”

He shoved himself up to his elbows and met her gaze in surprise. “How was that safe?”

“It wasn’t. But I double-majored in pharmacology and chemistry so I had an idea of what I needed and experimented with my dosages from there. I think I did a decent job.”

Cassian had to take a moment as his entire view of Nesta shifted on its axis, changing everything he knew about everything. If she was telling the truth, that meant…

He sat upright. “Why did you need a prescription in the first place? Why would you need so many different drugs?”

Nesta turned her head away and didn’t respond. 

He knew the answer was obvious, but Cassian still felt the need to pry. “You just don’t seem like someone who would need all those meds. I’ve never thought anything was wrong with you…” He trailed off as Nesta suddenly stood up to her feet, brushing the snow off her behind as she walked back toward the house. He panicked as he realized what he’d said. “Wait, come back—”

She was doing that thing again where she pretended she couldn’t hear him. 

Later at dinner, he brought the topic up again against his better instincts. Only because something had been niggling at him since Nesta’s confession. “What about the oxycodone?” He inspected her head to toe, not knowing where on her body she could possibly have been injured enough to require such heavy painkillers. “What was that for?”

She inhaled a tight breath but didn’t let it out. “I’ve never used that.”

“Then why did you have it?”

She didn’t respond, and that was clearly all the information she was willing to divulge for the day. Fair enough. Cassian had already gotten more than he’d ever expected from her.

It was only when they were in front of the fire later that evening, Cassian letting Nesta sip hot chocolate out of his mug, that he said, “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. About how it didn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with you.”

She was silent in response.

He continued on, “I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. Not that that’s an excuse, but… There’s nothing wrong with needing those meds, is what I’m trying to say. And if I were a more observant person, I probably would’ve noticed you needed them a long time ago. And…yeah.” He felt like an idiot, wanting to squirm as her silence dragged on.

She only took another sip of the hot chocolate, making him wonder whether she’d heard him at all. He watched her lips wrap around the rim of his mug and knew he should get up to get her her own cup, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He loved that she was drinking out of his mug too much. Besides, Nesta seemed to eat better when it was someone else’s food and drink instead of her own.

“I don’t think you’re an idiot,” she said a few minutes later. 

He startled, thinking she’d read his mind for a moment. Then he remembered what he’d said earlier. “You don’t?” 

“I don’t. I think you can be very perceptive.”

Chills like electric currents ran down Cassian’s body in full force. Had anyone ever said such a thing to him before? Had he ever even known that he wanted to hear it?

Praise from Nesta of all people felt like being gifted the last drink of water on a dying earth. Precious and unlimited in value. “Thank you,” was all he could say.

After another moment, he hesitantly added, “I don’t know what exactly it is that’s been bothering you…”

Nesta stared into the fire. “Everyone knows I went off the rails after my father died.”

“But it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You mean how Elain and I got kidnapped and assaulted before that? Yeah, that was part of it too, I suppose.”

Cassian’s grip on the now-empty mug tightened at the memory. It felt like a lifetime ago, the way it had been so successfully buried by— well, everybody. Rhysand had saved the sisters in the end and ensured their physical recovery, but nothing had ever been done for their mental states. Elain had suffered but eventually moved past it, and for a while it had seemed as if Nesta was hardly affected as well. Everyone had been convinced that she was okay, until Mr. Archeron suddenly died and all at once it had become clear that she wasn’t.

“Part of it,” Cassian agreed tightly. “But not all of it.”

Her trauma was a wound that had been left to fester for years, only somewhere along the way infection had taken over. He only wanted to know the cause, suspecting that it was hidden away in that period of time where she’d run away from them.

But Nesta had already given him much more this weekend than he ever could have asked for, and he didn’t have the slightest idea why. Either way, he was grateful for her tentative vulnerability. It was only right to offer something in return.

He sniffed lightly. “You know this politics stuff— none of it is clean or legal. The things I’ve had to do for Rhys…”

“What things?”

He was looking down at the hardwood floor when he said, “Terrible things. Not murder, but things that some would say are just as bad.”

“Do you like your job?”

That made him huff a laugh. “Some people thrive in it, but I never thought humans were meant to be violent to other humans like that. The brutality takes a piece of your soul. Every time.”

Nesta hummed noncommittally. “I can think of plenty of people I’d like to be violent to.”

Of course she could. “It’s not like that,” he tried to explain. “It’s people you have no personal issue with, who’ve never done anything evil, that you have to take down. It’s senseless destruction.”

Nesta’s gaze grew distant as she stared into the fire, the blaze of light not seeming to hurt her eyes at all. “I think I know what you mean.”

She sounded so haunted as she said the words that it made Cassian turn to face her. How did she know? But she was slumped over in exhaustion now, done talking for the night. 

After several more minutes of nothing but the sound of the crackling fireplace, Nesta’s eyes were drooping heavily. He knew he should tell her to go upstairs to sleep in her bed, but he selfishly wanted to keep her by his side for as long as he could. When she curled up right on the floor beside him and shut her eyes, though, he knew it was time to say goodbye. 

The damn house didn’t even have rugs to warm people’s feet, and her bones would hurt if she fell asleep on the bare hardwood. Cassian himself wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. Rhysand would expect him to be back in Velaris by the crack of dawn, and he only had a few hours left before he had to start driving.

So he stood up with a groan and bent down to pick her up in his arms— she was worryingly light— and carried her up to her room without a word. 

Whether Nesta was awake enough to be aware of what was happening or not, he didn’t know. But as he was tucking her sleepy form into her bed, bringing the blankets up to her nose how she preferred it, he spied something hanging on the wall adjacent to the bed. 

The moonlight reflecting off the snow outside illuminated the poster he’d bought her yesterday. It was positioned in such a way that one could see it every time they went to bed and every time they woke up. For the first time, he took notice of the small slogan printed under the Yukon title: Larger than life.

[seospicybin]

REWIND.

PART I

Hyunjin x reader x Seungmin. (s,a)

Chapters: Part II

Synopsis: As a part of a research team that works on a memory-erasing machine, you work alongside the professor whom you greatly admire and a computer geek who relentlessly flirts with you. But the one that you want is the one that you can't have. (12,6k words)

Author's note: Sorry for the delay. Enjoy this one!

Memories are recordings of our past experiences and experiences can be good and bad, some are in between. There are also ones that we wish we had never experienced in the first place and whether we like it or not, they stay with us. We can only try to endure them in the hope that time will lessen the pain that memory carries.

The thing is remembering is easy. It's forgetting that's hard.

Here at KS Research Facility, forgetting is as easy as pressing the delete button. The research team has successfully built software called Memory Neurons Erasing Machine, in short, MNE-Machine.

With the existence of this machine, now anyone can erase a certain memory from their brain and live as if that memory never existed at all.

The one to thank for this technology is Professor Kim Seungmin, the youngest yet the brightest scientist of the past decade. He is the one who came up with the idea, spent two years developing that idea, initiated the project, and ultimately, led the team building the machine from scratch.

There's only one MNE-Machine in the world for now and once it has successfully passed five human tests, the board will authorize the production of this machine so eventually, anyone can easily undergo the memory erasing procedure which means there’ll be more people to help.

And what is your part in this? You're an assistant to Seungmin, you directly work with the man who invented it and help him achieve his goal. Despite your minor role, you're proud to be a part of it. Despite restocking the coffee pods in his office is one of your job desks, well… yeah, you're still proud of it.

"How much time do I have before the meeting?"

You scramble when you see Professor Seungmin come into the office. You hurriedly finish restocking the coffee pods into the drawer and crumple the empty box behind your back. You glance at your wristwatch and check the time.

"You have approximately 30 minutes," you answer with a smile.

It's not like he'll your smile, Seungmin barely speaks a full sentence to you so there's no reason he looks at you in the eyes as he speaks. He goes to his drawer, scanning through the files with his fingers flipping one file over another to finally find the one he's looking for. He takes it with him as he sits on his desk, flipping the file open and starts reading.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Professor?" You ask because despite it being your job to assist him, he rarely asks for your help unless it's urgent.

He stays quiet until he flips to another page of his file, "Get me the subject's latest psych eval!"

"Right away, Professor!" You reply, picking up the empty box and carrying it with you out of the office.

Considering that there's not much time left until the meeting, you need to get it fast for Seungmin. But you know when you're in a hurry, there's always something that slows you down in the process. Well, in your case, it's a man who dresses like he's in a rock band in his ripped jeans and oversized t-shirts, his dark hair that he keeps long is usually tied in a low, messy ponytail.

At one point, everyone just kind of gave up telling him to put his lab coat on. As long as he does his job well as a tech scientist, everyone just let him be.

However, Hwang Hyunjin can't let you be, he flirts and teases, even seduces you at any chance possible.

"Can you get off my chair?" You ask, then let out a low sigh.

He swivels the chair to face you and grins, making his eyes forming two crescent moons, "I'm making your chair much more comfortable," he simply says while patting his lap, telling you to sit on it instead.

It's only going to be a waste of time trying to tell him off so you relent, sitting on his lap and when he's about to put his arms around you, you glare at him.

Hyunjin immediately put his hands up in defeat, "Want to grab drinks after work?"

He asked you the same question every other day for a few months now and your answer remains the same.

"No," you answer without a beat, getting on your computer to search for the file Seungmin asked.

"How about dinner?" Hyunjin shoves his hand into the pocket of your lab coat, knowing you like to keep sweets in there.

"My treat," he adds while checking the other pocket.

You're clicking open a few folders as you answer, "No."

Hyunjin excitedly gasps as he pulls out something out of your pocket, a caramel. He wastes no time to unwrap it then pops the cube-shaped caramel into his mouth.

"You know you can't keep saying no to me," he says, resting his chin on your shoulder.

"No," you shortly respond.

He hisses at the way you keep rejecting him, "There'll be a day where you say yes," he confidently says.

You look away from the computer screen to look at him and say, "No."

He softly sighs then rests his chin on your other shoulder, "Let's say you already done your part playing hard to get and get to the first base already," he shamelessly says.

