#then work. i swear to god if one of my coworkers threw away the food i put in the break room fridge im burning thel ibrary down real not fak

[librarycard]

okay ignore everything. everything ive posted in the past hour i have therapy now

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Kickstart My Heart Pt.1 (Racer! Yeosang)

Next>>

Pairing: Racer! Kang Yeosang × Waitress/Fuckgirl! Reader (Female)

Genre: Fluff, Angst, 80s AU.

Summary: During an era known for its vibrant colors, eccentric fashion styles and rise of new yet unconventional genres of music, the young generation of that time was infamously known for their need to rebel and live their lives rather scandalously and Y/N is no exception. So when a new and attractive man moves into her town, she has her eyes set on making him her next boy toy.

Word Count: 4K+

Warnings: Dumb attempts at crackhead humor, reader is a cold hearted bitch, guy gets dumped in public, reader's friend is lowkey creepy.

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Throwing on the last article of clothing that had been discarded the night before, the young woman shook out her hair, still damp from the quick shower she just took. Picking up her bag, she looked over at the figure still sleeping soundly, the subtle hint of a smile on his face. With a pitied pout on her lips, she walked over to the edge where his face was. Taking out the lipstick tube from her bag, she applied it all over her lips, painting them in the dark burgundy color that she fancied so much and had practically become her signature hue. Bending over, she pressed her lips against the corners of his mouth, giving him the faintest whisper of a kiss before pulling away. A satisfied smirk was plastered on her pretty features as she stared at the lipstick mark on his face, the only memoir she'd leave him with as she had done with countless others.

Closing the front door behind her, she pulled her denim jacket tighter on her body, shivering slightly from the early dawn's breeze that blew across. It was always like that even though summer had just begun, the early morning hours still feeling obnoxiously cool and then transpiring into slightly uncomfortably warm afternoons that had more than one soul in that quaint town grumbling and fussing about the weather. But oh did the evenings feel absolutely refreshing, and that's when everything would start bustling to life.

Having finally made it out of that small residential area and finding one of the main roads that helped her locate where to go, she started heading south towards the all too familiar diner where she had been working in ever since her school days, first starting part time and eventually transpiring to full time when it came time for her to spread her wings and fly out on her own, a feat she had been most anxious to do to get away from the overly controlling nature of her parents. She knew they cared about her, but she herself cared very little about the morals and principles they had raised her with, a common trait all the young people in that town shared: their rebellious and headstrong nature to not conform and go against everything they had been taught thus far. Live their own lives as freely as they chose to do.

And she definitely lived as she wanted to, even if it ended up with a rather bad reputation and ugly labels that rather than infuriate her, she openly embraced, as others had come to as well.

The light twinkle of the bells above the glass door let the person at the register know someone came in and they immediately plastered on their business smile, which quickly faded when they saw who it was.

"You're late Y/N." The minuscule raven haired waitress informed her, eyes never leaving her coworker's figure that came behind the counter and started punching in her number.

"Only by like 7 minutes." She waved her slip at the nonchalant looking girl before placing it back in its respective slot.

"One day it wouldn't surprise me if you just didn't show up because you got too caught up in.... something else."

Chuckling softly, Y/N walked up behind her coworker, hands coming up to ruffle the cheekbone level bob cut hair framing her unusually small face.

"Awww come on Lynn, you know I'd never leave you hanging here to attend customers by yourself. You're my bestie." Y/N assured her, playfully poking her lips out as she tried to place a kiss on her friend, the poor girl craning her neck away as she tended to dislike physical affection.

"I will squirt ketchup on you." Lynn threatened as she picked up the cherry red bottle as a last resort to get her attacker to back away. A rather noisy struggle ensued between both girls, catching the attention of the owner and cook behind the two doors, prompting her to come out and see what was the cause of such ruckus.

"Well I'll be darned. I don't remember paying you youngsters to simply slack off and behave like the hooligans you are." The middle aged woman spoke up, her thick accent becoming more prominent. Although she had a stern look and hands placed at her hips, the girls knew she was not in reality angry at them.

Looking over at the recently arrived girl, the owner closed her eyes and sighed deeply when she took in the attire she was wearing: low cut white tank, ripped denim shorts that left little to the imagination if she bent down, fishnet tights with a few holes in them, and her beloved denim jacket that was almost always on Y/N's body.

