#thank you sm for the ask! i loved drawing this it felt so loose and easy

[frogwithhatto]

Can u do Vessel comforting reader that suffers from bad nightmares/insomnia? Like going to bed together helping reader to fall asleep?

I love your writing sm!

Vessel helps you fall asleep

Pairings: Vesselxgn!reader

TW: slight angst

Notes: Thank you so much!! I hope I did your request justice 🫶🏻

It had been a bad week, well bad would be an understatement. The days had passed by in a blur, your mind always foggy and suddenly it was already Friday. Vessel hadn’t been home much, stuck in the studio or busy with whatever the hell he was doing.

You didn’t know the details but you knew he had trouble sleeping too, sometimes when he was especially tired he would mumble strange words, in a language you have never heard before. It confused you but you brushed it off as him just talking in his sleep.

You slept for a maximum of a few hours before bad dreams made you wake up. You sat up your eyes frantically darting through the room, the shadows appeared way too dark, looming as if they were just waiting for you to fall back asleep to attack. A sheen of sweat covered your forehead, the shirt you were wearing clinging to your abdomen.

„Ves?“ you whimpered, tears welling up as you hugged your knees to your chest. The cold empty bed a constant reminder that you were on your own. As you checked the time you almost laughed, how silly of you to think he was home, he wouldn’t be for at least another hour. Oh how you wished he was with you right now…

A single tear escaped your eye at the thought of him comforting you, holding you close. Deciding to put off trying to sleep for now you switched on the lamp on your bedside table. Who needed sleep anyway, you thought sarcastically as you reached for your phone, mindlessly opting for a random YouTube video.

—

You hadn’t heard him come in, apparently he was trying to be as quiet as possible, given you should’ve been sleeping by now. Which also explained the confused (and slightly) concerned look you got when he opened the door to the bedroom, finding the light still turned on and you wide awake. Well, you couldn’t see his eyes but you had become quite good at reading his body language. The slight tilt of his head was enough for you to understand the unasked question lingering in the room.

„Couldn’t sleep…“ you mumbled avoiding looking at Ves, absentmindedly pulling at a loose thread of your shirt. He just nodded making his way towards you sitting down in front of you, one of his legs dangling off of the bed and the other tucked in.

„You wanna talk about anything?“ he asked, voice soft as he reached out his hand to take yours. You shook your head and leaned forward to rest your forehead on his shoulder. He proceeded to gently lift your head leaving you no chance but to look at him, a soft smile was playing on his lips.

„You look tired, wanna try going to sleep instead?“ he asked lightly brushing his thumb over your cheek. You closed your eyes leaning into the touch, the circles under them were dark, your eyes puffy and bloodshot. You contemplated his offer and nodded, maybe you would finally be able to rest. Vessel was with you now, why not give it a shot?

You both got comfortable and he proceeded to turn off the light. Only the moon, which was shining it’s light through the window and a little night light you had gotten some time ago illuminating the room. You snuggled up to him your head resting on his chest and he let out a content hum when you started tracing the shape of his collarbones with your fingers. He had started to play with your hair slightly massaging your head, drawing little circles with his thumbs and untangling knots. It finally made your brain shut off, your body relaxing as you sighed.

„Ves please don’t leave me“ you mumbled.

„I won’t, never.“ he answered placing a kiss on the top of your head. You knew that he was being honest a warm feeling welling up in your chest. His arms enveloped you, making you feel incredibly safe and you finally felt yourself get drowsy.

He started humming. A random melody you didn’t recognise, maybe a new song? For now it didn’t matter you could ask him about it in the morning. Vessel started drawing shapes on your back, little hearts and circles, his touch always soft. Your brain turned mushy as you finally felt yourself relax, the sleeplessness of the week catching up to you. Your eyes grew heavy, Vessels soft touches and hums becoming more distant.

He would watch over you in your sleep, you knew it.

[torgwn]

favorite pokemon with 9 or favorite character in hxh with 1?

killer hair

[mqgriett]

Crosshair- The Exam

Prompt: “You’re the only thing that matters”

Pairings: Crosshair x Fem!reader

Warnings: none!

Summary: you’ve been studying your ass off for a month trying to prepare for the exam that will dictate whether or not you get to go back to the 104th battalion as a medic. 

Notes: IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG thank you sm for requesting @lightning-wolffe

You shut off your data pad and pushed it under your armpit, squeezing it with your bicep to not let it fall from your grip as you open your textbook. Before you received the chance to re-read your highlighted notes you felt a tap on your shoulder. 

“I heard that your boys landed in Hangar 5.” Kix chirped, pointing behind him with his thumb. He ran his opposite hand through his short brown hair, smiling kindly. 

You hummed in response, your attention mostly focused on your annotations. The big exam, one that basically determined whether or not you were allowed to return to your assigned Clone Force, was in three days. Every quiet moment was spent with you cracking open a textbook or reviewing your notes. Now that you thought about it, when was the last time you ate… or slept?

Kix quickened his pace and moved in front of you, using his index finger to push your book down to properly view your face. “You know the exam isn’t for another three days, right?” he asked. 

You pressed your lips in a thin line, “Unfortunately not everyone has a memory like yours. I need to study.” you said, closing your book and bopping him on the head with it lightly. 

He took the textbook from your hands, holding it up in the air until it was out of your reach. “Fives!” he called to someone you couldn’t see, “Batchers still here?” 

Behind you, the ARC trooper nodded, “Gonna be here for the next coupla hours. Engine is shot.” 

Kix let his guard down just long enough for you to grab your study materials back. You gently nudged him to the side and walked past, just wanting to get back to your quarters and study. 

The medic gave up, hurrying to catch up with Fives as you walked in the opposite direction. 

Were you dying to see the Bad Batch? Absolutely.

Did you have the time to? Unfortunately not.

Someone (a medic from the 212th apparently, but you tried not to believe rumors) had fucked up a month ago, and it costs you your privilege of being an on-site medic. All field nurses were sent back to Coruscant to retake the big medical exam to prove that they could still serve as medics. 

Unlike Kix, you took it very seriously. Getting anything below a 80% would make your chances of returning small. Only the top 45% of nurses would go back to their battalions while the other 55% stayed on Coruscant to continue their studies. 

The large metal door to your room slid open as you scanned your hand and you stepped inside. Without looking up, you wandered to your desk, which was covered in an assortment of different papers and sticky notes. 

Still reading your textbook, you typed in the access code for your online notes. After a few seconds an automated female voice began to quiz you on questions you had written down two weeks ago.

You stood up and undressed yourself, lazily pulling a dark brown shirt over your head and letting your hair fall loose from the bun that had sat on your head for the majority of the day. 

“Define Choledocholithiasis.” said the voice. 

“Stones in the gallbladder or common bile duct” you replied effortlessly, shuffling to your bathroom to fill the water compartment for your caf. 

You plugged the machine into the wall, allowing the slow drip of heavenly brown liquid to start as you sat back down at your desk. It gave you a moment to think about everything. Realistically, you were more qualified than half the shinies going in to take the exam. 

Kriff, you were wasting your time here. 

You pushed back from your desk and slid on the first pair of shoes that were near your door. 

The halls had quieted down for the most part, most of the clones eating dinner or heading to bed if they had an early start tomorrow morning. 

Massaging your scalp and yawning, you made your way to Hangar 5. 

You looked a little tired, but it didn’t matter as long as you got to see Crosshair. You knew none of them would care but especially not him, in the small window of time you two got alone he frequently told you how much he loved your messy hair. He wasn’t much of a verbal communicator when it came to your relationship, but he always made up for it in physical gestures. 

Rounding the final corner, your eyes began to scan the busy hangar for the marauder. You took back your thought from earlier, seeing that Hangar 5 was a lot more busy than you had anticipated. 

At least two different squadrons were shipping out, from what you could tell it was the 104th and 312th battalions. The blurred figures of grey and green armor made it difficult to keep your focus on one thing at a time. 

You carefully started to walk along the wall, ducking until a small cruiser as a short cut. 

After another ten minutes of searching you finally spotted a familiar face in the bottom right corner of the hangar. 

Tech typed away at his data pad, turning to shout something up at Wrecker, who was sitting on the top of the ship and swinging his legs like a mad man. 

Despite the excitement bubbling in your stomach, you took your time walking over to them. It was nice to just observe and laugh at their behavior for a few minutes, it lifted your spirits.

Once you were within vision to Wrecker, he didn’t hesitate to point and shout at you from the top of the Marauder. 

“Tech!” You called as he mindlessly searched for you in the crowd of people. 

He grinned widely, opening his arms up as you jogged over to him. He hugged you tightly, another pair of large arms suddenly wrapping around both of you. 

Wrecker finally set you two down, giving you an individual hug and swaying you from side to side. At one point you were almost choking. 

“Thought you were studying for the exam.” Tech said skeptically, eyeing you as if you would ever hide something from him. 

You shrugged, “priorities” you peeked over his shoulder, looking for a specific person. 

Tech noticed your wandering eyes and smiled, “Cross is taking inventory with Cody.” 

“Where’s Sarg?” you asked, linking your arm into his. 

“Talking to some of the blue regs.” Wrecker replied loudly, making a few of the 501st soldiers turn to look at him. The large clone was never one to be secretive when it came to addressing the other clones as “regs”. It often drew attention to the group, not necessarily the good kind either. 

From a distance you could see Hunter walking back towards the Marauder with Fives, both of them with their helmets at their hips. 

Sarg’s eyes lit up at the sight of you, his pace quickening as his urge to be with you grew. He hugged your torso tightly, allowing his arm to sling around your shoulder loosely afterwards. 

“It’s been a while.” He said, gently nudging you away from Fives before the ARC trooper could talk.

“It’s been two months. And I always call.” You replied, smiling. 

“You look exhausted.” Hunter pointed out quickly, looking down at the bags under your eyes. 

You shrugged, “could say the same for you Sarg.”

You four situated yourselves underneath the Marauder, sitting on top of a few power supplies and food crates. Hunter sat next to you, Wrecker and Tech mirroring both of you. 

“We were told you wouldn’t be coming down.” Hunter said, leaning back on his elbows. 

You raised a skeptical brow, “who told you that?”

“Fives” he answered nonchalantly, “why else would I be talking to him?”

His comment made your eyes roll, “be nice.” You warned, poking his stomach where armor didn’t cover him. 

Hunter swatted your hand away, briefly turning his head and smiling. “Look who’s back,” he jutted his thumb behind him, pointing to the two other clones making their way back to the ship.

Cody held a clipboard loosely at his side as he spoke to Crosshair, who carried his helmet against his hip. The 212th trooper laughed at something he said before saluting the sniper and walking in the opposite direction. 

You always seemed to forget how handsome Cross was in person. The blue hologram of him during your brief calls did nothing for his strong jawline and high cheekbones. The scruff along his jaw and neck was slightly more visible now, a grey shadow lingering along it. 

Pushing yourself off the crate, you broke into a swift jog towards him. For someone with perfect eyesight, he didn’t notice you coming until you were a few meters away. 

He opened his arms up, catching you perfectly as you jumped to him. 

His long arms held your waist completely as he lowered you to the ground, back arched due to his height compared to yours.“Didn't think you would come.” he said softly in your ear, his voice alone producing butterflies in your stomach. 

“I wanted to see you.” you replied, pulling away from him and moving to his side. 

Crosshair sent a small smirk to you, which was enough to indicate that he felt the same way. 

You walked side by side back to the rest of the group, shoulders touching and hands grazing against one another’s. The gestures were sweet, like the type you would make in school when you were younger. They were enough to make the other person feel loved without drawing too much attention. 

The Bad Batch, plus you, sat underneath their ship once more as the rest of the 104th took off in their ships. You waved to Sinker and Comet from the opposite side of the hangar, tossing over-dramatic kisses in their direction while they climbed up the steps. Another mission for them, one that you wouldn’t be going to. 

“When do you expect to return?” Tech asked from the top of his crate. You had situated yourself on a lower case, one that was used to store bombs and other small explosives. It kept you about seven or eight inches off the ground while Crosshair took your spot next to Hunter. 

You let out a long sigh, “I don’t even know if I’ll go back.”

“They need ya out there.” Wrecker replied, crossing his large legs like a child would. 

Crosshair could sense your unease and pushed himself off the crate, settling on the ground in front of you and leaning back so his head pressed against your chest. He let out a small chuckle, no doubt feeling your heartbeat quicken for a few moments. “They’ll take you back.” he said calmly, reaching for your hand and placing it atop his head. 

You began to run your fingers through his short, grey hair. “If I don’t get above an 80% then I’m not going back.” You mumbled. 

“Why 80?” Hunter asked innocently. 

“Because she’s a girl.” Wrecker replied loudly, having absolutely zero common sense as to who could be listening. 

Crosshair tense underneath you, muscles tightening against your legs, “Wrecker.” he seethed, using his brother’s full name. 

Your face dropped, cheeks heating up. He was right, but hearing someone finally say it out loud made it worse. That was the real reason you had been dedicating so many weeks to studying. Even if Kix received a 45% and you an 80%, they would choose him over you. Clones were bred to be intelligent. You were just a girl who somehow got Senator Palpatine to assign you to a clone squadron. 

You wiggled your way out from under Crosshair, stepping over the low crate of explosives and walking up the steps of the Marauder. It was cold inside but the chill felt so nice against your hot body. 

In all honesty, you wanted to cry. You wanted to go back to your room and bawl your eyes out until you physically couldn’t produce tears anymore. But you knew you couldn’t, that would be showing weakness. 

Soft footsteps echoed behind you, Cross’s monotone voice ringing in your ears shortly after, “he didn’t mean that.”

You shook your head, “No no, he’s right.” 

He took a few steps towards you, gently reaching for your wrist and pulling you into him. He rested his chin on your head, “you’ll do great on the exam.” 

You pushed off of him, needing a bit of air to keep from crying. You shook your wrists out and looked up at the ceiling, it helped a little bit. “Just nervous.” you muttered. 

He stayed silent, not exactly sure how to comfort you. Words frequently failed him and in the rare occasion that you were upset Tech was able to calm you down, but not this time. Crosshair wanted to make you feel better, no matter what it took. 

You hated being this vulnerable around anyone, the panic in your stomach growing every second of silence that passed. 

Taking a deep breath, you began to walk past him, “I need to go, you have more important things to-” 

He caught your bicep and spun you back around, other hand holding the small of your back as he kissed you. It was a deep, passionate, yet chaste, kiss. You melted into his grip, leaning backwards to force his lips onto yours more. You held the sides of his face, the small scruff on his jaw feeling immaculate against your own. 

He rested your foreheads together and quietly, barely audibly, whispered, “you’re the only thing that matters.” 

You were about to kiss him again when Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker walked through the door. 

Hunter smiled, “Guess who’s got a new nurse on the team.”

Your head cocked to the side, Wrecker looking like he was about to explode from excitement at any moment. “We do!” he bellowed, “and it’s you!” 

Mouth hanging open, you looked from Crosshair to the other three. “What?”

“Welcome to Clone Force 99, medic.” Hunter answered proudly.

[theasstour]

𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄 | 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 𝟏𝟑𝐤 𝐍𝐁: 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬

AN: Massive thank you to my dearest @fromyourstrulyh​ who helped me sm with this chapter! Love you tons, Jess 🐚✨

Monday, 15 June

Fore Street wasn’t particularly busy this early in the morning. People were driving to work, and others were strolling by near the road, leaving the main shopping street of St Ives almost deserted. The bright yellow early morning sun peeked over the rooftops of the stone cottages, casting some of the street in a tad too chilly shadow and the other half in cool sunshine. Having just had breakfast with Bessie, Y/N was strolling along the cobblestoned street, relishing in the calmness at the start of the week.

Wearing her satin pleated forest green midi skirt, a white tee shirt and white Vans, Y/N was a little cold, but her walk wasn’t a long one. She walked by Vintage Divine a few times, but never gone inside, today that was going to change. With her tote bag at the ready in her purse, Y/N entered the vintage shop, quickly noticing she was the second customer there. She strolled on over to what looked to be a rack of dresses and long skirts. She had absolutely nothing else to do all day so she could spend all of it in here, she didn’t care. She’d most likely enjoy her time there very much.

Capital was being played over the speaker, and though Y/N wasn’t sure that was the kind of vibe a vintage shop had, she loved it regardless. It had been so long since she’d been in a vintage shop, and never had she had the privilege of buying something without having people inspect her finds when she got home. She was sure she walked around for an hour, maybe even a bit longer, before she recognised the voice talking behind the till.

Looking over, she saw Florence, one of the ladies in Bessie’s little knitting circle. She picked up the red and pink headband she’d been looking at before making her way toward her. When their eyes met, Y/N gave Florence a wide grin that she returned, waving Y/N over.

“Would you look at that? Speak of the devil, ey, Camila?” Florence said, gesturing at Y/N. A woman around the same age glanced at Y/N over the rim of her glasses, raising her eyebrows as she studied her.

“This is her?”

“Sure is.”

“Oh, my word, what an absolute beauty. Why Harry kept you away for so long is a mystery.”

“Aww,” Y/N chuckled. “Thanks. More to do with privacy than anything else, I suppose.”

“You know,” Florence said as she started scanning the items Y/N wanted to buy. “We were just saying, the person who most needs a partner right now is Harry.”

“Yeah, that lad’s been stuck in that lighthouse ever since his father died. It’s very sad,” Camila went on, making a point of looking at both Y/N and Florence over her glasses to see them clearly. “Maybe you can break him out of his shell a bit. Think having someone like you who can take him out will be good for him.”

“Harry likes being on his own.”

“That’s right,” Florence went on after Y/N, looking at Camila. “Y/N is living at the Crab Inn. At Bessie’s.”

Camila gasped. “He won’t even let her stay at his house?”

Y/N didn’t know why the two women were talking about her like she wasn’t there. Clearing her throat some, she said, “We don’t want to overwhelm each other. We haven’t stayed together for more than a few days before.”

“But don’t new couples bunny out in the first phase of their relationship?” Camila was as blunt as she was almost blind, Y/N thought.

This took Y/N off guard and she forced a breathy chuckle out, bringing a few quid out to pay Florence. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

Camila looked to Florence and Florence only shrugged, Y/N didn’t know if that meant Florence agreed with Y/N or Camila.

“Harry’s a handsome bloke, there’s no reason-“

“Have you at least been to the lighthouse?” Florence asked to speak over Camila, giving Y/N a friendly smile. Y/N appreciated Florence stepping in when she sensed Camila taking it a bit too far.

Y/N nodded, probably a bit too frantically. “Yes, quite a few times.”

“Harry won’t let anyone to the top, says it breaks some rule or something,” Florence said.

“Think it’s just him and his family being a bit selfish, if you ask me,” Camila went on.

“Oh, now you’re being proper arsey, Camila.” Florence only sighed before turning her attention back on Y/N. “Been to the top yet?”

“First place he took me.”

“Of course,” Florence smiled. “See you around, darling.”

“Bye, Florence. Bye, Camila.” Y/N waved at the both of them, walking on out of Vintage Divine and on her way back to the Inn. She felt her heart racing quickly with the lies she’d just told. How could she be fake dating the lighthouse keeper and not have been to the lighthouse yet? Though she hated to lie like that, she reminded herself that the reason she was doing it was to get people off Harry’s back. He seemed like such a genuine lad; she’d do anything to help him. But lying about something she could so quickly change by just taking a walk to the lighthouse seemed silly.

Wednesday, 17 June

Y/N had never been this close to a lighthouse. She’d watched them from afar, never really given them any proper thought. They were an essential part of navigation at sea, but she had no idea how they worked, and until a few days ago, she hadn’t given thought to how they were operated either. She didn’t think lighthouse keepers were a thing anymore, let alone that they even lived in the lighthouse still. Maybe they lived in town and occasionally spent time in the lighthouse, but surely, they didn’t live there.

However, as Y/N walked along the gravel road leading up to Clodgy Lighthouse, that seemed to be the case. It was an elegant white building. Strangely the lighthouse looked like it hadn’t endured a single storm in the decades Y/N knew it had stood there. That therefore made her draw the conclusion that Harry was the one keeping this lighthouse under pristine and incredible conditions. It shone in the sunbeams shining down on it. At the very top, surrounding the beacon at the top of the lighthouse, there was black fencing, so Y/N guessed one could sit out there and get a pretty grand view of the St Ives Bay. Well, not all of it, but a pretty good 360 shot regardless.

Beside the tall white building, stood a one-storey hut. It was white as well, matching transparent embroidered curtains hanging from all the windows Y/N could see from her vantage-point on the gravel road. They were neatly tucked to the side, letting natural daylight stream in through the windows and in on what she assumed to be Harry’s house. It was rectangular, with a dark blue door in the middle of one of the shorter lengths of the house. In front of what looked to be a pebbled driveway sat an old yellow Ford Econoline, a very out-there car for someone who was so incredibly shy.

