#that line in set it up where he says the best meal i ever ate was a pizza thrown up a fire escape
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Friday, November 10 – Love Is Stored In The Garlic: Write about 10 significant meals that your character has had in their lives. Is it their favorite pasta dish? Is it the meal they were broken up over? Up to you to decide! Bonus points for images.
A Life in 10 Pizzas | Self Para
Pizza Hut original recipe pan pizza, 1988
Monty’s falling asleep in the back seat of his parents’ new car, his muddy sneakers ruining the vinyl and stinking up the small space. He barely notices. He’s just gobbled down a whole pizza, complements of this new program at school where you get a coupon if you read a bunch of books. The Martinezes don’t need coupons, of course, but Monty likes winning, and that tastes even better than greasy, cheesy, bready goodness would on its own. “Best thing I ever ate,” he mumbles as he drifts off to sleep, and by the time the car pulls in, he’s out. His dad carries him inside, dreaming of pizza.
Luigi’s, 1991
“You have to- no, don’t throw it that high, Monty, you’re going to- alright, just be careful!” Marylou can’t contain her laughter as Monty throws the dough, higher and higher and higher. It’s Friday night and Luigi’s up the road has just started selling their dough that you can bake yourself at home. Monty’s just on the cusp of having cooler things to do on a Friday night, or more important things to do, really— he’s on the cusp of having practice every Friday night, like every other night. They pull the pie out of the oven together and Monty remarks that it’s the best thing he’s ever smelled. Marylou laughs. He always says that.
Domino’s pizza, 1996
It’s the worst pizza Monty’s ever eaten. It’s delicious, hot and fresh with fluffy crust and loaded down with pepperoni and sausage and mushrooms, but it tastes like Chick Hicks just outran him and he landed off the podium for the first time in his career. His parents try to tell him not to put so much pressure on himself, but he doesn’t want to hear it, so he hides away in the locker room with his pizza. Yeah. Still tastes like losing.
Chicago style, 1999
The cheese is under the sauce, apparently, and Monty’s apprehensive at first, but it’s a photo op, so he goes for it anyway. Can’t offend the Chicago Grand Prix boosters, after all, who are all very enthusiastic about the fact that they have their own version of everything: hot dogs, popcorn, and pizza, apparently. It’s not like Lightning can be precious about it. He’s from California, whose only claim to pizza is a mall chain restaurant. So Lightning tries it and it’s weird, but it’s good. Kind of like fame, he thinks.
It’s Not Delivery, It’s DiGiorno, 2001
He has his own apartment downtown now and he realizes, staring into his empty refrigerator, that he never learned how to cook. On the road, he has a nutritionist that tells his personal chef what to make him, but it’s the off season now, and for the first night in a week, he’s forgotten to order delivery. So it’s just him, his empty fridge and… oh yeah, Mom did give him that frozen pizza “just in case.” He’s hungry, and if you turn up the temperature, it cooks faster, right?
It tastes burnt.
Zizzi, 2003
Bessie takes him here because she wants “the American perspective,” but she actually doesn’t, because she argues with him every time he makes a critique. But she actually does, because she can’t hide her big, million-watt smile every time he argues with her and neither can he, and it’s not long before they’re drunk on cheap wine and cheap pizza and mostly each other. They say a lot of stupid things. But everything is funnier when you’re drunk, and everything tastes better when you’re in love. (That’s what they say, right?)
Dollar slice, 2006
New York pizza is overrated if you ask Lightning. Everything here is overrated, overpriced, overcrowded. There’s not even a proper course nearby, which is why Lightning’s here in the off season, when it’s also too cold and too dark. And nobody even knows who he is. He walks into this dollar pizza joint across the street from his hotel and the guy calls him “boss,” but he calls everyone boss, doesn’t he? Lightning has a meeting with Sports Illustrated tomorrow and they’ll take his picture and ask him questions and feed him actual food and then he’ll feel like a star, but right now, at the peak of his career, Lightning chews a dollar slice and it tastes like being forgotten.
Neapolitan-style, 2010
So this is real pizza. That’s what Lightning tells Monica as they take their seats that overlook the Amalfi coast, the best seats in the restaurant, of course. It’s his thirtieth birthday! And the end of his most successful season yet, and sure he’s only been hooking up with this woman since the beginning of the summer, but what’s the point of having money if you can’t fly beautiful people around the world and introduce them to real Italian pizza?
It tastes… expensive. It tastes… like culture. It tastes… okay, actually, it kind of tastes like Pizza Hut.
Pizza Planet, 2022
No way is Lightning eating dinner cooked by a ghost. Are you crazy?! His first night in Swynlake, Lightning orders Pizza Planet, because at least he can get that here in this middle-of-nowhere little English town. No breakfast burritos. No sushi. No açai bowls. But at least they have pizza, and at least it’s been created by an actual living person.
Although… as the delivery driver turns around and heads back to his car, Lightning’s pretty sure he sees… are those antennae, sticking up out of his baseball cap?
Get him out of this place!
Pizza bagels, 2023
Lightning told himself he wasn’t going to stop by the practice. He’d sent snacks over, but Cruz had already seen him in the athletic office once and he didn’t want to be a weirdo lurking around and waiting for people to thank him for his generosity. It wasn’t about that. It was about making up for what he’d done, in as many ways as he can. But the Pride U athletic director calls him up anyway and lets him know there were leftovers, and invites him over to his office for a cup of coffee now that practice has wrapped up and everyone has gone home. Pizza bagels and coffee don’t really go together, but pizza bagels and coffee and company do, and mostly, they kind of taste like hope. Like maybe cycles don’t have to repeat themselves forever.
#swynwrimoemma#swynwrimo2023#self para#this is inspired by a few things#the pizza hut book it challenge that i went on a wikipedia deep dive about the other night#that line in set it up where he says the best meal i ever ate was a pizza thrown up a fire escape#and obviously my Culture#mamma mia pizza pie live love new jersey etc
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AAAAHHHHHHHH It's TIM! 1000% strong MN girl here and boy it's been real fun to watch Tim (and Peggy! Our amazing lieutenant governor) take a small small Democratic majority and do incredible things. My kid ate two meals at school every day for free. DELIGHTED that he's the VP pick. LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!
Listen, I am just ECSTATIC. Ever since I seriously became tuned into the veepstakes, he was my number one pick (I mean, I was not immune to the brief flirtation everyone had with Beshear/Buttigieg/etc), but yes. Walz was my top pick and I was trying desperately not to get my heart too set on him in case it fell through, but he was the obvious best choice of the contenders by a country mile. He has an almost absurdly Midwestern pro-America background (military veteran, public school teacher, football coach from a small rural town, etc) AND he has managed to enact a long list of progressive policies in Minnesota with a very narrow majority in the state legislature. Also, you're going to be seeing a lot of this video, for good reason:
Also.... let's be real, Shapiro would have been an incredible distraction/drag on the ticket, unfortunately. We don't need to deal with his retrograde views on Gaza and his other baggage, and while he is a very popular governor in Pennsylvania, it's less certain that his appeal would translate to other states. We can argue (or you know, let's not and move on) about whether or not that was fair, but this is just not the year to try to win the most critical high-stakes election ever by pissing off young voters. Shapiro has done plenty of good things and has time to develop his career further, but he would have been a BAD pick for 2024 and I was alarmed at how many Respected Pundits (tm) were pulling for him. Reuters even claimed that picking him would "defang Republican attempts to make Israel-Gaza a wedge issue for Democrats," which is such a mind-bogglingly stupid statement that it makes you wonder how anyone writing it actually got paid for their political insight, but it also explains a lot about mainstream media these days. Picking Shapiro would have been an absolute gift to the Republicans and bad-faith actors and others (plus like, I don't want to have to spend time winning back the young voters who are actually once more engaged in the process!) and would have led to the media eagerly jumping into the feeding frenzy (because they're desperate to have a reason not to cover Trump's increasingly crazy-ass shit) and other Democratic-on-Democratic infighting. And it goes without saying that WE CANNOT AFFORD THAT.
As well, picking Shapiro just because you need to win PA this election cycle is yet another example of why the Electoral College sucks, and the polling averages in PA have been moving solidly blue anyway. You can just park Shapiro there and have him campaign in the state as the sitting popular governor, rather than expose him to the liability of a nationwide campaign where, as noted, all the other stuff would be a drag. If it's true that the establishment was pushing Harris to pick Shapiro and she picked Walz instead, a) GOOD! and b) if anything, this election cycle needs to fucking teach us that we have got to stop going with the Conventional Wisdom Tee Em. Walz was already out there, he was already popular with the public/energizing the grassroots, AND he was the guy who coined the "Weird" attack line that is actually effective and organically popular against the Republicans and drives them batshit. So for Kamala to lean into that and take him as her running mate is... zomgz... smart, and I am not used to the Democrats playing smart and aggressive and not just passive-defensive. I don't understand. Wow.
Anyway, now watch the New York Times (and the others, lbr, but especially the NYT) desperately try to dig up scandalous stories about that time Walz didn't stop at the 4H booth at the county fair, or walked past someone without saying "Ope just gonna sneak by ya first" or some other terrible Midwestern sin, but fuck those guys. I am EXCITED I am ENERGIZED I am THRILLED. This is a GREAT new ticket that came together at incredibly short notice and completely changed the dynamics everywhere, Walz is gonna make JD Vance cry (unsure whether I want to see Harris demolish Trumpster or Midwestern Dad to turn the cranks on Weird Couchfucking Fascist Skidmark more, but both, both, both is good). LET'S GO GET THOSE WEIRD MOTHERFUCKERS, Y'ALL!!
HARRIS/WALZ 2024!
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✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩
All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes. Please look at tags and warnings on ao3 before reading.
DC
midnight sun by merils
Who would win: four men with guns who just happened to get Red Robin to walk into a trap, or one royally-pissed Kryptonian juggernaut?
Yeah, it's not even a contest.
reasons are better than rules by destiny919
"No one will actually explain Father's rules to me," Damian blurts out. "They tell me we don't kill, and killing is wrong, and Father would never do it, but no one ever actually says why! As if repeating the rule is the same as explaining it! As if I am supposed to just know, when I do not!"
Drake is quiet, eyes on something in the distance that Damian cannot see. "Damian, may I tell you a secret?"
Marvel
Thirty Hours by polaroid15
The sun sets. Peter breaks three toes and hits his head hard against concrete. There’s a steadily bleeding wound in his side that he’s staunched with his webbing and tries not to acknowledge it when it burns. He can still walk in a straight line, which is good. He’s starving and tired and cold. It’s been fifteen hours.
Or, Peter doesn't take any breaks during a lengthy fight with the Avengers. The mind-melting fever that follows really should have been expected.
Clone Wars
An Hourglass In Hand by ecarian
“I thought daemons didn’t eat,” Rex noted once, during a celebration feast, as he and Cody watched Boga devour her meal with some fascination. Varactyl she may be, but she was a tiny one. There wasn't much interior space for the truly momentous amount of meat she was ripping into.
Boga daintily rubbed her beak against a folded serviette that looked kind of like a bird, and said, prim, “I can do anything a human can do.”
“Oh?” Obi-Wan said mildly, from where he’d been tapping at a datapad. “Shall I save you a portion of these reports then?”
Set My Mind at Ease by Eightbitpale
Marshal Commander Cody - clone commanding officer of the 7th Sky Corps, second in command of the 212th attack battalion and, currently, the proud caretaker of one still-warm lightsaber - was having a very long day.
Actually, fuck that. It had been more than a long day. Long days were Cody’s bread and butter, practically his comfort zone. Marshall Commander Cody ate stim shots for breakfast and every shiny this side of Coruscant knew it. Long days were his bitch.
No, this had been more than a long day. Today had been a bad day.
———
The one where Cody and his general try their best to tell each other that they care. At least they’re trying.
Your Smile In Stone by ecarian
Wooley: can we arrest people for yelling this early?
There were two figures standing at the foot of General Kenobi's statue with their backs to Wooley, an adult with a hood, and a child with light hair. The child was pointing at a puddle of Temple tookas who were curled up in General Kenobi’s lap, lounging in the stone folds of his robes, the bend of his knee.
Wooley: belay that. Child nuisance.
The Goblin Emperor
Sweet Hope by baladric
Maia Drazhar arranges a festival, meets his gay aunt, falls in love with his secretary, and misses his mom through it all.
"In the way of true stories, there was no discernible beginning. Perhaps it had begun that first day, in the shabby receiving room at Edonomee; in the cockpit of the Radiance of Cairado; at the mooring mast of the Untheileneise Court, with that first smile.
The pith of the matter was that Maia Drazhar was wildly, tremulously in love, and love had made fools of much wiser men than he."
In All Its Forms by Anonymous
Before his father ruined everything, Nurevis Chavar only thought to introduce the new emperor to all the most beautiful things life could offer.
When he found himself free from relegation again after his father's death, would the emperor whose friendship he had sought so long ago wish his presence at court? And, if he could return to court, would his emperor wish his friendship again?
#i'm down with covid atm#which is why there are multiple longish fics on here considering i only just posted last week#thank you ao3 for your service#weekly fic round up#my posts#fic recs#the goblin emperor recs#tge recs#sw recs#dc recs#marvel recs
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Blue's Rose - Chapter 29 - Part 3
*Warning Adult Content*
Boys Will Be Blue
Blue Cavanaugh & Kulap 'Kool' Somboon
"Are you hungry, yet?" but again, Kool shook his head no, making Blue frown.
Not acceptable.
"Something," Blue responded, turning around and heading back the way they had come.
"You have to eat something," he insisted.
Kool was stubborn, Blue had learned that the last few weeks and Blue was laid back.
What Kool didn't know or maybe remember from long ago was that Blue could be a tenacious pain in the ass himself if he wanted and right now, he wanted.
Like a child pouting, Kool slumped along beside Blue not saying a word, his hands in his pockets.
That was fine with Blue, too.
Kool could pout all he wanted as long as he had spoon in his hand, some rice and soup in his bowl and shoveled food into his mouth when Blue said eat.
They arrived at a little outdoor café and sat down at the only open table.
Kool didn't say a word but Blue didn't need him to.
He knew what Kool liked to eat and he could point at the menu just like every other tourist.
Thankfully though, the waitress spoke enough English and Blue enough Thai that they communicated perfectly with their words, gestures and smiles.
"You do know you ordered goat brains, right?" Kool asked Blue as the waitress walked away.
Blue whipped his head to look back at Kool, his mouth gaping open in shock.
Kool started laughing again, his head shaking and his sad eyes partially lit as he made fun of the man in front of him.
"Are you serious?" Blue choked out.
He was pretty easy when it came to food but he drew the line at brain.
"No," Kool answered simply, still smiling at Blue.
"But I could not resist. You were being all take charge and bossy."
Blue smirked back.
"Oh, you mean I was acting a lot like you?"
"Touché."
The teasing, set the tone for the rest of the meal and Blue was happy about that.
The fact that Kool actually ate half of what was in front of him made Blue even happier.
As they ate though and despite the smile on Blue's lips, he could not help but worry about the damage his presence here was doing to Kool.
His mom had made it clear he was not welcome and as a result the two of them had had a confrontation that Blue still wasn't sure Kool would ever recover from.
That being said, should Blue stay or should he leave?
What he wanted was clear.
He wanted his two remaining weeks but did what he want really matter when compared to what Kool needed?
And the answer of course was an 'unequivocal no'.
So, what options did that leave Blue with?
Very little as far as he could see.
Leaving now was what would be best for Kool.
Blue just didn't know how to introduce the subject with him.
They paid the bill and started walking back towards the hotel.
The twinge on Blue's hip reflected the twinge he felt on his conscious as he mentally warred with himself as to how to mention his leaving to Kool.
A part of him felt like he would be deserting him and he cringed inside thinking Kool may feel the same way but the two of them going on together now would only hurt Kool more.
Blue had no idea how much further his mother was capable of taking things if push came to shove.
If he stayed and went against her wishes would that prompt her to retaliate against Kool?
Blue could not handle that.
Blue coughed lightly into the silence as they walked, trying to get the courage to say what needed to be voiced.
There needed to be a discussion at the very least and hiding their heads in the sand was not going to help anything.
Just outside the hotel in a private alcove Blue stopped and grabbed at Kool's wrist halting him.
Kool looked up at Blue with raised eyebrow clearly surprised by Blue's actions.
"Should I leave?" Blue rushed out, the words breathy and a bit garbled as they leapt off of his tongue.
Kool frowned up at him in confusion, not understanding.
"Leave where?"
Blue ran his hand through his hair feeling tense and flustered and knowing he hadn't broached the subject very well at all.
He had meant to be calm and rational but his fear had overrun everything and the words had just jumped out.
Now he needed to try and explain to the confused man in front of him.
"Should I cut my trip here short and leave? For you?" Blue quietly replied, seeing pain flash in Kool's eyes quickly followed by anger as Blue's words penetrated his tired brain.
"Are you fucking kidding me now?" Kool growled out, shocking Blue, the anger and pain were raw in his tone.
The harsh crudity of his words clarifying even more Kool's feeling on this particular subject.
"Kool..." Blue tried to explain but Kool cut him off with a downward slice of his hand through the air.
"No," he cried out.
"No," he repeated his voice rough with emotion, his body tense with suppressed pain and anger.
"I just cannot even talk about that right now," Kool gasped, backing away from Blue's outstretched hands.
"Kool, I'm just saying," Blue tried again feeling sick inside that the blank flat look was back on Kool's face and that he was the one that had put it there this time.
Kool stopped backing away.
He stood still and closed his eyes.
His chest rose up and down quickly revealing how overwhelmed he was feeling.
Blue stepped forward again but Kool's eyes opening, stopped him and his hand extended out palm up, stopped him as well.
Blue's heart plummeted to his stomach.
He just kept hurting Kool and he couldn't seem to get out of the vicious cycle.
"I understand," Kool finally whispered, his lips quivering.
"I r-really d-do," he stammered, nodding his head with jerky little motions.
"But I just cannot right now. I cannot take hearing that from you of all people right now."
Watching Kool's mini meltdown along with his anger shook Blue to his foundation.
He felt like he had betrayed Kool and it was the farthest thing from the truth.
He had only wanted to help.
"I cannot stay tonight," Kool finally whispered into the silence that had gone on too long.
"Wait," Blue cried out as if to stop Kool but he shook his head at him and stepped back.
"I just need a minute to myself. I need to think," Kool responded, backing away from Blue.
"I would not be good company anyway," he said with a sad crooked smile as if he were trying to assure Blue everything was okay but it wasn't.
Nothing had been okay since Kool's mother had made her appearance and had damaged the very core of his being and all Blue could do was watch.
"Baby," Blue whispered softly in a last-ditch effort to appeal to Kool to stay but he was already turning away, a bittersweet smile on his lips and haunting sadness in his eyes.
With regret Blue watched Kool's steps carry him further and further away.
His gut twisted and his heart nosedived to his feet.
He was unsure how things had progressed to the point that Kool actually walked away.
One painful question swirled around and around in his mind.
Was this goodbye?
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KDA 23: Prepare
He fell through the gateway the same way he left, and immediately followed his compulsion to complete the ritual. Once doing so, he slinked around the end side where his bedroom hid. The window still set open from the smoke cleanse, but was still obstructed by the screen.
[do not forget to edit this part round 2. you know which aspect. anything to do with the this part of Kalrick to be changed will be marked with a ^^ moving forward.]
How often did mom really go out back to the corner? Probably almost never, the garden was around the other bend. Without a chance for reason to tell him no and rethink, his fist^^ burst through the protective screen. He ripped, and tore the hole big enough for his body to fit through, flat against the sill.
Thank god Randle wasn't watching him struggle to climb through, he looked pathetic as hell with his legs scrambling against the siding. Randle could've cleared that height no problem.
He forced the embarrassing idea out of his head, then closed the blinds once inside. As long as mom didn't open the blinds she would be none the wiser. He brushed himself off, tossed the backpack aside a stack of boxes, and prepared for dinner as if nothing happened.
Two plates were already set on the square oak table, waiting just for his arrival. Mom rose without a word, poured two glasses of water, and dished two servings of the meal. Lasagna with alfredo sauce- no tomatoes involved whatsoever.
The two ate in silence, facing each other across. The cherubs on the drink coasters seemed to make better eye contact than she did. But the quiet meal settled restless thoughts he hadn't fully registered. The pink slip. Valery, Randle's fight, 5K's reason for moving. His own reason for moving.
He and his mom had never gotten along. They always fought about anything and everything. What made the fight he moved out from so different from the rest? What was so bad he couldn’t move on and pretend it wasn’t there from?
He set the utensils down, plate clean.
"Mom." He stated matter-of-factly.
She nodded.
"Why did I move out?"
"Kalrick," The fork clattered against the plate as her voice cracked. "Can we please just have a nice dinner? We don't have to end it on a bad note."
"Then answer the question."
"I'm doing my best to make amends, and no matter what we always put the fights behind us."
"So what could have been so bad, I couldn't put it aside one more time?"
"Please, K, this is me trying my best to say sorry."
"Then say sorry, if you were sorry, you'd say it. But you can't, you never do."
"I just want you back." Her voice broke.
"I am already lost."
"But I had you, you were so happy a few months ago and I just wanted so badly for it to stay, and we could put all this behind us."
"It wasn't real," he shook his head. "If you ever want me back, you'll tell me what we fought about."
She took a long, deep breath. "Your demon stuff." She finally released. "You wanted to pray to a demon, and I did not want that in my house. So you left."
"That's it?"
"That's it. I was very adamant about it not being in my house, and so were you about needing this demon. But I stand by how I felt then, I don't want anything to do with that kind of topic in my house."
It seemed... Believable at least. Whoever he had been looking for, was most definitely this demon. But it was becoming more and more apparent that there were missing pieces in his life. Patches gone blank, but the shapes were lining up.
Before everything happened, he must've found something that sparked a memory. He then needed research, brought the research home and fought with his mom. Whatever he was researching must've been so deep, it caused an irreparable fight with his mom he moved away from. Then he got too close, found the wrong information and became possessed.
“I hope this is the truth.” He stated passively, but held fast. “Because if what we fought about caused me to move out and you missed me this badly, then I promise you it will have the same outcome if I found out you’re lying. And I won’t forgive you.”
He collected his plate along with his mom’s, rinsed them in the sink, then returned to his bedroom.
The following days were spent in and out of his room at his mom’s and the one at 5K’s. At the property he could do work in solitude and dig through old memories. In town he had the assistance of 5K and Randle, though neither of them seemed to grasp what he was looking for. He didn’t have the words exactly, but all of the important information explicitly followed a theme. He couldn’t describe it, and the more he tried the less his friends seemed to understand. But it felt so obvious, though both could not sense what he did.
He spoke little to mom, and didn’t even bother arguing when she said something aggravating. Instead stonewalling her with apathetic..well. Nothing. He simply had nothing to say to someone who didn’t care enough.
He sprawled out papers, connections, and information on the ground in his apartment bedroom.
“So,” He said, not looking up from his reading. “I have an idea of where we need to go next, besides the church, obviously.”
“I was thinking we could go somewhere, too.” Randle said.
“I noticed wherever I do the walking ritual, is some sort of commonly visited place to be, and I think more than just where I live. My guess is that there’s going to be marks where I walked and we should see what this looks like on a map.”
“When were you planning on doing that? Cause I also want to go somewhere.”
“Um, I don’t know. I thought we could just drive around our best guesses of where it could have gone.”
“I know this is all very important to you, but maybe we need a break from this.”
“Like what?” Kalrick blinked. “What else is there?”
“We been doing a lot of what you want to do.” 5K stuttered. “We want to do stuff too.”
“But we are doing something.” He replied.