"I swear to god, Y/N , everytime I see you wear them rags you call clothes, I feel like my body is about to collapse. Why must you insist on dressing like a common street worker?"

Y/N wasn't at all offended by her words, having grown used to and becoming fond of her boss's abrupt, direct and honest manner of speaking.

"Gotta start looking the part if I'm going to dedicate my life to the occupation." She giggled at her own joke, resulting in the older woman taking the rag off her apron and smacking her with it.

"This little runt, talking nonsense like that- get your ass back in there and change into your uniform. Can't have you prancing around here in those skimpy clothes and have all these men that come here say disrespectful things about you. Nuh uh, not to my girls." She shook her head.

"Yes Miss Audrey." Complying with the woman's wishes, she pushed open the swing doors leading to the back and quickly made her way to the corner where all the employee's cubicles were located. Grabbing the necessary items, she turned and went inside the bathroom to change into her uniform, consisting of a knee length crimson red dress, which she had actually altered so it would be shorter and display her thighs more, the cap sleeves slightly puffed up and the torso part had a trail of white buttons going all the way up to the modest v-neckline, usually most buttons were left undone so her cleavage would shamelessly peak out. Exchanging her black Doc Martens in favor of her white Nike sneakers, Y/N tied her apron around her waist, making sure it was as tight as possible so it would accentuate her curves and give her body a more flattering appearance. As she made her way out, she quickly piled her hair up before securing it with one of the many elastics she kept around her wrists, leaving out a few tendrils to fall on her temples.

Coming back out to start her daily work, she stood in front of Lynn, who merely spared her an unamused glance.

"How do I look?" Y/N asked.

"Like a total slut." Her friend answered in her usually rude way.

Rolling her eyes, Y/N grabbed a spray bottle and a rag. Making her way over to the table that had just finished being used, she quickly picked up the plates and glass, bringing them back over to where Lynn was, who took them so she could wash them in the sink. Spraying the top of the marble piece, she had began her task of wiping down the table when the ringing of the bell signaled new customers had arrived, and rowdy ones at that too.

"Damn! Is today's special fluffy sponge cake? Cause I would sure love a piece of that ass."

Y/N recognized that annoying voice even from miles away, belonging to none other than one of her old classmates, Jung Wooyoung, whom she considered a friend, if he didn't manage to irk her too much. Turning around, she of course wasn't surprised to see him surrounded by his crew of equally idiotic and adrenaline junkie friends, whom she had to admit were pleasant and fun to hang out with.

"Sit your asses down already, I'll be over in a minute to take your order." She told them before resuming her previous task, earning a scoff from the most dramatic of the group.

"Fine customer service! Don't think you'll be getting a tip from me." His words made her nearly burst into a fit of giggles.

"Wooyoung please, you never ever tip whenever you come. None of you, except Yunho." It kinda saddened her that said male unfortunately wasn't there with them at the moment.

"He doesn't tip you, he tips short stack over there." His friend with cat like eyes pointed towards Lynn, who upon overhearing him held up a rather explicit finger in his direction.

"I'll poison your food San." She threatened with a sing song tone.

"Like I wouldn't know that you already spit on it." San spat back, sticking his tongue out in his immature and infantile fashion.

"Can you guys hurry up and order already? I'm starving and we gotta head to the tracks as early as possible." The fiery red haired male known as Song Mingi blurted out, fingers tapping impatiently against the top of the table.

"If little miss g-string would care to hop her luscious ass over here, maybe we could."

Strutting over to where they sat, Y/N harshly threw the dirty rag on Wooyoung's face, causing a faint grunt to come out of his mouth.

"No matter how many times you mention my ass, I'm still not letting you tap it." She firmly stated, making Wooyoung slightly purse his lips outwards in a disappointed grimace.

"So anygays-" Mingi began.

"Umm I think you mean anyways." San corrected him.

Leaning in towards him, Mingi locked eyes on the shorter male and stared him down with an intimidating glare.

"Did I stutter Choi?"

San immediately shook his head rapidly. With a victory smile, Mingi reclined back in his seat.

"I'm just going to get the breakfast platter with some orange juice."

