#the processing out loud where you’re almost having a conversation with yourself. having an internal dialogue out loud.

[miss-morland]

dennis in dtamhd is so bpd recovery coded i feel so much about it <333333

[daiseukiis]

╰ ⋆ ❝ 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 ! ❞ ଓ.° ╮

FEAT. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ mikage reo

CONTENTS. fem!reader x mikage reo, profanity, mutual pinning, best friends to lovers, frustrating slow burn boo

SUMMARY. you and mikage reo go way back, since second year of jr high. yet who knew you'd fall for your one and only best friend.

W/C. 15.2k

A/N. good fuckin' tangina this is done. i didn't even expect it to take this damn long. here's to the ( possibily ) longest mikage reo oneshot in ur lives bc damn imma sleep now. im too tired to proofread u gais r on ur own omg. @17020 @adorlings @lov3nagi uhh who else ugh whatever goodnight at 6:30am

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “you’re pretty good.” the bustling sound of ‘high score!’ rings through your ears along with the sounds of loud gaming machines with the occasional ‘k.o!’ from a fighting game. your hues look directly at the ball which swishes through the net and the record of the machine changing from the bright led light of 48 to 62. the ball spins in your hand momentarily as you throw it once more despite the timer already ticking to zero— just for fun. “thanks, i’m actually on the basketball team.”

��no wonder, you beat the record.” periwinkle strands matching with his eyes look at the score you hit before directing his eyes to where yours was. the boy smiles, one which you easily reciprocate as you point at the blinking number 60 on his side of the basketball game. “you did pretty good yourself, you also beat the record on your machine.”

“what can i say?” the young boy shrugs his shoulders, making you chuckle at his easy going attitude— he surely did interest you lots. you pick up your school bag and blazer you had thrown to the ground upon arriving at your game, quickly putting on your belongings as you notice him also grab hold of his school bag, one which you recognize to also be in jr high.

“you’re cool, i’m yn.” you outstretch your hand to him with a smile. he takes your hand, showing you a smile of his own that made you want to melt on the spot. the sound of his voice brings you quickly back to reality, “i’m mikage reo.”

the more you soak in the features of this boy the more something in you just wanted to tell you to stay, even the warmth of reo’s hand was like calming a sea of uneasiness. there was something in his violet diamonds that allured you like a moth to a fire. but you knew you had no luxury to find the truth so easily.

“hate to be rude, but you’re kinda screaming rich boy.” you wanted to distract yourself from this bubbling interest, quickly pulling your hand away that had seemed to hold on for a bit too long on to his. your smile wavers slightly though not noticeable to the human eye. with a lighthearted joke, you continue your conversation with him. “and your name sounds like the—” 

“heir to the mikage corporation? yeah, that’s me.” your jaw almost drops at his response, staring at his handsome stature. you blink your lashes a couple of times, letting the new information click in until it finally processes properly. your gasp surprises reo, raising a brow at your sudden change of attitude once he revealed the truth about his background. “no way, you’re a rich boy and pretty boy?”

“i guess so? thanks, you’re pretty too.” reo didn’t know how to reply back to your words, in fact he found you odd. usually at this point, maybe people would suck up to him for connections, yet you didn’t. “you’re flattering, really.” you were… refreshing to him. the boy grins, changing his confusion that that of a more comfortable look. “let’s keep in touch, yeah?”

the way your eyes lit up at his question made him internally chuckle, he had to admit it, you’re cute. “i’d love to!” reo goes and reaches for his pocket, taking out his phone to gesture to you to exchange contacts. “do you have line?” 

you look slightly bewildered at his actions, staring at the line home screen to add contacts. “uhm, email or number works, is that okay?” you nervously look through your bag, lifting up your rather outdated flip phone at him. “i know, i really need a new phone but it’s a hand me down. hope you don’t mind.”

“i can get you a new one.” reo says so instantaneously that it catches you off guard. you blink your pretty lashes at the look of his raised brow, waiting for the answer. shock is instantly running through you as your face scrunches up, “what?”

“i’m serious, you’re my friend now and you seem like you’re struggling with that.” to say you were speechless was an understatement, he couldn’t be serious, right? though the look on his face is unwavering you start to think— he’s serious. “hold on! i appreciate the offer but that’s too much, seriously.” 

“here,” you quickly grab hold of his phone, quickly typing in your contact information to his number. you lift the device, creating a peace sign with your free hand as you click the button to create a contact photo for yourself. as you finish it up, you hand the phone back to reo before spinning on your heels out of the arcade. “text me later, alright? let’s meet up again, mikage! i gotta head to work!”

reo watches as your figure disappears from his view. he can’t help but smile to himself at your rather honest and odd antics, he was going to lie to himself that he tried to test you earlier if you were just going to use him for his money; and you didn’t disappoint. this encounter would forever be burned into his mind, for better or for worse.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “she’s pretty, think i could get her number?” a male classmate say out to his group mates, the female of the group letting out a small chuckle at him. “pfft, i thought you’d want a girl with more class?” the boy sends her a smirk, shrugging his shoulders. “hey, maybe she’ll let me be her sugar daddy? i got the money for it.”

‘what assholes.’ it’s not like reo didn’t want to be there, it was more or so he had no choice but to be with the other three students from his class. what did he expect though? he knew that they only chose him for his relations and connections, and for the fact that it wasn’t going to be the last instance like this to happen.

“oh, here she comes!” one of the other guys smacks their friend by the forearm, slightly pointing a finger towards the waiter discreetly. everyone but reo was whisper yelling their cheers to the male who had gotten his words ready in his mind to say. “get ready.”

“here are your orders—” this voice. immediately the boy turns his head to the side, eyes going into contact with your jewels. “yn?” there was a small pause in the air, your hand had reached out to place a drink down on the table. you felt a part of your locks drop from your shoulders due to the angle of you hovering over. “mikage?”

“you work here?” reo being surprised at your appearance was an understatement, and you seeing reo at the cafe you worked part-time at was also a pleasant discovery for you. after placing down the rest of the orders the table had gotten you prompted yourself up to a more relaxed position upright, a hand pushing back the lock of hair which fell earlier. “yeah, surprise to see you here!”

“that’s why you’re always so busy.” he jokes, jabbing at you since you did tell him that you had other plans and bailed out on him last week due to a sudden work shift. you can’t help but smile at him. “work and basketball, i’m a busy body myself.”

“clearly. just take rests too.” reo scoffs at you, knowing full well that your life revolved working shifts like a dog and playing ball after school with little to no social life left for you. rolling your eyes you can’t help but scoff back at his slightly nagging nature. “yeah, yeah, i heard you, mikage.” waving a hand out, you dismiss what he says. “anyways, i’ll be right back. i’ll bring that latte over for you.”

“yeah, go ahead.” without another word you nod your head at the other three, walking away from their table to go back to the front counter. just as you were out of ear shot all eyes direct themselves to reo with questions flying out their mouths. “yo! you know her?”

“we met at the arcade playing on the basketball machine.” one of the guys wraps an around reo’s shoulders as he grins at him. “cool, she plays sports too huh.” interested, the female soon asks her question as well; all surprised to see reo know the same girl their classmate was after. “what school does she go to?”

“i remember her telling me she went to teiko.” reo says, sighing a bit as he removes his classmate’s arm off his body. the other boy is astonished by the fact, “woah, that powerhouse? the kiseki no sedai are there!” “think she knows kise ryouta?” his girl classmate urgently asks, yet all these questions were tiring reo out. the two know of each other, and it was just around two weeks ago, it annoyed him a bit that rather than finishing what they came there for he was being interrogated. “dunno, ask her yourself.”

“alright, here’s your latte.” just when another question could be fired at reo, you had came and placed the last glass of the order down on the table. gods, did reo was good to see you come back so fast and save him from his classmates. “hey, i got a question for you.” you hum in response, looking at her after you put down the tissues and straws for them. “you’re from teiko, right? do you know kise ryouta?”

“ryouta? he’s a friend of mine, what about him?” though slightly odded out, this was once again a norm for you. “great! could you give me his number?” being on the basketball team of an infamous school really had its perks and cons, and seeing how you watched the girl search through her school bag to fish out her phone meant that it was going to be one of those days. 

“can’t do that.” she stops her actions and twists her brows towards your direction. “what, why?” you shrug your shoulders at her, blunt as possible since this scenario played so many times in your life already. “i don’t know you.” the small glare is evident on the girl’s features, “fujmoto tsukina, second year jr high. now you know me, will you give it to me now?”

“i don’t just give ryouta’s number to anyone.” you were quite surprised when something like this first happened, you’d thought some people would have common sense but clearly they were either shameless or pushy. the girl at the table pouts, crossing her arms and slumping back on to her seat. “ugh, fine.” was it another fangirl crushed? definitely.

reo had to admit that you were a charismatic character, seeing your ideals and beliefs showed what type of person you were in his eyes. you were so different than all the others around him that he can’t help but be attracted at the single thought of you. noticing the gaze reo had on you makes you beam a smile, one which felt so different to him compared to the ones you gave his classmates. “if there’s nothing else that you need, i’ll be going now.”

“wait, what about your number?”

‘he still asked for it.’ reo internally sighs to himself, glancing at you to see what your reaction would be to being asked that question. ‘what’s your answer, yn?’ your body pauses for a moment, though you stand up properly and send your customer service smile towards the boy. “you’re not my type.” and without another word you walk away from the table.

“damn! she shut you down bro!” reo is beyond baffled at what you said, starting to laugh at himself the moment you were out of ear shot. it was like the more you were around the more life felt so… lively. the rest of the group pout and huff at your words, yet reo was starting to take such an interest in you. “mikage, you sure you’re friends with her?”

“right! she’s so stingy!” the female of the group groans, remembering the interaction itself annoyed her. as soon as reo hears those words leave from her mouth he starts to frown, staring at her with furrowed brows and a dark look. “don’t talk about yn like that.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “you off your shift?” the look of shock on your face was almost priceless in reo’s books, a small chuckle erupting from his mouth as you stood there with wide eyes. after collecting yourself, you couldn’t help but also laugh with him— you knew you probably looked funny. “what’s this? you stalking me now?”

“i just thought i’d walk you home, it’s getting pretty dark.” he was right. the sun had already changed skies with the moon that barely illuminated both your bodies, yet with the help of the tokyo street lights were you able to see him there. reo did scare you, but regardless of that you found it comforting that it was him out of anyone else in the world. 

“aren’t you sweet.” the boy sends you a toothy grin, one you can’t help but send one back. gripping hold of your school bag you make your way towards his figure, leading him towards your home. “were those your friends?”

“you could say that.” reo flatly responds to you, thinking back to the group that he was with in the cafe. “we were working on a school project.” you nod your head remembering how they interacted towards each other. “i noticed. you didn’t seem too close with them.”

“yeah, sorry about that. i know they were being kinda rude to you.” he sighs as his right hand goes to rub the nape of his neck, to say that he was embarrassed and felt bad for you was an understatement. reo knew that to some extent you had to be professional due to the fact that a word from them could get you fired. you giggle at how he reacts, feeling his honesty which noticed that many privileged like him don’t usually have. “i appreciate your concern, mikage, but i’ve dealt with worse.”

“hey,” with that simple word the conversation resets to another, your giggling dialling down as you stop to listen to what he has to say. “what’s up?” “y’know, you can call me reo.” you blink in astonishment, seeing the look of seriousness on visual. it was as if he was in a board meeting for god’s sake! but then again, it has only been a few weeks since your last encounter with him and it was the second time you saw him in person was today. maybe he just rather be called by his first name?

“sure we aren’t going too fast?”

“what?”

“in this relationship.”

“huh—?!” the shocked look of wide eyes and a blush that hid under the darkness of the night sky is what causes you to burst out in laughter as you clutch your stomach. “i’m just kidding! don’t get your panties in a knot, pretty boy.” 

“you’re so unexpected.” it takes reo a second to recover from your joke, cheeks pouted out for a few moments. his head is a bit jumbled by what you said to him, who wouldn’t? he watches as you finish your laughing fit, wiping a tear of joy from your eyes after witnessing an award winning expression. “i get that a lot.”

“well, this is my apartment.” you point to the building right around the corner in a quiet neighbourhood, it had a modern look to it with a slightly old infrastructure. you lead him up the stairs to the second floor and stop at the very last door that had number fourteen on it. you go through your school bag to take out your keys. “did you want to come inside?”

“sure, if that’s alright with you.” since he was there and had time to spare he thought why not? it was you who invited him in the first place as well. “it’s no problem,” you nod your head and turn the doorknob for the place to open up. you take a step in and open the lights to the entrance of your cosy apartment, “a bit cramped so i hope you don’t mind. make yourself at home though.”

he answers with a hum, mumbling out ‘pardon for the intrusion’ before taking a step in your home. reo takes off his shoes and places it beside where you have left yours, noticing that there wasn’t many shoes on the rack. “do you live by yourself?”

“yeah, my parents are always abroad so it’s just me.” you casually throw your bag on your sofa as you make your way to your kitchen not even bothering to turn the lights on. it was already such an exhausting day for you. from basketball practice in the morning and a full shift having to deal with rather rude customers; yet you can’t really complain since you chose that sort of lifestyle.

“it’s probably not as big as your mansion, but here,” opening up your freezer you grab hold of a popsicle, taking out the wrapper and snapping it in half. “i know you just ate but share this with me.” reo looks at your hand as you make your way towards him, he gives a rather odded out expression as you direct the other half of the popsicle to him. you chuckle and urge him to take it, one which he hesitates to take. “thanks.”

you shot one of your signature smiles at him, though to reo your smile just made his heart skip a beat. with a smile that elegant he felt like he was dreaming. what was this feeling? the more he steps closer to you as you make your way towards such a small balcony, watching as you lean on the railings while the wind plays with your hair, hell, even the curtains started to dance along the night breeze. the way the moon shines down and blesses your skin was like looking at a goddess, and reo knew in this moment you were much more than just a simple girl he met at an arcade.

“from now on let’s stick together, reo.”

this was where mikage reo knew he found his treasure.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “oh look at these,” you stop by a stall on the way to the train station, a shop which sells charms of all sorts. your eyes land on a minimalistic phone charm which had a golden bell and a deep plum stone connected to it all with a white string. you point at the object catching your friend’s attention, “it’s so cute reo!”

the two of you were on the way to meet up with nagi at an arcade on a wonderful saturday afternoon, the sun shining on both your figures to warm up the skin on your bodies. nagi who was late as per usual was not yet there, and reo who had went to pick you up from your apartment earlier that day had suggested you might as well browse around and look at the things in tokyo.

“those are real amethyst.” the elderly shopkeeper states, smiling at the two of you to urge you closer to her booth. reo didn’t care much if it was real or not, but the way he watches your body looks at the charms with so much interest he couldn’t help himself. “we’ll take two.” “wha—” it wasn’t the first, and it will never be the last where reo would impulsively buy something just because you mentioned it, you love the thought, but it weighed down on your consciousness that in the long run he has spent a lot on you subconsciously.

“close your mouth yn, you’ll catch a fly.” reo lets out a chuckle, glancing at your flabbergasted expression with amusement. the boy fishes out his wallet to pay for two of the exact ones you had pointed out earlier. “why did you buy it?” you pout at the boy who soon hands you one of the charms, the two of you sitting down at the side to attach it to your phones.

“it looked nice.” though he won’t say it verbally that it was because you like it, he genuinely thought that the charms you saw were beautiful pieces. he pops his phone case off, wrapping the small section of string through the holes intended for the charm to go in “besides, these are best friend charms for the both of us.”

“that’s a first.” mirroring reo’s actions, you stop when he places his hand to you for him to wrap the charm himself for you. though reluctant, you gave your phone to him, a smartphone which he forced you to take two years ago saying that it’ll ‘help’ him contact you better. you knew he was bullshitting and was just giving you excuses to receive the phone.

“i can give it to nagi if you don’t want it.” he gives you a side eye, taking the charm and halting his movements from putting it on your phone case. you gasp at him, obviously offended to why he would suggest that. “don’t you dare!”

you lunge forward at reo, but due to that guy’s superior physique he stretches his arm faster than you could grab the charm from him. one hand landing on the other side of reo’s body and your other hand outstretched to the sky, yet even with your efforts you couldn’t reach the charm. lady luck really wasn’t on your side today, leaning a bit too fast caused your momentum to throw yourself on reo, and the boy securingly wraps his arm around your waist so you wouldn’t tumble and fall.

if you let out a breath now, reo would for sure feel the graze of your lips moving ever so slightly on his. both hues stare so deeply at the other, faces centimetres away with noses touching each other as light as a feather falling. it was cliché, and the both of you knew that. yet you can’t help this feeling of attraction to your best friend, it was like your heart was beating in sync with his. 

as reo lets go of your waist you sit up just as fast as you look away from him, hands laying on your lap with your cheeks turn into a pink blaze. you manage to croak out a measly, “i’m sorry” to him where he just nods at you. the both of you didn’t know how long you were in that position, but was enough to make your hearts go in a frenzy. the sa

words cannot describe such a feeling of catharsis that threatens to escape through the heart— was it really worth the risk?

“just don’t get upset yn.” he wasn’t too sure if you were alright with the silence, but reo knew for a fact it didn’t sit well with him at all. as a sigh came out from his mouth, he tried to ignore the fact that the tips of his ears were burning a bright red colour. with that one comment alone you reset back to your conversation. “you threatened to give our friendship charms to him!”

“thought you didn’t want it.” the boy flat out states something from earlier, but you roll your eyes at him, finally looking at the face that mocks you teasingly. “i do though!” you grab hold of your phone case once more, hand out for the charm as this time he finally obliges and has it to you. reo watches as your slender fingers work with the string to put it into your case. you finish by putting your case back on your phone

“because look, we’re matching.” you take reo’s phone from his lap and hold the two devices side by side to show him. lo’ and behold the two charms matching with both your phones. your grin doesn’t fail to make the boy’s feel some type of way. just the way you smile at him is enough to question why you weren’t in his arms.

“wherever i am, you’ll always have a piece of me with you.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “when do you plan on telling yn we’re going to this blue lock?” nagi mumbled, eyes focusing on his phone as he tries to win a fighting game. him and reo recently finished school club activities, walking back to their respective places. nagi momentarily moves his eyes to glance at reo who shows the look of distraught on his face. “i was going to visit her today after work to let her know we were going.”

“she’s not gonna be happy.” reo’s white-haired friend stated, a groan leaving the said male’s lips just thinking about how upset you’d be when you hear the entirety of what the project is about. “i know.”

“well i’ll leave you to do that, i’m going home.” nagi had no interest in your guys’ quarrel, especially knowing since he’d felt the terror of ln yn before. so this was an off limits final boss that he had no magic armour to participate in. reo shoots a semi-small glare, knowing as much as nagi that the situation was less than optimal but is undeniably unavoidable. “thanks for the support.”

“no problem. i’m tired, so tell yn i said hi.” he gives reo a thumbs up as a sign of good luck against the final boss, waving his hand right after he had done the same. “yeah, i’ll see you nagi.” the second year heaves in a small breath, walking towards where you worked. the automatic doors open once they notice his presence, and there you were.

his plum hues land on your figure that had been helping with a customer over the counter, your signature customer service smile so bright as you hand the bag of goods to the person. reo wasn’t going to deny it, as many times he had seen you in uniform for work, your beauty never ceases to blow him away. be it at work or just a bare face, he knows you made him feel such a warmth in his stomach. 

“reo! just give me a second, i gotta have to clock out.” it took him a moment to realize you were already standing in front of his figure with the smile that causes his stomach to go through twists and turns. reo nods his head, smiling back at you. “take your time.” he watches as you wave your hand out, bidding you a short ‘bye!’ before you grab hold of your water bottle and head to the staff room to change.

reo walks out the store, waiting by the entrance of the building as he continues to check through his social media to see what the world was up to— not much interested him really. despite having his phone in his hand, the thought of your sad look that may grace such visuals made his heart crack just a bit. why did it hurt like this?

“alright, i’m all done! thanks for waiting for me.” your voice breaks him out of his train of thought, eyes scanning your once work uniform now in your school attire. reo nods his head to show you that he heard you, a smile to greet your figure as you take your position beside him.

the walk home seemed… awkward on your end. it was unusual for reo to seem tense around you, and he knew that you knew he was hiding what was on his mind. with an expression that shows reo’s slightly furrowed brows and droopy eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was distracted.

“hey, i gotta tell you something.” you flinch at his sudden words, much to your surprise he was the first to break the silence. your mouth was already open, yet he beat you to it— perhaps knowing how awkward he was making this. “what’s up?”

“me and nagi got accepted to this blue lock to train for football.” a small gasp leaves your lips, a grin spreading from ear to ear. immediately your first response was to jump hug him ( one which you gained a habit from nagi ). a loud giggle runs through reo’s ears, his body slightly leaning forward due to your leap on him. “that’s great! you guys are aiming to be the best in the world!”

“here’s the thing,” reo starts as he sucks a breath in, his tone was far from happy which causes you to raise your brows at his rather negative reaction. “i don’t know how long i’ll be gone.” your movements stop as your arms remove itself from around reo’s neck, much to his dismay. you regain your posture, standing up straight to face him, the smile on your face slowly drops at the news. “you’re leaving?”

“just temporarily.” it hurt reo to see this look on your face, it burns his heart knowing the smile falters from such a face like yours. you couldn’t lie to him even if you told you weren’t happy with his decision, but who were you to stop him from his dreams? it’s a hard pill to swallow, but you never wanted to get in the way of him and his future so you can’t help but put on a smile, “don’t make me wait too long.”

“and then what? are you gonna leave me?” he didn’t really want to hear the answer, even if he was praying to the gods that keep you from answering it. reality was always inevitable in many ways than one, and that included you.

“of course not.” to reo, your smile was as angelic as the day he met you. the wind plays with the locks of your hair, causing you to lift your hand up and put the strands behind your ear. reo can’t deny it, just your existence alone made his heart beat out of his chest— winning the world cup was almost a side quest to him in that moment. 

“i’ll just miss you too much.”

and that’s how mikage reo knew he had fallen in love with you.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “hey, yn’s working right now right?” reo notices that nagi had been texting you, or so they were notifications from three hours ago. the white haired boy nods his head at him, showing the chat which just consisted of you and nagi talking about how work was ever so busy on your end. “hmm, yeah, said she got a full shift.”

“you know when it ends?” reo quickly scans the text messages that nagi was willing to show him, but the boy shrugs his shoulders after trying to recall what you had texted earlier that morning. “beats me… you text her.”

“woah, hold up.” multiple blue lock players freeze on the spot when they hear their conversation, stopping whatever they were doing and stare at the two boys who only hum in confusion. “‘she’?” another presses on, moving towards nagi and reo while a few others follow suit. the lot of them were in shibuya having a break from training, and were hanging out until the topic of you disrupted the flow of things. 

“who’s yn?” the first to ask is isagi, just as interested as everyone to hear your name being casually dropped in a conversation with nagi. to him it was the first to see reo be interested in something other than the said boy, so he couldn’t help himself but be curious. chigiri gapes at reo a bit, “is she your girlfriend or something?”

“she’s my best friend!” reo yells out rather too defensively which makes many of them question his feelings for you. the boys snicker, not even bothering to respond back as the smirks and evil grins some of them had only made the lilac haired footballer to lift a fist up along with his middle finger.

“i thought i was your best friend?” nagi was nowhere near offended, in fact he didn’t mind at all since he knew how reo looked at you. before the rich boy could answer back nagi heaves a sigh and leans his head on the table, “well, it don’t matter anyways… you want yn to be your girlfriend.”

“don’t just say shit like that, nagi!” reo screams out, making nagi only close his eyes, lips pursing into an ‘x’ like shape as he takes both of his index fingers and plugs it into his ears; mumbling things along the line that he was being too loud.

“oh, now we gotta meet ‘er!” the black haired boy; karasu gets up from his seat which causes a chain reaction where the other boys who are equally invested in figuring out this mystery girl that reo and nagi are talking about. reo panics a bit as he also stands up when they do, trying to stop their advances. “she’s working right now!”

“who cares.” otoya shoots at him, holding reo’s right forearm and urges him to get a move along. seeing how reo almost fell, karasu quickly grabs his left forearm to drag him forward as well. the boy gave a smug grin, joining in on the teasing, “i’m sure you’re dying to see her!”

“alright! let go of me!” reo is now struggling to even keep you to himself, and he knew for a fact that these guys were not gonna let you go after carelessly mentioning you. the boy stretches his arms out in an attempt to get out of the two’s grasp, which they did. 

reo can hear multiple other players asking nagi to lead the way, as well as asking who you were. when he looks up from groaning and struggling free, he could already see half of them walking away from his figure. “yay! to yn-chan!” reo could not catch a break, easily when bachira threw himself on the said boy’s back. 

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “oh yn, you’re always helpful as usual.” you chuckle at the elderly woman in front of you, giving her the change she has from the purchase. with two hands you hand the receipt to her, giving a courteous bow. “thanks so much, tanaka-san. i’ll follow up next week to see how that cream is doing for you!”

“such a sweet child, tell that mikage friend of yours hello for me!” tanaka swipes her hand down in a slow motion, flustered to hear such kind words coming from you. she gives you a sweet smile before giving a wave and heading out towards the exit of the store. “not too sure when i’ll be seeing him, but i’ll let him know.”

“she’s yn?”

“holy shit.”

“she’s so glamorous!” 

“ya girlfriend’s a hottie.”

“like i said, yn isn’t my girlfriend.” his words are stern and sharp, almost malice dripping out from his tone of voice. reo is irritated at this point, throughout the entire walk to get to your workplace they had been non-stop asking questions about you that he would have rather they have not asked, and answered questions he had not wanted to answer. at this point he’s convinced that they’re doing this to annoy him.

“she’s not your girlfriend, so can i make her mine?” 

“back off!” otoya face drops from a bright up to an irritated look. his phone was already out to ask for your number. though that was what caught the group’s attention, but how both reo and nagi had shut them down at the same time. “woah, even nagi’s agreeing!”

“reo?” your eyes connect with the said male’s lavender gems, ones which held the warmth and comfort you always looked for. your eyes widen at the sight of him standing just a few feet away from you, were you dreaming? your body freezes what it was doing watching as he starts to make his way to where you were, until he stands right in front of being.

“i’m back, yn.” 

the way your eyes brighten, hiding the glistening sea that almost escapes your hues shows the feelings of sadness she had been suppressing. in a quick motion you wrap your arms around him into an embrace, the feeling of joy overwhelming you that you’d even discard the professionalism you were supposed to have. but in this moment you wanted no other but to feel his warmth back in your arms.

the action catches reo off guard, not knowing that you’d even react this way after not seeing him for a couple weeks. the tips of his ears flush that pink, arms hesitantly wrapping around you in a slightly awkward manner. this wasn’t the first that you two have hugged, but this type it felt different.

“i can’t believe you’re here! i saw the game!” pulling away a bit too soon than reo had wanted, you take a step back to quickly fix your attire. to you, this was one of the moments you had dreamed of for the last few weeks. yet to reo, he was quickly shutting down any sort of snickering remarks he was quietly hearing from his blue lock mates. though the mention of the game catches his attention, “you were at the stadium?”

“i worked a shift… but i was watching it on my phone.” you playfully stick a tongue out with your peace sign, sending an animated wink his way which seemed to have caused reo to sigh in defeat at your antics, once again.

“hi yn.” a familiar white haired boy steps into your field of view. the sight of him made your body excited just remembering the moves the two of them did during the game— in fact you never saw nagi be that motivated for anything in his life! “nagi! you guys looked so cool!” the boy nods his head, a small smile creeping up his lips. “thanks.”

“are these your teammates?” you point to a rather large group of boys that was currently occupying a good chunk of your section. almost all of them were identifiable thanks to the close ups and names that popped during the game, yet seeing them in person did kinda make you feel nervous. reo notices the shift in your body language, he steps a foot closer to your body and puts a hand of your shoulder to ease you up. “yeah, from blue lock. we were hanging out and passing by when we heard you were on shift.”

“it’s nice to meet you, yn.” the first to greet you was a certain male that you were very familiar with— in fact, he was quite popular outside of blue lock already. mouth gapes open to see the brunette male and his signature glasses moving forward to you with a bow. “oh my gosh, you’re really yukimiya kenyu!”

“you’re a fan?” maybe yukimiya should’ve expected this; he knew he was popular with the ladies due to his modelling career outside of football, and the shocked and rather excited expression you gave when he called out to you really showed. he just wished reo would stop giving him that stink eye that he saw from the side of his peripheral vision, though it seems like you didn’t even notice your best friend was doing that. “kinda, my friends have a huge crush on you so like i just hear about you lots.”

“right. rie and rosie.” reo watches as the two of you interact with each other, the annoyance getting to him as he clicks his tongue at how excited you are to meet his teammates. a frown slightly drooping by his lips and hands by the sides of his hips as he watches you fish out your phone, “think we can get a selfie together? they’ll totally get jealous!”

“yeah, that’s no problem.” he knew he had no right to have this feeling, especially since the two of you weren’t really in a relationship but there was just something in him that made his eye twitch seeing you get so close to yukimiya, holding up your signature peace to take a selfie with the model. 

a quick ‘thank you’ and bow is given to yukimiya by you as he bows back before you direct your attention once more to the group of boys. “thanks for dropping by, let’s catch up later? i still got about half an hour left till i’m off.”

“ya wanna come hang out with us after?” karasu questions as he takes a step forward before nudging his head as a gesture to include everyone. just as you were about to decline their offer due to the fact that you were still on the clock, you felt bad for having them just wait around the store. “i’ll wait for you.” closing your mouth you look at reo who nods his head, which is very reassuring to you. a breath of defeat goes out, smiling at him you look back to the group of boys. “if that’s the case, i’d love to.”

“yn!” subconsciously you straighten your back and turn on your heels to the owner of the voice, “yes!” your manager makes his way towards where you are, looking at you, the boys behind and then back at your figure with a brow raised up. “what’s with that crowd? friends of yours?”

“yea, they’re blue lock—” your voice easily drowns over your manager’s deep one, shutting your lips tight as he waves his hand to ignore whatever you had to say to him. he sighs, not wanting to waste any time than he has to. “listen, suzuki called in sick today. i’m gonna need you to work till eight tonight.”

“but that’s overtime for me… i have plans today sir.” you wanted to give it a shot, and you knew that it was hard to convince your manager for anything but this was important to you. “we’re short staffed, you got no choice yn.” 

“sure then.” you sigh in disappointment as you nod your head. “and stop talking to your friends if they’re not gonna buy anything, you got lots to do and hourly quotas to reach.” with that your manager waves you off and leaves you be for now.

“ugh, fat pig.” you groan as your smile drops from your face, sticking your tongue out at your manager before turning around to the group of boys who were as equally as bummed out as you. arms cross over the other in an ‘x’ and you shake your head, “sorry guys, yn is cancelled for tonight.”

“hey, he’s obviously overworkin’ ya.” karasu states out while many of them look amongst themselves. chigiri suddenly starts getting worried for you and your health, stepping forward with his thoughts. “isn’t that like… illegal?” 

“what can i do? besides, i guess i am behind on rent so i need the money.” you shrug it off like another typical saturday. this wasn’t the first time you had to do this against your will, and this job was your only source of income so you had no choice but to actually stay.

“you don’t go to the same school as reo and nagi?” pulling a deadpan expression on whatever isagi says, your thumb pointing at the said two. with a more or so condescending tone you say, “you’re asking too much. my brokeass could never attend some high-class super expensive preppy school like these guys.” 

“yn, why don’t you just quit.” reo suggests but you scrunch your nose and purse your lips together, “easier said than done.”

“how much do you get paid an hour?” you hum, thinking in your head about it. “like ¥1000 per hour… on top of commission maybe i hit like ¥210,000 a month?” you try to do the quick calculations in your head, thinking how your usual monthly income looks like. reo pulls a look, softly facepalming once he hears the numbers come out of your lips, with any other purchases  you had to do on top of rent. “and rent is ¥150,000. if you told me you were behind on rent you should've told me.”

“you haven't texted me in like weeks!” pointing an accusing finger at reo, you start to remember how you were indirectly being ignored ever since he entered this blue lock ( all which comes back to you only after the excitement of seeing him again disappears ). “in fact, you didn’t tell me you were gonna be gone for that long!”

“i got preoccupied, alright? calm down yn.” reo brings his hands up in defence as you get closer to him, leaning backwards a bit due to your close proximity. many of the blue lock players chuckle and snicker at the sight of you two having a quarrel. karasu snickers, “uh-oh, yer girlfriend’s mad at ya.”

“y-you told them i was your girlfriend?” you’re taken aback by karasu’s words, really blessing the gods that you applied that blush make up today for work or else they would’ve noticed how such a pink dances across your cheeks. reo on the other hand had that exactly happen to him, more or so embarrassed that they kept insisting that the two of you were a couple. “no, i didn’t!”

“if that’s the case, i’m otoya eita. can i get your number?” you weren’t quite sure how he quickly got in front of you, touching the tips of your fingers so gently with his phone out on his other hand. you were impressed— but you were also at a lost for words in a weirded out way. you stare at his hand that touches yours for a few seconds, not really knowing how to respond to him. “yn…?”

“cut it out.” reo is glaring daggers at otoya, but he isn’t the slightest bit afraid at the purplette boy’s words whatsoever. “what, she’s not your girlfriend. that means i can take her on a date.”

“you’re not yn’s type.”

“how would you know yn’s type?”

“yn’s type is someone with money and is a complete ikemen.” 

nagi blurts rather easily, causing your face to dance with pink. “don’t call me out like that!” the rest of the boys watch as you shake nagi by his shoulders in a rather aggressive way. they’re silent, but they knew exactly who fit that description perfectly. ‘ah… so she basically likes reo.’

“yn, just quit your job already.” reo pinches his nose bridge, trying to stop the possible migraine that might come flying into his head the more he stays here and listen to this bullshit. you scoff and cross your arms at him with an incredulous look, urging him to continue with his plan. “then what?”

“work for me.” the silence is a bit too loud for everyone when reo blurts out those words. a piece of your hair falls on to your face, “what?”

“work as a maid at my place?” reo’s response was more of a question rather than an answer, one you weren’t expecting like the rest of the group. with the look of bewilderment on your face, you open your mouth, nothing coming out only for you to close it shut once more not knowing how to respond to reo.

“oh~ ain’t that kinky?” karasu chuckles at reo’s suggestion for your new occupation, one which you have no comment on for. many others nod their head and agree. hell, even nagi has something to say about it too. “i didn’t know you had those kinds of fantasies, reo.”

“shut up! or be my assistant, just quit this job yn. i can treat you better than that scum.” reo was most likely losing braincells the more he hung out with these guys, ignoring how pink his cheeks flare up for a second. this is when you finally have something to say, chuckling at reo’s cute reaction to everyone’s comments. “as much as i’d love to do just that, i can’t rely on you all the time.”

‘i wish you did.’ 

“i’ll pay you twice what you make in a month.” he sighs and twists his brows, thinking of ways just to get you to leave. you ponder on that for a bit, it was a really enticing deal though your dignity to always have reo save your ass stops you from it. you give a smile, one that hides how exhausted and painful it’s been. “thanks for the offer though, reo.”

“are you sure? he’s giving you a pretty good offer.” yukimiya urges you to take the deal knowing full well that that type of salary is above the average amount a regular worker earns. shaking your head off the concerned looks you were getting from them, your smile ever gets wider. “yeah, i think i’ll try to manage.”

“if that’s what you want, yn. i’ll always be here for you.” if he can’t change your mind, he’ll just have to live with it not wanting to pressure you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. though he reminds you that you’re not alone anymore. ‘she’s always so damn stubborn. she knows i can easily fix her problems but she never asks for help.’

“i appreciate it reo.” your smile looks sad to him, and this doesn’t go unnoticed by the human analyzer karasu. he coughs, breaking the sentimental aura around the all of you to get a move along— he felt bad, but he knew pity was the last thing you’d want from anyone. “we should probably get going, sorry for bothering you at work.”

“no, it’s fine! i’m happy to meet you guys!” you reassure them that they weren’t bothering you with reo moving to talk to you. just as the rest of the group had bid their goodbyes to you, they start to walk away.

“let’s meet up sometime this week, alright?” reo suggests, trying to make up for today’s rather unfortunate turn of events. a small laugh comes out, with your hand pushing a lock of your hair behind the ear.“i’d love that.”

“yn, get to work.” your manager’s voice is heard loud and clear in your ears, but the footsteps of mikage reo walking away from you overshadows it. though the sting of your heart to see reo with a rather disappointed expression, waving his hand and walking away from you. it was as if he was leaving you behind…

“no…” when you think about it now, did you really want to waste your youth stuck working over forty hours a week in a management that doesn’t even care for your well-being, trying to make a day’s ends meet? “what did you just say?” your manager is baffled, urging you to repeat those words again so he can hear you loud and clear.

“i said no. i don’t want to work overtime, you can't keep me here!” spinning your heels to face him full of determination, you indeed were fed up with this place. “you perverted manager!”

“why you—! then you’re fired! get out before i call security!” he screams loud and clear for even customers to hear, a vein popping by the top of his forehead. even if he towers over you, shouts and let his anger out on you, there was no shred of fear that runs through your body. you tilt your head slightly to the side and smile, “fine with me.”