“But it’s not really something we came up with, you feel?”
He really didn’t. What else could possibly be more interesting and important than the research?
“I think taking a break would help you focus more when you come back to it,” Randle said. “I think doing something different will give you better ideas.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes,” Randle nodded.
“And we both want to do something fun.” 5K stated.
“So what were you wanting to do?”
“Out-of-town Luis’s.” Randle said. “I know you’ve never been into the scene, but you’ve got to admit, he throws a good party.”
They wanted to go all the way out of town to a party. Granted, Luis “out-of-town” was the closest place anyone here could find a house party. Hell, the closest Walmart was thirty minutes out, so Luis’s was marked pretty high on an activity list.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kalrick questioned. “There’s going to be drugs there.”
“I know how to take care of myself.” 5K said. “I hang with the right- the right people.”
“You don’t have to say yes,” Randle said. “But if you don’t go, we still kind of want to have fun.”
Kalrick paused, considering his options. The party was doubtful to be more interesting than research. But this was all given to him so fast, he wasn’t sure what else to do.
“Uh, ok.” He accepted. “What time do we leave?”
“It starts at 7, so we should leave around 6 to be safe. I’m probably going to get ready sooner.”
“I don’t get ready,” 5K chimed. “I just go as is.”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
Kalrick wasn’t sure what he would do now. In the past he probably would have put some effort into his appearance, but now he was uncertain if it really mattered. It couldn’t hurt to try a little. After all, this would be the first time going out as himself in a long time.
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Hostage - Okkotsu Yuta
At first when I saw this my internal response was that there was nothing that I really wanted to write, no scenario that would warrant answering such a question. But I’ve given it time and well...what better thing to write than a horny for love delusional yandere? Gender neutral and Okkotsu in this has graduated from the school, I imagine him to be mid-20s 4.8k words
Content warnings: yandere shit(which in this context includes kidnapping, past stalking and being really fucking creepy), manipulation, noncon hand job
How long had you been here in this dark basement with only a red couch and a TV that wouldn’t turn on? There wasn’t a single window to tell you if it was day or night, no clock on the wall to say if it had been ten minutes or ten hours since you were kidnapped. You didn’t even know who could have taken you, knocked out from behind after hearing a mysterious voice.
There wasn’t a single lead to go on except for the fact that you would pass out from time to time and wake up to food on the low coffee table, hot meals that helped to soothe your otherwise empty mind and body for however short a time it allowed. Sometimes there would be candy stuffed into your pockets as well, candy that you never ate and let pile up in one of the corners of the room.
The door at the top of the stairs leading down to where you were stayed locked at all times and no amount of banging and screaming and trying to break it down worked. All your efforts were for nothing, you didn’t even make a scratch in the wood.
Whoever put you down here seemed too hesitant to show you their identity. You never heard anyone outside the door and whenever you thought you did, you would wake up however many hours later with food and no recollection of what happened before then.
Until today, when the door silently swayed open and there was the barely there tap of footsteps coming down to greet you. Scurrying behind the couch and crouching down, you were scared to finally meet your captor.
“Hello there.” He wasn’t at all what you imagined. A young man with noticeable bags under his eyes, hair with a few strands that fell into his face and an otherwise unassuming and slim build. His voice was soft and gentle like he was talking to a baby as he roused them from slumber.
He immediately noticed the way you were trying to stay away from him, making sure to keep the couch between you as he rounded it. A sad sigh left his lips, a short sound like he was already getting frustrated with what you were doing.
“Darling, why don’t you sit down? There’s a lot to discuss.” Gesturing toward the couch, he took a seat at the end. It was then that you noticed the sheathed sword he had on his back as he took it off and laid it on the table.
Your mouth hadn’t been used to speak to anyone in a long time, tongue heavy and foreign in your mouth. Having given up screaming for help a long time ago, you didn’t speak to anyone unless to yourself, and even then it had devolved to being just thoughts in your head.
So you shook your head no, trying to keep your sudden anxious breathing down to a minimum. You’d waited for this day to finally see who took you but now that he was here in front of you, just his presence brought you great stress.
“Are you feeling okay?” The man asked again, brows furrowing slightly. The look of genuine concern on his face is what caused you to speak, spiking anger in your heart.
“No!” You shouted, surprising both him and yourself.
“Why don’t you sit down, hm?” He patted the cushion next to him and you shook your head harder.
“No, no. L-let me go!” Tears were already beginning to collect in your eyes, some spilling out the sides. Were they from anger at being held captive? From how concerned he looked when he was the one who put you there? Was it from fear of what he could do to you? Perhaps hopelessness at the whole situation was starting to set into places you tried so hard to keep it out of.
“You shouldn’t yell, (Y/N), it’s not good for your throat.”
“What the fuck would you know.” Now anger was truly taking residency inside your chest, making it tighten with each pounding beat of your heart. This man had the nerve to call you by your first name as if he was a friend, the syllables rolling so smoothly off his tongue it sounded as if he had said it a hundred times.
“Don’t swear at me.” He snapped, face immediately going hard as he stared you down. The look made a shiver go down your spine, the anger quickly making space for fear to come as well. He sighed again, glancing at his sword before looking at you again. “Now please, won’t you sit down?”
This time when he asked, you listened. Hovering on the very edge of the cushion farthest from him, your entire body was painfully stiff and unyielding even to your own breathing. It was different when you were standing and he was sitting, it felt like there was a level of control that you still had.
But this felt like you were just a pitiful little rabbit with their neck caught right in a lion's mouth.
“Oh darling don’t cry, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” His tone immediately shifted back to the soft and gentle one from earlier. Reaching his hand out, he stopped short of touching your arm when you curled yourself away. Putting his hand into a fist and tucking it back into his lap, he let out a sharp exhale. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t touch you, should I? You must be nervous now that I’m here.”
Sniffling and nodding were all you could do to answer him. Maybe there was a logical reason he might have taken you, there had to be a solution to whatever problem he had that involved you.
“It’s funny, I’d say. We’re soulmates and yet we’re still so nervous with each other.”
What?
“Why, it took me almost two weeks just to do this much! I finally stopped having Inumaki put you to sleep and-”
Huh?
“Before you know it this will all be a distant memory, we’ll be living together-”
“Wh-what the fuck.” Your voice was meek and trembling and there were fat tears streaming down your face that couldn’t be stopped now. Listening to this man go on and on about this life he’d made for the two of you all in his head was going to drive you insane.
“What was that?” He paused, a hopeful smile on his face. Glancing at him, you set your bleary eyes on the sword.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” As the swear left your lips, you flinched at his sudden inhale. “I-I don’t- I don’t know you. We’ve never met.” Burrowing your face in your hands was probably a bad idea, it was probably best to keep him in your line of sight, but you just couldn’t face him.
“Physically we’ve never met, but our hearts have. Our souls are connected, we just had to find each other.” There was a dip in the cushions and the ghost of his knee brushed yours.
“I don’t even know your name!” You croaked, further curling in on yourself by dropping your head to your knees. At this rate you were set to fall off the couch and onto the floor and you welcomed the reprieve not being next to him would bring.
“I’m Yuta. Yuta Okkotsu.” The first touch of his fingers on your shoulder made you yelp and jerk away, and you could imagine his hand hovering in the air. “But you can just call me your boyfriend, okay?”
“You’re fucking crazy.” Getting up from the couch the second time he touched you, you pressed yourself against the furthest wall next to a chess table with no pieces.
“Darling-”
“No, don’t fucking call me that!” Stamping your foot on the ground, you ignored his warning tone.
“(Y/N), I told you-”
“I don’t give a damn! I don’t want to be part of whatever bullshit you said earlier! Just- just let me go!” You were getting hysterical at this point, your whole body was hot and sweaty and your face was on fire. It was hard to hear anything over the ringing and pounding in your ears giving you headache.
Except you were able to hear the sound of a knife going through the air and feel it graze your cheek before sticking into the wall behind you. Everything fell away as you looked at the silver blade glinting in the harsh fluorescent light above you. There was just the tiniest hint of red at the edge, further proof that what you felt was real.
“I don’t mind you getting upset, I don’t mind you yelling and screaming at me. It’s a normal reaction to such a new situation.” Yuta’s low voice cut through the sudden silence and he stood up slowly, swaying slightly on his feet before planting them firmly on the ground. “But what I won’t have is such ugly words coming out of your mouth. That type of language doesn’t belong in a mouth as pretty as yours.”
He walked over to you slowly, building the tension with every step he took. It was then that you noticed, when he was only a foot away, that the silver of the knife matched the silver buttons on his shirt.
“If I have to remind you again, I promise I won’t miss.” Letting the sentence hang in the air, Yuta gave you a once over before grabbing onto your wrist and upper arm tightly and dragging you back to the couch. His strength was much more than you first assumed, there wasn’t a chance in hell that you could ever hope to wiggle out of his hold.
Sitting down with a huff, he pulled you onto his lap, forcing you to straddle him. Putting your hands on his shoulders, he settled his on your hips, making sure you were properly seated on his outstretched legs. Staring at the buttons on his shirt, you tried to avoid getting too close - keeping at least some semblance of an arms length between you and making sure your sex was far from his.
“This isn’t so bad, is it?” It was amazing how easily his mood shifted from one to the other. What had just been a quite heavy and intense moment was washed away by a little uptick of his lips and the tilt of his head to the side.
The things you wished to say were lodged in your mouth, waiting on the tip of your tongue for you to open up and let them fall out. But you couldn’t afford to keep testing his patience like this, not after what just happened.
“I suppose.” So you bite your tongue hard and say what you think will get you closer to getting out. Whatever it is he wants you can give him so long as it keeps him happy and lets you walk free.
“I knew you’d come around.” The smile on Yuta’s face takes proper form, pushing the apples of his cheeks up and wrinkling his eyes. One hand on your hips dares to venture further onto the small of your back. The warmth of his palm would be comforting in another setting.
“Y-yuta.” It almost makes you sick to say his name.
“Yes?” It makes his eyes light up.
“When will I get to leave?” Somewhere along the line you’d stopped crying and now only your eyes burned with the memory of the tears.
“When I know you’re ready, (Y/N).” He said softly, rubbing a hand on your back.
“Ready how?”
“I just want to make sure of a few things before we start our new life together. Is that okay?”
Did you really have a choice?
“What things?” You pushed, your fingers digging into his shoulders.
“Don’t worry about that right now. We’re together now and that’s all that matters.”
“Please tell me, I really want to know.”
“(Y/N).” He sang your name but it was anything but cheery. “I don’t want to talk about that right now, so drop it please.” Even though he was speaking his mouth barely moved, jaw locked tight in hardly hidden frustration.
“Okay.” You quickly let the subject go.
“Now darling…” Yuta brought a hand up to your face, trailing his fingers down your cheek softly. “Won’t you smile for me? You have such a pretty smile.”
The question of how he knew what your smile looked like cropped up in your head but you quickly stamped it out. Now wasn’t the time to worry about those things. Doing as he asked, you gave him your best smile.
“Absolutely gorgeous.” Skimming his thumb along your bottom lip, Yuta grasped your chin in his fingers. “I’ve been missing your smile so much lately, the recent missions I’ve been on have really put a damper on my mood.”
“I’m- I’m sorry to hear that.” Extending an olive branch wouldn’t hurt, right? It was clear he wanted your compliance in this scheme of his, desperate to have you love him. Your words shot straight into Yuta’s heart, making him bite his lip in to stop a shy giggle from coming out.
“It’s okay, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I have my darling with me.” A light blush went over his cheeks and Yuta let a sliver of the giggle out. “But there is something that would make me feel even better.”
“What’s that?” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he meant when his thumb touched your lip again.
“A kiss. Just one, I promise.” Licking his own lips, Yuta grabbed onto your jaw more firmly. “I swear I’ll be gentle.” Weighing your options, the inkling that it wouldn’t be ‘just one’ was in the back of your head. But as long as it stayed just kissing, maybe you’d be okay.
“One.” You repeated, allowing him to pull you in and close the gap between you. Kissing Yuta was something that, once again, would feel nice in any other circumstance. The texture of his lips wasn’t bad, his breath didn’t smell and he seemed to know what he was doing. Maybe in another world, you really could have been soulmates.
Breaking the first kiss to take a short inhale, Yuta immediately went in for another. The hand that was on your jaw slid up to the back of your head, holding it firmly in his calloused hand to make sure you didn’t move.
“Y-yuta!” Whining against his lips, you tried to push away from him.
“Just one, I know! I know but-” He mumbled back, the tip of his tongue daring to touch your pursed lips. “I can’t help it, I love you so much.” Crushing you against him, Yuta got his tongue into your mouth when you gasped for air. The urge to bite him arose and you almost did, but he pulled away right as you made the decision to.
“You said only one!” Giving his chest a hard push, you wiped the spit off your lips in disgust.
“I know, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Putting his hands on your back, Yuta grimaced at you. “I’m sorry darling, I just got excited! I’ve been dreaming of kissing you for so long, can you blame me for wanting more?”
You could blame him for that and a few other things. Wiping your mouth off again, you huffed angrily and avoided his sorry eyes.
“Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t lie to you anymore, I promise.” Yuta mumbled, already forcing you closer again. “Let me make it up to you.”
“Yuta, no.” Shaking your head, you put a hand over your mouth. The blush that was on Yuta’s cheeks got darker and a hand gripped the back of your neck.
“It may be a bit soon, but there are other places where I can kiss you.” Latching his lips onto the side of your neck, Yuta sucked on the skin lightly. He didn’t want to leave any unseemly marks on you and he wouldn’t dream of using his teeth.
“Yuta, get off.” Tugging on his collar, you squirmed at the feeling. “P-please, Yuta, get off.” You were getting more desperate by the moment, accelerated by his lips going down the column of your throat and to the collar of your top.
“I just want to kiss you, (Y/N).”
“No, no I don’t-” As his head nudged your chin up, you started to sweat and really yank at the fabric in your hands. “I don’t want you to kiss me there, Yuta!” Your voice reached a crescendo and the soft sound of his kisses stopped. Pulling away slowly, Yuta kept his head ducked down.
“I’m sorry (Y/N), I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Releasing the hold on your neck, Yuta smooths his hand down your back once more and threads his fingers together at the base of your spine.
Struggling to catch your breath, you force yourself to relax and let your head dip down, uncurling the fingers fisting the fabric of Yutas shirt and letting the blood naturally flow back to them.
As the silent seconds tick by, there’s something that comes into your consciousness that can’t be ignored. There’s already a good amount of heat built up between you and Yuta from the kisses you shared and the struggle that ensued.
But was he that much of a repressed man that just kissing your lips and neck had his cock standing at half attention? It seemed so, because when you made a face at it, he chuckled sheepishly.
“Sorry.” Yuta wasn’t sorry for what was happening. He didn’t feel remorse for any of this, especially not the thing that was causing you distress now. It was only natural for such a reaction to occur! You were squirming so much on his lap while he kissed you that it was like you were begging him to get hard.
Gently raking his nails up and down your back, Yuta stared hard at your lips. His gaze almost pierced right through you and he wasn’t subtle about wanting another kiss. Another slurry of apologies left Yuta’s lips as he once again grabbed the back of your head and forced you to kiss him. His words got mushed together, spoken against your lips as he tried to work his tongue into your mouth.
Whatever screams of protest you had didn’t matter in this moment, Yuta was a man on a mission and desperate to take what was his. He felt bad about pushing your boundaries and ruining the chance of growing an actual relationship any time soon, but those were things he was willing to sacrifice.
And after all, good boyfriends help their partners grow in uncomfortable situations.
Moaning in a high pitch when your crotch just barely grazed his, Yuta took advantage of the fact you were too busy trying to push him away to focus on your lower half. Grabbing you tightly at the hips, he dragged you forward and fully pushed you against the front of his pants.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He panted as he moved your bodies in tandem, getting bolder and bucking his hips like a sad teenager dry humping for the first time. This continued for a while and you were sure he was going to cum when he suddenly stopped and flopped his head back against the couch.
Fervently wiping off your lips, the urge to slap him came over you in a blinding rage, and you quickly swiped your hand down. Fully expecting to make contact with his face, you put all the strength you could into the motion only to be stopped by Yuta grabbing your wrist.
“Hitting isn’t very nice, (Y/N).” He sounded like a disappointed preschool teacher and when you raised your other hand to try and slap him he caught that one as well. Holding both your wrists tightly in his grasp, Yuta stared at your heaving chest as he thought about what to do.
“Let me go.” You said, trying to tug yourself free.
“Sshh, I’m thinking.” His eyes wouldn’t leave your chest and he licked his lips. “I think I know a better use for your hands.” Letting go of one of them, Yuta was quick to go to the button on his jeans and undo them.
Your fingers were touching his clothed cock before you had a chance to protest. The speed Yuta moved at was dizzying and you seemed to be about 10 seconds behind him, left to scramble and catch up on whatever he’d done.
“Just a little, please?” Yuta whined and gripped your fingers around his cock, digging into the fabric of his dark underwear and outlining the shape of his cock.
“Yuta…” Back were the tears, a light misting this time that blurred your vision. It was gross touching him, even as the scent of a minty body wash rolled off him. This was gross, the heat from his cock and the way the skin moved beneath your fingers all felt horribly off.
“Just be good for me, (Y/N), I know you can do that.” Giving your lips a quick peck, Yuta let out a shaky exhale. His hand was holding yours so tightly your hand pulsed, throbbing from lack of circulation.
Touching him through his underwear quickly became not enough for Yuta and he hurriedly pulled his cock out, shoving his underwear down his thighs a bit to make more room. Unbuttoning the large overshirt he had on, Yuta let out another exhale as the sweat evaporated off his body.
“Are you shy? Here, touch it like this.” Gingerly now he wrapped your hand around his shaft, squeezing with just enough pressure to make sure you were really holding it. You tried to avoid looking at it, staring at the tanktop Yuta had on underneath his other shirt.
Tilting your head up, he kissed you gently as he worked your hand up and down his cock, slowly loosening his hold the longer he went until he was able to let go and you were still stroking him.
“I love you so much.” He whispered, breaking the kiss to press his forehead against yours. “So, so much.” You whimpered in response, keeping your eyes tightly closed to avoid looking at him. “I’ve followed you for so long now, it feels amazing to finally be here with you.”
“Followed?” You didn’t want to know, you didn’t want to know, you didn’t-
“Six months. For six long, agonizing months I watched you from the shadows. Making sure you were safe, following you home from work to make sure no one messed with you, going into your home when you weren’t there to make sure you didn’t have the stove on-”
“Stop.” Sniffling back another wave of tears, you shook your head. “I-I can’t, please-”
“You’re right, I’m killing the mood.” Chuckling softly, Yuta kissed at the corner of your eye. Putting his hand back on yours, he sped up the pace and bucked his hips up. “A-and I really don’t want to do that.”
Kissing you again lest he start rambling again, Yuta moaned freely into your mouth. He had dreamed of this moment and so many others, staying up late at night just fantasizing about you touching him and finally being in his arms.
To say he was pent up was an understatement. Ever since he saw you, Yuta vowed not to touch himself, wanting you to be the only one that gave him such pleasure. It was a painful wait, but every time he saw you he knew it was worth it - and it was. He was already nearing an orgasm and it hadn’t even been that long.
“Oh darling-” His face started to screw up and Yuta broke the kiss, putting his head on your shoulder and making your hand go faster. “God I love you, (Y/N)! I lo-love-” He was babbling now, unable to focus on any full sentence coming out of his mouth. “Say it- tell me.”
“Say what?” You asked, struggling to keep your breathing even as you felt him get closer to the edge.
“You love me. Tell me you- tell me you love me, even if it’s not true yet.” Yuta was so close it hurt, but he refused to cum unless you said those words.
“I-I-” The desire to not say it was strong, keeping you from really forming the words. It wasn’t true right now and it would never be true. You would never love Yuta for as long as you lived.
“Say it, say it please!” Yuta wailed, his other hand gripping your waist so hard you were afraid he was going to break something. “I love you so much, just say it back!”
“I love you! Yuta, I love you, okay?” His hold was really starting to hurt and as soon as you said it, he let go. “I love you, I love you.” You repeated over and over until his body locked up and he came with an almost sobbing moan.
“Oh god, darling, I love you.” Yuta wasn’t crying but he might as well have been. His hand stopped for a brief moment before continuing, coating the back of his hand and your fingers in his cum. He kept going until he was able to squeeze the last drop of cum out of him, swiping at the tip with his thumb until the sensation began to hurt.
It was too quiet now in the room without Yuta’s frantic breathing and mindless babbles. Taking deep, gasping breaths, he forced himself to calm down and let go of your hand, letting his softening cock fall down against him.
“Here.” In his pocket he had a handkerchief and Yuta wiped your hand clean, diligently going between the digits and getting every last pearly drop. Throwing it onto the coffee table, Yuta collapsed back onto the couch with a heavy sigh.
His face was impossibly blissed out, a dopey smile stretching his face and showing off his teeth. He couldn’t be happier in this moment, the weight of your body on his lap a constant reminder that this was real life, the reality that he had been dreaming of and striving for for so long.
The door he had entered from creaked open much faster than when he entered, and there were thundering footsteps descending the stairs quickly. Yuta immediately perked up, hugging you close to his chest as he turned over his shoulder to look at who came in.
“This is a surprise.” There was a tall, lanky man standing at the bottom of the steps, his white hair sticking up in all directions. You wondered how he could see with a blindfold on and Yuta seemed happy to see him.
“Gojo, hello!” Rushing to fix his pants, Yuta helped you off his lap and stood up.
“I see you’ve finally made yourself acquainted.” Gojo grinned, his head flicking towards you for a moment.
“Mhmm! We uh- we’re having a great time getting to know each other.” Yuta flushed, trying to not make it obvious that his pants had just been undone and that you’d just been jerking him off.
“Well I hate to break up a happy couple, but there’s a visitor here for you. I think you’re going to have another mission soon.”
“Really, so soon? I just-” Glancing at you, Yuta bit his tongue. “I’ll be back soon.” Grabbing his sword and the knife still stuck in the wall, Yuta gave you one more look before walking past Gojo and up the stairs. As soon as the door clicked closed, you shot up from the couch and walked around to Gojo.
“Please, you have to help me, get me out of here!” Clasping your hands together in front of you, you pleaded as hard as you could. “H-he’s absolutely crazy, please help me!” Unable to look Gojo in the eye, you could only assume he was looking back at you from the way his head moved.
“That’s not very nice, now is it?” He questioned, quirking a brow and crossing his arms. “Yuta loves you so much, you shouldn’t say those things about him.”
“Sir please, you don’t understand!” Shaking your head hard, you let out a frustrated groan. “I don’t belong here! He kidnapped me, don’t you understand?!” It felt like you were the only sane one left in the world. Gojo chuckled and sighed, placing a large hand on the top of your head and leaning forward.
“Actually, Yuta wasn’t the one that actually kidnapped you.” A soft ‘no’ escaped your lips and Gojo laughed again, drinking in the sinking feeling in your gut and the way it twisted your face in agony. “It was me.”
#tw: noncon#tw: yandere#jujutsu kaisen#okkotsu yuta#yuta okkotsu x reader#jujutsu kaisen smut#jujutsu kaisen scenarios#jujutsu kaisen imagines#jujutsu kaisen fanfic
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Printessa (dark!Wanda x reader)
Tw// Kidnapping, death, gore, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts, Stockholm syndrome
Hunching your shoulders, you joined the crowd of people getting off the ship. Drops of rain stung your head and neck. Your hands, wrapped in insubstantial gloves, were clammy and wet with rain. Reaching the quay, you looked around eagerly, searching for any sign of James. It had been nearly two weeks since you'd spoken to a soul, having kept almost entirely to yourself on board the ship. You couldn't wait to have your brother to talk to again.