She did a 360, looking about the open moor that surrounded her. It was completely empty, with no one living near the lighthouse, and St Ives a 40-minute walk from here. It must be equally liberating and lonely, Y/N thought, not sure if she could muster living all by herself like this. But Harry seemed to be just the guy for this job.

Different coloured flowers were strewn around the lighthouse and Harry’s cottage, wild and untamed. It didn’t seem like Harry bothered cutting the grass around his house either, just mainly around the lighthouse, probably for better access, Y/N had no idea. However, upon closer inspection, all types of insects flew to and from all the flowers and plants, zooming away once Y/N hunched down and picked two flowers she didn’t know the name of. She liked the fact that the bees could roam around the little field without problem. They were welcomed and encouraged to stay. Y/N didn’t know if this was Harry’s intention, but she liked to think it was. She’d always wanted to get into gardening, but she’d never had the time.

The door to the cottage opened and Harry came to view, taking a few steps outside to see what Y/N was doing by the ground. She stood, smiling and waving as she made her way over to him. He wore a pair of tapered retro black jeans, cuffed at the ankles, along with a loose fitted white, orange and blue shirt, one part of the front tucked into his jeans. His feet were bare, and his hair was a mess. It looked like she’d caught him off guard.

“Hiya,” Y/N smiled, walking closer. “Good morning.”

“Ehm…” Harry nodded, running a hand through his hair. While doing so it was as if he remembered he hadn’t styled it this morning, hurriedly trying to make it look somewhat decent without the help of a mirror. “Morning.”

“Did I startle you?”

“What? Oh! No, no, I…” He trailed off, pointing through the door with his thumb but letting his hand fall to his thigh, hitting it lightly. “Just drinking me morning cuppa reading the  paper.”

“I’ve been up since 7, so I haven’t really done much besides eat and then walk here.”

Harry nodded, and for a few seconds, the two were left in silence as they just looked at one another. Neither knew what to say, or even what to talk about. They didn’t know what they had in common, or if they had anything in common at all. Y/N just knew she wanted to get to know the   man she was supposed to be in a relationship with this summer. Coming to visit his lighthouse and home seemed like a good thing to do. She didn’t know what Harry was thinking, but by the blank look he was giving her, she was starting to regret coming here at all.

However, that was not going to stop her. If they wanted to make this work, she didn’t want to make it awkward for them by not knowing how to act around Harry when they were around people.

“So,” she started, walking past Harry and his van. “This is the tall, pointy house you were referring to the other day.”

Harry followed her towards the lighthouse, unbothered by the gravel under his bare feet. “Yeah, it draws attention, doesn’t it?”

Y/N giggled. “How much time do you spend keeping it clean? It doesn’t look weather-beaten at all. Would’ve thought lighthouses to be in much worse conditions.”

“Trinity House comes and does a thorough clean about once a year, but I do most of the work myself. As long as the sailors can tell this is Clodgy Lighthouse, then it’s fine.”

She paused. “Trinity House?”

“The official authority of lighthouses in the UK.”

“Ahh!” She nodded. “And how do sailors know this is Clodgy?”

Harry pointed at it, referring to the entire thing with a sweeping up and down hand motion. “From the sea, a lighthouse may be identified by the distinctive shape or colour of its structure, by the colour or flash pattern of its light, or by the coded pattern of its radio signal,” he explained and the more he talked, the more Y/N could detect a northern accent. “When ships pass here, they’ll know it’s Clodgy by the pattern of the beacon, as well as the fact it’s completely white. Others may be other colours, for example white and red stripes. But Clodgy’s always been white, I couldn’t really change it if I wanted to. Not that I do.”

That was the most she’d ever heard Harry speak, from what she knew about him so far he wasn’t much of a talker. Too nervous and shy by nature, it seemed.

“I didn’t think of that before.”

“You also didn’t think they were operated by lightkeepers anymore.”

Y/N gasped, smiling at Harry as he tore his eyes away from her, his dimples showing as he glanced to the ground again. “He’s got bants.”

Harry chuckled. “Career in stand-up comedy next.”

She laughed, walking around the lighthouse and looking about the cliffs. They were steep, looking right down on big rocks that made up most of the Clodgy Point where the lighthouse was positioned. Harry was standing a fair distance away, leaning against the white building with his hands in his jean pockets. Because of the constant wind, Y/N walked closer and leaned against the lighthouse as well, studying the landscape and the ocean before them.

“I’ve mostly seen masonry and brick lighthouses, this is concrete,” she said, not wanting their conversation to die out this early. She’d just gotten here. Maybe lighthouses weren’t their main concern seeing as they needed to establish their relationship before facing other people, but it seemed to be what Harry was most comfortable speaking about and she wanted him to feel comfortable around her.

“Concrete and steel are the most widely used materials,” he said. “Concrete especially makes for an aesthetically pleasing design for shore-based lighthouses.”

“Shore-based? There are different kinds. I mean, I always thought lighthouses would be out on islands rather than on land.”

“Yeah, there are-“ He stopped himself, looking at her to his right and meeting her eyes for a few seconds. “I won’t bore you with lighthouse facts.”

“Wouldn’t ask if I didn’t wanna know.”

He bit his lips together, turning to face the sea again. “Right.”

She continued to watch him, waiting patiently for him to find the right words to speak again.

He cleared his throat and went on. “There are two types of lighthouses, yeah? Those located on land and those located offshore. A land lighthouse like this one-“ Harry knocked on the concrete wall behind him. “-Its job is to aid navigation over land rather than water. They’re usually constructed in areas of flatland where the featureless landscape and prevailing weather conditions might cause travellers to get disoriented or lost. A tower like this is therefore visible for miles.”

“Makes sense.” Y/N nodded, glancing up at the house as Harry continued.

“Offshore lighthouses are the ones you seem to think of, they’re far from land. Reasons for them being built in that specific area can be ‘cause of a shoal, a reed, or a submerged island several miles from land. They’re there to warn sailors they’re close to dangerous territory, basically.”

“You know so much about this stuff.”

“It’s my job.”

Y/N laughed, maybe a little too loudly but she found it funny, so she didn’t see a reason to be embarrassed or excuse her loud exclamation of joy. “That explains your obsession.”

He smiled, meeting her eyes for a second before glancing at his bare feet. “What’s yours?”

“My job?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh…” Now it was her turn to not want to meet his eyes. It wasn’t that she was ashamed, it was just that her answer was so boring. Maybe even a little unusual, especially for someone who should’ve been in the middle of finishing uni right about now. “I don’t have one.”

“You doing uni then?”

“Nope.”

That got Harry to shut up. It was clear he didn’t know what other questions to ask after that. What did you ask someone who didn’t have a job and didn’t go to uni without sounding disrespectful or degrading? He glanced away, pursing his lips as he fell silent again.

“My Mum was a stay-at-home Mum, so I was kind of expected to end up the same way. Trained for it my whole life and all.”

“You don’t want to do that?”

“No.” Y/N shook her head. “I mean, it would be perfect in a sense ‘cause I could read all the time, but I don’t want to spend eternity reading, you know what I mean?”

“Know exactly what you mean.”

She smiled at him. “You don’t like reading?”

“It’s not something I do very often, no.”

“Boring.”

Harry chuckled.

“It’s fun,” Y/N said, trying to sound convincing, but she was sure that if some people didn’t like to read, she wasn’t about to force them to buy a book and read it. “Anyway, I got this one dream a few years back, but it’s silly, really.”

Just then, the same ringing tone she’d heard from Harry’s phone before sounded from his pocket again. He cursed under his breath and brought his phone up, looking at the screen for a few seconds as if reading something before shoving it into his pockets again.

“I…” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“No, if you have to take that, it’s no big deal.”

“It’s nothing, no one’s calling me-“ But he was interrupted by the ringing sounding again. He brought his phone out and brought it up to his upper right arm before checking it again, sighing before looking at Y/N. He gave her an apologetic smile before motioning back to the house. “Gotta get back in there.”

“That’s fine,” she said, really meaning it.

Harry nodded, biting at his bottom lip as the two of them walked back in silence. The wind was still harsh, but Y/N guessed that was because of the flat landscape and the ocean being right there. She was used to wind, but not as constant as this.

“Listen,” Harry said as they reached his front door that he’d left open. “I’m so sorry about the whole fake relationship thing. I feel like I pushed it on you, and you don’t really wanna do it. You don’t have to do it-“

“-I genuinely don’t have anything else to do all summer. I think it’d be fun.”

Harry nodded, running a hand through his hair. She could see the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Right, yeah.”

“We good?”

“Yeah, I just want to make it clear that we can break this off whenever. If it hadn’t been for me and my lie, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“It’s honestly fine. It’ll keep my otherwise dull summer eventful and it’ll help you out. Think it works out fine, we just have to establish our relationship a bit so we don’t go around telling stories that contradict one another.”

His smile grew some. “Smart. We should definitely just sit down and figure it out.”

“What’s your number?” she asked, walking over to him with her phone in her hand. He reached for it, meeting her eyes to ask if it was fine that he grabbed for it. She gave him a little smile; he took it and typed his number into her phone. “Just so we can get a hold of one another and figure everything out. I’ll send you a text so you get mine.”

He kissed his teeth for a second or two and gave her phone back to her before saying so quickly Y/N barely understood what he was getting at, “Would you mind coming to Gracie’s birthday party on Saturday?”

Y/N remembered Jessa and Grace inviting her when she met them a few days prior, but she hadn’t thought about it till now. Harry’s brows were knitted together, something that resembled worry on his face as if he expected her to turn him down.

“Yes, of course! When? Oh!” Y/N jumped a little, suddenly experiencing a jolt of excitement rolling through her. “Has she got a list of things she wants for her birthday? I should get her a present.”

“You really don’t have to,” Harry said, but he was smiling.

“I think I do, and I love shopping.”

Harry’s smile widened and he looked at the pebbles under Y/N’s feet. “I’ll pick you up at 2pm on Saturday, then. It’s on the family farm, just a five-minute drive from town.”

“That sounds so lovely.”

“It’s the best place on earth,” Harry agreed, staying quiet for a couple more seconds before he seemed to remember why the two had walked back to his house in the first place. He shook his head quickly, clearing his throat and taking a step closer to the door. “Right, I’m sorry I can’t hang out more today. I got to… work.”

“That’s completely fine, I’ll talk to you later. You know where to find me.” She deliberately used that last sentence as he’d used it when they last parted ways, and it seemed Harry recognised that as well. He met her eyes as she started walking backward, giving her a genuine smile, one of his dimples showing. She waved her bouquet of two wildflowers, hearing Harry’s phone ring again as she turned around to walk off, and then his front door shutting quickly after.

Saturday, 20 June

Two different massive books lay on the desk in front of Y/N, one a little bigger than the other. She wasn’t sure which one was better to get her started, she hadn’t researched that before buying them at the Waterstones at home in Hampshire. All she knew was that they would both help make her achieve the same thing: master the UCAT exam. She hadn’t signed up for it yet, didn’t know when the next one was, but she knew that before she did that, she had to study first. But which one of the massive books was she supposed to open first?

The University Clinical Aptitude Test was used by most UK Universities on top of general applications, and academic qualifications, for their medical and dental programs. It aimed to help Universities select applicants with the most appropriate skills and attributes required to be a successful doctor or dentist. It was a test that Y/N, who was usually good at not stressing herself out, was sure would make her very nervous.

Her parents had never been interested in her achievements at school. They were sure she’d end up like her mother, and quite liked the fact she’d picked up reading and that she read as she did. It was an intellectual and quiet hobby they thought suited her well. Though Y/N loved to read, she didn’t want to study it in school. She didn’t want to taint something she found so much peace in with sleepless nights and forced readings. No, she had always wanted to keep that part of her life in a separate box from her academic one.

In school, she’d always thought science subjects to be fascinating. She ended up studying chemistry, biology, and maths for A-levels, she realised she did well in them because she thoroughly enjoyed her time there. Though it was hard, she liked how it opened her up to everything she wanted. Her parents hadn’t cared much for what she studied in A-levels, but it seemed to have shocked them that she did so well in subjects that juxtaposed with everything they thought Y/N was interested in. A little part of her was proud of herself for startling her parents like that; for doing the unthinkable in their eyes.

However, that was years ago now. Y/N hadn’t touched an academic book since. She was 25 and hadn’t gone to University like her friends from school. She hadn’t pursued her dreams. In her strict, rich family, she didn’t have to work a single hour for the rest of her life because her Dad had all the money they’d ever need. Plus, she hadn’t helped herself when she started going out with Dominic, another man who studied Business Management at University and someone whom Y/N’s Dad very much approved of. Y/N had been set. That was her life.

But she didn’t want that. She’d never wanted that. When she told her parents and Dominic this, they agreed it could get a bit tedious sitting around doing nothing but house chores all day. Y/N and her Mum had therefore volunteered at the hospital in town a few days a week, and some other days Y/N spent volunteering at a dentist. That was when she realised, she wanted to be a dentist. She didn’t really know why, had never really harboured a proper explanation for her interest, but she knew she wanted to be one. When Y/N told her Mum this, she just shook her head and took Y/N’s hand.

“What’d I do if you went away to uni, darling?” she asked, something that immediately sent a jolt of sadness and guilt through Y/N. Her Mum was right, she couldn’t just leave her. Y/N was the only child her parents had; she couldn’t disappoint them.

Y/N ran her hands over her face and then through her hair, forcing back the tears that were threatening to spill over. She wasn’t going to cry. She just wasn’t. Why would she cry? She’d escaped the life she hated back in Winchester, the two UCAT practice books she’d bought in secret at Waterstones were right before her, waiting to be opened and devoured. Why was she thinking about her life before this?

Y/N jumped up from her seat, looking at herself in the mirror beside the dresser. She quickly wiped away the tears on her cheek, as if doing it fast enough would hide the fact she was crying. She refused to cry.

Walking downstairs, she helped herself to a cup of tea in the kitchen, saying a quick hi to Bessie and her ladies before walking back upstairs. Putting her cuppa down on the desk, she gave her cheeks a little slap each, then sat down.

“Concentrate,” she hissed at herself, opening the window in front of the desk to let in some fresh air and seagull song.

Taking a deep breath, she reached for the bigger of the two books, tapping her fingers against the blue cover as if bracing herself for what she’d find on the inside. Opening the   book and starting to read it was a commitment. That was a big if, because so far she had a ton of money on her credit card, but she didn’t have enough to pay for University tuition or rent.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to not think about anything but the contents of the book before her. If she wanted to do this, she’d have to do it with her whole heart, she couldn’t let anything distract her when she wanted to read for the UCAT. Inhaling slowly, she opened the book, reading the table of contents before the introduction..

She could do this, she believed in herself. She told herself that over and over again the next three hours, not losing sight of what she wanted and deserved. At the end of the day, if she didn’t tell herself those things, who else would?

“You look lovely,” Bessie said as Y/N stood in the lobby of the Inn, grinning from ear to ear. “Heading somewhere special, dear?”

Y/N looked down at her baby blue mini smock dress, small daisies printed and sporadically littered all over it. She smiled at Bessie, nodding her head a little. “It’s Harry’s little sister’s birthday.”

Bessie raised her eyebrows a tad, a knowing smile on her lips. She looked Y/N up and down again. “You’re going to that are you?”

“Yes, is this inappropriate?”

“No, no!” Bessie laughed. “I’m just happy to see you and Harry hanging out. He’s such a sweet lad.”

“He is, yeah.” Y/N was unsure if she should thank Bessie for the other day, or if it had been so long now that it would be weird. The innkeeper had never brought it up again, never talked about Harry until today, but judging by the raised eyebrows and smile on her face, Y/N was sure Bessie knew more than she was supposed to. However, seeing as she’d lied with Harry and Y/N, Y/N trusted Bessie to not tell people. It’d break Jessa’s heart for sure, and Y/N had a hunch that if that woman’s heart was broken, the entire town’s would be as well.

The mellow yellow Ford van Y/N had seen a few days earlier at Harry’s pulled up in front of the Inn’s open entrance. A pair of orange pilot sunglasses were perched on his nose, almost matching the exterior of the car. He reached down rolling the window down manually, giving Y/N a smile when their eyes met, and then Bessie the same one when he noticed her standing by the reception desk.

“You alright?” he asked just as the window got a bit stuck. He yanked the handle a bit to get it all the way around and stopped when the window was fully open. Clearing his throat, he reached to rest his arm where the window was no more, bumping his elbow and top of his head in the process. Bessie chuckled some behind Y/N, but Y/N held her giggles back. Opting for a smile instead once Harry met her gaze again.

“Get yourself a proper car, Harry,” Bessie said.

“This one works just fine, Bess.” Harry pushed his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose as they slid down some when he bumped his head. “Besides, it’s massive.”

“Why do you need a massive car?”

“Massive car for a massive hunk.” He glanced at Y/N again as both women laughed at his remark. “You ready?

“Tell you-“ Y/N said as she stepped outside, on her way around the front of the car when she stopped herself, waving at Bessie. “Bye, Bessie!”

“Bye, dear! Have fun!”

Y/N opened the passenger side door and jumped a little to get inside the van, sitting down in the seat and putting her seatbelt on as she talked. “Tell you what, you got bants.”

“What happens when you grow up overweight,” Harry said, a smile on his face so she’d know he was making light of the situation.

“Oh?” Y/N asked, rolling down her window as well when Harry motioned for her to do so.

“The AC’s a bit fucked,” he explained, giving Bessie one last wave before driving off down the Terrace. Wind blew in on them, nice contrast to the scorching sun outside, though it was a bit loud, but Harry just talked over it. “But yeah, you got to be the cracking bloke who always tells jokes and makes everyone laugh. Why else would they want you in their circle?” There was a slight pause. “Actually, forget I said that. That’s an incredibly depressing place to start our day together, I-“

Y/N just laughed, finding the way Harry’s cheekbones turned all red and how he scratched at his neck in embarrassment, adorable.

“Sorry,” he said.

“You don’t have to say you’re sorry, it’s completely fine.” She opened her purse, rummaging through it. “I got Grace this.” She held a headband out. Pink silk with red along the edges and red roses to match, Y/N had absolutely adored it when she saw it in Vintage Divine a few days before and she thought it’d look good in Gracie’s dark hair. “Dunno if she likes this kind of stuff, but if she doesn’t then Jessa’s free to take it.”

“If you give her something that nice, she’s going to cherish it and wear it every day. Mark my words.”

Y/N giggled. “Alright, I will mark them.”

Harry smiled a bit at that, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. When he didn’t notice her staring, Y/N took a few seconds to just study him and what he was wearing. A green and white tee shirt tucked into dark blue denim jeans, a pair of worn-down white Vans on his feet. He looked good, and the orange sunglasses made the whole outfit. She glanced away, not wanting to seem like a creep or like she was checking him out, because she was not.

“Who is coming to this birthday then?” she asked, putting the headband down in her purse again.

“Family. Maybe some of Gracie’s friends, but I think they’re having two separate birthday parties. Jessa and Gracie love a good social convention.”

Y/N smiled. “And you don’t?”

“I live by myself in a lighthouse.”

She laughed. “You don’t like people?”

“Nah, it’s not that,” Harry explained. “More the fact that I want to choose when to be around them, you know what I mean? I need a bit of breathing space, being around someone all the time makes me feel a bit claustrophobic.”

“Gotcha.”

Harry was silent for a few moments as he put on his turning signalled and then turned. “What about you?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you like people?”

Y/N sat back in her seat properly, thinking about that question for a little bit. “Depends.”

“Okay.”

“If I don’t particularly like spending time with them, I don’t want to be around them.”

“Understandable.”

“But if I don’t know them very well yet or if I like them, then I don’t mind. I don’t like feeling lonely.”

“But if you don’t know the people you’re around, that’s just as lonely as being alone, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, but if you don’t know someone, that’s potential to get to know them and make a friend,” she explained, watching as the town centre of St Ives started disappearing around them.

“Hmm,” Harry hummed, waving at someone out his window. “Can see that.”

Y/N smiled. “You seem popular, though.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, everyone seems to know who you are.”

“The former lighthouse keeper’s son, and now current lighthouse keeper. Think that’s why.”

Y/N shrugged, not wanting to press the subject as she didn’t want to force an image of him that she’d created in her head onto him before getting to know him. She had to trust what he was saying and make her own observations. “What’re you giving Grace for her birthday then?”

“Trip to St Austell next Friday,” he said, stepping down on the gas a bit once they were on a more deserted country road. “About an hour north from here. There’s gonna be a street market there and she loves going on trips with me. She gets to decide the music, what shops we go to, and I always buy her two ice creams even though Jessa has a strict ‘only one ice cream per trip’ policy. We usually don’t give one about that.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“It kind of is, yeah.”