Y/N couldn't stifle her snort when he said his choice of drink, the other two men looking away in embarrassment.

"You've been drinking orange juice since you were in grade school Mingles, don't you think you outta start taking something more grown up? Like coffee?" San suggested and Mingi did not appreciate it.

"Coming from the one who still brings a plushie to sleep with him, your suggestion holds no value or power." He retorted.

"OK SHIBER IS NOT A PLUSHIE, HE'S FAMILY YOU JACKASS!" San sprinted up from his seat, nearly leaning across to grab Mingi by the color, but he was held back by Wooyoung.

Lynn, who had thus far stayed quiet, promptly came up with a spray bottle and consequently doused the untamed boy on his face.

"Bad kitty, bad kitty." She reprimanded him, unable to resist the opportunity to attack her long time frenemy.

"Lynn!" Y/N looked at her with surprise.

"You're welcome." Lynn replied rather monotone before going back to her place behind the counter like she didn't just spray San with disinfecting water.

"There's too many germs going around anyways..." She muttered under her breath.

Without any further interruptions, aside from the rumbling coming out of the boys' stomachs, they finished ordering what they wanted and Y/N sent it over so they could be prepared. Not wanting to be near their loud asses, Y/N went back over to where Lynn was, peeking over to see what she was currently reading in the magazine she held.

"What you reading?" She casually inquired.

"Horoscope section." Y/N wasn't surprised, her friend tended to be into more mystical, eccentric and rather.....extreme with her taste in fashion and music. If Y/N was the one who turned heads for her scandalous attire, Lynn was the one people turned away from in fear when they saw how she dressed. It was a sight that truly made both of them laugh at people's foolishness, well at least made Y/N laugh. Her friend rarely had any other expression plastered on that wasn't utter disdain for society and life.

Unexpectedly, another customer came in. Both girls looked at each other in confusion when neither of them recognized him. Their town was rather small with few people living there, so they deduced that he must be a traveler who probably got lost on his route. He himself looked around nervously, eyes barely lifting up. Y/N couldn't help herself as she took in his perfect face. Big, round eyes with crystal clear orbs, small face with a V-line jaw, perfectly sculpted nose with no sign of defects, skin smooth and blemish free, he looked like a prince out of a fairytale. He was incredibly pretty, yet stood there so awkwardly that it was almost comical.

"Hey Yeosang! You made it! Sit down! I ordered for you in advanced!" Wooyoung surprised both girls when it seemed he knew the stranger and even waved him over to where they sat. The other two boys also seem familiarized with him and welcomed him to sit with them, chatting up a storm already with him.

"Who's that?" Lynn was the one to finally ask out loud.

"Beats me.....but he sure is adorable."

Noticing the way her lips curled upwards, Lynn could already see the wheels inside Y/N's head turning.

"And I bet you're going to go over there and find out- aaand there you go." She ended up answering her own deduction as she watched Y/N happily walked over with a more bright expression on her face, that soon soured when her boss came out of the kitchen and beat her over to the table, laying down several plates of food.

"I knew as soon as I saw the orders that it had to be the lot of you." She scoffed softly as she looked at the boys' grinning faces.

"You know us Miss Audrey, we wouldn't ever think of eating anywhere else but here. You're the best cook in all of town." Wooyoung praised her with a sparkling charm that could have fooled anyone else but not the robust woman in front of him.

"Boy stop trying to tickle my ears, I've known you since you were in your soiled diapers being carried around by your mama, running around and creating chaos anywhere you went. Flattery may work on them poor girls you play with but me? I can see right through ruffians like you."

Turning her head to finally notice the new addition to the group, she looked him up and down.

"Boy who might you be?" She questioned him, earning the ears of the girls nearby to listen in for any valuable information.

"I'm..... Yeosang Kang, nice to meet you." He introduced himself, tilting his head slightly down when he said that.

"He just moved into town this week! He's the new guy who is going to work with us down at the car shop and help on the race track!" San enthusiastically shouted, making the older woman cringe.

"I may be old, but I still haven't gone deaf for you to yell in such a way boy. So...." She crossed her arms and looked at Yeosang again.

"You a racer too?"

Now the girls, particularly Y/N, were more interested in what his response would be.