“yeah~! yn-chan in her bad bitch era!” bachira cheers you on, clapping and hollering while a few others of the group whistle and make remarks about your rather boss girl moves ( all which are very proud of you ). “you tell ‘em!”

despite the glare your now former manager was bestowing on you, you felt the weight of a million burdens fall off your shoulders. your chest that felt tight to the core loosens, maybe this job really was taking your youth away without you knowing? hands take off the name tag that used to be pinned at the corner of your left shirt and placing it down on the counter. you walk away from him and towards reo that stood with a rather proud look on his face.

“reo, does that offer still stand?”

“for you, always.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “where’s everyone else?” you exit from the building, looking for a certain group of football players that you would have thought would make a commotion. though reo was the only one you saw, not like you minded. in fact, you preferred it this way. your voice causes reo to look up from his phone in the same spot he would always wait for you to finish your shift. the messages he was getting from the group telling their whereabouts were. 

“told them to just hit the arcade and we’ll catch up with them.” he says as he scans your body while you move in front of him. the more reo looks at you the more he sees that nothing had changed at all, you were still in your uniform and the only difference about your appearance now is that you were holding your bag. the boy raises a brow, slightly offsetted at the turn of events. “you didn’t change?”

“i wasn’t planning on going anywhere after work.” you deadpan while shaking your head. this motion was enough for reo to get the jest of it, knowing full well with what you meant as a small ‘oh’ comes out from him. reo points with his thumb behind him towards the whole of shibuya. “then let’s just buy some new clothes.”

“i’m broke,” you scoff, baffled at his sudden declaration. this wasn’t a first that he suggested things like this, in fact; you should’ve been used to it by now! a hand manages to be placed on the side of your hips, the other lazily pointing a finger at yourself. “how do you expect me to buy clothes?”

“the least i could do for not texting you back.” reo brings his hand out to yours, that smirk of his making you succumb to his antics once more. this man is one-tracked, you knew if he wants something he’ll definitely get it one way or another. though reluctant and even opposing his idea, you hand him your bag to carry as the both of you start to walk towards the shopping district of shibuya. “fine. but don’t spend too much on me, i feel bad.”

“what do you have to feel bad for?” he blinks his periwinkle hues thrice, glancing towards your figure from the corner of your eyes. the two of you continue to cross the infamous shibuya crosswalking, moving closer to you so neither of you could get separated from the crowd. you pout, looking at a different direction away from his gaze. “you’re my best friend, i feel like i’m using your money.”

‘right, best friend.’ those words stung, especially since it came from the same lips he always wanted to kiss so badly. he didn’t mind if he said it since he didn’t want to risk losing you, but when it’s you who says those words it would make his stomach churn. “let’s go to this store.” reo grabs hold of your wrist, dragging you to the store that had caught his attention.

‘that’s pretty.’ the moment reo had let go of you, you had already started booking it to the nearest outfit that caught your eye. he can’t help but smile at how you immediately started getting happy at all the amazing outfits you could pull off with just that one shirt you were looking at. “does anything catch your attention?”

“wait, this place is kinda pricey…” your eyes are ready to pop out of your sockets when you see the multiple zeros at the end of the number on the price tag, contemplating if you should even let reo buy anything from here for you.

“just let me spoil you, princess.”

“if you insist, my prince charming.”

when it came to free stuff, reo realized quickly it was easy to convince you on three things; food, clothes and anime. in fact, he had bought you an airfryer for your birthday once and the fact that you didn’t stop posting and raving about your airfryer on your instagram for a good three months made him think you just haven’t started to feel alive yet. 

“what do you think?” opening the curtains of the dressing room you stood there with all your glory on the platform with reo just waiting for you to come out on one of the sofas. you wore a rather oversized sweater with a linear pattern to it coloured in white, blue and maroon. a pair of blue baggy jeans to finish off your simple look for today’s outing.

“you look beautiful.” even if you didn’t ask, reo would have said it already. especially since you had let him agree to even pick out the clothing he couldn’t help but stare at awe. the look of infatuation in reo’s eyes makes you want to melt, “t-thanks.”

“let’s get outta here?” a hand goes out to you, and you gladly accept as you eagerly want to go see the others and get to know the people reo had spent his days with. your phone vibrates in your back pocket, so you reach out to it and see that it’s an email from your former manager. you click on the attachment, and there it shows your contract with the company nulled. “oh, i just got the termination letter from my manager.” 

“you really made a flashy exit, huh?” the both of you can’t help but laugh at what you did back there, even you still don’t believe you did that. “yeah, to be honest i was so fed up working with him and trying to keep up with the hours…”

“let’s just sue him for breaking youth labour laws and wrongful termination.” why didn’t you think of that? you have yet to turn seventeen and he had already made you go overtime, which was against the law in the first place ( thanks to reo even reminding you ). “you’re a genius!”

multiple bags soon fill up the counter, one employee folding clothes to put in the bag as another scans them. they were like woodswork, going at a swift and quick paste. though you and reo waiting at the counter confuses you since the two of you were the only customers in the store. you point at the ever growing line up of bags, “wait, whose are those?”

“they’re for you.” reo says so nonchalantly you could break down by just looking at the total of all of them. especially since reo gives you such an innocent smile that hides the intent of spoiling you like spare change. “we only agreed to have you buy my outfit today, not an entire closet.” you pout at him but he looks away, “just accept my gift.”

“won’t change your mind even if i said please?” you inch closer to the boy, giving him your best selling puppy dog eyes to see if he would budge if you were to act this cute. “nah.” the same ones he gave a side eye too before inserting his card in, a few button presses and the transaction goes through.

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “woah, what took ya guys s‘long?” karasu is the first to notice the two of you walking towards the bowling lane that was assigned to the group. many others turn their heads to anticipate the both of you who wave back at them. a specific heterochromia captain, oliver is amused at the sight of you, “who’s the girl?”

“oh god— almost everyone from the game is here.” you recognize many faces, seeing how half of them were on the opposing team of the football game you had watched. the look of excitement to be able to meet such talented players is shown all over your face. “yeah, we’re bowling with them.”

“wanna join us, yn-chan?” bachira is waving his arm nice and big, urging you to come to their side of the bowling lane. your eyes light up at the invitation, “can i?!” “‘course ya can! be on our team.” karasu gestures you to come over to them and you move your feet to make your way to their group. “don’t mind if i do then!”

“she your girlfriend?” oliver walks over to reo who gives a dissatisfied look, out of everyone he didn’t expect the other team to also be interested in you. “she’s not.” he flat out says, but the look on oliver’s face shows that he’s amused by reo’s reaction. “doesn’t seem that way.”

“what’s in the bag?” yukimiya approaches reo with otoya in tow, everyone’s eyes now looking down at the paper bag that reo had been holding ever since arriving with him. “yn’s uniform.”

“did you buy her clothes?”  the model asks, intrigued with how everything has been playing out today for you and reo. somehow, reo senses that he’s being picked on and his brow starts to twitch slightly. “i mean she just quit.”

“she quit just for you.”

“stop fuckin’ annoying me you guys.”

“yn’s up!” chigiri hollers after you when the name switches to yours on the tv screen. you stand up all excitingly after you put on your bowling shoes, the boys cheering your name as you look for a bowling ball that wouldn’t weigh too much when you throw it.

“i’m gonna strike this!” with a rather smug grin you cockly announce, quickly making your way towards the bowling lane you let go of the bowling ball from your fingers. you as well as everyone watch as all pins fall down in one full swipe. you jump up with your arms out wide, laughing out loud with everyone on your side as the tv reads ‘strike!’ 

“hell yeah! all hail yn-chan!” bachira screams all excited, jumping on your back along with nagi. you can’t lie that all of them were feeding your ego a bit too much. you go around giving high fives to them all congratulating you for your flawless strike.

“beat that. you shits are losing to a girl.” barou taunts the other group with a smug grin, one which touches you because you heard a few things about him and complimenting you almost even made you an egoist. you make your way towards barou, wide smile with hands up for a high five. though he scowled at you, he grumbled things along the lines of ‘it’s only ‘cuz you got a strike you deserve this’ before giving you the double high five you wanted.

“awe, look at ‘em bein’ some proud boyfriend.” karasu who bares his teasing smirk crosses his arms and looks at reo who had been admiring you from afar, watching you get excited with the players that he had grown close with. he loves how your smile just gets brighter the more he watches you, your laughter tuning out everything else from the rest of the world— or so it did until karasu opened his damn mouth. “shut the fuck up.”

“how long have you known reo?” isagi takes a seat beside you, easily taking an interest between you and reo’s relationship. you hum in response, quickly thinking about the first time you and reo had met. “it’s been three years now? we met second year of jr high at an arcade.” the boy’s eyes smile at his new found discovery, quietly applauding such a long time friendship that the two of you had. “woah, it’s been a while then! it’s weird, nagi and reo never mentioned you whatsoever.”

“because reo said if we mentioned yn there’s a possibility that you guys would hit on her.” nagi walks over to the two of you, finishing his turn to bowl. the young boy scratches the nape of his neck as he takes the seat on the other side of you. you didn’t mind, to be honest you saw it coming since you were kept a secret from the blue lock members which may have been for better. though, it might’ve been because nagi and reo cared too much to share you with the others and that thought made you giggle. “ah, and he was right, huh.”

“omg, are those the football players from tv?” you turn your head with a few others to spot a crowd of girls who had their phones out and talking to themselves, giggling to see so many boys in one area playing a game of bowling ( while also completely ignoring you there ). two boys, respectively otoya and sendou went up to them asking for their socials. “they’re so handsome!”

“could we take a picture together?” reo looks to his side as he comes into contact with a female, her face flushed and shy at his presence alone. you could tell she had a crush on the football player, seeing how her phone was out and the lockscreen was reo from the game they had. the boy pauses for a moment, before nodding his head and moving beside her. “sure.”

“what’s with the face?” chigiri who stands a few feet in front of you tries to hold in his laugh at how you had a deadpan expression, eyes slightly furrowed and watching at reo and the other girl’s interaction. isagi notices your change in aura, looking at where your eyes had directed and examines your face, you looked like you were trying to burn holes behind that girl’s back. “you look jealous.”

“i am not.” you snap back at the two of them, but their chuckles only cause you to lowly growl ( in a cute way ) at them. you knew they were teasing you, but were you really that damn obvious that you didn’t like how reo was talking to a bunch of fans? was it because you thought some of them even looked prettier than you? 

“i thought you liked reo.” nagi inserts himself into the conversation, overhearing it after he had took his turn throwing the bowling ball. the boy makes his way to sit on the other side of you, and out of everyone you didn’t really want nagi to know because you making him a third wheel was something you’d rather avoid. you wave your arms in front of your body, trying to justify your actions and what you said, “i-i do! he’s my best friend—”

“yn stop lying to yourself.” your white haired friend’s words are sharp, as if stabbing you and stopping you from spouting anymore excuses. it was like getting hit with nagi’s ult and immediately you were shut down. you whine in response to his words, elbows being placed on your lap and your chin laying on the palm of your hands.  chigiri and isagi nervously laugh since they didn’t know how else to react because they knew you had accepted the truth.

“just give it a chance, maybe he’ll like you back!” isagi is the first to try and cheer you up, trying to get you back to the positivity you were in before nagi had hit you with his negativity. chigiri nodding his head and seconding that opinion, trying to make you look at the bright side of things. 

“we’re not close enough to be having this conversation, isagi.”

your eyes lazily give isagi a side eye with an exasperated sigh, not even bothering to turn your head fully to acknowledge him. maybe he’s right, or maybe not. at this point you were probably coming to a dead end. the said boy bashfully scratches the nape of his neck, chuckling and agreeing to your words, “i guess you’re right.”

“yn! let’s exchange contacts!” bachira comes running back to you after his turn is up, phone in hand along with a large grin. you sit up properly and smile back at him before standing up and walking over to the table. “sure, bachira meguru right?” you spot your phone with many others that lay on the table, glancing back at bachira whole sends finger guns your way and a playful wink. “bingo~!”

the others also ask to exchange contacts with you, and you happily accept it before everyone huddles around your figure and bringing out their phones. you go to your contact profile, showing them your number so they can insert it into their profile. “that charm…” chigiri notices the bell and amethyst that hangs from your phone, and with him bringing it up the other two start to take notice of it.

“oh, this?” seeing how everyone was now looking at the charm you had attached, you bring it up into a better view after the trio had finished putting your number in. all three of them stare intently at him, yet your smile comes forth everytime you see this charm. “reo bought it for me a few months back.”

“i knew i saw it before!” isagi points at the charm in your hand, not really knowing what he means by that. the three football players then recall back to the u-20 game where reo had left his phone out, and everyone thought it was chigiri’s due to the slightly cutesy girly charm by the phone. bachira giggles, feeling all giddy just thinking about the two of you. “you two like to match, huh? it’s so cute!”

“you could say that?” why did you even say that? because you have absolutely no idea what they’re referring to. blinking your lashes thrice they just giggle at you, as if they didn’t even want to inform you in the first place.

“what’s not cute is when they flirt in front of my face sometimes.” nagi’s voice interrupts their giggling, you gasp dramatically at him. when you look at nagi he looks away, avoiding eye contact with you knowing you’re just going to lecture him.  “we do not do that in front of you!”

“so you two do flirt with each other!” bachira gives you a teasing grin with the other two, hand in front of him as if he was one of those gossip girls. he wiggles is brows at you, causing the peachy hues burn the tips of your ears and slapping him ( affectionately ) on the arm as an attempt to stop their teasing. “that’s not what i meant!”

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “so what do you think about the guys from blue lock?” after the lot of you finished a day filled with fun activities, reo had offered to take you home, as per usual. you can’t help but give him a big grin. “they’re nice,” you think back to all the new memories and friends you made today, it was probably the most fun you had in years. yet what really made it special was the way reo smiled when he was with them. “you looked like you genuinely were enjoying yourself.”

“hey, that was back in jr high.” he retorts back making you laugh at him. you remember all those times he had study sessions at the old cafe you worked in, it was really a sight to see such a social bird still being picky to who he talks to. “when you hung out with the classmates you had, it was like there was a wall between you and them!”

“they were snobby, yn.” his matter-of-fact tone doesn’t go unnoticed by you, which gives you a chance to tease him once more. you use your elbow and gently nudge his side, “oho? and i’m not?”

“‘course not! you’re literally one of the most precious people in my life.” the way reo had said those words struck your heart, it wasn’t the usual sarcastic one he would throw at you when you were teasing him, it felt more honest. your lips slowly curl into a smile, looking at the ground you walk to avoid eye contact with him. “i can say the same to you too, reo.”

“are you free tomorrow night?” breaking a string of silence after the previous topic, he glances down to you where you pull a questionable look towards him, not really knowing how to answer. “i mean, i quit my job? so, yeah, i am.”

“my parents are making me go to this party, i’m wondering if you want to go with me?” you ponder on the offer for a bit, humming in the process as you think about it. “i don’t have the facilities to pull off anything remotely close to all this rich stuff. what’s in it for me?”

“there’s free food.” 

“you should’ve started with that.” giving a rather dramatic hand gesture, you lightly tap his chest making him laugh at your antics. you smile at him, loving how such a joyous sound could emit from his lips. “food really is your love language, huh?”

“of course! growing up in the working class, you might not know my dear struggles.” you bring two fists up to your eyes as you pretend to cry and wipe your tears away, fake sobs here and there as you ramble on about minimum wage jobs and rude customers. reo blinks his lashes, slightly done with how you indicated that such hardships cannot be found in the day to day life of a rich boy. he rolls those lavender hues, “haha, very funny yn.”

“wait, do i wear a dress?” you immediately look up, the party suddenly sinking into your brain. if it was a social gathering that his parents was making him go, then wouldn’t that mean that it was going to be a formal party that included wearing decently expensive clothing that your paycheque could never handle? the thought of that makes your brain spiral, and reo easily saw the look of distress on your face despite the smile. “there’s one in the bag for you.”

“oh, so you were gonna bring me to the party from the very beginning?” sighing in relief you had dodged a financial bullet to the heart, though that makes you look at all the bags reo had been carrying for you all day. you’re reminded of how you went back to one of the train station lockers to get all the bags. “i knew you’d be free.”

“anyways, thanks for being there for me today.” as the two of you near your apartment door, you open up your home for the two of you to come in. “i’m happy to see you again.” reo places multiple bags near the entrance of your doorway before heading back out again. he gives you a sweet toothy grin, “anything for you.”

chuckling at him, you take a step out of your apartment towards reo. taking to heart what a certain striker had told you earlier, you took your chances. placing your lips on reo’s cheek makes your heart beat faster than the force of a football being kicked into the goal, eyes shut close as you make this quick. reo stands there in a blushing mess as he watches you retract back into your apartment and closing the door in front of him.

“goodnight, reo.” 

⠀⠀⠀⠀ “i’m nervous, i’ve never been to these things before.” when reo had guided you up some rather luxurious stairs, you knew instantly this was not a lifestyle you were used to. the feeling of your stomach wanting to flip inside out earlier has a whole new meaning to you now; one that involves trying to walk through this black evening gown and heels reo left at your apartment last night.

“don’t worry, you look beautiful.” the boy takes your hand in an attempt to soothe your worries away, his thumb ever so gently rubbing the back of your hand as he takes the lead and carefully helps you up the stairs to the entire mansion. you puff out your cheeks without fully soaking in what he just said, eyes looking at the staircase to watch where you were placing your foot so you wouldn’t trip up. you weakly groan at him, “i know, but that wasn’t my concern—”

“just wanted to let you know.” quickly reo takes hold of your hand and pulls you close to him, his arm wrapping around your waist as he pulls you close to his chest after you had successfully missed the last step of the stair. a rather defeated look plays on reo’s face when he sees how clumsy you were in the dress, noting to himself to probably not have given you feels nor a dress like that if he knew you were just going to place your face on the ground within the first thirty minutes of you wearing it.

“jeez, pretty boy.” as you try to keep up the farce that you weren’t embarrassed by how close you were to him, you look away for a bit, hand placing on to his chest to create some distance between the two of you. taking a step back, you start to rethink your life choices up from the moment you put the damn dress on to now.

after last night it was unfortunately normal between the two of you, much to your dismay. you had thought that if you at least made the first move reo would start to realize you liked him more than just a best friend. in fact, the ride in the limo was awkward for you, and up until now it still is because he has yet to mention last night to you. gods, this is not good for your heart.

“the food table is over there if you want to calm down.” reo knows exactly what was on your mind, especially since he was the reason you had the look of discomfort. he nudges his head to the side where your eyes track to; which was a long table of hand food for you to eat. instantly the clouds that flew in the sky of your mind is wiped away at the view of such delectables— some you’ve never have even seen before. “can i take some of it home?”

“knock yourself out.” though it was only for now, reo had successfully distracted you from your mind that was hung up on last night. you happily make your way to the food table with reo following behind, grabbing your phone and taking all sorts of videos and pictures of such high class food before getting a plate to eat all of it.

“i’ll be right back, alright?” reo is behind your body as he puts his hand by your waist, him being a bit too close for your comfort. you can’t bring yourself to look back at him when you start to stiffen up, for god’s sake you can feel his breath on the nape of your neck already.  “my father’s business partner is calling me over, stay here.”

“i’ll see you soon.” trying to hide the voice crack that emerges from your voice box, you knew reo had heard it. his hands stops lingering by your waist before nodding his head and walking away, then only then did you dare to look at him disappear into the crowd. you knew that if he stayed any longer your heart might go into cardiac arrest.

“odd to see your face here, waitress.” taking you out of your trance is a slender woman around your age, your eyes dart to look at her stoic look that was unphased. you pounce on the thought for a bit, trying to see in your little pretty head if you could remember who she was, but no no avail you say, “do i know you?”

“i— why—” she fumbles on her own words, lost for what to say as she’s taken aback by your blunt response. she lets out a groan, fingers pinching her nose bridge before running her hand through her brown locks. “it’s fujimoto tsukina.”

“ah.” you had just now remembered, she was the girl reo was with in the cafe a few years ago with you. you’ve only encountered her a few times but since you never really did go to reo’s preppy school often you weren’t familiar with the people he knew other than nagi. “if you’re going to ask for ryouta’s number again, i’m still not going to give it you.”

“oh shut the fuck up!” your deadpan expression frustrates her, hands balling into fists as she’s insulted thats all you remember her for— it was three years ago. you raise a brow at her actions when she finally cools down, regaining her composure with a slight cough to calm herself. “but i’m not surprised you’re here. i take it you’re still smooching off mikage.”

“what…?” there was something with the way she worded those words that made your lips drop down into a frown, eye brows starting to scrunch up. “don’t ‘what’ me.” fujimoto heaves a prolonged sigh from her nose, rolling her chocolate hues to mock you. “there’s a reason why no one is entertaining you here. you might dress the part but a lot of us can tell you’re not part of this high class society.”

“and that’s understandable, but that’s not the answer that i’m looking for.” quickly snapping back at her, your questions start to raise each moment she’s in your presence. “i’m not smooching off reo or whatever you want to call it.”

“really? it doesn’t look that way to me.” fujimoto gestures at your figure, rolling her eyes at you. “a chanel evening dress with a matching handbag, van cleef necklace with christian dior earrings and bracelets. you’re branded head to toe, commoner.”

you knew she was right, but you never asked for any of this. you bite your bottom lip trying to hold yourself back from trying to make a scene. “i didn’t ask for any of this, i’m just borrowing it—”

“oh cut the shit, yn.” she scoffs obnoxiously, looking to the side to change her scenery before glancing back at you. fujimoto cross her arms and confidently says, “we all know mikage reo can do better than a gold digger like you.” it takes a bit to process that information— that description in general. fujimoto can see from how your face twists that you were taken aback. you blink, “are you jealous?”

“of course not! you just need to learn your place!” her face turns red and puts the blush she applied to shame, causing you to verify your suspicions. you scrunch your face up in discomfort at the second thing she said as your patience starts to run thin. “i’ve barely talked to you in my entire life.”

“that’s a good thing because you don’t belong here.” fujimoto’s voice lowers down in an attempt to scare you. she moves towards your figure whilst opening her limited edition black birkin handbag. her eyes feast on the sight of cash bundled up in her small bag, grabbing hold of the stashes of ¥10,000 banded together. the girl aggressively grabs your hand and places the money in your palm without a second thought.

“don’t bother mikage reo anymore and get the hell out of my sight.” fujimoto tsukina had just bribed you to stay away from reo. her words holds malice and resentment towards you as she looks at you ask if you were in hindrance in her eyes. you look at the cash in your hand, it was probably enough to not work for the next five years. yet the way she started to walk away from you left a bad taste in your mouth.

“fuck you.” clicking your tongue in annoyance, you can’t help but let your frustrations out at the source of your negativity. fujimoto turns around angrily at how you had addressed her after she had just selflessly helped you out; as if charity. your eyes show the rage and raw emotions you’ve been bundling up since the beginning of this conversation.

“i’m not leaving reo because i’m in love with him.”

it was your turn to unplug the cord to fujimoto’s power trip, walking up to her whistle taking the bands off the money she gave you. just as you were at a good distance from her, you effortlessly threw all the cash she handed to her right back at her face. the look of anger bubbling up on the rich girl’s face from in between the paper that fell from above only causes you to smile ever so menacingly.

“take your money, bitch.”

the last yen bill falls to the ground along with the last shred of fujimoto’s dignity, her sense and social awareness thrown out the window with only the thought of slapping your face. she tramples through the money and raises a hand to bring down on you. “why you—”

“don’t fuckin’ touch my girlfriend.” 

you never expected that hand to come down on you, but what shocked you was reo’s interference— nevermind that, but what he said is what set your mind in a spiral. reo had grabbed fujimoto’s wrist and stopping her from touching you, and by the look on his face you can see her was furious at what was happening. hell, a crowd had even started to form just now, and were already whispering to each other.

“g-girlfriend?!” fujimoto chokes on her own words, she’s more shocked about reo’s words than his appearance in your twos’ argument. his grip letting go of her wrist when he notices that she wasn’t going to go through with her movements. he furrows his brows and gives her a look as he steps in between the two of you, “you got a problem with that?”

“she’s a good digger mikage!” fujimoto’s voice is over the top, her finger accusingly pointing to the girl behind reo ; you.

“yn is one of the most honest and hard working people i know, she’s anything but a gold digger.” he scowls at her words, flicking his wrist to slap her accusing finger out of his view. “don’t you ever bother us again.”

reo grabs hold of your hand and pulls you to exit the seen of gossiping rich people who had nothing else to do but bad mouth others. you try to pick up your pace to match with his as you grab the dress with your free hand so you wouldn’t trip again as the both of you make it outside where there was more privacy for the both of you. you’re speechless, baffled and… honoured? your thoughts are all jumbled and everywhere, yet your brain is still in hung up on one thing;

“since when did i become your girlfriend?” this is when you finally snap out of your daze, looking at reo who was checking if you had gotten hurt with your argument with fujimoto. instead of being shocked to hear that you suddenly have a boyfriend now, you rather tease him for it. your eyes raising a brow of curiosity.

“ever since you said you were in love with me.” reo heaves a long sigh whilst looking out towards the garden of the mansion. he had to admit, he was being way too bold back there, but he can’t shake the thought of you getting hurt either. he had just said whatever was the quickest way to get fujimoto to back off, and calling you his girlfriend was something he didn’t think through after hearing what you said.

“you heard that?” your eyes widen slightly, were you too loud? you were sure the crowd only started to form when you called fujimoto a bitch. you felt the blush creeping up to your cheeks, tinting it with a coral colour just realizing maybe you had gone overboard with your confrontation.

“yeah,” he flatly says, swallowing the lump of saliva that was stuck in his throat. reo starts to rub the nape of his neck, moving his feet to face you, but his head hangs low due to the fact that he lost all confidence to look you in the eyes, “i’m sorry if i’ve been making things awkward for you today—”

“just shut up and kiss me.” you grab hold of the velvety tie that hangs around his neck as you pull him towards your body. you close your eyes in embarrassment as your lips move to crash into his soft ones. reo’s eyes are wide at the sudden change of pace, but he can’t deny that he’s been wanting to kiss you for all these years.

his gaze softens before he too closes his eyes to melt into the kiss. reo’s left hand wraps around your waist while the other holds you by the side of your neck to pull you close to him as he kisses your lips right back. in that moment the both of you felt like everything was finally complete, the missing piece finding its rightful place within you. your stomach erupts like little fireworks, you wouldn’t have your first with anyone other than mikage reo, but let’s keep that a secret, shall we?

in that second reo wished that you were the only air he needed in his life as the two of you gently pull away, your foreheads leaning on each other while the small shaky breathes escape from both your lips. even as the silence engulfs you whole, your sweet soft laughter comes out.

“i love you, reo.”

“i love you too.” 

snuggling your nose against his he chuckles at your actions, pulling back to leave a chaste kiss on your forehead. “let’s get out of here.” the love and sincerity in his eyes is what makes your heart skip a beat and want to melt in his gaze, his gentle touch cuffing your cheeks makes you lean towards him. 

reo wasn’t going to lie to himself any longer, nor was he going to hide how much he loves you anymore. you are the same, and maybe you’d just have to thank isagi’s encouraging words.

“wait, just one more thing.” reo raises a questioning brow at you, though not answering he was curious to know what else you had wanted to go before your departure. sending him a rather mischievous grin, you slyly take one of the wine glass from a butler. making your way to fujimoto who had been ranting about her encounter with you to other guests that attended the party. many of the guest she was with starts to quiet down as they notice you approaching behind fujimoto, before you finally go ahead and tap her shoulder.

“what the fuck do you want—” her words are cut short when you throw the glass of wine at her face. many people gasp dramatically loud which attracts the attention of many people. raising the middle finger at her, you can’t help give her your award winning smile. “i’ve always wanted to do that.”

“that’s my girl.” reo looks at your direction in a fond way. unexpected? yes, but he wouldn’t trade you for anyone in the world. your goofy grin drowns the ear piercing shrek fujimoto lets out, making you scoff before running towards reo. grasping on to his hand intertwining with yours you urge him to run with you, which he gladly accepts. “now we can go!”

“mcdonalds?”

“you treating me?”

“i’ll treat you like my princess forever.”

bachira : guys !!!! yn texted me!!! isagi : what did she say? bachira : she said ty her and reo are tgtr now isagi : told her to take her shot otoyo : she could’ve been with me aryu : thats so SLAY of her <3 chigiri : nah yn is way too whipped for reo nagi : good for them yukimiya : i hope reo can stop sending me death threats abt yn now karasu : r none of yall gonna question why tf they’re in suits n dresses in a mcds

REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED !

© daiseukiis 2023. all rights reserved. do not repost, modify, translate without permission. do not claim work or layout as yours.

[etceteraon]

losing heart | hjs

pairing: gamer!jisung x female reader

genre: f2l, fluff, romance, angst

warnings: slight language

word count: 10.2k

summary: after meeting and starting to date your close online friend of a few months, you start to realize that maybe you might have been better off staying online.

a/n: this is my first fic and I really hope it's enjoyable, I worked really hard on it and hope it meets any expectations. I also wanted to thank

@softbbyg0rl

for being so kind as to help me proofread this and actually help me expand upon it, I'm really thankful for their help and this probably wouldn't be half of what it is without them helping me out. I am indebted to them /j. I also had another friend help me read over this and I promised them a jeongin x reader in return, so expect that in the near future!

Video games had never been an issue for you before. You enjoyed them yourself normally, occupying yourself with various titles and genres of video games. Growing up you were known as the nerdy kid, finding interest in things that the other kids deemed ‘weird’. Really it was just that they were closed minded and couldn’t accept anything that was different or new. Anime and video games were entertaining, it didn't matter to you what other people thought about it. It was something that had helped you bond with some of your family members, and had helped you make a few friends over the years, one of them being your current boyfriend, Han Jisung.

The two of you had met online in a game you both enjoyed, Genshin Impact. Normally conversation in this game wasn’t much, just asking what the other needed and helping the other out with it. Things like domains, bosses, etc. After that was all said and done, you said your goodbyes and left, more than likely never encountering the other player ever again. When you and Jisung had met in the game however, things had gone much differently. It was only after about an hour of grinding domains that he had asked for your Discord, the two of you chatting on there for a few weeks before you both mustered up the courage to voice call. A few weeks after that, it was video calls. Only a couple months later, you two were very close friends, playing games and hanging out whenever you both had free time.

How quickly you two had clicked was a mystery to the both of you, but even your online friends were surprised at how fast you had let Han Jisung into your circle. Normally you were very particular about who you spoke to, let alone on a daily basis. Whenever you first met someone you usually spent the first few weeks getting a read on their personality and getting to know them before even thinking about actually getting close to them. It seemed Jisung had just rubbed off on you so quickly you hadn’t had a chance to actually go through your usual process.

When Jisung had suddenly brought up the idea of meeting in person just six months after first meeting each other online, it came as a shock to you, not expecting him to be the one to suggest it since you had learned he was actually an introvert despite his online persona. You had both learned that you lived relatively close to each other, having discussed where you lived previously. It was still about a two hour trip from your house though. Jisung of course had suggested he be the one to travel, but you didn’t want to cause him any more anxiety than he already had and told him you’d be more than willing to do the traveling.

A week was all it had taken for you to get on a bus and travel from your hometown to his. Jisung was texting you the entire ride there, clearly nervous with how many questions he was asking, probably wondering to himself if he should just call it all off. Your other online friends had gotten quite jealous since you hadn’t even met them yet, but you had to remind them just how much further away they were compared to him. They couldn’t argue with that. The two hour ride hadn’t felt long, your legs relieved to be standing upright as you exited the bus, holding your bag close as you looked around nervously. You had never done something like this before, and you honestly hadn’t even realized just how nervous you were up until now.

Scanning the busy sidewalk, you squinted, nibbling on your bottom lip as you struggled to focus, your heart slamming against your chest. Having to wear masks didn’t make things any easier, only being able to see the top half of people's faces really limited your ability to recognize someone you had only ever seen over the phone. After a few minutes, you had begun to wonder if Jisung had up and ditched you. Scrambling for your phone, you nearly dropped it, hissing as you unlocked it and looked over your messages with Jisung. He had said he was on his way to the bus stop a half an hour ago. It couldn’t take him that long could it?

About to call him, you walked over to the bench and sat yourself down, pressing the dial button and placing the phone up to your ear, looking around sheepishly, silently wondering if you were going to be ghosted and have to take another two hour drive home. Faintly you could hear the sound of a phone ringing, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion, you turned your attention to the source, seeing a rather short male with bleach blonde hair running towards the bus stop with a motorcycle helmet in hand. It was only moments before the male wearing all black actually reached the stop, looking around, locking eyes with you for a moment before pulling out his phone that was ringing and taking less than a second to look at the caller ID before answering.

“Y/n? I just got here- Where are you?” He questioned, nearly making you scoff into your phone’s receiver as you stood up, looking directly at him and cocking an eyebrow.

“Right in front of you.”

The slow turn and the look of realization was more than comical. Jisung’s eyes widening and then scrunching as he smiled under his mask. Hanging up the phone he slowly walked over, rubbing the back of his neck as he cleared his throat, shaking slightly with anxiety. “I uh, I’m sorry for getting here late. I kind of ran into an issue and had to do some last minute problem solving.” He explained, earning a head tilt from you. “What kind of problem?” You asked, wanting him to elaborate.

A quiet chuckle left his lips as he held up the motorcycle helmet he was holding, motioning back towards a bike that was parked on the side of the road. “I only had one. So I had to go and buy another.” You were sure your expression had matched Jisung’s from just moments before, in shock as you realized the motorcycle was his. If he was slow at realizing you were right in front of him, you were slow in realizing something much more obvious. “You never told me you drive a motorcycle…” You trailed off, Jisung nodding slowly in agreement.

“Ride a motorcycle but yeah. It never really came up and I’m not one of those people who constantly brags about riding one. It’s just a mode of transportation and happens to be cheaper than a car.” He shrugged, and honestly, you couldn’t argue with his reasoning. Clearing your throat, you shrugged your bag further up onto your shoulder, shifting your weight back and forth on your feet. “Well, I’m here. Now what?”

Jisung paused for a moment, seemingly processing your words before motioning towards his bike once more. “I figured we could go back to my place. I figured I’d order food since I’m not the best cook as you know. Almost burnt down my apartment on multiple occasions. My roommate is there, but he’s really chill. You’ve heard him every now and then on call or on mic. He normally keeps to himself, but I already told him about you coming and he doesn’t mind.” He stopped, thinking about whether or not that was everything he was wanting to say. “...Yeah. Unless you don’t feel comfortable with that of course. We can always go somewhere public and just hang out like that.” He offered, clearly not wanting to make you do anything you didn’t want to do.

“No, that sounds great.” You assured him, seeing his eyes scrunch as he smiled again, nodding happily. “Okay cool, let me just-” He stepped forward, getting alarmingly close and leaning forward. It felt as if your heart had stopped beating and the world was moving in slow motion around you. But before you could let your mind wander too far, Jisung placed the helmet he had been holding on your head, knocking you right out of your trance. “-ouch…” You mumbled, Jisung leaning back just slightly to look you in the eyes.

“Sorry, it’s kind of heavy, but it’ll keep your head intact.” He joked quietly, making sure everything was tight, locked and secure before stepping back and flipping the shield to cover your face, smirking slightly as he smacked the top of the helmet. “You good in there?”

Rolling your eyes, you flipped the shield back up to glare at him, smacking his arm as he laughed. “So you’re an ass in person too?” Jisung clicked his tongue before snapping his fingers and shooting finger guns at you. “You know it.” You were internally cringing, but before you could even think about teasing him for it, he was walking over to his bike and you had no choice but to follow, trailing behind him like a lost puppy.

You watched as he got on his bike, pulling his helmet on with ease and starting the engine, the loud sound making you flinch. If Jisung noticed this he didn’t comment on it, simply looking over at you and moving his head to the side, signaling for you to get on the bike. You had never rode one before, so this was a nerve wracking situation. What happened if you fell off? What if you got into an accident? Your mom had always told you just how dangerous motorcycles were. What if this was a bad idea?

Suddenly, Jisung was off of his bike and his hands were on your waist, lifting you up and onto the motorcycle, flipping your face shield back down before getting back on himself. He kicked the stand up so he was now balancing the bike himself. Looking back at you, he raised his voice so you could hear him over the sound of the motor. “I’d suggest you put your arms around me unless you wanna fall off.” Mean, but you knew he was just trying to tease you. You didn’t waste any time to wrap your arms securely around his waist, your head resting against his back. You swear you could feel him laugh as he flipped his face shield down, but you didn’t have any time to really think about it before he was off, riding down the streets of Incheon with you clinging to him for dear life.

The ride to his apartment felt like forever when in reality it only took a few minutes. Your grip on him hadn’t loosened in the slightest, far too afraid of falling from the motorcycle. Even after he had parked and turned off the engine, you were still sticking to him, an audible laugh leaving his lips as he took off his helmet. “You plan on letting go anytime soon?” He teased, you only shaking your head in response. He snickered before carefully prying your hands off of his waist, getting off of the bike and helping you off before taking your helmet and tilting his head slightly, noting your expression. “Was it that bad? I tried to be a little less reckless than normal.” His tone was joking, but you could tell he was genuinely concerned he had scared you.