He wasn't there. The piles of luggage, large crates, boxes, and even piles of fruit lined the dock. People ran past you, screaming in French and trying to cram into the train station to get out of the rain. You tried your best to keep out of the way as you searched. James was nowhere to be seen.
"Miss y/l/n," the voice was deep and heavy with accent. The man moved to stand in front of you. He was tall, too tall for the top hat that sat elegantly on his head, rainwater collected in its brim. His large black coat swished at his feet. His face was oddly rectangular, he almost didn't look human when you combined that with his piercing eyes. They seemed to shine silver. You fought the urge to cringe away from him. He knew your name, maybe he knew your brother as well.
"Yes?" you answer tentatively.
"Your brother sent me. Come with me."
"Where is he?" You asked, running to keep up with the man. He didn't answer. Just wound through the crowd with purposeful speed. He turned suddenly around a large pile of boxes, then crashed to a halt in front of a large black car.
The door opened and a woman stepped out. Her reddish-brown hair framed her face.
"Y/n Y/l/n?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.
You nodded. The tall man helped the woman out of the car with the same speed and precision he had when he lead you to her. She popped an umbrella and handed it to the man, then turned to you.
"What a delight to make your acquaintance at last. I'm Wanda, your brother sent me to accompany you to London. It's quite a long ride to make alone."
You clutched your damp coat tighter around yourself.
"I don't understand. Where's Bucky, erm James? Why didn't he come himself?" Wanda smiled at you kindly,
"He got caught up at work, but he sent a note ahead for you." Wanda held out a piece of folded paper, already damp from the rain. You took it and scanned it. It was his handwriting, no doubt about it. He apologized for not being able to be there himself but gave his highest regards to Wanda, stating he trusted her to bring you to his house in London.
You swallowed hard and slipped the note into your pocket, turning to the older woman.
"Okay. Shall we get the porter to fetch my bag?"
"It's all taken care of, dove." She snapped her fingers at the tall man, who swung himself into the driver's seat.
"Come now, let's get you out of the rain." Wanda helped you into the car, then gracefully got in behind you.
"Settle in, Y/n, we've got a long ride ahead of us."
SIX WEEKS LATER
"Wanda would like to see you in her chambers Miss y/l/n." You set down the book you had been reading on the bedside table and turned, seeing the servant girl standing in the door, just as she did every day, always delivering the same message. In a moment you would ask her to wait in the corridor, and she would leave the room. Ten minutes later she’d return and say the same thing again. If you didn’t come obediently after that, the maid would grab you and drag you, kicking and screaming, down the stairs to the hot, stinking room where Wanda waited.
It had happened every day of the first week that you had been at the dark house, as you had come to call the place you were prisoner until eventually, you had realized that the screaming and kicking didn’t do much good. It just wasted your energy. Energy that was probably better saved for other things.
“One moment,” you said. The maid bobbed an awkward curtsy and went out of the room, shutting the door behind her. You rose to your feet, glancing around the small room that had been your prison cell for the last six weeks. It was small with cream coloured walls and it was sparsely decorated. A small nightstand with a lamp, the narrow brass bed where you slept, the windowsill where you kept your books- Wanda had realized you liked to read and began rewarding you with your favourites- and card table covered by a lace white cloth where you ate your meals. It had a small bathroom with only a toilet and a sink adorned with a small mirror.
You smoothed down your hair. Wanda preferred you not to look messy, but besides that, she seemed to enjoy your appearance no matter what you did, lucky for you since the sight of your reflection made you wince. There was the pale oval of your face dominated by hollow eyes—a shadowed face without colour in its cheeks or hope in its expression. You wore the unflattering black schoolmarmish dress that Wanda had given her once you'd arrived; your trunk had never followed you, despite her promises, and this was now the only piece of clothing you owned. You looked away quickly.
Your reflection hadn't always made you wince. James, or Bucky as you had called him when you were little, had always been the pretty sibling. The one who had naturally been accepted as the one who'd inherited your mother's good looks, but you'd never minded. You were perfectly content with your smooth hair and steady eyes. You may not have been beautiful in your own eyes, but the boarding school nuns had said if a woman carried herself correctly, she would always look regal.
You didn't look regal now though. You looked dirty and scared, like a human scarecrow. You wondered if Bucky would even recognize you if he saw you now.
At that thought, your heart seemed to shrink inside your chest. Bucky. He was the one you were doing this for, but sometimes you missed him so much it felt like you were swallowing broken glass. Without him, you were completely alone in the world. There was no one at all for you. No one in the world cared whether you lived or died. Sometimes the horror of that thought threatened to overwhelm you and plunge you down into a bottomless darkness from which there would be no return. If no one in the entire world cared about you, did you really exist at all?
The click of the lock cut off your thoughts abruptly, but instead of the servant girl, Wanda walked in.
"Printessa," the nickname was something you had grown used to. Wanda often spoke to you in Russian even though you barely understood it.
"Printessa," she clucked again, demanding your attention. You looked up at her, trying to hide the tears brimming in your eyes. She took your face in her hands and wiped away a tear.
"My dear sweet girl. Your brother may have abandoned you, but that does not mean you are alone."
"H-he didn't abandon me," you managed to choke. Wanda shook her head at you sadly,
"Oh, but he did. He wanted to sell you to the highest bidder." You stepped away from Wanda, shaking your head.
"No. No no no, you're lying." She gave you a sympathetic smile,
"I'm sorry little dove." You fell to your knees. What was left for you in the world? What was the point of continuing to live if there was no one to live for? Wanda knelt next to you.
"You aren't alone, Printessa." She pulled you to her and you let her, melting into her chest. She kissed your forehead.
"Bu-but Bucky..." you sobbed into her shoulder.
"He doesn't deserve you." It felt as though you had been stabbed. A sharp knife of betrayal placed by your brother.
"I-it hurts, Wanda. It hurts so much." She stroked your hair with her hand.
"Don't worry, Printessa. I'll make it better. I promise, no one will ever hurt you again."
Wanda was right too. No one would ever find you now that you had succumbed. Now that you were hers. All she had to do now was get you out of that house, away from the rotting corpses of everyone you had known.
#wanda x reader#wanda maximoff#wanda x you#dark#dark!wanda#dark!wanda maximoff#dark!bucky barnes#wanda x y/n#kidnapping#marvel#fanfic#the avengers
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finally free, they drive
2k
day 1 of @thiscastielhasflown and i's follower celebration
prompt: diners/roadtrip
Twenty-four years ago in Mankato, Minnesota, Dean killed a wendigo with a bottle of Jack and a lighter. He told Cas this, how the flames lit the inside of the cave and his dad had to drag him out because he suddenly couldn’t move, how he stayed silent for a week even though his dad begged him to speak.
Seventeen years ago, in Monte Vista, Colorado, Dean burned the bones of a malevolent spirit that sliced a gash through his chest before he could swing an iron crowbar through her foggy figure. As he and Cas passed by the cemetery where he and his dad had dug up her remains, he could almost picture himself standing between the tombstones, his dad tossing him the lighter. Do the honors.
In Evanston, Wyoming, he and Cas stopped to eat at a diner that looked vaguely familiar. As they sat down at a booth in the back, waitress handing them their menus, it hit him.
“Pretty sure Sam and I went through here before.” He couldn’t remember what they'd been hunting. “Years ago. After dad. You know. Passed.”
And Cas was silent a moment before replying, "I wish I’d known you then."
Then he declared he wanted the French onion soup from the specials of the day, like he hadn’t just spoken Dean's thoughts aloud in his uncanny way of knowing exactly what Dean wished for before Dean knew it himself.
Sometimes, while passing semi-trailer trucks on the freeway, when the setting sun glinted off the metal partition between west and east-headed traffic, he wondered what life would’ve been like if he knew Cas when he was twenty-six. When he was so lonely, his chest felt like a vise at night, and he slipped out of mildewed motel rooms to gasp in chilly night air. When he sought out crowded bars because accidental nudges and jostles were substitutes for caresses.
What might’ve changed if he'd known Cas when he was twenty-two, when Sam left for college and Dad left with a cutting, Don't look for me. If, confronted with an angel then, he would’ve been able to believe in good things, if he would've kissed him to not feel so alone.
The radio played Dolly Parton at a diner in Des Moines, a young couple sat at the counter, Cas stacked small containers of strawberry jelly and orange marmalade into a tower, and Dean imagined sitting across from him when he was nineteen. But then Cas looked up at him triumphantly over perfectly balanced preserves, and the what-if's dissolved in a growing warmth in his chest. Cas had been right after all. Good things did happen.
They drove without a destination now that they didn’t need one, changing course frequently, turning off exits to follow signs for roadside attractions, homestyle meals, and scenic overlooks.
Prairie and forest, coast and desert. He'd traveled these roads before, but he was paying attention now. Everything looked different with Cas sitting by his side, when every glance to his right revealed Cas already looking at him.
Re-heated diner leftovers and slices of pie for breakfast, crumbs on the bed, brown bags in the backseat, lunch breaks at rest stops, sitting on the hood to unwrap grease-stained burger wrappers, kept warm from the sun coming through the car’s windows.
Baby had been his home for years. He'd learned her nooks, her curves, how best to settle on the benchseat and tuck his jacket against the door to wake without a crick in his neck.
Moving into the bunker, he'd claimed a room, made a space for every item he owned: a hook for every weapon, a box for every photo, a hanger for every jacket. The concrete walls and sterile bathrooms meant order, control.
He used to be afraid that if he let one item fall out of place, he'd lose his grip on the delicate thread which held him together.
Crackling radio in Omaha, searching for a station. Cassette-tapes pulled out of a box that he hadn’t rifled through since a time when angels were still a myth, god didn’t exist, and death was always close, but not someone they knew by name. Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica. Then, out of Cas' pocket, his own “Top 13 Zepp Traxxs,” which he was surprised to learn Cas still kept, the words on the label faded.
“It was a gift,” Cas said, tucking the cassette into the deck and turning up the volume.
Busy diners where their food took ages to come to their table and Dean doodled on napkins to pass the time. Stuffed them into his pocket and forgot until he pulled them out while looking for change to pay for gas. A tiny Impala, a sun with dashes for rays, sigils, tiny flowers which Cas had added to the corners.
An argument on I-70 and sixty-two miles of tense silence. "If you don't speak to me, I can't understand," Cas said, voice quiet under the whir of tires on the road.
Dean changed lanes, watched a tarp flap over the bed of a pick-up truck. "I don't know how," he admitted.
Cas let out a breath that sounded like relief. "We'll learn."
He learned Cas liked brightly colored shirts labeled with the names of locations they visited, oversized because tight sleeves made him itch. He learned that the strangely named items on diner menus had backstories that owners behind counters were all too eager to share when Cas prompted them. He learned Cas hovered in doorways as if he was waiting to be invited inside, learned Cas knew every upbeat song playing over the radio in gas stations, had nightmares too, could stay silent for seventy miles then speak a thought aloud that left Dean stunned for seventy more.
He taught Cas how to pass the time on roads that stretched to the horizon. Name a movie for every letter of the alphabet. Name three items you'd take to a deserted island. Name everyone we've lost along the way—he didn't mean to begin talking about them, but they seemed closer than ever before on the open road, under a vast, cloudless sky. The wind whisked their names from their mouths, and Dean liked the idea of them still existing, here, around them.
A map open on his lap, Cas circled every town they stopped at, traced their route with a red pen. Folded and unfolded the page until the creases made the snaking lines nearly illegible. "I want to remember," he told Dean, and Dean traced the creases to feel their route under his finger. The steering wheel was warm under his palms, the diner floors sticky under his boots, the motel sheets stiff when he pulled them back from the headboard, and he told Cas, "Pinch me," in the dark of an eighty-dollar-a-night room. Cas touched his face and kissed him instead.
The rocky coast off of Oregon delighted Cas. He rolled up his pant legs, clutched Dean's hand as they walked unsteadily over the slippery rocks to step into the Pacific Ocean. The wind whipped his hair over his face and he pushed back the strands, grinning back at Dean. Sometimes at night, when Cas slept curled into him, Dean looked at the photo he'd taken of him and wished he had a place of their own to frame it.
Long phone calls to family and friends who told them to take their time, do not disturb signs hung on motel doorknobs, winding backroads and detours. He grew out his hair and told Cas he needed a cut. Cas twisted his fingers through the strands, and mused, "I like it." Dean kept it and noticed the strands curled at the ends.
A sign on the highway in Ohio read, "Hell is Real." He still had nightmares. As cornfields passed, Cas recounted seeing his soul for the first time, and sometimes Dean imagined he remembered the safety of Cas' wings as he pulled him out of the depths of Hades.
Cas got sick in Idaho, complained, voice echoing in the toilet bowl, "I told you that diner was not sanitary." Dean rubbed his back and told him he'd write a scathing review. In West Virginia, over a pile of spilled salt and stale fries that were probably nuked behind the counter, Cas told him he loved him. It wasn't for the first time, but his breath still caught in his throat.
They ate fried okra in Oklahoma City, beignets in New Orleans, and Dean requested Earth Angel on a jukebox in a vinyl and chrome diner in Wisconsin. Slid into the booth to press against Cas' side and watch him fill out postcards. Did you know dinosaurs once roamed where the Rockies now stand? Don't know when we'll be back. We bought new cassettes to add to the collection and I convinced Dean to let me choose the music. Still so much we haven't seen.
The magic fingers bed at the King's Court Motel cost four quarters for fifteen minutes—three more than when he was younger, he griped to Cas. The vibrating massage didn't seem quite as relaxing as he remembered, but maybe he was just used to more magical fingers—this he accompanied with an exaggerated wink which made Cas roll his eyes.
The Impala broke down on Route 66, and the asphalt radiated heat as he ducked under the hood. Cas hovered at his side and he realized he didn't have the tools to fix her.
They ate lunch at a mom-and-pop’s restaurant as they waited for the mechanic to finish, and Cas gave him the pickle from his sandwich. "I'm sorry I never asked you to stay," Dean told him and wished he'd said it earlier. "I never wanted you to leave."
Cas gave him a sad smile. "It's in the past." He tapped his foot against Dean's under the table, and Dean hooked his ankle with his foot.
Cas parted the curtains in every motel they slept in, tilted his face to the sun beaming through the windshield, urged Dean to stop for a cardboard sign reading Fresh Strawberries $2. Reruns of The Three Stooges made Dean laugh until he wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, had to catch his breath. This happiness didn't seem so fragile, this time. When they turned on the TV tomorrow night three hundred miles away, The Three Stooges would play into the morning, and when he told Cas he loved him, Cas would say it back.
Crossing over rippling water or curving through wooded land, he and Cas spoke a cabin in the woods, a house on the coast, a home. Dean's head filled with the future instead of the past. Every mile that passed under their tires brought them closer to this dream—or so he thought, until he stopped at a red light, and Cas took his hand, and he realized home sat beside him now.
In a diner in Arkansas, Cas read from a menu, plastic corners curling, and commented, "No matter where we go, every place serves an iceberg wedge salad."
Dean replied, "I think I'm ready to stop driving."
He didn't know where they'd park the Impala for good, but he pictured somewhere with windows, patches of sunlight on the floor. The details didn't matter so much, though, not so long as he had Cas.
"For you to me are the only one," he sang over Robert Plant, glancing at Cas as he turned up the radio, wind whistling through the open windows, road humming under their feet. Happiness, no more be sad, happiness, I'm glad.
#j&kcreatorfest#rambleoncas#shelikestv#user-brooke#userdori#userstarry#tearsofgrace#destiel fic#just some fluff#bc i love the idea of dean and cas taking a long roadtrip after s15#to bond and work thru stuff#<3#established dean/cas#expectingtofly writes
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The Island | KTH (Two)
Summary: You’re just two strangers waking up in a room on a lonely island where a company in the business of love has placed you. They believe that thanks to their in depth research you two are destined soulmates. What happens when your ‘soulmate’ and you want nothing to do with each other but falling in love is the only way to leave?
Pairing: Taehyung x Female reader
Genre: strangers to lovers, very slight enemies to lovers, soulmates au, roommate au, slow burn, fluff, smut, angst, slight crack, and drama.
Word Count: 10.4k
Warnings: swearing
Notes: Hi everyone! Here’s ch2 of the new story, hope you guys like it. let me know if you want to be added to the taglist, or send an ask if just want to chat!:)
Taglist: @ggukkieland @monvieesdaebak @707sblog @peacedreamer14 @dopedreamfireparty @everythingnamjoon @taebae19 @typicalgenzworld @mooniyooni
© taestefully-in-luv
Previous --- Next
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You don’t think you have ever been this bitter in your life—and you have a few things you can be bitter about. You could honestly make a list. But this? This is the ultimate bitterness and you hate it. It is driving you absolutely nuts! You’re alone with a man on an island…that’s lonely enough, right? Well, said man doesn’t even want to talk to you…that makes it ten—no, a million times more lonely. And you have every right to be bitter about that. So, yes maybe you are being a little petty when guys do interact.
It’s not like you are trying to purposely be petty, no, it’s not like that. You just can’t help your smart ass mouth or how childish you can become. Taehyung doesn’t seem to mind completely though, he just has his own smart ass comments or he becomes childish himself. It’s a horrible mix! Neither of you win! And you always want to have the last word but with Taehyung as your opponent it’s almost impossible.
“Maybe if you weren’t always following me, they would have sent us home by now.” Taehyung states bitterly as he puts his slice of bread on top of his now made sandwich.
“I’m not following you.” You roll your eyes, “I have to eat too.”
“You can’t wait until I’m done?”
“You look pretty done to me…” You point at his sandwich and he scoffs.
“I still have to eat it.”
“Eat in your room for all I care.”
You and Taehyung are getting along just fine…maybe not swimmingly but like, fine. It’s been a couple weeks and you have mostly stayed out of one another’s way but it’s moments like this that you end up interacting.
“I think I’ll eat at the table, thanks.” He grabs his sandwich and makes his way to the dining room table, sitting down with a thump. He aggressively picks up his sandwich and takes a bite while showing you a smart ass smile.
“Fantastic,” you state, “Me too.” You finish pouring milk into your cereal bowl and set it back inside the fridge. You dramatically make your way over to the table as well, giving him a wide grin as you sit down in front of him. You slightly slam your bowl down on the table, some milk dribbling over the edge of the bowl and Taehyung snarls.
“Great, you’re making a fucking mess.”
“If you went up and ate in you room you would have no idea about this mess.”
“But you still would have made this mess?”
“Ignorance is bliss, Taehyung.”
“You’re such a…” he stops, setting his lips into a firm line and you lean your head forward, clearly curious about what you are.
“Such a…?” you blink at him repeatedly and his lips curve upward into a charming smile.
“A fucking brat.” Taehyung grabs his sandwich again and takes an obnoxious bite while grinning and you give him your best annoyed eye roll.
Okay, maybe a little less than fine. This company has got it all wrong! All. Fucking. Wrong. You two are barely getting along! It’s just eye roll after eye roll, smart ass comment after smart ass comment. That’s it. That’s the relationship. Taehyung barely spares you a glance throughout the day. You do your own thing and he does his. You won’t lie though…you are curious what he gets up to…the last week he has left the house and doesn’t come back until sunset…and he comes back sweaty and exhausted.
You want to ask what he does, you do, you really do. But something tells you he wouldn’t even tell you even if you begged. And you’re not about to beg for this asshole.
So, you guys keep to yourselves save the occasional breakfast/lunch/dinner run in. While he does god knows what, you have also been trying to keep yourself busy. You have recently learned to cook a couple meals, nothing too fancy but you feel proud. You play a lot of games, read a lot of books and watch a lot of movies.
But to put it simple—You’re bored. Fucking bored. You miss human interaction. You hate to say it but your food run ins are mostly on purpose at this point…you just want someone to chit chat with for a few moments even if its unpleasant conversation—because hey! At least it’s conversation.
You and Taehyung eat in silence after your little convo, he and you share strange eye contact…you call it strange because it’s more like he glares at you and you glare at him. Your eyes never leave one another. You feel like he’s trying to cast like, black magic on you, maybe something where if he glares enough you will burst into flames. You assume this because that’s exactly what you’re doing.
“Stop looking at me.” Taehyung finishes his last bite, wiping his mouth clean with a napkin.
“You stop looking at me.” You fire back and he sighs, folding his arms across his chest.
“Why would I look at you?”
“Why would I look at you?” you mock, shoving a spoonful of cereal into your mouth and Taehyung squints at you.
“Oh yeah, real mature y/n.” His lips curl inward and he relaxes his arms at his sides as he stands from the table.
“I’m going to my room now.”
“You literally don’t have to announce everything you do.” You raise the bowl to your lips and drink back the leftover milk. You don’t want to look at Taehyung’s expression, you know you’re being ruder than usual. You’re just bitter. Yeah, pretty god damn bitter. You hear Taehyung release a long breath, and you’re starting to think he’s right, maybe you are a brat.
“Goodnight y/n.” he says much softer than you were expecting.
Yeah, maybe you are a brat.
~~~~~~
You’re snuggled up on the living room sofa, the TV plays some cartoon movie you found on the shelf (obviously one of his picks). The movie is on a low volume as you have a book in your hands. You just started it this morning and you have not put it down, it’s called The Roommate, a funny and sexy novel. Too bad your own roommate is nowhere near funny nor sexy. Okay, maybe he’s a little sexy. But his attitude is the opposite of sexy so therefore he isn’t sexy. Yeah, totally. Whatever you have to say to yourself, right? It’s evening now and you’re almost done with the book, you have hardly taken a break from reading. This reminds you of your last memories before the island…the night before you were…kidnapped. Yeah, kidnapped. That’s how you would describe it.
The night before you were like this…snuggled on your sofa in your parent’s house…
“All I’m saying is it doesn’t seem like you’re trying that hard to—”
“Honey, relax.” Your dad cuts in. Your mom is going on and on again about how you still haven’t found another job.
“Relax? Our daughter suddenly left her job and moved back to town!” Your mother throws her hands up, “And she won’t even tell us why!”
You sit here, your knees to your chest as you read your book. You try your best to ignore your mother…you two have rarely ever seen eye to eye. If you told her why you “quit” your previous job and why you had to move back home she would probably find a way to blame you.
“She will tell us when she’s ready.” You hear your dad whisper to your mother. “Don’t push her, you know that makes it worse…”
You can’t help but nibble on your lips, starting to feel the anxiety build. You try to focus on the words on the pages in front of you but they’re beginning to become blurred.
“Oh what is she 5 years old? You treat her like a child! She’s an adult she can handle a little confrontation.”
Your eyes lose focus on the words in front of you, instead all you see is blurred vision thanks to the tears that try to visit.
“I’ll be going to sleep now.” You announce, closing your book and setting it on the end table next to the sofa. “Goodnight.” You grab your phone and stand from your place on the couch. Thankfully, your dad offers a soft ‘goodnight sweetie’ and your mom just nods her head.
You make your way down the hall to your bedroom, opening and closing the door quickly. You lean back on the bedroom door and sigh out, blinking away any tears that tried to appear. You won’t cry. Not again. You feel your phone buzz in your hand, startling you. You unlock your phone to see who messaged you when you see it lit up with a notification from him. You feel your whole world collapsing. Why the fuck is he messaging you?
You stare at your books pages, in deep thought as you recall your last night before the island. You don’t want to remember honestly. You shake your head, ridding yourself of your thoughts when the side door opens in the kitchen. It’s Taehyung. He’s sweaty and clearly exhausted again…what the hell does he do outside for so many hours?
“Hi.” You say, looking up at him from your book. Wait. Why did you greet him?