"I- yes. So it seems." The poor boy looked so flustered, obviously being more of a soft spoken individual, contrasting starkly to the other 3 boys.

Miss Audrey let out a seemingly displeased hum at his answer.

"As if we needed anymore hooligans running wild. We already got enough with the 3 Stooges over here."

The girls couldn't help but snicker at their boss's words, always having a blast whenever she put the boys back in their place. They however looked displeased, glaring at them intensely.

"Shouldn't you both be off somewhere cleaning dishes or making sandwiches?"

Snatching one of the knifes, Lynn held it up and was about to jump over, but Y/N came up in front of her.

"Lynn, no. Just calm down ok? You know they're just being idiots." Y/N reminded her.

Grumbling something in a foreign language no one knew for sure if it was real or not, Lynn put the knife back, squinting her eyes at them before turning around to not look at them again. Y/N giggled softly, finding it absolutely cute whenever her friend lost her cool and collected form cause it reminded her of a chihuahua, barking and yelping at anything larger than itself trying to establish dominance.

Noticing that in her display of aggression, Lynn had inadvertently knocked over a few of the brochures that were on display for people to take, Y/N stooped down and proceeded to pick them up in a casual manner. Standing up, she neatly arranged them properly, making sure they all faced the same direction and the sides weren't poking out anywhere. Feeling as though someone had been watching her all along, she looked at the table of boys, half expecting Wooyoung's smug grin to greet her, but she was completely wrong as it was none other than the new guy who seemed unable to keep his eyes off her figure, staring intently at the length of her skirt. When he realized she noticed, his eyes went wide, cheeks burning up with utter embarrassment. Y/N however seemed unbothered by this. Wanting to test something, she pretended to accidentally drop one of the pamphlets. Bending over, she made sure he could get a perfect glimpse of her cleavage, if he payed enough attention, he'd be able to see that she was in fact, not wearing any bra. Coming back up, Y/N looked over to see the results, smirking when the agape mouth of Yeosang confirmed to her that he had indeed noticed everything.

"Oh sweetheart, you're gonna be too easy..." She had already made up in her mind that Yeosang would be her next target, and she had to put her plan in action. Placing the brochures down, she was about to go over and start flirting with him, until a familiar voice called for her.

"Y/N! There you are!"

She internally groaned when she heard him, wondering why on earth did he not get the hint of ditching him like that, especially when he very well knew about the reputation she had. She tried ignoring him, but of course, he had had to be the persistent type, no doubt thinking he was going to have a different ending than the rest before him.

"I thought you'd be here. You could have told me you were going to be gone early. I would have made you breakfast."

Knowing she had to say something, Y/N grabbed her pad and gave him the fakest smile she was capable of donning.

"Hi, what can we get started for you today? Waffles? Eggs and bacon? Coffee to start off with?"

The trio of friends, having no choice but to witness the interaction due to it happening right in front of them, snickered amongst themselves.

"Oh shit. He's in for it." San whispered lowly.

The boy obviously looked extremely confused, his smile lightly falling off, but then returning to its hopeful state.

"Why are you acting like this candy bear? Pretending like you don't know me?" When he tried to reach a hand to pull her close, the girl simply pushed him away with one of her fingers.

"Look, clearly you're too stupid to understand so let me spell it out in a language you can understand." Letting out a tired sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, a sour look displaying on her pretty face.

"We had a nice time together, and last night was... average to put it nicely."

"Oh man. That was a total burn." Mingi couldn't help but snort, some of the orange juice being spit back into his glass.

"But that was all it was and all it's ever going to be. So why don't you do yourself a favor and just go back home to your Star Trek figurines and watch the latest episode of Thunder Cats?"

The not so discreet snickering coming from the table behind them only made the humiliation for the man multiply significantly. Turning red with utter despair and rage, he quickly brushed past Y/N rather brusquely.

"Fucking bitch." She heard him mutter under his breath, a phrase she had grown accustomed to hearing among many others.

"Oh god. Homegirl struck again." Wooyoung laughed, swirling his milkshake in his hand.

"Ayo why you gotta do Thunder Cats like that? It's actually pretty entertaining." San commented.

Looking over at the time, the guys quickly stood up, dropping their share of bills onto the table.