“N-No it wasn’t that bad, just not used to it.” You assured him, stumbling slightly as you tried to take a step forward, his arms quickly reaching forward and holding you so you didn’t fall. “Jeez, we’re lucky you don’t have very far to walk.” Again with the teasing. You weren’t surprised by it though, Jisung had always been like that when you two talked. You scoffed, hanging on to his arm as you steadied yourself. “Shut up Ji. Where’s your place?” You questioned, Jisung smirking before leading you towards the building, letting you hang on to his arm without much thought. He didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest despite having told you that physical contact made him nervous. You wondered what had changed. Carefully leading you inside and through the building, the both of you made it to his apartment, you finally letting go of him as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. If his roommate was home you weren’t sure why the door was locked, but you didn’t bother to question it as the door opened and Jisung motioned inside. “Ladies first.”

“When have you ever considered me a lady?” You joked, stepping into the apartment and looking around curiously, Jisung scoffing at your question as he shut the door behind the both of you. “Since always. You are one are you not?”

Shrugging, you didn’t answer his question, tugging at the straps on your bag as you walked further into the apartment. For some reason the decor didn’t really feel like it matched Jisung. After all, he had this whole e-boy/rocker look going on and you had fully expected the apartment to be messy and unorganized, but it was the complete opposite. It was clean, spotless even, and it made you wonder if he had cleaned simply because he knew you were coming to visit. Turning to look over your shoulder, Jisung smiled sheepishly, fiddling with a zipper on his leather jacket. “My roommate helped clean everything up. It doesn’t usually look like this.” He admitted, making you laugh and shake your head. “I figured as much.”

As if on cue, another male stepped out of a room in the hall, locking eyes with you and giving you a questioning look before noticing Jisung standing beside you, putting two and two together as a smile started to form on his face. “Oh, you must be Y/n-ssi.” He stated matter-of-factly, making his way down the hall towards the both of you and holding out his hand to you in greeting. You gingerly grasped his hand, smiling softly as he began to introduce himself while shaking your hand. “I’m Yang Jeongin, 01’ liner.”

Your eyes lit up at the realization that you were both the same age, “L/n Y/n, also 01’ liner.” You stated, watching as he relaxed a little realizing that he no longer needed to be so formal with you. The two of you let go of each other's hands, “Ah, well it’s nice to meet you Y/n. Jisung hyung has talked about you a lot.”

Raising an eyebrow, you glanced back at Jisung who smiled and shrugged as if to say he didn’t know what Jeongin was referring to. “I hope it was only good things.” You returned your attention to the male in front of you, watching as he chuckled and quickly nodded his head in agreement with your words. “Only good things. He’s always going on about how much he enjoys your company and how pr-”

“Yang Jeongin- '' Jisung cut him off suddenly, the younger male’s eyes widening before a mischievous smile crossed his face. The two males exchanged various expressions, you watching in confusion as they had a silent conversation with their faces. After a few moments, you cleared your throat, feeling awkward just standing between the two as they acted as if you weren’t right there. Snapping out of it, Jisung looked at you, quickly putting on a smile as he placed a hand on the small of your back, leading you towards the hall. “How about we hang out in my room, hm?”

“Wha- but I thought-” You trailed off, Jeongin following behind the two of you. “Seriously Jisung hyung? I thought we were all gonna hang out-” He mumbled, Jisung shaking his head as he practically pushed you into his room, stepping inside and shutting the door on Jeongin before the younger could hold it open. Locking it, Jisung turned to you, noticing your quizzical expression. He chuckled nervously, placing his hands in his pockets as he averted his gaze. “I just thought it might be better to hang out alone for a little while.” He stated, though his words sounded off, like he was only partly telling the truth.

You decided not to pry however, glancing at the door behind him. “What about Jeongin? He seemed upset.” Jisung shook his head, moving away from the door and closer to you. “He’ll be fine. He’s only being like that since we don’t normally have people over. After we hang out on our own for a while and go back out there he’ll forget about it.” He sounded so sure of himself that you had no reason not to believe him, nodding slowly as Jisung bit down on his bottom lip, seemingly debating something in his head.

“What’s up Ji?” You questioned, said male letting out a breathy laugh, not at all surprised that you had noticed something was going on in his head. “I uh- well I didn’t want to make it weird or anything but… I was wondering if I could give you a hug?” He sounded like he was nervous, and that suspicion was confirmed when you noticed how he was refusing to look at you, shifting back and forth on his feet. You found this cute, giggling quietly as you looked him over. You had just been practically glued to him while he was taking you back to his place on his motorcycle and now he was all shy and nervous because he wanted a hug?

Wordlessly, you crossed the remaining space between the two of you, wrapping your arms around his waist and looking up at him. Jisung tensed up slightly at your touch, remaining still for a moment before wrapping his arms around you, holding you close and resting his head on top of yours. “I made that weird didn’t I?” Snickering, you nodded, still keeping your hold on him but closing your eyes. “Just a little, but it’s fine. You make everything weird.”

An offended sound left his lips, earning a laugh from you as he pouted. “I do not make everything weird.” He mumbled, watching as you slowly pulled away and sat down on his bed, glancing around the room to actually take everything in. The decor in his room definitely made more sense, anime posters and figurines, manga, various instruments, LED lights adorning the ceiling, his gaming setup. It was all very Han Jisung. A light blush adorned Jisung’s cheeks as he cleared his throat and sat down beside you, nibbling the inside of his cheek. “Sailor Moon huh?” You teased, watching as his ears turned red with embarrassment.

“You’re gonna make me take all of this down right now I swear.” He huffed, eyeing you as you took your bag off and set it on the floor before falling back onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling and kicking your feet. “I think it’s cute. I like Sailor Moon too, she’s pretty.” You admitted, meeting his gaze to show that you were being honest.

“I mean, what’s not to like about her? She’s funny, sweet, caring, cute- plus she has a cute cat and super powers. Not only that but her outfit when she transforms is adorable. I’d wear that if I could.” You trailed off, watching as Jisung’s expression changed. You couldn’t read what it was, but there was a slight sparkle in his eyes as you spoke about his favorite anime character. “What are you thinking about?” You pondered, Jisung smiling as he snapped out of his trance, laying down beside you. “I just didn’t expect you to like Sailor Moon too. We never talked about that before so I didn’t even know you liked anime.” You considered his words before realizing that he was right, nodding slowly.

“I do. I watch it every now and then when I have time, but I grew up watching it. Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Naruto, the essentials.” The two of you talked about anime and your other interests besides gaming for a while, simply laying on Jisung’s bed as you both relaxed and spent time together, getting to know each other a little more. It was almost comical how easily you two got comfortable with each other despite having never met in person up until then. You both stayed there for about an hour before Jisung had brought up his music, asking you if you wanted to hear what he had been working on. Of course you obliged, sitting up as he grabbed his guitar and made his way back over, playing a few songs for you after getting over his initial nervousness to sing in front of you.

You praised him for how good he was at singing and playing the guitar, also mentioning just how thoughtful and beautiful his lyrics were. He turned bright red at your compliments, shaking his head as he put his guitar back, holding out his hand to you as he came back over, asking if you wanted to go out into the living room and watch some TV and order some food. Of course you agreed and took his hand, getting up and following him out of his room and into the living room where Jeongin was sitting, his eyes moving from the TV to the both of you. “Oh, are you finally gonna come out here and hang out?” You could tell he was upset, but not enough to cause his voice to sound angry.

Jisung simply nodded at his roommate, going over to the couch and scooting him over before sitting down himself and patting the empty spot beside him for you to sit. You made your way over to the two males, slowly sitting down as you looked at what Jeongin had been watching, some YouTuber playing a game you had never seen before. Looked like both of the boys were gamers, which made sense. Jisung took the remote from Jeongin, switching it from YouTube to Netflix and clicking his account before handing you the remote. “You can watch whatever you want.” He told you, pulling out his phone so he could order food, Jeongin looking over his shoulder as he mumbled to the older male what he felt like eating. You laughed quietly, shaking your head before returning your focus to the TV.

You picked out an animated movie you hadn’t seen in a while, reaching forward and setting the  TV remote down on the small table situated in front of the couch. Leaning back you noticed Jisung’s eyes glued to the TV, confused at his expression until Jeongin also looked up. “Ah, Jisung hyung watches this all the time. I think I’ve seen it at least twenty times.” He mumbled, your eyes widening as you leaned forward to grab the remote. “I can pick something else if you both have already seen this-” Jisung quickly reached forward, shaking his head as he took the remote and set it back down.

“No, it’s fine. If you want to watch it, we can watch it.” There was something different about his voice, but you couldn’t quite place what. Nodding, you went back to your previous sitting position, Jisung mumbling something you didn’t catch before handing you his phone. “What do you feel like eating?”

The three of you debated over what to eat for a while, mainly because you would suggest something, they would agree and you would go right back to asking them if they were really okay with what you had picked and then you were back to square one. Eventually you actually managed to decide on something, Jisung ordering for all three of you and then focusing on the movie. The three of you sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company. It was about halfway through the movie that the food arrived, Jeongin getting up before Jisung could, opening the door and thanking the delivery person before bringing the food in and shutting the door behind him. He quickly sorted out the food in the kitchen before bringing it all over, handing both you and Jisung yours before sitting down and starting to eat his own, not even bothering to wait or thank Jisung.

Giggling, you quietly thanked Jisung who shrugged it off, saying it wasn’t a big deal as he began to eat. The rest of the night was spent pretty much the same, the three of you watching various movies before Jeongin decided to retire for the night, saying goodnight to both you and Jisung before shutting himself in his room, leaving you and Jisung alone in the living room. Once the movie you were watching was over, Jisung cleared his throat, causing you to look over at him, feeling a little tired, but not trying to show it. Of course, it seemed like Jisung knew even with you trying to hide it, a soft smile on his lips as he slowly stood up. “You can sleep in my bed. I’ll take the couch.” Always the gentleman.

You opened your mouth to argue but he shook his head before you could, “I’m not letting you take the couch. So either you take the bed, or I end up on the floor. If you sleep on the couch I’m sleeping on the floor, so either way I’m not sleeping in my bed. Would you rather me sleep on the couch or the floor?” He didn’t give you much choice, but you knew he wasn’t bluffing. Groaning, you lifted yourself off the couch, ignoring his cheeky laugh as he led you back to his room, turning on the light and showing you where everything was in case you needed it. He then reminded you that he’d be on the couch in the event you needed him for anything, saying goodnight and giving you another hug before leaving his room and shutting the door to give you some privacy.

Everything felt like a daydream up until that point, a sigh leaving your lips now that you were alone in his bedroom. You locked the door so you could change into your nightclothes. After you had done so, you moved to unlock the door, your attention grabbed by an out of place manga just after. You walked over, picking it up and moving to put it back in its place, only for pages to fall out of it, your eyes widening when you thought you had accidentally ruined something of his, only to notice when going to pick them up that they were song lyrics and different ideas for songs. You felt like you were invading his privacy, quickly trying to stuff the pages back into the manga before your eyes fell upon your name. Furrowing your eyebrows, you couldn’t help but look over the page, eyes widening.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and before you could react Jisung was already in the room. “Sorry I forgot that I need to get my clothes-” He stopped once he caught sight of you, clearly in shock with how he simply stood there. You smiled sheepishly, placing the paper you held back into the manga and closing it. “I didn’t mean to look through it. I was going to put it up because I saw that it wasn’t where it was supposed to be and then a bunch of pages fell out.” You tried to explain, Jisung finally moved to take the manga from you, setting it back down on his desk before looking you in the eyes.

“You read it didn’t you?” His voice was calm, but you could tell by how quickly his eyes were scanning your face that he was anxious to hear your answer. Nodding, you bit down on your bottom lip, unsure of what to say or do. Jisung sighed, taking a step back and running a hand through his bleached locks, “God- I didn’t want you to find that… I meant to tell you, like actually tell you. I wanted to send you that song once I had finished it.” He mumbled, his admission making your cheeks heat up a little. So you weren’t reading too much into everything.

Reaching forward, you pulled Jisung into a hug, clearly surprising him as he squeaked in surprise. “Wh-” Before he could even finish his question, you interjected. “I like you too Ji.” It was simple, it was to the point, it was the truth.  You felt Jisung tense in your grip before relaxing completely only seconds later, pulling you closer to him as he let out a breathy chuckle. “So, I don’t need to send you that song?” He questioned, looking down at you as you smiled. “I’d still love to hear it.” Smiling, Jisung leaned down, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I think I’ll finally be able to finish it now.”

That was how everything had started, and that was what got you here. Laying in your shared bed staring up at the ceiling as the subtle sound of clicking and the drag of a computer mouse filled the room. You weren’t sure how long you had been laying here, but it had been a while. Slowly, you turned your body to the side, seeing your boyfriend's back turned towards you, facing his monitors, headphones over his ears. You weren’t sure when was the last time the two of you had actually spent any time together. In between work and his constant gaming addiction, it seemed you were always left to occupy yourself. When you got back from your job, he was usually asleep, so you’d climb into bed with him and sleep yourself. Almost every time when you would get up, he’d either be gone or sitting at his desk and playing video games. That was when your dislike for video games began.

Today was no different it seemed, a quiet sigh leaving your lips as you reached over to your nightstand, picking up your phone and checking the time. It was late. Though you could have guessed that by how dark the room was, the LEDs on the ceiling the only thing illuminating the room. They had been Jisung’s idea, but you hadn’t objected since you figured it would be both of your living space and he ought to have some things of his own as well. You felt a sinking in your chest as you came to the realization that your fear was more than likely true. You had gone off to work that morning hoping, praying that Jisung would at least remember your birthday. But it seemed he hadn’t, far too engrossed in his video games to even notice you were awake.

Gulping, you pulled yourself off of the mattress, deciding you weren’t going to make a big scene. You left the bedroom in silence, going out to the small living room of the apartment and sitting yourself down on the couch in front of the TV. You could feel tears pricking at your eyes, but you wouldn’t let them fall. Reaching forward, you turned on the TV, figuring a distraction would help keep all of your emotions at bay. That or it would drown out the sound of you crying once you finally broke, knowing it was only a matter of time before that actually became reality. You didn’t even bother to actually pay attention to what you had put on the screen, merely turning up the volume as you pulled your knees up to your chest, lowering your head so you could no longer see.

You weren’t sure where things had gone wrong. Really, nothing had. You and Jisung had been very happy from the beginning, and you had no issues up until you both actually decided to move in together. You thought that living together would have actually made it easier on the both of you, not having to manage your work/life load as much. Trying to date while living two hours away from each other and having jobs on top of that made things harder, but now that you two were actually living in the same apartment, it felt like you actually spent less time with each other. Odd how that worked.

In the moment, you were tempted to just grab your things and leave, overwhelmed with the amount of emotions you were feeling. Anger, sadness, betrayal, loneliness… it was all just piling on. It probably didn’t help that you never expressed how you were feeling, pretending everything was just fine when you knew it wasn’t. You were just never one to create a problem, opting to just suffer than make anyone else uncomfortable or feel bad. The sound of someone knocking on the door had forced any tears that were about to fall back into your tear ducts. You knew Jisung couldn’t hear with his headphones on, so you begrudgingly picked yourself off of the sofa, sulking over to the door and prying it open, looking out with a dead expression up until your eyes met ones you hadn’t seen in months.

“Chan?” You breathed, unable to believe he was actually standing in front of your apartment. When you had moved in with Jisung, you had moved to Incheon in order to not make it hard on him. This had caused you to leave your family and friends behind, including your friend since middle school, Bang Chan. He always had impeccable timing. Beaming, Chan held out a box that held a cake in it, a present in his other hand as he tilted his head sweetly, his curls falling just slightly. “Happy birthday Y/n! Surprised you didn’t I?” He chuckled slightly, watching as you took a step back, a hand over your mouth as you tried to contain yourself.

It seemed to be just enough to send you over the edge however, tears spilling from your eyes before you could stop them, a broken sob leaving your lips as Chan’s happy expression quickly changed to one of concern. “Oh God-'' He didn’t even ask to be let in despite having never visited yours and Jisung’s apartment before, stepping in, he shut the door with his foot. It took him only seconds to find a place to set down the cake and present he held, bending down slightly as he held your arms and tried to look you in the eyes, seemingly searching them for an answer. “Y/n what’s wrong?” He had known you for so long, there was no getting out of this one.

He knew that you never cried in front of anyone unless something was really wrong. That or you had been holding in your emotions for too long. This time it happened to be both. You weren’t able to blame it on being happy to see him, he’d be able to tell you were lying immediately. God why had he decided to visit you now of all times? Sniffling, you tried your best to stop crying, shakily wiping away your tears before Chan wiped the remainder away with his thumb, arching an eyebrow as he awaited an answer.

“I-I just… God…” You fumbled over your words, not exactly sure how to explain what was going through your head to Chan. Of course, it seemed he could sense this, taking your wrist and leading you over to the couch you had previously been curled up on, sitting you both down and smiling softly. “You can take your time Y/n. I’m not gonna rush you. Just tell me what’s going on and why you’re so upset.” He always had to be so understanding and kind. You just weren’t sure if he would be as understanding and kind to your boyfriend after you told him what was bothering you. He had always been overprotective and had even tried to talk you out of moving in with Jisung in the first place.

“O-Okay well, it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s just Jisung and I haven’t been spending much time together lately. I’m just lonely and upset.” You mumbled, watching Chan’s jaw harden at the mention of Jisung, his eyes narrowing and growing dark as he tried to put the pieces together. There were things you weren’t telling him and he knew it. “Is he busy with work?” He questioned, your heart clenching. Chan really was just going to get to the root of the issue wasn’t he?

“He is sometimes…” You trailed off, nibbling on your bottom lip as you avoided Chan’s gaze. You hated it when he got angry. It was rare for him to do so, but when he did, he was terrifying. “What about other times?” His voice was cool and even, showing no signs of anger, but you knew better. You knew he was probably itching to get his hands on Jisung and in your mind you were wondering whether letting him in was a good idea.

“Well… when he gets back from work he usually sleeps or plays his games. When I get back from work he’s either at his job, sleeping or gaming. I mean, gaming is his form of stress relief so… I get it. It used to be mine so I can’t really be upset with him for that. I can’t be mad at him for sleeping or going to work either. It’s not that big of a deal.” You were making excuses for him and you knew it. But you didn’t want Chan to lose his cool. The thought was more scary than spending your birthday alone. “So he’s choosing video games over you.” Chan stated bluntly, anger creeping into his voice.

Slowly, you decided to look at him, only to see he wasn’t even looking at you now, but rather around the apartment, one of his fists clenched as he tapped his foot against the hardwood floor. You didn’t respond to his statement, so it was only a few moments before he looked you in the eyes, giving you a look that told you to correct him if he was wrong. You searched your mind for something, anything, but you came up with nothing, gulping as you slowly lowered your head, sighing shakily. “I-I guess.” You whispered, feeling your body grow cold as you admitted it to yourself aloud. Chan cleared his throat, nodding as he looked around the apartment once again. “Is he at work right now?” The silence that filled the apartment was his only indication of that, but when you looked around, unsure, he could tell that he was wrong in his assumption.

“He’s here right now isn’t he?” He scoffed, the anger he had been holding back making a swift appearance as he got to his feet. Eyes widening, you quickly grabbed onto your friend's arm, knowing he could easily overpower you and do what he wanted, but he wouldn’t. He may know you like the back of his hand, but you knew him just as well. “Chan please. Don’t make this a big thing. I’m already upset and things getting out of hand is only going to make it worse.”

“Y/n-” Chan started, looking back at you, anger fading as he looked into your eyes, knowing that ultimately he was going to do whatever it was you asked of him. “Can I just talk to him? You and I both know that you don’t deserve to be treated like this.” He bargained, only causing you to shake your head in disagreement. “You know for a fact that you won’t be able to hold yourself back if you ‘just talk to him’.” You gave him a knowing look and he simply huffed, averting his gaze. He knew you were right.

“You brought cake right? How about we just have that and hang out? That’d make me feel better.” Chan’s tension had eased slightly at your request, taking a deep breath as he nodded, deciding he was simply going to appease you since it was your birthday after all. Getting off of the couch, Chan grabbed the cake and present he had set down in a hurry, going into the kitchen and setting it down once again. You followed shortly after him, looking over as he opened the box, a soft smile gracing your lips. He had remembered your favorite color. “It’s very pretty.” You praised. Chan clicked his tongue as he opened a pack of candles, starting to place them on the top of the cake. “Of course it is, I picked it out.” He teased, causing you to roll your eyes and smack his arm. “God you’re annoying.”

Snickering he shrugged his shoulders, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and carefully lighting the candles. “Yet you still miss me. Crazy how that works.” Looks like you two were right back to how you had always been. He wasn’t wrong though, you had really missed him. Being pulled away from everything you knew just for Jisung had been hard, but it had been something you were willing to do for your relationship. One you weren’t even sure was there anymore. Pulling you from your thoughts, Chan started singing. His voice had always been amazing. After he had finished, you blew out the candles, Chan grinning and ruffling your hair before pulling out the candles and starting to search the kitchen for something to cut the cake with. “So, what did you wish for?”

He always asked that question. Every single birthday of yours without fail. You always responded with the same thing. “You know I can’t tell you that. If I tell you it won’t come true.” Laughing, Chan shook his head, amazed that you still stuck by that. “You actually think that matters?” He questioned, earning a nod from you as you opened the drawer that held your kitchen utensils, pulling out a knife and handing it to Chan who thanked you before getting to work on cutting the cake. “Have any of your wishes come true that you haven’t told anyone about?” He pondered, the question making you think back on your previous birthday wishes.

“Mmm, there have been a few actually.” Chan gave you a questioning look, pausing as he did so. “Like what? Since they’ve already happened you should be able to tell me right?” You considered it before figuring that he was probably right, pulling out two plates and forks before sitting yourself down on one of the barstools that were placed along the island in the kitchen. “For my sixteenth birthday I wished for a skateboard and I ended up getting it that day.” You stated, Chan smirking as he continued to cut the cake, shaking his head.

“Maybe because you had been bugging your parents for it for a whole year. Only to never use it despite me telling you I’d teach you how to ride it.” He added in the last part just to chastise you, placing a piece of cake on a plate before handing it to you along with a fork. “I highly doubt that had anything to do with your wish.” You rolled your eyes as you took a bite of cake, humming quietly. He had remembered your favorite flavor of cake too. Of course he had.

“You don’t have to hate on me for believing in birthday wishes just because you don’t Chan. I get it, you’re too grown up to believe in something silly and childish like birthday wishes.” You could tell he got slightly irked by your words, scoffing as he got himself a piece of cake. “That’s not even it-”

“Then what is it?” You cut him off before he could finish, tilting your head slightly as you stared at him. Chan slowly took a bite of cake, looking you in the eyes, considering his next words carefully. “None of my birthday wishes ever came true. So I stopped believing in things like that. I think it’s endearing that you still do though.” He admitted, causing you to frown. “None of them? Not one?” You questioned, Chan seeming to think back on it as he stood there in silence, looking down at the cake. “Mm, I guess there was one that came true?” He sounded unsure, but you leaned forward in your seat, smiling as you waited for him to elaborate.

“I think it was my eighth birthday? The memory is kind of foggy, but I remember wishing for another sibling. It’s kind of dumb now that I think about it, but it did come true.” He shrugged, looking back up at you as you giggled while taking another bite of cake. “I’d say that’s a pretty big wish. The stars probably just figured that wish was enough for a while.” Chan rolled his eyes, snickering as he shook his head. “Yeah sure, whatever you say Y/n.”

The two of you enjoyed each other’s presence for a while, seeming to forget about the issue at hand which was exactly what you had been wanting. Not wanting to confront it or make a big deal out of anything. Chan was helping you ignore your problems and you were more than grateful, the male stating that he wanted to watch you open the present he had got you, so you both moved from the kitchen to the living room, the TV still playing whatever it was you had put on. Gingerly, Chan set the present on your lap, waiting patiently for you to open it.

You had always gotten nervous when it came to opening gifts. You were never a fan of surprises and presents were just wrapped surprises. Slowly, you pulled the tissue paper out of the bag, peeking inside. Your eyes widened once you realized what it was he had gotten you, gasping as you practically ripped it out of the bag, looking it over with wide eyes. “Oh my god- This is so expensive Chan. You really shouldn’t have.” You pried your eyes from the present to meet his gaze, seeing just how happy he was with your reaction to the gift. “I knew you’d like it. I’m sure you’ve been eyeing it for a while now. You always do that with the new lines.” He stated, making you nod in agreement.

“I actually had this in my cart for when I could afford it. It still scares me how well you know me. I never even told you about the new line.” Chan simply shrugged, acting as if it was no big deal. “What can I say, I’m just that good.” He chuckled, already leaning back as you reached forward to smack him.

For a few hours the two of you just sat and talked, not even realizing just how late it was getting. The two of you were making up for lost time, only able to talk over the phone or text, sometimes video call depending on just how busy the two of you were. Life as a producer was busy, that was also part of the reason you were so surprised he had shown up at your front door. It was the last thing you had been expecting. Just like you hadn’t been expecting Jisung to leave your bedroom. It seemed he and Chan had noticed each other’s presence before you had even noticed Jisung, standing silently in the hallway as he looked between the two of you. You immediately turned your gaze to Chan, seeing the look that was on his face before had returned. That wasn’t good.

“Who is that-?” Jisung finally spoke, looking at you with confusion and slight fear. It was then you remembered that Jisung and Chan had never officially met, your eyes widening as you motioned over to your childhood friend. “Chan. Bang Chan. I’ve told you about him, remember? My best friend since middle school.” You explained, Jisung’s expression growing more relaxed as he slowly nodded, remembering discussing him before. “Ah, yeah. We’ve never met before.” Jisung smiled, making his way over to the couch and holding out his hand.

Chan stared at it for a moment before deciding not to be a total ass. He took his hand and shook it, gripping it tightly before paying Jisung a sickeningly sweet smile. “No we haven’t. I’m sorry for not telling you before coming over but I thought I’d surprise Y/n for her birthday.” There it was. You had been expecting him to say something, but you hadn’t been expecting him to say it right out of the gate like that. Confusion was written on Jisung’s face for a moment before his eyes widened in realization, his gaze quickly flitting to yours. “O-Oh…” It seemed he finally understood the tension coming from Chan.

Slowly you lowered your gaze, fiddling with the present Chan had gotten you. Jisung took a moment to look at it before looking to the kitchen, seeing the cake sitting on the counter. “Y/n… I’m… I-I didn’t realize…” He stammered, unsure of what to say or do. After all, there wasn’t much he could do now. “It’s fine.” You mumbled out, forcing a smile as you looked up at him, hating to see just how upset and guilty he looked. Chan on the other hand, wasn’t having it.

“Look, I know it’s our first time meeting and Y/n told me not to make a scene, so I won’t. However, it’s not fine. You should know Y/n well enough to know that she doesn’t like to voice what’s upsetting her. You may be busy with work, or stressed, or whatever, but you ignoring her for your video games is something that shouldn’t be happening. Forgetting her birthday? Don’t you think that’s a little much? Do you see the problem? Y/n shouldn’t have to beg you for attention. You should be paying attention to your girlfriend regardless of what your work life is like and if you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be stringing her along. She doesn’t deserve that and you know it.” His words were harsh and to the point, but he got across what he wanted to. Jisung gulped, biting on his lower lip as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“You’re right.” Jisung mumbled, hanging his head. “I’ve gotten so absorbed in gaming because of stress from work, but that’s not an excuse. I should have been paying more attention to Y/n, so much more attention. I-I honestly can’t believe I forgot her birthday. I didn’t even realize just how bad I was getting… I just…” He sighed, stopping himself as he turned from Chan to look at you, taking a few steps closer before bending down slightly to look you in the eyes. “I’m so sorry Y/n. Really I am. I don’t have any excuses. How I’ve been treating you is wrong and I realize that. I promise I’ll change.” He spoke softly, searching your eyes as he apologized.

You could tell he was being genuine, seeing tears pricking at his eyes as he spoke to you. “You’d better or I’ll come right back here and take her home with me.” Chan muttered, causing you to roll your eyes at him. “Chan-” You chided, earning a sigh from him as he stood up, placing his hands in the air as a sign of defeat as he made his way into the kitchen. “Sorry, I’ll give you guys a minute.” It was clear he didn’t want to, but he would do it for you.

Sighing quietly once Chan had left the room, you looked to Jisung and patted the part of the couch Chan had just been sitting on, waiting for Jisung to take his place before sitting crisscrossed and facing him. “Ji… I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not upset. I am. I’m really upset. I had honestly thought that you would pull through and remember my birthday but you didn’t. It honestly felt like a stab to the heart. However, I’m also not going to say you’re completely at fault since I haven’t been honest and voiced how I was feeling to you. Keeping quiet and just letting things get worse was my own doing and I’m sorry I didn’t communicate with you.” You mumbled, Jisung furrowing his eyebrows and shaking his head as he reached forward, taking hold of both of your hands. “Hey, no. You’re not taking the blame for this. You shouldn’t be apologizing to me when you haven’t done anything wrong. You never once forgot anything important to me and I forgot your birthday. That’s huge and I’m gonna be apologizing for it forever. I should have realized what I was doing to you. That was my fault not yours, okay?”

You frowned, getting ready to disagree. “I’m not budging on this one. You have no reason to be apologizing to me. You know I’m right.” You didn’t, but you weren’t going to argue with him. Once Jisung saw you were done trying to blame yourself, he sighed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your forehead, the memory of the day you had first met in person coming back to you. “I’m really really sorry and I’m gonna make it up to you somehow, I promise.” You hummed, closing your eyes as Jisung pulled you into his chest. This was more contact than you had with him over the past few months.

“You’re making a lot of promises tonight Han Jisung.” You mumbled, wrapping your arms around him and looking up as he nodded in agreement. “I know, but I plan to keep them. I’m going to change and I’m going to make it up to you.” Smiling faintly, you hummed again, not wanting to say anything else as you rested against your boyfriend's chest, closing your eyes as you allowed yourself to relish in his presence. You hadn’t fully forgiven him, you were sure he knew that as well, but you were just glad the biggest thing was out of the way and you wouldn’t have to tiptoe around the issue anymore. The rest of it would be him regaining your trust and fulfilling his promises. “Happy birthday baby.” A quiet mumble left Jisung’s lips as he kissed the top of your head, earning a smile from you.

“Technically her birthday has already passed. It’s nearly two in the morning.” Chan suddenly cut in, causing both you and Jisung to turn and look at him, you with a glare and Jisung with a questioning gaze. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I see you two have made up for the most part so uh, seeing as I traveled two hours to get here, you both mind if I crash on the couch?” You opened your mouth to speak, but Jisung beat you to it. “Sure, it actually pulls out into a bed since my old roommate comes over sometimes and crashes. I can set it up for you.” His sudden agreement surprised you, but you decided not to question it, Chan nodding as he motioned towards the door.

“Cool. My stuff’s in my car so I’ll be back.” He then left without another word, Jisung watching him go before looking back at you. “Am I sleeping on the floor then?” He questioned, causing you to roll your eyes. “Ji, when have I ever made you sleep on the couch or anything like that?”

He smiled faintly, shrugging his shoulders as he lifted himself off the couch before helping you up. “Well technically the first day we met.” Shaking your head you went to the kitchen, putting the cake and everything else away as Jisung moved things around in the living room before pulling the couch out into a bed. “You were the one that didn’t let me sleep on the couch. I was going to, but you forced me to sleep on your bed.” As Jisung was fixing the pillows, Chan walked back into the apartment, this time locking the door behind him. He set his things down by the couch, giving Jisung a sideways look when their eyes met. “What-?” Jisung trailed off, looking down at the bed before looking back up at Chan.

“Blankets?” Jisung’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh yeah right, sorry.” He swiftly turned and walked down the hall towards the small closet that held clean blankets and pillows they kept aside. From the kitchen, you gave Chan a look that told him to knock it off, the male deciding to act like he had no idea what you were looking at him like that for. Jisung returned with blankets in hand, setting them down on the bed. “There, is this enough?” He questioned, Chan looking them over for a moment before simply nodding. “Yeah, that’s fine.” No thank you, no ounce of appreciation in his voice.

Jisung cleared his throat, nodding slowly before turning around and making his way into the kitchen where you were cleaning up and telling you that he’d do it. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually he had kicked you out of the kitchen, finishing up by himself. You huffed as you went over to Chan who was fixing his bed for the night. “You know you don’t have to be such an ass to him. He apologized.” You mumbled, keeping your voice quiet so Jisung didn’t hear. Chan sighed, straightening out the blankets before grabbing his bag and setting it on the bed, looking through his things. “I’m still pissed at him. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him into the ground. The only reason I didn’t is because you told me not to.”

“And I appreciate that, but he is still my boyfriend and I would like for you two to get along. I don’t want to have to play mediator any time you two are around each other.” There was silence for a moment before Chan sighed, nodding in agreement. “Fine. I’ll tone it down.” Smiling, you gave him a small hug, “Thank you.” You peeped, him only groaning in acknowledgement.

“Where’s your bathroom so I can change?” You showed him to the bathroom before starting back down the hall towards the kitchen, only to meet Jisung halfway, him holding your gift from Chan in his arm, folded nicely. He lifted it, smiling sheepishly. “He’s really good with gifts huh? I know you’ve been eyeing this thing since the new line came out.” You were genuinely surprised he had known that since he had been so preoccupied the last few months. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he seemed to notice. “You leave your tabs open a lot on your laptop. When I wake up for work you usually leave it out, so I noticed that you were looking at it fairly often.” He explained, your eyes widening slightly. “Oh… I didn’t even realize.” You half-whispered, Jisung chuckling quietly.

“I’ll go put this up.” He smiled before brushing past you and into your room. Chan left the bathroom only moments after, changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants much like Jisung had been wearing as long as you’d been awake. “You should sleep. It’s late.” He spoke, causing you to nod before watching him make his way down the hall towards the living room. “Are you going to sleep?” You asked, knowing that he had issues sleeping, always had.

“I’m gonna try, but don’t let me keep you up. I’ll be fine out here, I’m a grown man you know.” He teased, earning a quiet laugh from you. “Okay, well thank you for everything tonight Chan. I really appreciate it.” Turning, he smiled, his signature dimple smile. “No need to thank me. I just expect you to travel two hours for my birthday now. I’ve set the bar high.”

Your playful banter went on for a while longer before you both said goodnight and you retired to your shared room with Jisung. Stepping inside you shut the door behind you, immediately noticing Jisung busy unplugging all of his gaming stuff. Your eyes widened, “Ji- This isn’t… I didn’t mean you had to-” You couldn’t even form words, Jisung turning to look back at you. “I know. I just think it would be best for me to stop completely for now. Get things back in order before I even think about introducing this back into my life. It got way out of hand and I don’t want that to happen again. So I’m prioritizing.”

“B-But that’s… don’t you think it’s too much?” Your voice was quiet, unsure as Jisung shook his head, unplugging one final cord and picking himself up off of the floor, dusting himself off. “No. Considering I’ve put you on the side burner for months now, I think it’s more than enough. Gaming will always be there, but I don’t want to lose you because of it.” Shifting uncomfortably, you picked at your fingers, unsure about the whole thing. Jisung walked over, pulling you into his arms and resting his head on top of yours. “I’m sure about this okay? So don’t worry about it.”

“Okay…” You trailed off, deciding that if it was Jisung’s decision, you didn’t have any reason to argue with him. “Okay. Well, how about we go to sleep, and since you’re off tomorrow, I can take tomorrow off, probably call in sick-- and we can go do something, just me and you? There’s a fashion show downtown I believe. You can wear your new present from Chan and you’ll be the best dressed person, along with the best looking. Then we can go out to eat, or before. Whatever you wanna do baby.” Smiling you relaxed in his grasp, “That sounds great Ji.”

[shokobuns]

“𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫?”

satoru likes to show off.

PAIRING(S): gojo satoru x f!reader x sukuna ryomen, ex fuck buddy!sukuna ryomen x f!reader, boyfriend!gojo satoru x f!reader

GENRE: smut, college!au, some fluff/humor

WORD COUNT: 2.7k

WARNINGS: smut, threesome (i think), voyeurism, dubcon (for voyeur), masturbation (m) unprotected sex, creampie, overstim, size kink, squirting, mentions of a blowjob, marking, gojo clingy asf in public, mentions of public sex, a lot of praise

“Oh, sorry— Sukuna?”

The strawberry blonde smirks at you and a familiar sense of uneasiness overcomes your body. Your hand shakes slightly, the liquid content making small sloshes that spill over the cup. He notices this first and grabs your wrist, his much larger hand steadying yours. “No first name basis anymore, Princess?”

You look back down at your feet, memories flooding through your mind of the old nickname that spills from his lips. You don’t miss him, you truly don’t, but you do know that he gets a kick out of your own humiliation and that’s what makes you feel nervous. He’s shameless and it’s impossible to stir a reaction of unpleasantness. And he pushes your buttons whenever he can with no effort.

It all reminds you of the time his cock would be stuffed down your throat nearly every night.

You hate remembering those times, simply because they were filled with undeniable pleasure and it was so easy for him to make you feel good. He helped you take your mind off of a certain white haired bastard during a time of conflicting feelings just by plowing you into his mattress — or into the wall of a bathroom — relentlessly, treating you as if you were just a doll. And he filled you to the brim every time, hot and warm, praising your tight little pussy, squeezing your throat while waves of euphoria crashed into you all at once. The memories make you shudder when they flood for just a moment, but a call of your name reminds you why you got the drink in the first place.

“Bunny! Over here!” he raises his hand, slouching and taking up space on the couch. You sigh because it’s definitely a move to get you to sit in his lap.

“Ah, I see. Have fun, Princess.” Sukuna’s hand pats your back, urging you forward to your boyfriend.