“Is there something special about St Austell, then?”

Harry turned his lips downward for a second. “Not really. Just know from a mate who travels there a lot that there’s gonna be a street market on their high street.”

“Every fortnight, there would be a market in the town centre at home. Anyone could put up a stall and sell their homemade stuff. There was always this cheese and this fish booth standing right next to one another, and they smelled absolutely rank.”

Harry smiled. “You don’t like the smell of cheese and fish?”

“I’ve never been a fan of cheese, and though fish isn’t bad smelling, it… right okay, doesn’t smell good, does it?”

Harry shrugged. “Dunno, I’ve lived here most of my life, so I’ve gotten quite used to the smell of fish over the years. Doesn’t really faze me now.”

“Lucky you, then.”

“And cheese is amazing.”

“That’s a blatant untruth. How dare you?”

Harry laughed, scrunching up his nose some before putting his turning signal on and then driving off the concrete road and onto a gravel one. They drove in silence the last part up to the farm. Forest rose up around them, but not thick enough so that you couldn’t make out distant houses or driveways leading up to other farms or neighbourhoods. It didn’t take long till Harry drove down a wider driveway, a thin line of trees along the edge of the estate that Y/N assumed was the Styles family’s.

A brick house along with a smaller brick house stood at the end of the small drive. Stone fencing surrounded the house, but the field outside of it was lush, green, and huge. Cars were parked there and people were hanging out inside the stone fence, sitting on tables or standing chatting. Different coloured flowers grew in front of the fence and by the looks of it, Jessa was growing a lot of vegetables on the other side. There were a few trees behind the house and inside what seemed to be the main area of the lot, so Y/N assumed they were trees that grew fruits as well. She couldn’t seem to remove her eyes from the little country oasis before her. It looked so tranquil that she almost wanted to live on a farm herself.

Harry parked his car on the grass outside the fence along with the rest of the guests. The second Grace noticed the mellow yellow van, she ran out to greet her older brother. Harry smiled at the sight of her and stopped the car, quickly turning to Y/N as he took his seatbelt off and started manually rolling up his window.

“I won’t leave your side, yeah? This can be a bit overwhelming, and you’ve never met my family before-“

“-And I won’t leave yours,” Y/N assured him, nodding as she took off her seatbelt as well. “Harry, we need to discuss our backstory-“

“-Harry!” Grace shouted, banging on the door and trying to get it open.

“One second, Gracie, I’m rolling the window up.” He turned his attention to Y/N. “Just keep yours down, it’ll get hot in here ‘cause of the sun.” He made sure his was shut before he paused for a moment, blinking once. “Fuck, we haven’t-“

“-Harry!” Grace knocked on the door again, jiggling the handle. “You haven’t said happy birthday to me yet!”

He sighed, giving Y/N a look before turning toward his door. “Step away, Grace. If I open the door now, I’ll mow you over.”

Y/N stepped outside as well, for the first time then paying attention to the noise of the farm. She thought she heard hens somewhere in between the chatter of the party guests, the smell of the open nature around her offering something besides the salt ocean and fish of St Ives. On the other side of the car, Harry pretended to struggle picking Grace up, something that had his little sister laughing. He walked over to the other side to Y/N, Grace grinning from ear to ear when she finally saw who’d come with Harry.

“You came!” Grace exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“Couldn’t miss your birthday, could I?” Y/N grinned, opening her purse. “My birthday present isn’t as good as your brother’s, but here you go.”

She handed Grace the headband and as Harry gasped, Grace gasped with him. He put her down, letting her study her birthday present.

“It’s so pretty,” Grace said. “I think I like it more than Harry’s.”

“Oi!” Harry frowned down at her. “Hurting my feelings now, mate.”

Grace only giggled, giving Y/N a smile. “Thank you.”

“Happy birthday.”

“There’s food!” Grace pointed at the house and started making her way there, expecting the two to follow. Harry made sure Y/N was tagging along before the two strolled after his little sister.

“How old is she now?”

“Seven.”

“Oh.” Y/N blinked a few times. “Thought she was ten when I met her.”

Harry let out a breathy laugh. “That’s weird.”

“Hey now. I don’t know what seven-year-olds look like.” Y/N nudged his arm with her shoulder. It only made him laugh again.

“Oh, uhm…” He swallowed, glancing between the farm and Y/N. “You don’t have to do this, but with my grandpa – or step-grandpa, I usually call him lolo, which is Tagalog for grandpa – the pamilya and lolo would really appreciate if you did the mano po.”

“Mano po?”

“It’s a gesture of respect for the elders, basically. You take their hand-“ Harry pretended as if there was a hand before him. “And you take their knuckles or their hand and touch it to your forehead. Instead of a handshake, you do that. We don’t really do it to anyone else here as we don’t have that much Filipino family in Cornwall, but lolo is big on it. It’s dying out a bit, not a lot are doing it anymore, but lolo wants to keep the tradition going, and it’s not really asking for much, is it? Plus, it’s very nice.”

Y/N smiled. “How lovely.”

“It’s performed with the right hand.” Harry waved his right hand in the air in such a way that had a few of their family members waving back at him, he played it off as if that was his intent, clearing his throat as he turned back to Y/N. “You say ‘mano po’ to him to kind of ask permission to do it. I don’t do that anymore ‘cause he knows me and expects me to do it, but I think he’d appreciate you asking first.”

“Okay, nice to know.”

“It’s very important for Filipino children to do this as it shows respect to the elders, but they continue to do it to their elders even when they grow up. They’re kind of asking for a blessing from the elder, it’s usually done when entering their house or seeing them.”

“Oh, so… this is a bit of a big deal?”

Harry huffed, shrugging his shoulders. There was silence for a moment before a quick, “Yes.”

“Grand.”

“Also might want to do it to nanay.”

“Jessa?”

“She once grounded Grace for not doing the mano po when she came home from school.” Harry opened the small gate leading into the farm. “I don’t think she expects you to do it, but I usually do when I see her.”

Y/N took a big breath, for the first time since coming to the farm feeling nervous. “I shook her hand when I first met her. Was that wrong of me?”

“Again,” Harry said, trying to give Y/N a reassuring smile. “She didn’t expect you to do the mano, but I think she’ll appreciate you doing it.”

“Harry!” Jessa called from across the lawn, waving them both over. Beside her sat a very old man in a chair by a table, surrounded by others that Y/N guessed also were family members.

“Hiya,” Harry said as they got closer, taking Jessa’s hand and bringing it to his forehead, touching her so tenderly and with so much respect it took Y/N’s breath away. She now understood why it was such a big deal to Jessa, Harry’s lolo, Harry, and their entire family, not just their Filipino part. As Harry removed her hand from his forehead, she grinned up at him, giving his hand a quick kiss before turning to Y/N.

“When Harry told us you were actually coming I started crying,” Jessa said, beaming so genuinely and widely her eyes were mere slits of pure happiness on her face. “Welcome to the farm!”

“Thank you so much,” Y/N smiled back, offering her hand and before Jessa could reach forward and shake it, Y/N said a soft, “Mano po?”

Jessa didn’t hide her surprise, but she was quick to wipe it off her face and nod once at Y/N. Jessa’s hand was warm and rough, reflecting the many years she’d lived on this earth and the hardships she must’ve gone through. Gently and with as much care as she could muster, Y/N brought Jessa’s knuckles to her forehead and held them there for a moment before lowering it. She understood why it was such an important tradition to their family now; it was respect. Doing so told the elders how much the youngers admired them, Y/N really liked it. Jessa squeezed her hand, gesturing with a pout of her lips to the right where lolo was sitting.

Harry was already taking his lolo’s hand, holding it to his forehead before lowering his lolo’s hand again. Harry gestured behind him, saying something Y/N didn’t catch. She smiled at Harry’s grandpa, offering to take the lolo’s hand and saying another “Mano po” to ask permission first. The lolo held his hand out for Y/N and she took it carefully, pressing the knuckles gently to her forehead for three seconds before lowering it again. The lolo didn’t give Y/N as much of a smile as Jessa had, but Harry had again explained how important this was to him. He’d most likely expected her to do it upon arrival. They shared a look and he blinked once, and for some reason, Y/N understood that was him telling her he appreciated her effort.

“Y/N, you have to try some of the food!” Grace took Y/N’s hand, dragging her away from everyone to get something to eat.

“Sorry, I’ll come over in a bit,” Y/N said to the little group, feeling relieved when Harry followed her and his sister. They entered the house, taking the first open door to the left to the dining room. The walls were a relaxing white, filled with pictures and lamps and art clearly made by kids. In the middle of the room stood the table, filled with food and drinks. And in the middle of it, taking up most of the space and hard not to have your eyes immediately fall to it, laid a pig.

“This,” Grace said, giving Y/N a plate before pointing at the first casserole of food. “This is shanghai lumpia, it’s one of my favourites. It’s egg rolls with sweet chilli sauce. This is sausage rolls, and scotch eggs, and this is palabok-“

“-Gracie,” Harry interrupted, standing on the opposite side of the table from them with a plate in his hand as well, helping himself to some shanghai lumpia. “Take it easy. Let Y/N have a look herself.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll let you look,” Grace said, making Y/N laugh.

“And what’s that?” she asked, pointing to the pig on the table that Grace had forgot to mention.

“Oh! Lechon!” Grace grinned from ear to ear. “It’s my favourite.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a whole roasted pig,” Grace explained. “It’s been cooked over charcoal for 6 hours. The entrails are removed and after seasoning, nanay skews the entire pig on a large bamboo stick and places it over the charcoal. You gotta be super patient to do it, which is why nay is so good at it.”

“The slow process makes the skin of the pig become very crispy and the meat’s always very tasty,” Harry chimed in, smiling at Grace as she nodded enthusiastically.

“A Filipino party is never complete without one. You know it’s a special occasion when nanay serves lechon.”

“So it’s served on special occasions?” Y/N asked, watching as Grace asked Harry to help her to a serving of it. He did, putting it on her plate as an excited squeal erupted from the seven-year-olds mouth. Y/N could see parts of Jessa in the small human before her and it made her very happy.

“Graduations, marriages, birthdays, Christmas, New Year’s, you name it,” Harry said.

“It’s my favourite part of special occasions.” Grace reached for a fork.

“While this all sounds lovely,” Y/N started, looking at the table packed with food. “I’m vegetarian.”

Grace looked to Harry. “Nay is gonna be mad with you.”

“Uhm, I…” He looked at Y/N, mouth opening and closing as he tried to come with an explanation. “I-I… There’s gonna be a brutal murder at noon.”

Grace laughed, finding Harry’s helplessness entertaining. Y/N was aware she should’ve told him before this, but it had completely slipped her mind. The last week had been incredibly interesting trying to convert into vegetarianism. It had been hard, and she’d slipped up a few times, but she really wanted to make an effort. She noticed Harry looking down the table frantically, eyes moving between the different dishes.

“I mean, if there’s no vegetarian food, I’ll just eat-“

“-Tarte!”

All of them fell quiet, watching as Harry blinked a few times, realising he’d just shouted that out loud. Biting his bottom lip and running a hand through his hair, he gestured at the pan nonchalantly.

“The root vegetable tarte,” he said, a little more calmly.

“Oh?”

Grace pointed at it at the other end of the table and Y/N walked over. “Nay makes the best root vegetable tarte. You’ll love it,” Grace smiled, watching as Y/N helped herself to a serving.

“Thank you, Grace.”

Someone shouted something from the front garden, Y/N recognised the voice as Jessa’s and supposed other guests had arrived. She was probably calling for Grace to come say hi.

“Don’t tell your Mum,” Harry hissed as Grace started making her way out.

“She’ll find out eventually.”

“Not from you.”

Grace walked outside and Harry sighed, gesturing for Y/N to follow him into the living room where they could sit and eat in peace. There were some friends of the family in there, but Harry only said a quiet hello before sitting down, shielding Y/N a bit from view. She supposed he did it more so she wouldn’t be bombarded with questions than anything else, she really appreciated that.

The living room faced the back garden; big and open, a few trees every here and there along with a greenhouse. A fireplace stood by the far wall, one sofa placed beside it and a telly before the sofa. There was another sofa opposite the dining room entrance, Harry had made the two of them sit in that one, clearly so they wouldn’t have to chat with the small group huddled behind the television. Again, in the living room as well, pictures of Harry, Grace, and the family were everywhere. Y/N had never seen this many frames on a wall before, or in a house even.

They started eating in silence, but Harry had barely managed to eat one lumpia before someone came over. He put the plate away, smiling up at the two women in their late 30’s it seemed.

“Y/N, my aunts Rachel and Abby. Aunties, this is my girlfriend, Y/N.”

Y/N sat up a bit straighter as Rachel and Abby started talking over one another, high-pitched voices that showed of unapologetic excitement. They reached for her hand to shake it.

“Jessa has told us so much about you,” Abby said.

“Well, not much, anyway, but she’s talked about you. She’s obsessed,” Rachel went on.

“We’re Harry’s Dad’s sisters, by the way.”

“But Harry’s never told us where you’re from! Where are you from?”

“And how did you meet?!”

“Harry hasn’t talked much about you, he likes to be a bit mysterious, don’t you, Haz?” Rachel pinched Harry’s cheek, laughing a little at his grimace.

“No, but seriously, how did you meet? Where was your first date?”

“You’ve kept her a secret for so long, we need to know everything.”

“Auntie Abby, Rachel,” Harry said, chuckling a little as he sighed. “You’re gonna overwhelm her if you keep going.”

“It seems unlikely that a lad that quiet has a loud family, doesn’t it?” Abby asked, nodding in the direction of Harry, but asking Y/N the question. Y/N was about to say something when Rachel interrupted her.

“You look proper posh. Don’t reckon you’ve ever made a flowerbed, have you? Harry,” Rachel said, looking at Harry. “Did you get yourself one of them posh girls from London?”

“Alright.” Harry stood from the sofa. “We’re escaping.” He turned around, offering Y/N his hand. Him doing that took her a bit off guard. They’d never touched each other, and they were just going to start holding hands? She hadn’t felt a jolt of panic till then, she didn’t know why. Gently, she placed her hand in his. It was soft, rough as if he was used to handling mechanics and doing manual labour, but the skin was soft regardless. She didn’t know how he managed the combination.

He helped her up into a standing position, letting go of her hand when she stood right beside him. They left their plates behind as Harry manoeuvred his way around his aunties, making sure Y/N was following him as he made his way up the stairs in the foyer.

“It was nice meeting you,” Y/N called over her shoulder, smiling at them. She hoped it came across as genuine. Harry walked up the stairs and down the corridor to his right, entering the room on the left. He held the door open for her, closing it once they were inside.

He let go of a small groan. “Masters of doing my head in.”

“They were very chatty.”

“One way of putting it.” Harry sat on a single bed and it was then that she noticed they were in a bedroom. The walls were a bright green colour, posters of different Manchester United players and other football things. Y/N didn’t know enough about the sport to say anything definitely, but she knew the Manchester United logo when she saw it. The room was fairly small, only a wardrobe pushed up against the same wall the bed was and a tiny desk under the window. Judging by the picture of a man and a boy on the nightstand, Y/N concluded this had to be Harry’s childhood room. That picture was of him and his father. They looked so much alike it warmed her heart. She wouldn’t pry, but she continued to look around, letting Harry sit in silence on the bed for a minute or two.

“Wondered why you had a bit of a northern accent,” she said, gesturing at the posters. “You’re from Manchester?”

“Mancunian at heart, yeah.”

“Why’d you move down here? Don’t northerners hate the south and southerners?”

Harry smiled a little at that, looking at her. “Depends on what kind of southerner you’re talking about.”

Y/N chuckled, glancing at the posters again. “The posh ones.”

Harry let out a breathy chuckle. “Only those from London.”

Y/N kept her eyes on the posters. “So, why’d you move? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Hmm,” Harry said, looking out the window at the party going on outside. “Dad wanted us to move. He got the position as a lightkeeper since his Dad died, so we moved down here and on vacation in the Philippines a few years later, he met Jasmine.”

Y/N smiled. “I love that.”

“Yeah.” Harry let that word hang in the air between them for a few seconds. She looked down at him. “Anyway,” Harry got up from the bed, running his hands through his hair. “We need to figure out what we should do. When did we meet?”

A little taken aback by his sudden urge for them to establish their relationship, Y/N stood just glancing at him for a moment. Though she had no idea where to start, she thought nailing down location could be key first. “Have you been to Hampshire?”

“No.”

“Then, to keep some truth in there, we say we met in Newquay since it’s in Cornwall, ‘cause I’ve been there with my family a few years back. We met…” She narrowed her eyes, trying to think of an appropriate time.

“Last summer?” Harry suggested.

“And we’ve been talking on and off since.”

He nodded. “Didn’t get serious till April, since then we’ve kind of been seeing each other.”

Seeing how eager they were at building their backstory, Y/N smiled a little. She remembered something he’d mentioned earlier. “It wasn’t till the Exeter trip in May that we made it official,” she went on. “Did you actually go to Exeter? Do you have the hotel you stayed in?”

“I did and yes.”

“Right, we’ll use that if people ask us about where we stayed while there.” She brought her hand to her chin, looking out the window as she thought for a moment. “What did we do on our trip to Exeter? What kind of activities would two adults in a relationship be doing in Exeter?”

The room fell quiet. Harry cleared his throat. When Y/N turned around, he was scratching at his neck again, looking at the ground. “I mean…” There was a pause. “They do… Do…” Another pause. “New sightseeing.”

“Yeah,” Y/N said, dragging it out as she put her hands on her hips. “I suppose they do. What kind of sightseeing would we be doing?”

He seemed to be caught off guard by that, swallowing thickly. Y/N noticed a slight flare to his cheeks. “Dunno… Depends o-on what you’d wanna do.”

“What you mean?”

“What you’d be up for that early in the relationship.”

“Oh, I would be up for anything.”

Harry looked up at her, wide-eyed. “Any… anything?”

“Yeah, I want to experience everything.”

A whispered, “Everything,” left Harry’s lips.

“Think we’d spend a lot of time sightseeing, especially if we were in a town where there’s loads of places to do it.”

Harry just looked at her.

“Okay,” Y/N smiled, leaning against the desk. “So, we met in Newquay last summer. Where?”

“Oh, uhm-“ Harry’s voice broke towards the end, he cleared his throat quickly. “The beach.”

“Classic. Were we with friends?”

“No.”

“Even better.”

“Neither family knew till around the Exeter trip that we were together?”

“You play off what you’ve told Jessa and Gracie, I’ll say my family knows, but I didn’t tell them till I left just now for St Ives.”

“Why not?”

She waved it off. “Overprotective parents.”

“Okay, uhm…” He looked out the window behind her as he thought for a bit. “How did we start talking on that beach in Newquay?”

Y/N cocked her head to the side, allowing herself time to come up with something good. “I could’ve come up to you and just asked your name, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, alright.”

“I mean this in the least disrespectful way possible, but you seem very shy, no idea if that’s your kind of move.”

He smiled a little. “Shy or not, don’t think I would’ve had the courage to walk up and ask for your name and number.”

She narrowed her eyes a little at him, unsure how to interpret that. But Harry didn’t let her dwell on it for long.

He kneaded his palm with the thumb of his other hand, averted his eyes from hers as he hid his face in the little shadow the room provided. “But yeah, I… I like my own company, I guess.”

“Sorry, daft of me to just put it like that.”

“No, you’re completely right. We’ll go with you coming up to me.” He looked down at his hand. “Why were you in Newquay then? And why was I?”

“I was there with family, but I went to the beach alone that day.”

He nodded a little. “I’ll say it was a lads trip then.”

She smiled at him, feeling herself let out a small sigh of relief. They were getting a pretty good overview of the beginning of their supposed relationship. “And we went on a date in Newquay?”

Harry nodded just as the phone in his pocket started ringing. He sighed, reaching for it with a slight tremor to his hand. He dragged it out and pressed a button before turning back to Y/N.

“Aren’t you gonna answer it?”

“No, no one’s calling.”

“Then-“

She stopped as it rang again. Harry groaned and brought it up to his upper arm before checking it again, sighing as he gestured at the door.

“Need to go do something,” he said.

“Oh.”

He stepped out of the room and disappeared from view, but a second later he poked his head through the doorframe to look back at her.

“You’re not coming?”

That got her moving. She followed him downstairs and back into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, bringing a cartoon of milk out and putting it on the counter before reaching for the cupboard behind Y/N.

A hushed, “Sorry,” left his lips and he was quick to step away from her after retrieving the glass. He poured himself some milk and then chugged the glass. Y/N had just thought it was him getting a sudden urge to have a glass of milk, but as he started pouring himself another glass, she debunked that thought very quickly. She watched him till the second glass was down, not saying a word as she didn’t really know what to say to that. Did he just love milk? And why did they have to stop mid-conversation for him to have two glasses?