"You guys get paid today too right? Come meet up with us at the track." Wooyoung suggested.

"Why on earth would we want to go see your greasy, oil smelling ass after dealing for nearly an hour with you already?" Lynn questioned him, eyes never peering up from her magazine.

"Because Yunho would be there?"

Still she didn't respond, the only movement made was her finger turning the page.

"Bro we been knew she don't give two shits about him." Mingi reminded them.

"Because we're going to the drive in theater after work, they're playing a horror movie."

Lifting her gaze, Lynn closed the magazine, although still stone faced, her eyes seemed to brighten up.

"My interest has been greatly piqued." Her lips showed the faintest whisper of a smile that gave a rather eerie and chilling feel down the people's spines.

"Maybe we should rethink inviting Satan's offspring." San leaned in towards Mingi, shivering significantly.

"Great! So we'll catch you gals later."

The boys quickly dispersed themselves, save Yeosang who still sat quietly, keeping mostly to himself. His fingers fidgeted with the half drunk cup he was holding, gaze fixed on the table in front of him. Looking up, he was attempting to work up the courage to talk to Y/N, but before he could even get the chance to gather strength, the owner came out from the back, whispering a few orders to her and gesturing for her to go tend to a situation in the kitchen. With a defeated sigh, he got up to go join the rest of the gang outside who were waiting for him. Slumping his hands in the pockets of his pants, he moved out of the booth with a solemn gaze.

"Hey."

His steps came to a screeching halt when he heard Y/N call out to him. Looking over, she smiled sweetly in his direction.

"Hope I see you later." With a flirtatious wink, she bid him goodbye as she disappeared into the back.

Yeosang stood there stunned momentarily, replaying her words over and over again in his mind, pondering endlessly at their meaning.

"Little pussy cat sure got you brain dead, didn't she?"

Startled by the unexpected voice next to him, he jumped when the face of the kind yet stern old lady studied him carefully. With a disapproving shake of her head, she decided it'd be best to warn him before he started getting ideas in his head.

"Listen, you seem like a sweet and sensible young man, so it's best for you to listen to me and stay away from that darn girl. Don't let them sugar coated lips of hers sweet talk themselves into your heart. You'll just end up heart broken like all the lovers she's had."

Picking up some of the plates, she gave him one last look, pointing an accusatory finger at him to get her point across.

"She's dangerous." Finally saying what she needed to say, Miss Audrey headed back with plates in her arms, slapping away Lynn's hands when they attempted to pry them off her, barking instructions at her to watch the counter and leave her be.

"Dangerous....." Yeosang thought to himself, the warning the good intended woman gave him sinking deep in his mind. Although he took her words to heart, something about the way she glanced at him pulled at the strings in his chest, taking his breath away when he remembered the risque position she was in that purposely allowed him to view more than he should have. That memory tinted his cheeks pink, lips unable to suppress a small smile. He knew that he should heed the old woman's advice.

But he had to admit that he loved danger and the thrill it came with.........

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Taglist: @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers @brie02 @galaxteez @multidreams-and-desires @deja-vux @hanatiny @couchpotatoaniki @daniblogs164 @a-soft-hornytiny @yunsangoveryonder @minhyukmyluv @nanamarkie @ateezbabysitters @mingismoon @rainteez02

[charmingyong]

Wasabi Chocolates

Genre: Ten x reader (gender neutral), co-workers, one-sided hate to love, humour, fluff

Warnings: the number of times I wrote “oh my god,” swear words, somewhat mentally violent reader (���you’re going crazy~’ because of Ten), physical injury, cats (sorry to those allergic)

Abbrev: F/N L/N = first name last name

Word count: 6k

Plot: You were a good child, always being nice to your classmates in elementary school. Unlike Ten who was always a troublemaker. When your family decided to move away during middle school, you were relieved thinking that you weren’t ever going to see him again. But you were wrong a decade later when your new co-worker was none other than the devil himself.

A/N: You’ll see that I watch a lot of cat vlogs. Please let me know if there are any issues in terms of the gender-neutral assignment.

- ❀ -

“Oh my God! Did you hear about the new guy that got hired in our department? I heard he’s super hot!” Sally gushed.