Hyunjin is so bold and confident, you can't deny that he's beautiful, he probably never had any problems getting any girls he wanted. Maybe that’s why he won't stop asking you out, he feels challenged to win you over too. As if you would let him have the satisfaction.

Shaking your head, you pretend that you didn't hear him say that. You click print on the file and get up from his lap, walking to the printer to wait for it to finish printing yet Hyunjin follows you there, leaning against the printer machine with his arms crossed in front of you

"The more you reject me, the more motivated I am," he says with a lopsided grin on his face.

"You sound like a serial killer," you tell him.

He bends down to get the printed file for you and hands it to you with both hands, "I'm just saying."

Without looking, you know Hyunjin is trailing behind you like a puppy with his tail wagging behind him. He then sits on the edge of your desk, grabbing the stapler for you to use.

"Go, do your job or something!" You try to send him off even though you know it's going to be a useless effort.

"I am doing my job by helping you do your job," he says with a half-smirk.

See? It's only going to waste your time trying to tell him off, it's easier to ignore him. You hurriedly tidy the files and bring them to Seungmin's office. You place three gentle knocks on the door before letting yourself in.

"Professor, I have the files you need— Ouch!" You bump into someone and you glance up to see that it's Seungmin.

His office is big, in fact, too big for someone who likes to spend most of his time in the lab yet you feel like there's no space left where you can escape his intense stare.

"Oh, God! I am so sorry," you apologize in sheer panic and quickly take off the hands unknowingly resting against his chest.

You expect him to, you know, dust himself off since your hands were touching him but instead of that, he looks at you and not just look at your face but right into your eyes for the first time in a long time. The eye contact only lasts a second until Seungmin takes the files from you.

"I'll read it on the way to the meeting room," he says.

Having no time, you hurriedly grab your things from your desk, clutching them close to your chest as you follow him from behind.

On the way to the meeting room, Seungmin spotted Hyunjin having a donut in the pantry. He stops on his track to say, "Aren't you coming?"

Hyunjin knows well enough that when Seungmin tells him to go, then he should go. In fact, Seungmin is the only one who can control Hyunjin. A part of the reason is because Seungmin personally hired him and has been taking him under his wing, you can say Hyunjin is his protégé.

He puts the half-eaten donut down and happily joins the two of you as you let him link his arm with you, walking together to the meeting room.

-

There are three main buildings in the KS Research Facility.

 A building is the main office and a health facility, B building is the biggest and also a research facility, there are several science projects on the works in there but it's mainly focused on Biochemical, led by Professor Hale and C building is where you work along with the team that works with MNE-Machine, it's the smallest building so the team get to have the building for themselves.

But as a smaller community, you have to go to the B building for meetings and such because most of the board members are there. You have to walk from and through the greenhouse, seeing all the rare plants the scientists are collecting in there on the way to get to the B building.

Today's meeting is to seek approval from the members of the board on the test subject Seungmin has carefully selected from a group of volunteers and once it's approved he can proceed with the procedure.

While the important people are busy talking about important stuff, you and Hyunjin are secretly playing tic-tac-toe in your notebook. He's twirling his pen between his fingers when you subtly nudge his elbow, signaling that it's his turn to place his O.

As Hyunjin observes the game with his tongue slightly sticking out the corner of his mouth, you notice that Professor Hale's assistant, Rina, is staring at Hyunjin.

"Your turn," he whispers at you.

You look down at your notebook and lowly mutter through your gritted teeth, "One o'clock."

It takes him a moment to get what you're saying, and then Hyunjin looks in the direction you hinted. You watch them exchange a look before Hyunjin turns his head back at you, looking unbothered. He clicks his pen to place an O and scratches down the line.

"I won," he whispers with his warm breath tickling your ear.

Noticing that the meeting has come to a final decision, you stop talking and fix your sitting position. You watch as the board members take votes on whether Seungmin can continue with the test or not and all hands are raised in favor of Seungmin.

"With all members approving the selected test subject, Professor Seungmin is allowed to continue with the procedure that will be held on the agreed upon time and place," the board leader announces.

Even in his triumphant moment, Seungmin remains calm and still, you can't remember the last time he smiled, even out of courtesy. Ha he always been like this? Honestly, you can’t remember.

"The board members will watch closely the process, before and after the test. We also demand follow-ups and thorough datas on every detail of the test," they warn once again even though it's not the first time Seungmin has run the test.

Everyone scatters around once the meeting has finished, you wait outside of the meeting room knowing that Seungmin will likely stay to chat with the other professors. Rina is still here as well, holding her tablet close to her chest and not-so-subtly staring at Hyunjin

"You should ask her out," you mutter at Hyunjin, subtly hinting the subject of the talk with your eyes.

Hyunjin doesn't even look up from his phone when he flat-out rejects the idea, "No, thank you."

"Why not? She's pretty and she's your age," you point out all of the obvious facts why he should be seducing her, not you who's a couple of years older than him and not having a shiny, healthy hair.

Hyunjin lets out a scoff, then shoves his phone into the pocket of his hoodie, "You're prettier and older," he says with a sly smile plastered on his face.

Whether he tries to compliment you or try to offend you, you feel like you need to check if there's something wrong with him. You poke his side with your pen and he yelps in pain.

"What's wrong with you?" He sharply gasps.

"You are what's wrong," you answer, poking him on the other side this time.

He laughs and leans against the wall facing you, slightly slouching so he can be on the same eye level with you. "Dating older women is hot, you know," he coyly remarks.

You give him a repulsed glare at his words, shaking your head as you look away from him.

"And you're hot so dating you would be ticking two boxes at once," he adds with his sly smile growing wider on his angular face.

Besides your actual job, you have to deal with this 5'10" man bursting with youthful charm and testosterone, you wouldn't complain if you get double paychecks for it. You aim his stomach next and poke him with your pen again, hoping a little violence would put some sense into his small head.

"One more test, huh?" Professor Hale says, patting Seungmin's shoulder as they walk out of the meeting room.

It feels like your body is accustomed to getting on your perfect posture whenever Seungmin walks into your radar, you stop moving altogether and stand up straighter.

"I'll see everyone on Friday!" Professor Hale says one last time, he also smiles at you and Hyunjin before turning to leave.

Now that the team has earned the green light, everyone is going to get busier to prepare everything. Seungmin lists the things he wants you to do as he walks back to C building and you jot down everything on your notebook. He stops by the main lab and gets Hyunjin on the job, ordering him to run a diagnostic test on the MNE-Machine, checking for any issues.

It's one of those times when you can see how passionate Seungmin is about his work.

He's the reason why you applied for the job, not only because you can work directly with him but also because you admire him, his brilliance, his work ethic, and most of all, him as a person.

There are so many things you learned from working for him for the last three years and your admiration toward him only grows bigger with time. And out of that admiration, something else grows, something that makes you excited to go to work, makes you happy at the sight of him and wanting to always be close to him.

Sensing that someone is watching him, Seungmin turns around to find you still standing there, "Don't you have things to do?"

You gulp air before asking, "Uhm.. Professor?"

He starts walking with his hands shoved inside his lab coat pockets, "Yes?"

You half jog to keep up with his wide strides, "Professor Hale said one more test and I thought we're only on our fourth test?"

You wait for his answer while quietly admiring his wide shoulders from the back while struggling to keep up with his fast walks.

All of a sudden, he turns on his feet and then he looks at you, the eye contact doesn't last longer than a second until he looks away, "Notify the test subject first and make sure they make the time for the interview tomorrow!" He orders instead of answering your question.

"Will do, Professor," you respond.

You manage to finish a few things before it's time to go home, the rest on the to-do list are meant to be done tomorrow though. As you're about to get your coat, Seungmin walks out of his office and swings his briefcase on his side.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he says without looking at you.

"Have a great—" You don't even get to finish your sentence as he disappears into the elevator.

Only a dozen people are working in the C building and there are only five people working directly with Seungmin. Professor Lee who worked together on MNE-Machine with Seungmin is being called to give lectures out of the country and taking his assistant with him, so that leaves you and Hyunjin. The rest of the employees are working maintenance on the lower level of the building, you only meet them when you either enter or leave the building.

"Are you sure you don't want to grab drinks with me?" Hyunjin asks, unlocking his car but not getting in yet.

You toss your bag onto the passenger's seat before getting inside your car. It's actually tempting to say yes, you could use it to blow some steam off to prepare you for the busy days ahead.

But you don't want to give Hyunjin the satisfaction. No, not yet.

"No," you answer with a playful smile.

Hyunjin tosses his backpack inside and comes up to your car, he bends down to look at you through your rolled-down window.

"Come on. It'll be fun," he persuades with a smile that is mischievous and seductive at once. You bet this is how he puts anyone under his spell.

You turn your head at him and smile, "You know what would be fun?"

He tips his head to the side and asks, "What?"

"Me running you over with my car," you jokingly say as you turn on the car engine.

“Ooo… feisty,” Hyunjin hisses then slowly, he steps away from your car.

That's how most of your days usually went, dealing with two men who are the opposite of each other. One gives you not enough attention and the other gives you way too much. One is cold and nonchalant, the other one is warm and attentive.

Sadly, the one that you want is the one that you can't have.

-

What is it that he likes about you? Hyunjin can quite put his finger on it.

Something about you though draws him to you, it's almost magnetic and he happens to like the push and pull of it. However, he liked you even before this dynamic formed between the two of you.

He likes that you're unlike the other girls he had met and known, you have a way of carrying yourself, you're outspoken and bold, and he can see how smart you are from the way you act, the way you talk, and even the way you think.

Under that layer of fine qualities though, you're a simple girl, gentle and a bit silly and Hyunjin likes to play with that latter part of you because he knows that even though you act like you don't like being around him, he knows that it’s actually the opposite.

One thing that Hyunjin likes the most is when you're deeply focusing on something. You look so beautiful yet so unaware of it.

"Why are you working so hard? You only get one paycheck," he whispers from behind you as you observe the interview occurring in the next room.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence,” You sneer at him.