“Hi…?” Taehyung is just as surprised as you are, with his wide eyes and open mouth. He scrunches his brows together as he eyes you. He gives you a small wave, confusion written all over his face as he begins walking through the entry way and heading upstairs.
You sit here embarrassed as hell. Why did you say hi? And why was your voice so high pitched? You turn red, redder than you probably can imagine. You drop your face in your book and groan, wishing you didn’t say something as simple as ‘hi’.
You have to remind yourself you two aren’t talking. That your roommate here at Casa de la Trapped, isn’t looking to become buddy buddy with you. Which sucks because you are human, you know, a social creature. What’s the harm in becoming friends? Sure you two banter, but you can tell he isn’t a bad guy. You just don’t get any bad vibes from him, in fact sometimes it seems like he’s forcing himself to be closed off.
You try to go back to your book when you hear a faint yelp from upstairs. Did Taehyung just kind of…scream? You sit here with your book, your ears in the direction of the stairs trying to listen for any indication that something is wrong. But it’s silent. You decide to go back to your book when you hear the noise of Taehyung running down the stairs. He is out of breath by the time he reaches you, standing next to the sofa.
You quite literally choke on your spit when you see him. This boy just don’t give a damn, huh? He’s standing here, trying his best to breathe evenly with nothing but a dark red towel hanging lowly around his hips. You gulp at the sight of him. You knew he probably had a nice body but you were not expecting this. His strong build surprises you, his soft, caramel skin glows even in this lighting and his muscles flex with every movement.
“Uh,” you begin, setting your book down again, “Can I help you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” Taehyung rushes to say, he sounds much different than usual. His voice is usually calm and deep but right now it’s panicked like a child.
“With what?”
“There’s a spider in the shower, I need you to take care of it.”
“You want me to kill a spider for you?”
“Kill?” Taehyung brings a hand to his chest, a shocked expression on his face. “All life is precious, y/n.” he pouts. “Just get it and take it outside.”
You tilt your head and try not to laugh as you look at him…he looks bothered, that’s for sure. But god, what a baby. Can’t even take care of a small bug by himself.
“Fine. Show me where it’s at.” You rise from the couch, pointing at the direction of the stairs.
“Yes, yes. I’ll lead the way!” Taehyung walks quickly. He makes his way upstairs with you following right behind him. He leads you into the bathroom when he brings back the shower curtain to show you the spider.
“Well?” you ask expectantly. “Where is it?”
Taehyung turns to face you, his face as white as a ghost.
“It was just here, I swear.”
You roll your eyes as you fight back a grin.
“Sure, Taehyung. Are you sure you weren’t just trying to show off your body?” you shamelessly drag your eyes down his body and he goes red.
“W-Why—why would I do that?” he murmurs out, “Plus, I am sure you’ve already imagined what I look like without clothes.” He recovers quickly, a smirk making its way on his face.
“Not likely.” You say nonchalantly. “Well, if there’s no bug—”
“Wait! You don’t expect me to use this shower still, do you?” He looks panicked again, like a small child.
“Uh, yes?”
“The spider could be lurking anywhere! Let me use your shower.” He suggests, loving his own idea. You on the other hand, do not love his idea.
“Nah.”
“Nah?”
“Yeah, nah.”
“y/n…” He whines, “Please. I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” You raise a brow, a small smirk creeping on your face. “Okay, have breakfast with me tomorrow. And you actually have to talk to me.”
“y/n…” he warns. “You know we shouldn’t do that.”
“And I want 5 facts about you.” You stand your ground, your hands on your hips as you speak. “And I’ll give you 3 about me.”
“How is that even fair?”
“I’m the rule maker here, Taehyung.” You narrow your eyes at him, “Get used to it.”
Taehyung walks closer to you, his breaths reaching your skin.
“Oh y/n.” Taehyung’s voice goes low, “I definitely make the rules.” There’s a moment of strange tension as he stares down at you…then he’s speaking again. “If you only give 3 then I only give 3. That’s the deal.”
You stare up into his dark eyes and you struggle to swallow your own spit, he might only have a few inches over you but maybe they are a little intimidating.
“F-Fine. Use my shower.” You step out of his way and gesture towards your room. “See you at breakfast tomorrow.” You wink.
Taehyung rolls his eyes but this time it almost seemed playful and not overly dramatic. You don’t want to get your hopes up but when he’s not being closed off and frankly, rude, he’s really not that bad.
“Don’t get used to these types of deals.” Taehyung throws over his shoulder as he walks to your room. “Basically, don’t get used to me.” He says a little quieter, but you still hear him and you frown.
“Like, I would want to!” you yell out.
Taehyung does not want to leave this shower, ever. He’s almost kind of bitter that he let you have this room! You get the awesome rain shower and he’s stuck with some plain, basic shower head in the guest bathroom. He eyes all the different bottles that sit on the shelves inside the shower, these must be all the bottles you use in your real life, he thinks. He grabs the shampoo and opens it to sniff it. He’s never gotten close enough to you that he can smell your hair but man, this is what you smell like? Delicious. He squirts a generous amount of the shampoo in his palm with an evil glint in his eye and massages it into his scalp. Whoops, did he just use your shampoo? Oh well. He rinses his hair out and uses your conditioner as well, but he doesn’t stop there. He uses your body wash too! It smells divine and its making his skin so soft.
Taehyung just knows that him using your shit would bother you, he just gets that vibe. And he’s not sure why but riling you up is quite fun. Taehyung turns the water off and grabs his towel and starts drying off…he steps out on to the shower mat and eyes the room as he dries himself. He sees you organized all your lotions and whatever other products onto the sinks counter top, he sees how empty “his side” of the sink is. It previously held all his belongings that he had moved into his bathroom—the guest bathroom.
“Are you almost done in there?” He hears you knocking on the door. “I want to take a shower before bed!”
“Yeah, yeah.” He whispers out, “Hold on!”
Taehyung wraps the towel around his hips again and goes towards the bathroom door, he stops to check himself out in the mirror before opening the door.
“I’m all done, cry baby.” He rolls his eyes and you secretly hope they get stuck like that for how much he does it.
“Me, the cry baby? You wouldn’t even use your own show—”
“—anyway, bathroom is all yours.” He breezes past you, but stops before exiting the bedroom. “Um…” he turns around, “See you in the morning.” And then he’s walking out.
~~~~~~
You made eggs, bacon, pancakes, and have fresh fruit in a bowl all set up on the dining room table. For some reason you are too nervous to call out for Taehyung and let him know that breakfast is ready…you know, 30 minutes ago. You just patiently wait, sitting here tapping your fingers against the wooden table.
Another 20 minutes pass by when you hear faint footsteps from upstairs…he must now just be getting up, you think. You rush to reheat up some of the food before he makes his way downstairs. You set the bacon, eggs and pancakes back down on the table and make yourself busy like you haven’t just been waiting for almost an hour.
Taehyung finally walks through the kitchen, his face evident with sleep and his hair sticking out in all directions. He blinks at you lazily before his eyes widen in panic.
“B-Breakfast. I forgot—”
“It’s okay, I just finished.” You cut him off with a strained smile. “I see you like to sleep in.”
“Most days, yeah. Because I go to bed so late.” He admits sheepishly. Then he smirks. “Can that be fact number 1?”
“I’ll allow it.”
“Oh, you’ll allow it? How gracious of you.” Taehyung takes a seat at the dining room table and he starts with grabbing two pancakes from the pile and setting them down on his plate.
“You cooked all of this?” He asks, surprised.
“No, the other people who live here did it.” You deadpan.
“Always a smart ass.” He says while pouring syrup all over his pancakes, “Aren’t you going to sit down?”
“Right…” you make your way to the table and take a seat in front of him. You start with some pancakes as well, waiting for him to finish with the syrup so you can pour your own generous amount. He notices you waiting, his eyes finding yours and the corner of his mouth twitches into a sort of half smile. He slides the syrup across the table and your hand goes out to grab it, your fingers touching his.
“S-Sorry.”
“Sorry.”
You both get out at the same time. You stare at one another for another few seconds before Taehyung rolls his eyes,
“Big deal, our fingers touched. No need to get weird.” He chuckles, and you feel your heart feel all fucking weird.
“Anyway,” you clear your throat, “What’s fact number 2?”
Taehyung takes a bite of his pancakes and moans into the syrupy mess, his eyes finding yours again.
“Oh? You’re greedy for information.”
“I’m a little greedy.” You admit, “So?”
“Fact number 2…I’m almost 5’11.”
“So you’re 5’10. Just say you’re 5’10.”
“But I’m not just 5’10. Because I am almost 5’11.” He groans, “Can’t you just humor me here?”
“Okay Mister 5’11.” You laugh, “My fact number 2 is that I have one older sister.”
Taehyung nods his head, remembering the picture of you and some other girl that you looks a lot like you.
“I see.” He swallows his food, “So you’re the baby of your family?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” He smirks at you, “You have that baby of the family vibe.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” you give him a curious look and he looks at you like you can’t be serious.
“Because you’re…you know,” he gestures towards you with a knowing look and you scoff.
“No, I don’t know.”
“Brat.” He states simply. “Because you���re a brat.”
“Whatever.” You grab for some eggs and bacon, and Taehyung does the same.
“So, what’s fact number 3?” you ask, piling some eggs onto your plate.
“Already want the last fact? We are barely just eating.” Taehyung points out. He shovels some eggs onto his own plate once you are done, and sticks a piece of bacon into his mouth.
“Greedy, remember?” you remind him with a smirk. “So?”
“I’m sure you already gathered this but…I’m an aspiring musician.”
“I figured you were…that, or an artist.”
“Art is just a really fun hobby for me.” He admits. He loves to paint but singing and making music is where his true passion lies.
“What’s your last fact?” he stuffs his face with another piece of bacon, you watch him as he eats the crispy meat.
“Umm…” you look up at the ceiling as you think, “I used to think I looked bad in sun glasses but then I got over that…so now I buy any cool, funky sunglasses I can find.”
“That’s a really random fact.” Taehyung chuckles, “I like cool, funky sunglasses too.”
“Wow, are you saying we actually have something in common?” you tease, bringing a forkful of eggs to your mouth.
“Don’t get used to it.” He says dryly. “Since we said all of our facts, I guess I can go now.”
“You’re not going to finish your food? Taehyung…” you place your hands on the table. “They’re not going to assume just because we are talking that we are falling in love for Christ’s sake.”
“Don’t want to give them any ideas.” Taehyung says a bit harshly. Your face falls into a frown and you stand from the table.
“You can finish your food. I’ll leave.”
Taehyung blinks up at you and opens his mouth to say something but he remains quiet. You shake your head at him and walk off into the living room. If he wants to continue this “Little to no interaction” thing then so be it!
Taehyung sits here with his appetite lost. He holds his fork in his hand out in front of him and attempts to cut into his pancakes when he just gives up. He drops the fork onto the table and sighs out.
“y/n…” he calls out but you ignore him. “y/n!”
“Don’t talk to me.” You say with as much attitude you can muster and Taehyung silently mocks your words. He grabs his fork and aggressively cuts into his pancakes and takes a bite.
“Fine by me!” He yells out with his mouth full.
“You’re so annoying!” You groan and Taehyung silently mocks your words again but you can’t see him.
“And you’re a brat!” He says stuffing his mouth with another slice of pancake.
Great. For a moment there you thought you two could almost get along but he is set on this bullshit of not talking. You walk to the shelves in the living room and choose a new book, another romance novel. You take a seat on the couch, and curl up into a blanket. Taehyung can do whatever he wants! You’re going to enjoy your book and forget all about his annoying ass.
~~~~~~
Taehyung is finally dressed into some shorts and a sleeveless shirt as he makes his way out of the house. He is going to continue working on his little…project. You are probably wondering what he gets up to everyday, he thinks.
He is working on building a raft. He wants to escape this island but he doesn’t know how to build a fucking raft and this company didn’t necessarily give him the tools to escape. But he’s figuring it out. He is quite literally breaking tree branches and going from there. But it is taking time but apparently he has all the time in the world. 3 months? 6 months? A year or even more? He releases a long breath as he walks the path to where his “raft” is. If anything it’s just nice to get out of the house and breathe the island air. This whole thing kind of just gives him something to do and he knows this may not really work but he’s got to try. He’s a man of action after all.
He finally sees his “raft” chilling against a tree close to the beach and he walks up to it. Already feeling frustrated just looking at the pathetic thing. He has to make it big enough for two people…he isn’t an asshole, he doesn’t plan on escaping by himself, leaving you here.
He goes to his knees and holds it up, he feels his frustrations bubble over and he throws it to the ground. How the hell is he supposed to escape with this shitty thing?
He slams his eyes shut and sinks into the sand. He wants to go home. Things aren’t easy here…he can’t sleep. He is surprised he’s eating as much as he is, and he has mostly bad interactions with you. And he knows that it’s his fault. But he knows this is for the best but he can tell it’s not what you want. To be honest, this is actually really hard for him. He tries to come off as cold and closed off so you won’t take an interest in him but he’s dying! He wants to talk to you too! He is probably one of the most social of his friends! He has a lot of friends and he loves talking and hanging with them.
Taehyung feels his eyes become wet with hot tears and he grits he teeth together in irritation. He wishes he was home with his friends, with his family, with the girl he likes. He misses everyone so bad. He knows the night you two were “kidnapped” was the last day of the year, meaning they started this experiment January 1. He recalls his last few nights before the island…it was his birthday.
“No! I want him to open my present first!” Jimin whines and Taehyung can’t help the wide grin that adorns his face.
They’re all out at a bar, the music is loud and the alcohol is nonstop. Taehyung is surrounded by his closest friends, plus Hana—the girl Taehyung has been crushing on for the last year. She brought along a couple of her friends to this night out of celebration.
“He can open whoever’s he wants first…which is mine, right?” Jungkook hands Taehyung a box and Taehyung chuckles.
“Just for that, your two are going last.” Taehyung says, “How about I open Namjoon’s first since he planned this night?”
Namjoon gives the other two boys a cocky grin as he hands Taehyung a bag.
“Can I go after Namjoon?” Hana’s sweet voice is heard over the blaring music. She looks absolutely gorgeous tonight, her pink dress doing her a million favors. Not that she needs the favors, she’s always gorgeous.
“Y-Yeah.” Taehyung blushes, “But you didn’t have to get me anything…”
“Really? You practically yelled at us when you thought we weren’t getting you anything.” Jimin playfully comments.
“Shut up dude.” Taehyung grits out, “Anyway, let’s see what Joonie got me.”
The night went on, the music got louder, the alcohol kept on coming. Taehyung is so happy. Everything is perfect. He doesn’t think anything can ruin his good mood.
“Want to dance with me?” Hana’s words leave her pretty, pink lips and Taehyung finds himself nodding yes before he can even register what she said. He would literally do anything she wanted.
“Then come.” She waves him over with her small, manicured hand.
Hana and Taehyung end up on the dance floor for quite some time…he’s too drunk to be nervous like he usually is. His large hands grip at her tiny waist as he brings her in closer, she lightly moans when she feels his hard body against her.
“We should talk.” Hana breathes out, “About us.”
Taehyung’s eyes go wide, panic starting to make its way into his body.
“What about us?”
Hana chuckles lightly, she goes on her tip toes and places a soft, sweet kiss against Taehyung’s lips.
“Nothing bad, I promise.” She takes his hand and leads him outside the bar, out to a little patio. Taehyung has a huge smile on his face as he follows her outside…it’s not the first time they’ve kissed but he still can’t get used to it.
“You like me right?” she asks, pointing to herself. She’s got that sweet smile and Taehyung feels his nerves spiking.
“Yes.” He finally breathes out.
“Good. Because I like you too.” She admits, she closes her eyes for a moment, Taehyung spots the golden eye shadow that is painted over her lids. She opens her eyes again and he spots a sadness in them.
“But…” she begins and Taehyung feels his smile fade.
“But what?”
“No…it’s nothing.” She clears her throat, “You should take me on a date. And soon.” She giggles. Taehyung feels his smile grow and he nods his head.
“I would love to. We can—”
“Hey Tae!” Hobi’s voice cuts him off, “Yoongi says he just got off work and is on his way!!” He cheers happily. Taehyung turns to face Hobi and gives him a thumbs up before he’s spinning back around to Hana.
“Let’s go inside. We can discuss more on our date.” She smiles, taking his hand again.
“Sure.” Taehyung grins, his stomach doing a million flips. “Let’s go!”
Taehyung feels a few tears escape his closed eye lids as he sits in the sand. It’s too early to be in this state, Taehyung thinks. But alas, he can’t help it. He misses his life. This island put his life on complete hold. What if he’s stuck here for a year? Would Hana wait for him? It’s not like he’s expecting her to…but he thinks he would wait for her.
He stands to his feet, wiping his face of any leftover tears and he begins working for the day. He finds new trees with branches that would be easy to cut down and he resumes his little project. Hours and Hours go by and Taehyung is sitting on the beach’s sand and staring out at the water. He’s tired, he’s sweaty and he’s hungry.
Taehyung starts making his way back to the house now that the sun is setting. It’s pretty orange glow sets a relaxing mood and Taehyung feels grateful. He walks up to the side door that leads to the kitchen and watches you from the window. You look calm as usual and he feels himself feeling frustrated all over again…how are you so calm? He was having a meltdown on the beach earlier and here you are cooking dinner with a small smile on your face. He doesn’t understand you. Does this whole situation not bother you? No…he knows it has to bother you but how are you able to be so relaxed about it?
He opens the door and walks inside, startling you. You bring a hand to your heart when you see him but then visibly relax after a moment or two.
“You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He mumbles lamely. And then he’s walking up the stairs leaving you to your lonesome.
~~~~~
Month: 1
It’s been a month. A whole month! It seems Taehyung has gotten even more distant with you…no major interactions since you two had breakfast together. He keeps his comments to you brief in passing and he barely makes eye contact. You’re fed up. You’re lonely. You need interaction and you can’t always cater to him! He can suck it up for once and do what you want.
Feeling brave, you give yourself a pep talk in your bathroom mirror. That’s right, you are going to just go for it! You are going to demand that he hang out with you. You fix your hair in the mirror and nod to yourself. Yeah, you got this. You exit your room and stroll down the hall to his bedroom, once you are standing in front of it you lean your head against the door, your ear lying flat against it as you try to listen for him. The room sounds pretty quiet…maybe he’s sleeping? No, no. You’re just trying to find an excuse not to do this, aren’t you? Ugh, pathetic.
You raise your fist up and begin knocking on his door. You’re left with silence…you’re being ignored. So you knock again. And again. And ag—
“What?!” Taehyung swings open the door, revealing that he was indeed maybe sleeping. His hair is doing that funny thing where it sticks out in every direction and his eyes are barely open.
“This better be important.” He huffs out.
Suddenly, you feel a wave of shyness wash over you. You feel kind of bad you interrupted his nap…but you got to stay strong.
“Please hang out with me.” You blurt out.
“Huh?” Taehyung looks at you as if you’re crazy. “Not happening.” He quickly says.
“Just play a game with me, or maybe we could watch that movie…”
“I don’t want to do anything with you.” He raises his voice just the slightest and you flinch.
“Yeah? You think I want to do things with you? Like you specifically? Hell no! But I just want to do something damn it!” you flail your arms up, and breathe out heavily. “I am so fucking tired of always being by myself, it’s literally driving me insane.” You admit, you look off to the side as tears threaten to wet your eyes. “I am alone every single day. It has been a month, Taehyung? Did you know that? You’ve left me lonely for an entire month! I am going fucking crazy!” you bring your hands to your hips, “I have tried learning to cook all these god damn recipes as a way to distract myself but dude, I don’t even like cooking. I read all day too…I have all these imaginary book friends and that’s where I meet my social needs, isn’t that insane? Oh my god, I am going insane. And you?! How are you okay?!”
Taehyung is left speechless at your rant. He realizes that this loneliness is really getting to you…he admits he isn’t much better. But he kind of likes that you’re beginning to spiral. Is that mean?
“W-What game?” he juts out his bottom lip as his eyes slide to the side.
You stare at him with wide eyes as your chest heaves. You screw your eyes closed, and bring a hand to your head.
“What game?” you open your eyes to look at him, “That’s all you have to say?”
“What game y/n?”
You glare at him, huffing out deep breaths trying to calm yourself.
“Mortal Kombat.” You spit out, “I really want to kick your ass.”
Your fingers work the buttons on the controller as you test out every god damn combo you can…and damn it is working because you are on fire.
“You could have warned me that you actually know how to play…” Taehyung pouts.
“You should have just taken my word for it, you loser.” You continue to kick his ass in the game, you are pretty good at pretending his character is actually him.
“One more game, y/n.” Taehyung begs, “I will beat you!”
“You haven’t won even one match, Taehyung. Just admit you suck.” You chuckle darkly.
You press a few more buttons until you see the word ‘Fatality’ grace your screen, you stand up in excitement yelling out your victory, you laugh like a god damn maniac and he can’t help but chuckle. Taehyung throws his controller to the ground and pouts dramatically.
“I know what will make you feel better.” You turn to face him, calming down.
“Nothing will heal this wound, y/n.” He states, throwing the sofa’s designated blanket over his body.
“How about we watch that movie you like so much?” you offer with a smile but Taehyung goes stiff at your question.
“I think we should just call it for the day…” he looks awkwardly to the side and you slump your shoulders.
“Oh…okay.”
“Listen…it’s not you—”
“Just stop.” You hold your hand up, “You want nothing to do with me, I get it.”
“y/n…” Taehyung looks down at his hands…he does feel bad. It’s not like he didn’t have fun with you just now. He just wishes this was all different.
“I’ll be in my room—”
“Teach me how to make one of the recipes you learned.” He cuts in.
“What?” you ask, completely off guard. “What?” you repeat.
“I said,” Taehyung breathes out, “Teach me how to make one of the recipes you learned.” He’s not just trying to be nice…he’s also, you know, hungry.
You hate yourself because you light up like the sun almost immediately. You wish you were strong and you could tell him to fuck off but instead you become the god damn sun from how brightly you shine.
“Really?” you ask with the most hopeful eyes.
“Yeah.” Taehyung laughs, “Really.”
“You mean…you want to actually spend time with me?” you ask bluntly.
“I guess you can put it that way if it makes you feel better.” Taehyung rolls his eyes, but it’s in that playful way you only ever get to see so often.
“It does make me feel better actually.”
“Well, then.” He stands up and motions his hand towards the kitchen. “Shall we?”
“Are you going to be annoying the whole time?” you ask, “Or will you be serious about learning?”
“God, woman.” He rolls his eyes again. “I hope I annoy the shit out of you.”
“Oh, you already do.” You gesture for him to go to the kitchen first.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Somehow I believe you.” This time it’s your turn for the dramatic eye roll. “Now come on.”
“Oh my god. You aren’t even listening!” you yell out over Taehyung’s nonstop humming and whistling.
“I truly believe cooking is like an art, you know?” he continues to whistle some made up tune, “These instructions are like…a guide but you can kind of do what you…” he makes a fist with his hand and shakes it in front of his face. “… you want.” He finishes. “Yeah, these are more like suggestions.”
“Can we please just follow the directions.” You deadpan. “I want this to taste the way it’s supposed to!”
“You’re no fun.” Taehyung says nonchalantly. “Cooking should be fun.”
“Cooking is so we can eat.”
“These dumplings are going to taste fine, y/n.” He assures you with a grin.
“You say that but…” you look at his pile of failed dumplings. “But…” you show him with your hand the absolute mess he’s made.
“Your point?” He raises a single brow and you scoff. There’s no way he is serious, absolutely no way.
You notice Taehyung is staring at you, his eyes look everywhere but your eyes and you start to feel nervous under his gaze. He has one of those dark, intense gazes that you just can’t shake off your mind.