He looked at her and when he caught her staring, he let a breathy chuckle leave his lips before glancing at the milk carton again. “Sorry about that. It helps my blood sugar.”

Y/N furrowed her brows some. “Pardon?”

Harry turned his body so his right side was facing her, dragging the arm of his tee shirt up till his shoulders. A white patch was attached to his skin, a bit larger than a fifty pence coin, round and standing in soft contrast to his tanned skin. Y/N stared at it for a few seconds before meeting Harry’s eyes again, not knowing what to make of what he was showing her.

“Diabetic.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Type 1. Had it for…” He trailed off as he thought. “About 12 years now. I think. Time’s a social construct.”

“And milk helps when your blood sugar is low?”

“Yeah, that alarm is to tell me my blood sugar’s getting low or too high. It doesn’t happen all the time, by the way. You’ve just caught me when I haven’t eaten in a bit and my blood sugar’s been low.”

“So, what’s that white thing got to do with you being a diabetic?”

“A needle’s attached to the sensor which constantly checks my blood sugar, and that’s connected to an app on my phone, yeah? So it sends signals when the blood sugar’s extra low or high… Makes sense?”

“Ahh,” Y/N said, nodding. “Got it. I think.”

Harry poured himself another glass before putting the milk back in the fridge. “Suppose I should’ve told you earlier, it’s a pretty big part of my life.” He laughed a bit as if to make light of the situation, but Y/N only shook her head.

“Just ‘cause we’re fake dating doesn’t mean you have to tell me things about yourself that you don’t want strangers to know.”

He held onto his glass of milk, only looking at Y/N for a few seconds as if he was thinking about something. He shook his head a little, bringing his glass to his lips. “I’m not ashamed of it, if that’s what you think.”

“There you are!” Jessa walked through the front door, grinning just as widely as always upon seeing Y/N. She practically skipped into the kitchen and up to the small round table positioned in the middle of it. “Have you introduced her to everyone, Harry?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, people are absolutely dying to meet the woman who has captured our Harry’s heart.” Jessa put a hand over her own heart, looking at Harry with so much love it made Y/N almost tear up a bit. “Everyone’s so happy for the two of you.”

Harry and Y/N looked at one another. Harry’s expression was blank as if he was waiting for her reaction to Jessa’s excited exclamation, so when Y/N scrunched up her nose and smiled at Harry, the dimples in Harry’s cheeks started to show some as well. They didn’t know what else to do or say to Jessa’s statement, but judging by her reaction, it was the correct response. Jessa gave the two an applause no one asked for, but she looked so incredibly happy Y/N didn’t mind.

“Y/N, you have to come to the beach with us on Monday!”

“Nay,” Harry sighed, opening one of the drawers by the counter he was leaning against and pulling out a bar of Dairy Milk. He got himself a row before placing the bar on the counter and then eating his row.

“No, it’ll be amazing. You’re always welcome around here, know that,” Jessa said, that bright beam of hers not once leaving her face once. “Monday we do kamayan on the beach. It’s a summer tradition in the Styles-Flores family!”

Harry looked at Y/N again, swallowing the last of his chocolate. “You don’t… You don’t have to come if you don’t wanna.”

Y/N looked back at him, her smile still present. “Of course I’ll come.”

“Yay!” Jessa clapped again. “I’ll go tell everyone then, they’re going to be ecstatic.” She jogged out the front door then, walking over to a small group of people and saying something that Y/N guessed was the news of Y/N coming along to the beach.

Harry downed the rest of his milk before putting the glass in the dishwasher.

“I almost feel a little bad that we’re going to break up at the end of summer now,” Y/N said, speaking so lowly that only the two of them would hear.

Harry glanced out the window of the kitchen at Jessa. “She’ll be devastated, but I just need to take her on a little road trip and play her some music and she’ll be fine.”

Y/N smiled. “Both Jessa and Gracie love it when you take them on a road trip and they get to listen to music.”

Harry chuckled some. “Guess they do.”

The both of them looked out the window at the garden where both sides of the Flores-Styles family were mingling. Jessa walked up to Harry’s lolo, grinning like always, and Y/N thought she might’ve seen Jessa’s Dad smile back at her. It was hard not to when the woman genuinely glowed and brought happiness with her wherever she went.

Y/N turned back to Harry again, catching him looking into the living room where his aunties were sitting on the sofa he and Y/N had been sitting in earlier. They had his abandoned plate of food between them, eating while they talked about some gossip Y/N couldn’t and wasn’t interested to keep up with.

“Harry,” she said, voice low. He looked back at her. “About… About the diabetes, I-“

“-No, I…” He averted his eyes to the tiled floor of the kitchen, a small furrow appearing between his brows. “Let’s not talk about that right now. My blood sugar will get better in a bit, I’ll stop shaking. We can go outside and chat with some of me family members.”

“You’re shaking?”

He let out what sounded like a short chuckle, holding his hand up so she could see that he was indeed trembling. “Hypoglycaemia. It’s normal.”

“Ahh, yeah, I’ve heard of that.”

“Anyway,” he said. “Let’s not think about that now.”

Y/N inhaled hugely, pushing away from the counter to look at Harry without turning her face. “Shall we mingle like couples do, boyfriend?”

He leaned his head back against the cupboard, running a hand over his face before taking his sunglasses off the top of his head and putting them back on. “We shall, girlfriend.” 

He gestured with his arm for her to walk first and she did, waiting for him to appear beside her once they were outside. He walked her over to where Jessa was standing beside her Dad, saying something to a taller man who stood beside her. His grey hair was slicked back, the shirt and trousers he wore looked worn-down and old, but they looked good on him still.

“Uncle Tom,” Harry said as they approached, a smile on his face as the tall man glanced over. “Hi.”

“Harry! Heard someone say you were here and I saw your car, thought you were hiding from me.” Uncle Tom gave Harry a big hug, patting him on the back a few times before they stepped away from one another. Tom’s eyes settled on Y/N, a smirk on his face as his eyes darted between Harry and her a few times. “So, this is the infamous Y/N.”

“Oh,” Y/N said, waving her hand some as if to dismiss the ‘infamous’ part. “You lot make me feel like a celebrity.”

“Well, when you make our Harry happy, in our eyes you are a celebrity.” Uncle Tom opened his arms, bringing Y/N into a hug she returned quickly, wrapping her arms around him. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d hugged someone. “I’m Tom, Harry’s uncle,” Tom said as he pulled away from Y/N. “I’m not really his uncle, just very good friends with his late Dad.”

“I’ve called him Uncle Tom since forever.”

“It’s very nice to finally meet you, Tom,” Y/N said.

“And I hear,” Tom started, pointing at Jessa over his shoulder, who was still chatting to Harry’s lolo. “You’re coming to the beach next week.”

Harry made a noise. Y/N wasn’t sure what it meant. “Jessa forced her.”

“No, no. Don’t listen to him.” Y/N looked at Harry as he looked at her. She gave him a smile before looking back at Tom. “I want to come; it’ll be an honour.”

“Cheers. It’s one of those trips we take around the beginning of summer every year. The entire family comes, we bring food, and we spend most of the day there. It’s not an extravagant tradition, but it’s ours.”

“It sounds so nice.”

Tom smiled. “The way you’re dressed and judging by how polite and well put-together you are-“

“-Uncle-“

“-I would’ve thought a casual beach day with poor folks down south would sound dull?”

The way Tom said it wasn’t degrading, and Y/N could tell by his smile that he wasn’t saying it to challenge her in any way. With one hand dangling at his side and the other placed on Harry’s shoulder, he looked quite relaxed and not at all like he was trying to interrogate or make Y/N feel inferior. No, he was just wondering. Which was fair, because it seemed a lot of the people in Harry’s family and in St Ives had picked up on the fact Y/N had grown up in a very posh household. The question of why her wealth was so important for them to point out was something she didn’t bother thinking about. It didn’t define her any longer.

“Not dull at all. Maybe even a little refreshing. Don’t get to go to the beach much since I don’t live near one.”

Harry nodded. “We, uh… We actually met when the lads and I visited Newquay last summer. On the beach.”

“You mean you met on the beach?” Tom asked and Harry nodded. Tom glanced at Y/N again. “And you like the beach, Y/N?”

“Love it.”

“Maybe you should move here then. From what I’ve heard, Harry’s left the solitude of his lighthouse a few times already to be with you in town.”

“Only twice,” Harry mumbled, but Tom ignored him.

Y/N only laughed. “A bit too early to think about that. We’ve only been seeing each other for two months now.”

“Nah, this family moves fast, darling. If we fall in love, we fall hard, and we fall fast. Why measure love in hours spent together when it could be measured by the quality of that time, instead of the quantity?” Tom said, patting Harry’s shoulder. “Ain’t that right, mate?”

“No comment.”

Tom grinned. “Alright, alright.”

“I’m gonna take Y/N for a stroll so she can meet the rest, just wanted her to meet you first,” Harry said, looking to Y/N for some kind of confirmation, that she was okay with this.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I’ll see you two Monday, then,” Tom smiled, giving both a wink. He had the kind of old Dad charm that made you feel warm and safe, Y/N understood why Harry considered him family even though he wasn’t.

“Bye.”

“Good to meet you, Tom.”

“And you, Y/N.”

The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. Harry introduced her to some other friends and family members, and though they asked them questions about their relationship, the two seemed to have already gotten a pretty good overview of what it was. That little chat in Harry’s childhood room had done wonders to get their head in the game. That, and the fact their relationship was so new meant there wasn’t a lot to tell, so some questions the two simply did not know because it wouldn’t be realistic for them to have experienced or thought about that yet.

At one point, Grace asked Y/N to help with her new headband. She didn’t know how to wear it in her hair, and she needed help. The two sat down on a bench beside the barn – which, by the sound and smell of it, housed hens – and Y/N helped Grace. The red and pink looked gorgeous in her black hair, and when she turned around and looked at Y/N once she was done putting it in, she grinned from ear to ear and asked, “Do I look pretty?” Y/N didn’t even have to hesitate before telling Grace she looked absolutely beautiful. The seven-year-old blushed and ran over to Harry who was walking over to them. He picked her up, throwing her small form in the air before bringing her to his hip again.

“Ready to leave?” Harry asked and Y/N said she was.

They said goodbye to everyone, and Jessa brought Y/N’s hand to her lips, kissing it quickly and giving it a warm pat before she let her walk off. Jessa, Grace, Uncle Tom, and Lolo stood by the white tree gate as Y/N and Harry left, watching the mellow yellow Ford van drive off down the gravel road. The sun was about to set, causing the sky overhead to bathe in a soothing orange and purple colour that promised sunny weather the following day. The drive back to the Inn was short and quiet. The silence lingered somewhere between exhaustion and awkwardness, and though Y/N wanted to say something to erase the tension, she couldn’t bring herself to.

When the town started appearing a bit more around them, she felt the phone in her purse vibrate. First she didn’t know what was happening, but then her heart suddenly dropped. She felt hot all over, the wind from the open window didn’t do anything to cool her down. Swallowing thickly, she tried to ignore it. But it was hard when the purse was in her lap. Harder when it was so loud. Even harder when her heartbeat sounded in her ears. As if the quiet in the car hadn’t been loud enough, the sound of her phone vibrating and her not picking up, was louder. There were only three people it could be. She didn’t want to bring her phone out to see which one it was. The ringing stopped after an excruciating 30 seconds, and Y/N closed her eyes. Just ignore it. Just ignore them. It’ll be fine. Ignore it and it’ll go away.

They arrived a minute later, and Y/N was grateful Harry didn’t ask about the phone incident. She stepped out and around the car, the smell of the sea surrounding them once again.

“The beach thing on Monday,” Harry said as Y/N stood by the entrance to the Inn, his window rolled down and orange sunglasses resting in his messy hair. “It’s on Porthmeor Beach. Send me a text when you start walking from here and I’ll walk in your direction, I’ll meet you, yeah?”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

He shook his head once to dismiss that. “Goodnight, Y/N. Cheers for today.”

“It was fun.” She gave him a little wave. “Goodnight.”

He started his engine as Y/N walked inside. Bessie stood by the reception desk sorting through some documents. When Y/N glanced in her direction and met her eyes, the innkeeper quickly glanced away, but the tiny smile on her face gave her away. Once in her room, Y/N checked who had called. It had been a few minutes now and they wouldn’t care to call again tonight, she thought. The ‘Mum’ on her locked screen made something inside her chest ache. She opened her phone to remove the notification but then closed it again a second later. Her Mum had called. After days of no one reaching out, of no one asking her where she was, of no one caring. Her Mum had called.

Changing out of her dress and removing her make-up, Y/N didn’t allow herself to think about anything. The only thing she allowed herself to focus on was a blackness. If you focused on nothing, nothing would hurt you. She didn’t want hurt. She’d had enough of that.

NEXT UPDATE: Sunday, 16 August, 9PM GMT!

A HUGEEE thank you to my amazing and beautiful beta readers! 🌊 @aileenacoustic​​ 🌊 @bopbopstyles​​ 🌊 @fromyourstrulyh​ 🌊 @harrys-creature 🌊 @honeydearly​ 🌊 @summerfeelng​ 🌊 @withallthelove-a​ 🌊 

[sub-hoshi-enthusiast]

hiii~✨hope you’re having a good day/night !!can you do taeyong with a praise kink? you can add whatever else you think would fit cus i’m not good at coming up with that lolz. btw i love you’re writing it’s so good

Awww thank you bby 🥺💖 And thank you for the request! I hope you like it!

⚠️Warnings⚠️: sub!Taeyong, fem!dom!reader, pegging, praise kink, fingering (male recieving), he also rides you, but that's really the pegging part.

Good Boy

You cheered loudly with the rest of the NCTzens as NCT 127 finished their stage for Kick It. After they left the stage, you were led by a security guard to meet them in their dressing room. The NCTzens that noticed you leaving waved to you and asked you to tell the boys what a good job they had done tonight. You smiled and waved back at the friendly fans, blowing kisses jokingly every once in a while.

     You and your loving boyfriend, Taeyong, had gone public about 7 months ago after a year of dating. It took a hell of a lot of convincing for SM to be alright with it but they let you do it after seeing how dedicated both of you were to your relationship and realized you two wouldn't be breaking up anytime soon. The fans were a little iffy about you at first, thinking you were doing it for publicity or money, but after seeing you in so many VLives with him and seeing how genuinely happy both of you were, most of them started supporting you. Of course there were those people who sent hate, claiming you were taking their precious Taeyong away from them, but they don't really bother you that much.

     You knocked on the door to their changing room and waited for an okay to go in. It was a changing room after all, and you were sure they wouldn't want you walking in on them changing. It had accidentally happened once and you didn't want it to happen again. You heard shuffling in the room and a second later Donghyuk cracked the door open to see who it was. A smile immediately lit up his face as he saw you standing outside the door.

     "NOONA!" He yelled happily before jumping into your arms and hugging you like a koala bear, making you wrap your arms around his waist to hold him up with a laugh.

     "Hello to you too!" After standing still for a few moments to see if he would let go, you just decided to walk into the room and kick the door closed behind you with a laugh as he continued to hold onto you. You heard the other members laugh before someone walked over to you.

     "Donghyuk, let go of her! Other people want to hug her too!" Johnny said through light chuckles. You felt Donghyuk's lips pout against your neck before unwrapping his legs from your waist and sulking to the couch. All of the boys were changed out of their performing clothes and were working on getting out of their make-up. You waved to everyone else before greeting your boyfriend with a kiss. A few of the boys teasingly 'oooOOOooh'ed while Mark, Johnny, and Haechan made gagging noises from behind you. You rolled your eyes as you pulled away from Taeyong. He chuckled at their antics with red ears before giving you a light kiss on the cheek.

   �� "Hey baby. Did you enjoy the show?" He asked, looking up at you from his seat as his make-up artists removed his make-up. 

     "Of course I did, you all did amazing! A few NCTzens I passed on my way here wanted me to tell you they all loved your performance." You told them as you smiled at Taeyong through the mirror. Your boyfriend smiled brightly and the rest of the boys 'whoop'ed and cheered for themselves.

     "I was your favorite though, right?" Taeyong said as he leaned his head back to look up at you once his make-up was removed. You teasingly hissed in uncertainty.

     "Ooh, I don't know. Jaehyun did look pretty good tonight." You heard Jaehyun laugh from his seat before sexily pushing his hair back and winking at you with a dorky smile through the mirror. Taeyong pouted with a whine and tugged at your sleeve to bring your attention back to him. You laughed loudly and leaned down to give him a kiss.

     "I'm just kidding, baby, you know you're always my favorite." He looked up at you with his puppy-like smile that made your heart melt. You heard Donghyuk gag behind you, making the other members laugh.

     "I'm heading out, I think I might get cavities if I stay around here any longer."

     "Yeah, come on guys. I think we should leave the lovebirds alone." Johnny agreed as he looked back at you and Taeyong, wiggling his eyebrows from the door. You rolled your eyes as the rest of the boys filed out of the room. You let out a laugh as you felt your boyfriend wrap his arms around your waist and bury his burning red face in your shoulder. You turned and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss. You picked up your phone to check the time, not too surprised to see how late it was.

     "It's getting pretty late, we might need to get going if I'm gonna have enough time to drop you off at the dorms." Your boyfriend pouted at you and moved his arms to loosely wrap around your shoulders.

     "I kinda wanted to go to your place. I haven't seen you in a while so I was thinking we could have a little movie marathon." You looked to one of the make-up artists to make sure it was alright. She nodded before she finished packing up and waited for you two to leave so she could lock up. You turned and smiled at him.

     "Alright, let's go." He smiled, grabbed your hand, and started dragging you to your car, running like an over excited puppy. You giggled as you finally reached your car and started the drive to your house. You both blasted music, screaming the lyrics as you pulled up in your driveway. He got out of the car first and bounded up to the door in excitement. You looked him up and down, finally taking in what he was wearing as you walked to the door.

     He was wearing a loose button-up shirt that hung low enough to show off his collarbones that was half tucked into his pants. The ripped black skinny jeans he was wearing were your favorite because they hugged his ass perfectly. The holes were all along the front, with bigger holes towards the top, showing off his perfectly tanned thighs. The innocent smile on his face as he waited for you at the door made you want to turn him into a moaning mess beneath you.

     "Hurry uuuup." He whined out, snapping you out of your trance. You licked your lips before picking up your pace and unlocking the door. Before he could run to the living room to set up a movie, you closed the door and pulled him closer to you by the waist with his back still facing you.

     "Hold up baby. I was thinking, maybe instead of watching a movie, we could do something more… fun." Taeyong shivered against you as you pulled his hips towards you, grinding your hips into his ass. He gulped as you leaned up to suck and kiss at his exposed neck.

     "F-fun?"

     "Of course baby. You've been such a good boy lately and I think you deserve a reward for it, don't you?" He whimpered and grinded back against you as you praised him.

     "Y-yes. I-I've been a good boy. Mommy's good little boy." He whined out as he continued to roll his ass against you at a faster pace and tilted his head to give you more room on his neck. You smirked and guided him into the bedroom, closing the door behind you.

     "Strip." He almost ripped his shirt off before moving to quickly kick off his pants while you reached under the bed to grab your strap-on and lube after stripping yourself. He was bare naked and laying in the center of the bed by the time you retrieved your toy. He shivered and whined at the sight of the strap in your hands. You quickly settled yourself between his legs and moved to kiss him as you leaned over him. You moved down to leave more marks on his neck and collarbones before pouring lube onto your fingers and pushing them into his hole. He whimpered and clung to your shoulders at the pleasure he felt from your fingers inside of him. He pushed his hips back to meet your hand as you sped up the pace of your fingers. You smirked against his neck at the submissive noises he was letting out.

     "You look so pretty like this baby; with my fingers pounding into you. Do you like mommy pounding into you like this babyboy?" He moaned louder at your question and nodded frantically.

     "Use your words baby."

     "Y-yes! Love mommy's fingers inside of me! A-ha." His eyes rolled back in his head when you started stroking his dick at the same pace your fingers were moving in and out of him.

     "F-fuck, mommy! Please move faster, p-please!" He whined as he moved his hips to meet your hands as they continued to pleasure him. Another moan ripped out of him as you sped up your hands movements. He continued to thrust and buck up into your hands with his beautiful cries of pleasure. You groaned against his throat.

     "Fuck, baby. You sound so beautiful. Scream louder, let mommy hear how good she's making you feel." He squeezed his eyes shut and moaned louder at your command.

     "S-shit- ngh- mommy! 'M gonna cum! F-fuck! Please let me cum mama!!" He cried out as his thighs squeezed around your waist.