You mumble a quiet ‘Thanks’ before taking your spot on Satoru’s thighs, his arms caging in your body while his head rests in the crook of your neck, placing the occasional kiss. His hands keep a firm grip on your thigh and you lean into his touch like usual as he continues his conversation with Suguru. It’s a natural position for the both of you because one thing you learned about Satoru was that he loved to show off.

He loved to leave shameless marks where everyone can see them, loved to grope you in public, loved to hold you tight anytime he had the chance. And you enjoyed every minute, relishing the feeling of your boyfriend making assertions through acts of affection. He’s needy, clingy even, and there was something appealing about the way he would always display it. He takes pride in the fact he can read you like a book, noting small actions that signified big feelings.

So when a certain blonde haired bastard sat down three feet away from the two of you, chatting away about things you don’t even bother to listen to you, of course he notices how you hide your face into his chest slightly, making yourself seem smaller than you usually were. His fingers lace through yours, not without him taking note of how sweaty your palms are, and his thumb brushes over your hand comfortingly. A soft kiss is planted on top of your head mid conversation and Sukuna thinks it’s funny.

It’s funny how no matter times you’ve come apart under him, you still manage to find someone else, and it’s nothing about wanting your heart and your hand marriage, two things that Satoru wouldn’t hesitate to give you. It’s about how he knew that he was one of the best fucks of your life and as egotistical as it is, there’s some curiosity about if your current boyfriend was able to provide the same quality. Before you were Satoru’s love, you were Sukuna’s favorite plaything.

“You okay, Princess?” he asks, no sign of guilt shown on his face or heard in his tone.

“Princess?” Satoru questions, eyebrows raised, “Do you know him, Bunny?”

You sigh, readjusting your position until your arm is sling around his neck and he holds you almost like a baby in his lap. “Yeah. Had a class with him.”

To Sukuna, the situation went from funny to hilarious. So this is all Satoru would know. It’s not like he has a huge problem with your past relationship being undisclosed, in fact, he understands where the hesitancy comes from, but he’d rather watch everything unfold while you try to keep a straight face. It’s pure entertainment for him, but pure embarrassment for you and that’s exactly what amuses him.

“Seems like you two are friends or something, Baby.” He pouts, waiting for an actual answer. You glare at him, a silent plea for him to drop the topic. “Well, yeah. We had to work together on a few assignments, dumbass.”

“Ah, alright,” he makes a mental note to find out what’s bothering you later and continues on with his conversation with the two other men, observing Sukuna’s line of sight. He makes sure to plant extra kisses and light nibbles on the skin of your shoulder from time to time, each one eliciting small whines. Although he knows that the pink blonde wouldn’t care anyways, it’s an extra precaution and another silent assertion. It’s not the first time he’s interacted with Sukuna before and he has a feeling it wouldn’t be the last either.

-

“Bunny?”

You respond by humming into his chest, breathing in the entirety of his scent, you hand resting on the side of his cheek. His arm wrapped around your body protectively, legs tangled together and his body providing you with warmth. One hand strokes your hair as you adjust your head to look directly into his cerulean eyes which never failed to make you sigh. His lips are pursed together, as if he’s thinking of the right words to say, and you wait patiently for him to speak.

“How do you really know him?” he asks softly, “I won’t get mad, I promise.”

You take a deep breath in, an internal debate brewing in your mind, but you ultimately decide that it’s best to not lie to your own boyfriend. Especially if you wanted to marry him one day. “We were fuck buddies.” you mutter, just loud enough for him to barely hear you.

“Oh?” he smirked, his expression of concern replaced by curiosity, “When?”

“Well- uh,” you stumble over your words, the answer on the tip of your tongue. You’re not sure how he’ll react, but you’re already in too deep and you’ve already decided you wouldn’t lie to him. “We ended it months ago. Nothing to worry about it, plus if you know Sukuna, he’s not really the type to get attached, anyways.”

“That’s true,” he agrees, recalling each time he saw him with a new girl on his arm, “But exactly how many months ago?”

“S-Six.”

“Funny, that’s how long we’ve been dating, isn’t it?” he asks, an idea brewing in his mind.

“There was no overlap, I promise-”

“Don’t worry, Bunny. I know you wouldn’t do that,” he pauses, his mind overflowing with questions as he tries to pick out the next one, “How long?”

“A year.”

“Long time, huh?” he comments, “Did you love him?”

“No! I swear, Toru, I was trying to forget you!”

“Me?”

“Yes, you, dumbass! I was in love with you!”

“Aww, my little bunny had a crush on me.” he teased, kissing the crown of your head.

“Shut up!”

“Don’t worry,” his fingers rub circles into your hip reassuringly, “I had a crush on you, too.”

You smile while he readjusts your position until your back is to his chest with his chin resting on top of your head. His fingers interlace with yours, resting near your face. With one final kiss on your head, you’re just about ready to drift off.

“Does he fuck better than me?”

“Satoru!”

“I’m just asking!”

“No, no he doesn’t,” you close your eyes, before pressing your ass harder to his crotch, “You’re the best I’ve ever had.”

“Really?” he grins, bringing your body closer to his.

“Really.”

-

You weren’t lying.

And this is reaffirmed with every little moan that leaves your lips as he leaves kisses down your body. Satoru knows all of your sweet spots, his tongue swiping your bottom lip and entering your wet cavern, wet kisses down your neck, teeth sinking into the skin of your shoulder. His mouth latches on your nipple at the same time he shoves his length into your hole so suddenly. You’re already dripping down the sheets, walls fluttering while his thumb circles over your pearl. His mouth leaves you, your body still trembling from the sensation. “Already coming? I just put it in, Bunny.”

“Yeah,” you breathe out, “Feels s’ good, Toru.”

“Yeah?” he replies, his hands holding your waist as he starts driving his cock into you as if you were a doll. His mouth comes back to your breast, licking the little dark nubs before biting down on the soft flesh. You’re lightheaded while your tight cunny barely adjusts to the stretch, his thick cock making your back arch and your nails sink into his shoulder. Your vision is foggy, barely processing the other man sitting in the corner of Satoru’s bedroom.

One thing you notice is that he’s rough today. Of course, he’s always rough, but you’re sure there’ll be more purple blooming all over your body than usual. His hands squeeze the fat of your hips so hard that they’re already becoming sore, but he fills you up in a way that hits every single spot inside of you. Despite how big he is, your little cunny swallows him whole, sucking him in like a vacuum and he groans into your shoulder at the tight feeling. “So perfect for me, aren’t ya?”

“Cumming, Toru,” you whine out, an intense feeling of pleasure forming in your lower belly.

“Then cum. But I’m not stopping.”

You nod, tears spilling from your eyes and flowing down your face as your walls convulse and flutter around his throbbing cock. You’re staring into pools of blue that gaze back at your trembling body in awe and it all makes you feel like you’re floating. He wasn’t lying and you know this for sure because there’s no time to recover, not when he’s still pounding into your cervix like he has something to prove. Your tits jiggle with every thrust into your quivering hole, the headboard violently banging into the wall. It’s not that long until your second orgasm is crashing into you, Satoru’s fingers playing with your little clit. He really isn’t going to stop any time soon.

And finally, even though your eyesight is hazy, you make out the mysterious man in the corner of the room.

Sukuna.

He’s looking at you with dilated pupils, the pink tip of his cock weeping with precum, swiping it with every pump. His hips come up to meet his hand as he focuses on how your tiny pussy takes in Satoru’s cock over and over again. It’s the lewd sobs and squelches that fill up the air of the room and the slick staining the bed that cause him to groan involuntarily. He’s shameless, fucking his fist at the sight of you spread out and your boyfriend is right there. No wonder he’s fucking you like he has something to prove.

You told him that he was the best and, of course, he had to prove it. But not to you.

It doesn’t matter because you love the way he’s fucking you right now. There’s no time for you to rest, only Satoru rhythmically pistoning his cock into your creaming cunny while Sukuna watches closely, observing how your clenching hole takes him in. After using his mouth to litter your breasts with purple bruises, he pins your knees to your chest and his cock somehow reaches even deeper than before. His thrusts become faster and faster, more and more erratic while the sudden change in position makes you squeak. “Bet you love being treated like a fucking doll, huh, Bunny?”

“M-Mhm,” you squeal, unable to form a proper answer, “love it, s’much!”

Skin slaps against skin, another knot forming in your belly. Your clit is pinched between his fingers, making you sob out his name. His lips come down to kiss your open mouth while holding your body flush against him as your cunt gushes and squirts all over his stomach and your thighs. Your walls clamp down at the same time he stills, pumping his hot seed as far into you as he can. You’re milking him for all he’s worth and he lets out soft praises that make you flustered. The sticky mess leaks all over when he pulls out, but he doesn’t leave to get a towel like usual because he’s noticed that the man in the corner of the room is still hard despite the mess on his shirt.

“Bunny?”

“Hmm?” you respond, still taking deep breaths from the intense sex you had just seconds before.

“What do you think of giving your old fuck buddy a ride?”

You purse your lips. For one, you have Satoru’s permission, but one thing about Sukuna’s dick was that it was huge, bigger than your current boyfriend, and you’re not sure if you’d be able to take it again. But there’s a feeling of nostalgia that fills your chest seeing it all over again and you remember all the nights he’s given you before.

“What d’ya say, Princess?”

The old nickname prompts you to walk over, Satoru’s cum still dripping down your inner thigh, and straddle Sukuna’s lap. You steady yourself by holding onto his shoulder, slowly sinking your ruined pussy onto the tip and going down until you’re halfway through his cock. But he’s impatient, immediately gripping your hips and thrusting upwards, forcing you to take the entirety of his length. The stretch burns, it hurts like a bitch, but it only makes the experience even more thrilling.

Your head is thrown back and Satoru comes from behind, kissing your neck reassuringly while Sukuna takes control, fucking your boyfriend’s cum back into your womb. As two large hands guide you up and down his cock, your overstimulated cunny creams around him, tightening in a way that makes it harder for him to move. Satoru’s hands from from behind to play with your tits and it’s all so much, the different sensations coming together while you’re helpless, unable to differentiate who’s who. “You’re always so fucking tight, Princess,” he praises, groaning out as your walls clamp down. “Even after getting fucked by your little boyfriend, huh?”

Your pussy adjusts to his size just like before, a mix of your slick and Satoru’s leftover cum dribbling down Sukuna’s balls. He drives his cock into you with brute force, inconsiderate of the fact you’ve already been treated like a ragdoll. With one more brutal thrust, you’re melting, overcome by a feeling of pure bliss. He spills into you, the warm feeling in your womb making your head dizzy. “Good job, Princess.” he smirks as Satoru carries you off his lap bridal style and sets you gently onto his bed.

You’re just about ready to drift off, unable to make out the conversation of the two men in the room. Once Sukuna leaves with a wave and a ‘Thanks, Princess” you use the last of your energy to pull Satoru back on the bed and hold onto him like a clingy child. “What was that about?”

“Wanted to show that cocky bastard that I was the best.”

You laugh before pressing your lips to his cheek and appreciatively gazing at his pretty face. “But you are the best.”

“I know.” he smirks, returning the favor by bringing you into a wet kiss, “Round two? With just the two of us?”

“It’s round three for me, dumbass.”

“The offer still stands.”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

[15-dogs]

hugger |n.s.|

pairing: newt scamander x reader

summary: you begin to develop feelings for newt, your employer, and accidentally do the one thing he hates: hugs (super super fluffy! pining, friends to lovers, takes place in between fbawtft and fb:tcog)

warnings: extremely minimal swearing, getting injured (nothing serious!), a niffler giving birth (?)

guide: (Y/N) = your name, italics = flashback

word count: 2.1K

a/n: this was supposed to be a blurb LMAO i rewatched fantastic beasts and unearthed my 8th grade crush on him which gave me this as a product! i hope you like it!!

“Denied again?” you asked Newt. He gave you a curt nod as he paced towards the Kelpie pool. 

You frowned; he always seemed to get quieter after he returned from the Ministry. It had been his third attempt to regain his international passport and, of course, his third run in with his brother, Theseus. And you knew how complicated their relationship was. Newt never really talked about Theseus, except for the offhand comments he would make about him.

So far, all you had gathered about the mysterious Scamander was that he was tall, an Auror, and quite the hugger. You nearly burst out laughing when Newt had mentioned that last little fact about his brother as if it were reason enough to dislike him.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Scamander, but that just doesn’t seem like something to hate a person over.”

Newt exhaled in quiet laughter as he pet a Mooncalf, grabbing some treats from the bucket he held. He flashed a kind smile at the Mooncalf before turning off and dropping the bucket to the ground, staring you down from across his basement.

“You haven’t met Theseus, then.”

Newt refused to meet your eyes as he joined you in caring for the Leucrotta. You chewed your lip— perhaps you were making a mistake, talking to him so plainly. He was your employer, after all. You weren’t there to help him make nice with his older brother.

Yet, you continued to speak as if you were a personal acquaintance of his. “What I’m trying to say is you’re an incredibly kind, sweet person, Mr. Scamander.” 

That got his attention. His head slowly raised to meet yours, and when he saw you were already looking at him, he looked away. But that did not deter you. 

“You refer to yourself as these creatures’ mother!” you announced with playful exasperation. That got to him, a soft, harmonic chuckle escaping his lips. “You have such a big heart. I suppose I’m just a little shocked that hugging is the disqualifier.”

Newt’s smile faded as he processed your words. You saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, thick with emotion. He then shook his head as if it would drive the feelings away, pointing you off towards another creature in need of care.

“Well, what are you going to do?” you prodded, making your way beside him. “Try again?”

“Yes,” he stated with a nonchalant shrug, “that’s exactly what I plan on doing. And I’ll keep at it until I get that ban lifted.”

You snorted. “I can see why you were a Hufflepuff— dedication like no other, Mr. Scamander.” 

Newt glanced up at you with a lopsided grin that had your stomach flipping for a moment. The tips of your ears began to heat up and you prayed to Merlin that your hair covered them.

You had known for a while that you had feelings for Newt. It started cultivating inside you with every adoring smile, every impassioned statement, every quiet appraisal. It had soon grown too big to go unnoticed and you knew you were in far too deep.

“Quiet now, quiet now,” Newt whispered to the little Bowtruckle, “mum’s here.”

You were padding down the steps from his apartment, reading the instructions on the back of a potion vile. He had advised you to get it from his medicine cabinet for your headache but you weren’t entirely sure that you picked up the right one.

“Mr. Scamander…” your voice trailed off at the sight of his maternal tendencies.

“I know, I know,” he cooed, “but change can be a good thing. On you hop.” He continued to pet the small and pouty thing before placing it into the makeshift nest he had created, where it was welcomed by the rest of its friends.

That small moment, seemingly insignificant, had caused you to completely fall for Newt. His soft, green eyes fell upon you with a gentle, questioning look at the potion you held. You nodded, answering his silent question without actually telling the truth because, if Newt could be as seemingly perfect as he was day in and day out, you could suffer with a headache for one day.

“Prepare the ointment, please.”

You raised the large container of ointment that you had mixed together in preparation for Newt’s return. “Don’t have to ask me twice, Mr. Scamander.”

He nodded his head towards a desk where you placed the container down. 

Newt began to take off his trademark royal blue coat, flinging it onto a desk as he conversed with you about your work. “How has Molly been?”

You eyed the pregnant Niffler which was milling about in its cage. “Quite well, actually. She’s due any day now.”

“And the other Nifflers?”

“Niffler-y, as always,” you joked, earning a smile from the sandy haired man before you.

“Lovely.” Newt finally turned around, examining your state. “You’ll join me, won’t you? Kelpie’s are easier with two people.”

“Right, yes, of course.”

“Brilliant.”

You undid the buttons on your blouse with haste so that you stood in your pants and camisole, pulling your hair from your eyes as you prepared to hop into the pool. It wasn’t like it was the first time you’d done this, but each time had your nerves thrumming with anxieties that something would go wrong.

You spun around as you took a step towards the edge of the pool, standing shoulder to shoulder with Newt. He extended his hand without looking down, taking yours in his perfectly rough ones, your mouth instantly going dry. Newt looked over at you, so incredibly close that your noses nearly brushed against one another. He nodded and so did you, both hopping backwards into the pool.

Your camisole popped up from the sudden force and Newt quickly looked away as you tucked it back in to the best of your ability. As soon as you were done, you splashed some water his way, striking him in the chest. His eyes went wide with amusement as he did the same to you, hitting you square in the face.

A small wave knocked the two of you back under, the Kelpie swimming its way towards you. You and Newt managed to grab a hold of it, barely staying on as it bucked you two up and down. 

After about the third time the Kelpie lept from the water, you cemented your grip. You let out a loud whoop as the cold air kissed your wet skin, Newt also cheering beside you. The Kelpie dove deep under the water, preparing to rocket you two up. As it breached the water, Newt sent you a disarming smile that had your hands subconsciously loosening. As the Kelpie snapped back under the water, you were thrown off, your body just narrowly missing the stone columns of the pool and splashing with a loud crack in the water.

“(Y/N)!” Newt cried out. His voice was drowned out by the water and by the fact that the pain from the fall had you slipping in and out of consciousness. It was the last thing you heard before you passed out, deep under the water.

You awoke to smell of a savory broth soup flooding in from the room over. You looked around the familiar space, soon realizing that you were sat on Newt’s couch, a blanket tucked firmly up to your chin. Your cheeks grew warm as you inhaled the scent that was distinctly him, scolding yourself for the childish crush you had developed.

You adjusted yourself, sitting up to see a tray of tinctures on the table beside you with a note that read, “Please take these when you wake! Newt.” You followed his orders, slugging them back with a wince at each unpleasant taste.

But then you heard a strange noise from the basement. It was a mix between a squeak and a whine, concerning enough to pull you from your cozy spot on Newt’s couch. You stood up and peered around the corner, hearing a soft, offkey hum ringing from the kitchen where Newt most likely was cooking his dinner. The sound of his voice warmed your heart and you almost, almost, got up to speak with him but you figured you had caused him enough trouble for the day. So instead, you headed into the basement by yourself.

You gripped the railings on the stairs with immense force, hoping not to fall over. Your body felt sore which you could only attribute to your accident earlier. You stopped at the bottom of the steps, peering around when you were met with a pained cry from the Niffler cage. You ran up to it to see Molly the pregnant Niffler whimpering in pain as another Niffler nudged at her stomach.

“Oh, Merlin,” you muttered, “you’re about to give birth, aren’t you, Molls?”

As if Molly could understand you, she let out a loud squeal.

“Oh, Merlin. Time to put that Hogwarts education to the test, I suppose,” you mumbled to yourself to give yourself the confidence you needed to deliver the little Niffler babies.

You snatched the pair of gloves from beside the cage and tugged them on tight, casting a spell so they’d perfectly fit your hands. You unlocked the cage to take Molly out, moving her into a small tray with bedding in it.

“Okay, Molls, you got this. Mum’s here.” 

You rubbed her stomach in small circles, feeling the baby— no, babies— squirm around. One thing was for certain: you needed Newt.

“Mr. Scamander!” you called upstairs. No response. “Mr. Scamander, please!” Still no response. “Merlin’s beard, Newt! Get down here!”

No later did you hear heavy steps growing louder behind you. “(Y/N)! You’re awake! Are you okay-”

You didn’t have time for his rambling. You sent a panicked look over your shoulder, meeting his wide eyes. “Molly is giving birth. Triplets.”

“Merlin’s beard.” He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it in contemplation. “How’s she doing?”

“She’s a fighter, I’ll tell you that.”

“What can I do to help you?”

You whipped around. Apparently you’d be delivering the babies. You took in a sobering breath, steadying your shaking hands.

“Something shiny, some snacks, and a towel.”

Newt scrambled around the workspace as fast as he could, dropping the items in front of you. You laid out the towel and snacks beside Molly, massaging her stomach as you felt the babies start to move more than before. It was time. You pulled the shiny object out from behind your back, dangling it above Molly’s head as she delivered three adorable Niffler babies, so distracted by the object that she didn’t realize that she’d given birth. You escorted the babies onto the towel, allowing them to nibble on the snacks as you stripped the gloves off.

“Merlin,” you murmured to yourself in astonishment, “Merlin! I just…”

Newt’s smile was so big it nearly split his face. He nodded, sharing in your excitement. “You did,” he assured.

Completely forgetting about professionalism, you hopped onto him, engulfing him in a tight hug while you laughed melodically. Newt’s thin frame stiffened in your grasp. You gasped, jumping off of him with your hands up.

“I am so sorry, Mr. Scamander. No hugs, I forgot.”

Newt simply stared at you, searching your eyes. You gulped as he took a step closer to you.

“Theseus tends to believe that a hug is just as useful as an apology, so I don’t quite like hugs for that reason.”

“Oh.” You didn’t know what else to say.

The corner of Newt’s lips twitched upwards, looking around before meeting your gaze. He took another step forward before taking you in his arms. You began to wonder if he could feel your heart pounding in your chest, whether he assumed it was from adrenaline or knew that it was him that drove you mad.

“You should be proud of yourself!” He pulled away to look in your eyes, his arms slinking downwards to rest around your waist. “And, please, (Y/N), no more with the Mr. Scamander business. I’d like to think that we’re well acquainted enough for you to call me Newt.”

If professionalism was damned before, it was most certainly damned now.

Merlin, he was so close, you couldn’t help yourself. With your arms wrapped behind his neck, you pulled him into a long overdue kiss. Your heart thundered in your chest but you were too focused on the way his lips melted perfectly into yours, the way he kissed you back with such hunger and vigor that you had to hold onto him tighter, the way you began to smile as he attempted to figure out where to place his hands. 

You pulled away a moment later, Newt following your lips with unpleasant surprise. All you could do was let out a soft chuckle as your cheeks turned pink.

A teasing grin grew on his lips that had your stomach flipping. “I’m positive now that we’re well acquainted enough for you to call me Newt.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

general taglist:  @pandaxnienke @lunalovecroft

[peonyneko]

Hi! I love your writing so far, and I hope you don’t mind if I send you a request :) I was wondering if you could write something with Tenya Iida x the reader? I was thinking a situation where they’re on a class trip to the beach and he sees mineta bugging the reader with flirts because she’s wearing a bikini. I would love to see how Iida would react. Thanks in advance!

Buzz Off, Pop Off | Tenya Iida x Reader

I am making the class’ ages slightly ambiguous because I know a wide age range of people read fanfics. However, the story makes more sense in a high school or university setting. If you are older, you can make UA a hero university and 1-A one of the hero classes there. Also I apologize over how long this took to do. Hopefully, if you're reading it you like it.

Words: 1791 words | Fluff

Warning: Inappropriate comments, uncomfortable comments

“Say cheese!” Mina exclaimed as she attempted to capture pictures of everyone in the class. A scream emits from my throat as she tackles me into the water. Somehow, we managed to stay up. I hold up a hand covering part of face and body to avoid a full capture.

“Come on! You look absolutely amazing. It’s for the memories,” she pouted while crossing her arm.

“Hm... Try beating me in game of volleyball. We’ll see then,” I challenged her.

“Game on!”

“Pick your team. May all the luck be with you,” I bowed towards her, making her laugh at my response.

“Hey, everyone! We both are playing volleyball. Does anyone want to join?!” Mina shouts while pointing at the both of us. I instantly hear a series of ‘yes’ and ‘me’ throughout the beach.

Looking around, I made sure everyone was in their position. Iida is on my team... Wow. Okay, calm down. Don’t panic. Luckily (and obviously), this portion of the beach was reserved for the class only. The teachers were all still visible talking amongst themselves. As soon as the whistle blew, my focus turned towards the ball.

“____, you look quite hot with your bikini!” And there he goes.

“Wow. I wish you jumped towards me like that.” Dude, let me concentrate. Crap, the block was good.

“How about you and I go somewhere after this?” No thank you. Crap, I need to be careful with my spikes. It almost went out.

“Hehe. I know you’re interested, ____. You keep look at me.” No. I am looking at you with disgust. And I’m focusing on Iida, who is BEHIND you.

Before I can say anything Iida blows the whistle, indicating that we take a break. I try to catch my breath as the group rests. In the corner of my eye, a figure walking towards another captures my eye. I listen into their conversation.

“Mineta, I suggest you stop that disgusting behavior of yours. Can’t you see you are ruining her day?” Iida began. His confrontation immediately warms my heart. He didn’t have to do that but he did.

“Nah, you’ve got it wrong. She’s just chilling. Plus, she keeps looking at me. She’s interested.” Mineta responds while waving his hand up and down to dismiss Iida.

“I’m not.” I instantly blurt out with clear distaste.

“Your comments are still detestable. Her behavior shows discomfort not attraction. You need to stop.”

“Iida, calm down. Things won’t always go your way.” Mineta rolls his eyes.

“Then, I guess you leave me no choice.”

“Both teams, please listen up!” Iida drew the attention to himself.

When both teams gathered near him, Iida laid out a suggestion.

“How about we switch players? Mineta can switch with... Ojiro.” Both teams instantly went into consulting amongst themselves. Despite a few disagreements, the suggestion was not hard to accept. Since my team is aware of his behavior, they had no problem with agreeing with Iida.

The next thing I know, break ends and the games starts once again. We played three sets total. My team won the first set, Mina’s team won the second set, and now we were on the last set. Despite being on the other side of the net, Mineta continued to make suggestive face gestures. He also made some comments towards Mina. However, in response, she shot her acid at him, making him instantly regret his words.

Now, my team was one point away from winning.

“_____, are you okay? Are you able to concentrate?” Iida was focused on the game. Still, he made the time to ensure my state of mind. I reply with a quick ‘yes’. Right then, I see the ball rushing towards me.

“I got it!” I push my arms out to receive the ball, which I managed to do.

“Nice receive, ___!” Iida complimented while setting the ball towards Izuku.

Midoriya was there within a second, harshly slamming down the ball right besides Mineta’s position. The wind that emitted from it was otherworldly. My eyes widen in surprise. My eyes only grew when I saw Iida smiling to himself, then making a happy expression towards Midoriya. Did they plan- No. It’s probably because it’s our winning point.

“Ah! No! Mineta, it was right there!” Mina complains.

“Well, I could’ve died!” Mineta stood there in fear with his legs trembling.

I only chuckle to myself. My team cheers over our win. Soon enough, everyone begins to disperse.

“Aw, I really wanted a picture of you,” Mina whines, trying to convince me with her eyes. I just shake my head and whisper in her ear.

“Peer pressure but fine. Only after you know who leaves.”

Mina vigorously and happily shakes her head up and down.

After the exhausting sets, I decided to go in the water to cool off. I close my eyes, feeling the water against my legs. Suddenly, I heard voice.

“Just one date. What about it?” Mineta was, yet again, near me. Before I can respond, a blast of wind hits my fast. I look up and Iida was towering over me with Mineta in his grasp.

“Now, what did I tell you back there?” he sounded angrier than earlier.

“Uh. That she was not liking what I uh said,” Mineta was visibly panicking against his grasp.

“Do you think this is a joke?” Iida eyes darken and he tightens his hold on Mineta’s arms.

“No.”

“Then, I am sure you know what to do. Please, do not make me repeat myself,” he lowered Mineta back on the ground. Mineta quickly rushes towards the beach house. I also see others going back inside. It is starting to get a bit dark. Cold too.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Iida looked worried. He kept his distance from me as if he wanted to make sure I am comfortable.

“Oh, yeah. Don’t worry. You were able to keep him away from me. I was about to say something but you flew in.”

“Oh, I do apologize. I did not mean to enter your situation. You just looked uncomfortable with his presence,” he fixed his glasses. My heart was beating rather quickly. The cool breeze against my skin was not helping the heat on my cheeks and neck.

“No! You’re alright. Thank you!” I quickly responded.

“Since it is getting cold,” Iida reached for his bag and pulled out a blue shirt.

“Here you go,” he hands me his shirt.

I take it into my hand and unfold it to put it on. A slight blush builds on his face after seeing me put it on. We continued to simply gaze at each other until I looked at the water.

“You look- Well, you see- I- For a while now,” I was confused with Iida’s tense composure. I closed his eyes and breathes in, then breathes out.

“I do not want you for feel pressured. Please tell me to stop when you begin to feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable. I simply need to get this off my chest,” he began. What?

“I’ve liked you for a while now. I can’t help but feel the need to take care of you. Though, I am full aware that you’re completely capable taking care of yourself. When Mineta made those crude comments, my irritation only tripled. I want to be able to fully stop that without making you feel surprised with my sudden interference. I have never wanted to be with someone as much as I have wanted to be with you. We still have a long way to go in life but I can tell that my feelings are serious. Will you be my girlfriend? Will you make me your boyfriend?” he looked calm but his red ears hinted otherwise.

My mouth was slightly open in surprise. My mind was trying to process all the information. I looked at the water, once again. What are you doing?! This is your chance. You’ve like him for a long time too. Do not ruin this for yourself.

“I won’t rush you so take your ti-”

“I like you too!” I interrupted him. He steps back at my sudden confession.

“I have liked you for a while too. I just didn’t know what to do. So yes, I’d love to be partners,” I smiled at him.

His eyes widen and glimmer with light. His face grows a big smiles and his chest swells. He puts out his hands but does not lean forwards.

“Can I hug you?”

“I don’t see why not”

As soon as those words left my mouth, I felt his warmth around my body.

*click* Huh? I internally shrug off the sound that I heard.

Upon entering the beach house, I heard the class talking amongst themselves.

“I told you so! You owe me a hamburger,” Denki told Jirou.

“Hm. Seems like you were right after all, Midoriya,” Todoroki says. Bakugou ‘tsk’ed at both of them.

I was in utter confusion until I noticed the image in Mina’s hand. It was a polaroid of Iida and I hugging.

“And here you were lecturing me about my actions,” Mineta looks at Iida.

In return, Iida only crosses him arms and glare at him.

“Mr. Aizawa wants to have a word with you. I suggest you do not lie. He already saw your actions and I did not leave out any details,” he replies. There were a few giggles from the students.

“Also,” the classroom is completely silent.

“I’m her boyfriend so buzz off, pop off.”

Not even a second after Iida’s confession, the classroom began screaming and laughing. The reaction towards the his changed relationship status and use of vocabulary was undeniably loud. Mineta’s mouth opens with shock at Iida’s words.

Iida gently takes my hands and pulls me towards the main room’s couch.

“Now, tell us everything!” Mina exclaims flopping the polaroid around as she walks near us. The rest of the class, except for Mineta, also gathers around to hear the story.

“Ah! That’s so cute. I didn’t know that’s when you started liking ____.” Me neither.

“Why did it take you so long to realize, huh?!”

“You shouldn’t be talking, Bakubro. You denied their attraction first.” Oh, no.

“Dude, you’re right but I don’t think you should have- Hey, wait! I didn’t mean it like that.” I hope he is okay.

“With the way he looked at her when he and I walked together, I was sure of it.” Always the observant one.

“I love you” I whispered at Iida, underneath all the noise.

“I love you just as much” Iida whispers back into in my ear.

-----

Please leave any suggestions or requests. Not beta read we upload with the 5% of confidence (not even) we have.

[diary-of-deadweight]

Masterlist.

Fic Idea by @leximills666

“Anything new?” You asked, sitting yourself in the spare chair between Darcy and Jimmy, who handed you your cup of caffeine. “If you consider Pietro teaching the twins how to stream snacks from the kitchen then no.” Jimmy spoke up, his eyes glued intently to the television for any missable details that could play in your favour. “But Jimmy did almost spill coffee onto Director Hayward.” Darcy shoots the mortified male a amused look as you slapped a hand onto his shoulder, trying so hard not to burst out laughing at the mental image that gave you an good amount of serotonin, “I’d pay good money to see you actually do it, serves him right for calling my friend a terroist.”

It was common knowledge that you and the Maximoff twins were close friends after their introduction to the Avengers as you were gaining some semblance of understanding of your teleportation powers and it’s limitations before trauma bonding with the pair over being Hydras successful lab rats. So when Hayward slagged off Wanda it took Darcy, Monica and Jimmy to hold you back from ending his whole career John Wick style. The bastard got real lucky but you couldn’t promise that the next time was going to have him leave a briefing room without a few bruises and even bruised ego. Fuelled by the frustration of recent events that left you feeling helpless as you were forced to watch the sitcom shenanigans Wanda and her dead yet somehow not dead husband and her adorable twins get into that only made it feel like a horror after they end, leaving you with more questions then answers that weighed on your darkening eyebags and breaking every last ounce of paitience you once thought you had along with the sleepless nights of theorising that went nowhere without someone bringing up a flaw made keeping your powers in check a little more difficult that you’d scare Jimmy, Darcy and Monica on a plethora of occasions.

You just wanted to get them out and be done with Hayward’s suspicious ass. I mean it was clear as fuck that vision was in bits and pieces in the video servalence footage. What was he doing with him? Why did he wait this long to show everyone something that would’ve benefited the opertation from the beginning? THAT was suspicious behaviour and yet no one was gonna question it?! Gotta love corruption I guess. “Anything new Dr Lewis?” Speaking of corruption, here it was in human form standing behind you there with his ‘stick up his ass’ attitude; it really pissed you off that you’d love nothing more then to slam your fist into him punchable bitch face until it’s unreagnisable. Sensing your hatred and thirst for violence, Jimmy places a hand on your shoulder and gave you a stern look that read ‘no...not yet at least.’ Sighing you gave him a passable smile before talking a long sip of coffee, making sure to slurp annoyingly loud as possible when Hayward looked at you unamused that you couldn’t help retaliating with a tight lipped smile and the middle finger. Darcy had to cover her mouth from bursting out in hysterics while Jimmy sighed like a disappointed parent but you knew he was trying to hold it together internally as Darcy was. “Nothing worth reporting back on sir.”

Hayward didn’t say anything other then let out a grunt then making his way out of the room not without a snarky comment from you of course, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out directior” to which he replied with as swiftly “appreciate the concern (l/n).” Making sure he was out of sight Darcy burst out laughing so hard she had to lean against you for support while Jimmy allowed himself to chuckle a little had your chest warming up, erasing any forms of pent up frustration like magic. Spending time with these beautiful bastards were what made the sleepless nights worth it in your opinion, knowing that you weren’t alone in wanting to help Wanda instead of harm. “What’re they laughing at?” Monica asked, a dazzling smile adorned her face as she nursed her own coffee between her hands; You shrugged nonchalantly looking back at her with fake innocence that told her more then she needed to know. “The sleep deprivation must’ve caught up to them.”

“Shut up!” The dark haired woman nudged you in the side, almost spilling your coffee in the process, “(y/n) threw some serious sass at Hayward earlier, should’ve been there Monica it was hysterical.” Monica only laughed in response as she patted you on the back, proud that she wasn’t the only one sick of Hayward’s shit, “I guess I should’ve. Would make a great memeory to share in the future” she sat in the chair next to Darcy turning her attention to the screen where Pietro was attempting to be slick and nab a snack while Wanda was cutting onions unflinchingly, only to slip and land flat on his back scaring Wanda as the unseen audicene laughed. Stupid and as cheesy as it was it didn’t fail to make you crack a smile while reminiscing of a similar memory that stuck out like a sore thumb. You and Pietro thought it be a great idea to compete against one another in order to see who’d get to the kitchen first, spoiler: he won by a narrow margin, that still had you calling him a cheat to this day, and decided to hide from you behind the counter like the little shit that he was. Long story short you entered the kitchen thinking you won, he jumps out scaring you so badly that you end up teleporting ontop of him.

“Hey (y/n).” Darcy’s voice brought you back from your thoughts and to reality. The thought of teleporting in there and getting your friends out has been a recurring one though your required to feel someone’s energy signature and with how well getting inside visuals went the likelihood of you sensing Pietro or Wanda for that case wasn’t going to be a piece of cake if it was you’d already have done it by now. “Yes Dr Lewis?” “Think you could-“ teleport inside? Trust me I’ve thought the same thing but the barrier is a major issue standing in my way of actually getting inside and out without trouble.” Despite all odds that didn’t stop you from wanting to give it a try if it meant trapping yourself also you wouldn’t hesitate to do it in a heartbeat. So it took your friends aback when you abruptly stood up from your chair, shoving your coffee into Jimmy’s hands and made a mad dash out of the room and down the corridor unapologetically shoving everyone aside with Monica and Darcy in hot pursuit while poor Jimmy placed your coffee down by your chair and bolted in hopes of catching up but when he did you were already teleported into the barrier that was dragging you into Westview before their eyes.

“(Y/n)!!!!” Monica yelled as she ran towards you, hand outstretched to pull you back but only grasped air when you disappeared form sight, she was so close to saving you but was too late non the less. Darcy and Jimmy shared a look as they came to her side as the feeling of helplessness became more evident within them. “Come on Monica, we can probably catch them on the television.” She said solemnly as they walked back to base.

-meanwhile in Westview-

Scared and confused you found yourself wandering aimlessly down the streets in your new attire of plaid shirt, leather jacket, high waisted trousers, converse and a locket that help a picture of you, Pietro and Wanda inside before finding yourself on your ass looking up at a silver haired male in a black leather jacket, Hawaiian shirt, jeans and worn down sneakers.

“What the-,” his chocolate eyes widened as they landed on your face, “(y/n)?! Is that you?!” His voice was just as you remembered it you smirked, outstreching a hand in a silent jesture to be helped up, “you think I’d let you wander too far?” He chuckled, hauling you off the floor and into his arms, face buried into his neck savouring the brunt sugar smell you’ve missed so much. “I should’ve guessed you’d be several steps behind.” He whispered into your hair, placing a kiss there, immediately comforting you before pulling away to drag you down the street without explanation towards a familiar house that belonged to the auburn haired female who was currently cleaning up after her kids when she saw Pietro, giving him that parental stare. “You’re a bad influence on my kids Pietro, you’re lucky to be my brother or I would’ve blasted across town by now.”