Hyunjin stands right behind you, his hand is rummaging inside your lab coat pocket to find something sweet in there. He finds your scrunchie instead and he uses it to tie his hair into a messy bun.

"So, what memories are we going to erase?" Hyunjin asks while rummaging through your other lab pocket. He gasps in excitement when he finds a lollipop.

"A bombing incident, he was trapped under the rubble for ten hours in complete darkness and has been dealing with severe PTSD and claustrophobia ever since," you eloquently explain, jotting down a few things in your notebook as you speak.

"That's tragic," Hyunjin comments while struggling to unwrap the lollipop.

Hyunjin takes a moment to look at the interview taking place in the next room conducted by Seungmin himself. He's asking the test subject about his worst memories and as the test subject talks about them, he triggers the brain to show where these memories are located. It's important to have a map of these memories to prevent the MNE-Machine from messing with the other memories.

"Are you ready to spend another night together?" He asks, finally succeeding in unwrapping the lollipop.

"I can tell you're into threesomes," you joke in a plain tone.

It seems like Seungmin hasn't told you about the personal matter he has to attend on Friday night and as his assistant, you’re supposed to know these kind of things before him. Hyunjin crosses his arms in front of him and tries to make what of it.

"He didn't tell you?"

You stop noting down bits from the interview, "What?"

"Professor Seungmin will be having his wedding anniversary dinner on Friday night and obviously, he can't miss it," he tells you.

From the way your eyes waver and widen, you indeed have no idea about it. You look back at your notebook but stop writing.

He leans in and mutters, "We'd likely spend the night just the two of us, isn't that exciting?"

You put your pen into your pocket and flip shut your notebook, then you get up from your chair. You turn to look at him and pull the lollipop he stole out of his mouth.

"Stop stealing my sweet!" You tell him, shoving the lollipop into your mouth next.

You leave the room looking slightly upset about something but he's sure it's not about the lollipop. However, Hyunjin is mostly focused on how you didn't hesitate to take the lollipop.

"Kinky? Checked," he mutters to himself.

There's nothing wrong with the MNE-Machine and Hyunjin understands that Seungmin wants everything to be perfect until the day of the test, but he worries too much. The MNE-Machine can only get activated by his access key so he goes to his office, knocking on his door before popping his head between the doors.

"Professor, I need the access key to uh..." he awkwardly says because it feels like he's asking his dad if he can borrow his car.

"I'll be right there," Seungmin shortly answers.

Now that he only needs to wait for Seungmin, he has time to tease you. He leans on your desk, watching your nimble fingers busy typing something on your computer with your hair draping around your face.

"Hi, the most beautiful and hardworking girl," he sweetly greets you with a bright smile on his face.

"That's half true," you say without taking your eyes away from the computer screen.

"You know I'm always telling the truth," he says once again, feeling tempted to tuck your hair so he can see your face.

"I am the only girl in the building," you point out with a raised eyebrow.

Hyunjin can't help himself anymore, he reaches for your hair, wanting to brush it to the side when Seungmin gets out of his office.

"Let's go," he says to Hyunjin while fixing his lab coat.

Hyunjin reluctantly drops his hand and offers it to you, "Come with me, dear princess?"

You chuckle at him and take his hand, letting him put your hand around his as you both walk to the main lab.

MNE-Machine resembles one big X-ray machine but the technology behind it is way more intricate than that and Hyunjin's job is to operate it. He's sitting behind the large desk with a dozen computer screens showing a lot of things all at once.

It's a quick check-up for tomorrow's test, Hyunjin gets the machine ready and swivels his chair back to let Seungmin insert his access key to run the program. Hyunjin's long fingers are dancing on the keyboard, checking everything and making sure everything is fine.

"I don't see any issues here, working just fine, Professor," Hyunjin informs, showing him the performance log on one of the computer screens.

Seungmin observes it for a while, checking things himself and Hyunjin is already used to his mistrust. After all, Seungmin is a scientist,  he only believes something when it's written in data, not someone's words.

"Everything is great," he mutters, still checking everything.

"Just like I said..." Hyunjin lowly mutters through his teeth while swiveling his chair to see you, flashing a smile at you when you're clearly not looking at him.

Seungmin then turns around to face everyone but only looks at Hyunjin as he speaks.

"The two of you can come late tomorrow but make sure to be here by four. The test will commence at 5," Seungmin says even though everyone is well aware of it because it's the only thing they've been working on for these past few days.

"And we'll take care of the rest," Hyunjin continues his words while swiveling his chair back to face the computer,

Seungmin briefly glances at Hyunjin then takes a pen out of his lab coat, "I'll stay to supervise," he says.

"Then how about your dinner, Professor?" Hyunjin asks.

"I'll take care of my personal matter myself," Seungmin coldly answers.

Those words are enough to put Hyunjin back in his place, he retreats right away and closes his mouth. His intention is not to meddle in his business but it's a wedding anniversary, it only happens once in a year and he has to wait for another year to celebrate. Maybe Seungmin can celebrate it another time but Hyunjin wouldn't be so sure the missus would be pleased to hear her husband rather stay the night up working in the lab.

And also because—

"I think you should go, Professor," you say.

The heads are turned in your direction, and you're fidgeting with the hem of your lab coat as you speak, "I mean, once you authorized the procedure... Hyunjin and I, the two of us can supervise it..." your voice gets smaller the more you talk.

It seems like a good time for Hyunjin to add his say too, he gets up from his chair to make it a formal appeal.

"We just need to wait until the machine finishes the procedure. We surely can do that for you," Hyunjin assures.

It's going to be a hard case to convince him since Seungmin has trust issues, especially with Hyunjin. Again, it's the scientist in him.

"I don't feel good leaving such great responsibility on the two of you," He says without looking at either you or him.

"There's nothing to worry about, Professor. The machine works fine and if anything happens— which I'm sure nothing is going to happen, Professor Hale is a building away and... so are the other dozen of Professors..." Hyunjin failed not to fumble on his words, he was rambling the whole time.

"What Hyunjin is trying to say is we're trained to do this and if you're worried, we'll keep you notified every hour on the progress of the procedure," you immediately add.

Hyunjin secretly gives you a thumbs-up from behind his back, thanking you for backing him up.

Seungmin looks at him, then at you, probably considering whether to finally trust his employees or not. Whatever his decision is, Hyunjin is ready to be disappointed. After a moment, Seungmin clicks his pen and puts it back into his pocket.

"I'll think about it," he concludes, leaving the main lab with the hem of his lab coat flying behind him.

Hyunjin kicks the floor to gain momentum so the chair rolls across the room and hits the other end of the table, stopping not far from you.

"I know you want to spend the night together with me," he teases you.

You scoff and look at him, "Mmh. Yeah, sure."

He takes both of your hands and holds them, "What do you want to do tomorrow night, mmh?"

Your shoulders slump as you sigh, "Should I change my mind about this?"

Hyunjin puts his hands on your shoulders and keeps your gaze on him, "How about this? Tomorrow, you come dressed nicely for me and I'll take care of the essentials," he says, slowly blinking his eyes hoping they're enough to soften you.

The stillness on your face shatters as you break into a smile, "Okay," you reply with a nod.

Hyunjin leans down to kiss your hands but you retrieve them before he can place a kiss, "Don't get too excited!"

This proves that you actually like having him around. You could have drawn boundaries and he would have respected it, but instead of that, you keep letting him in.

And Hyunjin hopes you keep on letting him in until the day you finally say yes to him.

-

With Seungmin sending you to pick up his suits at the tailor means that he has decided to go to the wedding anniversary dinner tonight.

The drive from the nearest town to the facility takes half an hour and on the way back to your car, you see a flower shop and think of getting a bouquet as a gift. You pick the nicest one knowing that Seungmin married a woman who comes from a wealthy family and their wealth funded Seungmin's project. In fact, the facility is owned by Seungmin's parents in-laws.

What do you have against all that? This is the bitter pill you have to swallow everyday for the last three years.

As you expected, Seungmin is already in his office as you can see through the glass window, reading his journal and probably working on his new project already. You put on your lab coat and then knock on his office door three times before entering his office.

"Good day, Professor," you greet.

You walk to his coat hanger, hang his suits for him, and then put his mails on his desk. You take a step back and look at him, a way to let him know that you’re at his service.

"Anything else I can do for you, Professor?"

Seungmin looks up from his journal and lays his eyes on you, staring at you like there's something wrong with you. You immediately look down, checking your appearance and you're sure that it's not the first time you wear a skirt to work so what is different about you that gets him staring?

"P-professor?" You stammer, wiping your palms down the front of your skirt.

He immediately looks away and clears his throat as he flips the next page of his journal, "Make sure the serum is ready and check in on Professor Hale uh..." he clears his throat before continuing to talk.

"What time he'll be here, " He takes another look at you before turning his chair away from you.

"Sure thing, Professor," you respond, wasting no time to get on the job.

The sight of the flower bouquet reminds you to put it in the fridge for the time being to keep it fresh, you bring it with you to the pantry, and safely tuck it between bottles of water inside the fridge. You're supposed to go to the B building to get the serum but you make a stop at the main lab, seeing Hyunjin is already busy in front of his computer.

"That's new," you say, commenting on the glasses he's wearing.

Hyunjin rolls his chair away from his desk and looks at you with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, it's uh... I can't see clearly without them," he says while sticking his finger inside the frame, showing you that it's just the frame. Hyunjin has a weird sense of humor but in a way that is adorable, not annoying.

You softly laugh and shake your head, "I have to go to the next building."

He nods and effortlessly twirls a pen between his fingers, "I'd like to come with you but he wants me to..." he shows how busy he is to get everything ready for the test.

"That's okay. I'm working faster this way anyway," you playfully say.

After running around the facility getting everything ready for the test, you knock on Seungmin's office to notify him that everything is ready. As usual, you let yourself in after the third knock and walk up to his desk, "Professor, the test subject is already on their way here," you inform.