     "Go ahead baby, cum for mommy like a good boy." He whined and whimpered before cumming in your hand and all over his stomach with a loud moan. You moved your hand up to your mouth, licking his seed up before doing the same to his stomach. His breathing picked up again and you felt his abs tense under your tongue. His dick twitched against his stomach at the sound of you adjusting the harness of the strap-on you now had hanging securely on your waist.

     "Do you want mommy to fuck you with this baby? Wanna cum for mommy a second time?" He whimpered and nodded as he felt the tip of the didlo enter his ass.

     "F-fuck, yes. Please mommy." He mumbled out as he looked up at you with his irresistible puppy dog eyes. You quickly thrusted your hips to meet his, making him moan loudly against your shoulder as his hands roamed your back. You smirked before flipping over so Taeyong was sitting up on your strap. He bit his swollen bottom lip, almost drawing blood as the dildo pushed further into him, barely hitting his prostate. He tightly reached up and gripped your shoulders as he started bouncing on your fake cock.

     "F-fuck, fuck, fuck, f-fuck!! Feels s-so fucking good!" He whimpered out in between high pitched moans as he started bouncing faster after finding his prostate. You bit your lips as you looked up at him, his head thrown back in pleasure as he rode you. He brought one of his hands up to start playing with his nipples, making him moan louder.

     "Fuck baby, you look so goddamn perfect like this. Mommy's pretty little boy." He squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered at your words.

     "Th-thank- fuck!- Thank you m-mommy! Ngh-ah!!" After a few minutes, he started slowing down as his legs started getting tired. You harshly grabbed his hips and played your feet in the mattress, fucking up into him as hard as you could. His mouth fell open and his eyes rolled back in his head in pleasure.

     "A-HA! NGH-Fuck! Mommy!! AH! Gonna cum!! P-please let me cum, please!! I've been s-such a good boy- the b-best boy for you!!" You groaned at his words and started leaving more hickeys down his chest.

     "Cum for me baby, cum for mommy. You always look so pretty when you cum baby." With one last moan, he came all over his stomach and both of your chests. He shakily climbed off your strap after a few more thrusts and leaned down to lick his cum off your chest. After he finished he continued down and removed your strap-on before burying his face between your thighs. Your hand shot to his hair as you felt him start to lick at your clit.

     "F-fuck, baby, you don't have to do anything for me, I'll be alright." He looked up at you through his eyelashes and gave you a precious, innocent smile.

     "I know, I just wanna make mama feel good." You groaned and rolled your head back into the soft pillows as Taeyong moved back down to suck and lick your clit with enthusiasm.

[thelittlebirdthattoldyou]

Stella!!!! For the song fic thing!! Can you maybe Do Bokuaka with Willow by Taylor Swift? Thank youuu -Angi aka Lazy Boohead #2 but Kuroo

hey angi! ty for giving me an excuse to write something with this song i love it sm ❤️❤️

willow - akaashi keiji/bokuto koutarou

wc: 821

-

Bokuto re-enters Akaashi’s life in a whirlwind of energy, breezing through the glass doors of the book store Akaashi likes to frequent to do his work. “‘Kaashi!” he shouts, smiling wide, and Akaashi jumps in his seat. He drops the stack of papers he’s holding; they scatter in the air and drift uselessly to the ground like autumn leaves.

He ignores them, though, and stands to face the man he hasn’t seen in - has it been a year already? Bokuto doesn’t look any different compared to how Akaashi remembers him from high school. His hair is neater, maybe, but his eyes are still bright gold and his laughter is just as infectious.

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi greets. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

When Bokuto graduated, he stopped by Fukurodani every so often to visit his old team, and he and Akaashi kept up with each other. But then Akaashi left as well, and Bokuto’s pro training regimen left him little free time, and the meetings declined into phone calls and then Happy Birthday and Happy New Year texts a couple times a year.

“Yeah, well.” Bokuto scratches his head sheepishly. “I know you and Kenma keep in touch, so I asked Kuroo to ask him about you, and here I am. Surprise?”

Akaashi smiles; Bokuto has always had that effect on him. “Well, you surprised me,” he says. “I was actually just working on -“ He gestures behind himself at the manga panels he was sketching, halting when he realizes that they’re lying in a disorganized pile on the floor.

“Oh!” Bokuto seems to only just notice the mess he’d caused. “Whoops, sorry, let me just -“ He’s quick to drop to the ground, reaching for the loose sheets and shuffling them into a messy stack.

Akaashi kneels as well, gathering the remaining papers. Briefly, he cringes at Bokuto’s disregard for the proper order of the drawings, but then he decides that it doesn’t matter. Bokuto hums to himself as he cleans, off-key, and it’s endearing enough to make Akaashi’s heart ache. He would let Bokuto throw every part of his life out of orbit if it meant Akaashi got to stay by his side.

“Here you go,” Bokuto says, holding out the stack of paper. He cocks his head, offering Akaashi a familiar, unabashed smile.

Akaashi hadn’t realized how much he missed him. “Thank you, Bokuto-san.” He grabs the papers, but Bokuto doesn’t let go of them, and Akaashi doesn’t try to pull them out of his grasp.

Something in Bokuto’s expression shifts, becomes curious. Awed, almost, as he studies Akaashi’s face. “You look good, ‘Kaashi,” he says. “You got glasses?”

Instinctively, Akaashi reaches up to push the glasses up his nose, a tad self-conscious. “I did. I’ve needed them for a while, actually.” He hesitates. “And you look good, too. It’s like you’re a real pro athlete now,” he teases.

Bokuto puffs his chest out. “I totally am,” he says. “I came here to tell you - I got scouted by a Division 1 team. I start with them next season - how cool is that?”

He’s practically vibrating with excitement, a paragon of kinetic energy. “That’s great,” Akaashi says. “You deserve it.”

He starts to take the papers and get to his feet, but Bokuto stops him. “Wait,” he says, and he sounds nervous. “I was wondering if you - will you come to see my first game? When I play?”

Akaashi blinks. Something warm blossoms in his chest. “Of course I’ll come.”

Bokuto lights up. “Awesome! I’ll definitely play my best because you’re there.”

Amused, Akaashi shakes his head. “You always play your best.” It’s one of the things Akaashi loves about him.

“Nuh uh,” Bokuto says. “It’s different with you. You’re my setter, you know?”

“Oh.”

A lump rises in his throat. He clears it. “Yeah,” Akaashi says. “I guess I am.”

Bokuto is unusually quiet. Akaashi watches him, thoughts racing. Bokuto has always felt like some sort of trophy, out of reach, but maybe it’s time that Akaashi got over himself and made the first move. Maybe they could stay like this forever.

“I should’ve told you this in high school,” Akaashi says, “but I think I’m in love with you.”

Bokuto grows impossibly brighter, smile so genuine it's like looking into the sun. “I know,” he says. “Well - I thought I knew, but you were so beautiful and smart that I always figured maybe I was just seeing things, but… I love you too, of course. A lot.”

Akaashi bursts into laughter. “Excellent confession, Bokuto-san,” he says.

“Yeah?” Bokuto grins. “Do I get a kiss for that?”

The stack of drawings falls to the ground for the second time, and Akaashi takes Bokuto’s hands, pulling him closer. They have their first kiss kneeling on the hard tile floor of an old book store, and Akaashi knows that this is the man he’d follow to the ends of the earth.

[junipersgarden]

metanoia 1. | Recover

PAIRING: Peter Parker x Superhero!Reader

SUMMARY: 8 months later from Tony’s funeral and the promise Peter and you made, where do you two stand now?

WORD COUNT: 4119 words

WARNINGS: N/A?

a/n: i did not expect this to blow up so quickly so thank you all sm!! ill be updating every Friday/ re uploading from Wattpad and converting it to here!! hope you enjoy this chapter and ill see you next Friday ; )

[NOT MY GIF] 

...

8 Months Later...

...

"I have a plan. Okay. First, I sit next to Y/N on the flight."

"Mhm."

"Second,  I'm gonna buy a dual head phone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time."

"Okay."

"Three, when we go to Venice; Venice is super famous for making stuff out of glass right?"

"True."

"So I'm going to buy her a white gardenia necklace because it's a really pretty flower and... because... well-"

"Is it because of the-?"

"Because of its meaning yeah. Step 4 is when we're in Paris, I'm going to take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace and 5, I'm gonna tell her how I feel. And 6, hopefully she tells me she feels the same way."

"And don't forget Step 7."

"Step 7?" Peter questions and clicks the top of his pen to write down Step 7, ears perked to listen to Ned.

"Don't do any of that."

Peter lets out an annoyed and frustrated sigh as Ned gave him a look that expressed 'what? what did i do?'

"Why?"

"Because we're gonna be bachelors in Europe Peter!"

"Ned."

"Look, I may not know much, but I do know Europeans love Americans."

Peter had little belief in Ned's statement that he scrunched up his face and looked at Ned.

"Really?"

"-And more than half of them are women!" Ned exclaims to make his point.

"...Sure but, I really like Y/N man. She's awesome, she's super funny like in a kind of dork way, and whenever she looks at me I feel like- she's coming over don't say anything!" Peter quickly shuts himself up.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Don't say anything!" Is the only thing you hear as you walked up to Peter and Ned's table.

"Sup guys? You excited for the science trip?" You greet them, rocking your body with a smile planted on your face, your assignment folder occupying your hands. Technically you got up from your, F/N's and MJ's table so you could photo copy your guy's group project but you heard Peter and Ned rambling about Europe and thought you could start up a conversation.

"Hey! Uh, yeah! We're just talking about the trip."

"Yeah and Peter's Plan." Ned confidently slides in the conversation.

Peter's Plan?

You stop moving and shift yourself to Peter, averting your eyes so yours meet his.

"...You have a plan? For what?" You nervously smile and laugh at him, playing with your bracelet on your wrist. The bracelet was silver but held a black cross (similar to a crucifix) in the middle of it.

"I- I don't have a plan." Peter mumbles, fiddling with his pen and looking at you with anxious eyes.

"No he's just gonna collect tiny statues while we're travelling to other countries." Ned blurts out and you can see he exchanged a look to Peter.

"I didn't know you liked-" You stopped speaking immediately, your response lost in your mind, something else distracting you.

You looked past Peter's head and your eyes meet with the dozens of drawings and tributes to Iron Man, to Tony and his sacrifice.

It seemed like yesterday you were on the battlefield, when you found out Peter was Spider-Man and all of those emotions and memories swept and flooded your mind in a tidal wave.

You can feel the whole room spinning even though your feet were planted on the ground, the voices of Peter and Ned fading as the sobs of Peter replaced them and Tony's dying breath.

It's been 8 months and you thought you had finally moved on from all the grief and suffering, the sleepless nights full of insidious nightmares and the suffocating feeling that came from all those panic attacks.

"You can rest now..."

"Did you photo copy it?" Someone asks and you whirl yourself around suddenly and possibly too fast, loosing balance and landing into someone's arms. F/N.

"Oh shoot sorry F/N I was talking to Ned and Peter about Europe and got side tracked?"

"It's okay! I was just checking since MJ was sorta getting antsy since she wanted it to all be done before you guys leave tomorrow." F/N beams at you, still holding you up.

"I-I'll go do it now-"

"Y/L/N, did you firstly ask me and secondly get a hall pass?" Ms. Warren spoke up and alarmed you. She was sitting at her desk and was staring at the 4 of you.

"N-No Ms. Warren..."

"I'll go!" Peter shot straight up from his seat. Ned shook his head and F/N laughed at his eagerness.

"No Parker you've got work to do. Y/L/N, Davis can take you."

Davis... Brad Davis?

Just on cue, Brad lifted his head up from being preoccupied at his desk and sent you a friendly smile and wave. He stood up immediately and from his demeanor, seemed over the top that the teacher asked him to escort you to the printers. He looked so familiar but no matter how heard you tried, you couldn't conjure where you'd seen him from.

Brad walked over to you and was still smiling from before so you nicely smiled back. Brad offered you to go first so you walked to Ms. Warren's desk and grabbed the huge hall pass with Brad trailing after you.

"We won't be long Ms. Warren!" Brad yelled out as he closed the classroom door.

You shot F/N a look that said 'okay guess i go and also what just happened?' and F/N shrugged back with no explanation and return back to MJ. You saw Peter looking at you as you left and saw him sigh heavily and immediately get back to his work. I hope Peter's okay.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The cold, crisp breeze whirled through the dim lit streets of Queens as you walked back home;  the streets were always alive at night with people hurrying from one place to another, lights shine brightly, beaming against tall, towering buildings and billboards, apartments until rooftops could reach the sky. New York was always cold in the night and what lurked in the darkness was even colder. Robberies, assaults and muggings were a regular sighting in alleyways but with yourself as Saviour and Peter as Spider-Man, the number has been decreasing over time thanks to the both of you. School was weird today with the whole Peter and Ned thing and especially with Brad. He was nice taking you to the printers but he kept asking way to many questions about you and you caught him staring a couple of times... weird.

You gripped your coat tightly around you, wrapping it as much as you could around your body to fight the wind, shivers being sent down your spine. Your mind had been blurry lately; balancing the lifestyle of school, social life and duties into one while trying to properly rest and to be there whenever anyone needed you was a struggle; the biggest fear you had was if you just took one, innocent day off that'd you regret it for the rest of your life. You also found it hard to escape your thoughts,  insecurities and nightmares whenever you'd zoned out or even closed your eyes for a second. Despite it all you had your anchors though; the people who were holding you down from losing yourself from all the madness happening. You slip out a smile at the thought of those special individuals; friends that you put above anything or anyone else. Peter, Ned and even Michelle were all you had and all you were relying on to help you back up.

"Help! Someone!" A stranger cries into the night, pleading for a saviour, followed by the sound of gunshots and glass shattering.

Show time.

Reacting instantly, you check for your surroundings before fleeing into the shadows of a lonesome alley and with a single flick of your bracelet, it lets of a white glow, letting you know its activated.

"Hello Ms. L/N, how may I assist you tonight?"

"You know the drill ARIS: suit up."

"Right away Y/N."

On command, the familiar cool and sensational feeling of the nano tech being released from your bracelet began spreading all across your body; you loved the feeling of your suit coming alive just by wishing it, AI on the ready and that the suit was also with you, being a part of you.

As you relished in the moment your suit was fully on your body, you rushed out of the alleyway, concealing your true identity under your mask, prepared to fight,  you begin to follow the cries of the citizen in need.

You felt your heart beat and pace fasten, senses heightened and the adrenaline coursing through your veins.

A shift in your vision changes as you feel your pupils fill fully black and steady themselves with your mask lenses,  you exert all your energy into a singular jump and successfully land on the rooftop.

"ARIS, scan for location of activity."

"The distress signal appeared from 21st Street."

Ahhh, classic bank robbery.

"Okay ARIS, are all systems ready to go?"

"Affirmative. Initiating heads up display and initializing flight power."

You roll your head back and crack your knuckles, jumping up and down on the spot, ready for take off.

Nodding your head, you extend your arms out and feel the palms opening up and see the infinite blue glow from your thrustsers and feel the energy spreading and going to the soles of your suit.

Staring down the run way of the roof, you start walking before speeding up into a full sprint, running across the abandoned roof top. Steps quickening, you can see the end of the roof nearing with each step you take; you're going to jump. Before you know it you've leapt off the roof and it feels like time has stopped and you're floating on nothing; it's only you, the sky and the city's blurred noises and lights.

"Flight power fully restored."  ARIS states, crashing and hauling you back into reality.

The euphoria of you floating has started to turn into the immense awareness that you are plummeting straight down with such speed to the lively streets and roads of New York below.

Extending your arms and legs, you point them into the direction of 21st Street and hear the whirring of your suit taking control and then, you're off. You're flying, just like Tony did, in the late night sky of New York City to stop a robbery.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Positioning yourself, your eyes meet with the victim in front of you; the typical situation.

"Hey."

The criminals all stop with their actions and immediately turn their heads to you. The hostages look up at you with hope and desperate, tears of fear and joy being to stream from their eyes.

"Looks like you forgot your credit cards huh fellas?"

2 out of the 4 robbers stand up and you took the chance to fire an energy blast, distracting them you slide on your knees towards the captives.

"Go! Go!" You beckon as you freed them from their constraints, they hurried out of the door shouting 'thank you's'  and praises for your service and gratitude.

Getting up from the ground quickly, you turn around and see the 2 robbers running toward you.

You spring off the floor, back onto your feet and observe your surroundings; the 2 robbers are still sprinting towards you. You ball your fists and stance yourself ready to fight.

"Guys, guys, guys! You can either return back the money and nothing happens or we can do this the annoying and hard way."

One of the robbers racing towards you pulls back their gun and you hear a gunshot and feel a little ting and flick on your suit; the robber was really dumb enough to shoot you and your bulletproof suit.

"Well, guess you chose the hard way."

The 2 robbers still at full speed rush towards you but before they can even touch you, you step to the side and they loose control and crash into the wall.

"Ooooh! That's at least gotta leave a bruise.' You mock them.

You dart towards the fallen robbers, dizzy and dazed from the impact. You hit your right wrist twice on your suit and it opens up and greets you with what you were looking for; your trusty tool and invention of electric rope. The rope appeared as a blue wire with white sparks that shot out of it and you used it to tie up criminals and lets say if they were to hesitate or make a runner, they'd get a bit of a shock.

Grabbing the 1st and 2nd robber's hands, you wrap the wire around them both so they are both stuck together and unable to escape.

2 down, 2 to go.

The other 2 robbers that were still looting money had stopped since they'd heard the crash and the groaning of pain from the one's you'd taken on.

One robber stands up and places his fingers in his mouth and whistles.

You tilt your head in confusion but see that 3 more step out from the remaining safes.

"Aww brought more of your friends for me? How sweet..."

They all attack you at once, bullets ricochet off you and bounce back, flying back at them.

In unison they all duck down behind a counter from the bullets and curse out profanities and you take the opportunity to dash forward and leap onto the counter and land in front of them.

They all jump to their feet and a robber steps in front of you and tries to land a hit. You grab their arm and twist it and they let off a howl of anguish, you tasered him with your bracelet and flipping and throwing him to the floor.

Another takes his place and goes to hit you but one from behind tackles you and pins your arms, locking them in a firm and harsh grip.

Even through the suit, you can feel sharp fingernails attempting to latch and pierce you.

The guy in front of you clutches a solid grasp on both of your shoulders, forcefully yanks you down into his knee and hits your stomach. Already you can feel a bruise forming on your lower abdomen.

Jesus this one will be hard to cover...

You groan at the extensive, burning sensation building, your skin becoming tender and aching from the hit. The guy holding your arms down is tightening his grip and

"Given up huh Saviour?" The robber in front of you spits.

"T-that's the thing...." You let out a breathless chuckle, "I'm only getting started."

The robbers stare at each other and back before laughing furiously at you, the rest approaching you with guns.

What the robbers were thinking is that they'd won; they had successfully robbed Queens County Saving Bank and had taken down one of Queen's own superheroes. You on the other hand, had plans and knew perfectly well how criminal's minds worked; allow them to think they've won, they'll loose all focus and control on the situation, so you'd gotten them in the spot you wanted them: busy getting ready to celebrate a fake victory and not realizing the black smoke manifesting around them.

"As I said, I'm just getting started." A smirk lies on your covered face as you look deeply into the taunting robber's eyes full of bewilderment and fear.

The black smoke begins flurrying around your body finds it way around the robber's hands, instantly making him let go you. You lunge forward and punch the one in front of you with full power, he stumbles back and falls to the ground defeated. You then sharply turn and kick the other in the face.

The two out of the three still left go to attack you but you raise your arm in defense and send a gust of smoke flying to them. They stagger back and remain frozen as the smoke curls around and drags them to the ground. You rush over and deploy more of your rope onto the two and wrap it tightly around them, restraining them to the one place.

The last robber you spot is kneeling on the ground, trembling slightly with fear and piling as much money possible into one bag, trying to make a clean getaway.

Slowly and antagonistically, you make your way over to him and stand there, staring at him and waiting for him to notice. So busy and frantically he continues filling the bag he doesn't take care of his surroundings or even the cries of his comrades.

"I'll take that thank you." You cleanly snatch the bag and kick him to the ground with your heel.

He lands flat on his chest, hands out to the side you grab them and wrap them around once more.

People emerge from hiding and cry out cheers of joy and appreciation, a few giving you a pat on the shoulder, hugging you and the occasional asking for photos. The sound of police sirens ring in the distance, signaling its time to go. Waving your goodbyes, you turn to flee the scene but you hear and notice the vibration of a tap being played on your suit. You pivot back around and see one of the bank accountant's smiling frailly at you, evidently anxious and nervous in your presence.

"T-thank you so much Saviour, how ever can we repay you?" The accountant's eyes full of tears and lost distress begged.