‘Well that ain’t foreboding at all.’ You thought to yourself as you took in the fact that you were finally reunited with the people who meant the most to you, you couldn’t remember when you got here nor how other then the fact that you wanted to visit Pietro and Wanda and that you could teleport. “If it’s any constellation, look who finally decided to pay us a visit.” The silver haired male stepped aside to reveal you in all your unsure glory as Wanda’s eyes widened like they did with Pietro but she didn’t any waste time in running towards you and holding your face in her hands, tears lining her eyes and you couldn’t help but lean into her warmth. “(Y/n)?” She whispered softly. “Hi Wanda, sorry I’m late.” You said as Pietro held both of you close to his chest protectively while Wanda laughed weakly her hand dropping you grasp yours tightly, “all is forgiven now that we’re together...as we should be.” Her eyes flashed red for a split second.

“Yeah, together at last.”

[geminiwritten]

jesse’s girl ; bucky barnes

fandom: marvel

pairing: bucky x reader

summary: natasha encourages you to date one of the new recruits in the hopes that it might provoke bucky to confess his feelings for you

notes: this is messy and i’m so sorry but i’ve be so stuck lately and i had to force myself to get this written! i hope it’s decent...

word count: 4744 (i don’t even know)

Three weeks ago, the only thing you could think about was Bucky Barnes. His blue eyes and the twinkle that they get when he smiles really wide, the way he flips his hair out of his eyes during a sparring match, and the smell of his aftershave after a hot shower. Everything about Bucky Barnes felt as though it was a drug designed specifically for you.

But that was three weeks ago.

After venting to Natasha and Wanda on a long overdue girls�� night, you finally agreed to go on a date with one of the new recruits who had been asking you out for almost a month. His name was Jesse, and he was one of twelve new agents that were being trained by Steve, Sam, and Bucky in the hopes of being able to help on missions where numbers were necessary.

Natasha convinced you that maybe Jesse would be the chance for you to move on and forget about Bucky, since your infatuation was very evidently not reciprocated. You were sceptical at first, but he was cute and funny, and he seemed genuine, so you agreed to go out with him.

“Hey,” you greeted, looking up at the sound of your room door opening, “how was training?”

Despite his soft smile, it was obvious that Jesse was exhausted, “Good, yeah…”

You stood from your desk and gestured for him to give you his heavy tactical jacket, “What’s that ‘yeah’ for?”

“It’s nothing,” he shook his head, “I’m just tired.”

“Really?” you asked, following him as he sat on the edge of your bed to remove his boots.

“I mean,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t want you to think that I’m making shit up or just being a wuss but…”

“But?”

He sighed, “I just feel like Barnes is going a little hard on me.”

You frowned, unable to stop the way your heartbeat began to race, “What do you mean?”

The fitness watch secured around your wrist beeped at the sudden elevation in heartrate, to which Jesse offered you a confused frown.

You tapped the device in an attempt to shut it up, mumbling, “Stupid thing.”

“I don’t know,” he muttered, thankfully ignoring the watch, “I’m probably just over-thinking it but he really doesn’t seem to like me. He made me do thirty extra laps because I asked an ‘irrelevant question’ even though Timms had just asked him how long lunch break was. And he’s always calling me out for having poor form, he gives me all the broken gear and all the shitty roles during dummy-missions. He’s never even given me a chance to lead but Timms has, twice!”

You frowned, “Which one is Timms again?”

“Frosted tips.”

“Oh,” you watched as he tucked his laces neatly inside his empty boots, “that’s rough.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “I don’t know, maybe I’m being dramatic.”

You shrugged, “I don’t think so, none of that sounds at all fair to me.”

He turned to you, looking up through his lashes with pleading eyes, “Really? Because I was thinking that maybe, if you didn’t mind, you could talk to him for me?”

Your watch chirped with another heart rate warning, “Oh, um, like talk to Bucky and ask him to ease up, or…”

“Yeah! He doesn’t have to go soft on me just cause I’m dating you,” he winked badly, “but I wouldn’t mind a pat on the back every now and then.”

“A pat on the back?” you echoed, still trying to squash the sound of your watch with your other hand.

He stood quickly from the bed, gathering his jacket and shoes and pausing before the door, “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Wait,” you stood too, “aren’t you staying here tonight?”

He shook his head, “I’ve got an early start tomorrow, and besides, now you have a chance to talk to Barnes for me!”

Though you couldn’t actually remember agreeing to it, you nodded slowly and leant into his kiss as his lips collided with your cheek.

“Thanks babe, see you tomorrow!”

The door swung shut in your face, leaving you to stare bewildered at the empty coat hook stuck to the back of it.

After sitting pensively on the foot of your bed and allowing yourself enough time to process the conversation that had just taken place, you decided to go upstairs. You hadn’t spent a lot of time with the team over the past few weeks, thanks to Jesse, and you couldn’t help feeling a little sheepish as you stepped out of the elevator and into the common room.

“Oh, my!” Tony, the first to lay eyes on you, exclaimed, “Could it be our long-lost comrade?”

Clint chuckled, “We thought you’d been taken hostage, or worse.”

Before you could speak, Peter walked up to you with his hand outstretched, “Hi, my name’s Peter Parker, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”

You gasped indignantly and slapped his hand away, “Watch it, smart ass.”

The rest of the group who were sprawled around the living area rumbled with laughter while Peter received a proud high-five from Tony.

“You know, princess,” Sam said, appearing beside you and placing a heavy hand on your shoulder, “I think you owe us an apology.”

You scoffed, “I don’t owe you anything, Wilson.”

“Actually,” Steve pitched in from his spot on the lounge, “I’d say you owe me some gratitude since I was the one who hired your new boyfriend.”

A shiver ran down your spine at the sound of that word out loud. Though you’d thought it once or twice, you hadn’t yet heard it spoken aloud and something about it made your insides knot.

“Don’t say that word,” you snapped, “I- we haven’t talked about it yet.”

Natasha’s ears pricked at the sound of discomfort in your voice, and her eyes quickly looked to Bucky. He was slumped beside Steve on the three-seater sofa, his elbow resting on the arm of it as his hand supported his head. He looked as if he was doing his best to sink right into the lounge itself, his lips pressed in a thin line and grey eyes glued to the television screen.

Natasha supressed an evil smile as she turned her attention to you, “What do you mean you haven’t talked about it? You were just saying yesterday how dreamy this guy was.”

Crimson colour blossomed in your cheeks, “Thanks, Nat,” you said, sarcasm dripping from your voice. “All it means is that we haven’t spoken about labels yet, now would you all butt out of my love-life?”

“Love?” Sam exclaimed, much to Natasha’s delight.

She glanced at Bucky, whose jaw was getting significantly tighter.

“Oh, come on!” you huffed as you pushed past Sam, moving toward the sofa where Bucky and Steve were seated.

“You know, Y/N,” Nat said as you situated yourself between the two super soldiers, “if it’s not too early for the L-word then I think you should at least start using the B-word.”

Before anyone else could react or respond, Bucky jumped up from the lounge and practically sprinted toward the kitchen door. Silence enveloped the room, everyone staring at the blazing trail that he left behind.

“Well,” Sam spoke first, trying and failing to conceal his amusement, “I wonder what that was about.”

He and Natasha exchanged a knowing glance before dissolving into giggles.

“You two are cruel,” Wanda said, standing from her seat at the dining table and heading for the elevator.

“Did I miss something?” you asked.

Beside you, Steve shrugged, “Just ignore them, they’re being idiots. Buck has had a hard few weeks and he’s nervous about having to let go of some of the recruits tomorrow.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were going to have to get rid of anyone.”

“Yeah, some of them just aren’t performing well,” he replied, “but between you and me, Jesse is safe.”

You knew you should have felt relief, but you were too busy worrying about Bucky to even consider the safety of Jesse’s position in the recruitment programme.

“He’s actually performing really well, he’s a very promising recruit,” Steve added.

You blinked yourself out of your own spiralling thoughts, “Who is?”

Nat snorted a laugh from across the living room.

“Jesse is,” Steve said, “your boyf-”

“I told you not to use that word,” you interrupted him, standing from the sofa. “Um, I’m just going to go see if Bucky is okay.”

No one spoke a word as you exited through the same door that Bucky had moments before, and as soon as it swung closed behind you, Steve turned to Nat, “Is there something I should know?”

Her grin was nothing but satisfied, because her evil plan was going exactly as she had hoped.

Natasha wasn’t stupid, in fact, she was the exact opposite. She was an international super-spy with a genius level intellect, specially trained to be able to manipulate people and events in her favour. It would have been stupid for her not to use her expert skills and abilities on you, despite the fact that you were one of her closest friends and fellow avenger.

It all started three weeks ago when you had requested a special night in with both Wanda and Natasha. The girls knew that you were once again needing to vent about your unrequited love for Bucky, but Natasha had decided that it was time she did something to fix her best friend’s broken heart. She knew that Bucky felt the same, and not just because Wanda had told her in complete confidence from once hearing his thoughts, but because the Winter Soldier wasn’t at all good at hiding the way he felt about you. At least, not from Natasha.

She could easily see the way that you both pined for one another, so really, she was doing the two of you – and the whole team – a favour. Jesse’s feelings were just collateral damage, and she only felt a twinge of guilt for using him as a pawn to evoke Bucky’s jealous rage in the hopes that he might finally express his feelings for you.

“Are you insane?” Steve asked once Natasha had finished explaining her scheme, “Bucky is going to kill you if he finds out.”

She shrugged, “Finds out what? That I encouraged my best friend to go on a date with a cute guy? That’s hardly a crime.”

Wanda re-entered the room with her drawing pad tucked under her arm, “Like I said, cruel.”

In the gym, down on the lowest level of the compound, Bucky had changed into his sweats and begun pummelling all of his anger into one of the sparring dummies.

“Careful,” you said, stepping up to the ropes around the elevated sparring ring, “Tony just got us a new one, he’ll be fuming if you destroy this one so soon.”

At the sound of your voice his footing stuttered and he tripped forward, his thick arms wrapping around the dummy in order to stop his whole body from falling to the floor.

“Jeez,” he huffed as he righted himself, “don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Sorry,” you blushed, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He watched as your nervous eyes searched for anything else to rest upon but him, “Don’t be sorry.”

He cursed himself for being so soft around you and turned back to the dummy before he had the chance to say anything he might regret.

“Are you alright?” you asked him, resting both forearms on the lowest rope.

He landed two expert punches to the torso of the dummy before turning back to you, a bead of sweat escaping his hairline and racing down his sharp cheekbone.

“Of course, why?” he lied.

You shrugged, “Just seem off, that’s all.”

“I’m fine,” he said, “a little tired, but fine.”

Your eyes were wide, silently pleading for him to be honest, but he was too stubborn.

“Okay,” you said, reaching your arm up toward him with your pinkie finger outstretched, “pinkie-promise?”

His whole body felt warm and fuzzy, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He couldn’t resist you, so he crouched down and linked his flesh pinkie finger with yours.

“I pinkie-promise.”

The stupid sound of your fitness watch alerting you about your erratic pulse made you both startle, and the blush returned to your cheeks tenfold.

“What’s that?” Bucky asked.

You retracted your hand and quickly held the watch behind your back, “Just- uh, low battery I think, stupid thing.”

He frowned.

“I should get to bed, anyway,” you said as you backed away from the sparring ring, “I’m glad you’re okay, Bucky, really.”

You spun around and headed quickly for the door, smacking the small screen on your wrist in another lame attempt to get the thing to shut up.

“Hey, Y/N,” Bucky called across the gym, stopping you just before the door.

He wanted to tell you how he missed you. How he missed your smile and your voice, and the way that you would always take his side over Sam’s. He wanted to tell you that the last few weeks have been hell, and that he hated every second that you weren’t by his side. He wanted to tell you how he really felt about you, but he couldn’t.

“Jesse is really great,” he blurted out instead, “he’s a really promising recruit, and I think you two make a great couple.”

You felt as if someone had stuck a pin into the side of your heart, popping it like a balloon.

“Oh, uh, thanks, Buck,” you called back, “I really miss you though.”

Before your watch could identify another alarming elevation in your heartrate, you swung the door open and hurried into the corridor, away from the gym.

Over the next few days, you avoided just about everyone. You were confused about Jesse and still overwhelmed by Bucky, and most of all, you felt as though you were missing out on some huge inside joke with the rest of the team. You needed space in order to pacify your turbulent thoughts and decide exactly what you wanted to do next.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N?” Wanda said, waving a hand in front of your dazed eyes.

You blinked yourself back to reality, “Sorry, what’d you say?”

“I asked if you were coming to watch the recruits after lunch.”

“Watch them do what?”

She rolled her eyes, “The sparring competition.”

Your confusion only deepened with the crease between your brows.

“Against Natasha and Barnes,” she elaborated, “didn’t Jesse tell you?”

You shook your head, “I haven’t really had much of a chance to see him lately.”

She had to fight the temptation to listen in to your thoughts, “Oh, well, Steve decided that a little friendly competition might boost morale among the recruits after they had to let two of them go last week. They’re going to spar with one another and the four best recruits will get to fight either Bucky or Natasha.”

“Holy shit,” you muttered, “that’s- uh, that’s intense.”

“I suppose it is,” she said, “are you okay?”

You nodded slowly, “Yeah, of course, just a little preoccupied.”

Nearly three hours later you were seated between Wanda and Sam in the first row of the gymnasium’s modest bleachers. Tony had them built in beside the sparring ring for occasions such as this, or for watching Natasha kick Rogers’ ass as he often liked to remind everyone.

The eleventh match was almost over, which meant there were only five more until four of the recruits would have to fight Bucky or Natasha. They were quick rounds, hardly lasting any longer than five minutes each, and with every winner that Steve called you could feel your palms getting sweatier and sweatier.

“For your sake, I hope Jesse gets Romanoff,” the burly recruit sitting behind you said, he had already won his first two matches and you had no doubt he would be one of the four winners.

“What do you mean?” you asked, turning in your seat to look at him.

“Jesse’s one of the best fighters, I don’t doubt he’ll be one of the top four, but Barnes will snap him in half if he gets the chance,” the man replied.

Sam’s attention was piqued now, and he too turned around, “What the hell are you talking about, man? This is just a friendly competition.”

This time, the recruit frowned, “I know that, but Barnes hates Jesse, he’s always had it out for him and don’t think he’ll be very friendly if he’s given the chance to fight the kid.”

You turned to Sam, watching his face morph slowly into realisation.

“Wait,” you said, “I’m still confused. Bucky doesn’t hate Jesse, he told me himself that he thinks he’s a great recruit.”

The burly recruit looked from you to Sam, and then back to you as he slowly raised both hands in mock surrender.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, “but this conversation is definitely above my paygrade.”

Sam turned back to face the sparring ring, obviously ignoring your confused and urgent eyes.

“Sam,” you poked his bicep, “What the fuck is going on?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, I just-”

“Next match is Jesse versus Angelina,” Steve announced, interrupting Sam, “and if Jesse wins this match, he will be the first of our final four!”

The small group of recruits, agents, avengers, and friends of avengers cheered, but you were all too confused to even muster a clap. Steve then announced that the match would begin in five minutes, so you took your chance and hurried over to where Jesse was stretching beside the ring.

“Hey,” you said, “how are you feeling?”

“Hey!” he exclaimed, excitedly planting a sloppy kiss on your lips, “I feel great, I’ve got this in the bag.”

You resisted the urge to wipe your lips on the back of your sweater sleeve.

“Oh, really? I mean, you’re incredible but these other recruits are pretty tough.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “not really, they’re all fairly amateur but these rounds are just a warm-up.”

“A warm-up for what?”

“Barnes,” he replied, his gaze locked on something across the ring.

You glanced over to see Tony helping Bucky try on a few different gloves, each of them made from a variety of soft materials and reaching up his forearm and above his elbow.

Jesse sniggered, “Those gloves are a waste of time, he won’t get a chance to land one on me.”

“Are you serious?” you scoffed, “Jesse, he is a genetically enhanced, special-ops, super spy. He could kill almost everyone in this room without even breaking a sweat.”

“Almost everyone,” Jesse echoed, “you’re right, but not me. Don’t worry babe, I’ve been waiting for a chance to show Barnes who’s boss ever since recruitment day.”

You were utterly speechless, anchored to the ground by overwhelming disbelief of what you had just heard. You hardly even noticed when Jesse kissed your lips once more before Steve called him into the ring.

Slowly, you moved back to your seat between Wanda and Sam.

“Are you okay?” Wanda asked, a gentle finger hooking beneath your chin to close your open mouth.

You were in shock, “That kid is an idiot.”

“I could have told you that,” Sam said, “he’s too cocky, always pushing back and refusing orders. We only keep him around because he’s shown some real skill, and because of you.”

“What?” you snapped, “Why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me?”

He shrugged yet again, “Barnes asked us not to, said that if you liked him then he must be a good guy deep down.”

You glared at him accusingly before whipping around to Wanda, “Did you know this?!”

She smiled sheepishly, “Yes and no.”

“Ugh,” you groaned loudly, “why the hell is everyone being so damn cryptic lately?!”

Steve’s voice once again echoed around the gym, announcing Jesse as the winner and the first of the four finalists.

The next few rounds happened faster than you could keep up with. Every time the bell rang to signal the beginning of a match, you fell back into the spiralling pool of thoughts in your head. You wanted to find answers for all the questions you had but there was something that you didn’t know, a piece of information that you needed in order to finish the puzzle you so desperately wanted to solve.

“Oh, my god,” Wanda said, bringing you back to reality, “this isn’t going to end well.”

“What happened?”

“Jesse is going to verse Barnes,” Sam replied, trying terribly to hide the amusement in his tone.

“Is Bucky really going to kill him?” you asked.

“He’s thinking about it,” Wanda said.

Everyone cheered as Natasha was the first to fight the burly recruit from before. She had him in a headlock within seconds, but he certainly didn’t seem too bummed about being trapped between her thighs.

The next match was a muscly female recruit against Bucky, who was inhibited by a silicone glove covering his bionic arm. She was incredible, and seemed to actually give him a run for his money until Steve rang the three-minute bell and Bucky pinned her to the floor. He had obviously been going easy on her, only putting a fraction of his power into every move for the fear of actually injuring her.

After the rest of the recruits celebrated the length of time that their comrade had managed to stay in the ring with the Winter Soldier, it was time for Natasha’s second duel. She was up against a petite but lean female recruit who only had half a head of inky black hair that was braided tightly to her scalp. The fight was dynamic and entertaining to watch, even Natasha seemed to be enjoying herself with the skilled young recruit, but after five minutes passed Nat won the round.

It was nice to watch all the young recruits celebrate with each other. They were all huddled together, chatting excitedly about how great this competition was and how amazing both Nat and Bucky were. They were genuinely happy for one another and they were starting to act like a real team, all but one of them.

Jesse was back in his spot beside the ring, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his hands on his knees, palms facing up.

“Is he meditating?” Sam said, taking the words right out of your mouth.

“Not really,” Wanda answered him, her eyes trained on Jesse, “he’s a bit nervous, but he’s hoping that everyone is looking at him and thinking he’s really cool. He also can’t wait for victory sex tonight.”

Your stomach lurched, threatening to send your lunch back up your oesophagus, “Gross.”

The moment Steve stepped into the middle of the ring, the gym went silent, as if everyone was waiting for this fight.

“I can’t wait to see Barnes destroy him,” a voice from somewhere behind you said, “the weasel deserves it.”

“He shouldn’t even be given this chance,” another voice joined in, “it’s an honour to be in one of these matches and Jesse’s just an arrogant prick. I can’t believe he wasn’t kicked out of the programme last week.”

Steve rang the bell and the match began.

Bucky was still wearing his silicone glove so he didn’t accidentally kill his opponent, though you almost wished that he had taken it off this time.

Jesse wore a stupid smirk as he danced on his toes around the ring. Bucky had to use all of his strength not to knock the idiot out in one punch, but it was becoming increasingly difficult the longer he had to wait for the first swing.

“I know your technique, Barnes,” Jesse said, only loud enough for Bucky to hear.

Bucky just rolled his eyes, “This is a sparring match, Jesse, just shut up and throw a punch.”

“Why would I do something that you’re expecting me to-”

Bucky swung a soft fist into Jesse’s torso, knocking the wind out of him and earning a cheer from the crowd.

“Big mistake,” Jesse spluttered as he tried to regain composure.

Bucky just rolled his eyes before fluidly ducking Jesse’s first swing, and then the second and the third.

“Stop thinking about how you look while you’re fighting and focus on technique,” he said as he resisted the urge to finish the match right then and there.

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

Jesse’s swings became sloppy and Bucky was easily dodging every attack. The crowd were cheering and even Steve had to fight the small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

As Bucky moved around the ring, guiding Jesse whichever way he pleased, he searched for you. He knew it was silly, but he wanted to know if you were watching, he wanted to see if you were worried about Jesse or if you were watching for him.

The moment he found you, his heart began to race. Of course, it was already a little worked up from dodging Jesse’s careless fists, but the effect that you had was so immense it made him a little dizzy. Then he saw the corner of your pink lips quirk upwards ever so slightly and for a split second, he lost focus.

Jesse’s fist collided with Bucky’s jaw, drawing a gasp from the crowd as Bucky stumbled on his feet.

“That’s what you get for looking at my girl,” Jesse sneered.

Bucky glanced at you, worry now consuming your perfect features.

Jesse too glanced back, evoking a flicker of rage across your face before he turned back to Bucky and really put the final nail in his coffin, “I just can’t wait to fuck her tonight after I win this stupid competition.”

Wanda gasped, “Holy shit.”

“What?” you demanded.

“Oh, no,” Sam muttered.

In the time it had taken you to turn to Wanda and turn back to the ring, Bucky had begun beating the life out of Jesse and Steve was running into the ring to stop the fight.

You leapt off your seat as your watch, yet again, began beeping obnoxiously to alert you that your pulse was beating dangerously fast.

By the time you reached the side of the ring, Steve and Tony had pulled the pair apart. Bucky climbed out of the ring as Steve carried Jesse off to the infirmary. The recruits were cheering for Bucky, chattering animatedly about the events that had just transpired.

“Bucky!” you exclaimed, “Are you okay?”

The pure uncontrollable anger in his eyes melted away the moment they met yours.

“Hey, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, finding a towel to dab at his split lip.

You raised your brows, “The last time you said that to me you were lying.”

He couldn’t help the silly smile that you brought to his lips, “I’m sorry, and I’m sorry that I broke the sacred vow of a pinkie promise.”

“It’s okay, as long as you’re okay.”

For a moment you simply stared at each other, hearts thrumming and palms sweating until painful realisation shot Bucky through the chest.

“Well, uh, you should probably go check on your boyf-”

“Please don’t,” you cut him off, softly bringing your hands up to his jaw, “that idiot is not my boyfriend, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Bucky whispered, his voice failing him as you overwhelmed his senses.

You shook your head, “No, I have a Bucky.”

That was all he needed to close the distance between your lips, pressing his body against yours as if you were the only thing keeping him tethered to this earth.

You never wanted to part from him, not for anyone or anything, not even for air but the sudden chirping of your fitness watch made the two of you startle.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you sighed.

Bucky chuckled, “What the hell is that noise?”

You laughed too, “It’s my Bucky-radar actually, because whenever there’s a Bucky nearby it beeps like crazy because my pulse starts going a hundred miles a minute.”

“Is that so?” his smirk almost made your knees buckle, “Should we test this thing out then, see how fast your heart has to race before it breaks?”

You hooked your arms around his neck, the watch still chirping, “And how exactly do you suggest we do that?”

He pressed another breathtaking kiss to your lips, stealing every coherent thought in your head.

“Oh, I’ve got a list.”

END.

[kirislut]

Can I request Bakugou x reader where he's a pro hero and the reader is a civilian friend who he likes. They told him where their hidden key is if he ever needed to crash and their place was the closer option. One day he takes that offer, going in, using their shower and kitchen. They almost didn't noticed when they returned home and crashed on the couch. And then he starts doing it frequently because he likes being there and resting with them? Also happens to prevent someone breaking in too?

a/n: i always love like prohero writings, because it makes me happy seeing that class 1a made it shxksisn sorry me being soft but here ya go! also bakugou is more mature here, idk i imagine prohero bakugou more calm and cocky, still angry just able to handle it more. 

warnings: bakugou(swearing), break in

you never thought you would become friends with a pro hero, especially one that you highly admired. admired for his hard work and because he was good looking.

it all started unexpectedly, you were driving home after a long day of running errands. you looked away for a second to change the song when you heard a loud shout, causing you to step on the brakes. yet a body still collided with the front of the car, then fell onto the ground. ‘did i just run someone over? oh my god.’

you nearly busted your car door wide open to go and help whoever you had just hit, but you froze when you saw bags of spilled money on the road. “woah, trying to steal all my credit? you managed to stop them before me.”

spinning around your eyes landed on the pro hero ground zero. the. pro. hero. ground. zero. now you weren’t sure what to be shocked about, the fact you hit some apparent villain or the fact that ground zero was talking to you. yea your inner fan girl won over.

“holy shit you’re ground zero.” the hero let out a small chuckle, a cocky attitude immediately taking him over because he could tell you were at least impressed. maybe even a fan? he didn’t know that his fans could be so cute. that shocked look you wore in your face because he was talking to you? that inflated his ego, as if it couldn’t grow any bigger.

“yes i am, good job taking down that villain by the way. how did you see us?” he questioned as he moved past you, grabbing the villain by the back of the shirt and lifting them up and over his shoulder.

hearing his question made you let out a little chuckle of sheepishness. “well i actually didn’t see them coming, it was an accident....” a wave of embarrassment washed over you as the pro hero tilted his head and cocked his eyebrow at you.

“you hit them on accident?”

“basically...”

the blonde stared at you before letting out a snort, “jesus maybe you should be taken in instead.” you let out a breath of relief, worried for a moment but glad he was just joking.

after that you actually had to be questioned and such by the police, for the report, so you were able to spend a little more time with the pro hero. it was nice, playful banter with maybe. just maybe some flirting?

as you were leaving the hero followed you to your car, ya know just make sure you got there safe of course. not because he thought you were kinda cute of whatever.

“congrats, you can be a sidekick ya know.” you just laughed, shaking your head. “no the hero life isn’t for me sadly. but if i ever change my mind i’ll let you know.” you opened up your car door and slide into your drivers seat.

“well too bad, just try not to hit anyone else on your way home.” he smirked softly, but his expression changed as he remembered something. he fished for something in his pockets as you shut your car door and rolled the window down.

“jesus fuck where did i put it.” as he continued to search you buckled up and waited for whatever the hero was going to give you. you buckled up as you waited for him to get whatever he was looking for.

“THERE IT IS!” he shouted, letting out of a huff of anger since it was buried in his pocket. in between his fingers he held out a black business card towards you. “it’s my number, let me know if you ever crash into someone. or if there’s a villain. i’ll make sure to save the day as usual.” he wore his signature grin as you grabbed the card, smiling and internally freaking out. thank you’s and goodbyes were said towards each other then you drove off home.

you thought you wouldn’t see the pro hero again any time soon since it was a coincidence and all, also because his agency isn’t close to where you reside. but not even a week later you see him patrolling not to far from your apartment during the night.

as you approached your apartment building, the pro hero was as well. you were currently debating if you should say something, but would he even remember you? he probably dealt with a lot of fans everyday. he was a famous hero after all. but as you were thinking and just blatantly staring at the spiky blonde, he recognized you from afar. “hey it’s the bad driver.”

bakugou quickened his pace slightly to approach you, it’s not like he wanted to talk to you or something. oh no he was just going to check up on a civilian walking alone in the middle of the night of course.

seeing him come straight towards you made you flush in embarrassment, did he realize you were staring at him? but you did your best to act cool when he stopped in front of you. “what are you doing out here, aren’t you far away from your agency?”

the pro hero huffed when you beat him to asking the ‘what are you doing here’ question. “i was about to ask you what you’re doing walking around by yourself this late.”

“oh i was just coming back from a night out with friends. and it was close enough to walk.” you explained simply as the hero nodded in response. “i’m guessing you also didn’t want to run anyone over again?”

you wrinkled your nose at his teasing, making the hero chuckle softly at your little pout. “it was an accident! and they were a villain. but you still didn’t answer my question.”

“to simplify my agency is going to start covering this area as well. so were in the process of establishing another head quarters and now i’ll be patrolling around this area more often.”

hearing his explanation honestly filled you with a childish glee, this meant you could run into hero more. just hopefully not with your car. but maybe you could be able to talk to him more, just maybe.

luckily your maybes came true, you were able to see ground zero more often and mostly during the night. the two of you would share quick conversations, just asking about how the other was and of course the usual teasing of you hitting that villain. he would never let it down.

but one night you saw that he was quite dirty and looked exhausted. you started to insist that he just rest in your apartment but of course he refused. he didn’t want to be a bother besides, he was fine. though even if he refused you told him about the spare you had taped under you door mat. not under your door mat because that was too obvious, besides no one actually checks the back of a door mat anyways.

you knew it would take a while for bakugou, he didn’t want you to call him ground zero anymore since you guys were friends now, to accept your offer. so you in the back of your mind you always remembered that he could just show up one day. but one day you were particularly exhausted, work was nothing but terrible.

so when you walked through your apartment you collapsed onto your couch, not having enough energy to make it to your bed. “oi (y/n) if you’re gonna sleep at least go to your bed.”

suddenly hearing bakugou’s voice scared you enough to fall off the couch from trying to sit up too quickly. hearing the thud, bakugou peeked out from the kitchen to see you had fallen on the floor. he didn’t hesitate to start laughing his ass off from you falling.

you sat up straight, glaring at the male. you scrambled up to your feet, flushing in embarrassment. “DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!” you shouted, causing the hero to soften his laughter. “right sorry, but that was fucking hilarious.” he was still trying to calm down, but you were still upset. though seeing him laugh was pretty cute, but no you had to be upset.

actually as you watched him, you could tell that his hair was slightly damp, he had taken a shower it seemed. he was also just wearing his tank top and pants from his hero costume, but did his biceps always look that big? when did they get so defined.

“hey idiot, stop staring and lets eat. i made some food.” you hadn’t noticed he stopped laughing, but you snapped out of your dreamy state and cocked your head to the side. “food?”

he hummed in response as he turned back to go into the kitchen, coming out with two plates of pasta he made. “i figured you’d be hungry, cause i fucking am.” you were about to snatch the plate away from him so you could just eat on the couch, but he moved away before you could snatch it. “you’re eating at the table, not on the couch. you might make a mess.”

your face temporarily twisted into a scowl, you just wanted to eat. but you knew he was right, so you just followed him to your little dinning table. the both of you shared a very pleasant dinner, the food was nothing less of perfection and the chatter was comfortable.

those nights were definitely what you looked forward too now, it wasn’t every day but at least a few days a week. you would come home, he would freshen up and make food, the two of you would eat or watch a movie, then he would crash on the couch. his visiting was causing your feelings or admiration turn into a rather huge crush.

it wasn’t any better for the pro hero, if anything it might’ve been worse. he knew he could just go home instead of crashing at your place, but it was closer. at least that’s what he was telling himself. it’s not like he looked forward to seeing you and hearing you praise him for his hero work or his cooking. it’s not like he would peek into your room to see your sleeping form just before he left your apartment. no he wouldn’t do that, he was just making sure you were alright. it was his duty as a hero after all, to make sure you were safe no matter what.

tonight was a little different from usual, bakugou called you saying that he was off on a mission so you didn’t need to wait up for him. it wasn’t the first time this happened but you still felt a little disappointed that you weren’t able to see him. so when you heard some footsteps, you were quick to sit up in bed.

you waited for a moment since the footsteps had stopped, it was then a uneasy feeling washed over you. bakugou would always shower first no matter what, even if you were home first he wouldn’t go up to you until he showered. because he didn’t want you smelling his dirt and grime, so why was there footsteps near your bedroom door and not your bathroom.

quietly, you rushed over to your bed again and fished around the blankets to grab your phone. once you had it you immediately called bakugou’s phone, hearing the dialing tone and anticipating footsteps didn’t help calm your nerves.

“hello?”

“bakugou someone is here, i can hear footsteps.”

“what? wait (y/n) i’m almost there just hide!”

you nodded, feeling slightly less worried since you knew bakugou would be here soon. but when you saw your bedroom doorknob slowly start to turn, that slight relief you felt vanished in an instant.

anxiety was gnawing away at you as you sat on your bed, burning holes into the door with your intent stare. the doorknob stopped turning, but it only worsened as the door started to slowly swing open. you could make out an arm through the sliver the opening, what was going to happen when they saw you sitting there. what if they had a weapon, you were going to be taken hostage?

“DIEEEE!!” a loud crash erupted further down your apartment then then led to a series of explosions and lots of yelling. you sat there stunned, previous anxiety was replaced with confusion. but as you pieced two and two together you scrambled off from your bed and swung open your bedroom door.

bakugou was outside your bedroom door, pinning down a person dressed in all black who was probably knocked out. as you took in the scene you had never seen the hero so furious before, he was clenching his jaw so tightly you were worried his teeth would break. “bakugou—“

his head quickly twisted to look over at you, his look of anger dissipating and being overtaken by worry. he got off of the poor person and rushed to you. he grabbed your shoulders and immediately started to look around you, “are you okay? did you get hurt?”

watching him frantically look you over made you smile slightly, mostly just relieved that he was here. you brushed his hands off of your shoulder and moved forward, hugging him tightly. you hid your face in his chest as he stood there, taken aback that you were hugging him so suddenly.

“i’m fine bakugou, thank you for saving me.”

the blonde let out a sigh of relief, letting his arms wrap around your waist as he held you close. “you dumbass, you left the door unlocked. what if i was out on some mission and i couldn’t save you?”

hearing his theory, you just shook your head in response. you pulled from the hug just slightly so you could look at him. a smug grin spread across your face as he returned your gaze, “well i know you’ll always save me. no matter what.”

seeing your smug expression and confident words about him, made him all to happy. so in the heat of the moment he leaned down and closed the space between you. pressing his lips against yours in a deep kiss. your eyes widened slightly, but didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.

you only pulled apart until your lungs were practically begging for air, so little pants escaped your slightly swollen lips as you looked up at the blushing hero. suddenly you remembered your situation, “shouldn’t you get them out of here?” you asked, tearing your eyes from bakugou to give the passed out person on your floor a glance.

he tsked at you and rolled his eyes, grabbing your chin so that you were staring at him again. “they can fucking wait, right now. i need to take care of you first.”

oh it was a long night, mostly filled with kisses, but also because you had to accompany your now boyfriend to turn in the fool who tried to break into your apartment. but now you never had to be scared again, because you knew that your hero would save you. he would always save you no matter what.

[sunsetcurvecuddles]

10. Is something wrong?" And 11. “Is there anything I can do to help?” For boggie or rebuke

hey you know how i just sent you the mystery rebuke fic? yeah it turns out it was your ask that prompted it. anyway here you go apparently all i can write is rebuke cuddles on the studio couch.

you're the swimmer with pockets of stones | rebuke | G | 2.3k

ao3 link in reblogs!

--

Bobby doesn't mean to let it show during practice. Usually, he's pretty good at keeping all this stuff under the surface, smoothed and hidden, layered over with a mixture of standoffishness and charm that tends to turn people in the other direction than whatever's going on for him internally.

Concerningly, he might be getting close enough to the boys that they can start to tell. This wasn't his intention, initially — the music thing has always been about gaining a reputation, some sort of following, maybe getting famous one day, and he really does believe in the music Luke Patterson writes, thinks it could really get them somewhere. But he didn't necessarily intend to get to know the members of the band like he has. Didn't expect for one of them to move into his studio, for sure,

It's not like he wasn't intending on getting to know them at all . It's just that he didn't anticipate how quickly Reggie would tilt his head, narrow his eyes, and ask, "Is something wrong?" when Bobby misses his entry spot for the fourth time in a row.

"No," Bobby barks, and it's a little sharp. Alex and Luke both give him equally sharp glares back. They all know they don't talk to Reggie like that. Immediately, Bobby amends, "Sorry, Reg. Just scattered today. Not your fault."

Not your fault . The mantra of apologising to Reggie. Swallowing and trying to take it on board (Bobby can see it, can see Reggie telling himself that it's okay, that Bobby didn't mean it, that not everything is his fault, that's why they always remind him, that everything's okay, over and over, because all these things show very easily on Reggie's face when you know where to look for them and how to read them) Reggie says lightly, "Yeah, no worries."

"We can try something else?" Alex suggests carefully, tone still crystal in a way that lets Bobby know he’s fucked up but Alex is choosing to let it slide. "Luke said he wanted to go over Long Weekend again before the gig on Friday."

"That's a good idea," Luke agrees. "We're more familiar with that one and besides, I just sorta wanted to see how this new song sounds out loud. We won't have it ready for Friday."

They totally could have it ready for Friday. Bobby knows he's being the weak link here.

So he tries extra hard for Long Weekend . Really does his best to nail all the timing, all the pitch, throws in a few improvisational notes just to make Luke grin over at him, delighted and surprised, because Luke might seem like a control freak but he actually loves to collaborate more than anything else in the world.