Seungmin gets up from his chair to put on his lab coat, "Okay then I'll uh..." he looks down at his desk, cluttered with papers.

"Can you look for the—" he points at the mess on his desk.

"Want me to tidy your desk?" You offer but not moving until you get his confirmation.

"Yes."

While he's busy putting on his lab coat, you gather all the papers and put all of them into a stack, along with old files he took out from archives. You organize them into different piles and when you lift his journal, his access key slips out of it. You don't know if he notices, but you quickly squat down to get it from the floor.

Seungmin keeps a Polaroid photo in the back of his access key, you can tell from the back of it but you're curious to see who's in the photo. The safe bet would be of his wife or them together but if that's the case then why did he choose to hide it?

"Here," you hand him his access key knowing that he needs it to authorize the use of MNE-Machine.

Seungmin looks at you, then at the access key in your hand. He quickly reaches for it and as he takes it from you, his fingers brush with yours, you feel a static current, a slight electric shock that makes you retract your hand right away.

You see that he senses it too from the way his eyes widen and grow a little intense, or maybe because you caught him staring into your eyes again.

"I'll check the main lab," you excuse yourself out of his office.

The preparation continues as Professor Seungmin explains the procedure that he'll be going through and after that, he gives him an injection with the serum that will make the test subject's brain responsive to the MNE-Machine. Soon, the test subject will fall into deep sleep and he'll remain in his slumber while the MNE-Machine is working on him.

Everyone gathers in the main lab to start the test and Professor Hale is here as the representation of the board members, watching over Seungmin who works with a team of doctors to check on the test subject one last time to continue with the procedure.

You walk up to stand next to Hyunjin who also watches everything from the operator room, you quietly take his hand and put it inside your lab coat pocket.

He turns his head at you and smiles when he finds the sweet you keep in there for him. He gladly takes it out of your pocket and his eyes shimmer when he finds out what it is, a small bar of chocolate.

"Good luck for today," you mutter to him.

"Thank you," He whispers as he puts it in the back pocket of his jeans.

It's time for the final step. Seungmin takes out his access key and scans it into the computer, sending the screens light up and the system starts loading.

Hyunjin then takes the role of operating the machine, clicking on his keyboard and getting the MNE-Machine ready for Seungmin. When he's done, he backs away to let Seungmin push the authorization button. He glances at Professor Hale, seeking final approval from him.

"Go ahead, Professor," Professor Hale says, allowing him to continue.

Seungmin confidently pushes the button and MNE-Machine begins by following the map Seungmin has recorded days before and from there, it starts erasing the targeted memories from its most recent to the earliest. The procedure could take 8 to 10 hours, depending on the amount of memories programmed to be erased.

Professor Hale applauds as Seungmin successfully launches another test and comes up to him to congratulate him with a proud smile on his face and pats on his shoulder, "Congratulations!"

"Don't congratulate me yet, Professor," Seungmin sheepishly says.

"We all know your machine is a great success," Professor Hale praises, briefly glancing at you before looking back at him.

You don't want to overanalyze something that could mean nothing but a mere glance. You smile at him thinking he's just being courteous with you.

Professor Seungmin leaves to send everyone off or more like, return to B building. Now that the procedure is truly underway, you come up behind Hyunjin to give him a pat on the shoulder.

"Wow. You're working," you poke fun at him.

Hyunjin takes your hand and pulls at it, dropping his head to the back to look at you, "Do I look smart?"

"You are smart," you simply confirm with a gentle pat on his cheek.

There's no other reason why Seungmin hired him in the first place if it's not because he’s qualified for the job which includes adequate intelligence.

"And you like smart guys so what are we waiting for?" He says, pressing your palm to his cheek.

"Professor Seungmin," you tell him, seeing that he's making his way back into the main lab with his hands buried in his lab coat pockets.

You hurriedly take your hands away from Hyunjin and take a step back, you immediately get on your perfect posture as his figure enters the room.

"What's the status?" Seungmin asks.

"Everything is up and running fine," Hyunjin immediately responds.

"Vital signs?"

"Normal and stable," you respond from the other end of the desk, watching over the state of the test subject's essential body functions.

Seungmin stayed for another hour until the MNE-Machine successfully erased the first memory. He checks on everything once again to finally leave the main lab and goes to his office to get ready to leave.

You don't want to walk in on him changing his clothes so you give it a few more minutes and decide to take the flower bouquet out of the fridge before you forget. As usual, you knock three times on his door but this time, you wait until he lets you in. You knock again when he doesn't respond, afraid that he's still changing.

"Come in!" Seungmin says from inside his office.

Seungmin is tying his tie in front of the mirror when you come in, you stop right by his desk and inform him of the latest status of the test.

"Keep watching it closely while I..." his words trail off as he slides the knot up to the base of his shirt collar. He turns around and takes the suit jacket off of its hanger, swiftly putting it on. He's doing a mundane thing yet it's such a mesmerizing sight for you.

You notice the back of his collar is folded and you reach for it, reflexively fixing it for him. Now that you have crossed into his personal space, you may as well continue by helping him flatten the lapels of his suit jacket. You can feel his eyes on you as you fix on his tie and you try so hard to ignore it.

It's better to say sorry than ask for permission.

You quickly take a step back once you're done and mutter your apology, "I'm sorry."

Instead of scolding you, Seungmin takes his briefcase and coat with him, then heads to the door. You scramble to chase him out of his office and give in once you know that he's going to the main lab to check everything before he leaves.

Seungmin returns with Hyunjin and you hurriedly grab the bouquet you bought for him. You doubt he'll accept it but what's the harm in doing something nice?

Hyunjin pushes the button on the elevator and it arrives in a minute. Not giving him a chance to reject your gift, you wait until the last moment to give it to him.

"Congratulations on your wedding anniversary, Professor," you mutter as quickly as possible, handing the bouquet right into his hand.

Seungmin looks at the flowers in his hand, then looks at you, seeming like he wants to say something but refrains.

"Congratulations, Professor!" Hyunjin also congratulates him as he stands next to you.

"Have a great night!" He cheerily adds with a bright smile and enthusiastically waves his hands at him.

As the elevator doors close, you feel like letting go of something that you can't get back. It's funny that it feels like that when he's not yours in the first place.

The hand rests around your shoulder and snaps you out of your head. You turn your head to find Hyunjin slyly smiling at you.

"Ready to party?" 

-

The parent is finally out of the house and Hyunjin can throw a party in the house.

As promised, he brought a box of things that he deemed as ‘essentials’ that he's been keeping it hidden in the cabinet in the pantry.

"Okay, impress me!" You tell him, standing across the table to see what he bought for tonight.

Hyunjin puts on a cocky smile, he's confident with what he does as he places the box on top of the counter with a low thud. First, he takes out all the bags of chips and cans of soda.

One corner of your mouth curls higher than the other, seeing that he bought all of your favorite snacks. You take a bag of chips and waste no time to tear it open.

"Not the time to be impressed yet," he says to you with the cocky smile still dancing on his face.

You shrug and continue munching on potato chips as he introduces you to the other essentials.

Hyunjin takes a bottle of Tequila next and you respond with a nod of approval. He continues with another one, a tin can, and slides it in front of you.

"Mints?" You ask in utter confusion.

This time, Hyunjin gives you a shrug. He makes you open the tin can to find two rolled joints inside. He sees another smile of approval rise on your pretty face.

Hyunjin suppresses his laugh as he fishes out the last thing, he holds it in his hand and puts it in the middle of the counter.

Your eyebrow raises at the sight of a box of condoms, "This is essential?" 

Hyunjin rests both hands on top of the counter, "If you want to do it raw, I'm more than okay with it," he jokingly says.

You pick it up and observe it like you have never seen it before, reading the back of the box like it’s a foreign object to you.

"Regardless we'll have sex or not, a condom is essential," Hyunjin adds.

You snort when you notice something on the box of condoms, "Are you sure you bought the right size?"

He snatches it from you and puts it back into the box. He stares at you and says, "You have no idea what's coming to you."

You chortle at his words and uncap the bottle of alcohol, "Let's get this party started, shall we?"

He stops from you from getting the bottle of Tequila, "No, wait, wait, now is the time for you to be impressed," he says.

You tip your head to the side, "What?"

"I have Tim from security bring us pizza when he takes his shift tonight," Hyunjin announces with a pride smile.

The facility is in the countryside and ordering food is hard because it takes at least half an hour to get here, even if they are willing to go that far, the food gets cold by the time they get here.

"Now, I am impressed," you remark with a sly smile.

As a start, you both have a few shots of Tequila before mixing it with soda and drinking it from your respective mugs. The party continues in the main lab as Hyunjin has to message Seungmin on the current status. Hyunjin chooses to send a text instead of calling, afraid that he interrupt the romantic dinner.

Hyunjin glances up from his phone to find you leaning against the desk, reading something on the computer. With your lab coat off, he can see the way you are dressed for tonight. Not sure if it's because of what he asked but you indeed dressed nicely tonight. You wear a blouse and a plaid skirt, and you rarely wear a skirt to work, but the one that intrigues him is the black tights you're wearing.

Fuck leaving so little to the imagination, he likes having a lot of imagination when it comes to you. He can imagine a lot of scenarios just from seeing the way you bend against that desk.

You take a small sip of your alcohol then look over your shoulder, "Do you know why I can't open this file?"

Hyunjin immediately comes to your aid, standing behind you until his chest meets your back and maneuvering your hand that is holding the computer mouse instead of doing it himself. His head hanging next to yours to find out the problem of why you can't open the file and he discovered that it's locked.

"You need an access key to open this," he simply answers.

"You're saying Professor Seungmin is the only one who can access the file?"

He quietly gulps air before answering your question, "Yes."

You turn your head to the side to look at him and he can't keep his calm when your lips are only inches away from him.

"Can we have that joint now?" You sweetly ask with your alcohol-tinted breath brushes his lips.

He softly smiles and answers, "Of course."

Hyunjin lights up the end of the rolled joint and takes a drag, passing it to you after while letting out a long curl of white smoke out of his mouth.