Your colleagues around you continued to gossip while your gaze was fixed onto the word document on your monitor. It didn’t faze you that the workspace next to yours was going to be occupied soon.

“Wow Y/N, aren’t you lucky?”

You rolled your eyes. Who knew how the new employee was going to turn out in terms of work habits? You were always punctual when completing work before deadlines and arriving for work, except for the times when the brutal winter would take forever to heat your car up. You were hardworking and smart, always getting praised by your higher-ups. You were proud of the compliments, but you mainly did it for self discipline. You loved your coworkers. They were all productive like you and adored you back. You were always genuinely nice to them, ready to help them out whenever they needed a helping hand. It made you happy that your workplace was a healthy environment and you looked forward to working there every day.

You hoped the new co-worker would be no exception.

“We’ll see about that when he starts. When is he coming?” you asked.

“Tomorrow.”

- ❀ -

The next morning you arrived a little earlier than usual, wanting to welcome the newbie and give him a tour around the building. You placed your tote bag that had a poorly self-drawn picture of your cat and turned on your desktop monitor, displaying the wallpaper of your sleeping cat on your bed. You smiled, your heart fluttering at how cute Sakura looked. You heard the doors slide open of your department, signaling an arrival. Removing your gaze from the monitor, you stood up ready to greet them warmly.

Only to have your blood turn cold and your face scrunched up ever so slightly when you realized who it was.

An amused smile grew on his face. “Wow! I can’t believe this. The one and only F/N L/N is my work buddy.”

Ten.

He was the new employee that was going to be located beside you.

The same troublemaker from elementary school. The one who’d make fun of the new kids with accents, start fights with other boys, be loud and obnoxious in class, and worst of all, act all high mighty as if he was the most important person in the school.

You scoffed. There went your hope jumping out the tenth-floor window. Hope for your new co-worker to be no exception to the healthy workplace environment. “I feel a headache coming,” you muttered to yourself.

- ❀ -

Ten had settled down at his workspace, and your colleagues gathered around him, asking about himself. He took out something from his bag, a gift for his new coworkers.

“Wow Ten! You’re so cool!” Sally fanned herself as if Ten’s coolness was too much for her to handle.

“I know right.” Ten had a smug smile on his face.

You scoffed from your seat. “Who the fuck brings wine to work?” Ten had brought a red wine bottle as a ‘please take care of me’ gift. Who was even going to drink it during work hours?

“It looks like someone doesn’t know how to have fun,” he threw shade at you.

You glared at him, your blood boiling the more you heard his voice.

“Y/N doesn’t. That’s why she’s still single,” Mina agreed.

You started at her in disbelief. “Excuse me, but I’m living a grand life.”

“Please, I’m tired of hearing your love stories with your cat.”

Ten’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Woah! You have a cat? That’s so cool!” he gushed.

You rolled your eyes. “I thought you saw my computer screen already.”

He got onto his feet quickly and bent down to hover over your shoulder. The close proximity between you two sent your heart beating erratically. “Wow... What’s her name? She’s so cute,” he cooed, straightening his spine up.

Your heartbeat went back to normal and you heaved out a sigh in relief. “Sakura, and how do you know she’s a female?”

He held up two fingers. “I have two cats. And I love cats so much that I can accurately guess if they’re a he or she.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, a smirk forming on his face. “I beat you. You have one and I have two cats.”

If you weren’t at work, you would have chucked a pencil at him. And you couldn’t believe your ears. You both had one thing in common after all those childhood years when you’d compare your good self to his bad one.

The day went by super slow, all thanks to the devil. You had given him a tour of the building, trying to keep your cool to the best of your ability whenever he made remarks. Once you explained the work for the day, you tried to focus on your work.

It hadn’t been a few seconds when you felt a poke in the shoulder. “Y/N, how do I do this? What is this supposed to mean? Why are we doing this?”

Like the way your hope did, you wanted to jump out the window.

- ❀ -

A couple of days later, Ten had picked up everything that you taught him, even completing his work faster than you. Your pace had only slowed down a bit because of the living distraction next to you. He had changed the desktop wallpaper to a selfie with his two cats. You weren’t ever going to admit this out loud, but he looked just a little bit cute with the adorable furry felines.