"You don't need too; this is my job. Saving people's lives is what I do." You reply to the accountant, taking off into the night.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You did quite an excellent job tonight might I say so myself Y/N."

"Why thank you my Another, Rather, Intelligent System."

"Was that perhaps what you call, a flex?"

"...Yes ARIS, that was a flex." You mumble with a hint of embarrassment.

Currently soaring in the air with another criminal taken down, the fresh and cool wind rattles against you. Patrols were always 'relaxing' in a sense to you; gliding around the city and if your AI or you come to the attention of any law breaking activity, you swoop in (literally) and handle it. At times, you would bump into now and then into Spider-Man and the two of you mixed with your skills, would work together as a dynamic duo to take down the enemy. Queens loved and adored the both of you as individuals but as partners as well. Before knowing Peter was Spider-Man, there was a bit of tension and jealously and bickering from both of you: 'Dibs I had him first!' 'No, you know I patrol this area!' arguments occurred so many times that even the Avengers were pulled into it.

"I apologize for interrupting your thinking but it seems to be you have approximately 3 missed calls from your mother and from Pepper Potts accordingly."  

Missed calls from Mum is bad but wait- Pepper called?

"W-when did they call ARIS? Any voicemails?"

"Your mother called to say to be home earlier from 'study group' to prepare for Europe tomorrow and that not to miss dinner again... which you did and Ms. Potts left nothing for you."

"C-can you auto text Mum that study group when longer than expected and that Y/F/N's offered dinner so I stayed and that I'll be home soon?"

"Already on it and for Pepper?"

"Don't text her anything."

"Text sent."

Pepper? The Pepper Potts? It's been 8 months; what does she want and is that Peter?

Drifting down from the air, you land quietly behind a wall and crouch down behind it,  peering out carefully and you see Peter in his Iron Spider suit, eyes red and wet with tears as he stares at a piece of graffiti.

What's so bad about- oh.

The piece of artwork was of Tony; no wonder he was so distraught.

"You okay Spider-Man?"

"Y-yeah, I j-just c-crashed into a w-wall?" His voice high pitched, obviously lying.

"Uh huh... mind if I sit?"

"O-oh uh... no! No, you can sit!"

Giggling at Peter's awkwardness, you slide next to him and take a seat. You knew something was wrong by the way he was breathing and that his eyes were wet and red but how do you bring it up?

"So..."

"So...?"

"H-how is everything Spidey?" God that was awful.

"T-things could be s-so much better... just, the whole Blip thing is, it's getting to me."

"Blip?"

"The Blip? W-where the alien guy on Titan s-snapped his fingers and e-everyone d-disappeared?"

"Wait that's called the Blip?"

"Well that's what everyone is calling it."

"It sounds better than something to do with a maniac murdering half of the Earth's population... plus it's easy to say and remember."

And for the first time in a long time, you actually heard Spider-Man and Peter laugh. It was more of a sad and dry chuckle but, at least it was something.

"I'm assuming you didn't hear about 21st Street then?"

"21st Street what now?"

"Just now there was a robbery; apparently some of uhhh, what's his name? The macho, pacho penguin looking guy? Sends out his henchmen to do all the dirty work?"

"K-Kingpin?"

"Yeah! Pretty sure that's the one! But, really? Kingpin? Sounds really dumb; reminds me of bowling or something instead of an evil business man."

"His head does look like a bowling ball..." Peter murmured quietly.

You smiled brightly and threw your head back as you laughed; that's the Peter and Spider-Man I know.

From his mask, you could tell he was smiling since the corner of his mouth was showing the little peaks from out of it.

Your and his laughter began to die down you two just stayed silence  and looked up into the cloudless sky.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"It really is... makes my night."

"And mine as well, I mean besides your company." Spider-Man, well more like Peter coughed, trying to cover up what he said.

"T-thank you though.. this was a nice chat Saviour. Not to alarm you or anything, but I'm not gonna be here much longer-"

"W-woah, what the hell do you mean-"

"N-no! Sorry, I worded that wrong don't panic! What I meant to say is I'm not going to be here because, I'm going on vacation."

Parker I swear...

You lightly hit his shoulder and let out a breath of relief. "Don't scare me like that! I did not need that!"

"S-sorry! B-but yeah... I'm going on vacation.. can you handle Queens without me?"

"I already do. Besides, there's always the other Avengers who can."

"Y-yeah... the Avengers... a-anyways Saviour, I-I'm gonna go now. I'll s-see you soon?"

"See ya Spidey and don't go crashing into any walls!"

"When did I- oh."

"Ratted yourself out. Bye Spideyyyyy!" You call out and wave as you watch him swing away and make tracks home yourself.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I dunno how I did it, but I snuck back in ARIS."

"Well, your mother is asleep-"

"Shhh lemme have this!"

"... Congratulations Y/N."

"Thank you ARIS-"

"Even though I do not condone this behaviour."

Rolling your eyes, you shrug your body and switch your bracelet and your suit slowly peels away from your body, the nano- tech shrinking so it all fits inside the bracelet. You stretch your body but wince from your stomach. Cautiously, you lift your shirt and see the enormous bruise left on you from the robber and his knee.

Bye, bye crop tops...

Plopping yourself on your bed, you lie down and sigh in exhaustion. Closing your eyes slowly, you feel yourself falling to asleep. Until the chime of your best friend's ringtone plays from your phone which causes you to lurch up and open your phone to look at the text.

from: F/N ✌️

yeah.... i'm really sorry that I can't go to Europe...

from: you  

i get it, it's totally fine! your family needs you.

don't feel bad trust me it's all g.

from: F/N ✌️

...if you say so dude. just, have a great time,

take photos and promise to text me when you can?

from: you

you know I will 😤

from: F/N ✌️

kk. well, I better go. it's late and unlike you, people have school tomorrow.

from: you

haha, very funny... well, goodnight nub > : (

from: F/N ✌️

see ya geek : P

Reaching over you place your phone back on the charger and look at the ceiling and sigh.

New York has been chaotic since the Snap- Blip. The Blip. And the amount of crimes has only doubled since before then and everything with school and my friends, Ned, MJ, F/N and Peter and oh god...

Hopefully Europe gives me a break.

☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆

TAG LIST !! < 3

@eridanuswave

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[hyucksong]

vengeance. final.| lee taeyong

summary:  You survived, somehow. And you were planning on getting your vengeance. You’d be taking down the company from the inside – and no one could stop you. (cont. of mafiahacker!taeyong blurb)

warnings: Cussing, violence, gun-using, it’s a mafia au, so anything that comes with that topic, probably

word count: 5.8 k

   Jaehyun parked the inconspicuous car a few blocks down the street, bringing up the parking brake to stabilize the car. He looked over to Mark who sat shotgun beside him, typing away on his phone, telling Taeyong that everyone made it to the destination safely and were about to start the operation.

   Jaehyun hooked his arm around Mark’s head rest, using it as leverage to look at Doyoung and you, with Chenle in the row behind you. Chenle was disguised in a butler costume, staging himself as a servant to the rival CEO. Supposedly, thanks to Doyoung’s intel, his workers switched almost daily due to being fired quickly. Chenle was in charge of keeping the working staff distracted, a perfect job for an intermediate disguise specialist. 

   Mark and Jaehyun were meant to be the captors, they had to kidnap the CEO in silence and then that was where you and Doyoung came in. Both of your expert negotiation skills would be used to get Oh Sehun out of captivity with as little repercussions for SM as possible. And, if you did a good enough job, you’d be promoted into the Inside, with a little help from Taeyong. His role in all this was just to report the progress of the operation to the boss-man, via security cameras.

   You turned to Chenle, who had his hair slicked back with gold cuff links catching the light as he smoothed his gel-filled dirty brown hair, it was previously bleach blonde, but you reminded him that it would stick out too much. “Chenle.” You smiled, your hand reaching out to touch his forearm gently. He smiled back at you, his demeanor not nervous in the slightest. 

   “Yeah?” You didn’t say anything, just giving him a worried tight-lipped smile. Doyoung laughed lowly and patted your knee, sending electricity through your leg. You flinched, and pulled your leg away, ignoring the frown that graced his beautiful features. “Just...be careful? I’m really worried, be safe.” You quaked, rubbing your thumb over his arm. 

   He simply rolled his eyes, getting out of the car. “I will, geez, Mom.” You laughed and nodded, watching as his figure disappeared into the streets, over the hill. A shaky sigh left your lips, as Doyoung rubbed your shoulder, muttering how it would be okay. The boys in front also got out, telling you and Doyoung to hurry up. 

   Until the negotiation, the pair of you were really only supposed to assist the other field agents, help them keep a low profile, help them get in safely, help them get in undetected. Your time to shine would come later, but until then you were concerned with keeping Mark and Jaehyun alive and unharmed. 

   There was a hustle to your step as you and Doyoung trailed a little ways behind the other two agents, there was a familiar adrenaline flowing in your veins that you hadn’t felt for quite a long time. The feeling of excited nerves forcing a tingle from the tips of your toes to the split ends of your hair.

   “Y/n.” Doyoung whispered, his hand flying to your ear, his warm breath brushing your ear. A shiver went down the right side of your back, the sensation feeling almost...sexual. The breathlessness of his whisper filled your mind with thoughts that you hated, mostly because you knew you didn’t feel the same way he did.

   “What.” You whispered back, tilting away from him slightly, hoping to convey to him that your interest were not in him. However, his eyes were trained on the boys ahead, not on your subtle action. You looked at his figure and noticed his hand on his earpiece, a twisted expression on his face. “I think the boys and us are going to have to split. It seems Chenle ran into some trouble.” A jolt of panic ran through you, and you frowned. “Already? It’s only been fifteen minutes.” 

   “Well, there’s actually a party going on right now. Apparently the CEO had a last minute celebration for the marriage of his niece, or something. Chenle got swept up into catering, he’s stuck. He can’t keep the guards distracted. At least, not without disturbing the whole party and everyone getting suspicious.” 

   You sighed, pinching the sides of your nose. You touched your earpiece that connected itself to Mark’s. “Mark.” You whispered. You watched as his head turned backwards, looking at you strangely from his place next to Jaehyun. “What? Why are you talking through the earpiece?” He said, Jaehyun turning to look at him. 

   You hushed him, “There’s a party going on. You and Jaehyun are going to have to go in after Doyoung and I, because we’re splitting up. Chenle is catering right now, but Doyoung and I are going to have to draw the guards away, somehow, and then you can get the big man and then we can get Chenle and negotiate.” You heard the combined sighs of the men in front of you, and you looked at Doyoung tiredly too, no plan ever went a hundred percent perfect, though.

   “Okay. We’ll fall behind you guys then. Thanks Sooyoung.” You hummed and they ended up stopping walking, only resuming when you were a while ahead of them. 

   “So how are we going to do this.” You asked, watching as people were filing into the main doors of the mansion messily, the bouncers not really checking their identity. You guessed they were sure that nothing bad would happen,. which made you snicker. 

   “We’re going to have to get semi-close to the big man’s quarters, which is where Taeyong reported that he still is at, and cause some sort of small distraction long enough to let Jaehyun and Mark slip through the doors of his room.” You nodded and felt happy that he was dressed in an all black suit, classic attire for the job, and you were wearing a mid-length black dress with a blazer on top. You decided you both looked a little too formal, as the people entering seemed a little loose. You tore off your blazer and hiked up your dress a little, messing up your hair a twinge. You then turned to a rather unsuspecting Doyoung and stopped him right outside the residence, grabbing the collars of his suit.

   He let out a surprised squeak, his hand flying up to your waist. He watched as your elegant fingers undressed the top three buttons of his black dress shirt, and watched as they un-tucked his shirt a little and took off his tie. His face lit up and he internally scolded himself for letting himself get so flustered when he knew one of his closest friends was also very into you. However, he had to remind himself again that he wasn’t going to just give you up. 

   “We have to make sure we look the part, Doyoung.” You mentioned, turning around and beginning your way into the large house. He put his hand to his heart, feeling it pulsate beneath his fingers. He walked up with you, easily slipping past the bouncers within a crowd of people into the bumbling party filled with alcohol and expensive food. All of a sudden, you felt noise come through your transmitter. 

   “Sooyoung. Taeyong here. I’m contacting your through your earpiece, because I made a new plan for you and Doyoung to successfully pull this change of plans off.” You found that the call of Sooyoung made you snarl, but you understood when you realized that he was probably in a control room with other people.

   “Okay, we’re listening.” You said, weaving past people with ease, a struggling Doyoung, who wasn’t much of a party person, never was, trailing a little behind. You walked a little further into the house, and felt Doyoung’s slender fingers grip your waist to not get lost. 

   “Okay, so I’m not happy about this, but you two need to pretend to be a couple. Get near Yang Hyun-sik’s room lead the guard’s away from the door somehow long enough to let the guys get in the room and complete their job, then you know what to do from there.” You felt Doyoung’s hand tighten, and you sighed, nodding without noise. What a detailed plan, you thought sarcastically. 

   “Okay, and....be careful, guys.” Those were his last words before he cut out, leaving you alone to fake being in love with someone you most definitely were not in love with, at least not the same way you were with Taeyong. 

   You decided how you felt last night, before the mission. You were laying in your satin sheets, the air crisp around you as you watched the moonlight from outside your window enter your room and bounce off of the glass blades of your fan into your vision. You laid there in thought, wondering about your future after your planned assassination. 

   You don’t know when, but at some point, your eyes had closed and you drifted off into dream land. For the first time in months, instead of a blank mind, you dreamed of a suburban future. You dreamed of two kids, twins, a girl and a boy, giggling in the arms of their dad as you walked down the stairs. Their faces were blurry from your memory, but you could describe the feeling of their small arms around your leg after they ran to you, yelling about how much they loved you. You were smiling, bending down to properly hug them. When you looked up at your approaching husband, you saw Taeyong, his face breaking out into a wide smile too.

   You woke up after seeing his face, your clock reading 4:03 am. You couldn’t fall back asleep, so you stayed up, thinking about him. That was all it took for you to know who you were really in love with. A relief came over you, but it went away as you saw Doyoung that morning, his smile genuine as you walked into the offices. 

   It set a feeling of dread within you, because you knew that you would have to confront him at some point. 

   You were lost in thought, and it was Doyoung’s hand that stopped you from walking into the direct line of sight of a guard clad in the stereotypical attire from the movies. “Careful.” He whispered in your ear. You muttered an apology and looked out into the hallway sneakily. There was a guard that was walking towards you both, it seemed. His boots clicked against the expensive wood satisfyingly. However, you couldn’t revel in that simple pleasure as you turned to Doyoung, your eyes wide. He panicked like you did, however he took fast action.

   His arms came up next to your head, his body leaning in closer until both of your faces were hidden from sight, but all that was perceived was a couple of young adults kissing. A disgruntled grunt left the buff guards mouth as he trailed on by, ignoring you two, like it was a common occurrence. 

   Doyoung’s bunny-like features invaded your personal space, his large eyes boring into yours. His plush lips were parted ever so gently, and you caught a glimpse at his large front two pearly whites.

   “I believe Yang Hyun-sik’s room is on the third floor, not in Sooyoung’s eyes, Doyoung.” You stifled a laugh and pushed Doyoung out of your thinking space, walking in front of him. You heard Doyoung muffle a ‘shut up, you wish you were with her right now’, before he caught up to you, a polite smile on his face. 

   The both of you made your way to the top floor with caution, walking quietly and looking behind every wall, just to make sure. Every once in a while a guard would pass you both, so you’d take up a persona of a horny couple, which always worked. 

   “Okay, so his room is on the far left when you get to the top of the third floor. It has a really big spruce wooded door with ivory handles.” Taeyong relayed. “Ivory? What an asshole, the elephants are endangered.” You angrily talked to yourself, walking quietly up the stairs with Doyoung snickering behind you.

   A minute of silence overcame the both of you as you tried to navigate your way to the destination. You heard the gentle clack of heels on the floorboard behind you. They weren’t the guards, since those sounds were heavy and demanding stomps, but these were a soft clack, just like your’s and Doyoungs, which made you think it was Mark and Jaehyun following behind you. “Doyoung, who’s behind us?” You lowly questioned, leaning in a little to him. He took out a compact, holding it low under his waist, angling it to see who was behind you both.

   “It’s just Mark and Jaehyun, they are really behind us though. We’ve got to make the distraction long, I believe.” You sighed in annoyance, “So what’s our distraction going to be?” His slender fingers slid between your arm and torso, sitting comfortably on your clothed waist.

   You both were about to turn the corner of the hallway to the room, where two guards stood, stoic and apathetic. You stopped to talk about the plan, but Doyoung’s hand propelled you forwards, your body turning the corner and slamming against the wall -- right in front of the guards who immediately took notice of you. 

   As you spun involuntarily, you caught a glance of Jaehyun and Mark who seemed to be going the long way around to the room -- confusing you a little. “Doyoung, what --” Were the only words you could get out before you felt a pair of thin and moist lips take over yours. 

   A gasp of shock left your moth, and your hands went up to his chest to push him off of you, but he stood still, his arms caging you in against the wall, out of the corner of your panicking eyes you saw the guards look at each other, wondering what to do.

   Doyoung’s tongue darted in your mouth to dance with your own, his saliva mixing with yours in what would be a delicious cocktail, but your feelings for Taeyong made the taste bitter. “What the hell are you doing? Doyoung! What the fuck --” You heard Taeyong hissing in your ear to you and the man trapping you, and the crack in his voice cracked your own heart in the worst way. 

   You forcefully pushed him away with all the strength you could muster, a string of saliva as evidence left behind of your shame. “Doyoung!” You yelled, wiping your mouth profusely, while he simply stood in front of you, his chest heaving. The guards were now in beside you both, their hands outstretched to grab you. You swatted them away, instead slapping Doyoung, furious. “Why the hell did you kiss me, you fucking asshole! Can’t you tell?” You screeched, your emotions getting the best of you, he held no emotion in his eyes as he lifted his hand to touch the red mark on his cheek. The guards halted for a moment, before one of them came behind you to grab you more effectively. 

   But you wiggled your way out of their not so tight grasp, and grabbed the collar of Doyoung’s unbuttoned top, it starting to wrinkle in your tight and hateful grasp. “Can’t you tell I don’t love you? I’m sorry but you should be able to tell that I’m in love with Taeyong --” The guard cut you off again, grabbing your wrists, repeatedly telling you to stop fighting and please return to the party downstairs while the other guard grabbed Doyoung, who’s head was hung low. You saw a very quick Mark and Jaehyun slip by via the skin of their teeth, and you realized that it was his plan. A lover’s quarrel. A feeling of disbelief came over you.

   Despite the revelation that it was a clever plan, you couldn’t help but see the pain in Doyoung’s eyes, as he muttered how he was sorry and struggled against the much stronger guard behind him. Did he know you didn’t love him? Did he think you loved him instead of Taeyong? You had a strange feeling that it was more than a plan -- maybe that he hoped something would come from him kissing you, like you’d fall for him, but eventually you stopped your heaving breaths, and put those thoughts away for another time. 

   “Okay, okay, we won’t fight.” You protested, hoping it would work. But the guard shook his head, saying how he’d have to take you both down for interrogation. You were about to give up and deal with the consequences -- but a loud PANG sounded throughout he hallway,  and two behemoth's of guards fell down to their knees, standing behind them a cheerful and smiling Chenle, who conveniently had two large catering pans in his hands. 

   “You guys okay?” He asked, as he began to drag the knocked out guards into a side closet. With relief laced in your voice, you said yes, your shoulders slumping. “Good. Oh, by the way that was so cool when you two kissed to get the guards distracted! Right, Taeyong?” Chenle said, directing the question to the giddy operator. “Yeah, I guess.” Taeyong answered, happy that you were in love with him, but very unhappy that Doyoung made out with you. 

   “Guys! In here! He’s tied down!” Jaehyun called out, his head poking out od the heavy door. You nodded and hurried in, ready to do your piece. Doyoung followed behind slowly, like the steam of his energy was all used up. 

-

   You sat in your office, reading through an e-mail from the CEO thanking you for your hard work, though it was sent out to all the agents involved, so you didn’t feel particularly special. You sighed, sitting back in your chair as your twirled your lucky pen in your hand. You figured that Taeyong would tell you when he successfully got you into the inside. Until then, you were left to your normal job.

   Despite the success of the mission, gaining back an important officer Oh Sehun, and only having to trade one million dollars, no one complimented anything about your mission other than maybe a pat on the back from the man himself, Oh Sehun. You had to remind yourself that missions like these weren’t special, common even. So completing one wasn’t as big as an achievement that you were hoping for. 

   You closed your eyes, giving yourself a break for a minute. But the doors opened softly, making you tense up. If it was Taeyong, you hadn’t talked to him since you basically screamed out how you were in love with him in Doyoung’s ear. But when you opened your yes, a shy and bashful Doyoung appeared. You hummed in surprise, sitting up.