“What?” you finally ask. “Something on my face?” you joke.
“Actually, yes.” He blurts out. “So much flour.”
“Oh.” You start to turn red with embarrassment, “Where? Here?” you point to various spots on your face with a towel and he just shakes his head.
“No, there.” He points but you still miss it.
“Just clean it off me!”
“You want me to touch you?”
“Yes, please touch me.” Then your eyes expand in size. “Wait, that sounds wrong.”
“You have a dirty mind, y/n.” Taehyung shakes his head again, “You’re just all kinds of dirty.”
“Oh my god, stop.” You look at him with your flustered as hell face, your face is probably redder than ever and it feels so fucking hot.
“Here.” Taehyung grabs the towel from your hands and begins wiping your face clean. “Your face isn’t dirty anymore.” He pulls his hand back, “But your mind still is, huh?”
“Will you just shut up?”
“Will you just shut up?” he mocks how you usually would and you roll your eyes. Hard.
“Doesn’t feel good does it?” He teases, “Getting a taste of your own medicine.”
“Can we please just focus on this recipe?”
“Fine.” He breathes out, “Except I will ignore this recipe completely and do what I think my ancestors want me to do. They whisper in my ear that these need more garlic.”
“You are so annoying.”
“You are so annoying.”
“Okay, I get it, Taehyung.”
You reach behind you and untie your apron and place it on its hook by the pantry. You walk over to the dining room table and take a seat.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Taehyung quirks a brow as you rest your head on the table.
“Resting. Letting you do all the work. You can cook from now on. I give up.”
Taehyung shakes his pointer finger at you and walks your way.
“Oh no, no, no.” he grabs on to your arm and begins dragging you up. “This was your idea so we are cooking together.”
“Uh, actually this was your idea.”
“Oh.” Taehyung’s mouth hangs open as he realizes how true that is. “Not one of my better ideas…” he admits.
“Oh? Do you usually have good ideas?” You make your snarky comment and Taehyung let’s go of your arm.
“Usually the best.” He says, a cocky smile making its way on his stupidly handsome face.
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Well, you don’t know me.”
“Oh? And whose fault is that?” You jab at him and he visibly deflates.
“You know 3 things about me actually.” He gives you a half smile.
“All I remember is that you’re almost 5’11.”
“Well, that one was the most important. So your head is in the right place.”
Taehyung doesn’t realize it because you didn’t say anything but his face is full of flour as well. You stare up at him and start to laugh. Taehyung looks at you, confused. An adorable pout forms on his lips as he begs you to tell him what’s so funny.
“Your face.” You point at him and his fingers go to touch his skin.
“Clean me.” He commands. “I cleaned you, it’s only fair.” He points out.
You nod your head and walk towards the counter to grab the towel, Taehyung follows closely behind you. You turn around quickly and your chest bumps into his.
“Oh sorry.” He says while scratching the back of his neck, “I got too close.”
You nod lamely, but neither of you step back. Maybe expecting the other to do it? You decide to ignore that and you reach up to clean his face. He has flour everywhere. No joke. This dude is messy. You kind of laugh as you wipe his face clean, he can’t help but laugh too. His breath mingling with yours as you two giggle.
“We are kind of a mess.” He admits, his tone is soft—almost shy. You slow down the patting on his skin and you gaze into his eyes for a moment. They’re dark. They’re powerful. You feel yourself getting lost in the moment when Taehyung clears his throat and you bring your hand back down.
“There.” You say, “All done.”
“Should we finish cooking?” Taehyung grins down at you.
“I don’t know, what do your ancestors say?”
“They say you’re a smart ass.”
~~~~~~
“Do you think we could…we could do this again?” You and Taehyung are standing outside your bedroom door. Why did Taehyung walk you all the way to your door? The world may never know.
“Do what exactly?” he asks as he sways back and forth in front of you
“Play a game…or cook dinner…or you know just hang out.”
“Maybe… once a week we can play a game or watch a movie or something…” he gets out awkwardly.
“Wow, you’ll grace me with your presence once a week?” you roll your eyes, “How generous of you.”
“Listen…” Taehyung looks at you more seriously, “I know social contact is important for like, our mental health or whatever. But we shouldn’t push it.”
“You’re so…”
“I’m so what?” Taehyung steps forward and you gulp.
“So unfair.” You whisper. Taehyung bows his head down, he feels like he is shrinking. Because you’re right, he is being totally unfair. But he thinks this is the right move, the smart move.
“Y/n…” he sighs, “I’m doing this so we can leave.”
“And what if your little strategy isn’t working? It’s been a month Taehyung.” You point out, “And we’re still here.”
“I know, I know. Jesus, woman.” He breathes out, his dark eyes finding yours. “Look, they will get bored with us.”
“How can you be so sure?” you step forward. “What if we aren’t boring to them?” you whisper, your eyes staying on his.
“That’s why we should interact as little as possible.”
“Taehyung. No offense. But do you really think I want to interact with you?” you spit out, “I just need something, anything. I just need someone.” You step closer, “And you happen to be the only person here.”
Taehyung’s brows pinch together as he looks down at you, a frown decorating his face. He…he doesn’t want to be hurt by that.
“Once a week y/n. That’s all I can offer you.” He steps closer to you, his feet bumping into yours, “Don’t get greedy on me.”
You tilt your head up and chuckle,
“I told you I’m greedy though.” Your eyes stay on his, his piercing gaze causing you to shudder but you don’t break contact and neither does he. He’s challenging you, you can feel it. His eyes begin to narrow as he stares down at you, you wonder what he is thinking. He sighs out, his breath hitting your face and you blink up at him. You’re about to say something, anything when his tongue darts out to wet his lips. You mean to keep your eyes on his eyes, you really do but you don’t. You hate yourself for dropping your gaze down to his lips. He smirks as realization hits him.
“Goodnight y/n.” He says, his voice so deep and low it catches you off guard. Then he’s stepping away from you and heading towards his room, leaving you at your door. You release the longest, shakiest breath as you watch him disappear.
You open the door to your bedroom and walk inside, you wish you could yell out in frustration. You wish you could scream into your pillow and know for sure he can’t hear you. You wish you weren’t here.
You change into some sleep clothes and slide into bed. You pull the blanket up to your nose and kick your legs dramatically. This guy is so annoying! Why can’t he just not care and live life normally so you can be normal too! Listen, you aren’t fucking thrilled about this either. But you’re handling it a lot better than he is. Why is that…? Why are you handling this so well? Maybe it’s because your real life is a fucking mess and this truly is the vacation you needed. You know, you know how pathetic that sounds.
You close your eyes and try to sleep but memories of your real life keep hitting you. You hate this. You hate all of this. You’re lonely. You’re all alone. In this this life on the island but also in your real life. You’re so fucking alone. You feel tears prick your eyes and you let yourself quietly sob for who knows how long. You wish you had someone to lean on…just in general. But you lost all of your friends at work…you lost your boyfriend…you only have your parents and even they are fed up with you.
After crying tears after tears you decide you’re thirsty. You tip toe out of bed and make your way downstairs…the house is so quiet and dark. It’s relaxing and also depressing. You finally make it to the kitchen when you scream bloody murder. Sitting in the dark at the dining room table is Taehyung.
“Wow, y/n. It’s not next week yet.” He jokes. You quickly turn on the dining room light and look at him like he’s insane.
“You fucking scared me!” you exclaim loudly, “And why are you awake?”
“I have trouble sleeping…” he admits, he scratches the back of his neck and gives you a sheepish grin. “What about you?”
You step closer to the table and Taehyung’s eyes slightly expand. He notices your swollen eyes and puffy lips. Had you been crying?
“Hey…are you okay?” he whispers out, standing from his chair.
“Don’t act like you care so suddenly.” Your eyes slide to the side, “I’m fine.”
Taehyung looks down, guilt burying itself into his body. He looks up at you and tries to speak but he doesn’t know what to say.
“I just came down for some water.” You tell him. “That’s all.” You walk over to the fridge for the pitcher of cold water then you walk to the cabinet and try to grab a glass from the top shelf but you struggle. You huff out and close your eyes in frustration when you feel Taehyung’s chest on your back.
“I’ll grab it for you.” He says softly. He reaches for a glass and hands it to you, you take it from him and offer him a small thanks.
“See? That’s something only people who are almost 5’11 could do.” He teases and you look at him with a serious expression. You look down at your feet and sigh out before you let a giggle slip between your lips.
“Goodnight Taehyung.” You look up to study his face, and you see his smile fade.
“What?” you ask.
“Once a day.” He says. “We can hang out once a day. But that’s it.”
You feel your heart do something funny…you feel your tummy doing something weird too. You feel your entire chest get hit with a wave of….something.
“It’s fine, Taehyung.” You finally say after a quiet moment, “I don’t want to push you.”
“This isn’t for you.” He smiles, “I think I need the social contact too.”
“Well, no fucking duh.” You state with the roll of your eyes. “We can’t isolate ourselves…it’s so unhealthy.”
“I get it.” He breathes out, “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“And every day after that until we’re out of this place.”
~~~~~~~~
The next couple of days you and Taehyung play some games or watch a movie together, just doing at least one activity a day. Just like he said you two would. Admittingly you do feel better about this arrangement. Not talking at all was a pain in the ass and terribly lonely. Sometimes Taehyung will come to the living room and play a game by himself while you read, just sharing a space without really talking, even after he did his one activity with you. You hate to admit how much you like that he does that.
It’s not like you want to get to know him specifically…but you would like to sort of know the person you are living with…that makes sense, right? It’s not him! It’s just that he’s the only person here…and you want a friend. Yes, you can admit you want a friend. You aren’t going to fall in love with the dude…you just want someone to talk to and hang out with. God, is that such a crime? Plus, you’re in no place for love. If the company truly knows you, with their “research” and all then they should know you are not ready for any type of romantic relationship.
You lay here on the couch, your legs hung over the arm of it while you stare up at the ceiling. It’s hot out today and this house happens to come with a lovely pool. The ocean is scary so no beach for you…but pool? Yes. You lay here, wondering what Taehyung is up to. He went out again today like he usually does, you wonder if you can ask him about it now…now that you guys aren’t on total terrible terms. Nah, you will wait a little longer before you ask. Instead, you rise from the sofa and head upstairs to change into a swim suit.
You have a lot of options, to be honest. This place did not lack on the clothing items! You decide on a simple dark green bikini, you try it on and decide you like the way it looks. A lot actually. Have you lost some weight? You guess the lack of fast food options has made you a little slimmer, and the amount of fresh food that’s available here. Plus you started lightly working out in the home gym, sweating a storm.
You head back downstairs and go to the back where the absolutely lovely porch is located…it’s a whole wooden deck. With a glamorous pool in the center and a hot tub off to the side. You wish you really lived in a place like this—not here, specifically. (For obvious reasons) You shrug off the towel that’s wrapped protectively over your body and make your way to the pool. You don’t know what you’re being self-conscious for…Taehyung doesn’t usually come back until sunset and it’s barely the afternoon.
You dip your toes in the water first…it’s pretty chilly but you handle it, dipping your body further and further into the water. You shiver just a bit before dunking your head underneath, letting the water consume you. You stay underwater, opening your eyes and staring at the blue nothingness.
“I love you.” He says for the first time, making you float on air. You knew he was going to say it soon, you could feel it but you were not expecting it here.
You two are sitting at Cozy Coffee, your favorite place to relax and read and write. You are in the middle of writing a very intriguing sentence when your fingers stop typing in reaction to his confession.
“You what?” you ask, a small smile adorning your face. “You love me?”
“Yes.” He reaches for your hand across the table, “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I had a feeling.” You tease. “But I…”
“You don’t have to say it yet if you aren’t ready,” he squeezes your hand, “I can wait.”
“No!” you squeeze his hand back, “I…love you too.” You admit softly.
He brings his hand back, folding his hands together out in front of him and sighs out, his breaths escaping him softly.
“These past 6 months with you y/n…” he begins, “Have been the most wonderful.”
“They have been pretty nice, haven’t they?” you smirk. “Tell me your favorite part?”
“Any part where you’re naked, for sure.” He laughs and you gasp.
“Hey! Behave.” You warn with a smile and he keeps laughing.
“I’m serious, this is the best relationship I have ever had. You’re definitely the best girlfriend…all these other girls have been crazy.”
You frown at that, “Why crazy?”
“Ugh, you know how women can get.”
You don’t like the way he said that, you feel your smile twist into another frown.
“What do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. Because you aren’t like that. You’re different.”
You smile again, once again feeling special with his praise.
“Different how?”
“Jeez, you ask a lot of questions.” He half jokes. “I don’t know, you just are.”
The water is starting to sting your eyes as you continue to hold your breath, memories flooding you. This water isn’t the only thing trying to drown you. You finally squeeze your eyes shut and swim up to the surface, gasping for air once you reach it. You breathe out heavily as you try to catch a breath, your wet hair dripping down your just as wet face. You swim to the edge of the pool and lift yourself up on the ledge and sit with your legs still in the water.
Why do you have to think of him?
After an hour or so that passes and plenty of sun later you decide you’ve had enough of the day outside. You stand to your feet and grab your towel and dry off, draping the towel over your right arm. You’re still pretty wet you admit, but nothing crazy. You head for the house, walking through the back door. Once you enter the house the cool AC hits you, causing you to shiver but you decide a warm shower will solve this. You turn the corner in the hall to head upstairs when your body slams into another body. You run into Taehyung hard causing you to tumble over and fall on top of him.
Taehyung yelps out when he makes contact with you, his body falling to the hard tiled floor and he winces. You fall on top of him, your chest smooshing his face. Yeah, your boobs in his face. That’s what that fucking means. Your wet boobs in his sweaty face.
“What the hell?” Taehyung mumbles between your breasts, “Get off me.”
You’re quick to try to scramble off his body, your hands landing in all the wrong places as you try to lift yourself. He groans loudly when you make contact with his lower hips and his hands go to grab your wrists trying to stop you from moving around so much.
“Chill, chill.” He breathes out slowly, still holding on to your wrists. He makes his way out from beneath you and pulls you up by the wrists.
“I wasn’t this sweaty before you ran into me…” Taehyung observes, “How wet are you?”
“I wasn’t this wet until running into you. How fucking sweaty are you?!”
“Fair.” Taehyung says with a smirk, then he’s blinking at you. “You went swimming today?” he eyes you up and down and you immediately feel insecure under his intense gaze.
“Uh, yeah.” You take the towel that’s draped around your arm and go to cover yourself with it.
“Why are you getting shy now?” as sly smile draws itself on Taehyung’s face. “You didn’t seem this shy just a moment ago with your tits in my face?” he questions with a low voice.
“Oh my god, can we not bring that up?” you begin to blush and you hate yourself for it.
“Why not?”
“It was an accident first of all. There will never be a time again where my boobs are in your face.”
“Oh you’re making the company sad.” Taehyung pouts.
“Shut up.” You roll your eyes and Taehyung laughs. His laughter dies down though when he shamelessly eyes you again.
“Green is my favorite color.” He says while walking past you and heading upstairs.
You stand here, embarrassed as fucking usual. Your whole body warming up and you don’t even feel that cold AC any longer. You breathe in and breathe out. Taehyung is not making this stay very easy, is he?
~~~~~~
Month: 2
“Don’t you use that blue shell!” You scream at the air around you, your eyes concentrating on the screen ahead.
Taehyung smirks, working his fingers on the controller. God, he can really move his fingers. Wait, why the hell would you think that?
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
You are both totally immersed in your game, the finish line in sight. You jump to your feet in rushed excitement as the finish line is soon approaching. You need this win to tie with him on your ongoing competition in Mario Kart. You’re both oh so close, the anticipation rising. Like, honestly you might shit yourself. Taehyung also leaps to his feet, joining you at your side. Now you are both screaming at the screen, your throats will totally pay for this later. You are jumping up and down, yelling at one another , slamming your fingers on the controllers, harshly pressing down on the accelerator button. You can see it. Its literally right in front of you! AND you are ahead of him! The finish line! Your screams getting louder and louder…when…you are graced with a black screen.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” You yell in unison.
You turn to face Taehyung, the one you hate the most right now. Your eyes dark and your voice low.
“What did you do?”
“ME? I didn’t do anything!” He says accusingly.
“You must have! You knew I was going to win—”
“First of all, we don’t know that.” He cuts you off all matter of fact. So annoying.
You look at him incredulously.
“THAT’S IT! I’m going to strangle you!” Before you can take a step towards him to you know, kill him, the screen turns a bright white, catching your attention. Lucky dude. Your focus now on the screen, you look at it with your head tilted to the side. There are black letters at the top of the screen and you decide to read out loud whatever this caption says.
“Re…Request?” your eyes scan the word slowly. “Oh. Oh shit,” Your eyes go wide, you turn to face Taehyung, his expression mirroring your own. You had completely, like completely forgot about the ‘Requests’. It has been a couple months of silence so how could you not forget? You wonder if this company is finally ready to move …this…along. Whatever this is.
Only seconds pass before more black words appear on the screen. Your eyes stay on Taehyung though, too nervous to read what comes next.
Taehyung must realize you have no intention on reading anymore because he exhales deeply and faces the screen.
“Okay, here goes…” he begins, “The two subjects must…”
#bts#bts fluff#bts smut#bts angst#kim taehyung#taehyung x reader#taehyung fanfic#taehyung smut#taehyung fluff#taehyung angst
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try try again
harry x reader
2.2k words
summary: harry wants to propose, but life keeps getting in the way
a/n: first off... I suck at titles... why am I like this.... second off this is my secret santa gift for @jambrosemc ! happy holidays em! hope you like this, you are a super talented writer I just binged all your pieces and I am obsessed. and thank you to @peeterparkr for hosting
The first time he tries is after the first concert he does for Fine Line.
Fine Line at the Forum is a success in all the ways that matter, and Harry is so happy coming off the stage that he almost forgets about his plan to propose all together. When you barge into his dressing room after the show is over, smiling and ecstatic for him he suddenly sees the ring box on the counter and rushes to shove it in his pocket before you can see it.
“That was insane, love,” You say wrapping him into a hug. “I think they really liked it.”
He gives you a cheeky smile, “You think?” You roll your eyes in response, “What gave it away?” He asks, “The frantic screaming or the bra’s that were thrown onto the stage?”
“You should’ve kept a couple,” You tease, “They could’ve been my size.”
He laughs, “If you want one that bad I will buy it for you.”
“I’m holding you to that,” You say, taking a seat on top of the counter. He runs a hand through his hair, knowing that this would be the perfect moment to just get down on one knee. He can see himself doing it, simply bending down and saying the words he’s wanted to say for what feels like forever. “You okay?” You ask him, seeing the look on his face and supposing that he’s thinking about something that happened during the concert. “You did a great job out there, seriously. Everyone really loved it H, the album is spectacular.”
He shakes himself back into the moment, “I know, I know.” He says, and it comes off a little sharper than he means it too, he’s just very much in his own head about this whole thing now. What felt like it would be the perfect moment now feels wrong, like doing it now would cheapen the entire thing. He sighs, “Sorry,” He says, planting himself down on the floor dramatically, “Thank you.”
“We don’t have to go out if you don’t want to,” You tell him, guessing that he’s just tired from a long night. “Let’s get takeout and go home, or go home and get takeout whichever order.”
He smiles, “You ate before the show.”
“That was like three hours ago, and it was a snack, I always planned on eating again, and you were too nervous to eat before the show.”
He hugs his knees to his chest, “Watching you eat an entire kids meal in under five minutes actually helped with the nerves.”
You shrug, “What can I say? I have my moments.”
He stands and presses a kiss to your forehead as you swing your legs over the side of the counter. “You have a lot of moments, I love you.”
“Love you too,” You wait a second before asking, “So home then?”
He thinks about it for a minute, “Yeah.”
“When you call in the food order make sure you put it under my name,” You tell him and he collects his things from the room, “People are beginning to get suspicious when I go into the restaurant to pick up an order for Harry.”
He nods, and gently grabs your hand as the two of you leave. Maybe he’s not going to do it tonight, but he’s more resolved to actually pop the question than ever. He’s just so in love with you that he wants the whole thing to be perfect, and for some reason he has it all in his head that it needs to be a story that the two of you can tell in the future, something meaningful, he just has absolutely no idea what that is.
The second planned attempt is a lot more off the cuff.
You insist on throwing him a birthday party at the house, saying something about wanting to one up your sister who threw a very tasteful christmas party that the two of you went to. Not that your sister was invited seeing as the party was in London, but you knew that there would be enough pictures that she would see that you’re just as good as she is. Harry doesn’t understand it at all, but he decides that he doesn't even want to know how a rivalry like that can develop and leaves it alone.
Objectively, you throw a very nice party. Of course Harry makes it a point to tell you this as often as possible without seeming overly invested in it, because he loves you and he wants you to be proud of your own work just like you want him to be proud of his. It’s hard for him to leave your side at all because he loves to see you talk to his friends and family and seem so happy to do it. You fit right in with everyone and he’s so grateful for that, and it’s as he’s standing there watching you talk to people that it hits him that this could be his moment.
Not in front of everyone because that would be so much more pressure than he needs, but he thinks that after when everyone has finally left the house that he could catch you in the middle of cleaning or something and gently ask you to marry him. He decides that tonight, that’s the plan and he spends the rest of the night just thinking about that. It really is a great party, full of all his favorite things and people, it’s one of those nights where he feels like he loves you so much that his heart might just burst out of his chest.
When finally every last guest has left the house, and things are a bit messy, he can’t seem to find you anywhere. He locks the door behind him, and starts walking through the house calling your name. He checks upstairs, in the kitchen, in all the bathrooms, and nothing. Until finally he walks into the living room and finds you sound asleep on the couch, snoring loudly enough that he’s surprised he didn’t hear it while he was looking. He looks at you and just smiles, suddenly completely fine with the fact that another plan has been ruined. He simply picks you up and takes you to bed, well aware he’s going to have to move onto plan C if he ever wants to get this done.
The next time he tries, you end up surprising him.
Plan C is a nice candlelight dinner at the house, which Harry tried to cook but ended up burning so eventually he relented and ordered food before putting it all together. Of all the plans he had come up with thus far, this one seemed the most foolproof. Everything was already planned: he knew you were going to come home from work at a certain time, he knew that there wouldn't be any distractions, and he had psyched himself up enough that he wasn’t just going to forget about the whole thing like he did the first time.
When the entire table is set up and the ring is in his pocket, he sits waiting for you to come home. He thinks about getting up to change some of the place settings just a little, but when he does he hears the clicking sound of your key in the door and sits back in his seat. After you walk into the house and set your stuff down in the entryway, Harry hears the sound of your shoes on the floor as you excitedly run into the kitchen. When you make it to where he can see you, he sees that you have a megawatt smile on your face and a large box in your hands.
“I have a surprise,” You say, keeping a firm hold of the box.
“I suppose it’s in that box,” He says, leaning over the chair so that he can see.
You roll your eyes but keep smiling, “Yeah, obviously.”
“Do you want me to guess?”
“God no,” You say, “That would take way too long. Basically I was at work today, and Mark has been producing this piece about a no kill animal shelter for a new segment about everyday heroes or whatever which is gross because puff pieces but when the woman came in to do the interview she brought in all these cats, no dogs for some reason, but anyway so we were all playing with the cats because our job is stressful and cats, and then she was like ‘you guys seem so good with these cats, they are looking for homes and-”
He looks at you with a wide eyed expression, “You didn’t.”
You ceremoniously walk over to the table, open the box and pull a small orange cat into your arms, “You bet your ass I did.” You gently pet the cat, which mews quietly from your arms, “She does not have a name mostly because I couldn’t think of any.”