Your boss had announced that there was going to be a lunch party happening at the end of the week to welcome the newly hired employees in the company. Parties and such weren’t your thing anymore. Lifestyle habits changed after adopting your beautiful Sakura. But the reason why you kind of looked forward to it was because of a particular someone from another department.

“You know what this means?” Mina wiggled her eyebrows.

“What?”

“Shoot your shot! Who knows someone will catch your eyes at the party?”

“Or a secret admirer of yours finally asks you out,” Joshua added.

“Which is not happening,” you said. “My luck isn’t that great.”

Flashbacks to your previous failed dates haunted you and you didn’t have it in you to try again. You were happy with Sakura and did your best to stay positive, convincing yourself that your love for your cat was enough to be happy in your successful life.

Your last words had Ten staring at you intently.

- ❀ -

Your group walked to the location of the lunch party on the main floor. Your heart wasn’t exactly beating fast, only doing a few somersaults. Upon entering the main hall, you saw many employees from other departments chatting with one another. Your eyes scanned the area to search for a particular boy.

You found him. He wore a black suit with a white-collar shirt. His dark hair neatly styled. Xiaojun, you believed was his name based on that one time he had delivered a speech at a mass conference. You had never talked to him and didn’t find it in you to do so. You could tell he was way younger than you and that stopped you from approaching him. If you talked to him, it would only make you feel like you were talking to your son than your crush.

Ten followed your line of sight and smirked. “Wow, does my Y/N have a crush on someone?”

Your heart stopped and turned to glare at him. “What the fuck do you mean my Y/N?”

He snickered. “So you like him, huh?”

Sally’s ears piqued interest. “Oh my God! Did I just hear that Y/N has a crush?”

“Finally someone other than her cat!” Mina cried. “Who who?” Her head turned in all directions as if she was going to find someone holding a sign saying ‘I’m her crush.’

You crossed your arms in front of your chest. “Ugh! I don’t! Ten’s just being an asshole.”

“Hey! I only speak the truth!”

Joshua spoke up. “Okay fine Y/N. Let’s say you don’t have a crush. Is there someone in this room that catches your eye?”

Even if someone did, you weren’t going to admit it. But for your colleagues’ sake, you pretended to search the room. “No.”

Before they could force you to go around and show your face, a group of people walked into the hall, carrying various foods for the lunch party and placing them on the white clothed tables lined up near the wall. A guy carried a plate of what looked like chocolates and placed it on the desserts table. You recognized the guy being Yuta, having bumped into him a couple of times when going out for Japanese meals and making small talks. Though you found it weird that he only brought a small box when there were at least two hundred people present.

You remembered Yuta saying that he loved pranking people and if the chocolates were the bait for his next prank, an idea formed in your head.

“Okay guys, I have an idea.”

“Huh?” Mina was bewildered from your sudden declaration.

“I’m going to make your wish come true.”

“Woah what do you mean? You’re gonna ask someone out?” Joshua grew excited by your words.

You nodded. “If someone eats that chocolate Yuta brought without making a reaction, I’ll ask them out on one date.”

Your colleagues showed a mixed reaction of shock and excitement. Ten was silently watching you with his eyes holding a shine.

Yes, you could have been wrong and Yuta may have brought chocolates for people who were lucky to get their hands on it first. But when the first victim when up to take a bite of the chocolate, your theory had turned out right. It was a prank. The woman’s face scrunched up in disgust and turned red.

Ten saw this, trying to think of the possible things that could be inside the chocolates. He could handle spicy things easily, but he didn’t like fruits and hoped those weren’t inside.

He was curious about you, loved annoying you to the point you were pulling your hair. A date sounded like the perfect thing in order to have more fun with you. He knew you’d never agree to one with him, knowing the bad reputation he had as a child. Your reaction to when he first walked into the department on his first day was enough to confirm that you still held onto the ill thoughts of him.  

He walked through the crowds before another person would snatch the opportunity. He observed the round chocolates, definitely handcrafted, and were perfectly sealed off without anyone doubting its contents. He picked one up and headed back to you.

You were puzzled to see Ten hold a piece of Yuta’s chocolate. Your brain feared for the possibility of what Ten had in mind.