"Why do you think he locked it?" You ask as you take the joint from him.

"I don't know," Hyunjin honestly answers with a shrug, "Maybe it's his new project or something."

You take a long, slow drag and pursed your lips as you exhale the smoke, filling the room with the sweet-smelling smoke.

"I found it in among the data files of previous tests," you tell him, passing the joint to him.

You turn around to face the computer again to show him where you find the locked files, "See?"

It's supposed to be a fun night and discovering what's inside that locked files isn't a part of the plan. Hyunjin needs to intervene so when you're about to take your turn to smoke, Hyunjin keeps it tugged between his teeth and rolls his chair away from you.

"Hey!" You shout in complaint.

"Puff and pass!" You remind him of the unwritten rule of smoking pot.

Hyunjin shakes his head and reclines on his chair, "Come and get it," he says, smoke escapes his mouth as he speaks.

Once you come close enough, he pulls you until you topple and have you sitting on his lap. You don't seem to mind, you get comfortable instead, resting your back on his chest and let his arms wrapped around you.

You take the smoke from his mouth and finally take your turn, "You think he'll be back soon?"

Hyunjin's forehead wrinkled at your random and sudden question, "Professor Seungmin?"

"Yeah," you answer, handing the joint back to him.

He takes it from you but keeps it between his fingers, "Uhm... I don't know. Rich people tend to take their dinner seriously, they probably have a full-course dinner, and after that... sex," Hyunjin emphasizes the last word.

He then takes a quick drag and looks the other way to exhale the smoke, "God, I hope he gets laid. Man needs to lighten up!"

He passes the joint to you even though there's not much left of it but you refuse by shaking your head. He finishes it and throws the butt into his empty can of soda.

"Don't worry. We'll have time for a foreplay or two," he jokingly says with his hand rubbing down your arm.

You laugh at that and his body shakes along to your crisp laughter. You turn your head and there it goes again, your lips merely inches away from him.

This palpable sexual tension... Hyunjin can't take it anymore yet he does nothing but keeps staring at your face.

"Are you going to keep staring and not kiss me?" You say but it seems like you're reading his thoughts out loud to him.

You take his glasses off and toss them away, "Or do I have to do it for you?" 

Your hand curves around his neck and you angle his head towards you, not hesitating to lean in first to kiss him.

Hyunjin always thought that when the two of you kiss, he imagined it would be romantic but it's not, it feels way better than that. It feels natural and familiar like he has kissed you a thousand times, like your lips belong to be kissed by his lips.

And you know what? Fuck romantic kisses.

Hyunjin wants kisses that feel right like this, tightening his hold around you and engulfing you in his warm embrace as he deepens the kiss. The more he kisses you, the more he can't stop, and worse is, you keep trying to quench his endless thirst.

The sound of his phone ringing shatters the intense moment, he keeps kissing you and mutters against your lips, "Let's pretend none of us hear it."

You chuckle and slowly pull away, "It could be Professor Seungmin," you say, then console him with a quick peck on the lips.

"Mmh... 'kay," he heavily sighs.

Hyunjin reluctantly reaches for his phone on his desk while his other arm is still wrapped around you, not letting you get off his lap. He accepts the call right away and talks on the phone, it's Tim from security telling him his pizza is here. He ends the call with another sigh.

"I have to go and get our pizza," he pouts at you.

"Then go and get our pizza," you simply resolve.

Hyunjin holds you close and allows himself to plant a kiss on your neck. He stays there for a moment with his head buried in your neck, getting himself drunk in your heavenly scent.

After a moment, he forces himself to let you go, "Guess I have to go," he says in defeat.

You take that as a cue to get up from his lap and immediately smooth down your skirt, "I'll be waiting here."

Hyunjin ties his hair into a messy bun and takes his phone with him, in case Seungmin is going to call him to ask for the current status.

"Don't go anywhere, okay?" He warns you.

You lean your hips against the desk and take a sip of your alcohol, "Okay."

Hyunjin heads to the door and then turns around by the doorway, "We'll continue the kiss when we get back."

You manage to not spit your drink and swallow it before answering, "Okay."

Impulsively, Hyunjin rushes to you and places a long peck on your lips. He then breaks into a run, not giving you time to change your mind about continuing the kiss.

-

It's going to take at least 20 minutes for Hyunjin to pick up the pizza to and fro.

As you wait for him, you're going to your desk to check on a few things, and then you see Seungmin's office and get intrigued to get in there. You're not going to steal anything, you just want to take a look around and perhaps, get a few hints on what Seungmin is working on.

You've seen the books on his shelf one too many times so you come to his desk because that's where you usually get any hints. It's either something he randomly jot down on his notebook or the journals he's studying.

Seungmin happens to have a stack of them on his desk, you're going through them one by one, only reading the front page to see what it's about and moving on to the next one. However, between those scientific journals, you find a different file. You open it to see that it's a lease statement whether he wants to continue the contract for another year or not.

The first thought that comes to your head is that maybe Seungmin bought a nice beach house as a wedding anniversary gift but why did he rent it? He's more than capable of buying a property, especially a house with only one bedroom that—

Wait, what if they've been living separately? You check the address and find that the conclusion is rather implausible. It's two hours of drive, commuting from there and here would be tiring. 

The faint sound of the elevator chimes open can be heard from his office, it seems like Hyunjin has returned from picking up the pizza. You tidy up the stack and put them back where they belong, then quietly leave his office. You can hear Hyunjin calling for your name.

You jog to meet him in the pantry, "Smells nice!"

"Where were you?" He asks, opening the fridge to get another bottle of soda.

"Bathroom," you lie since it’s easier then refill his mug with more alcohol and Hyunjin pours soda after.

It must be the effect of the recreational drug you smoked earlier that makes the pizza taste exceptionally delicious and the next thing you know, you already ate three slices of them. Hyunjin has been so quiet and it's because his mouth is full of food. He smiles at you as you catch him taking a big bite out of his pizza.

"Hyunjin eats so well!" You coo, addressing him in the third person and poking at his cheek with your index finger, treating him like a little baby to annoy him.

"Do you have any memories you want to erase?"

The question just sort of pops into your head and you are kind of curious to know his answer. You pick up another slice and alternate it with a sip of your spiked soda in between bites.

Hyunjin slows down his chewing, he puts down his pizza slice to grab his drink, and takes an earthly sip, "Maybe that one time I pissed my pants during the school field trip," he answers.

"How old were you?"

"Second grade."

You take a small bite of your pizza and ask, "What happened?"

"I got bitten by a spider," he answers.

"And how did you piss your pants?"

"Because I'm afraid of spiders," he innocently answers.

You burst into laughter and have a hard time swallowing your food after, you wash it down with your Tequila soda to help.

"But I'm not sure I wanted to erase it though," Hyunjin adds, adding more alcohol to his mug.

You give up on finishing your pizza slice and put it back in the box, "Why is that so?"

"That day, I found out I'm allergic to spider venom," he answers.

You scrunch your nose in perplexity because it's bad experiences, one after another and he chooses not to erase it,

"Why not?"

"Then I would forget that I'm allergic to it," he simply answers.

You don't get enough explanation from him so you keep looking at him with a questioning look on your face.

"What if I get bitten by a spider again and I don't have the knowledge that I'm allergic to spider venom?" Hyunjin lays out a scenario for you.

"Well, yeah..." you nod in agreement as the logic in his answer registered into your head.

"I could have died," Hyunjin dramatically adds with a squeeze on your shoulder.

"I get it, I get it," you answer, half chuckling at him.

Hyunjin takes a long sip of his drink and gasps once he swallows it all down. He leans on the counter and leaves not so much space between your faces.

"But think about it..." he says.

You nod, ready to listen to what he's about to say.

"Life would be boring if we only remember the good memories," he says.

That simple notion speaks so much and when you think Hyunjin couldn't be more profound than that, he comes with another remark.

"There wouldn't be good moments in the first place without the bad ones too."

Hyunjin lets a moment pass in silence to let those words sink into your head and you're indeed still processing them. He makes a good point that you can't add anything to that. You can't believe that Hyunjin has left you speechless.

But looking at the test subject, going through the procedure to have their bad memories erased doesn't mean that they're being cowardly. They have must thought these things through before deciding to volunteer as a test subject.

“But when you look at babies, they’re so pure and free because they come into this world with no memories. And adults are… a mess. They’re sad, depressed, and anxious and have phobias, and Professor Seungmin, he makes them all go away,” You deliver your opinion.

Hyunjin nods in agreement and that regardless of everyone’s stand on whether they want to erase their memories or not, the work all of you are doing here helps people.

-

"They're on their sixth, yes," Hyunjin speaks into the phone as Seungmin calls the office for a status check.

"Vitals?" He glances at you.

You hurriedly hover to the other end of the desk to check and give him a thumbs-up.

"Pulse rate, respiration, BP, all stable," he informs.

The call ends in the next second and Hyunjin places the handle of the phone down, he leans against the desk, panting as if he has just run a mile. It seems like you both have sobered down after munching on pizza together. You exchange a look at each other and break into a smile at the same time.

"Card game?" Hyunjin offers.

"Sure."

You can taste the imbalance of the alcohol and juice ratio you put into your mug but you need it to fuel yourself for the card game.

Hyunjin shuffles the card in his hands and splits the deck into two even stacks, he pushes one at you and draws the other closer to him.

"Whoever draws the smaller card value, loses," he explains the game rules.

You take a gulp of your drink and ask, "And when I lose...?"

He ties his hair into a ponytail and puts his hand on top of his card stack, "Whoever loses has to take a piece of their clothing off," he says with a devilish smirk that makes him more attractive.

It's obvious that Hyunjin has been wanting to play this game, the excitement is drawn on his face and somehow, it makes him more adorable, you can't help but smile.

"Are you sure you split the card evenly?" You jokingly accuse.

"You're welcome to shuffle your cards if you want," Hyunjin calmly responds, then sips his canned soda.

You laugh at how he gives you the side eyes, "When do we start?"