   “What’s up?” You asked cautiously, wondering about his intentions. You noticed how he shook as he pulled out a seat and sat in front of you, his hands nervously gripping what looked like anew pen. “Um, I just wanted to talk to you about the kiss.” He said, unsure.

   You nodded and gave him a tight-lipped expression. “You only kissed me to carry out your plan, though. So it doesn’t matter. I over-reacted.” 

   He shook his head. “No, I kissed you because I anted to. I man, I thought we could pass as a couple actually making out, but you pushed me away and started yelling but, I figured that could work too. A lover’s quarrel.”

   Silence sat between you both, daring one of you to make the first move. “O-Oh, well. You know now that I’m in love with Taeyong, right? It’s not that you’re not a great man, Doyoung,it’s just that I --”

   “Y/n. I know. It’s okay. You both have something special. I had always liked you, but I didn’t pursue you because Taeyong was so obviously interested in you. But when you came back as someone else, I felt the same attraction. And I could tell Taeyong was interested in you again, but I wasn’t willing to back down this time. I wanted to have you. After I found out who you were, I only wanted you more, thinking that you may love me instead of Taeyong this time. But,” He trailed off, his voice becoming small. “I can see that that’s not the case.” You cringed. “I’m sorry.” You whispered.

   “It’s okay. I’m sorry. I was selfish. I...accept that you’re in love with him. I just wanted to talk to make sure things were okay between us. Your friendship is too important to me to let it go to waste just because we...made out.” 

   You smiled gratefully, standing up and moving to Doyoung. He stood up too, his arms open. You let yourself fall into his friendly embrace, healing the wound you both had slowly but surely. It felt like a band aid. Things were going to be okay for now. 

   “It’s not that you’re not a great man, Doyoung, it’s just that I --”

   “Y/N. I know. It’s okay --” A big hand cut off the microphone, his brows furrowed in wonder. “I guess that’s why Taeyong wanted Sooyoung in the Inside so badly. It was Y/n. How interesting.” Sooman muttered to himself, an amused smirk resting on his face. 

   He gestured his fingers, his assistant coming to his side automatically, like a robot. “Yes sir?” A young girl asked, her body stiff. “Call a meeting for the entirety of the NCT division. Seems that we’ve got a traitor.” The young girl smiled and nodded, leaving the room with quick steps.

   The CEO stood up from his seat, looking out the window of the enterprise. He laughed, glad that he called Doyoung in for a debrief of how the mission went. “Glad I gave him the rigged pen, poor boy. Turning in the girl he loves without even knowing.” Sooman’s voice was happy though, amused. Almost like he had no heart. 

   “Well, Y/N. I may not have gotten you last time, but I hope you enjoy you death to the fullest extent, this time.” Sooman said as he opened his drawer and pulled out a 9mm pistol. 

-

   You walked into the meeting room casually, your hair neat and your clothes prim and proper. You’ve been slipping up a lot lately, smiling and laughing, but you knew that you’d have to get back into the groove of being cold and stoic. Even thought you walked into the room with little to no nerves, that didn’t mean you weren't confused when you walked in and every members was there, sitting down, just as confused as you. 

   You quirked a brow and sat down at the only open seat, right at the end of the table.You guessed that the President would be introducing a new mission so he’d be standing, so you sat down, looking down the table that was lined with the members.

   The CEO walks in not long after, the minimal noise in the room deteriorating into nothingness. He simply walks in with his hands behind his back, no suitcase, no case files, ominously walking to behind where you sat. There was a bad feeling settling in your stomach, mixing with the the bile in a disgusting solution. 

   He commanded the attention of the room, his eyes trailing over every single one of the members as he opened his mouth. “There is a traitor among us.” Were the only words needed for everyone to look at everyone with wide eyes, whispering. When he said this, you closed your eyes in annoyance. Dammit. Were your only thoughts.

   He then walked to Doyoung, and pulled a pen out of the pocket in his suit, and clicked it three times. Doyoung sat confused, not really understanding what was going on. But as soon as the pen started making noise, he paled. “ Y/n. It’s okay --” Was all that needed to play for everyone in the room to understand the situation. 

   “I knew that pen looked new.” You laughed, shaking your head. Doyoung’s eyes widened, “I didn’t know -- I really didn’t know, I swear --” You shook your hand, brushing him off. “It’s fine.”

   “Sooyoung -- I mean, Y/n? You’re Y/n?” A trembling voice asked, belonging to a shocked Chenle. Mark sat next to him, seeming to have trouble making sense of the situation too. You nodded, watching out of the corner of your eye as the CEO went to his place behind you. 

   “Yes. I’ve been going under the alias of Kim Sooyoung, but I am L/n Y/n. I have slipped up a few times, I’m surprised that no one has really figured it out, well.” You looked at a sweating Taeyong and Doyoung, smiling. “A couple people have, I guess.” 

   “Such a shame. Such a good disguise for such a dead girl.” A menacing voice mused behind you, making you roll your eyes. 

   “What are you back here for, huh?” He asked, you could feel his body heat directly behind you. It penetrated you and instilled a deep fear into your being, but you ignored it for now. 

   “What do you think, old man? Is the greed in your brain clogging up your thinking process? I’m here for vengeance.” You sassed, not looking at the worried faces around you. 

   “Too bad. That won’t happen.” He added, and you felt the cold metal of a gun resting against the back of your head. “But think of it like this, at least you’ll die this time.” He laughed, his breath rotten like his heart. 

   You stand up, you hands in surrender, your forehead now pressed against the barrel of the gun. Finally, Taeyong hops into action. “Mr. Sooman, please --”

   “Shut up and sit down unless you want her blood to be splattered all over you right this second.” Taeyong sat down, gripping the inside of his leg. He couldn’t let you go again. Not after he lost you the first time. He loved you. You loved him. He couldn’t wimp out. Not again. 

   He slipped his phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number he never would dial in any other situation. He lucked out when the CEO wasn’t paying any attention to him or his whispers, only on your figure.

   “Kill me. I dare you.” You sneered, a sudden calm settling in your veins instead of panic. 

   His blood turned cold at the tone of your voice. but he smirked. “I will.”

   You quirk a brow, amused at his shaking confident answer. “Oh really?” But before he can ask what you mean, you jump into action, swinging your leg between his legs. He cusses, dropping the gun, and you waste no time in grabbing his head and sending your knee into his face.

   The room erupts into chaos as several body guards come rushing in the doors, ready to take yo down. However, the members jump into action themselves, surprising you. They deal with the guards who were armed with their bare fists, and you remind yourself of the panting man behind you. 

   He gets up quickly, ramming his bigger body into yours, your back smacking into the meeting table. You hiss at the pain, but notice his fast traveling fists, and dodge them in time. 

   You use your hands to wrap them around your neck, squeezing only just hard enough to debilitate him. But his fist comes down one last time, clocking you clean on your jaw. A scream of pain comes out of you, but you manage to fight through it.

   You swing your legs up, tumbling onto the table, away from your attacker. As you swing up, you use your legs to hit him again, sending him back as he holds his jaw in pain. 

   You stood on the table, ready to get back at him, but a delicate hand grabs you. You whip your head back, and see Taeyong with a smile on his face. Wordlessly, he hands you a gun. You smirk, and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips, taking the gun and ignoring his shocked face.

   The other boys ended up taking care of the guards, a few of them grabbing the CEO and restraining him as the rest watched on, breathing heavy and sweating.

   You stepped off the table with the help of Doyoung, and you walked towards what looked like a shaking wet dog. His face was bloodied and bruised, and it made you smile. You wondered for a brief second if that made you sadistic. 

   “Oh well.” You thought, taking the gun in your head and cocking it before pressing it to the soft skin of the forehead of your target. “P-Please....” He stuttered, on his knees with his arms being held by an apathetic Jaehyun.

   He looked frantically to the boys, hoping for anyone to help him, but their faces showed no emotion towards him, memories of everything he had ever done to them flooding their minds. From over working to killing those they didn’t want to, all the way to having to suffer in ways unexplained. There was a sick feeling of happiness hanging in the air above the room at the sight of a gun pointed at his head. 

   “I’ll do anything -- really.” He whispered pleadingly, looking at you with pathetic eyes. You tilted your head to the side cutely. “Really? Then rot in hell for me.” You coldly stated, putting pressure on the trigger of the gun. But the quiet and growing stampede of boots on hard marble floors made way to your ears, and you hardened your eyes.

   “After you rot in jail, of course.” 

   And with that, you lowered the gun and handed it to Taeyong, who was telling the people to back up. The door opened forcefully, armed police officers flooding in. The NCT members backed up as the people in badges took a screaming CEO out of the room, cuffed. A few officers cuffed the passed out guards, and a few interrogated the members on the CEO’s ‘fraud’. 

   “Fraud, huh?” You smiled, walking up next to Taeyong. He turned his head to you, a smirk on his face. “Well, I mean, it’s true.” You nodded, impressed. You look around the room as it cleared out, the members the only people left.

   To your surprise, they sit down back in their seats, even Taeyong. They look at your expectantly, making you question them. “What?” You deadpan, and they couldn’t help but laugh. A relaxed Mark answers, “Well, what now, Mrs. CEO?” 

   You pale and felt your blood running cold, looking down at a laughing Taeyong who merely shrugged at your begging glance. 

   Shit.

-

   Another day went by busily, you were sat at your desk that overlooked the city. The view was much more liberating than the dark and dingy ambiance of your previous office. You leaned back in your designer chair, you legs crossed in an equally expensive bright yellow pantsuit that was encrusted with Swarovski diamonds on the seams. You sipped at your hot coffee slowly, enjoying the steam that went up your nose. The sky was decorated in hues of dark red, a romantic feeling settling in the air as the red streamed through the window.

   “Tired, baby?” A sweet voice entered your senses, and you turned around with rejoice. “A little. It was a good day, though.” You mused, putting your drink down to stand up, your Louboutin’s making no noise on the white fluffy carpet beneath you feet. 

   “Everyday is a good day when you’re in charge, baby.” Taeyong whispers, his body coming closer to yours. You sat on your desk with your legs not touching the floor below. He came up to you, his arms trapping you delightfully in his warm embrace. 

   “Mhmhmm, everyday is a good day when I’m in charge, is it?” You pondered aloud, wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him closer. His forehead rested on yours and his nose brushed against yours lightly, but you could only really feel his breath on your lips. 

   “Yeah, baby. All the members are happier, the company is making a lot more money and everyone is getting paid more, and,” He paused, his eyes staring straight into yours. “I get to kiss you everyday.” He finished, his eyes closing and lips brushing yours gently at first, but adding pressure as time went on. 

   A sweet sound left your throat,  making Taeyong move his hands from caging you to your neck and back of your head, pushing you into him. You opened your mouth to give him access to your tongue, and he gladly took it, his tongue gliding against yours in a way that lit a fire in your stomach.

   He parted suddenly, his breath heavy and minty. You whined, looking at his eyes, but they were trained at the door. You turned around and saw a disgusted Doyoung. “Guys, really?” He complained, walking into the room and dropping off a stack of completed negotiations. “At least lock the damn door.” He muttered, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

   You giggled and stood up from Taeyong, taking the stack of paper and starting to file it away. Taeyong sighed and took the paper form your hands and setting it on the dark stained wooden desk. 

   He sat and sank into your chair, man-spreading his legs, something you always complained about, his arms resting behind his head. “Hm, I don’t know about you, there’s only one thing I would change about all of this.” You let out a hum of question, walking towards Taeyong and sitting in his lap.

   He wrapped his arms around your waist and buried his head in your head, sighing. His breath warmed your heart. “The only thing I want to change is...I want you to be my wife.” 

   He said it so easily, but it made your heart stutter and you mind blanked. You’re pretty sure that you even stopped breathing when he said that. But you composed yourself and looked at him with a red face.

   “Well I’ll be waiting for your proposal, then.” He laughed and nodded, his smile seeming to innocent and happy you almost forgot that you were both important members of an international mafia.

   “Well, that may be coming sooner than you think.” He chimed, chuckling at the way your face blossomed into shades of red. He squished your face and gave a quick peck on your now fish-like lips. 

   “I’m so happy that we met again. I love you more than you could ever know. I’ll never let you go.” And you smiled, closing your eyes and letting your head fall on his. Your hands made their way to his nape, playing with the hair gently, tugging on it every once in a while.

   “I’ll never let you let go of me. It’ll be a long ride.” He nodded, the movement moving your head that was resting on his.

   “I’m buckled in, baby.” 

-

   "They won’t tell you fairy tales     of how girls can be dangerous and still win.    They will only tell you stories    where girls are sweet and kind    and reject all sin.    I guess to them,    it’s a terrifying thought,    a red riding hood    who knew exactly    what she was doing    when she invited the wild in.”

-Nikita Gill, Girls of The Wild

END.

[yellowsugarwords]

I love your blog sm. You’re literally so talented Ily omg. I was wondering if I could request a Mitch x reader where him and the reader get into an argument? Knowing him, Ik he’ll be stubborn af and I think it’d be cute to see him all flustered trying to apologize. Keep up the amazing writing dude ❤️❤️

I’m gonna combine this request with two others, this one:

Ah, Mitch x reader hc, only they’re oblivious to signs that he likes them. I’ve read a bunch of your headcanons, they’re all quite good so I’m glad I found your tumblr XD

and this one:

Hc: Mitch and Clementine get in constant arguments. They get picked on day to go on a run together and Clem twist her ankle. Mitch carries her back. And they both realize the other isn’t that bad.

it’ll make sense as you read :) also thank you guys for your love ilysm ❤️❤️

Mitch was an idiot.

Clementine hadn’t always thought so, but recently? It was hard to see otherwise.

The only reason Clementine vocally started pursuing him was because Violet gave her the go-ahead.

Violet had weaselled the confession out of him during a game of truth or dare.

“Just put the moves on him,” Violet had scoffed.

“Who says ‘put the moves on’ anymore?”

“He’ll dig it. Just do it.”

Clementine caved.

And her plan began.

It started with dinner.

Clementine made a point to sit beside him.

She laughed at all of his jokes.

She brushed her hand against his arm.

He didn’t even really look at her.

He was too busy cracking up with Louis.

Clementine turned to Violet, her stare blank and irritated.

Violet just shrugged.

“Hey,” Clementine said, catching him before he went to bed that night.

Mitch turned, brows pressed.

“Sleep well tonight, okay?” She said softly. Sheepishly, she tucked some loose hair behind her ear. “Rest up for tomorrow.”

Mitch gave her a once over, hesitating. “Sure. You too.”

Then he vanished.

Clementine’s shoulders sagged.

He was a lost cause.

Clementine brought Mitch breakfast the next day.

“Thanks,” he sighed, immediately starting to eat. “I’m starving.”

Clementine was hoping for a better thanks.

She withheld a groan and left.

“Hey Clem,” Mitch said.

Clementine was working on planting things in the greenhouse with Ruby. Hearing Mitch at the door, she left.

“What?” She asked.

Her heart jumped with hope.

“I’m supposed to tell you that you’re on hunting duty tomorrow. Then dish duty.”

Clementine’s shoulders sagged.

Mitch laughed. “I know, lame right?”

He left.

Clementine could’ve screamed.

Clementine didn’t bother flirting for the rest of the day.

She didn’t see a point.

He wasn’t getting the hint.

As Clementine was gearing up for hunting the next day, Mitch trotted up beside her.

“Ready?” He asked.

Clem’s brows furrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“Louis wanted to work the greenhouse so I took his hunting spot.”

Glancing past his shoulder, Clem spotted Violet and Louis chatting and smiling.

Violet was the best wingman.

Clementine felt the courage to try again.

Since they were alone and away from Ericson, maybe she’d have a better chance.

Maybe he’d reciprocate.

Clementine moved closer.

She let her shoulder brush against his arm.

Mitch chuckled, and Clementine hoped that was a good sign.

“You really suck at balance, huh?” He teased.

Clementine closed her eyes.

Then, finally, she snapped.

“Mitch, are you dense?” She finally scoffed, storming in front of him and stopping.

They both stopped walking.

He blinked. “What?”

“I’m interested in you, Mitch.” Clementine spat. “I’ve been trying to show you that for days.”

Mitch blinked.

“I thought you were interested back. I was told you were, but you haven’t shown me that.”

Mitch fidgeted, moving from foot to foot, not saying anything.

Clementine scoffed, her crossed arms flopped defeatedly. “Are you going to say anything?”

He gulped. “Clem, I–”

“No, stop,” Clem sighed, holding up her hands and lowering her head, changing her mind.

She let out a dejected laugh, like the conversation hurt.

“Just tell me whether or not you’re interested. Say yes or no.”

Mitch fidgeted again. “Clem, I just–”

Clem scoffed, waving her hands. “Forget it, Mitch. Just forget it.”

“Wait, Clem I–”

“Save it.” She snapped. “I don’t like being lied to, Mitch.”

Clementine turned, starting back for Ericson.

She’d go alone. She didn’t care about the risk.

“Clem, please.”

Clementine scoffed, whipping her head around as she walked.

Why was he refusing to answer her question but kept trying to talk to her?

“Mitch, can you just–”

Her words were cut off with a wail.

Her foot snagged on an upturned tree root.

Her ankle twisted.

She crashed to the ground.

Mitch could feel his heart drop.

He darted forward, not caring about the amount of noise they were making.

“Clem!” he called, throwing himself at her side.

He gently rolled her over, brushing the hair out of her face and the dirt off her cheeks.

All she could do was groan and whimper.

“Hey, hey,” he breathed, slowly brushing more dirt away.

He hoped the motion could calm her.

“You’re okay, okay? I’ll make sure of it.”

Clementine said nothing.

She didn’t want to talk to him.

She just wanted the pain to stop.

She could feel his arms snake under her body and lift her.

She felt weightless.

But her ankle was excruciating.

She stayed quiet.

She had nothing to say.

When they returned to Ericson, she could hear the chaos around them.

She opened her tired eyes.

“She hurt her ankle pretty bad.” Mitch said to Louis, adjusting her in his arms.

“I’ll get Ruby,” Louis said, scurrying away.

Violet frowned. “Come on, I’ll help you to her room.”

Ruby met them there.

Violet, Louis and Mitch waited outside while Ruby bandaged her up.

“What happened out there?” Violet scoffed, smacking Mitch’s arm.

“How did she hurt herself? How bad was it?”

“Did she make a move? Did you?” Violet asked, silencing Louis.

Louis smacked her arm.

Mitch sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. “No. I didn’t. She did.”

“And?” Violet whisper-yelled, not wanting to draw Clem’s attention from inside the room.

Mitch’s eyes stayed closed. “I didn’t respond to it. To any of them.”

“What?” Louis and Violet gawked in sync.

Mitch groaned, eyes open and arms swaying. “I’m bad with this. You guys know that.”

“You’re not gonna get any better like this,” Violet scoffed.

Mitch glared.

He hated that she was right.

“You gotta try, Mitch.” Louis said, setting a hand against his shoulder, taking a gentler approach. “You’re not gonna get better if you don’t.”

Mitch hated that he was right too.

He needed to be better.

More than anything, he needed to be honest.

“She’s patched up,” Ruby said, slipping out. “I wrapped her ankle and gave her some pain killers. She’s resting.”

“Can I see her?” Mitch asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Ruby shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

Urgently, he pushed his way in.

He didn’t need to hear anything else.

“Clem,” he said, clicking the door shut, starting for the side of her bed.

She was staring up and didn’t respond.

“Clem please, hear me out.”

Clem stayed silent but turned her head to face him.

“I never know how to say it.” He finally fumbled out, the words catching in his throat.

Clementine furrowed her brows, sitting upright.

Mitch flinched forward, carefully holding her arms to assist her.

Clementine thought it was sweet. It seemed like he cared.

“What?” She asked.

Mitch shifted again, his ears pink.

Clementine could see, she just didn’t say anything.

“I never know how to say what I feel.” He said. “I suck at it. And I’m sorry for that.”

Clementine thought it was cute when he was embarrassed.

For the time being, she needed to stay serious.

She needed more than that.

Clementine pressed her lips together.

She cleared her throat. “Can you show it?”

Mitch gulped. “That’s why I came in here.”

Clementine’s heart picked up pace.

“I wanted to ask you if I had permission to try.”

Clementine slowly smiled. “You do.”

He kissed her.

He didn’t think twice.

He dipped in gently, cupped her face, and swept his lips against hers.

And she loved it.

They both did.