It just sucks that the rest of the rehearsal can't go as well as that does. Bobby fades in and out, his eyes scramble the music on the page, and before he knows it, Luke is calling things off, saying they can catch up tomorrow, that this isn't going to work itself out tonight, clearly .

It stings a little, but Luke's not wrong. Bobby, master of keeping his face neutral, can barely keep his eyes open even though he knows they're lying to him, even though he knows that he's going to be stuck wide awake the moment he lays his head back against anything and tries to sleep, because that's how it's been for weeks now.

The Mercers never let Alex stay over any more, not since he came out (and it sucks, and Bobby kinda hates them even though he and Alex aren’t all that close), so he packs up his sticks and the homework books he'd left scattered in the corner ready to head home. Alex says his goodbyes mostly like normal, though his eyes linger on Bobby, narrow and a little too insightful for Bobby’s liking.

Bobby replies, and to his own ears he sounds pretty normal, which is why he doesn't understand when Reggie and Luke exchange glances over the top of Bobby's head as soon as Alex is gone.

“What’s gotten into you, man?” Luke asks, ditching his guitar in favour of sitting cross-legged on top of the table in the centre of the room, across from where Bobby sits on the couch. “You’ve been acting kinda weird for a while, but this is a new level of weird.”

“I’m fine,” Bobby grits out. He feels cornered, the way that Luke is sitting there, and Reggie’s hovering awkwardly between Bobby and the door, hands behind his head, probably stretching out his fingers if Bobby knows him well enough, which he does.

How did he end up knowing them so well? And why are they pushing so hard to find out what’s going on with him? He hates this conversation. He wants it to be over.

He wants to sleep.

“Dude,” says Reggie quietly, “you weren’t acting like yourself at all today. Like, yourself is always a little weird,” he says, like a joke, but he looks a little scared, like he might be stepping over the line. But it’s Reggie, so Bobby allows it.

“There’s nothing wrong with talking to us about it,” adds Luke hopefully. “We’re your friends.”

“Right,” Bobby says, rubbing his eyes, “because you’re so honest with us about everything, is that it?”

“Well – hey, that doesn’t seem fair,” Reggie interrupts, tone a little protective. “We’re not talking about Luke right now. If we want to stage a Luke-tervention later, we can, but—”

“A what?” Luke says, baffled.

“Like an intervention,” Reggie explains, in an exasperated tone, like this really should be obvious, “but for you.”

“Oh,” says Luke, nodding like that actually did clear it up.

They’re idiots. Bobby wishes they weren’t making him smile. Maybe he’s just delirious. He listens to them banter for a few more minutes and feels himself slipping, feels the way the room is spinning a bit around him. Knows he won’t be able to sleep, feels it in the ache in his body, but it hurts anyway, how bad he wants it. How much he wants to be able to reach behind the veil and pull the sleep to him, pull it over him like a blanket.

His bandmates are suddenly on either side of him, like they’re ready to catch him if he falls, Reggie’s voice cautious as he says, “Bobby? You good, man? You looked woozy for a sec.”

"Tired," is all Bobby manages. His voice comes out a little strangled.

"Yeah," says Luke, in a sort of punched-out voice that makes Bobby think Luke understood more than Bobby meant him to. “We know.”

How do they know? Bobby hasn’t told them. He hasn’t told anyone. It’s just been him and his empty room and the ceiling staring back down at him for hours, until he gives up, gets up and switches the lights on and tries to read, tries to write music, tries to do anything. Though honestly, lately he’s been too tired even for that. Too exhausted and frantic to do anything but stare at the roof and wish it would fall on him and knock him out, send him down into the black lake of sleep where he so desperately wants to drown. But he hasn’t told Luke or Reggie about any of that.

"We want to help, man," Reggie continues, almost painfully earnest and sweet, "Is there anything we can do?"

Bobby shakes his head no before he's even let himself process Reggie's words, because help and Bobby are only things that go together when Bobby's doing the helping, not the other way around.

Without even opening his eyes, Bobby feels Luke push Bobby's arm up so Luke can snuggle up against his side, resting his cheek on Bobby's shoulder, stubborn and warm and soft. Seemingly following his initiative, Reggie loops himself around Bobby's other side, a little gangly but just as safe, tucking Bobby's head under his chin instead.

"Does this make it better?" Luke asks, in a small voice. Bobby feels his throat move, the vibrations of his voice. "Or, uh, or worse?"

Bobby goes to say neither, to say, it doesn't matter, to say, you guys will sleep better without me here taking up all this space . To say, I should go to my own room . But he doesn't say any of those things, because having them so close and warm around him is sorta making him want to cry, in a really weird, horrible, overflowing way, like he's a bathtub filling up with tears and they're reaching his throat, not too far from reaching his eyes.

"Better," Reggie decides for him. Takes the weight off his shoulders. "C'mon, Luke, let's go to bed. Bobby can just lie here until he feels better."

Luke makes an affirmative sound, pulls the blanket back up over the three of them, and Bobby feels like he's sinking deep in his own achy, exhausted body, like he's finally letting it overcome him, like suddenly instead of being the bathtub, he's just in one, and he's letting his head slip under the water, letting it engulf him. Reggie runs a hand through Bobby's hair, light and gentle, and Bobby sinks deeper. Luke wraps an arm around Bobby's stomach, fingers squeezing at Bobby's waist, and Bobby sinks deeper.

Instead of lying awake for hours until his eyes burn and his teeth ache, he's asleep without being sure when it happens.

—

When he wakes, Reggie and Luke pushed in on either side of him still, wrapped even more tightly than he remembers them being the night before, he feels unbelievably light, even with their weight pressing in all over him. He feels like his eyelids weigh ten pounds less than they did the day before, even as his body succumbs to being part of the couch cushions, even as a yawn pulls at the edge of his mouth and suggests to him that maybe, they try to sleep for just a few more minutes.

—

Bobby wakes again when the sun starts to spill in properly through the garage window at the back, illuminating the studio and casting their instruments into bright colours and dark shadowy relief across the floor. This time, he's only being restrained by all four of Luke's limbs, somehow, like their genius songwriter has decided to abandon his pursuit of music for the better pursuit of fully transforming into a koala bear. For a few moments, blinking and looking around, Bobby can't see Reggie anywhere.

It doesn't really alarm him, though. It's not like there's anyone else around, and Reggie's always been an earlier riser than him or Luke, more spritely than the rest of them. Luke’s still snoring, has drooled a tiny bit on Bobby’s t-shirt. Bobby should probably be more grossed-out by it than he is.

Before he can start to theorise about where, exactly, Reggie might have gone, he’s already returning, nudging the door open with his hip because his arms are full. He gives Bobby a big grin, as usual far too awake for the hour (Bobby doesn’t think he’s been that awake at any hour, recently).

“Aw, man. I was hoping you’d sleep a little longer, but… I brought us breakfast?”

Reggie must have gone up to the house, which means he probably would have had to talk to Bobby’s parents, at least his mom. Bobby’s stomach twists in embarrassment at the thought, not of Reggie, but of his mom, her scattered workaholic brain probably so far from being able to handle a conversation with a sweet kid like Reggie first thing in the morning. But still, Reggie’s carrying plates that have toast and jam, and he’s got a big bottle of orange juice, and he looks so proud of himself, like a little kid with a picture they want you to put on the fridge.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Bobby says, his voice still hoarse from sleep, but sounding better than it did at any point yesterday. He must have gotten more sleep just last night than he did in the five nights beforehand.

“I know,” says Reggie brightly, setting the plates and bottle down on the table across from the pullout, “but that’s what friends are for, right?”

Huh. Friends. That’s one way to put it, Bobby guesses. In his head they’ve just been – bandmates, always, but – he guesses if Luke and Reggie are snuggling up to him overnight, hanging out at his place on days when they’re not doing music, if Reggie’s casually chatting to his mom –

Maybe they are friends.

He looks down at the toast. Reggie’s spread the jam almost neurotically evenly, but on one piece he’s drawn a wonky smiley face, with two circle eyes and a big stripe of jam in a curve that mirrors their band logo for the smile. It looks vaguely demented, but Reggie grins and points and says, “That one’s for you. So you’ll be in a better mood today.”

Luke yawns, stretches and wriggles, squishing Bobby a little bit in the process with his warm limbs. Bobby looks from one to the other, from Reggie’s face to Luke’s body curled up against him, and suddenly his stomach is full of something that’s a little more concerning than just the sense of being friends unexpectedly. Something different.

Bobby sighs a breath out quietly to try and shake off the feeling, and Reggie grins, like he gets something, which is nerve wracking until he says, “You don’t wanna move, right? I can feed you so you don’t have to get up!”

Honestly, Bobby would really rather Reggie didn’t, after the possibly concerning revelation he had moments ago, so he shoves Luke maybe a little harder than he needed to, ignores Luke’s startled yelp, even though it makes him want to laugh and the want to laugh makes the fluttery feeling come back to his stomach. Rather than laughing, or showing any of his feelings, Bobby just mutters, getoffme , and sits up to grab a piece of toast. He'll deal with everything else after breakfast.

(He takes the smiley face piece. He’s not a monster).

[ohheyitsokay]

slowly

Pairing: Jack Daniels (Agent Whiskey) x  (f) ace!reader

Wordcount: 2.2k

Warnings: discussions of sex and related topics, maybe some angst? a lot more analogies than actual descriptions 

Summary: a drive in theatre, a budding relationship, and a whole lot of mutual support

Notes: okay obviously this is a wildly personal topic - I fully understand that asexuality looks different for everyone. For full disclosure, in this story, the reader knows they are somewhere on the asexuality spectrum, but is not aromantic. They are also are on a path of self discovery and are open to learning about themselves. This IS NOT saying asexuals who are like this are growing "better" than those who are not interested. Asexuals who do know what they do and dont want are perfect and do not need to change or compromise as part of their personal growth.

There will be an optional part 2 where they have more conversations about intimacy and explore together what works for them, but again, this is not everyone's story, or the "right" way, it's just... one story.

That being said, I genuinely hope yall enjoy!

>>

You stared at the bashful man in front of you openly, your hands stilling on the groceries you were halfway done unloading.

Even the slightest rustle of the cloth bags was painfully loud in the silence that stretched between you.

Jack had burst through your door, confident as always, but it was a thin layer over his anxious heart. With two long strides, he was pulling you into his arms, almost crushing you against his chest.

Arms winding around his middle, you held him just as tightly before you found your voice again.

“You’re back,” you said, simply amazed that he was a whole week early from the long mission. “When did you get back?”

You hadn’t realized he had picked you up until your feet were on solid ground again, and he was pulling away.

“Just a few hours ago, I had to make it back in time for opening night, right?” he grinned winningly.

You tried not to overthink, feeling a jolt of excitement that he remembered – tonight. The drive-in theatre in town was opening for the season and you had been more than excited. As one of your most consistent movie night friends, Jack had promised to take you, full of butterflies and subtext.

For as close as you’d gotten over the past few months, you weren’t sure what to make of his expression.

“If that’s okay? I should’ve double checked,” you hadn’t responded and it was apparently making him nervous.

“Yeah, Jack, that sounds great,” you reassured him, turning back to your groceries, equally nervous.

If you were being honest, you hadn’t expected him to remember because it had almost felt like an off-hand comment at the time, and you hadn’t wanted to get your hope up to much.

Something was welling in your stomach as you turned away from him fully, putting each item in its respective home in your kitchen. You liked him, of course you liked him. He was bold and kind and passionate, and more handsome than seemed reasonable for a single person. And… and when he was nearby, there was a feeling of safety, just out of reach, like water lapping at your feet at the beach.

It was more than tempting but, same as the ocean, there was also an uneasiness in the unknown. The same uneasiness was present in every relationship you’d ever had – because you had a secret.

Well, it was less of a secret and more… something you were figuring out that you hadn’t talked about much. Despite long late night talks and months of growing close and even slowly falling for each other, you hadn’t quite found the courage to talk to Jack about it yet. The more real the soft, sweet moments between you got, the more the unease filled your bones. You knew how he was with other women, and each time his hand lingered on your hip, your shoulder, your cheek, a quiet voice whispered that he deserved better.

Jack was staring at you, lost in your thoughts as you mechanically worked your way through the bags. His heart ached for you, and he wished more than anything that you trusted him with whatever you were holding back. But he was a determined man – he would do whatever he could to show you that no matter what, he wasn’t going anywhere.

 -

After awhile, Jack coaxed you back to your normal self, telling you as much of his mission as he could and helping you cook dinner. Moving around your kitchen was wonderfully peaceful, a little bubble of intimacy. Food was great for neutralizing anxious thoughts.

The feeling continued into his truck as you excitedly packed blankets and he fought the urge to kiss your adorable face when you found the snacks he’d picked up. Even before he left, in anticipation for tonight, he cleaned the front seat thoroughly, and made sure his radio was in good condition.

The movie went well too, but as much as he wanted to pull you into his arms, press you into his side, be the warmth against the cool night air, there was a hesitation that held him at bay.

Every time he’d reach for you, cautious and gentle, your skin would twitch, almost jumping away before you’d smile at him and lean into it. You seemed happy, but part of your mind was holding you back. As friends, you two were relatively physically affectionate, so he made a mental note to tread light and watch for more cues. Jack never wanted to impose himself on anyone but with you, even less.

So he waited. He had no doubt you’d talk to him when you were ready, and heavens knows that he had plenty of things he had kept buried. It was still nice, hearing you laugh next to him - just him – and seeing the light reflecting off the movie dance across your skin. Talking with you was always easy, even more so without friends or family around and it made Jack ache with eagerness.

As he pulled up to your home, he gently took your hand.

“Darlin, it was plum delightful to take you out tonight,” he said, cursing himself internally for how nervous he sounded. You looked his, eyes catching the streetlight like magic and your gentle squeeze gave him courage.

“I really would like to take you out again, on a proper date,” he couldn’t look away from your eyes, trying to read them through the murkiness. “I really like you,” Jack added, quieter, “but you don’t have to respond right now.”

You nodded, your eyes closing tight as though you were at war with yourself.

You think you like me, but I’m not the type of girl you want to date.

“You don’t have to… tell me, if you’re not ready, but,” he offered after a long moment, his free hand flexing on the steering wheel as he forced himself to examine the bushes on the side of the parking lot. “But I’m listening.”

You felt both hot and cold at the same time. All evening you could feel it coming, knew it was going to happen, knew it had to. He deserved this conversation, and honestly, if there was anyone who made you feel like you did, too, it was Jack.

Inhale, exhale. 

Inhale -

“Okay,” - exhale. 

Remembering that neither of you had work the next day helped. Slowly you let go of your hand and unbuckled your seatbelt, shifting to get comfortable again, the actions thick with significance. He returned it, unbuckling too, and killing the engine.

Jack was so respectful you could cry, his obvious anxiety under control enough not to jump to conclusions – to wait for you.

“I like you, too, Jack, but I don’t think we can ever date,” you forced the words out and his heart nearly shattered, confusion barely holding it together.

Eyebrows so drawn in they almost looked like a solid line, he waited, unable to stop a small shake of his head.

Why not? His entire being screamed. With each second that passed, more and more determination seeped into the cracks of his heart, sticking it together. If you liked him as he liked you, it seemed impossible there was anything between you that couldn’t be overcome.

You saw the question in his eyes and the explanation tumbled out.

“It’s just, I know you – I know the girls you go after and the type of relationships most men want. And,” you were sucking in air, the vulnerability raking through your lungs. “And I don’t know if I can ever give you that.”

He started to protest before his hand covered his mouth, irritated movements over his mustache, his jaw working. What he wanted was you. But he needed to let you keep talking. If he interrupted you now, he might never understand what you meant.

You watched his movements, desperation to give him the explanation he deserved growing in you.

“I’ve had people break up with me because I wont sleep with them,” you shoved the words into the space, the most honest you’d maybe ever been.

Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t that. Your voice was trembling and so quiet only your moving lips confirmed the words as you continued.

“For me, it’s not something I need, or am particularly comfortable with. You,” you swallowed hard, unable to look at the man beside you. “You deserve someone you can be with, however you want.”

You took another deep breath, feeling light and surprisingly at peace with your honesty. Even the impending rejection felt less scary, now that you had said it all out loud. The trembles settled as you concluded, “I’m still figuring myself out and I just cant guarantee I’ll ever give you what you deserve.”

Of all the conversations with all the others before this, this moment felt the most freeing. It was wild to have such an intimate conversation before you even kissed, but… the foundation of trust that Jack had given you had not been lost on you. You found yourself smiling, looking at him, finally.

His expression had loosened, processing and connecting the dots, his deep eyes unfocused before they slid closed.

Now it was your turn to wait, to be patient, and listen.

Part of him wanted to yell that he wasn’t like the others, that he didn’t care and even that he would wait and work until you were ready. But that wasn’t right, and he knew it.

Inside him, deep, deep down, there was a small light. A candle of flame underneath a glacier: a touch of hope slowly warming its way through layers and layers and centuries of expectations, fear, confusion, and chaos. It was going strong, it just need more time.

“Darlin,” he looked at you, finally, meeting your eyes and feeling for the first time that they were a clear window into your soul. “You are… everything, to me. So… so let’s just take some time to process this. Would that be okay, sweetheart?”

That was the first time anyone had ever responded that way. It was the scariest thing, but it was perfect. You were overwhelmed with the rawness and a glance at the radio told you it was 2 am. Not a time to be making life altering decisions, anyway. Nodding, you pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. The movement was intimate and confident – something that shouldn’t have been possible, but it was.

Jack’s large hand grasped at your neck and jaw, pulling you into him, pressing his forehead on yours. The hairs of his mustache just ticked your lip, but he made no move, respecting one final boundary for the night.

With a squeeze, he let you go, watching with longing eyes as you hopped out of his truck and ran to your front door. The smile you gave him before you slipped inside was the seal, engraving tonight into his memories forever.

And he drove home, his thoughts louder than the wind and the crickets and his pounding heart.

-

Jack invited you over a few days later, a Sunday afternoon. It would be the first time you’d talked, and you were surprisingly calm. For some reason, you felt like you’d be closer to him no matter what happened.

He heard your car on the long gravel driveway and greeted you with an all-encompassing hug. You held each other, like lifelines, for long moments before he pulled you inside.

“My mama sent cookies,” he said, motioning for you to sit at the tall table he had as he set down the plate. You couldn’t help but smile, knowing their Sunday lunches and her beloved baking well. He remained standing across from you, aware of the awkwardness, but eager to get his words right.

“This is all new to me,” he said, wishing suddenly that he’d made tea so his throat wouldn’t feel so dry. “If you really don’t wanna be with me, that’s your choice,” he said, knowing it was right and hating the option, “but I really – you’re just so – I can’t let you go,” his thoughts were jumbling together on his tongue.

It was grounding, when your hands found his, reaching across the table as you sat forward on your stool.

“What if we just took it slow?” you said, and his heart stopped.

“Please,” he managed, and your own chest felt like it would burst. “Would it be alright, darlin?” Jack’s hands held yours, his expression eager.

“Could – could we figure out what works for us? Figure this all out together?” You were close to crying, you wanted that so bad.

“I can’t promise I’ll change or… or what direction I’ll grow,” you said, needing to say it again, needing to be sure.

“I can’t, either, darlin,” he said, and you realized he was right and you would support each other, no matter what.

“But all I need is you. Whatever and however much you’ll give me. That’s more than enough.”

He didn’t say for now.

And you believed him.

Since he was still standing, it made it easy for you to tug him around the table, and you leaned into his chest. It felt safe, safer than you had ever thought was possible for you.

“Okay,” you told the flannel he was wearing, “Let’s figure it out together.” And even though you couldn’t see him, you knew he was smiling, too.

<<

Taglist:

@fangirl-316 @0celestialbitch0 @scribbledghost

[mrwinterr]

Who Do You Love?

Pairing: David Budd x Female Reader

Summary: After some months that David’s been working for the Home Secretary, you notice he’s been acting differently. Not wanting to overanalyze the situation, the signs are just too hard to ignore, so when it’s time to confront him there’s only one real question to ask.

Warnings: Bodyguard (2018) TV series spoilers! Adult themes. Explicit language. Light smut. Infidelity/cheating. Mentions of war, PTSD, political assassination, death, pregnancy/miscarriage, paranoia, and attempted suicide. Sad vibes, probably. We’re not gonna have a good time.

Disclaimer: This piece goes hand-in-hand with All For You. It’s not required to read beforehand, but it would be nice. As far as the TV series, yeah, don’t even read these if you’re still planning to watch the show. If you don’t care, you may proceed.

Title Inspiration: “Who Do You Love?” by The Chainsmokers ft. 5 Seconds of Summer

A/N: I want a happy David, I really do, but I’m a heartless writer. I took a break from the smut, so it’s not a huge bulk of the fic this time. I hope y’all still like it! Happy New Year! 

Another night alone was not unusual for you as of late, having grown accustomed to it ever since David had taken up the job of protecting Home Secretary, Julia Montague. Neither you nor David could’ve foreseen his courageous efforts in neutralizing the terrorist attack on the train back home would thrust him into his new position, furthermore the extent of its outcome in his personal life.

It wasn’t a hidden secret that David resented most politicians, and you knew of Julia from the news and her political ambitions in pushing a bill to increase security surveillance. David’s job put a big emphasis on confidentiality, so for his superiors to throw him into a public political warzone was a bit suspicious to you. There was something that didn’t add up, and you couldn’t just outright ask David whose side he was on in all this.

After neglecting the mountain of dirty laundry, tonight was dedicated to the domestic chore. It was nothing out of the ordinary mixing your batch with David’s, but he had a habit of leaving things in his clothes pockets, so it was routine for you to check everyone. You’d moved onto one of the costly tailored button-ups he wore to work and feel something protruding from the shirt pocket. You dig your hand in and fish out a tube of lipstick. Strange. You didn’t use this brand of cosmetics, and even more so the garment smelt different.

Under normal circumstances, this type of discovery would raise a red flag, but you recall one of David’s first days on the job as her bodyguard, the intern had clumsily spilt Julia’s coffee all over her outfit just before she was about to do a live interview, and David had offered her the shirt off his back, essentially saving the day. The man was just too dedicated to his job sometimes, so you shrug it off, but this wouldn’t be the first time you would notice something out of place.

It really started after the first assassination attempt that was made on Julia’s life. With the rate she was going at, her political status had made her a prime target to those opposed to RIPA-18. It was very frightening, you figured that much for her, David had seen worse in war. You just about had a heart attack when you reunited with him that night, the blood still stained on his clothes and missed splotches on his skin.

The both of you clung onto each other all night, lost within the throes of passion. It might as well have been one of the most intense nights yet, even then you could tell something changed by his movements. You didn’t think much about it at first because there’s already so much wrong with him, you’ve yet to learn all his mood swings.

Then one day you’d gotten sick, and discovered it was because you were pregnant with David’s child. One of the few things that made you forget about all the aches and pains that David unintentionally caused, was remembering the beautiful smile on his face when you revealed the news to him. You knew how much happiness Ella and Charlie brought him, you could only imagine what that would feel like, your own family with David.

He was so overjoyed in the beginning. He had quickly phoned his mother, who’d visited and even stayed a few days with you when David’s new position became more demanding of him, claiming she was worried about you being alone. You didn’t deserve to experience this alone, but it was sure heading that way.

Lately, you’ve found yourself occupying the Budd household quite more than often when David’s mom went back home. With David being on duty almost 24/7, you were completely alone, so the little family welcomed you.

Legally, on paper, David was still married to Vicky. It was something you weren't going to verbally admit bothered you, but oddly enough it did. What with the mood you’ve been in as of late, it ate at a part of you. They were separated and the divorce papers were well on track until David’s “promotion” paused the process.

There’s still not a hostile fiber in you towards Vicky. She’d moved on well, been on several dates with someone else, and things were looking great for her. It was lowkey, not even David knew about it, not that he even stuck around or bothered to care. It had to come out eventually because it would affect Ella and Charlie’s lives.

You watch as Vicky rounds the table after placing a cup of tea in front of you then sitting in the seat across and asking how you’re holding up.

You contemplate for a split second if you should be honest or not, but who else could you confine to at the moment? No one else could possibly understand. Vicky herself may not even, but she knew David more than most people did, so surely, she could see where you’re coming from to some degree, right?

Letting out a big sigh, you answer her truthfully, “I’m...not well, Vicky,” your eyes drop down to the cup in front of you, finger tracing the rim, the hot cloud of smoke of the concoction almost burns your skin.  

“Oh, poor thing,” she says, extending her hand over to place it on top of your other one on the table, “it’s the pregnancy. It has to be. It’s taking a toll on you. I can tell.” You look up at her and almost want to cry. No one noticed it was more than symptoms of pregnancy. You were bottling up so much.  

“Let me tell you, while I love Ella and Charlie, pregnancy was not a breeze…” she started to ramble, but you quickly cut her off, exhausted of people telling you the same thing over and over, unintentionally, blaming the innocent baby.

“No. I don’t think it’s that. I don’t want to blame anything on the pregnancy,” you say straight up. You got yourself into this mess, you went headfirst knowing the baggage David came with and you knew full well that protection wasn’t at the forefront in the affairs. Ready or not, you both went in this together and brought a baby into the picture.

Vicky stares, confused, but still genuinely concerned, “then what else could be wrong?” When you didn't immediately respond, she knew it had to be one other thing, or person, and you just didn’t want to admit, well out loud, “David?”

You only nod; you knew you were going to have to face the music sooner or later. So, you start listing things you’ve observed that have caused you to grow suspicious over the course of the last few months. You just hoped you didn’t sound like a mad woman in front of her.

The one time your phone had died, and he let you use his to place a food delivery. You couldn’t unlock his phone, trying every possible combined set of numbers close to David, only to come to a conclusion that the access code had changed. Visibly distressed, he realizes you were attempting to unlock his work phone. You knew that was his though. What work phone?

You didn’t even know he had one of those, let alone why did it have the same crack on the screen in the exact same spot as his personal one? You feigned stupidity and blamed it on exhaustion. Deep down David knew you were suspecting something was up, and he ended up placing the order for dinner that night himself.

The other time you confronted David about coming home smelling heavily of another woman. Whatever, whoever, her perfume was strong, and it made you nauseous. The pregnancy didn’t even do you any favors on this one with your senses heightened and overly sensitive.

Of course, he smelled of another woman, the person he was assigned to protect. You could see all the holes in his alibi. He was lying, and it hurt most when he indirectly admitted your mood swings were irritating him and then flipped it all on you, saying you were overthinking the situation and getting all paranoid for no reason. Accused you of not trusting him, when truth was you had the utmost faith in him, but not when the evidence was piling up.

There’s a solemn look that washed over Vicky’s face. She had expected more tales of David’s PTSD, but none of what you spilled alluded to it. This time David couldn’t blame the effects of war on your suspicions. However, Vicky knew that this was you and David, and if there was a pair that could survive love’s tumultuous doings then it was you two.

“There’s a lot of coincidences, yes, but this is you and David,” she says, grasping your hand for support because she could see the moisture in your eyes building up, “is it silly of me to admit I was always jealous of you,” she confesses, trying to steer the conversation a different route.

She didn’t want you to think she was brushing off your worries, but to remind you that everything you and David had been through to get to this point to be together, whatever you both were dealing now wasn’t anything you two couldn’t overcome. There were high hopes for you and David in Vicky’s mind.  

A small smile cracks your face, and you bring your vacant hand up to dab at the inner corner of your eyes, just before the tears start to race down, “jealous? Of what?” It was almost shocking to think you had something she was jealous of.  

“Every time you visited us,” she starts, “I could tell David held so much admiration for you,” and you know she’s not trying to hurt your feelings, but it’s taking a bit to figure out where she’s going with this.

“That’s silly,” you scoff lightly, “you both got married and had two kids, surely there was no doubt,” then bring the cup up to your lips for a small sip.  

“But there was and look where we ended up?” she says. Your lips cave in to form a tight line in response, and carefully place the cup back down on the dish, before she follows up, “you two are finally together.”

“Vicky,” you pipe up, not knowing where to begin. It was never your intention to steal David’s heart away from another.

“I’m not saying any of this because I’m mad at you. No. I’ve never truly hated you. You’re a good person and you’re finally getting your happily ever after. Don’t ever stop fighting for it,” she comes out wholeheartedly, and this time you make no attempt to keep the tears at bay. It stung to hold them back anyways.

Vicky gets up from her seat, walking the short steps to yours, to wrap her arounds around you. You immediately cling onto her arms and just cry, finally letting everything out.

“Seriously, don’t think of the worst,” she starts advising, while rubbing your back, “David will always come back to you,” she pulls you away from her before reminding you, “you knew going into this wasn’t going to be easy.”  

You feel so pathetic. What she said was completely true, you just didn’t think it’d be this bad. There’s no doubt you love David and want to be with him through the good, the bad, and the ugly, so you nod and try to keep your chin up. It wasn’t to appease her, you were going to get back up, because if not for David, then for the baby.

Suddenly, the front door busts open and Ella and Charlie are bustling into the kitchen, where you and Vicky were. Quickly wiping away the tears, you both noted that school had just let out.

They were ecstatic to see you, especially Charlie as he had currently been experiencing issues of his own adjusting to school. They lifted your spirits greatly; they were more fascinated by the baby growing in you and couldn’t wait to meet him or her. You absolutely adored them. They looked like David and the whole time they were talking your ear off; you wonder to yourself if your own kid will look more like you or David. 

David’s thrusts were deep and good; you made no attempt to hold it in, letting him know exactly how he was making you feel. Nails digging into his firm buttocks, pulling him closer to you, wanting him to just keep going and going; the chase proving to be almost just as good as the climax. You feel one of his hands run up your side and his large hand starts groping your breast, adding onto the pleasure he was plaguing your body with, while the other held onto the small of you back, bringing your hips up to his.

His face was buried in the crook of your neck, you could feel his hot breath fanning against your skin and hear his murmured swears and praises. The air in the room was thick, and for the majority of the intimate activity, the only sounds that travelled around the apartment consisted of heavy breathing, moans, gasps, whines and skin slapping, until the annoying distinct ringtone started screeching from a few feet away.

You’d learned to distinguish his work alarm since the supposed mix-up, and it pinged constantly, agitating you. David’s pace notably falters, and the rhythm you’d both built started dwindling, the needy side of you started to panic because he was going to stop and you desperately wanted to come, even more so come with him, but it looked like neither of you would be as you feel one of David’s hands leave your body and make an attempt to reach out to the device.

You grab a hold of his wandering hand and lace your fingers together, hoping to keep him close and forget about the alert. You buck your hips forward, urging him to continue. His grip tightens and cock twitches inside of you in response. Your strategy almost deems successful when he picks up momentum, each swivel of his cock gradually bringing out the starved woman in you. Not to mention, your sex drive had heightened too, you’d longed and craved any affection he could give you.

“David, baby…” you whine, holding a hand to his face, forcing him to keep his gaze on you and only you, the ringtone almost drowning out, “...don’t. Don’t. Fucking. Stop...please,” you resort to begging and hook a leg over his body, the new angle allowing him to thrust deeper.

And just when you’re about to tip over the edge, the incessant ringing persists, and David’s halt unintentionally pulls you back down. He unwinds your sweaty clasped hands, no doubt in search of the phone once more, however, you had more leverage than he did, and your hand beats his hand to it. He wasn’t that far behind as his hand covers yours, and he tries to grab the phone to answer the call, but instead you swat it off the nightstand.  

“What the fuck?” David says aggravatedly, while attempting to reach his phone on the ground, all while he’s still inside of you, pressing your body deeper into the mattress, but careful to not crush you.

“No, fuck you, David,” you spit back, and shove his body off of yours. You scoot over to one side of the bed and try to level your breathing. You were both so close!

“What is wrong with you?” He asks, forgetting the phone on the ground.

“Do you really have to answer that?” You ask, attitude on full display.

“It could be an emergency at work,” he tries reasoning.

“You’re not on the clock, David!” You dispute, sitting up, clutching the sheets to your body to conceal yourself.

“That’s not the point! It could’ve been serious. Julia could be hurt,” he says, the words just coming out of his mouth, giving each excuse little thought. His mind was in a frenzy and you didn’t miss a single syllable.  

“You called her Julia,” you say just above a whisper, and suddenly you have an urge to vomit, but you do your best to control it.

“What?” he asks, not understanding what that meant at all to you.

It hurt more that he didn’t realize there was anything wrong and if he did, he was doing a good job at hiding something and making you look like the bad guy. You lightly shake your head, feeling defeated, and lie back down, settling on your side facing the opposite direction of him.

What was going on in David’s head? You tried so hard to understand him. It was like walking on eggshells, and even you had a breaking point. It was just sometimes too much because it felt like you were the only one putting in the effort to keep this relationship afloat.

The bed shifts significantly, letting you know that he’s gotten out of it. What felt like an hour, but were only a few seconds, the room was silent, tension still heavy in the room, and neither of you were willing to be the first to crack. You lie still, unmoving and making no attempt to stop him. It’s only when you hear the swing of the bedroom door creak, you allow yourself to blink the tears in your eyes away.

He didn’t leave the apartment that much you could rest assured of. Rest? That was what you were having trouble with. Things weren’t getting any easier with David and you even though you vowed to yourself that you’d go through Hell for him, the pressure was getting too heavy on your heart and in return, you knew the distress wouldn’t be good for the baby.

Maybe it was all just paranoia, the stress of pregnancy, and you were taking things too personal. You could be understanding about a lot of things in David’s life, his terms and PTSD, his kids, and his job, but was it too much to ask of him to be understanding of you? You suppose you were being selfish, and you were really tired. The only way to help you sleep was to swallow your pride and admit you were wrong.

The rush of the cold air instantly surrounds your bare legs the second you throw the covers off your body to get out of the bed. You throw on the discarded oversized shirt to be decent. Your steps are light, and you’re kind of nervous and, dare you admit, ashamed of how you overreacted that it drove David to the point of sleeping on the couch. After all, you made him feel unwanted in his own bed, and he certainly had enough respect to not steal yours.

Just when you’re ready to apologize and ask him to go back to bed with you, he’s already sound asleep, his legs sticking out from the mere blanket covering his upper body. You didn’t have the heart to wake him up for that. Sleep didn’t find him easy and he seemed just as stressed as you were, so you don’t disturb him. It can wait, right? You turn around and head to your room, shut the door and pray sleep finds you soon.  

It didn’t and neither did the conversation. 

News of the blast at St. Matthews College, where Julia was presenting a speech, rocked not only the political world, but it was the forefront of every news channel and medium. Tons left injured or dead, and as if that wasn’t bad, David was being told Julia had not survived the bombing.

He’s clearly distraught, believing he’s failed her, and on top of that, the weight of his lies started to suffocate him. He was going to have to come clean to you about everything he’s done behind closed doors with Julia. You wouldn’t forgive him, he was sure of that, and if by some chance you did, it would take a hell of a long time for him to regain your trust.

How many more lives does he have to ruin or lose under his watch? It was becoming too much, and it was sad, as he stared at the gun in his hands, that he’d contemplated his next actions more than once, but he really didn’t know what he had left to do anymore. There was a lot actually, he had his kids, a baby on the way, and a new life to build with you, but he was far too gone at that moment.

It’s Vicky that finds him back at the apartment, cleaning the brass fragments from the wound on the side of his head. She quickly puts the pieces together, the notes on the table addressed separately to her, the children and you, and the admission from David that these were brass fragments of a bullet casing.

“Dave, what the fuck? What about Ella and Charlie? What about-” she starts going on but stops when he visibly cracks because he knows your name is next to come out of her mouth, “I’m taking you to the hospital,” she decides and is quick to put away her tools.

“No. No one can know about this,” David says adamantly. They start to argue about his injuries and how David hadn’t been aware that he fired a blank round before he asks her to go back home to the kids.

“I’m not leaving you like this,” she says grabbing a jacket and tries to reason that he shouldn’t be alone right now and maybe being around the kids and seeing you will open his eyes and realize what he was leaving behind had he successfully ended his life.

He couldn’t pretend living like he was okay. What had happened to Julia was not his fault. All David ever did was do his best to protect, protect his country, his family and her.

“You need to tell her,” Vicky says while she hands David a cap for him to cover the wound on his head.

“I don’t even know where she’s been the last few days,” he admits pathetically. His own girlfriend, the mother of his unborn child, he can’t even keep tabs on where she’s been this whole time. It made him feel even terrible that he’d neglected you.

“She’s been staying with the kids and I,” she reveals.

“What? Why is she there?” He asks, and quickly puts the cap on and gets up from his seat.

She didn’t tell David of your whereabouts earlier because you’d asked her not to and she politely respected that, but she knew now was not the time to take sides anymore. You two had to deal with your issues now.

“She shouldn’t be alone, Dave. She’s pregnant with your child and yet she’s going through it all by herself,” Vicky tells him.

“I never meant to bring her into any of this mess,” he says heavily, full of grief. He brought you into the madness that was his world and now you’re trapped in it, bringing a new life along for the ride.

“She loves you, David, don’t sell yourself short. She just feels like she’s been left in the dark. You need to talk to her,” Vicky advises him, “it may not be pretty, but you have to hear her out.”

She knew you couldn’t stand being alone in the apartment without being reminded of David constantly. You weren’t in a good place either and she wanted to help you both before it was too late. 

You’d been left behind at the house with Ella and Charlie in the other room watching TV, while Vicky was out looking for David. He wasn’t answering any of the phone calls she’s made, even ones made on your cell phone, there was no form of contact or communication from him. You knew he was there at the college; he was Julia’s bodyguard after all.