"Eager, are we?" Hyunjin says that it's him who's been anticipating this.

Hyunjin rubs his hands together before placing his hand on top of his deck of cards and pinches a card in between his fingers.

"Ready?" He asks.

You slide the cards down the table and intensely look at each other before turning it over, revealing the cards at the same time. A gasp escapes your mouth as your 7 of Heart card beats his 2 of spades. You prop a hand under your chin and wait for him to do his punishment as he lost this round.

It doesn't faze him, he takes his sweater off and tosses it onto the empty chair next to him. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt underneath and he rolls the short sleeves up to his shoulders, exposing the muscles on his arms.

The next round is won by Hyunjin as his 9 of hearts card beats your 6 of spades. You calmly take your blouse off and hang it on the back of your chair.

Your Jack of Diamonds forces Hyunjin to remove his t-shirt next and you didn't expect him to have a toned body considering that you always find him sitting on his chair and working in front of the computer. You try not to be obvious that you're ogling him but he catches you looking already, so...

"And you've been hiding that under your oversized clothes?" You poke fun at him.

He coyly shrugs in response to you and tidies his deck of cards, "Want to switch decks?"

It seems like a trap because your cards have been doing good and switching decks may switch your luck too.

"No. I like my cards," you refuse his offer with a smile.

He shrugs again and this time, his Jack of Clubs won against your Ace of Diamonds. He triumphantly smiles and crosses his arms watching you getting off your chair to unzip your skirt. You take a step away from the counter to shimmy the skirt down your legs. It feels wrong to be this exposed in the pantry of your workplace.

"You sure you don't want to switch?" He offers again with a lopsided grin.

It's tempting but you trust that your cards will bring you luck, you shake your head and take another card from the top of the stack.

"How about I reveal my card first?" Hyunjin daringly offers.

"Okay, sure," you coyly agree, letting him flip open his card first.

His long fingers are holding the edge of the card and at once, he turns it over, revealing a 9 of hearts. It is supposed to be easy to get a card higher than that. Oddly, you suddenly lost the confidence you had in your cards a minute ago. You put on a calm face and flip the card, not looking at it until you let go of your hand.

"Fuck!" You lowly curse at your 7 of clubs.

You let out a low sigh as you’re about to do your punishment and reach your hand to the back to unclasp your bra. You maintain eye contact with Hyunjin as you let the bra straps slide down your shoulders. In one swift moment, you take the bra off and let it join your pile of clothes on the back of your chair. You lean back and see Hyunjin smiling ear to ear.

"Christmas came early for you, huh, Hwang Hyunjin?"

It doesn't even bother him that you called him by his full name which he dislikes. He's enjoying his triumph, his tongue is slightly sticking out on the corner of his mouth as he smiles.

"I think it is," he says.

Instead of showing him your defeat, you feel motivated to win the next round. You put all of your hair to one side and lean onto the table, slapping the next card on the table.

"Want to raise the bet?" You challenge him.

One of his eyebrows raises in intrigue, "What are you proposing?"

"Whoever loses next has to take two pieces of clothing," you answer with a daring smirk.

It's a fair game since Hyunjin has only his jeans and his underwear on and so are you, with your tights and underwear.

"Let's raise the bet," Hyunjin calls to your bluff.

"I'll reveal my card first," you dare yourself even though you have no idea what card you're keeping under your hand.

"Be my guest," Hyunjin delightfully says.

You hold his gaze and flip the card, surprising yourself with a Queen of hearts. You can almost taste that sweet victory knowing that Hyunjin needs a King to beat your card. However, Hyunjin is looking nowhere near your card and you know well enough where he is looking.

You purposely lean forward on the table, presenting him a clearer view of your chest then tap your fingers on the table, "Ground control to Major Tom!" You summon his consciousness back to reality.

After a while, he finally looks away and immediately takes a sip of his can of soda to gain some sense back into his head.

"It's your turn," you remind him, propping a hand under your chin and waiting for the grand reveal.

Hyunjin clears his throat and puts his focus back on his card, he's fiddling with his card. He realizes that he's in a predicament.

He holds the card in his hand and tosses it upward, showing a Jack of Heart which means you won this round. You take a sip of your drink in celebration and victory indeed tastes so sweet.

Hyunjin reluctantly gets off his chair, he finishes his can of soda first before reaching for the waistband of his jeans. He begins by unbuckling his belt then slowly, he unzips the fly of his jeans and it's instantly loosening around his dainty waist.

"Wait, wait," you abruptly interrupt him from his stripping show.

You get off your chair and lean your side against the counter, "On a second thought... you can keep your pants on," you say.

Hyunjin looks rather flabbergasted by the turn of the event, he stands there with his jeans hanging open, "You can't do that!" He protests.

You calmly sip your drink and reply, "Oh, yes, I can."

Hyunjin rests his hands on the counter and looks at you, "You have to see!" He insists with his eyebrows furrowed.

You shake your head and pretend to not care, "Nah. I'm losing interest."

He takes a step closer at you, "Once you see, you will be interested," he boldly remarks with a cocky smirk.

You scoff and put down your empty mug, "Still not interested," you shake your head again.

Hyunjin inhales air and places his hands on each side of his waist, "You have to see!"

"No!" You refuse while half laughing.

You see Hyunjin about to take another step toward you but before he can do that, you turn to leave the pantry.

"You have to see!" He shouts as he follows you.

"No!" You shout back and immediately break into a run. 

You're squealing as he chases you but you know well enough that you will likely lose against his long legs. That doesn't stop you from running, holding your breasts with your hands as you make a turn in the direction of the staff lounge and Hyunjin catches you right as you're about to enter.

With the absence of lights, you can see the glimmer of the city lights from afar.

Hyunjin pushes you to the wall, he grabs both of your hands and pins them above your head as he presses his nose into your ear.

"I got you now," his breath feels hot in your ear.

When you tilt your head to look at him, his lips immediately capture you in a kiss, a kiss that consumes you whole and makes you feel hot all over.

He drops your hands around his neck and that way, he can freely roam your body, feeling the smoothness of your skin under his fingertips.

He puts his arms around you and draws you impossibly close while his mouth is busy lathering yours, his tongue is prying open your mouth, wanting to taste you more and more.

As much as you want to keep kissing him, you have to let go to catch some air and fill your lungs with oxygen.

Yet Hyunjin uses the opportunity to kiss you somewhere else, dragging his plush lips down the column to your neck, and from there, he starts a trail of kisses down your front.

He kneels in front of you with his fingers tugged at the elastic band of your black tights, he looks up at you and in the dark, you can see his eyes like two gleaming marbles.

Slowly, he pulls the tights down and you hear the faint whimpers escaping his mouth as he keeps pulling it down your legs.

The silence that hangs in the room only intensifies the tension, it's so quiet that you can hear your ragged breath as Hyunjin successfully takes your tights off.

He keeps looking at you with his wide, lustful eyes as his hands climb up your legs. He slowly leans in, landing a soft kiss on your inner thigh to earn a low whimper out of you.

Wanting to hear that soft whimper again, Hyunjin places another kiss on the other one, higher and closer to where you want him the most.

Just like he reads through your mind, Hyunjin drags his mouth higher and kisses your clothed core. You grab a fistful of his hair as he presses another kiss with his nose rubbing against your clothed core and then he softly inhales air.

The breath he lets out between your legs feels hot and it sets your body alight with desire yet you feel more alive in this heat.

Hyunjin opens his mouth wider and takes more of you, his wet mouth dampens the thin fabric of your underwear and all you can do is whimper at how erotic this very scene is.

Then he stuck his tongue out and starts to trace your clit through the fabric, repeatedly running his tongue in circles that it begins to pulsate under his slick tongue.

Your legs are wobbling and you can only hold onto his head and shoulder to keep you steady as he keeps his mouth buried between your legs.

Impatient to taste you, Hyunjin puts your underwear to the side and lifts your leg, putting it over his shoulder so he can dive deep into your wetness.

You keep your back close to the wall with your hands in his dark locks, tugging at it when the pleasure gets too overwhelming.

"Oh!" You gasp as Hyunjin inserts one digit inside you and not long after that, he adds another digit.

His fingers and mouth are moving in sync to give you immense pleasure, making the knot in your stomach tighten and your hands tugging harder at his hair.

Unknowingly, your hips start moving against his mouth, riding his face as you please as your hands keep his head between your legs.

"I'm close, oh, I'm close!" You breathlessly tell him with your eyes barely focused on him.

Hyunjin opens his mouth wider and runs his tongue between your folds before sucking on your clit, taking you to your high so that a loud moan falls out of your open mouth and echoes in the room.

Mischievous, Hyunjin teases you by touching your sensitive bundle of nerves, lightly circling it with only his fingertips.

"You're having fun, huh?" You look down at him and gently twist his ear as a way to get back to him.

In the dim light, you can see he's grinning at you with his face wet around the mouth from your essence. You pat his head and place his hand on the strap of your underwear.

"Help me take this off, mmh?" You seductively ask, turning around on your feet to face the wall.

Hyunjin wastes no time tugging his fingers on the waistband of your underwear and pulls the soaked underwear down, then off your legs.

You shiver as his fingers lightly graze the side of your thighs and the back of your legs. As you press the side of your face on the cold surface of the wall, Hyunjin starts placing kisses on the back of your thighs and he goes upward.

Eventually, his mouth lands on your ass cheek and he playfully bites at it, letting out a laugh knowing that you enjoy it.

"Go ahead. Bite the other one," you encourage him with a laugh.

He's going to do it with or without your permission anyway as he immediately bites the other cheek. From there, he continues his trail of kisses up to the nape of your neck.

His arms around you, touching your body and kneading on your breasts as his mouth busy planting ferocious kisses on your neck and shoulders.

It's rather sensual that he pinned your naked body against the wall when he still has his jeans on yet you can feel his member poking through the fabric and rubbing against your rear.

"Mmh..." you hum as his fingers circle your nipple.

You turn your head to the side only to let him capture your lips in a hungry kiss where his teeth almost collide with yours.