[kachuwritings]

NCT 2018 ideal dates

anonymous asked: please do a nct 2018 ideal date!! like how or what’s their perfect ideal date? Thanks sm🔥

a/n: I tried to keep it interesting with different date ideas and also tried to see which would fit which member the best imo. I hope you like it!~♡

Disclaimer: This is the last nct 2018 reaction I'll post. It's just too hard on me to write a different reaction for 18 members, that's why I decided to only take requests for units from now on and finish off this little nct 2018 journey with their ideal dates.

warning?: it’s a bit cracked up sometimes?! xD

- gender neutral -

Taeil:

Taeil is a main vocalist and he loves singing above anything, so I think his ideal date would include his greatest passion. He always sings their own songs and it's always serious and professional, so he'd love to let loose for once and just sing his heart out to whatever song he wants. That's why Taeil's ideal date would be going to a karaoke bar with you.

Johnny:

Johnny is known as the most romantic member (at least within 127) and that's why I believe he'd want a traditional and romantic date. He'd take you out to a candle-light dinner at a fancy restaurant and like the gentleman he is, he'd pay for you and after you'd go on a walk through a park together.

Taeyong:

We all know Taeyong loves cooking and that he's the best cook in NCT. Therefore he'd love to invite you over to his place and cook a full course meal for the both of you to enjoy in intimate togetherness. And of course he'd end up blushing when you'd compliment his food, hoping you couldn't see the redness on his cheeks in the candle-light.

gosh, look at his smile uwu my heart is bursting

Yuta:

For Yuta I could imagine two different kinds of ideal dates. Either he'd love to take you on a concert with him, preferably going to see his favourite Japanese rock band One OK Rock (their concerts are lit btw I love them so much) or he'd want to go shopping with you, either to a mall or to the city, so he could see you trying on different outfits and spoil you like the sugar daddy gentleman he is.

Kun:

Kun is another member I wasn't completely sure about. I could see him loving a quiet date at the bookstore together, where you'd be rummaging through various books and reading together or he'd also love to take you on a road trip with him, where you'd drive through the whole Korea just for fun and blast your favourite music in his car.

Doyoung:

Since we know that our little Doyoungie practically never leaves his room during their days off, I felt like he'd love a cosy stay at home date, where you would cook dinner together, fool around and later watch some movies while cuddling.

Ten:

Ten is a very energetic baby as we all know and since he loves dancing, I bet he'd love to go dancing with his date to either impress them, dance together with them, watch them dance or all of the above. Therefore he'd probably take you out dancing and either you'd just dance together or he'd offer to teach you. If both of you were up to it, you might even take some slow dancing classes together.

Jaehyun:

Jaehyun seems to be the type of person that loves everything soft, romantic, relaxing etc. I can totally see him doing a spa night together with you. When you arrived at his place, he'd prepare a nice bubble bath for the both of you, while you'd be enjoying some expensive champagne and later you'd give each other back massages while having scented candles placed all around the room so the both of you could just lay back and rest for once.

wow look at him, I’m in love :)))))))))))))))

Winwin:

Sicheng is such a soft and shy baby and for some reason I associate cosy winters and playing in the snow with him. I feel like he'd love to take you out on a date to go ice-skating. You would both help each other to get comfortable on the ice and when you felt anxious still, he'd keep his arms draped around your waist to keep you from falling until you felt stable enough to ride alone but that still wouldn't be a guarantee that he'd let go of you then. ;)

Jungwoo:

I associate everything aesthetically pleasing with soft Junguwu and that's why I picture him wanting to take you out to a small and cute café, one that was less popular and hidden away from the center of the town, so only those with taste would know about this place. Either you'd go there for simply having a cup of coffee or in the morning for brunch. He'd love having a quiet place with you to go to talk and share your passions with.

Lucas:

When I was brainstorming for this post, it didn't even take me a whole 2 seconds to know what Xuxi would love to do with you, hell, I even wrote it down in all caps. I hope we can all agree on that this loud, big baby would absolutely love to go to an amusement park with you. He'd want to see if you get scared on rollercoasters or the haunted house, so he could protect you.

Mark:

Mark is a very busy boy and I can imagine he feels exhausted a lot and would just prefer not to go out for once. He'd love a quiet night in when you'd come to his place and the both of you would order some take out food because let's be real, neither of you knew how to cook for life. After dinner, he'd get his guitar and play some songs for you while you'd lean against him with your eyes closed, enjoying the moment. You'd finish off the evening with watching movies until the both of you fell asleep in each other's arms.

I feel attacked :)

Renjun:

Renjunnie is our local art hoe™ so I think he'd love if his date would be just as much into the arts as him. If you happen to be like that, he'd love nothing more than to either visit an art gallery together with you or meet up so you could draw each other. Or even better, you'd visit the art gallery first and after go to his place and spend the night away drawing beautiful portraits of each other. aEstHEtiC

Jeno:

Just recently I posted a little imagine (I put the link if you want to read Jeno's ideal date in an more aesthetically pleasing way) on my blog @fluffyheadcanons that I think would suit Jeno so well. Like in that post, I think Jeno's ideal date would be going to a park on a sunny afternoon and having a nice picnic there while he would be able to feed you with chocolate glazed fruits.

Haechan:

Our full sun would love going out with you, especially during the warmer months. That's why I could imagine him wanting to take you out on a stroll around town until you'd get to your favourite ice cream shop where the both of you would buy an ice cream in your favourite flavour, with him insisting on paying for you and then going to the Han River to relax and take silly photos of each other.

Jaemin:

Jaemin is such a supportive baby he'd literally love everything you wanted to do and would agree on anything. But if you let him decide and tell him that you wanted to go on his ideal date with him, he'd take you bowling and together you'd have so much fun and laugh at each other for failing and hitting the gutter all the time.

Chenle:

Our Lele is such a playful and childish baby so he’d definitely want to take you on a date to a place where you'd have the time of your lives. And is there a better place than going to an arcade together? I don't think so. You'd try out all the different games, from air hockey, to basketball, to car or motorbike races and dancing games. You'd enjoy yourselves so much that you'd forget about the time and get home late, so eomma Taeyong would end up scolding the both of you for staying out past curfew.

Jisung:

Since maknae Jisung is still young and might feel a bit embarrassed to go on dates in public, and since he's also an introverted bub, I think he'd love a stay-in date. He'd probably ask you to come over when all the hyungs would be gone for practice or individual schedules so he'd have the dorm to himself. Then he'd prepare all kinds of unhealthy snacks for the both of you and you'd end up playing videos games together until everyone would get back and be shook at seeing their youngest member having his date over while no one was there to watch over them. (Taeyong eomma will snap)

uhmmm can you,,, NOT??? pls,,,

[studpuffin]

steddie for kinkmas pls wifey? :) (Dealers choice on kinks bc i can't think of any)

I DID IT 

Read on AO3 

Eddie crept into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Stan’s waist, “Hey lovebug,” he purred kissing his cheek.

A small smile crept over Stan’s face, “Hey bluejay,” he turned his head to kiss him, “How was work?”

Eddie sighed, laying his head on Stan’s shoulder, “Long. But the kids are doing great,” he smiled at the thought of his kindergarteners, “But I’m glad to be home,” he pressed a kiss to the back of Stan’s neck, “I missed you…”

Stan laced their fingers together, drawing Eddie’s hand to his mouth, brushing his lips over Eddie’s fingers, “I missed you too,” Stan pulled away gently, “Come on. Dinner’s ready.”

Eddie sent down next to him at the table, leaning on his hand to stare at Stan with a soft expression.

Stan looked over at him and blushed, “What?”  

Eddie kissed his cheek, “I was just thinking…” he trailed his lips along Stan’s jaw, “I read some article about spicing it up in the bedroom and I just got me thinking about you,”             he whispered.

Stan hummed appreciatively, “What did you have in mind?” he tucked a soft brown wave behind Eddie’s ear, smiling as Eddie kissed his wrist.

“Food play? I saw it in Vogue.” He looked up a Stan through his lashes and bit his lips as Stan’s eyes widened.

“Babe that’s so unhygienic!” Stan squeaked, “Why?”

Eddie frowned a little, “Because I want us to be impulsive and spontaneous and fun! Please? If you hate it we can stop,” he gave him the puppy eyes.

Stan chewed his lip thoughtfully. The rational part of his brain kept screaming that it was gross and messy. But the bedroom was the one place he and Eddie let loose a little more and it could be fun to try something a little different, “Alright...Alright ok, we can try it.”

Eddie grinned, leaning over to peck his lips, “Let me clean up from dinner and then we can try it.”

Stan cupped his cheek and kissed him deeply, full of promise of what was to come, “I’ll be waiting…” he chuckled as Eddie blushed and darted into the kitchen

Fifteen minutes letter, Eddie entered their bedroom carrying a container of frosting, cut open trash bag, and some duct tape.

“You planning on killing me after you lick that off me?” Stan grinned nodding towards the bag and tape.

Eddie giggled, “Just figured it’d be neater this way,” he knelt down on the floor taping down the corners, before pulling off his t-shirt and sitting down in the center, “C’mere,” he smiled warmly up at Stan, holding out his hand.

Stan bit his lip hesitantly and pulled off his shirt, crawling next to Eddie on the floor. Eddie leaned in, pulling the blonde into a soft kiss, fingertips ghosting over Stan’s chest. Stan caught Eddie’s wrist, pulling him in closer. Eddie moaned softly tangling his fingers into Stan’s curls, tugging lightly, smirking as he felt Stan melt into his arms.

“Take your pants off baby…” Eddie peppered kisses over Stan’s neck, “Love seeing how pretty you are…”

Stan let out a high pitched whine as Eddie pulled back, “Eddie…”

“Shhh,” Eddie kissed him gently, “Just get ready and lay back ok? I’ll be right back,” he stroked his cheek.

Stan nodded, blue eye blinking up at Eddie, “You’ll come right back?”

Eddie nodded, “Two minutes I promise.”

Stan nodded, wiggling out of his pants as Eddie left the room. He lay there, nervously chewing on his lip as he waited. After a few moments, Eddie returned holding a plastic cup. He smiled softly at Stan, kneeling down beside him.

“Hey there lovebug,” he murmured, fingertips down Stan’s stomach, grinning as the muscles flexed, “You ready? We’ll start off slow,” he leaned over, placing the cup down beside Stan’s hip and pressing a soft kiss to his lips, “Get the box,” he murmured, grinning as Stan shivered with anticipation, rolling over to grab the plain black box from under their bed, “Pick which one you want.”

Stan knelt on the plastic, looking into the box. Slowly, he pulled out their expensive Vice vibrator and a length of rope. He sat back, looking up at Eddie expectantly. Eddie had stripped down to his boxers, looking down at Stan with a soft smile.

“Ask for what you want lovebug,” Eddie ran a hand through his curls softly, “Look at me and ask for what you want.”

Stan gasped sharply, leaning into Eddie’s touch in an almost puppy-like manner, “I want you to tie me up…”

“And?” Eddie tugged warningly at his curls and Stan whined again.

“And put the vibrator in me while you l-” he broke off with a moan as Eddie teasingly scratched his nails over his shoulder, “Lick the frosting off me…”

Eddie knelt next to him and pressed a kiss to Stan’s cheek, “We can do that baby,” he leaned him back gently, “Arms up…” he pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, looping the soft ropes around his lover’s wrists. He sighed softly, tracing a fingertip down Stan’s nose, “My beautiful angel. You’re gonna be good for me?”

Stan blushed a beautiful pink color and nodded, blue eyes dark with lust.

“Say it,” Eddie scratched his nails over his chest.

“I’ll be good,” Stan keened as Eddie picked up the plastic cup and pulled out an ice cube, “What’s that for?”

Eddie kissed his stomach softly, “Warming you up...well sort of,” he chuckled softly. He drew circles around Stan’s belly button, grinning as Stan gasped, muscles tensing under his touch, “Too much?”

“N-no,” Stan winced slightly as the stinging cold trailed up his chest, “Just feels weird,” he gasped as Eddie dragged the ice over his nipple before sealing his mouth over the hardening bud. The shock of the heat in contrast to the cold ripped a moan out of Stan. He arched up off the plastic whimpering as Eddie’s teeth raked over his sensitive skin, “E-Eddie...Eddie fuck.”

Eddie’s eyes flicked up to Stan’s face, a smug smile tugging at his lips. Stan looked positively wrecked already. His cheeks were pink, lips red from biting them so hard. His pupils were blown wide and his normally neat curls were ruffled and messy. Eddie popped the ice cube into his mouth, licking up Stan’s hardening cock, the shock of cold making Stan practically scream.

“Eddie. Eddie fuck,” he gasped, “Baby please,” he sobbed as Eddie swallowed around him, pressing his nose against his Stan’s flat tummy. His fingers twitched and he sobbed upon realizing that he couldn’t tangle his fingers in Eddie’s soft brown waves. His over sensitized skin prickled as Eddie’s lashes brushed over him. Eddie bobbed his head, hollowing his cheeks. He pulled back, teasing his tongue around the head of Stan’s cock.

Eddie loved this part. He loved watching Stan unravel. His mouth, usually held in a tight-lipped smile, was now lax, lips that tantalizing cherry color. His eyes were glassy and slightly unfocused as his chest rose and fell with heavy gasps. Eddie pulled off him with a pop, “How you holding up sugar?”

Stan blinked slowly, “’m ok,” he slurred, starting to slip into his subspace  “Want it…”

Eddie laughed softly, “Ok sweetheart,” he popped the cap off the container and dipped his fingers into the sticky liquid, dragging it over Stan’s chest. Stan scrunched up his nose at the strange sensation. Eddie dragged his tongue over the sticky line, dipping his finger in again and tracing it over Stan’s hip, dipping his head to lick up the sticky sweet frosting.

Stan squirmed, a whimper escaping him, “Eddie,” he gasped, “Eddie? Baby?”

Eddie pulled back “What’s the matter love bug?”

Stan scrunched up his nose, “I dunno if I like it…Feels weird,” he blushed.

Eddie frowned, “Wanna stop?”

Stan lowered his eyes in shame, “Can we? I think I want a shower.”

“Oh sweetie,” Eddie kissed him softly, “Yeah baby, of course, we can,” he untied Stan’s wrist gently, massaging them, “Come on. Shower?”

Slowly, Eddie helped him to his feet, holding him close. He gathered Stan up into his arms and settled him under the warm spray of their shower. Eddie rubbed his back gently as they rinsed off. Stan turned, throwing his arms around Eddie’s neck.

“I still want you to fuck me…”  Stan murmured against his lip, sucking it between his teeth. Eddie gasped holding Stan’s hips, pulling them closer together.

“Yeah? You want me to?” Eddie pressed a kiss to his neck.

Stan purred happily as Eddie’s steady hands wandered down his back, “Yes please.”

For some reason, shower sex seemed to always perk Stan up. Eddie thought it appealed to his love of neatness. Stan maintained it was the perfect excuse to get Eddie naked (even though he didn’t even really need an excuse).

Eddie reached out to the counter and grabbed their lube, slipping a finger into Stan, grinning as Stan collapsed against him already trembling.

“Love how sensitive you are love bug,” he murmured, “Love seeing you get all weak in the knees…” he slipped another finger in, hoisting up Stan’s leg over his hip. He smiled as Stan buried his face in his neck.

“Baby baby baby,” Stan sobbed softly eagerly grinding his hip down against Eddie’s fingers, “More. More please.”

Eddie laughed softly, slipping in a third finger as Stan’s knees shook. He hooked his leg over Eddie’s hip as a litany of moans spilled out of him. Soft, breathy little ‘uhs’ as he panted onto Eddie’s neck, “Please fuck me, Eddie…”

Eddie spun Stan around easily and pressed his small frame up against the wall and easily worked his way inside him, groaning in pleasure as Stan clenched around him, “Fuck I love how you feel…”

Stan reached back, gabbing at Eddie’s wrist where he was gripping his hips, “Feel so good in me…” he whimpered, “I just I need to…fuck,” he arched his back, squirming closer to Eddie gasping as the head of his cock hit his prostate, “mmm right there,”

Eddie gripped his hips, “Come for me, sweetheart. Let me hear it,” he nipped at his neck.

Stan squirmed, moaning as he spilled on the tile wall of their bathroom. Eddie tensed, tightening his hold on Stan’s hips as he came. Both of them stood quietly for a moment, heavy breathing adding to the steam of the room. Stan turned slowly and looped his arms around Eddie’s neck.

“Thank you?”

Eddie smiled into his curls, “For what lovebug?”

“For all of this. Making me feel safe enough to explore things. For being the love of my life…”

Eddie pulled him closer, pressing a kiss to his temple, “The pleasure, truly is all mine.” 

tag list! @tinyarmedtrex @reddie-for-anything @aizeninlefox @oldguybones @its-stranger-than-you-think @richardtoz @mrs_vh @reddies-spaghetti @honeybeehanlon

[stevesharrlngtons]

can you please do number 70. "that's my girl!" w steve? I LOVE YOU SM!!

that’s my girl

steve was trying his best to be a good person. he was earning back karma points every chance he could get, and signing up to be the new student ambassador was a great way to feel like a good person, and have something to put on his resume.

since billy hargrove, hawkins had only had one other new student. a small mousey freshman who was quiet and very shy. steve did his best to help her feel welcome and at home. and after he dropped her off at her first class, he felt accomplished. the young girl rally seemed to warm up to steve by the end of the tour of the school, and he knew that would help her win over her classmates. when steve told you about his good samaritan feeling at lunch, you couldn’t hold back a smile at his beaming face.

“i’m really happy for you.” you said, placing your hands behind his neck and kissing him softly.

“is it weird that i am, too?” he said with a grin.

“not at all.” you replied.

a few months had passed since the little freshman when the office informed steve that he would be showing around a senior the next day. and steve was excited. he liked being friendly and kind to people, making them feel comfortable in a new place.

that morning, steve walked you to class like usual and then was headed off to the main office.

“have fun, baby.” you hushed to his lips after you gave him a goodbye kiss.

“thanks, gorgeous.” he smiled, giving you a little peck before sending you on your way.

when steve arrived at the office, the principal and new kid were waiting for him. the boy wore high end, expensive looking clothing and an unamused expression.

“dalton, this is steve harrington.” mr. carlson introduced.

“hey man, how are you?” steve said with a wide smile.

“fine.” dalton replied rudely.

“uh, ok. lemme show you around.” steve said, trying not to let his friendly smile falter.

as steve started to show dalton the campus, he started to hate him. he was pretentious and pompous and ungrateful. every moment he could he criticised something about the school or was bragging about how good he had it in new mexico. steve just grinned and beared it. but he was dying inside, he would have rather hung around with billy. at least billy liked to fall into long silences, unlike dalton apparently.

“what’s the babe situation here? who’s slutty, who puts out?” dalton asked as he and steve walked by the trophy case. he was admiring the 1983 cheerleading team as he spoke.

“uh, i don’t know, man. depends on what kinda girls you like.” steve rubbed the back of his neck.

“hot and slutty,” dalton chuckled, “or whatever indiana hot is.”

steve allowed himself to roll his eyes at this comment.

the tour continued, and as they wrapped back around the the main office, first period ended and the hallways flushed with people. dalton puffed out his chest as he scanned the hallway, looking for his first target of the year. steve wanted to tell him that all the girls loose enough to sleep with an asshole like him probably had hpv that they got from the last asshole who came to town, but kept his lips sealed.

steve knew that they were going to be walking by your locker, and interaly hoped you weren’t going to be there. he knew dalton was going to pounce on you the second he saw you. you were beautiful and quite striking, there was no way he was going to pass you by.

“holy shit, who is that?” dalton nudged steve.

fuck.

steve followed dalton’s eyeline to sure enough, see that you were the person he was referring too.and it wasn’t until he saw just how slimy dalton’s greedy eyes were looking at you, that steve’s dread of him finding you turn to possessive jealousy.

steve internally growled as he and dalton made their way closer to you. steve walked a little faster so he could get to you first.

dalton was about to persuade steve to introduce him to you, when steve stopped you in the crowd and kissed you with passion.

his placed his hands on your cheeks as he deepened the kiss, you happily kissing him back. though it took you a minute to, he had taken you by surprise. you struggled, using one arm to clutch your calculus textbook to your chest while your unoccupied hand came and rested on his neck.

when steve pulled away, you were both out of breath. he rested his forehead against yours and you smile widely at him.

“hi,” you said, taking a large breath in as you did.

“i missed you.” steve murmured.

“apparently.” you giggled.

“i gotta finish this tour, but i’ll see you in third?” steve said, drawing small patterns with his thumbs against your cheeks.

you nodded, biting your lip.

“love you.” steve said, a crooked smile forming.

“i love you.” you returned.

steve let you go, his touch staying you on until you were out of reach. you were blushing madly as you walked to your second class. you turned around twice to look at steve with an adoring expression, brushing past dalton without a glance.

dalton watched you walk away with his mouth agape.

“you don’t have to worry about her, man, that’s my girl.” steve shrugged, his old king presouna rising.

dalton was silent as steve causally went right back into the tour, telling him about his second period teacher how his grading scale.