When you heard more than two voices return, you knew she’d brought David back and had told him you’d be here. You weren’t mad at her for ratting you out, it was going to come out eventually. Nothing ever stays hidden.

“You don’t normally wear a hat indoors,” Ella points out the cap on David’s head that stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You said it’s silly,” Charlie reminds his father.

“Then I’m being silly,” David responds as he watches his children chomp away at the slices of pizza in their hands.

While Vicky was on the phone cancelling her date tonight, you faintly hear the end of the conversation he was having with Ella and Charlie over their dinner. He still hadn’t even seen you. Then you hear his quiet, controlled sobs, but he couldn’t detain them enough and be strong around his kids.

“I just did something silly today,” he tells them.

“Wearing a hat?” Charlie asks innocently.

“That, too,” he replies as he clings onto them both in a group hug.

Vicky had just revealed to you of David’s suicide attempt moments ago. You’re numb. Clearly, Julia’s death had affected him rather deeply, so much that he thought killing himself was a solution.

He didn’t care about you or the baby. You both weren’t enough to save him or have anything to look forward to. You can’t even cry anymore. You wanted to lash out and get mad. She advises you to keep calm and think rationally, but you’re tired of thinking about all of this.  

Without warning, David enters the room you’d been staying in. You’re like stone on the couch, arms crossed and starting straight ahead of you, mindlessly at whatever TV program the kids left it on before retreating to the dining area. Your eyes cast themselves on David’s demure stance. He cautiously steps forward and hesitantly takes a seat next to you.

“Is it true?” You ask, breaking the silence and finally turn to look at him. He only nods in response, his head hangs low, ashamed. You felt like your heart didn’t have any parts to break anymore. The confirmation alone just felt like him stomping on it for added measure.

“Ok,” is all you say, biting down on your lip to prevent you from saying anything else. It was petty, but you’d refused to show him any remorse or sorrow of any kind.

“Is this where you’ve been the past few nights?” He questions, rather awkwardly too.

“Oh, so you’ve noticed I haven’t been home?” You ask bitterly.

He was really going to push your buttons. You’re not sure if Vicky was right about you and David having to talk. This wasn’t going to go well at all. You were not in an ideal mental and physical state to be talking about your problems with him, but if not now then when?

“Of course, I have. Why wouldn’t I?” He asks, almost appalled by the accusation, and watching as you get up from the couch to stand in front of him.  

“I hardly see you and when I do I find out that you just tried to kill yourself, so forgive me for not assuming I even ran as a mere thought in your messed-up head,” it was harsh, poking at his mental state, but you were so fed up, your mind was just as clouded, “...you didn’t think about me when you held the gun to your head,” you said ripping off his hat.

Your heart tightens in your chest as you stare at the wound and tears threaten to fall, but you don’t let them, “...and you certainly didn’t think about our baby when you pulled the trigger,” then chuck the cap at him, he makes no attempt to catch it as it lightly bounces off his chest and fall onto his lap.

“I’m so sorry,” he says sincerely and making no attempt to hide his tears as they raced down, “I’m so fucking stupid,” and he gets up on his feet, ”...I need help.”

He’s not even going to use the excuse of work and you’re not expecting him to rat himself out and come clean about Julia just yet. David didn’t work like that and you were absolutely done with it. No, everything had to come out now.

“I know,” is all you say at first. He thinks it’s some form of forgiveness, him acknowledging his problem, until you follow up, “just admit it,” your voice changes in tone from anger and hurt to an icy one, “who do you love now, David?”

All while asking him that question, you’re trying to get his eyes to focus on you, but you simply cannot. He’s looking everywhere but, and it hurts.

“It’s Julia, isn’t it? Tell me!” You shout at his face. When he doesn’t answer immediately, your lips press down together and you don’t hold back the tears any longer, “I can’t believe you,” you say in disbelief, almost struggle to breathe right, “this shit has been keeping me up at night!”

You back away from him and cover your mouth, just to conceal your sobs so the rest of the family doesn’t hear you cry. They most definitely heard you yell, but you didn’t want to further trouble them anymore or cause a big enough scene for them to burst right through.

There hadn’t been a doubt in your mind that David loved you before, but just seeing how he couldn’t open up enough to tell you there was someone else during, filled you with more heartache. Maybe it would hurt less, you wouldn’t know unless it came straight from his mouth.

David starts crying as well and you honestly want to slap him, but instead you start saying nasty things, cutting him way worse than anything you could ever do physically, and you certainly don’t hold back. Claiming you two were never meant to be together, and the baby doesn’t mean anything especially in uniting you both.

“I’ll be surprised if this baby even survives,” you scoff thinking about a past experience, and how cruel life was gifting you this baby.

“What are you talking about? You’re not thinking about-“ David starts getting all frantic suddenly, and not thinking, he grabs both your arms in his hands, holding you in place.

“God no! I would never!” You say in disgust and pull away from him, “I can’t believe you’d think I would…”

“Then what did you mean?” He asks curiously.

“I never told you why I broke up with him,” you don’t really mention your ex’s name these days. While you’d both moved on as civil as the both of you could, it still pangs you to reminisce about the relationship and how it ended.

“He couldn’t handle the long distance,” he said thinking he knew.

“He only couldn’t after...” you pause, trying to decide if now was the time to reveal this secret. David had the right to know, after all, an incident like such could happen again.  

“After what? He was seeing someone else?” He grew increasingly anxious and almost ill towards the thought of another being unfaithful to you.

“No! It was my fault,” you don’t want to slander your ex at all. He couldn’t have prevented what happened to you across the other side of the world even if he tried. “I miscarried. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I woke up one day in my blood and the sharpest pain I’ve ever felt.”

You started reliving that day, how you were alone and the way your neighbors had to come to your aid. Your poor ex felt so helpless, he wanted nothing more than to drop everything for you, but the wave of depression afterwards had strained the relationship. It formally ended when you’d returned from studying abroad.

“I didn’t even know you were pregnant,” David says in shock. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, and if it was stupid to think all this time you could’ve easily had a life without him long before you two finally became a thing.

“It didn’t matter, David,” your voice finally regained strength, and wiped at the tears on your face of the memory, ”you and Vicky were so in love. There’s nothing you could’ve done for me.”

“That’s not true,” David persists.

“I would’ve turned you away, just like him,” you say so sure. David was your friend then, yes, but you didn’t need or owed him this before now.  

“You’re not going to lose this baby,” he promises.

“You don’t know that,” and you’re not trying to be a pessimist about this, you wanted this baby, but you were more than aware of the possibility it could happen again. Bad things just always seemed to be happening lately anyways.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’d protect you both with my last breath,” he vows, grabbing your hands, desperate to feel any part of you.

“I don’t need your protection, David,” your words continue to crush him, that was your subtle way of leaving him and he knew it, “I love you, David. I love you so much!” you say with plenty of emotion, and lightly squeeze his hands in yours, “...but you can’t even tell me who you love right now,” you point out, reluctantly removing your hands from his.

“You need to get help, David. If not for your family, me or the baby, please do it for yourself,” you say last, before placing a small kiss on his cheek.

“I’m going to get help...for you,” you hear David say determinedly just before you walk out of the room. It wasn’t all you wanted to hear, you wanted him to tell you he loved you back, but you wanted him to live easy once again even if that meant him not loving you.

You could manage on your own, and work something out when the baby arrives, but for now it was time for you to go home.

A/N: Nope. Sorry! Whenever Season 2 decides to come out, maybe we’ll get a happier David, so for now I don’t think I can let these two ride off into the sunset…but I can if you send 2020 off with giving this a like, reblog, comment or all of the above!

[izzabeean]

Chapter 9 : Anticipation

SUMMARY

Ushijima makes an appearance at your group outing, and you try to ignore his presence. But, of course, it’s easier said than done in this case.

pairing : ushjima x f!reader / oikawa x f!reader / iwaizumi x f!reader

genre : angst + fluff

word count : 3,344

content : profanity, mild violence, depiction of injuries

tags :  alternate universe - college/university, post-break up, friends to lovers, pining, slow burn

a/n : Is the world so small that Y/N keeps running into Ushijima? Perhaps in this story, yes. This week has been a bit slow creatively for me, I don't feel my writing is the strongest in this chapter. But here we are, things are heating up and I'm happy to provide.

Post Thursday evenings PST, if not latest by Friday.

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Everything feels so surreal as you lock eyes with Ushijima from across the table. He doesn’t smile or say anything, he just looks at you with his empty gaze like this is the first time meeting. Ever. Your heartbeat starts to thump faster conjuring up a lump in your throat that cannot be swallowed. Your breathing is shallow and your hands start to sweat as you dig your nails into your legs.

Why didn’t you turn around when your instincts told you to?

Why did you talk yourself into thinking this was a good idea?

However, for some reason, here you are. The sequence of events leading up to this point doesn’t make any sense. Even when you were dating, you wouldn’t run into him this much, so why now? Why all these dumb coincidences? There’s no room for you to heal when you keep seeing him like this.

“Hi,” you squeal, temporarily incapacitated by the confused looks from your other groupmates.

But your high pitch voice produces shockwaves through Oikawa’s system as you quickly introduce him and Iwaizumi to which Sara introduces Ushijima to all three of you. Then it becomes apparent that Ushijima hasn't said anything to Sara about you.

It’s sublime how quickly you push down the devastation bubbling at the surface and you wonder how it is even possible for you to force a smile in Sara’s direction. Clearing your throat you take a seat. Ushijima has stopped staring now and takes a swig of the chilled beer sitting in front of him. Your mouth feels dry from the nerves that are trying to drag your spirits down. If you were going to survive this torture, you’re most definitely not going to be sober. Grabbing the waiter's attention, you order yourself a beer as you feel yourself on the brink of a heart attack.

“You ok?” Oikawa mumbles knowing well that turning to your least favorite drink is a bad sign. It’s very clear to him this evening isn't going to go very well, seeing as you are already on edge from Ushijima’s surprise appearance.

“Mhm,” you hum shooting him a smile. “I’m fine. Totally chill.”

“You know, we can leave,” Oikawa whispers. “You’re not obligated to be here.”

And let him win? you think. I don’t think so.

“No, I’m fine,” you lie, biting your lip. It’s no time for you to concede, you just gotta ride this one out, show him how much better you’re doing without him. It’s the only thing to get back at him for everything so grossly unforgivable that he’s done.

The waiter returns with your drink placing it down in front of you. Nothing has looked so relieving and thirst-quenching before; the cold and crisp-looking glass filled to the top of light amber liquid with a dollop of airy foam. You pick it up and throw it back, chugging the heavy and sour alcohol. Then you think, maybe you shouldn’t have done that as you strike the glass down on the table. Licking your lips, you notice the startled looks everyone gives you at your uncharacteristic action.

“Should we order food,” Sara interrupts the weird tension which segues everyone back to talking amongst themselves.

Your stomach starts to swirl as you’ve come to realize that drinking that beer was probably the worst thing you could do while it’s empty. But as you study the menu, nothing seems to scream appetizing. Not when you can see in your peripheral Ushijima and Sara sharing a menu while discussing what they want to order. It makes you sick.

The restaurant is loud, but your thoughts are louder as you sit there wondering if anyone else can hear them. It hurts to see him here in front of you beside her. She most definitely doesn’t know about your history with Ushijima just by the way she’s acting around him. Sara doesn’t seem maniacal enough to do something so disrespectful to someone she barely knows. For god's sake, she invited you here. Why would she want you here if she knew? To rub it in that she’s Ushijima’s girlfriend. Doubtful.

Maybe Oikawa was right all along about Ushijima not being how you perceived him to be. Maybe, just maybe you honestly, you were blinded the entire time. And now you were finally seeing him for who he truly is.

You were scared to admit it. That if you did, your year together means nothing when it still meant so much to you. But in this case, actions speak louder than words and most definitely Ushijima’s actions are very clear.

“I'm going to step out for a smoke. Do you need some fresh air?” Iwaizumi asks, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Oh,” you reply looking at Oikawa sitting beside you who's chatting with one of your group members. "No, I better not."

"Alright, I'll be right back," he says sliding out of his seat.

You try to hide your face behind the menu so no one talks to you and your plan almost succeeded except for the open opportunity it gave Sara to sit beside you. Your face pales as she leans in to rasp, "I'm glad you could make it."

"Yeah," you exclaim a bit put off by how close she is.

"I honestly thought you weren't going to show."

It's hard for you to not flash a bitter smile, but you force yourself to continue the conversation, "It took some convincing but bringing Oikawa and Iwaizumi helped."

The silence stretches between the two of you as Oikawa's laugh fills the air. You take a glimpse at him, noticing one of your group members flirting with him. You roll your eyes while looking back at Sara who is enthralled in his aura.

"He seems really nice,” she compliments. "How long have you two been together?"

"Hmm?" It takes you a moment to realize what she’s asking as you realize she's subtly gesturing to Oikawa. And when it clicks you are filled with laughter. “Oh my god, did you just say that out loud?”

The thought of you and Oikawa remotely appearing to look more than friends from an external perspective makes you nearly piss yourself.

"Oh, I just thought, you'd both make a cute couple," she corrects herself with puzzlement written across her face.

When you realize she’s being serious, you pause. “No, we’ve just been friends for a while.”

"Oooh," Sara taunts giving you a very mischievous look. "You know that saying, love is friendship set on fire."

"It's not like that," you nervously chuckle at her comment.

"Alright, I won't pry," she jokes. "But seriously, I'm happy you're here!"

She gets up from her seat and walks back over to sit next to Ushijima. Your feelings are honestly a bit mixed from that conversation. You really wanted to hate her, but she just seemed so genuine.

------

You’re a couple more drinks in and feel a bit of a buzz as Sara goes into grave detail as to why she transferred to the university now . But you can’t force yourself to listen. Your attention shifts to Ushijima smiling softly at the way Sara bubbles with warmth. It’s funny to think that someone else can make him smile like that besides you because you know how hard it is to do so. But it seems so effortless for Sara.

The memory of meeting Ushijima for the first time flashes in your head. To the time in the library where he reaches over your head to grab the book, you were trying to get on the top shelf. Now you can barely remember as the image of Sara takes your place to retrieve the book from Ushijima's hands. She's the new you.

You know you're overanalyzing every single movement Ushijima makes. From where his eyes linger to where his hands are placed, you cannot stop looking as you stay in suspense to what he will do next. You’re close to being consumed by the sudden urge to lash out or cry. It feels like he’s trying to push your buttons as he leans over toward Sara. You're waiting for him to kiss her. Waiting for it to break you. And it makes you sick.

Suddenly you feel a hand on your knee and turn to Iwaizumi who is looking down at you with a soft gaze. It’s odd but you somehow feel this tension between the two of you. You should have known better in that moment, but your mind feels a bit hazy from feeling vulnerable and also the alcohol.

“Is everything ok?”

You feel anticipation fill your chest and you swallow thickly seeing as this is the closest you’ve ever been to him. You look at his hand for a moment, at his long fingers gently grip the top of your knee. You immediately remind yourself of his words the other day, wondering if he intended to friendzone you like that.

You nod, smiling.

“Let me know when you want to leave,” Iwaizumi whispers squeezing your leg.

His face dips down slightly and you don’t know why you do it and don’t know how you had the courage to. But you’re so caught up in your internal frustrations, you don’t think before you act. You lean in closer to Iwaizumi and plant a kiss on his cheek uttering a thank you.

As you pull back, his eyes widen. It takes you a second to process exactly what you’ve done.

“Um, sorry,” you say to Iwaizumi, you need to get out of there before you die of embarrassment. Quickly you excuse yourself from the table as you rush to the bathroom and you can still feel Iwaizumi watching you.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

But you find the bathrooms have a long line up and turn a corner as you burst through a door to outside. The cool air hits you making it much easier to breathe. Finally, you’re by yourself. Screaming wouldn’t even be able to help you let out the confusion you feel. This was definitely something you didn’t want to have happened. But here you are regretting your capacity to understand a situation. Honestly, you were definitely feeling vulnerable. This entire evening you were caught off guard and something it makes you do weird things.

“Can we talk?

Turning around, you see Ushijima standing in front of you. He gazes down at you with his unreadable stare that makes you want to cry.

“No,” you say a little unnerved walking away from him. But you’re stopped by him grabbing your wrist, the same wrist the creep outside the club grabbed you with. Still a bit bruised and weak from his grip. You let out a yelp, “Let go of me!”

“Just let me explain,” he begs.

But you’re not listening as you try to wiggle your wrist away-- it’s not a tight hold, but it’s enough that it still hurts.

“Please, let me go,” you express firmly.

He stares at you for a moment and with a deep breath exhales letting go.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you yell, grabbing your wrist. “Moved on already, what the fuck is your problem?”

“It’s not--”

“No, let me finish. You’ve already done enough. I can’t believe you. You could’ve just told me you found someone else, instead, I see you with her all cute and cuddly and now I have to fucking work with her? This is such a--”

But as you’re about to continue your rant, you’re interrupted by a voice.

“What’s going on here?” Oikawa asks, noticing Ushijima standing before you. He studies your face filled with rage while you’re clutching your wrist. “Did you hurt her?”

“What?” Ushijima replies confused.

Then Oikawa’s eyes turn dark, a look you’ve never seen before. And you never imagined what comes next. He grabs a fist full of Ushijima’s shirt pulling him close enough that they were inches apart, barely touching noses. You had to stop them before it went too far but you couldn’t move your body.

“After all you’ve been through this is how you treat her?” Oikawa yells.

“You don’t even know the whole story,” Ushijima booms, forcibly removing Oikawa’s grip from his shirt causing Oikawa to make an aching face.

“I know enough to see that you’re a complete dick. But we both know, I’ve known that from the start,” Oikawa hisses. His eyes are fixed on Ushijima shooting him a scowl while your hand is clasped to your shirt.

“Stop it,” you say, but they both ignore you.

“I think you need to get your facts straight,” Ushijima says staying calm and collected while Oikawa explodes with rage.

“Why don't act more like a man,” Oikawa protests.

Then time moves so quick you couldn’t even see Oikawa raise his fist to hit Ushijima square in the face. Because not even seconds after Ushijima retaliates. You rush over forcing yourself between the two men before a fight breaks, pushing your hands against their chest yelling at them to stop. Ushijima is the first to back away as Oikawa stays resistant trying to push by you. But you take both your hands and press them against him as Ushijima exits back into the restaurant.

"Why are you trying to protect him?" Oikawa cries. You look up at Oikawa whose face is glistening in the moonlight as his cheek starts to swell. His dark eyes lock on you as yours start to glaze over.

"Are you stupid? He could've really hurt you," you wail, trying to hide the fact you're physically shaking.

And he sees it.

"Don't ever do that again," you barked.

Then he gives you his signature shit-eating grin, a look that is nowhere near appropriate from just getting punched in the face.

“Told you he’s a dick,” he smirks, walking towards the front of the restaurant. “Let’s go home.”

“What about Iwaizumi?”

“He’ll take care of things,” Oikawa mutters. “He’ll meet us at home. Let’s go before that blockhead comes back out.”

------

Oikawa called a cab to get back to his apartment, you felt a bit bad for leaving Iwaizumi behind. Especially since you kissed him then left.

Things seemed to grow incredibly awkward between you and Oikawa as he sat in the bathroom cleaning the cut on his cheek from Ushijima’s punch. You weren’t really sure what Oikawa was thinking, but you didn’t really want to ask.  As you gently press the cotton pad to his cheek, he squints his eyes while the burning sensation shocks him and exhales sharply through his nose.

“Sorry,” you mumble and he immediately forgives you with a smile.

He tries to pin his eyes to something that can distract the sting, but instead focuses his attention on the feel of your fingers against his skin. You’ve never been this close before and he wonders if you can hear how fast his heart is beating.

He’s thankful for your patience with him. Most certainly did he think you were going to be pissed, but your reaction was far from what he expected as you kept silent for most of the trip home and even patching him up. Oikawa looks at you to see your frown had deepened. “Are you mad? You look mad.”

You scoff. “No, I’m just tired.” You’re caught off guard by his uncharacteristic concern and almost recoil with the question.

Oikawa sighs, “Your face is screwed up like you’re mad.”

“Tōru,” you scolded, crossing your arm across your chest. You choke on your words before answering, “I’m tired, not mad.”

Oikawa holds his breath and continues to look at you as you continue to make that sullen look. He doesn’t believe you. The sight of you with defeat in your expression makes his heart break. He notices your bruised wrist, still purple and blue, and imagines it probably hurts after Ushijima grabbed it. Then he wonders if he could have done something better to help you in that situation. Even that night back at the club still haunts him. If only he’d answered his phone when you needed him the most then maybe things would be different than now. He can’t stand it. He can't stand that Iwaizumi was there to help you instead. And he's not stupid, he knows you like Iwaizumi. He wasn't blind when he saw you kiss him at the restaurant. Oikawa didn’t know why, but something stirred him that he never realized before and it became very unsettling.

You lay the gauze over the wound and tape it down.

“How’s your hand?” you mumble, checking if the ice pack he’s holding to his fist has subsided any bruising your swelling. The bruising was already darker by the time you got to his apartment and it definitely terrified you.

“It’s fine,” he replies.

At this point, you’ve turned away and started to clean up. There isn’t a lot of blood, but enough to make shivers go down your spine as the image of Ushijima’s fist colliding with Oikawa’s face flashes through your head.

You feel your breathing heave as you try to collect yourself from breaking down in front of Oikawa. But something stops you. Instead of your usual hiding, you feel yourself let go and come undone. One small tear rolls down your cheek.

And then another. And then another. And then another. Until you can’t urge yourself to stop them anymore.

Oikawa freezes as he hears you sniffling. This time you don’t hide behind your wide smile. This time you’re actually crying and honestly he doesn’t know what to do. His intention wasn’t to make you cry, he wanted to protect you. And now he feels guilty for even putting you in this position.

“I’m sorry,” you pant, your voice broken by stifled breaths. “It’s all my fault you got hurt. I should’ve never gone to that stupid dinner.”

There’s this nagging feeling in his head pleading to comfort you. To hug you, to tell you it’s not your fault. His consciousness is screaming at him to do something to help as he watched you come undone in front of him. But why is he so afraid to?

“You were right, you’ve always been right,” you continue. “I’m so so sorry Tōru.”

You pause wiping the tears away that tracked down your face feeling awkward from exposing your vulnerable side to Oikawa. Tearing your eyes away from the first aid kit, you turn to look at Oikawa. There’s pity written all over his face. Your hands curl into fists.

It’s painfully tense as Oikawa attempts to muster up the courage to stand up to comfort you. He doesn’t want to regret his decision but he still hesitates, considering you’re now gazing at him.

“I-- I just,” you stutter, partially because you want to fill the awkward silence someway, and partially because you’re worried you’ve scared him. “I was scared…”

You stare at him.

He stares back.

Your heart feels like it’s in throbbing pain under Oikawa’s gaze.

His stomach clenches as you revert to silence.

Suddenly you hear the front door unlock and Iwaizumi call out that he's arrived. You feel your face burn up as you revert eye contact and lean on the counter to see Iwaizumi in the doorway of the bathroom.

“What the fuck happened,” he yells, visibly unamused that you both ditched him at a restaurant with people he didn’t know. You look at him with glazed eyes unable to utter a single word then that’s when he notices Oikawa’s appearance. “Shit.”

Oikawa’s face turns in a smirk. “You should have seen the other guy.”

“I did!” He protests. “Not even a scratch compared to you. You’re fucking stupid.”

"He hurt Y/N," Oikawa protest.

Iwaizumi's eyes widened looking towards you.

"He didn't hurt me," you reassure. "He just grabbed my bruised wrist."

Iwaizumi sighs, shaking his head. "You have to stop running off like that."

Oikawa watches the intimate interaction of indescribable energy or chemistry that lingers in the air between the two of you. He didn’t like it. Not even one bit.

[pilothusband]

A lit torch to the woodpile high (part 3)

A Paz VIzsla Bartender!AU

Rating: M (this one gets spicy folks)

Pairing: Paz Vizsla x F!Reader

Warnings: Alcohol (they work in a bar), pining, death/grief mention, masturbation, fantasies of p in v sex, Paz puts himself in horny jail, light smut 

Word count: 3.1k

Description: This one is purely self-indulgent. You decide to up the ante and make Paz’s life (and other parts of him) hard. Harlow is a lil shit, but we love for for it.

Author’s note: I’m still not completely satisfied with this chapter, but I’ve been working on it for far too long. Lightly edited, unbeta’d. Please go here to be added to the taglist! This one goes out to my pal May. Missing you on my dash. Hope you see this update and enjoy it 🥰

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

He couldn’t get you out of his head. It was maddening.

It had been a long time since anyone had stirred these kinds of feelings up for him, and he doesn’t recall it ever hitting him like a freight train.

He used to think of life in two absolutes: Before he lost everything and After, when he had to pick up the pieces. Now he was starting to think there was more to it, that those absolutes were just parts of him.

If only he wasn’t such a miserable bastard. You were the light in a dark sky. Not just for him, for everyone. He saw the delighted smile that was plastered on Rick’s face after you walked in every day and asked him how his grandchildren were doing, if his wife’s knee was feeling any better.

Paz noticed the change in Harlow’s demeanor now that she had a friend who could build her up when she talked about her dreams. Hell, Madge snuck you food every chance she got, and she only ever did that for him.

He found himself lying awake in bed tonight, as usual, trying to calm the stream of thought that entered his head. Before you, he only could ever think about the ghosts of his past. People he had loved and lost.

But now? Now as he closed his eyes, he saw your eyes, sparkling with delight. Your lips, in a pout, then stretched over a brilliant smile.

The delicate curve of your neck and shoulder. Your ass. He groaned out loud. God, your ass was out of this world. The way it moved when you bent over to grab a dish towel from the bottom shelf. He always had to look away before his thoughts got away from him, or else his mind would wander and he would imagine snaking his arms over yours and caging you to the bar, rolling his hips into yours. You would wiggle your ass against him and throw your head back to see his reaction.

Fuck. Now he was hard. Every time this happened, he would either watch some porn or force himself to think of a woman he didn’t know, someone who he dreamed up in his head.

But no faceless stranger or actress could quite do it for him like you would. He could feel his self control crumbling as he reached into his boxer briefs and fisted his aching cock, taking it out and letting it sit heavy against his stomach, straining with need.

He ran a finger up the underside, imagining it was you teasing him, getting acquainted with how hot and hard he was for you. He let himself picture you, naked and in between his legs, stroking him gently, watching him come apart underneath you. Ideally, he’d flip you over and dive face first into your cunt, lapping wide stripes at your slick folds with his tongue, then sucking your clit into his mouth. He would wait until you’re mewling under him, then he’d plunge a finger into you, stretching you around his finger and adding another. He’d wait until you came in his mouth at least twice before he fucked you. He’d have you begging for his cock, so slick with need it dripped down your thighs.

In this part of the fantasy, you’re so feral for him, your eyes bright and wide looking up at him with hunger, that he acquiesces, and you climb onto his lap and bounce up and down on his cock.

He was stroking himself faster now, feeling so close to the edge. He grit his teeth, growling your name as he came all over his fist, spurts reaching up his stomach, almost all the way to his chest.

As soon as he came to his senses, he sighed, feeling disgusted with himself.

There was a moment in the bed of his truck that night, where you had stared at him, your gaze flickering down to his mouth as you licked your bottom lip. It was just a small flash of your tongue– but it gave him hope for a moment. He had hope that someone as beautiful and kind as you could see through the darkness within him, see the guy he used to be before he lost everything.

But that part of Paz died, along with the family he cared so deeply for. The remaining ones scattered to the wind, unable to carry on pretending like everything hadn’t changed.

He sighed deeply, getting up to wash the shame off himself. At least he’d sleep soundly tonight and dream of a reality where he could hold you in his arms.

Paz seemed to be in higher spirits lately, following your chat in his office. It wasn’t like he skipped into the room and had birds fluttering around his head, like a Disney princess, but he didn’t snap at anyone who made eye contact with him, so it was a noticeable difference.

That was the hot topic conversation of the day, especially for Harlow. She couldn’t get over the 360 change that seemingly happened overnight.

“So, did you doink the grumpy out of him or what?” Harlow asked. She was leaning over the bar, looking at you expectantly with her hands under her chin.

“Of course not!” You said, a little too loudly. “There has not, and will not be any doinking, ever.”

“This sounds like work appropriate conversation,” a deep voice drawled. 

You both spun around, not expecting to see him standing in the doorway, his eyebrow arched. He was clearly unimpressed.

“I’m going to go clean the bathrooms,” Harlow said, dashing out back. Fucking traitor.

You prayed to the almighty maker that the floor would open up and swallow you whole, but there was no such luck in store for you today.

“Hey Paz,” you said, trying to sound casual, as if Harlow hadn’t been talking about your non-existent sex life.

“Hey you,” he said, mimicking your tone. “I actually came out here to ask you if you could swap a shift with Harlow next Friday. I fucked up and scheduled her on a day she requested off. You’d get Sunday off in return.”

“Sure,” you agreed, nodding. “I don’t have any plans.”

“You don’t have any plans to ‘doink’ anyone that night?” He teased.

You could feel your face heating up in embarrassment.

“Not unless you know any willing volunteers.” 

Paz barked out a laugh.

“I might know a guy,” he said, a smirk etched on his handsome face.

You both cursed and thanked the powers above that a customer decided to walk in right at that moment. Of course it was Bob. He usually was the first to come in and one of the last to leave.

Not wanting to lose whatever contest was going on (real or perceived), you gave Paz a coy smile and leaned over the bar to take Bob’s order, making sure you poked your ass out further than necessary.

You couldn’t see Paz’s reaction, but when he exited without so much of a goodbye, you gave yourself an internal fist pump.

In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to (potentially) break a dress code at work, but in your defense it was hotter than the surface of the sun, and internal temperature of the bar only seemed to get higher as the night went on.

Also, maybe it would be an added bonus if you got to torture a giant, brooding bartender in the process.

You felt pretty proud of your decision to wear your thinnest bralette, squeeze into your smallest pair of shorts, paired with a t-shirt that was just a little too small.

Of course your car decided to stall 3 times on the way to work, and your AC was busted so you walked in 15 minutes late, already feeling like a frizzy, sweaty mess. Your entrance wasn’t as grand as you were hoping, feeling like your half-assed attempt at makeup had already melted off your face, and the black v-neck you wore was clinging to you in all the wrong places, mainly your sweaty back and right under your bra.

In your rush to clock in before the 20-minute mark, you crashed right into Paz, almost falling and landing on your ass. Paz, of course, barely moved a centimeter. His hand shot out, grabbing you by the shoulder to hold you steady.

“Woah there, small fry, be careful,” he murmured. His hand was large and warm. You had to take a deep breath to get a hold of yourself.

“Paz, I’m so sorry I’m late. My fucking car stalled out on the way and–” you started babbling, pushing your sweaty mane back, praying he couldn’t see the sweat stains on your shirt.

“It’s okay, shit happens. You need someone to look at your car? I know a guy.” He was leaning forwards to get a better look at you, looking concerned. You had trouble controlling how fast your heart was beating and your lungs felt like they couldn’t get enough air. It was plain bizarre, the affect this man had on you with a simple gesture.

I know a guy. Your cheeks felt warm remembering the last time he uttered that sentence.

You had expected him to get angry with you for being late. Hell, you remember the gruff tone he gave you on your first day when he said to show up on time.

“I- I um,” you were having a hard time coming up with words, too distracted by the sensation of Paz’s thumb rubbing soothing circles on your shoulder, brushing against your collar bone. Despite the heat, you felt goosebumps rise on your flesh and your nipples instantly pebbled. You stole a quick glance down to make sure it wasn’t obvious. Shit, it totally was.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Let me know if you change your mind,” he replied. Had his voice dropped a few octaves or were you just imagining it?  He removed his hand from your shoulder, much to your chagrin, and backed up a little, giving you a once-over.

“Go ahead and clock in and give yourself a couple minutes to get settled. It should be slow today,” he gave you a soft smile.

“Okay, thanks,” you said, giving him a shy smile in return.

It was about 3 hours into your 8 hour shift and it was dead. There wasn’t a single customer in sight. It wasn’t that surprising, given it was a Tuesday, but God were you bored. It was just you and Paz tonight, with Paz sending Madge home (with pay) and no one else being scheduled.

You didn’t really mind, though, figuring it was a good time to get to know Paz better. He was wiping the already clean bar down for the fifth time that night, really driving the bartender stereotype home.

“You’re going to start wearing the varnish down at this rate,” you laughed, gesturing at the rag in his hand.

He looked down, shaking his head in a playfully exasperated way and let out an embarrassed huff of laughter.

“Alright, how do you suggest we pass the time?”

“How about 20 questions?”

Paz immediately groaned in protest.

“Oh shut up, you big baby, I’ll answer first. Go ahead,” you cocked your chin at him. “Got any questions you’re dying to ask me?”

“Why did you apply for a job here?”

Your first instinct was to deflect, but you did suggest this game, and figured you just had to bite the bullet and answer honestly.

“To be honest, I still haven’t figured out what I want to do,” you explained. “I know, kind of pathetic for someone my age. I took a bartending class at the local adult learning center, got a certificate and just kind of walked in here and asked for an application on a whim.”

Paz could sense your discomfort, how you were ashamed that you hadn’t found your way yet. It was something he could identify with, in a way.

“That’s not pathetic at all,” he said, crossing his arms. “Plenty of people don’t know what they want to do at your age.”

You shrugged, not wanting to continue the subject.

“Boxers or briefs?”

Paz arched an eyebrow, his ever-present sign of judgement coming through.

“That’s what you’re dying to ask me?”

“No, but I figured I’d warm you up first,” you said, giving him a cheeky smile.

“Boxer briefs. Favorite color?”

“Blue. Where did you grow up?”

Paz’s casual expression faltered at the question. 

“Far away. I’d rather not get into it today, if you don’t mind.” The easy smile vanished from your face, replacing it with a nod of understanding.

“That’s totally fine, Paz. I’m sorry if I overstepped,” you sat down at a table, and gestured at the chair across from you, signaling him to sit down. You wanted him to feel at ease around you.

“You and your apologies,” Paz said, a look of fond disbelief on his face. “You have nothing to apologize for, mesh’la.”

A beat of silence passed, waiting for Paz to think of a question. You wanted to ask him what that word he had called you meant, but you had a feeling he would dodge the question.

“Who were you and Harlow talking about yesterday?” Paz rested his chin in his hand, giving you a shit-eating grin. He must have known the answer already, given the smug look on his face.

You felt the color drain out of your face. 

“Why do you want to know so badly?” You countered. In the back of your mind, you thought you probably shouldn’t have talked back to your boss, but his smile didn’t waver. In fact, it only got wider.

“That doesn’t answer my question, sweetheart,” he drawled, stretching his legs and crossing one over the other.

“Harlow,” you thought of a way to word this without incriminating yourself or your friend. But screw it, she had opened her big mouth in the first place. “Harlow thinks there’s something going on between you and me.”

You briefly wondered if his facial muscles were used to this kind of workout, with the grin that refused to let up.

“And your answer was basically, ‘ew no’, ouch,” he chuckled.

“It’s not like– ugh. Fuck you.” You hid your face in your hands. He laughed harder. You had to do something to flip this around, gain back a little power over the situation.

Oh. An evil thought entered your brain. You removed your hands from your face and smirked. Paz was still grinning, but you saw a hint of fear in his eyes.

“Pray tell, what would you have preferred I said?”

Paz leaned back in his chair and regarded you for a moment. It seemed you had thrown him through a loop. You couldn’t help but feel pleased with yourself.

But then he leaned forward, placing both of his large hands on the table, a hungry look in his eyes.

“You can say whatever you want to Harlow,” he said, his voice even but significantly huskier than usual. “But I’d prefer it if you didn’t lie to yourself.”

It felt like your heart was going to beat out of your chest any second now. You weren’t sure if he was being serious and it was making your head spin.

A sound came from the kitchen, snapping you both out of the moment. You sprung apart, despite having a table between your bodies.

“Okay lovebirds, I’m heading home.” It was Madge, standing by the kitchen doors, snickering at your antics.

“Night, Madge,” Paz called. 

You waved feebly and offered a weak “goodnight” at her retreating figure.

It had been too quiet since she had left. Paz seemed unwilling to continue the conversation, opting to brood silently. You muttered something about getting a head start on inventory and retreated into the dusty storage closet to pretend you were counting inventory. Though, you didn’t bring a pen and paper with you, so really you just went out back to stare at a bunch of kegs and liquor bottles, hoping they would miraculously answer all of the questions that were whirring through your brain.

You must have been staring at a bottle of Hennessy for at least a full 5 minutes when the door opened. Paz looked absolutely wrecked. His hair was mussed up, as if he had been running his fingers through it. His chest was heaving as if he had just sprinted a mile.

“Paz.” His name came out of your mouth like a prayer. You weren’t sure what you were asking of him, but you knew you needed him to act.

He stepped closer, slowly, as if he was afraid the floor would open up from under his feet.

“Tell me to stop.” Paz was just inches away now, caging you into the shelves behind you with his arms.

“What if I don’t want you to stop?” You asked, tipping your chin up to look at him.

He growled and tangled his fingers in your hair, kissing you with fervor.

Despite the ferocity of his kiss, his lips were so soft, so pliant. You moaned and licked into his mouth needing to taste him. Paz moaned, pushing you into the shelves further. 

“You drive me crazy,” he panted, pressing his forehead to yours. You responded by capturing his bottom lip between your teeth, pulling him back to your mouth. You were rewarded with a low groan and a push of his hips.