"Ouch!" You yelp as he pinches on your nipple while he smiles in satisfaction.

You turn around to face him and put your arms around him, not worrying that you'll fall when you have his arms tightly wrapped around you.

Without breaking the kiss, you maneuver his body, pushing him in the direction of the sofa until he finds himself plopping down and you let yourself sit on his lap.

You take a moment to catch a breath and look at him, seeing him this up close, in this light, hit differently. With the moonlight shining through the big window and casting a glow on his head, Hyunjin looks so ethereal.

"You're so beautiful," Hyunjin says, taking the word out of your mouth.

You smile at his praise and lean in to deliver your gratitude with a kiss, a kiss that takes things further. As your lips are busy lathering his, your hand makes its way down his body and slides it into his boxer.

You delightfully hum against his lips as you wrap your hand around his swollen member which you take out of its confine, letting his erection sprung free.

With your own eyes, you can see how impressive his size is and glance at him, "Now I know you bought the right size," you mutter with a seductive smile.

"Told you," Hyunjin says with a sexy smirk.

You sit close to his crotch, wanting to feel his cock against your cunt and wetting it with your essence while you keep stroking at it.

"I uh..." Hyunjin's words trail off as you rub his tip with your thumb.

"Yes?" You breathlessly ask.

"I have to get the uh... I have to get the condom," he stammers, almost couldn't finish the sentence as you rub his tip between your folds.

"You said you're okay doing it raw with me," you tease.

He drops his head to the back and you can see him swallow air with the way his Adam's apple bobs in his throat. He then shakes his head, "Don't think that's a good idea."

You tip your head to the side and pout, "Why not? I'm on the pill."

Hyunjin shakes his head again, he stands firm on his principle even in the trying of times. You cup his jaw and then plant a long peck on his lips.

"Go get that condom," you mutter.

He slowly opens his eyes as you pull away from the kiss, "You're not going to change your mind, right?"

You softly laugh at his words and even though you feel bad to tease him more, you can't help yourself.

"Uhm... maybe, I don't know," you jokingly say with a shrug.

He grips at your waist and pouts, his lower lip jutting out more than his upper lip. He's so adorable that you can't stop yourself from pecking his lips again.

You get off his lap and sit on the sofa, "I won't change my mind," you tell him.

Hyunjin can't shoot up from the sofa faster, sending his jeans drops and pools around his ankle, he hurriedly kicks it away, "I'll be back in a minute," he says.

-

Support my blog by kindly reblog, comment or tip me on my ko-fi!

taglist: @svintsandghosts @abiaswreck @ppiri-bahng @drhsthl @idkluvutellme @biribarabiribbaem @skz-streamer @biancaness @hanjisunginc @elizalabs3 @laylasbunbunny @kpopformylife @caitlyn98s @hann1bee @darkypooo @mamieishere @is2cb97 @marvelous-llama @bluenights1899 @sherryblossom @toplinehyunjin @hanjisbeloved @biancaness @yourmomscuntis2tighy @sunnyseungup @skzhoe4life @stellasays45 @severeanxietyissues @avyskai @imseungminsgf @army-stay-noel @rylea08 @simeonswhore @jebetwo @biancaness @yubinism @devilsmatches @septicrebel

[archaictold]

𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃𝐋𝐘, Zhilan blinks, fingers lurching slightly in place before they, too, kindly withdraw. A smile is quick to follow, and a small shake of the head puts to rest the idea that he's taken any offense.       ❝ Oh, no. Not at all. ❞ His fingers search along the spines of library books, a friendly glance raised past his shoulder. ❝ The 'Scroll of Streaming Song,' you said? ❞ That one is... right here! Uttering a soft 'aha!' beneath his breath, Zhilan delicately pulls it from the shelf and offers it down to his fellow bookworm.       ❝ You know, ❞ the scholar begins while he ascends the step ladder another rung, in that typical conversation-seeking way, ❝ this one is from my world. ❞

      ❝ My Darshan—my alma mater, that is—was behind its recovery. Now it's one of many prized texts held in the House of Daena, the largest library in all of Teyvat. ❞ Inquisitively, Zhilan regards the man with a bright set of eyes.       ❝ Are you a history buff, perhaps? Or a fan of classical literature? ❞

「✧」 Quite by accident, their hands touched on the bookshelves. It would be impossible on a normal day with their disparate heights, but Zhilan happened to be perched on a stepladder while Aurelius was standing at his full height.

"My mistake." The angel politely withdrew first, allowing the other to claim the volume.

"I was actually looking for the Scroll of Streaming Song—it's a couple books over, if you could...?"

The request for help was left hanging in the air.

it's not meet-cute if they're both taken @archaictold ໒꒱

[sweetprfct]

Is It Over Now?

Joseph Quinn x Fem!Reader

Summary: Fake dating your flatmate, Joe, should be a simple thing. It meant you get to help get his ex back, and it meant you get to stop your parents' nagging about bringing someone home for once. But what happens when fake dating turns into something unexpected? Now, what?

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! But here we go! A little peek inside Joe's mind and feelings :)

Disclaimer: 18+

Wordcount: 3.3K

part one - part two - part three - part four - part five - part six - part seven - part eight - part nine - part ten

Joe knew what he wanted for a long time now.

He knew ever since the first night that you two had done this agreement. He knew when you walked out of your room, wearing that mini black dress of yours that made him want to just cancel this ridiculous agreement and focus on moving on instead. Joe knew when he had kissed you for the first time. 

Those soft lips that touched his. Those big brown eyes that seemed to always made him forget that there was a world around him that probably thought how much he was in awe of you. The way your lips would curl into a smile, and your laughter that sounded like music in his ears. The way the noise of the pub that night had faded when you had stood between his legs and leaned down to kiss him. 

It made him forget about himself for a moment. 

It made him forget the world. 

It was just you and him. 

It made him forget about the idea that you were kissing him to make Ivy jealous. You kissed him that night and ever since then, it was embedded into his veins. Embedded into his brain. 

Then, you had worn that silver silk dress and the whole night, Joe was asking the Universe if this was his punishment for bringing you into this mad idea of his. His eyes were on you the whole time, and you stood there and talked to his friends like you didn’t have the care in the world. Joe, on the other hand, was kicking himself completely for being such an idiot. For thinking that someone like you would fall for someone like him. 

Someone who was indecisive and couldn’t even organize his life well. 

Meeting your parents was a different thing. That was when Joe had realized there was so much in you that you kept hidden from the world for a long time. The anxiety and nervousness that electrified your bones that night was something he never saw in you before. Right before you both arrived at your parents’ house, Joe just wanted to hold you and tell you that everything was going to be okay. That he was there next to you no matter what happened. However, Joe knew the boundaries that you have drawn between yourself and other people. 

In fact, Joe barely had seen you ever hug Sara or Abby whenever they came over to the flat. There was always that distance that you have put up. Always an arm’s length even with your closest friends. When your mother had kept shooting her words towards you that night, Joe quickly realized as to why you had put up that boundary between everyone. 

You felt like you were never enough. 

He saw it in your eyes when your mother kept bringing you down with her commentaries. Your eyes grew dimmed, and you suddenly had fallen inside a dark pit inside your brain. Almost like you found a room inside your mind and hid yourself in there and locked the door until you had disappeared from your body. Your eyes stared into an empty nothingness in front of you, and Joe couldn’t help but slid his hand with yours under the table.

Blinking a few times, he saw how you slowly came back to your body. As if his touch had sent a signal into your brain and to come out from that dark room. He felt you squeezed his hand gently as he defended you in front of your mother. 

It was almost like a silent thank you. 

For Joe, he would defend you to anyone who would say negative things about you because how could they say something like that about you? 

Finding you in your room alone that night, Joe saw the melancholy in your eyes, and he just wanted to take you up in his arms and tell you that you were better than them. That you were so much more than whatever your mind was telling you at that moment. Joe wanted to tell you how much the thought of you was slowly occupying his mind every night. How much of your presence just immediately jumps starts his heart. Joe wanted to tell you that your eyes sparkled, and your smile sent electricity in every bone of his body. 

He had fallen. 

Hard.

He couldn’t bear to see you like this. Joe saw the way you had pushed down your emotions inside of you. He saw the embarrassment and frustration that washed over you when your mum and dad had started yelling downstairs. He knew that he wasn’t just going to sit there and make you feel as if this was your fault because it wasn’t.

And when he had held you in his arms, he wanted to just freeze the world around the both of you. He wanted that moment to last because it was the first time he had held you without having to pretend. Without having to do a little acting around strangers. If you would ask Joe, he wanted to stop this agreement already because that was the night that he had realized that the one person he had been falling for was the one in his arms. Not Ivy nor anyone else.

It was you. 

But that night wasn’t about him. It was about every scar that you hid under your skin from people. It was about how much you had to endure your mother’s words that made bullet wounds in your heart. It was about how much your parents had picked and pulled you apart your whole life, and you were left there until there was nothing left inside of you. 

Joe knew that, and he wanted to tell you how strong and magnificent you were. How none of those things that your mother had described you was true. 

But how come he couldn’t? How come he was being such a coward?

Was there a part of him that made him feel as if he couldn't face you because he was embarrassed over the fact that he was so obsessed with Ivy that he didn’t realize the one person he had been falling hard for was his flatmate?

That he couldn't seem to end the agreement because he was scared he wasn’t going to see much of you anymore if this all ended? That maybe, you didn’t feel that way about him?

Everyday, he avoided seeing you. He was barely home. Always crashing at his friends’ house just so he could avoid these feelings that were eating him up because why the fuck did he made up this plan? Why the hell was he still acting like he wanted Ivy back? In all honesty, Joe hasn’t even paid attention to her. She had called him a few times, but he was ignoring it. 

“Oh, c’mon, Joe…” Ivy slid her hands up on his chest. “Kiss me.”

It was one of those nights where you both had gone to the pub because Ivy and her friends were celebrating something. Joe had excused himself, and you didn’t say anything. 