“We talked about pets like a week ago, briefly.”
You give a guilty smile, “Yeah but I felt like I really needed this cat. I live here now, we live here, and I finally feel like I’m settled-” You sit down at the table and sigh, “I think I might be nesting, which is kind of gross but I don't know. I love you, and I love being here and I finally feel stable enough to get a freaking cat so that’s the explanation I have.”
He can’t stop himself from breaking into a smile, even though he knows his plans have been thwarted again. (He thinks later, after the moment has already passed that he very well could’ve done it right then and there after you’d given a whole speech about the two of you being stable). He shakes his head after looking at you making funny faces at the cat like it’s a child, “Okay hand her over.”
You hand her over and say, “I will not accept any names that have to go with the fact that she’s a ginger, because that’s just lame.”
“Well seeing as those were my only ideas-”
You sigh, “We will think of something, just not now because you got dinner and I’m starving.”
“What’s she going to eat?”
“I got food and a bowl, and a bunch more things being delivered within the next week or two.”
“Did you go out and buy a box just for the dramatic reveal?”
“Yes, I did and it was totally worth it.”
The cat’s name ends up being Hillary, after you discover an affinity for pet names that are usually person names. Something about the way you’ll end up talking about Hillary in polite conversation and someone will have to ask you who that is makes you want to choose it overall. Even though Harry is not sure about the sudden change at first, he soon becomes best friends with Hillary, and you often find the two of them cuddled up together on the couch. She likes to listen to him play music just as much as you do as it turns out.
Harry is still trying to think of a way to propose. So much time has passed since he bought the ring, and the first time that he planned to pop the question that he wonders if he’ll ever find the right time to do it or if you’ll just end up asking him one day because it’s all gone too far. One afternoon when the two of you are relishing a rare shared day off, he watches you cook lunch in the kitchen and decides that now is the time to do it. No more excuses, no more surprises, just him and you and the question on the tip of his tongue for too long.
When you put all of the food on plates, and set them out on the counter he walks over and just looks at you. It weirds you out at first so you ask, “What? Is there something on my face?”
He gets down on one knee and you still are very confused about what he’s doing. You open your mouth to ask him, but the realization suddenly hits you and you cover your mouth with your hands.
“y/n,” He says, “I have been waiting to ask you this for what feels like forever. And everytime that the plan fell through you somehow managed to make me want to marry you even more. I love you so much, I love everything about you, how excited you get about your work, how much you love Hillary and how supportive you are whenever I do anything. I love our life here, and I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?”
You don’t say anything for a second, still shocked, “Yes of course.” He stands and kisses you, slipping the ring onto your finger. “I was wondering when you would ask me.”
“You knew?”
“I saw it that night after the forum,” You say, “I figured you got nervous.”
“And you just let me flounder here for almost six months?”
“Yes,” You smile, “I figured you wanted to do it on your own terms.”
“Next time just call me out love, because I sat on this for too long.”
#peetersanta#why am I posting this so late? because Im ~impatient~#I need feedback NOW#harry styles x reader#harry styles x you#harry styles x y/n#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles imagine#harry styles one shot#harry styles fic#my writing
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Click: Finale
Synopsis: You invited everyone out to dinner. You also audibly clicked. People have opinions about this.
Word Count: 2,286
Tags/Warnings: Language, Smoking, Fem!Reader
Part I: Shikamaru, Part II: Shino, Part III: Neji, Part IV: Rock Lee , Part V: Naruto, Part VI: Kiba, FINALE, The Message in Click
Notes: I’ve been legit putting off this finale for a month. Come get y’all juice.
You could only assume that something was about to go down. What you didn’t know just quite yet was if it would be violent: truly a worrying unknown. You hoped not, but then again, Rock Lee’s insistence felt ambiguous at best. He refused to answer any of your questions. And so for the moment, the only thing that felt certain boiled down to Lee’s vice grip on your wrist as he heaved you out of your apartment. You sighed. Everything else that escaped Lee’s lips you found useless at best. With nothing else to work with but a few ramblings about youth, you didn’t bother trying to pry more than you had already.
He hardly gave you any time to prepare and you hoped that you could chalk it up to his overeager nature and not a village-wide emergency. He led you, tugging you across the village. You stumbled over your own feet as you struggled to keep up with his fast pace. He pulled you over rooftops and through busy crowds of people who quickly grew not too pleased with the pair of you as you pushed through.
“Are you not going to tell me where we’re going?” You pleaded, grasping at his wrist. You might as well have asked a rhetorical question or perhaps even not at all. Lee looked back at you for a split second with a wide grin.
“Nope!” He answered before almost crashing you into a wall. You swiveled out of the way with a shriek, still tethered to Lee, and silently thanked your shinobi reflexes. Surely, they saved you from much in this world.
When Lee finally stopped in front of your destination, it was abrupt. You probably should have expected as much, but ultimately didn’t have time to think about it as you fell onto your backside. You crashed into Lee’s lean and muscular back. And unfazed, Lee threw up his arms in show as if unveiling a grand magic trick. He shrieked to the sky above.
“We are here!” You finally shifted your attention to Shushu-ya’s storefront. You blinked, slowly and hesitantly turned to Lee whose face shone like he just won a million ryō. You picked yourself off of the ground and squinted as you brushed yourself off, wondering if there was something about Lee’s presentation that you missed.
“It’s not on fire… or destroyed,” you pointed out with more than a fair bit of skepticism in your voice. Lee glanced up at the storefront with visible confusion. He turned his attention to you and then to the storefront.
“No it is not!” he bellowed, deciding to plaster on a wide grin. Your fingers weaved together as you rocked on your heels and let out a relieved sigh.
“Lee, is this an elaborate way of inviting me out to dinner?” Lee’s features contorted into a deep worry which made you immediately concerned once again. He yelled out something incoherent before taking your wrist again. You braced yourself for news of the village’s doom.
“I completely forgot! Everyone is waiting for us!” And before you could question him, you were tugged inside. He threw open the door, once again almost hitting you in the face as he did. Too focused on your dodging, it took you a second to take in what awaited you inside of the restaurant. “Everyone! I apologize for the delay!”
You turned and couldn’t hide your surprised gaping. Shikamaru, Shino, Neji, Naruto and Sakura were all sat around a rectangular table. Neji scoffed, neatly aligning his chopsticks on his napkin with disinterest.
“About time—” He rolled his eyes— “Lee went to get you a half hour ago.” Lee tried to guide you to the table, but you remained where you stood, unmoving. Lee gave you another slight pull, but you couldn’t even look at him. You couldn’t look at any of them. You quickly excused yourself with a shaky promise of coming right back and left out the front door.
Shikamaru let out a sigh, not one of exasperation, but a sigh nonetheless. He lazily moved to stand, but Shino planted a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“I got her,” he said in his usual Aburame monotone and stood up in Shikamaru’s place. The Nara, on the other hand, sat back in his spot with the newfound relief that he wouldn’t have to get up.
You were trying to catch your breath when Shino found you outside. You hugged your arms to your chest and faced Shino with your posture small. He stood a comfortable distance away, ever-unimposing. Shino buried his hands in his pockets, his back straight but shoulders slouched.
“It’s not a joke is it?” you asked. Shino frowned, slightly perplexed by your question.
“When have you known me to be in on jokes?” You pursed your lips, bobbing your head slightly. You kept nodding and cleared your throat. Your knee bent as you mirrored Shino’s posture, though a bit more nervously.
“It’s not out of pity, then, is it? For me? Because I don’t wanna be here if people are just here out of pity.” Shino took in a deep, discrete breath.
“This group of people wanted to have a meal with friends. Why would that be about you?” You hummed, casting your gaze away from him, flustered. You opened your mouth before shutting it again. Shino waited patiently for your response. He had always been blunt like a wood hammer and to some extent, Shino knew that. After all, he usually didn’t know how to navigate moments such as these. But he would try. “No. If there was a joke, it would be new to me. I was invited to dine with my friends and nothing more.”
“You really think of me as a friend?”
“I could ask you the same. I thought that we’ve been friends for a while.” Shino didn’t hesitate in his response. You stared up into his dark glasses, blinking.
“Yes, of course, Shino. We always have been. I guess I’m just shocked, that’s all. With everything, I mean.” Shino gave a slight nod, but nothing more. He had never been one for outward expression of emotion and he wasn’t about to start now.
“If you’re uncomfortable you don’t have to stay. I can walk you home if that’s what you’d feel better doing.”
You took a moment to think and Shino once again waited patiently. You sat on the ground next to the building. Shino took a step forward and motioned to the space next to you with his palm. You gave him a nod and he sat. The two of you gazed out at the village. Even in its most populated parts, Konoha looked exceptionally beautiful in the summer. Plantlife grew all around you and you wondered if Shino admired it as much as you did.
You didn’t think for long. You didn’t have to before you went to stand. Shino got up quicker than you and lent you a hand. You turned towards the entrance with him at your side and shook your head.
“No, this is nice. Sorry, a lot’s gone on recently. I think I’m just overthinking, you know?” You looked up at Shino but he didn’t look down at you.
“Well?” he asked simply, “Isn’t there something you should be doing then? Everyone’s waiting inside to order.” You perked up, moving to scurry inside but Shino grabbed you gently by both arms as he blocked your path to the door. He lowered himself, but with a frown. “What? I thought you always carried it with you.” The thought dawned on you as his large hands shrunk away.
You reached into your pocket and fiddle with your clicker. Shino looked at you expectantly. And with a single click, Shino ushed you inside.
A second round of drinks were already on the table by the time you took your place in between Shino and Shikamaru. Despite still being a bit uneasy, as you glanced around the table, you couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of warmth beginning to grow in your chest. Naruto and Lee turned to you, mischief shining in their eyes.
“We’re gonna order the whole menu, right?” Naruto looked at you expectantly, holding up the laminated menu like a holy prize. You let yourself laugh, nose crinkling up as you nodded.
“Of course!”
***
You seemed happy. Or at least that’s what Shikamaru thought. The appetizers kept coming and the more you ate the more you spoke. Shikamaru wondered if this is what it would have been like if anyone came with you the week before. As much as he’d like to think so, he knew that if he bothered to ask, you both would come to the same conclusion. By far, this was nicer.
A few figures walked past outside. Shikamaru’s irises drifted to the corner of his eye as he glanced out the window where his gaze fell onto Kiba. Ino, Choji, Sai, and Hinata encompassed the group that crowded around the Inuzuka, but even though chatter surrounded him, his eyes locked with Shikamaru’s through the glass. Their passage past Shushu-ya felt slowed in time. Shikamaru slowly rose from his seat. You tugged at his sleeve.
“You’re not leaving are you, Shikamaru?” A small, hopeful smile clung onto your lips, oblivious to the world outside of your little table. You stared up at him with bright eyes. Shikamaru leaned over, his breath ghosting the shell of your ear as you laughed with the others. You tilted your head to better hear him. He tapped a box of cigarettes on the table, his lighter tucked on top under his knuckles.
“I’ll be right back. Smoke break.” You nodded before turning back to the table, unsuspecting.
Kiba fell to the back of the group and gave a feeble excuse to allow the others to go on without him. By the time Shikamaru stepped outside, the rest of the crew had left, expecting him to catch up soon. Kiba positioned himself away from the window and Shikamaru leaned up against the side of the building. He plucked out a single cigarette before offering the box to Kiba, who shook his head and held up an open palm. Shikamaru flicked the top back on the pack before shoving them back into his pocket. He lit the rolled paper, taking a deep, audible inhale before blowing out the smoke in a line. Kiba stood by: watching, waiting. Shikamaru tilted his head up, puckered lips relaxing as the last of the smoke poured out of the side of his mouth.
“That’s a pretty nice thing you set up in there,” Shikamaru stated simply and brought his cigarette back up to his lips. Kiba sputtered as he crossed his arms.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he scoffed, turning away to glance momentarily at you through the side of the window as you dined with your friends, “And even if I did, I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of it.”
Shikamaru raised a brow, but said nothing as he tapped a flurry of ashes onto the ground. Kiba had always been as stubborn and defensive as he was readable. His jaw clenched and his fingers dug slightly into his bicep. Kiba nearly pouted. Shikamaru studied his friend and found guilt, but that was something that Kiba already knew so Shikamaru wouldn’t go through the trouble of pointing it out. Shikamaru took another huff.
“No one’s making a big deal out of anything.”
Kiba’s nose crinkled. With his keen sense of smell, he couldn’t hide his disgust at Shikamaru’s poorly scented habit.
“Do you have to do that right now? When we’re talking?” Kiba barked, but Shikamaru simply shrugged off the edge to his tone. Shikamaru’s head turned to Kiba as he blew his smoke directly into Kiba’s face. The Inuzuka stepped back, waving his hand around wildly in the air in an attempt to disperse the stench into the air.
“This was my excuse to come out here. To talk to you, loser.” Shikamaru expected Kiba to put up a fight, but received nothing. Too wrapped up in his own thoughts, Kiba went quiet. He leaned back against the wall like Shikamaru with his head bowed toward the ground. He tapped his foot.
“Can’t a guy do something nice for someone and not make it some big deal about love or friendship or whatever?” Shikamaru threw the butt on his cigarette on the ground and squelched it out with his shoe.
“Wow,” he mouthed as he began to head back towards the door of Shushu-ya. He laid a hand on Kiba’s shoulder as he passed by, deciding to stop for a split second. “You know, Kiba, I wasn’t exactly listening this whole time and quite frankly, I don’t care—” Kiba scowled. —“but I do know that I didn’t say anything like that and that you, maybe, need to sort out your shit. All of you do and I don’t have the time, the energy, or the care to do anything about it.” Shikamaru gave Kiba a pat where his hand rested and went back inside.
When he came in you were waiting to greet him back to the table. A small plate of dumplings sat at his spot. He couldn’t help the tiny, blushing grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“About time!” you yelled, “I didn’t know how long I could fend Naruto and Lee off of your food, Shikamaru!”
Shikamaru hummed, taking his seat next to you. You clicked, but Shikamaru couldn’t help but notice that the little noise became more scarce as the night went on.
You all ate your dinner together.
Notes: I’m not too sure how much I like how this turned out but I suppose I can’t keep postponing it. Hopefully with a bit of time, when I revisit it I’ll like it more.
Thank you to everyone who stuck by this series and gave your love and support. I’d ideally not like to milk it (because I think then people would get sick of this series), but maybe if I have some good ideas I’ll make like an epilogue or something. I hope that y’all got some sort of nice message about this. Maybe in time I’ll let y’all know what spurred this series on.
Lots of love, friends.
Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed and otherwise supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.
#Shikamaru x reader#shikamaru x you#shino x reader#shino Aburame x reader#neji x reader#neji hyuuga x reader#rock lee x reader#rock lee x you#rock lee x y/n#naruto x reader#naruto x y/n#naruto x you#Kiba x reader#Kiba x you#kiba x y/n#naruto imagines#naruto imagine#naruto headcanon#naruto headcanons#x reader#x you#reader insert#naruto#click#click finale#shikamaru#shino#neji#hinata#rock lee
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pairing: doctor!wonwoo x lawyer!female oc genre: modern royalty, arranged marriage, fluff and future angst word count: 2.1k WARNINGS: mentions of food, eating, hospitals, and brief mention of armed men
author’s note: finallyyy! been working on this for the past week and i’m relieved to be posting part 3 already! i’m not so confident about this and i am already warning you all that this could be dialogue heavy :((( please let me know your thoughts! i’d be really thankful to hear from you all!
three: subtle snuggles and light snores | masterlist
Wonwoo chose to work at the Royal Hospital of the neighboring kingdom at his own will. He and the rest of the people in his kingdom won’t deny how the other kingdom pioneered in the line of medicine.That’s why in spite of the many offers and opportunities at his homeland, he wanted to gain experience somewhere else first before going back home.
The marriage wasn’t served on the table before and when his parents broke the news to him, he was already hired and working for a few months. And now that a marriage is in talks, it seems unlikely that he’ll be going back anytime soon.
Wonwoo didn’t hesitate to agree. But someplace in his heart couldn’t help but wonder how it got to this. He’s not saying you’re terrible. You’re the exact opposite of being terrible. To him, you are amazing and awesome. A badass even.
There’s nothing really holding him back. Even his past relationship that you brought up previously.
It’s just that he wanted a purpose out of this union aside from the fact that this will bear the best outcome for his and your kingdom.
Wonwoo was once in love.
He knows, used to know rather, how his heart skipped a beat and how butterflies filled his stomach. But then came you and he is back to zero. He wants to like you. He wants to love you.
He doesn’t want to be a husband recognized by the public. Instead, he wants to be the lifetime companion that you can lean on and trust. He hopes that you see that he’s trying to be one.
It’s a challenge though, because he doesn’t know how or where to begin.
These thoughts have been running on his mind for the longest of days and even now as he gazes at your face, deep in slumber. What happened earlier was a shock. All he wanted was to invite you for a quick lunch before he goes to work and here you are now literally at his workplace, getting the right amount of rest you’ve been missing.
“Your Highness,” the Royal Family’s doctor calls to him politely while the two nurses accompanying him check on you. Wonwoo only gives a brief nod of acknowledgement. “I advise the Princess to stay overnight to recover from her dehydration and stress. A day away from work would be immensely helpful.”
Wonwoo’s eyes don't leave you as he continues to nod and agree with the doctor’s orders. It doesn’t look like it, but he is paying attention to every word the older one is saying. He bites his lip, beating himself up for not knowing what could be causing you stress.
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to page us,” the doctor assures and Wonwoo finally turns his attention to him.
“Thank you so much.” He extends his arm for a handshake before letting them leave.
Wonwoo sighs before taking the seat beside your bed again. As much as he wants to go closer and maybe opt to hold your hand, he doesn’t. He just keeps his eyes on you. Your face looks so peaceful while sleeping, a small smile can’t help but form on the Prince’s face. It’s a relief that it’s nothing bad. But still, he can’t feel at ease until he sees your eyes once again. He decided to take a leave from work and stay beside you until you wake up and get discharged.
He has already informed the King and Queen of what happened and they will be here shortly.
“Wonwoo, my dear,” the Queen greets while opening her arms to the young doctor for a quick embrace. “How are you?”
The King walked past the warm exchange, not wasting any time to be close to your bed. “How is she?”
“Your Majesty,” Wonwoo doesn’t fail to say his greetings first before going on full doctor mode. “The Princess is stable. She just needs to replenish her energy by having lots of rest and she’ll be discharged as early as tomorrow morning. Would you like me to call the doctor in charge?”
“No, no,” the Queen answers, now sitting with her husband who’s been gently cradling your cheek. “We’ll go to him ourselves. I’m just glad you are here for her Wonwoo.”
“Ever the hard worker, she is,” your father mutters a harmless complaint. “I will give her a scolding once she wakes up. Scratch that, I am going to have the Prince do that in my place. He’s the doctor after all.” Finally, the King looks at him, a glint of humor in his eyes.
Wonwoo blushes and keeps his head low. He scratches the back of his neck before firmly promising, “I will take care of her better next time, Your Majesty.”
“Nonsense,” the Queen dismisses his apologetic tone with a wave of her hand. “Everyone gets sick every day and it just so happened that it’s our Princess this time around.”
An hour after the King and Queen left, Wonwoo’s eyes grew heavy. Unbeknownst to him, his head gravitated to your bed and close to your arm. He tried to keep his eyes open, still determined on waiting until you wake up, but his determination was futile because it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep beside you.
His face was the first thing you saw the moment you regained consciousness. The top of his head was snuggled to your arm, surprising you. At first, you couldn’t figure out what was going on. But the remembrance of the three cups of coffee you had was enough to answer the questions running in your mind. Then, the embarrassment came too soon because you also remember the look on Wonwoo’s face when he saw your agony.
You’re still not feeling well. You should probably get more sleep instead of resenting your embarrassment. You release a low groan, momentarily forgetting the sleeping Prince beside you.
Wonwoo stirs a little before opening slowly his eyes and meeting yours. He sits up in a heartbeat and blinks his sleep away to make sure you are really awake.
After confirming, he releases the breath he had been holding. “Hey there.”
“Hi,” you whisper, completely bashful. “How long was I asleep?”
“It’s eight o’clock now,” he answers while looking at his watch. “You were asleep for the whole afternoon so approximately eight to nine hours.”
“Wow,” you mutter in sincere disbelief. “I haven’t slept that long since I started working.”
“That’s why you’re going to sleep more.” Wonwoo stands up and fixes the blanket that’s keeping your body warm.
You frown and weakly stop his actions. “What do you mean? Am I not allowed to go home tonight?”
“Nope,” he answers and pushes your hand back down. “You’re staying overnight and that’s your doctor’s advice.”
“I don’t want to lay on this bed for 24 hours,” you whine, lips in a pout. “Can’t you give me clearance instead?”
“I’m not the doctor in charge and I am more than sure that you know that,” the Prince reminds and gently pat your head. “Go back to sleep and once morning comes, you’ll be good to go.”
Seeing that he has made a point, you give up and let your body relax on the bed in spite of your reluctance. You are smart enough to know that you can’t outsmart a doctor like him.
Wonwoo grins in victory and makes himself comfortable on the chair. He then pulls his phone out to make a quick check on some emails and updates at the emergency room.
That got you confused. Why is he still here? You blink suddenly realizing how he had stayed with you ever since you got admitted. You were embarrassed earlier but now you are sorry.
“Are you not… leaving?” You ask. “I can manage alone. All I need to do is sleep this away, right?”
“Sleep Y/N,” Wonwoo commands while his eyes and hands remain focused on his phone, dodging your question.
At the sound of your name, you roll your eyes and turn to the other side of the bed with a huff. As the days go by, you have noticed that Wonwoo can be mischievous and whenever he becomes one, it makes your cheeks blush red and heat up like wildfire.
Wonwoo just snorts at your annoyance. He puts his phone back in his pocket and puts his attention at the back of your head as your breathing slowly even out, much needed sleep once again taking over your body.
Wonwoo didn’t want to leave you when morning came and Jeongyeon arrived with your new set of clothes and warm meal. But he knew he had to go back to work and fulfill his sworn duty in spite of the validity of his excuse that his fiancee is sick. Other than that, but most importantly, he just wanted to see your eyes again first thing in the morning and he’d be content.
You seemed to be exhausted still because he could hear your light snores even when the sunlight through your room was enough to indicate how late it is already in the morning. But time is ticking and he is needed at the emergency ward. So, disregarding his qualms, he took the paper bag of clothing from his friend and colleague, Soonyoung, and changed.
Afterwards, Wonwoo picks up a thermometer and checks your temperature one last time to make sure that you don’t have any fever. All the while, oblivious to the knowing grin of your assistant.
“Please call me when she wakes up. I’d like to see her before she gets discharged,” he requests, hands busy fixing your blanket for the ninth time.
Jeongyeon smiles, aware that there’s nothing left to fix on your bed anymore, before answering. “Will do, Your Highness.”
Finally, the Prince takes his leave but not after giving one last glance to the sleeping Princess.
Jeongyeon immediately fed you the moment you woke up. She didn’t take no for an answer, reminding you that it’s her responsibility to take care of you and that her failure to do so is equivalent to having her head beheaded (it’s not enacted anymore).
At this point she’s now nagging you and it just falls deaf to your ears because you are indeed starving after all the sleeping. You ate every food she brought from the warm soup to the last grain of rice so fast, you looked like you were inhaling them instead of chewing properly. That made Jeongyeon scold you again reminding you that you’re about to be discharged from the hospital and she can’t have you admitted again because of indigestion this time around.
“I am glad that you’re eating well, Your Highness,” the Royal Doctor gladly says. He’s now here to run one last check up before giving you the clearance you’ve been begging Wonwoo for last night.