He was hard. That knowledge sent you into a haze. You needed him closer. Your arms went around his shoulders, kneading and pulling him in. He broke the kiss and peppered smaller kisses on your jaw, then down your neck.

“You wear these tiny little shorts and tight shirt to torture me?” He asked, already knowing the answer. He nibbled at your collar bone, hitting a spot that had you throwing your head back against the shelves.

“Yes,” you chuckled breathlessly.

“Mmm, knew it,” he answered, running his hands down your back, down to your ass, giving it a generous squeeze that had you mewling.

“I’ve been hard all fucking day, seeing you waltz around in those shorts, with your nipples hard, begging to be sucked.”

He rubbed his thumb over one of your nipples, causing it to pebble. Paz swallowed your gasp with his mouth, giving you another searing kiss.

Reality came rearing its ugly head in the form of the front door opening. Paz huffed and pressed his forehead to yours, hands coming around your hips to help you off the shelf.

“Duty calls,” he sighed, reaching his hand down into his jeans to adjust himself. Your mouth watered at the sight.

Paz exited the closet, strolling out and greeting the customer as if nothing had just happened, while you stole a few moments to yourself to get your bearings.

It was going to be a long night.

Taglist: @tenderclio @softdin @recklessworry @cannedsoupsucks @pocket-pudding @simping-for-clones @gallowsjoker @idiotonastar @seratoninforyouseratoninforme @devanthus @legally-a-bastard @my-awakened-ghost @comphersjost @princessxkenobi @sheresh0y​ @starlite41​

[realcube]

his offer || nishinoya x reader

  summary: nishinoya has one night to prove to you that he’d be the best boyfriend

not a song fic! but it might seem like that at the beginning

tw// swearing, sexual references, energy drinks, lord’s name in vain, murder references, fluff, angsty, crying, skirt wearing! reader

‘ ♪ shawty’s like a melody in my head, that i can’t keep out, got me singin’ like  ♪ ‘

You groaned, lifting your head off your essay which you fell asleep on while writing and rubbed your eyes, confused and disorientated. Not at the fact you had fallen asleep while studying - that was a fairly normal occurrence - but as to where that music was coming from? 

Surely, your neighbours hadn’t started a party at midnight - the time which you had caught a glimpse of on the My Melody clock sitting on your desk - especially because both of your neighbours were old couples but hey, you were in no position to judge their music choice.

Like any reasonable human-being, you got up from your desk and lolloped over to your bedroom window, where the music seemed to be blaring from. Once you reached the window, you opened the lock then proceed to push it open which required a lot more strength than you’d like to admit, but figured that you’d blame it on the fact you’re tired. 

You craned your neck out of the window to hiss as the chilly air suddenly nipped at your skin, then scanned the surroundings for a source of the music but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary: no lasers, no rave lights, no crowds of people and not a speaker in sight.

Sighing, you were just about to call it quits; blame the noises on sleep deprivation hallucinations and go to bed - until you heard a familiar voice call out to you from your back garden. 

“(Y/N)! Down here!” The voice yelled, lowering the volume of the music momentarily to guarantee that you heard their shout. 

You tossed your head back, letting out a fed-up groan as you instantly recognised who’s voice that was so when you squinted and through the darkness you saw the bi-haired boy - in his white pyjama set under his black puffer-jacket, with black trainers on - standing in your garden with a speaker on his shoulder, it only confirmed both of your suspicions; the first being that he was source of the obnoxious music that woke you up. 

The second suspicion being that the voice belonged to none other than the boy who has been on your ass for the last few months - Yū Nishinoya. 

“Oh my god.” You muttered, rubbing your temples, desperately trying to process the sight you had laid your eyes on - was he seriously blaring music outside your house right now? At midnight? “Nishinoy--”

“What?!” The boys screamed, cupping his ear to show that he was struggling to hear you due to the distance between you both but mostly because of the loud music which was blasting in his other ear and throughout most of the neighbourhood. 

“Turn the fucking music down!” You shrieked, something about the ear-splitting volume of the music causing your blood to boil. 

Nishinoya chuckled, complying with your request and in fact turning the speaker off all together, “As you wish, m’lady.” He joked, setting his speaker down on the bit of concrete just by the back door of your house, “Is it alright if I just leave this here for now?”

You quirked an eyebrow at his question, was he not going to explain to you what he was doing or were you just supposed to play it off as normal? “Sure.” You replied as if you were asking him a question. 

“Anyway,” You started, clearing your throat and attempting to regain your composure now that the music was gone. “What is the meaning of this, Nishinoya?” You inquired, resting your chin on your elbow which was perched on the windowsill. Relaxing as - knowing Nishinoya - this interaction was going to be far from brief. 

“I told you to call me Yū.” He complained, jogging back to the spot in your garden he was standing in prior to placing his speaker down, as from there he got an excellent view of your gorgeous moonlit face. “I’m here to make you an offer.” 

You let out another exasperated sigh as it was one of the only reactions you had enough energy to give. If it was anybody else, you would’ve just told ‘em to fuck off and went to bed but it was Nishinoya and something you’ve learned after months of dealing with his antics and endless advances, is that it is easier to listen to him than get him to leave you alone. “What’s your offer, Yū? Also, be quick about it.”

“Okay,” He began with a wide grin, chuffed to see that you’re actually conversing with him for a change, instead of just ignoring his whole existence. “I know you said that you’d never go out with me but I’m here to change your mind--”

His offer was interrupted by your murmur of disapproval from above, but he brushed it off with a chuckle and continued explaining his plan to make you fall in love with him. 

“Just an hour; that’s all I need! I won’t waste your time! And I chose tonight because it’s not a school night, I know how much you hate staying up late when you have school the next day!” 

A small smile tugged at the corners of your lips at the naïve boy’s reasonings -which you attempted to hide with your sleeve, you didn’t want him to think that you were the slightest bit charmed by his proposal. “Yū.” You mumbled, looking down at him with eyes filled with empathy. “I- I don’t know--”

It was clear that Noya’s offer wasn’t especially tempting yet, so he had no choice but to pull out the big guns. “If you come with me tonight, I’ll never annoy you ever again, on god!” 

You blinked a few times at what he just said - it seemed too good to be true. This drastically increased your chances of accepting his proposition but you still needed to be filled in with some information, “What are we going to do?”

Noya beamed, his pearly whites almost blinding you, “That’s a surprise!”

You rolled your eyes, mentally comparing the pros and cons of accepting his offer; the main pro being the fact he promised to leave you alone afterwards and Noya wasn’t one to purposefully break a promise.

The fatigue weighing on your mind wasn’t helping you conclude your decision either, hence resulting in you taking around a minute to think about it and once you eventually snapped out of your unrelated thoughts, you just blurted out the answer which had apparently been waiting on the tip of your tongue the whole time.

“Uh- fine.” You uttered, your reply causing Noya to pump his fist into the air with a bright smile on his face, “Yes!” He let out a celebratory cry, along with a little happy dance which made your heart flutter - not that you’d ever admit it though. 

“Alright.” You giggled, playfully scoffing at his actions as you hastily went to close your window, “I’ll be out in a moment--”

“Wait, (Y/N)!” 

You immediately halted in your tracks, “Yes?” You quirked an eyebrow at his sudden interjection, yet you were hardly surprised as random outbursts were far from uncommon for him.

“Make sure to wear shoes that are easy to run in.” He said, devilry laced in his voice as he tried his best - but failed - to resist a mischievous smile forming on his lips.

His comment was a tad suspicious but you thought nothing of it since it was coming from Noya - he probably just wanted to play tag or something. Locking the window, you swiftly turned on your heels, grabbed your coat and rushed to your backyard. 

Nishinoya probably chose the best day for his shenanigans as your parents were both abroad for a business trip and - since they had no reason not to - they trusted you to be left home alone, meaning that it’s not like you’d have to sneak by them on your way out or anything.

As you approached you back door, you realised that you had very limited choices when it came to shoes; that is, if you wanted to leave quickly. Lying by the back door were you school shoes, your gym shoes and a pair of flip flops; the favourable option was obvious. 

You slid on your gym shoes while internally scolding yourself for falling asleep in your tight, uncomfortable school clothes then you proceeded to jingle your keys around in the lock until you were able to slip outside and glance at Noya, who had taken a seat on the paving next to the door. 

Once he noticed your arrival, he hopped to his feet and that was when you noticed the bag - which was almost the same size as him - slung over his shoulders. “Hey, what’s the bag for?” You inquired, momentarily averting your gaze from it onto him as you noticed he had his arms wide open for a hug.

Perhaps it was the sleepless euphoria, or maybe it had something to do with the dreamy ambience held by the dark lunar night; but either way, it convinced you to do something you would never even consider doing in any other situation. You leaned in and snaked your arms around Noya’s chest, allowing him to hold you in his embrace for a solid 5 seconds - the best 5 seconds of his life.

Although you hated yourself for feeling this; something about the way the outline of his muscles flexed against your back and the tingling sensation of his warm breath against the soft skin of your neck caused an unfamiliar emotion - perhaps slight arousal but mostly admiration - to shoot through your body.

Feeling something so foreign made you immensely uncomfortable so jerked away from the hug before your brain had any time to process it. 

After you pulled away, it took a moment for the overwhelming bliss Noya felt to subside - and you could tell by his starry-eyes - but once it did, he gave you a somewhat straight answer to question you asked prior to the embrace. “Oh, the bag? It’s got all the the things we need for tonight in it: snacks, money, my Switch, a blanket, a ball, a first aid kit, a fake ID and just a few other things.” 

You snickered, hardly able to imagine what those ‘few other things’ were but knowing Noya, he was sure to surprise you; that’s one of the things you loved about him. 

However, you knew that if you ended up falling for him, it’d completely ruin your grades. If you were with Noya you’d probably end up going out on these little adventures every single night and although you weren’t opposed to the concept, in reality you needed to study as you were quite ambitious and the university you aspired to get into required nothing less than perfection in terms of GPA. 

So, it’s not like you didn’t have any romantic interest in Nishinoya - in fact, you’ve kinda had a crush on him since the beginning of the school year - it’s just that you knew it would be in both of your best interests if you remained friends. You’ve tried to explain that to Noya several times but he simply didn’t understand and he didn’t try to either, which is what irked you. Thus, you stopped your feeble attempts to reject him in a kind manner and moved on to just blocking him out entirely.

However, a new problem was afoot. Both you and Noya were coming into this ‘date’ with completely opposing incentives; he wanted to make you fall for him and you had to do everything in your power to suppress your feelings for him but if he continues being so damn sweet, that’s gonna make things a whole lot trickier for you. 

“Alright.” Noya chirped with his signature daring smile, “Let’s go! Follow me.”  He instructed, grabbing your hand and intertwining his fingers with yours before guiding you to the front gate of your house. Upon noticing how the gate was hanging wide open, you realised that your stupid-ass forgot to lock it, meaning that anybody could’ve waltzed right in. Noya seriously chose the best day to pull this little stunt. 

Your breath hitched slightly as he kept his cold fingers in with yours but you didn’t protest as this would be a great starting point in convincing yourself that you weren’t in love with Noya; his strong, possessive grip definitely did not make you blush and the way he caressed his thumb gently against the back of your hand resulted in mighty rage bubbling in your stomach - not butterflies - rage!

The pair slipped passed the gate and he paused in his tracks, momentarily releasing his grip on your hand to allow you to lock the gate behind you. But as soon as you finished, he immediately took your hand back with his own and began swinging it back and forth as he led you to an unknown destination.

You giggled at his childish - yet cute - action but the fun was short-lived as your blood ran cold as the romantic aura which was blinding you at first finally lifted, hence the reality of the situation hit you like a truck; Noya was taking you a location which he refused to disclose, he carried a large bag which could easily fit a body inside, he had taken you out alone in the dead of night, he had a powerful grip on your hand so you couldn’t run away and worst of all, because you were in a rush to leave, you forgot to bring your phone.

Of course, a large part of you doubted that Nishinoya - Karasuno’s guardian deity and #1 simp - had murderous intentions behind his actions, it was surely just all one big coincidence. However, it’d put you at ease if you mentioned it, “Yū, um, I kinda forgot my phone at home.”

Noya sensed the anxiety in your voice and in all honesty, he couldn’t blame you. He was aware that what he was doing was suspicious - to say the least - and he wanted to give you more clarity on what he was happening but he thought it’d be more engaging if he built up some suspense. “Oh, um, I mean, if you want, we can turn back so you can grab it but I also brought my phone, you can have mine if it’d make you less worried.”

You tensed your whole body at his suggestion, ‘don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall!’ you internally commanded yourself before shifting your attention onto your options. It’d certainly calm your nerves to have access to any mobile device you could use to call for help, but there were a few holes in his plan, “Well, that’d be nice..but what if I lose you and you need to phone someone?”

Nishinoya simply rolled his eyes as a cocky chuckle erupted from his throat, “As if! Why would I ever need to do that?”

“In so many situations: you could have a heart attack, injure yourself, set something on fire, throw-up, get possessed, be struck by lightening, fall in a river, get jumped--”

“That’s silly.” Noya scoffed, ignoring the fact you suggested he could be struck by lightening despite the fact that there was not a cloud in sight, instead he chose to focus on how you insinuated that someone could possibly assault him. “I could be jumped? Ha! In your dreams! If someone shady comes up to me - or you - I’ll give ‘em one of these-” Nishinoya jumped into an offensive stance and aggressively uppercutted the air, “And one of these too!” He followed up with a swift roundhouse kick before planting both of his feet on the ground and looking at you with sincere eyes, “Trust me, (Y/N). I won’t let any creeps lay a finger on either of us tonight - or ever.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at how eager he was to protect you; it made your heart flutter more than you’d like to admit. Also, upon seeing how keen Noya was to fight - plus, remembering that you had taken those 5 years of karate lessons for a reason - put your mind at ease slightly. 

Still, you were tempted to accept all the safety you could get your hands on. “That’s sweet, Yū. But if it isn’t an issue, could I keep your phone in my jacket pocket?”

Noya unzipped his jacket so he could reach into the pockets of his pyjama bottoms to grab his phone and once he did, he presented it to you, “If it’ll make you feel less tense, then take it.” He single-handedly zipped his jacket back up while shooting you a kind grin which caused your body to do the thing again.

Your expression softened as your gaze met his and in that moment, everything felt right; you weren’t stressing over exams, you weren’t thinking about your chores, you weren’t fretting over your friend group drama, all you worries seemed to just dissolve away into the background - in that moment, it was just you and Nishinoya, appreciating each others company on a empty country road.

But perhaps you appreciated his company for a bit too long as he snapped you out of your trance by teasing you, “Oh, you’re falling for me already?~ We haven’t even arrived at the surprise yet.” 

You blinked rapidly, instantly scowling and rolling your eyes at his silly comment - which you knew deep-down was true but let’s conceal those feelings for a bit longer. “Uh, no. I just zoned-out thinking about..how stupid you look in those pyjamas.”

Nishinoya gasped in an exaggerated manner before sticking his bottom lip out to form a pout, “I didn’t have time to change.” He dropped the first excuse that came to his mind before glancing at the phone which was still waiting patiently on the palm of his hand. “Are you gonna take it or?” 

You nodded, carefully picking up his phone and sliding it into your jacket pocket, “Thank you, Yū.” You muttered, tucking it in as deep as you could to secure it so it wouldn’t fall out. “I had no idea you were into Pokémon--” You said in reference to his lockscreen which lit up when your finger accidently grazed the power button. If you were ignorant enough, you probably could’ve mistaken his background for just a bunch of words written in a red font but in reality, those words were connected in such a way that they formed the outline of a Charmander.

Noya’s eyes widened at your comment, ‘Shit, I forgot to change my background- she probably thinks I am a nerd like Tsukishima now or something-’ he mentally rebuked himself, desperately scanning his surroundings to find a topic he could just blurt out to pretend as if he didn’t hear your comment. 

Fortunately for him, the ‘portal’ to the desired destination finally came into vision, so he hurriedly grabbed your hand again and bolted towards - what looked like to you - the entrance of the Forrest. “C’mon, (Y/N)! I can’t wait for you to see where we’re going!” 

You laughed at how obviously he tried to dismiss your comment and change the subject, but you excused that part for now and focussed all your attention on trying to match Noya’s pace without letting your school skirt fly up in the wind. 

So you continued to sprint up to the entrance of the Forrest with Noya but as soon as you passed the first tree, you paused to catch your breath and squeezed Noya’s hand, communicating that he should stop too. “Wait, Yū.” You panted, taking a moment to admire the new scenery you had been introduced to. “You’re too fast.” 

You hummed, tossing your head back to inspect your surroundings; which was predominantly Cryptomeria japonica trees that stretched up to meet the sky, creating a mystical yet mysterious atmosphere. There was also the distant song of flowing water which rang throughout the Forrest, and that was seemingly the only thing to be heard - besides you and Noya’s puffs - as the Forrest was known for lacking Fauna. 

Although you have lived near this Forrest your entire life, not only did you not know the name and opted to call it ‘the Forrest’ whenever you spoke of it - which wasn’t often - you also had never stepped foot in it before today..with Nishinoya. 

He was always pushing you out of your comfort zone, persuading you to try new things; most of which, you would never even consider doing if he wasn’t in your presence: like the time he convinced you to go on every ride at the amusement park with him and you actually kinda had fun, or the time when he insisted that you play MineCraft Bed Wars with him despite the fact you had made it clear that you hated most server games..but now you play Bed Wars every chance you get. 

Nishinoya could say the same about you though; you were constantly pushing him to be the best version of himself that he possibly could. For example, there was when he texted you saying that he was going to skip school so he asked for you to cover him but instead, you induced him to come in by telling him that his future self will thank him for having the best attendance possible. 

Before you had a moment to collect your thoughts, Noya took your hand again and guided you through the Forrest, the sound of rushing water getting louder as y’all went along. “Yū, this place is so pretty.” You mumbled, the chilly air lacing through your hair elegantly as you were dragged through the Forrest by Noya. 

“You haven’t even seen the place we’re going to have our date yet!” He exclaimed, his lips curling into a smile as you didn’t object against his use of the word ‘date’ like you normally would. 

Suddenly, he came to halt and once you caught up with him, you took a moment to study the smug expression painted on his face before following his gaze only to realise that y’all had finally arrived at his desired ‘date’ destination.

You studied the setting he had brought you to and to say you were pleasantly surprised was an understatement. 

There was long, lush green grass growing on the outskirts of a clear crystal pond which was being poured into by many miniature ‘waterfalls’ that were just water squirting out from in between the rocks decorating the far edge of the pond. Along with that, there were cute little flowers adorning the sides of the pink, checkered picnic blanket which Noya had kindly laid out beforehand. 

“Noya- it’s- this place-” You choked, absolutely lost for words at the beauty and magic that this place emitted. 

The adorable look of awe in your eyes was enough to make Noya fall for you even more, “Do you like it?” He inquired sincerely, taking off the mask of pride he wore to impress you to get your genuine reaction.

“It’s stunning, you- how did you even find this place?” You eventually managed to blurt out, turning to look at him with a gleeful grin which set his heart ablaze.

Noya shrugged, thinking back to the first time he stumbled across this serene setting and how - upon laying eyes on the bewitching sight - his immediate thought was of you. “I guess, I just followed the noise of running water.” He spoke, as if asking you the question while tapping his jaw with his index finger. 

Then, before you got a chance to take a seat for yourself, Noya pulled the moves on you which he had practising with a volleyball since he first found this place; he took your hand by tucking his index and middle finger under yours so he had access to your knuckles, then he bent over to plant a long, tender kiss on it.

That action on it’s own was enough set the tips of your ears on fire but when he looked up from the kiss so his enchanting brown eyes met your wide (e/c) ones, you felt ‘the thing’ again and shuddered yet somehow unable to bring yourself to yanking your hand away. “Yū..” was all you could choke out in a breathy voice.

He didn’t reply, instead he led you over to the blanket he had set out on the ground by the pond, sat down and let go of your hand so you could take a seat beside him. 

You went along with him, mindlessly dropping down by his right side but all while keeping your eyes glued to the breath-taking sight of the pond water glistening under the moonlight which penetrated through the slats in the canopy.  Appreciating the environment as you were well aware that it’d be a while before you were taken some place so beautiful again. 

Noya couldn’t help but chuckle at how fixated you were on the scenery, taking this opportunity to drop the line he had been refining for many weeks prior. “You’re acting as if you’ve never seen something as magnificent before  - I mean, you’ve looked in a mirror, haven’t you?” He asked, a cocksure smirk tugging at the corner of his lip as he thought he delivered that line rather smoothly.

Meanwhile, you playfully rolled your eyes, cringing slightly at how poor Noya’s acting skills were; he made it dead obvious from his clearly google searched ‘synonyms for beautiful’ use of ‘magnificent’ to the fact you just knew that there was no way he’d be able to come up with something so suave on the spot. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that he had rehearsed that line many times preparatory for today but something about the thought that Noya cared enough about you to go through the effort of practising lines made your knees weak for some..unknown reason.

“Anyway,” Noya broke the deafening silence between the two of you by sliding off his bag, pulling it up to his left and rummaging through it in search of something. “I brought snacks and drinks for us.” 

“Oh, you’re too kind.” This piqued your curiosity as you sat up straight to try catch a peek inside of his bag to see what other stuff he had in there, along with what he could’ve possibly brought as a ‘snack’. 

Noya whipped his head back around to face you as he slammed two cans of Monster Energy onto the few millimetres of space on the blanket between your thigh and his, “Mango Loco for me and a Pipeline Punch for you!” He exclaimed with a foolish grin on his face which just got wider as he noticed a sweet smile gracing your features as your gaze dropped to the cans.

“How did you know Pipeline Punch is my favourite? Or was it just a guess?”

Noya snickered as you asked the question which he was praying for you to utter so he could give his ‘nonchalant’ response, “Oh, I just remembered the time at the arcade when we found a Monster vending machine and you chose Pipeline Punch - no biggie.” 

You chuckled, internally ecstatic that he would remember such a trivial detail about you but externally you were ecstatic to chug down some well-deserved Monster. You opened your can and promptly poured it down the hatch - bottoms up - taking a few audible gulps before letting out a faint ‘ah’ as the can parted from your lips. 

“That hits the fuckin’ spot.” You mused, staring blankly into the void as you felt any fatigue or sleepiness that might’ve been lingering inside your body slowly melt away, being replaced by passionate urge to..make out with someone. Shit. 

Noya guffawed at your visible enthusiasm for the beverage, which reminded him to open up his own. Gulping down the sweet taste in unison with you before sitting the can back down by his side, “I think that’s my third can today.” He said indifferently, as he turned to his bag and began hunting through it again.

Your immediate response was to gasp and luckily you didn’t have any liquid in your mouth at that moment or else it would’ve came spewing out, “Third?! Yū, that’s too much! I think this is my third can this year. You’ve seriously got issues, man.”

Noya nodded in agreement with your last statement as he tried desperately to stifle a chuckle, “I know.” He replied, then threw a bag of Doritos over his shoulder for it to land perfectly in your lap. “And here are the snacks.” 

You smiled, glancing down at the bag of chips sitting in your lap before shifting your gaze onto Noya, expecting him to turn around with a second bag of chips in his possession but instead, he was empty-handed. You quirked an eyebrow at this, knowing that Noya wasn’t the sort to give food to others without leaving some for himself, “Yū, where is your snack?” 

Noya opened his mouth, clearly about to give you a serious answer until inspiration stuck him like lightening - he just had to say it. “Sitting right next to me, why?”

You couldn’t help but titter at his stupid little joke; still, you were able to read him like a book despite not receiving a straight answer, “I’m guessing you want to share this bag then?”

“Well, yeah, it’s party-sized so I’d be surprised if you were able to finish it on your own.” 

“Is that a challenge?” You inquired, popping open the bag and twitching your nose slightly as all the ‘flavour dust’  effused from the bag sprinkled across your face, leading to you having to wipe it off with your jacket sleeve.

“No, I’m starving!” He cried as he aggressively stuck his whole arm into the bag to grab a fist-full of Doritos, pull it out and shove most of it into his mouth like the glutton he is. 

You scoffed, tossing the bag onto his lap as there was no way you were going to eat a single chip from that bag after he put his grimy, unsanitized hands in there, “Did you even wipe your hands before eating?- god knows where they’ve been!”

Noya shrugged, choosing to ignore your grimace and continue indulging himself in his bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos which he now had all to himself. “Haters gonna hate.” He mumbled to himself through a mouthful or chips, causing little pieces to go flying everywhere.

“Haters gonna care about your health and wellbeing!” You snapped back, attempting to say that in all seriousness but a playful smile kept creeping back onto your features.

Although there was an effort made to hide it, his whole body tingled when you said that you cared. The fact that you’d admit to something like that was - in Noya’s mind - proof that you were starting to catch feelings for him. 

He couldn’t be too confident in his hypothesis just yet but he needed answers right away as your endearing little actions caused him to grow more impatient by the second; how you said you cared for him, the way you gazed blankly at the moon or the stare filled with longing that you both shared on the way here - all of those factors snowballed into a feeling which was brimming inside Nishinoya this whole time and now, he finally bursts.

He tossed the bag aside, swiping his hands against each other to remove all the ‘flavour dust’ and once he did so, he grabbed both of your shoulders and adjusted his whole body to face you, exchanging a yearning gaze similar to the one you both exchanged before arriving at the Forrest. 

You instantly flushed red like anybody would do in your situation - I mean, his face was only inches away from yours, close enough for you to feel his light exhales tickle the skin of your lips and as much as you wanted to look down, for some reason you couldn’t pry your eyes off of his. There wasn’t a word spoken between the two of you for a solid minute but the fierce look in his eyes did all the talking for him, he undoubtedly wanted to tell you something important.

Nishinoya mentally scolded himself for being so impulsive, he pulled you in before he had even mustered up the courage to say anything so now you were both intensely staring into each other’s eyes as you waited for Noya to find the right words. 

“(Y/N)-” he spluttered at last, “I obviously really really like you. And I know the night isn’t even close to over yet but I just gotta know, do I even have a chance? Is there literally anything I can do to win your heart? Or am I just fighting a losing battle?” 

You internally sighed of relief, glad that it was just about his feelings rather than your sneaking suspicion that his forceful grabbing was the first step in his plan to - quite literally - take you out. “Yū..I can’t-” You were about to explain your answer until you froze mid-sentence, realising that you didn’t even know the answer to the question yourself. 

“I’m- I’m not sure. I’m sorry.” You murmured, averting your eyes from him and lowering them to the blanket beneath y’all. In all honesty, you were ashamed to have such little control or knowledge over your emotions - you usually don’t let your feelings run wild like this but something about just looking at Nishinoya evoked something special inside you. 

“I don’t even know what to say- I guess, I’m just mortified thinking about the way I’ve treated you up until today. And how I can’t even give you an answer to the simplest of questions, an apology doesn’t even cover half of it.” You gushed, feeling something horrible weigh down on your chest and you didn’t need a therapist to figure out that it was guilt. Next thing you new, tears were streaming down your cheeks but you paid no mind to them in hopes Noya wouldn’t even notice.

However, he noticed, of course he did. The faint sobs didn’t even need to reach his ear for him to be able to sense you sadness, thus slipping his arms around your waist and pulling you in so the side of your head rested against his heart while he kept you secure with one hand on the small of your back and the other cradling your head. “Don’t cry..” He whispered, not sure how exactly to comfort people in these situations but aiming to do his best anyway. 

“I don’t think it even matters if I like you or not; you deserve someone a lot nicer than me - and someone who shares more of your interests and ambitions so y’all can skip class together and whatnot.” You butchered the last part of your excuse but so be it, he’d get the memo either way.

Nishinoya chuckled which - in the moment - seemed inappropriate but after he flopped backwards - taking you down with him - you understood why he was laughing and you’d be lying if you said a faint one didn’t escape your lips too as he fixed his position so he was laying down with your head still against his chest. “You’re silly, (Y/N). Have I ever told you why I fuss over you so much rather than any other person?”

You paused, your breath hitching slightly, “No, you haven’t, actually.” Surely that was something you’ve learned by now after the many times you’ve asked him to go simp for someone else but no; every time you tell him to do that, his response is always the same, ‘If their name isn’t (Y/N) (L/N) then I’m not gonna fuck with them.’. At the time, you thought it was a great misfortune that there wasn’t any other (Y/N) (L/N)s at you school but now that you are laying in Noya’s arms in the crisp winter air, you consider yourself lucky. 

“Well,” Noya started as he usually does when he is about to go on rambling about something, “I think we are soulmates, to be honest. I mean, two incredibly attractive people, both with immaculate music tastes - it’s basically written in the stars that we should be together. Also, we are kinda like ‘opposites attract’, y’know? Like, I am the sexy rascal and you’re the sexy librarian - I help you live your life and you help me with algebra.” He wasn’t really sure where he was going with that comparison so he just decided to leave it there, “Basically what I’m trying to say is I really like you because you are you and I am me, y’know?”

There was just something about his chatter that you found so inexplicably captivating, so you allowed a small giggle to pass your lips at his final comment. “Yū..” You cooed, feeling your eyes drift shut under the warmth and comfort of his body pressed against yours. “The only reason I didn’t want to go out with you is that I was afraid I’d mess up my GPA. But genuinely, it’s hard to give a single fuck about my grades now; you just make me so happy, Nishinoya. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing I feel tonight, especially since I’ve kinda been studying non-stop for a week or two.” 

Noya’s heart skipped a beat as he waited in anticipation for you to continue, eliciting him to prod you a bit, “So..does that mean..?”

You felt the world fade away around you - right now it was just you and Nishinoya, enjoying each others company and keep one another cozy. “Yes, Yū. I’ve officially fallen for you. Will you be my boyfriend?”

Nishinoya was simply unable to contain his rejoice and excitement so he temporarily lifted his hand from your back to pump it into the air in celebration, “Yes!” He cheered, a toothy smile plastered onto his face which didn’t seem to diminish any time soon. “Of course I’ll be your boyfriend!”

He tensed, his eyes darting around to find something to express his joy onto until he recognised that the perfect opportunity was laying right on his chest. Hence, he lifted your chin with his index finger so you were gazing at him with your sweet, tired eyes and then he leaned in to plant an adoring kiss on your forehead. 

“I promise to treat you better than anyone else ever could!” He beamed, entitling that as his final comment as it was clear that you just want to fall asleep peacefully in his arms - which was odd considering you had a few sips of Monster Energy but he wasn’t opposed either way.

After all, now that you were his, he could spend as much time with you as he desired so there was no rush.

[writer-k-pop]

Listen to Me

얘기 좀 할래? Want to talk about it?

Description: After finding out some unpleasant news about your best friend’s partner, you try to tell your best friend about it but they won’t listen. But Seungkwan does. He listens to you spill out your frustrations and in the process, a few other things spill out. Warnings: Swearing Genre: Angst, Fluff (Mainly), Roommate!Seungkwan x Gen.Neu!Reader Word Count: 1.5k

Seventeen Masterlist | Masterlists

You slam the front door shut and storm straight into your room. The loud slam of your bedroom door surprises Seungkwan cause you've never slammed your room that hard. Ever. And he's lived with you for almost a whole year now.

While you hurl mumbled curses at your 'so-called' best friend, Seungkwan cautiously crosses the living room that separates your bedrooms. He wonders what would have caused you to slam your door with that amount of force while you curse the human being you thought was your closest and dearest friend for being so ignorant and not trusting your judgement.

A burst of frustrated anger surges through your body and you grab a pillow off your bed, chucking it at your closed door. On the other side, Seungkwan's eyes widen as he hears the pillow smoosh hollow-ly against the wood door.

He knocks and you barely hear it through the pounding in your ears.

"What?" You ask, yanking the door open with such force it leaves Seungkwan stunned for a second.

"Are you okay?" He asks, lowering his hand. You catch a glimmer of concern but pass it off as roommate level concern.

You sigh and lean against the door while reminding yourself that this is Seungkwan and not that poor excuse for a loyal friend. "Just frustrated. Very, very, very frustrated." You add for emphasis.

Seungkwan puckers his lips together, "Want to talk about it?"

"Would it help?" You scoff and roll your eyes, thinking that talking really wouldn't help.

"It might." Seungkwan shrugs and tilts his to the side. "You never know."

You chew on the inside of your cheek cause you never really discussed deep, private issues like this with Seungkwan. Yes, you've lived together but you usually went to your best friend with those kinds of issues.

But you are not currently talking to that person and Seungkwan is willing to listen.

Standing up straight, you walk back into your room and sigh.

"It's my best friend." You exhale and plop onto your bed.

"The one you've known since like 8th grade?" Seungkwan clarifies and pulls out your desk chair to sit in.

You nod, "That one." Crossing your legs on the bed, you dive into the whole situation. "So, they recently started dating someone and you know, I met them a few times and every time I did, I got a weird feeling from them. Well, turns out my feeling was right. Two days ago, I was out and I somehow ended up behind said person though I didn't know it at first. But then they start talking about my best friend and how ridiculous the whole relationship is and they're only staying in the relationship because my best friend keeps buying them expensive gifts."

"No..." Seungkwan gasps, completely intrigued in the story.

"Oh yeah. And they even called my best friend ugly." You nod, getting riled up, "So, you know, I'm all 'what the fuck.' And I go meet up with my best friend cause they gotta know this shit. I explain everything and tell them that they need to get out because this person is crazy. But they didn't listen." You slam your hands down on the bench.

"They even got angry at me for not supporting them in the relationship." You continue while Seungkwan listens intently, "Using the whole 'if I'm happy, you should be happy' bullshit. I nearly laughed my head off because how could someone be happy in a relationship where the other person doesn't even find them attractive? And they're being used solely for material gain."

"So what did you do?" Seungkwan wonders.

"I argued with them because god dang it, I was going to make them see that I was right." You state because that's honestly what you did. You catch Seungkwan stifling a laugh and you narrow your eyes slightly, ignoring the flutter of your heart. "What?"

He quickly shakes his head but still answers your question, "You went from 'fuck' and 'bullshit' to a tame 'god dang it' and I found it cute... But this conversation isn't about what I think... Continue." He corrects himself and presses his lips together to keep himself from saying anything more. Internally you pout at him because how dare he think you are cute when you're ranting about something that upsets you. But at the same time you recognize that you also find him cute when he comes home frustrated about his group projects that have gone askew.

"Well, they wouldn't listen to me so I kept arguing with them and they still didn't believe me." You follow Seungkwan's instructions and recall the rest of the events, "They started calling me a liar and throwing really nasty comments at me like how I could even dare to question them and how I didn't trust them enough to find love and all this crap. I honestly have never seen them so mad at anyone. And of course, it had to be at me." You shake your head, partly because of the irony and partly because of the nature of the whole situation. "After a little bit of their ignorant, stubborn rant, I said enough and walked out."

"Right back here and slamming never-before-slammed doors in the process." Seungkwan finishes for you.

You give a tiny chuckle, "Did I scare you?"

"Not scare. It more startled me because it was so out of the ordinary." He corrects you.

"Sorry." You give an apologetic smile and realize that talking to Seungkwan did relieve some of the frustration.

"Don't be." He waves his hands out in front of him, "I would've done the same thing. If my friend, who was supposed to be my best friend, didn't trust me enough to even question the motives of the person they're dating, then, I too would fight to try and make them see." He leans his head against his hand and rests his elbow on the chair arm. "I think it's really cool of you to tell them about their so-called partner. I'll just add it to the list of thing I find cool about you." Seungkwan mumbles like a side note and you scrunch your eyebrows in confusion. In the two seconds of silence that followed, Seungkwan realized that he said the last bit out loud and freezes. A warm blush rises to his cheeks and he does everything to avoid eye contact with you.

"I said that out loud..." He states quietly and cringes at himself.

"Kind of..." You answer though he didn't state it as a question.

Seungkwan clears his throat, "Well, you know, it's for when people ask me why I keep deciding to live with you. You know the obligatory list of things you like about your roommate... As a roommate." He rambles on.

You smile sheepishly, knowing he's trying to cover up his tracks. "Right, that list."

He nods his head slowly, the atmosphere turning a little awkward. "Are, uh are you feeling a little better?" He asks, switching the topic before the mood can turn more awkward.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm feeling better. Thanks for listening." You tell him.

"Of course, anytime." Seungkwan says and bats his hand at you.

You chuckle at his response and decide to act on your feelings. "Then how about you let me treat you to dinner someday as a thank you?"

"You really don't have to do that." He shakes his head, "Honestly, I really don't mind talking with you."

"But I kind of wanted to start my own list. The list of things I read off of when someone asks me why I like my date?" You elaborate and Seungkwan freezes with eyes wide.

"So dinner would be a date..." He trails off in shock. "And we'd be going on this date together."

You smile and nod, confirming his guesses. Then Seungkwan's face breaks out into the brightest smile.

"Fuck yeah." He exclaims. "But you're not paying. First date, I pay."

You hold your hands up in surrender, "I was kind of hoping you'd pay." You giggle.

Seungkwan's chest feels like it's going to explode just from hearing your giggle. He's been head over heels for you for months and now knowing that you also like him in that way has his heart doing acrobat level flips inside of him.

"How about tonight?" He asks, looking at your bedside clock. "We've got a couple hours to get ready."

"Tonight sounds great." You respond, "But next time, I pay."

"Yeah, okay." Seungkwan chuckles and walks out of your room with a silly smile on his face and the thought that he was probably going to have to fight to pay the next time.

Hell, he'd pay for every dinner if he was dining with you.