You weren’t bothered over the fact that he was going outside the alley with Ivy. You sat by the bar and nodded your head as you drank your martini. So, he made another ridiculous decision and kept acting like he still wanted Ivy.

Sneaking out with her into the dark alley behind the pubs wasn’t really the best idea. Alcohol was running through his veins, his mind kept telling him that you didn’t feel that way about him, and his emotions were controlling him. He would find himself making out with Ivy to get rid of the unrequited feelings. 

He was insane. 

You were right about that. He didn’t understand how much he could care for someone until you entered his life. Sure, he was infatuated with Ivy, but this feeling was different when he was around you. 

He forgets about himself. He forgets about the world that was around him. 

With Ivy, he always wanted to prove to her friends and the world that he was deserving to be with her but with you… He just gets lost in you. He was able to be just… Joe. 

It was true that he was obsessed with Ivy during his relationship with her, but it wasn’t Ivy that he was obsessed with. It was the idea of her that he had written in his mind. The idea of having someone that was out of his league. He was looking for something greater, and he thought he could find that in Ivy. He thought that was what he wanted, so he played her games. 

He played until both of them lost. 

However, after the night of the film festival, it seemed like Joe had lost again. The news of you moving out of the flat got his mind reeling again. He didn’t want to let you go without him telling you how he felt. He knew it was a risk, but he had to tell you. You deserved to know what he felt about you and when he had kissed you, he thought you felt the same way about him. Until you decided to run off that night. 

He couldn’t help but scold himself mentally for making you so uncomfortable. 

For making you run away.

For losing you all at once. 

“Ivy.” Joe opened the front door of the flat that night. 

He found Ivy standing in front of him, her eyes sparkling and an excited smile plastered on her face as she threw himself into his embrace. 

Joe stood frozen. He was paralyzed as Ivy gripped her arms around his torso and buried her face on his chest.

“What are you doing here?” Joe asked, voice sounded ice cold. 

Slowly, Ivy slipped her arms away from his body and her smile faded as she gazed up at him. Joe could see the disappointment in her eyes as she walked past him and entered the flat. Sighing, Joe closed the door behind him before turning to face Ivy, who had her arms crossed in front of her chest. 

“Why are you acting like you haven’t spent weeks trying to get my attention?” Ivy asked, her voice sounded like she was insulted. 

“I…” Joe shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to get your attention. At least not for a long time now.”

Ivy let out a scoff. Her eyes studied the flat, and Joe could see that she was trying to look for a sign of you. If only Joe knew where you were too. He wanted to talk to you and apologize for making you uncomfortable by kissing you. 

“What do you want, Ivy?” Joe asked.

“You.” Ivy immediately replied, her eyes finding his. “C’mon, Joe. Really? Your flatmate? Her? We both knew you only were using her to get my attention, and you won. You got my attention.”

Ivy slid her hands up on Joe’s chest, but he was quick to grip her wrists gently and pulled her hands away from him. Ivy knitted her brows together as she stared at Joe. He could tell that she was trying to understand what was going on between him and her. 

“It’s over, Ivy.” Joe murmured. “You said it yourself, remember? This isn’t working out.”

“But I thought…” Ivy shook her head, panicked that she was misunderstanding everything. 

“Well, you thought wrong.” Joe answered. “So, please. Can you leave?” 

Joe opened the front door for her, but she was repeatedly shaking her head as tears welled up in her eyes. Joe exhaled a sharp breath. He knew what she was doing, and he didn’t want to cause any scene, especially that it was Ivy. She liked the drama, and she loved the center of attention. He didn’t need his neighbors complaining about her causing a scene in the middle of the night.

“No, don’t.” Joe shook his head, closing the door. “Ivy, stop.”

“Joe, I love you.” Ivy blurted out the words, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Oh, fuck.

This wasn’t what he wanted to hear from her at all. He took a step forward towards her as she quietly cried in front of him. 

“Ivy…” Joe murmured. “Please.”

Ivy walked closer to Joe and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him into an embrace. Joe, however, stood there. His limbs felt paralyzed, he couldn’t move, while Ivy sobbed on his chest. Joe didn’t know if this was just her pretending, so he’ll take her back or she was actually crying because she had lost him. Either way, he wasn’t falling for any of it. He was so tired of her games. 

“Ivy.” He said sternly, taking her arms off his torso. “This is what you wanted, remember? You were right. This thing between us hasn’t been working out so, please. It’s over.”

“No,” Ivy shook her head. “No, no. I was wrong. I was. I love you, Joe. There’s no one else I want but you.” 

Joe watched as Ivy literally crumbled in front of his eyes, and he stood there unable to move his body. He didn’t know what to do. He felt bad for Ivy because in some time, he did care about her. He didn’t want to hurt her like this, but he was also unable to trust her after playing her games all the time. He was over that. He didn’t want that anymore. 

“I’m sorry.” Joe murmured, shaking his head. 

Ivy wiped her tears with the back of her hand and nodded her head. He saw that she was slowly realizing that she couldn’t do anything about this anymore. Joe exhaled a sharp breath, walking towards her and embraced her in his arms. He felt her body tremble as she sobbed the moment he held her in his arms. Even if Joe didn’t feel that way about her anymore, he still had a history with her. So, when he saw that she seemed a little too unstable to go home, he offered her to stay over for the night until she was okay. He didn’t want her going home like this, especially after the fact that he was the reason why she was sobbing in his arms uncontrollably. 

“Bye Joe.” That was the last thing Ivy said to him the next morning. 

The front door closed, and Joe was left alone in his own thoughts again. Thoughts about where you have been all night. You didn’t come home at all, and he wondered where you were and if you were okay. Knowing you, he knew that maybe you were with Sara and Abby, but he just hoped that you were okay. 

When you had entered that morning still wearing the same dress you had worn at the event, high heels in your hands and red rimmed eyes, he knew you had been crying too.

He couldn’t help but scold himself for hurting you and Ivy. 

“Hey,” Joe was just fixing the sofa that Ivy had slept in. “Can we talk?”

Your eyes looked exhausted, and he knew you had been crying. He knew it was because of him, and he wished he could just take you up in his arms at this moment and apologized for being such an ass because what the fuck was wrong with him? He should have ended this agreement long ago but because of his fears, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wasn’t ready to just lose you like that.

However, he had already lost you, right? 

The moment you had told him that you were moving out now, he knew you were serious about this. He knew that it was because of the stupid shit he had put you through. Although, Joe couldn’t let you go without at least letting you know how he felt. Without letting you know that he loved you. 

You were pushing him away. You were pushing your feelings away because he knew you didn’t want to get hurt anymore. He knew that you didn’t want to suffer the same fate as your parents’ marriage, but he didn’t want to give you that. He wanted to make you happy. He wanted to give you all the love in the world. This was something he never felt about anyone before. This was something he was willing to do anything for so he could hold you in his arms because the thought of losing you was ripping his heart out in pieces. 

“I love you.” Joe murmured, and he saw the emotions that suddenly washed over you. 

Joe cupped your face in his hands, his chocolate button eyes looking for yours. His thumb softly tracing your lips. Every trembling bone of his body just wanted to kiss you. He wanted to hold you, and he wanted to put a smile on your face. He wanted to split himself open and let you in. He wanted to know all the dark corners of your mind and replace them with light. 

“I love you so much.” Joe whispered. “It consumes every bone of my body every day and knowing that I couldn’t hold you in my arms, it kills me.”

And then that was it.

Something had snapped inside of you, and Joe saw it in your eyes. You gave him that permission that you were finally letting go, and you were accepting and believing him. Joe didn’t hesitate to kiss you and held you in his arms, and he was flying. Every part of him was desperate for you, and pulling you close in his arms wasn’t enough. 

He needed you closer. 

He kissed you like he had been waiting for this moment to happen. Like he had been waiting for his whole life to hold you in his arms, and you were finally here.

If Joe could capture every moment he had with you that night, he would. He would revisit them every time and replay them in his mind because that was everything to him. Feeling your heated body pressed against his and the small moans that would escape your lips made him insane. 

“I’m terrified, Joe.” You uttered those words to him. 

He knew what was going on in your mind. He knew all the scenarios that were slowly creeping up in your brain, but he wanted to take all of those away. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to break your trust. He wanted to make sure that you could feel his love for you because the way he felt about you didn't have enough words to ever describe it. 

As your bodies merged together, Joe touched you so delicately. He touched you and kissed every inch of you, wanting to memorize it. He wanted to kiss away all the pain, kiss away all your fears. 

He was so in love with you. 

And his heart was about to explode in happiness as he held you in his arms. His thoughts were gone and time had stopped. All he could focus on was you being in his arms. Your head laying on his chest, his fingers softly brushing your hair, and your eyes fluttering close. Your chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath, and your soft skin against his. 

He didn’t think he could feel this much pressure in chest. 

He didn’t think that you being in his bed, in his arms could make him lose oxygen in his lungs and at the same time, it was making him feel so alive. 

So, when morning came, he also didn’t think he could feel this much hurt in his chest. 

Fluttering his eyes open, Joe felt the bed next to him empty. Joe felt the cold air and your presence gone. At the beginning, he thought maybe you had gone to the bathroom but after a few minutes, acceptance had washed over him.

You were gone, and he didn’t know what he did for you to run away like that again.

Was last night didn’t mean as much to you as it did to him?

Was that all? 

Taglist:

@palomahasenteredthechat @sunvick @eddies-acousticguitar @demonsanddemogorgons @joesquinns @mmunson86 @ghostinthebackofyourhead @corrodedcoffincumslut @figmentofquinn @tlclick73 @browneyes8288 @bylermaxmayfield @ali-r3n @ficsbypix @capricornrisingsstuff @missonlypost @ali-in-w0nderland @amberolivia666 @lalalala-melmosworld @niallersfreckles @nanas-lasagna @emma77645 @indulgence-be-thy-name @readergf @ladamari68 @1paire2vans @d4rk4ng3l86 @paleidiot @josephquinnsfreckles