Wonwoo, you suddenly remembered. Where is he?
“Your Highness?”
“Oh yes,” you reply, waking up from your daze. “Sorry, I think I ate way too much. Please go on.”
The Royal Doctor checked your chart, frequently updated by the nurses on duty all throughout your stay. He then sits on the chair once used by the Prince to ask a few questions to make sure he’s not missing on anything. Your head still feels heavy but it’s nothing you can’t handle. He assures you that you are fine and gives you the reminders that he usually does with cases like yours.
“That’s it.” He clasps his hands together and stands up. “You are more than free to go. Please come back next month for a check up.”
“Yes, I will,” you say and reach for his hand to shake it. “Thank you very mu-”
You couldn’t even thank your doctor properly when someone suddenly barges in through your door with a bang. You recognized him right away as head of your security detail.
“I apologize, Your Highness,” he says, eyes on the floor. Soon, more men follow behind him. “But we have to leave the hospital and move you somewhere safer right this instant.”
Jeongyeon already knows what to do, moving quickly to help you sit up. Meanwhile, the doctor grabs the wheelchair from the small storage room and helps keep your IV stay in place as you move from the bed.
Once you’re all secured, everyone dashed out of the room.
“What the hell is going on?” You demand answers from the men surrounding you and Jeongyeon, who’s pushing the chair to the private elevator.
“There has been a commotion caused by armed men at the Emergency Room,” the head reports and upon hearing where he is talking about, your heart drops to your stomach. “The hospital’s security has it under control but we won’t be taking any chances on letting you stay here any longer, Your Highness.”
“Stop.”
Wonwoo.
#seventeen scenarios#wonwoo scenarios#seventeen scenario#wonwoo scenario#seventeen#wonwoo#jeon wonwoo#seventeen fluff#wonwoo fluff#fic: ifliys
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02. [orv][sl] jindok
text version of two twitter posts. jinwoo/dokja. inspired by shweezyliz 😊
.
He'd seen something strange, in the barren gap between dimensions. Something that shouldn't have been there, but had somehow come close enough to the void that Jinwoo could see it as though he was looking through a film: a train, winding endlessly among the stars, and on that train was a person. More accurately, a child.
It wasn't that Jinwoo didn't already have his hands full trying to save his own world. It was just— the kid had looked so sad, and he was just a kid, right? Jinwoo couldn't have just left him there.
And, he admitted, he had been curious. There had never been anything new in the gap until the sudden appearance of this train. Jinwoo had to know.
So it was that two years after his disappearance, Jinwoo returned to Earth plus one kid (who was not a kid at all, he had been informed, but an adult who had clearly eaten the same wrong food that Jinwoo himself ate before deciding to become the most unsung hero in history) and minus an all-important bottom line. But that was Kim Dokja's problem.
"Dokja-hyung," said Jinwoo, resting his chin on top of Dokja's head. Even returned to his teenage self, he was still significantly taller than Dokja, whose teenage body was so skinny and pale it made Jinwoo worry. "Why are you so bad at this?"
Dokja squirmed under Jinwoo's weight, but ultimately gave up. His pencil continued scratching in the English workbook. "I was an average student," he said, very politely, "and I didn't spend all my time on the train studying."
"I didn’t spend all my time studying either," Jinwoo pointed out.
Dokja refused to entertain Jinwoo's eminently valid point, and continued to focus on his homework like he was an actual student. Jinwoo regretted setting Dokka up with a proper high school identity instead of throwing him to the GED sharks like Jinwoo himself.
"Igrit," Jinwoo sighed.
[Yes, my liege.]
"Can you help Dokja with his homework?"
"It's fine, I don't need help," began Dokja, before Igrit said anything, but Jinwoo wrapped his arms around Dokja's waist and squeezed him until he stopped.
"But I just want to help you," said Jinwoo, seriously. Dokja's ears flushed red.
In the shadows, his subjects were cheering him on louder than they'd ever cheered him on before. Jinwoo felt a burst of gratitude that Dokja couldn't hear them. They were happy for him, he knew— happy that after losing Haein to sealed memories and his own mismatched mental age, Jinwoo could still find someone to share a life with.
It was too early to bring that up now, though.
He put his head on Dokja's shoulder instead, listening to his shallow breathing. "Can't I?" Jinwoo asked.
After a long silence, during which Beru had to be bodily restrained to stay in the shadows, Dokja gave him the slightest nod. "If you want," he said, quiet as a mouse, and Jinwoo's lips curled in satisfaction.
.
In the mornings, Jinwoo goes next door to make breakfast so that Dokja will eat something instead of subsisting on air for the whole day ("It's just that I didn’t need to eat on the train," he will say, placatingly, trying to avoid Jinwoo's gimlet stare, but Jinwoo has built up an immunity to Dokja's sad eyes now and refuses to let it slide). No matter what he cooks, Dokja eats like a bird; Jinwoo is still searching for the perfect meal.
This morning, because he's feeling particularly energetic, he's taking the time to steam fresh dumplings in the tiny one-person steamer that Dokja had bought and then never used.
[My liege,] says Beru, hesitantly.
"What?" Jinwoo puts the last of the dumplings in the steamer and closes it triumphantly, running a hand through his sweaty fringe.
[Sir Dokja has awakened, but he seems… not in the best of moods.]
Jinwoo opens the fridge, narrows his eyes at its sad contents, picks out a lone ginger root from the vegetable drawer. "He gets moods sometimes, you know that. Just let him come to me."
[As you command.]
It doesn't take long before Dokja finds his way to the kitchen and stops at the entranceway, rubbing his feet together. Jinwoo, still holding the knife he's using to julienne the ginger, turns and waves at him.
"You look like a serial killer," says Dokja, a little absent-mindedly.
"I could be," Jinwoo replies, smiling. Dokja doesn't seem to think the millions of dead in his shadow count as his victims, but Dokja has a weird morality scale that Jinwoo won't pretend to understand.
At first Jinwoo thinks Dokja is just sleepy, but even when the dumplings are done and plated Dokja is staring at nothing, the oddest expression on his face. It takes Jinwoo a moment to place it, but when he recognises it he's immediately disconcerted— it's eerily reminiscent of the way Dokja had looked on the train, back when he was still trapped on it and Jinwoo was still fighting the unending war in between worlds.
"Hyung," Jinwoo says, not quite as sharply as he means to. He makes a gesture to Igrit, who shifts away to guard the perimeter. "What are you thinking?"
For a long moment, Dokja doesn't answer him, only his eyes moving to stare at Jinwoo instead of the middle distance. Jinwoo lets him stare, and he looks his fill too.
Dokja is very different from Haein. Haein is the type of woman who looks strong from the get-go: beautiful but still perfectly capable of kicking a man in the groin and walking away without a hair out of place. She had woken up like that too, Jinwoo remembers fondly— even with sleep clouding her eyes and no makeup on, she had looked like a dream. A just-awakened Dokja is all messy hair and wrinkles from the pillow, darkness under his eyes and skin dry as a desert. Tired and somewhat fragile. He doesn't look like the kind of person one would trust to carry an entire world on his back.
But then, Jinwoo hadn't looked like that in the beginning either.
"You remind me of him, sometimes," Dokja says at last, breaking the silence.
"Him?" Jinwoo doesn't know his name, but he knows instinctively who Dokja is talking about. He must be Dokja's Haein.
"Someone I liked to watch over," Dokja answers. Then he smiles wryly. "The protagonist of the world I came from."
"Tell me I'm more handsome," Jinwoo says, lightly, ignoring the immediate shouts of praise from Beru. "Or I'll get jealous." Jinwoo receives a proper smile at that, and his heart settles.
"On the Yoo Joonghyuk beauty scale, I'm afraid you can't even slap his face once," Dokja tells him, a thread of melancholy hidden in his teasing voice. "But you're definitely taller, at least—"
"I'm jealous," Jinwoo interrupts, and rounds the table to drape himself on Dokja's body. "Hyung is so mean. Isn't this the part where you say I'm the most handsome in your eyes?" Jinwoo can feel Dokja's heart beating where his lips are pressed to warm skin. It's not quite a kiss— they aren't quite there yet— but maybe, after today, they can be.
Yoo Joonghyuk. Jinwoo rolls the name in his mind and remembers it well.
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See Something You Like? Epilogue
Pairing: Rebels Rex x Reader
Word Count: 2K
Warning: Yearning, teasing
A/N: 😚 😚 For all my lovely readers 💕
Making your way through the mess hall, you see you’ve beaten the lunch rush and quickly bee-line towards the caff station, filling up two mugs and putting them on a tray. Ria had commed you about meeting up on your break, and knowing how busy she was that morning, you decided to have a fresh cup waiting for her. You grab a couple hot plates, thanking the cook, and find a spot not too far from the entrance. As you sit down you keep an eye on the entrance so you can wave Ria over when she gets there. Taking a sip of caff, you settle in your seat and your mind drifts back to last night, and earlier this morning.
Rex had been a most thorough lover, and true to his word, hadn’t finished with you until the early hours of the morning, leaving you both exhausted and satisfied. You feel your face heat up when you think about all the sounds he coaxed out of you, the praises that dripped from his lips as he brought you to orgasm and the tender way he took care of you afterwards, making sure you were alright. What you most enjoyed was how he held you when you both drifted off, arms holding you close as your head rested on his chest, whispering how you were his sweet girl.
You can’t help the giddy smile that covers your face when you recall how grumpy Rex was earlier that morning. He had done his absolute best to persuade you to spend a few more hours with him in bed, but you had a meeting you couldn’t miss, and you had reluctantly left him pouting in the sheets as you got ready. Eventually, he too started getting ready for the day, though not without hinting at all the things he could be doing instead, with you and a mirror, brushing up against you and sneaking kisses when you weren’t paying attention. Needless to say you left your room a blushing mess, with Rex following not far behind, smirk plastered on his face.
You’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t see Ria enter the mess hall and make her way over to the table. "Hello there, sunshine!” She calls out as she sits down, bringing you out of your daydreaming.
“Ria, hey!” You say, passing her a cup and watching her clutch it to her chest, breathing the scent it in as if the steam alone would give her energy. “Long meeting?”
“You have no idea,” she groans after taking a sip “nerf herders can’t tell the difference between a gear shift and brake pedal.”
You wince. “Ouch. Well, hopefully your afternoon will get better.” You perk up “Isn’t that new transfer set to arrive today?”
She looks at you suspiciously. “Where did this cheeriness come from?” She eyes you from over the rim of her cup “usually you’re right up there asking what other problems they’ve caused, and if I need help hiding a body.”
“No reason,” you say, laughing “just having a good morning, that’s all.”
Ria takes a moment to give you a look over while you sip your caff, before her eyes widen. “Omg! You got down and did the dirty dance!”
“Ria!” You groan “Do you have to say it like that?”
“What?” She says without remorse, “would you rather I call it the frisky foxtrot? Mattress mambo? Tantric tango?”
“Shhh! Someone will hear you!” You hiss, cheeks heating up as you look fervently around you, “where do you even come up with these things?”
“You’re not denying it,” she gives a little shriek of laughter, wiggling in place “you, my friend, got some good lovin’ and I need all the deets!” She gives you a look, “especially after all the stunts you pulled me into to avoid a certain someone.”
“I do not have to confirm or deny anything” you say, hiding behind your caff.
“You may not confirm anything, but your neck is certainly making a statement.” She leans over to pull the edge of your collar down “that’s quite the necklace you’re wearing there sunshine.”
You can feel your face turning three shades of red as you slap her hand away, hastily pulling the collar of your shirt up. “Ok! Ok, so maybe I had a bit of fun the other night, there’s no need to let the whole base know.”
Ria grins triumphantly “That’s more than just a bit of fun” she says, making the little air quotes “that’s a full on romp with the promise of a repeat” She wiggles her eyebrows comically and you can’t help but laugh, hearing her join in.
“Alright, yes, I did indeed do the dirty dance, as you said” you say once your laughter has died down.
Ria makes the motion to continue, attention on you. “And? That can’t be all it was or else you wouldn’t be like this.” She motions to all of you “All glowy and really happy.”
You give her a sly look “Let’s just say that he certainly has the moves to keep you coming back for more.”
Ria squeals and looks about ready to combust with all the questions you can see buzzing around her head. “So are you going to see him again? Or is it fated to be a one-night of lusty wonder?”
While you want to tell her all about Rex, you want to keep him to yourself for a bit longer so you keep your answer simple. “We’ve already planned to meet up again.” You duck your head shyly, smiling. “He makes me happy Ria, really happy.” You fiddle with your cup, looking back up at her “I didn’t think he’d feel the same way, but he does.” Your smile softens as you think of Rex and how he looked when you told him you wanted him by your side for a lifetime. The look of adoration is one you’ll treasure for years to come.
Ria looks at you in wonder, “Wow, he’s the real deal huh?” Watching you nod she squeals again, doing a little happy dance in her seat. “Best. News. Ever!”
A booming voice calls out close by “What’s the best news ladies?”
You and Ria both look over and see Gregor striding to you table, standing next to your seat. “Got yourself more excited than a restless Joopa.”
“No reason,” you say “just girl stuff.”
“But you’re more than welcome to join us.” Ria chimes in, gesturing to the seat. “We’re ‘bout to start venting about the doofs in engineering.”
You know Ria and Gregor share shifts on the occasion, overseeing repairs and helping out with different teams, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Gregor to join you sometimes for meals.
"Don’t mind if I do.” He sits down, big grin on his face, as he turns to face you. “I was actually looking for ya, figured I’d find ya here with this one.” He jerks his thumb towards Ria.
You point to yourself “Me?”
He nods “Mhmm. Was curious if ya’d seen Rex this morning. He missed training with Wolffe and I, and I thought ya might’ve seen’im”
You sputter and can see Ria giving you a calculated look, so you hurry to give an answer. “I’m not sure, but I thought I saw him when I was heading to the office. It looked like he was making his way towards the training room.”
Gregor looks at you, a strange look in his eyes, and you try not to fidget in place. That, paired with the look Ria is giving you is making you antsy, and you wonder if you should just make up some excuse about paper work and dash away. Before you can say anything Gregor grins, giving you a thumbs up.
“Glad to hear it, thought he might have gone MIA for a moment there.” He lowers his voice, as if sharing a secret. “Wolffe can sometimes get pretty intense, especially during training. Likes to bring out the chompers if he hasn’t had a good meal.” He laughs at the looks you and Ria give him. “By the way, Rex said he wanted to talk to ya yesterday. Did he find ya?"
“Yes, down at the shooting range.” You huff, “we actually ended up having a bit of a competition, see who could hit the most targets without looking.”
Gregor looks intrigued “Oh? How’d that go for ya?”
“l ate blaster dust.” You grin wryly “Let’s just say I won’t be challenging Rex to a shoot out anytime soon. Didn’t even stand a chance.”
“Was it the C-501 sim?” He asks. When you nod, he laughs “Ha! of course he’d win that one.”
“Oh?” You say confused, “Why’s that? It's only recently been added.”
“That’s because it was designed for us clones, way back on Kamino.” He leans in conspiratorially, “What the Kaminii didn’t realize was that it was too easy, so we ended up getting a little creative with it.”
“Creative how?” Ria leaned forward eagerly, soaking up this new information. You have to admit you’re intrigued as well.
Gregor was really getting into in now. Checking to see there were no other eavesdroppers, he huddles the two of you closer. “Well, there were the usual things like spinning in place before firing, making noise before a shot,” he counts them off on his fingers “shooting from someones back, doing a handstand.”
You and Ria just stare at him as he continues on his list. “But the best was hitting the targets without looking.” Here Gregor starts to grin, as if he was watching it himself “and no one was better then good’ol Rex."
“Really!?” Ria jumps in before you can comment, “How did he do it? Blindfolded? Eyes closed?” She’s practically climbing out of her seat to get to him, not that she’s noticed.
Gregor pushes his chair back to give himself some more room. “Well,” he says as he starts miming the actions. “He’d start off by facing the range, then he’d turn to his opponent. He’d make sure to look them straight in the eyes, something about establishing dominance, and then BLAM! Start firing each target.” He gives a hearty laugh “I’m not surprised ya didn’t win, he’s the reigning champ. No one has beaten him.”
Ria’s babbling on excitedly to Gregor, wanting to know all his secrets of the sims and training, but your mind has zoned out.
Reigning Champ? Never beaten? He already knew he was going to win, even before you had set the bet. You give a small huff of laughter, thinking back on his confidence, how easily he set you up in his trap. Well, well, you think to yourself looks like I got played for keeps.
Your musing are interrupted when you hear Gregor call out a greeting to a couple rebels who walked into the room.
“Wolffe! Rex! Come over’ere!” He waves his arm wildly, as they make their way over.
You can’t help but stare as he makes his way over, a slight swagger in his steps. One could presume it’s just how he carries himself, with his military upbringing, but you know better. That’s the walk of a man who finally has what he wants, and is not afraid to show it. His eyes linger on you neck before meeting yours, a smirk pulling on his lips.
You smile back, mind already working out your next challenge. You were your town’s best racer for five seasons, before you joined the rebellion, and the base did have a couple racers lying around. Why not even the odds? Winner takes all.
Rex sits across from you, and you tilt your head to the side, just enough that he can see the marks on your neck, the others engaged in their own conversation. The look you give him sends his heart beating faster, the calculated look in your eyes promising an enticing reward. Knowing his attention is on you, you quickly mouth best two out of three? While he doesn’t respond, his eyes tell you his answer, sending a thrill to your core.
Challenge accepted.
Tag List @samrubio @justanotherstarwarswhore @bvcketfvcker @grumpymuffinmama @justanothersadperson93 @fat-zygerrian @deewithani @idolized-sea-salt @i-am-bad-at-blogs
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#Captain Rex#Rex#Oldman Rex#Rebel!Rex#Rex x reader#Rebel Rex x reader#First fic#Yay me#Happy we've made it to the end#This was so much fun to write#Got a few more ideas floating around#So there may be some more side stories for this#We haven't seen the last of the Yavin boy#But I got something special planned for that 😈
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How the Bartlet Administration Reacts to COVID-19
Abbey: is not taking any chances. After losing the fight to get the President to retreat to the farm or Camp David, she gets him to agree to limit himself to the oval office and the residence, with as few in person meetings as possible. Even before they’ve pulled together a White House task force, she’s made sure that everything is being disinfected and that her entire schedule is either canceled or made virtual. Her staff is the first to be working from home (and oh boy does she scold if she finds out any of them did something she thinks is foolish), with most of the rest of the White House staff following shortly after. She makes it her mission to do PSAs on what people should be doing and even does a virtual Sesame Street collaboration to teach kids how to wash their hands.
Zoey: Is not super pleased to be stuck in the Residence 24/7. She’s doing classes from her bedroom, so yay to not having to get out of bed early, but she can tell people are super disappointed that her camera is set up so that she has only a blank wall behind her [it turns out the secret service is very touchy about where you take video calls]. She also gets officially hired and given a security clearance for the sole fact that she’s one of the only people allowed to be near her dad who is tech-literate. She ends up doing some of her reading on the couch in his office so that she's on hand for when he's supposed to be skyping with the senior staff and can't figure out what link to click. She spends a lot of time worrying about Ellie, who helping do research about the virus, and texting her friends.
The President: is not happy to be closed up away from people. He also thinks that Abbey is overreacting where he's concerned. He misses actually getting to be around the younger staff. He and Zoey do a cooking from home video at C.J.'s suggestion, so that the country can see he's alive and to encourage people to not go out. They make chili and fight over whether it needs more cumin or oregano while Abbey records it and pipes in from behind the camera. The country is treated to a history of chili and a diplomatic incident nearly happens because apparently Mexicans deny having any association with it, even though most food historians say it has Mexican roots. The flaming debate doesn't stop a second episode at Thanksgiving where the country is treated to the history of the yam and all the secret spices that go into the President's stuffing. A large portion of the country gives him flack for putting Oysters in his stuffing. [In a small bedroom in an Illinois apartment a woman finally figures out why Joe Bethersonsen sounded so familiar.]
Leo: moved into the Residence because there was no way he was going to talk the President off ledges via skype for however long this lasted. He can only do so much. Zoey helps him learn to use Skype and he finds himself missing Margaret desperately even when he spends most of the day with a computer dedicated to having her on Skype so he can turn to it and ask her questions. She insists he get exercise and eat healthy (something he thinks she’s collaborating with the first lady on behind his back—they say very similar things much of the time). He skypes with Mallory on Sunday mornings over breakfast in his room and they pretend they’re at a hotel having a fancy brunch.
Charlie: is not particularly happy. He got sent home with everyone else because he’s not particularly necessary to have on hand if the president isn’t going anywhere. He’s still getting paid and he does do some work (the most important bit being hanging out on the phone with the president so he can ramble about history so Zoey can get her own reading done, Leo can browbeat the staff, and the first lady can do her own job) but he’s been ordered by the president and first lady to focus on getting extra school done while he can.
Donna: started freaking out the first day there was a rumor of a new disease in China. Then the White House shut down and even senior staff got sent home unless they absolutely needed to be in the building (basically just C.J. and some of her staff). And her roommate (not the one she'd really liked, who had a cat, but one she hopes is only temporary) works for a GOP congressman who thinks the whole thing is a hoax and bans masks in his office, so Donna is not at all happy and spends time she should be working cleaning things her roommate touches and that's sixty percent of how she ends up living with Josh.
Josh: is struggling with not being allowed to leave the house on pain of the first lady taking him to task (something about his lungs and the bullet). Even when he was putting his nose to the grindstone to make it through college and law school, he liked being around people while he studied, so he was usually in the library or a cafe rather than his room. He works best when he can bounce ideas off people and take in new ideas. When he was grounded after surgery it absolutely sucked and that was why he drove everyone crazy calling them all the time. Yeah he was bored, but he was also lonely. Plus he's not the best with technology. He very nearly went on national tv with his boxers showing, if not for Donna skyping him beforehand and making sure he fixed the camera. Between needing not to be alone and needing his assistant to be able to actually help him, the invite for Donna to stay with him slips out when she's complaining about her roommate. She shows up two hours later with two suitcases of clothes and two suitcases with pasta, toilet paper, and flour.
Donna and Josh: are handling the pandemic much better now that they're together. Josh can bounce ideas off Donna without it tying up his phone line. And she can listen in on his calls to the various members of congress about the stimulus package that they're working on. It's an even better look at Josh's job than she had before, and while it makes some of her work harder to focus on, she feels like she understands some things better than she ever has before. Josh even starts listening to her about how to sway certain congressmembers to their side. When they're not working, Donna forces Josh to cook with her so they're not entirely subsisting on delivery. They tried making bread and managed to spill half a bag of flour on the floor in the process but they ate all of it, even though it tasted pretty bland. Josh finally got Donna into baseball when it came back. Toby spit out his beer when he was on speakerphone with them and he heard Donna accurately yelling at the Mets for screwing up. Donna wears Josh's clothes more than her own, since she doesn't have to be on camera most of the time. They're platonically sharing a bed because they haven't found a convertible sofa for his living room that they like, they say, and it doesn't make sense for one of them to sleep on the couch, which they say has a spring that makes it uncomfortable to sleep on, even though Donna lounges on it all day with no problem. They are absolutely not dating and so they tell all their friends.
C.J.: spends five minutes laughing every time she gets off the phone with Josh or Donna. She loves her friends but god they're so completely in denial. It does, however, give her a much needed break. Her job has always involved a lot of people and knowing what venue to meet them in to ensure that she gets or passes on the information she needs. COVID protocols mean no more one-on-one meetings with journalists in her office, no more gaggles following her through the halls. The press corps were not happy when they moved all briefings outside and insisted on face masks and shields in addition to everyone sitting six feet apart. She gets asked about the president's health at least once a day and they start doing weekly waving from the balconies just so the press corps can get footage of him, healthy and shouting down to Danny and some of the others. Someone makes a cartoon of the president in the tower, with Abbey as his dragon keeper and though no one is willing to justify a cartoon with a comment, privately C.J. thinks it's accurate. She's always admired Abbey's fierce protectiveness of her family, even when she doesn't agree with every way it expresses itself or when it interferes with C.J.'s job. She has to come up with new ways to push the White House agenda (keep the economy afloat, stay home, no, don't listen to the GOP governors or those running for the primary, those ideas are not good, go the fuck home and stop having parties) and while some work, others bomb. It would help if everyone would stay on message and not screw up.
Sam: would like to make it clear that he did not know how many people would be at that gathering. He thought he was going for an outdoor meal with just a few old friends who could help raise money for the democratic party, not a fifty-person birthday party. The media fallout nearly gets him fired. Instead he gets yelled at by C.J., then by the First Lady. Mallory even sends him a card about how stupid he was. He's pretty sure that having Donna around is the only reason that Josh hasn't made the same mistake by now. It had to have been a toss up as to which of the two of them would screw up. Sam just isn't lucky enough to have a Donna (Sam is very happy that Josh has a Donna, Sam just wants Josh to realize that he talks about Donna the same way most men talk about their wives, because it's really hard not to respond to "why do I put up with finding her hair clogging the shower drain" with "because you love her and can't live without her, stupid"). He instead has adopted a cat for company. It tries to scratch him every time he tries to pet it. Sam spends his days trying to find a way to say "fuck the economy until we've beaten the virus" in a way that is palatable to the American people while trying to remind Toby that they can't actually say that outright. This is not an easy task.
Toby: would like to tell most of the American public to shut up, stay indoors for two months, pretty much nobody excepted, and if you don't, then you get tossed out to sea. He's come within an inch of telling anti-mask people they deserve to get sick on the record and is strongly advocating that the federal government figure out a way to mandate that every person in the country, minus those with legitimate medical exceptions, get the vaccine as soon as possible. He is also about to get evicted because it turns out his neighbors do not appreciate having rubber balls bounced against the walls for hours on end. Apparently, the thud is rather annoying. He worries about everyone, though this is delivered brusquely. Out of everyone he's taking the new work from home situation the best. No one can pop in to distract him, or comment on his eating habits. And if he doesn't want to talk to someone, he can always turn his phone to silent and pretend not to have seen they called. He's not pleased the Yankees lost to the Rays (necessitating rooting for either the Dodgers or the Rays, one of which beat his team and the other which betrayed New York), but he can at least take solace in the fact that the Mets didn't even make the playoffs.
#the west wing#pandemic#covid#jed bartlet#president bartlet#abbey bartlet#zoey bartlet#josh lyman#donna moss#josh x donna#sam seaborn#cj cregg#toby ziegler#leo mcgarry#basically there are still dumb people even with a good administration#but they try#and abbey will make sure they stay safe or else#i think this theoretically slots in somewhere in season... three?
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Pull the Stars Out of the Sky (And Gift Them To Me), (Ahkmenrah x Reader)
Description: The new Pharaoh has a bit of an obsession problem.
Notes: i suppose this would technically be yandere but i really dont want to admit that i wrote yandere fanfiction about a childrens movie WC: 4.6k
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He called himself a savior. His people called him a God. Thus he acted as a sort of savior God, decked in gold, more powerful than the kings of a hundred foreign lands. He kept his friends close as he had no enemies, those in power too afraid to stand up to his might.
It was not as though he was undeserving of this title––quite the opposite. He dug his country out of a dangerous recession that followed an invasion by the Hittites. He defended his status as Pharaoh against his tyrannical elder brother, who had attempted to claim his rightful place on the throne. He brought great prosperity to his people and maintained his image of regality, the untouchable air around him, as though the Gods truly did walk the earth in the form of him.
Here he was, the most powerful man to walk the earth, coddling you as his fingers ran through your hair.
The decisions that brought you to this moment were poorly thought out at best and downright shameful at worst. Your home in the southeast of Africa now lay what felt like eons behind you, hazy memories of chains and scuffing, bloodied feet whirling in your head. Even in your village you knew of him––not by name, of course––and had already grown to fear him. By the time you got out of your home village and began going market to market, you knew to stay clear of him at all costs. But his dirty soldiers were everywhere, and constant vigilance brought you back-breaking stress that had your steps faltering.
Your stumbling was what brought you here. Stumbling into prison, stumbling into a palace, stumbling into a King's chambers.
"Aren't you just gorgeous," he cooed softly, petting your head.
The rough, uneven pull of your breath was the only disturbance in the peaceful room, bathed in warm light and Egyptian paintings. Every nerve in your body screamed to get away, to worm yourself out of his touch, but with every attempt he just held you tighter.
"What's your name? You look hungry," he said, eyes scanning your panicked face. "Would you like something to eat?"
Punch him. Talking to you like a dog.
You shook the thought out of your head, but the Pharaoh took it as a nod of confirmation.
"We'll get you some food," he decided with a smile, separating from you long enough to stand and pull you up with him.
He did not part his hand from yours, instead leading you through the long, tall hallways and their arches that painted scenes from stories you didn't know. Your past excursions to Egypt had hailed no such royalty, nor did any of your other travels. Most of the time you stayed in hostels and taverns. The grandeur and sanctity of churches and temples were as close as you got to this, standing on the cusp of a garden that stretched further than you could see, the white alabaster pillars lining your vision.
"Come," he said, and you thought it best to try not to disobey him. "This is a food garden. You can eat anything you like."
It had been a while since you'd gotten a good meal. The last thing you ate was hardtack from a tavern about a six-hour walk down the river from here.
The Pharaoh followed closely behind as you moved forward, constantly looking over your shoulder as you scanned the different vines and bushes. It was the color that caught your eye––most of the plants along the Nile sported an olive-type green, dull and yellow-ish. Many of the leaves in this garden were a bright green, more so than moss and grass, lively and soft beneath your fingers.
Only after scanning the whole of the garden did you decide on what to eat. From blossoming flowers in the water that lined the walkway to the figs hung high on the trees, you chose plums sprouted fruitfully from a short tree.
You sat right where you stood as you began gnawing at the flesh, tangy juice dripping from your bite marks. After a moment of watching you the Pharaoh lowered himself to your height, earning a chary side glance from you.
"What is your name, lovely?" He asked again, much softer, as he once more began to pet your hair. Most other times you would've shaken the hand off, but most other times it wasn't Pharaohs touching you.
"Amoke," you said through a rough throat and full mouth. Your voice had remained unused since you stepped foot in jail, and it was only now that you were reintegrating its' use.
"Amoke," he repeated, nodding. "A western name. Is that where you're from?"
You nodded.
"Do you like it there?" He asked quietly.
You shrugged.
"I should like to keep you here, then," he murmured, gaze flickering to every feature on your face. You watched his interest closely.
What came to mind was that you didn't want to stay here––that you wanted to keep on the road, stay away from the permanent and escape the inevitable routine. You couldn't say that, though. Not to his face. With nothing on your mind but leaving him and his touch, you remained silent in the wake of his request.
The sun soon set behind the garden's walls, casting long shadows that consumed the both of you without fail. When the residual light of the sky began to fade, he took your hand, paying the stickiness no mind as he led you back into the palace.
"I shall keep you in my room," he said with a firm confidence in his tone that stewed in your empty chest. "If ever you need something, just tell me. I can give you anything you desire. During the day you should stay in my room as well––it's safer that way. I'll be able to keep you safe."
From what?
Fifteen years travelling the world on your own and now you're forced into a single room for your 'protection.'
"My name is Ahkmenrah, though most call me by my title. 'My King,' and such. You may call me what you wish. I don't mind," he said, a smile crossing his features as he opened the door set in front of you. His eye only tore from you for a second before his attention was back, scanning the way you stepped nearer to him and into the room.
The once-bright light of sunset had vanished in his bedroom, replaced by the eerie purple of a late dusk. Outside the balcony arches, the sky bore an ombre of plum and blush, reaching up into the dome where stars had already come to see the world.
"I know your name already," you murmured, staring out to the city. His eyes remained ever on you, burning the back of your neck. "I know you freed many of your slaves but kept worker camps in Kush. I know you intimidated every nation so severely you can do anything you want now. It's not like anyone will stop you."
"You're knowledgable," he said, taking a seat on the floor.
"Is that what's happening here?" You asked, but he didn't quite understand. At his confusion you sighed but continued. "Am I supposed to be intimidated enough by you that I will stay here of my own free will?"
He furrowed his brow, tilting his head ever so lightly to the left.
"You... don't want to stay here?"
"No. I have a life that I'd like to get back to." Much of it being avoiding you.
"I don't understand," he said after a beat of silence. "You want to leave? But – there is nothing in the world I cannot give you here. Any riches you want, yours. Any delicacies are yours."
Ahkmenrah collected things. Already it was clear enough to see––collect and retain an image that prevents any fight against him, collect the riches of the world to give to his people and himself, collect the respect of those around him, and collect you. He will share with you everything he has gained if only you join this ever-growing, ceaseless collection of belongings. There is nothing stranger than being offered to become a toy.
"I prefer to keep moving. Meet new people," you said.
"You'll be safe here," he said, reaching for your hand. You instinctively pulled your hand away, but a sudden poisonous glare overtook his eye, and your heart froze in its' place long enough for him to gracefully lead you to your knees.
With you now raised on your knees, he met your height, nuzzling your cheek with his nose.
"I don't need to be –"
"You will stay here," he said, his intensity thrumming in your nerves. Once again there was no thought more comforting than leaving this place.
He must've noticed the panicked look on your face, as his expression softened.
"Do you understand? Oh, lovely," he said in a hum, fawning over you as his touch overcrowded your senses. His nose rubbing up beneath your jaw as he nuzzled into you, his hand holding your hip tight as the other tangled in your hair. He took in your scent with deep appreciation. "Sweet darling.. pretty one."
His mumbles grew less coherent the longer he held you, dusk fading into midnight as the silence of crickets resounded in the distant flora. The tension in your chest never fell, leaving you exhausted with your stiff breaths, bags beneath your eyes begging you to fall asleep, even if it was in the possession of another.
From waking up in an underground prison to mistakenly entering a King's chambers, the day weighed heavy on your mind with little solace at the end. Still, the body has its' cravings that will never relent, and you fell asleep to the rhythm of his praising murmurs and stroking hands.
Even hours later you awoke to arms still twisted around you, keeping you pressed tight to the warmth of the Pharaoh's chest. Hunger bit at your stomach, acid burning around the empty walls in a sweet reminder of your recent diet. Two-ingredient crackers and two plums in the last two days. You supposed that you wouldn't have to worry much about that in the future, so long as you stayed in his graces. While you doubted he would withhold food from you as punishment, you wouldn't put it past him, as it was a common jail tactic in many cities.
Wandering had been your sin for many years before this moment, and it would continue to be so whether or not you gave into the urge. Being stuck in any place––even one so comfortable as this––itched at your skin, tugged at your motionless legs and pulled at your scattered fingers. Despite your original insistence that you should stay still, your foot began to gently bounce as your fingers fidgeted restlessly. Your eyes darted every which way.
"I see you're awake," he mumbled, voice barely there in the first dregs of morning. "Stay a little longer."
Not that you really had a choice. His legs were all tangled in yours and you could barely move.
For what seemed to be another hour and a half you lay there, wondering when he would wake again and finally release you. He couldn't keep you here forever––not sleeping with him, not in this palace. It was clear he would not willingly let you go, so in the meantime ideas stirred in your head, plotting out ways to escape without his knowledge.
A knock came from the door when rays of sunlight began to touch the bedroom floor, flooding in through the arches. You wriggled when you heard the sound, disturbing Ahkmenrah from his sleepiness, which at last led to the loosening of his grip. The moment he went lax you tore yourself away.
Breath finally returned to you, the long hours of night fading away as your chest heaved an even up and down. The blankets around you fell as the Pharaoh stood, making his way to the large doors, where he removed the lock to let in a lean servant.
"Good morning, my King," he said, his gaze naturally coming to you. He stared at you but addressed Ahk, his words concise and posture straight. "You have a meeting with the embalmers of Thebes this morning, on the false accusations. After that you have –"
"– to overlook the temple building in the markets, yes, I know. My memory isn't that bad," Ahkmenrah grumbled, sighing deeply as he rubbed his face with his hand.
"Apologies, I just..." the servant's eyes flickered to yours, "didn't know if you.. drank last night."
"Just a glass, Naguib," he said with a slight smile, one that fell once Naguib began to root through his wardrobe.
You watched from your spot on the floor; the glint of gold in the closet, the mirror perfectly reflecting the King's standing position. His reflection yawned, dreary eyes meeting yours with a gentle delight. Instantly your vision darted away.
"Amoke, this is Naguib," he said, and in that moment you forced yourself to turn back to him. He was smiling expectantly, the servant behind him waving a polite hello. You returned the wave and he appeared to be satisfied.
Naguib picked the King's clothes and donned them on him, from the lapis beaded collar to gold cuffs on every wrist and ankle. The cape that streamed from his shoulders was a light all its' own, as though Ahkmenrah wore the sun upon his back, the silk drifting in gentle waves towards the marble floor. Only the crown was more regal than that, but above all was the man himself. The sweet coos and fawning words of the previous evening had faded into a stone face, pride on his puffed chest, and cunning on his parted lips.
"I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here for the day," he said as he stared at his reflection, smoothing out the wrinkles in his sleeves and the unevenness of his necklace.
"But –"
"No," he interrupted you before you could truly start, voice dipping low as half-lidded eyes turned to you.
There was something about his stare––something about the way he looked at you, as though he knew every thought in your head. This must've been the look that, in part, earned him his reputation.
"Stay here, pet," he said in a softer voice, bending down to kiss your forehead.
His lips were warm and enviously soft on your skin, but you had little time to process it before his cape whipped behind him, leaving you alone in the room. Naguib had left with him and locked the door. Now the only sound to calm the incessant ringing in your ears was the incredibly distant murmurs of an early-morning market, filled with birdsong and calling voices attempting to sell their work.
Fumbling to stand, you padded with bare feet towards the open arches. From here you could see the Nile and the many temples sprouted up throughout the city, their towers marking themselves distinct from the houses cluttering the twisting streets. It wasn't all unlike the other cities you'd seen––a different architecture style, of course, but similar nonetheless.
The arches had no railings of any sort, so as you peered over the edge, you kept both hands on the pillar beside you. Right beneath the Pharaoh's room was a garden, smaller than the one you had visited the night before.
It wasn't too far down, either.
You darted back into the room, pulling the thin blankets off the bed and off the floor, tying the ends together with frantic hands. Even your breath hastened to match your heartbeat, speeding dangerously in your chest as apprehension filled you. There was no time to waste––you needed to escape now, before he came back, before you had to memorize his routine; before this became more than a two-day problem.
Guards in their uniforms passed by outside, circling the palace with spears in their hands. You glanced out at them as you worked, trying to find the rhythm in their marching, and having little luck before you realized there were multiple groups passing by the arches at different times. A soft groan left you as you bit your lip in irritation. More things to calculate.
Although the ground didn't seem all too far away, it took a decent amount of time before the makeshift rope could reach the ground. Several hours of rearranging the types of knots and their placements finally wrought good results––the lowest blanket could now touch one of the trees near the garden's entrance, which you could use as a way down.
The sun had to be around midday, going by the shadows, and you assumed the Pharaoh would not be back to his bedroom until later in the evening. Before you could stay to see that time, you tied one end of your blanket rope to the arch's pillar and casted the length of it below you.
Hesitation caught you as you attempted to climb down, the sheer height of the building catching you off guard. What once seemed a short way was suddenly a means of death––not that it wasn't ever that before––and you could barely breathe with how tight your throat became. Your shaking hands gripped the cloth tight, sweating with the tension building in your muscles. Gentle breezes only accentuated your sweat, but it was not of import to you. All that remained on your mind in the overcrowding of fear was the need to escape, and thus you returned to your task, carefully scaling down the palace wall.
Nothing but silence dared make a sound in your thoughts as you climbed, breath evening further with every step you took downwards. The anxiousness only faded once you could see the individual leaves of the tree below you, and the design of the blanket stretched out on its limbs, crimson red and gold in the sunlight.
The moment you could reach you did so, clambering onto the thin branches in hopes of swinging towards the thicker ones. As you reached for the next branch, another hit your wrist, pain instantly shocking your left hand out of its' grip. Fortunately you caught yourself; just barely, and a second later you dropped to the ground with a huff.
You ran.
Without thought you ran, as fast as your feet could take you, as far as your lungs would allow. Air began to sting in your lungs, wind biting at the back of your open throat as you bounded through the halls, praying you wouldn't meet anyone on your way out.
The Pharaoh and his power was intimidating, no one could deny that, but your fears remained centralized in the idea of being known. You scarcely gave your name and hated living on in memory. Your own world was perfectly fine and you found no need to exist in anybody else's, no matter how much Ahkmenrah wanted you to.
But of course your stumbling would get you. As your thoughts were occupied, you paid little attention to the road in front of you, toppling over a railing you hadn't noticed yourself barreling towards. You tried to catch yourself with bulging eyes, but the ceiling was fading with mortifying speed. Bile filled your mouth as a sickness invaded your stomach.
Cool water splashed around you, soaking your clothes and skin alike as you sunk into the pool. Vines entangled you, the legs of lily pads separating in your wake, their flowers naught but silhouettes above you. A shadow appeared above you, but before you could make any decision it grabbed your upper arm and forced you out of the water.
"Ohh, dearest," sung a voice, accompanied by the close cradling of your body despite it being soaked. The sick feeling in your belly grew into a poison as recognition came to you. Your muscles tensed again in his grip, every nerve fighting against a fleeing instinct.
"My King, isn –"
"Quiet, Gyasi. My poor, sweet love... what are you doing here?" He asked, his hand coming up to stroke the hair away from your face. "I told you not to leave the room."
You shivered, leftover adrenaline sending shakes throughout your body. It left a tense silence where you would originally reply.
"You feel cold," he said, though you didn't feel at all cold. "Let's get you cleaned up, hm? I ought to do it anyway, since your clothes are a little torn."
He brought you to your feet, keeping an arm around you as he patiently led you away from the pond and those gathered there. Most everyone stared at you as you left, but you could barely notice, your vision blurred and hazy.
Steam filled your senses in the room he led you to, warm and scented with honey and lavender. Your eyes opened there, head raised to see the servant women working, stoking the fires and heating the water. Beside you, Ahk motioned to one of them, mumbling something in her ear that sent her out the door. Though curiosity did come to you, you kept silent in the unease of the Pharaoh's presence.
He had yet to accuse you of trying to escape, but it was only a matter of time. The rope in his room was still hung off the balcony. That fact kept you wary as much as it kept you jumpy, something Ahkmenrah unfortunately noticed.
By the hands on your shoulders he led you to a bath dug into the raised floor, the water inside steaming pleasantly with the scent of honey. Reluctantly you began to peel your clothes away, all too aware of his eye on you, memorizing how you stripped yourself down. As you dipped into the water, you attempted at removing the sick irritation you connected with him staring at you. It would happen quite a lot more (whether or not you wanted it to) before you could leave this place.
"Do you have any injuries?" He asked as he moved to sit beside you, his golden robes dirtying on the floor.
"I don't know," you said hoarsely.
"I'll have one of our physicians look over you. That was a long fall," he said, leaning forward to kiss your forehead again, before standing and leaving you to the care of the servants.
As promised, a physician visited you shortly, scanning over you while one of the women scrubbed at the dirt beneath your fingernails. The heat of the water calmed your muscles, untensing your anxious grips even as you were bombarded with questions.
By the time the servant women had dried and dressed you in new clothes, the Pharaoh had yet to return from whatever excursion he had left on. It didn't bother you, considering you didn't especially like being around him, but it did leave you wondering as you lazily watched the servants. Even if you wanted to leave you couldn't; you had no idea where in the palace you were, and there was a fair amount of guards wandering around outside the room. You bit at the inside of your cheek.
A good while later––far past the midday when you'd first fallen––he returned with singed clothes, ash covering his face. Your eyes widened at his appearance, and he was quick to notice your mild alarm.
"Incident at the, um, Bastet temple. One of the new priests really likes working with fire," he mumbled in a dazed voice, shaking his head as though he was trying to shake himself back into his body. "Are you alright?"
You nodded.
"Good. I've got most of the rest of the evening free, so let's get you back to my room, yes?"
It took quite a lot of self-control not to spit in his face, and much more willpower to slowly nod. He would accept no other answer and the suggestion of such would land you in unknown terrain.
He led you back down the hall, and each step you took burnt your regret into the ground beneath you. If one could identify the scent of fear, it'd be coming off you in floods, obvious in your panicked eyes and hastened breath. He would find the rope, and he would no doubt be angry. None of this would have happened if you had just watched where you were going.
Panic saturated your heart, functionally marinated it, as Ahkmenrah reached forward to open the door in the middle of the hallway. Every click of the latch had you flinching, till the door swung open and the light of late-afternoon hit your eyes.
The rope tied to the arch was inconspicuous, but the absence of nearly all the blankets in the room was not. Slowly the cogs in his brain sped up, and in each passing second you could see further recognition in him, till his eyes turned to the rope knotted around the pillar.
He said nothing––simply moved forward, glanced out and down the balcony, and turned back to you.
"You were trying to escape?" He asked you, nothing behind the tone of his voice, which might as well have been as bad as any anger he could've unleashed.
"I told you I could keep you safe here," he continued, and you, in your head, connected dots that suddenly appeared. He would never let you outside his room now––now that his point has been proven. "See what happens when you disobey?"
You blinked and he was standing in front of you, close enough that every inhale of his chest brushed against your shirt. At first you tried to step away, but he moved to cup your face, keeping you frozen in your spot. Your terrified eyes stared into his.
"The next time you try to leave here without me, I shall have to intervene myself, if you do not hurt yourself on your own as you so often do. Do you understand me?"
You nodded. There was nothing else you could do, not with your throat so tight you could barely swallow.
"I obviously cannot trust you," he said, his gaze flickering between your eyes.
He left you standing in the middle of the room as he went to one of his chests, pulling and unlocking the latch before the creak of hinges sounded in the room. You turned to watch in both interest and worry, patiently waiting for his reveal, before he turned back to you with rope in his hands.
As per usual, your first instinct was to bolt out the door. Your feet practically itched with the tension stored up in them, but you stayed perfectly still, terrified into submission as he pulled you forward. You almost stumbled, but before you could fully do so he pushed you onto his bed. Quickly you moved from your stomach to your back, creeping backwards on the bed as he drew nearer, the rope drawn taut between his hands. Kneeling on the bed with his head held high above yours, he was an opposite from the lovesick King you had first met.
He tied your wrists to the bedpost and you let him. He pulled the knots so tight and intricate there was no hope you could get out without breaking the rope, and you let him.
"I can keep you safe here," he murmured, lodged between your legs with his lips against your temple. Your heart stormed hell in your chest. "You will stay here. Any attempt on your behalf to leave and I will have to punish you. Understand?"
"Then I am a prisoner," you said, your voice hoarse and broken.
"You are what you make yourself," he said in a much more stern tone, looking down at you with knowing, wary eyes. "If it is a prisoner, then so be it. But you will be, throughout all actions and situations, mine."
"I..."
"You belong to me."
#ahkmenrah x reader#Ahkmenrah#Night at the Museum#rami malek#rami malek character#ahkmenrah x male reader#ahkmenrah x female reader
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