Mina squealed. “Don’t tell me you’re going to eat the chocolate Y/N was talking about!”

Ten gave you a mischievous smirk while you shook your head. “Don’t you dare,” you breathed out.

“You didn’t put any restrictions.” While holding eye contact with you, he placed the chocolate in his mouth, not biting it right away.

Your heart felt uneasy. You hoped desperately for Ten to lose the challenge.

He slowly bit into the sweet cocoa shell, testing the filling. He felt the heat of the spicy pungent flavour explode in his mouth, immediately figuring out that the filling was wasabi. Good thing he broke the round shell slowly so he could get used to the taste instead of being thrown under the bus and distorting his face.

Ten chewed calmly as you began panicking. If he finished eating the chocolate without making a single face, you were doomed. Why Ten out of everyone? Why would Ten even be interested in going on a date with you?

After a minute, he opened his mouth.

Your heart dropped.

The pungent smell of wasabi hit your nose but nothing was in his mouth. He finished it.

“So Y/N, this means I get to go out with you,” he stated with a triumph smile.

How do you get away with murder without reading books for ideas?

- ❀ -

You unlocked the door to your apartment, gently opening it to find Sakura sitting by the door, waiting for you excitedly.

“Awe my baby!” you cooed and picked her up.

She nuzzled into your cozy sweater and purred.

“Are you hungry, girl?”

A meow as a reply.

You put her down and made your way to the kitchen. As you prepared her meal, you thought back to Ten’s words on his first day.

I have two cats.

Poor cats. You felt bad for their unfortunate fate of having Ten as their owner.

You placed the elevated food bowl on the counter and called her. She jumped effortlessly onto the counter and stuffed her head inside the bowl.

A notification chimed on your phone, followed by another one, and another one. “Huh, who could that be?” you asked to yourself.

3 unread messages: Ten

You groaned upon seeing the devil’s name. This would only mean one thing.

Ten: tmrw’s saturday

Ten: let’s go on that date

Ten: uwu

You cringed at the last message. He was nowhere near uwu in your eyes. You also didn’t want to go out with him this soon, but it was better to get it over with than having to put it off.

Y/N: fine

Y/N: 2pm at the shopping mall

Ten: see you tmrw babe ;)

You gagged.

- ❀ -

It was 1:52 pm and you waited at the entrance of the mall, scrolling through your gallery on the phone. Why did you come early? A habit of yours. And when you were supposed to be on a ‘date’ with a devil that you despised greatly, it was better to arrive early and calm yourself down before you could murder him at first sight. You chose the mall, thinking it was better to walk around than having to sit across him and look at his face the entire time. Plus, you were almost positive that your window shopping was going to be torturous for Ten.

“Boo!”

“Ah!” You whipped around to see the devil laughing his ass off.

“Oh my God Y/N. You should have seen your face.” Ten mimicked your scream, exaggerating it with a funny face.

You puffed. “Shut up!”

“Okay okay. No need to frown. So what are we here for?” He rubbed his palms together excited for the date.

You rolled your eyes. “This is a shopping mall. We’re obviously here to shop.”

“Yeah but anything in particular?”

You shook your head. If anything caught your eye for Sakura, then that was it. Your plan was to walk around window shopping long enough that Ten would start whining and leave you.

And never dare to go out with you again.

You expected him to play it cool if he didn’t like the idea, but his wide grin and sparkling eyes told you otherwise. “Perfect! We can walk around and see if we find something for our cats. I actually have some art supplies to buy too.”

Your heart dropped, not expecting the uno reverse card.

He noticed your fallen face, knowing the reason behind it and cooed. “Awe your so cute!” He pinched your cheek, in which you swatted his hand away.

He laughed with his crinkling eyes while heat rose up to your cheeks.

“Let’s go!” Ten clung onto your arm and pulled you with him. You didn’t have it in you to pull out of his grasp when your heart was hammering in your chest.

- ❀ -

The next time you arrived at work, you were surprised to find Ten already at his desk. He usually arrived after you.

“Morning Y/N!” he chirped.

You never realized how handsome he really was when sweetly smiling at you.

Every day your cold heart towards him melted whenever he’d ask if you wanted coffee or needed any help. Whenever he’d leave his workspace with his desktop wallpaper displayed on the monitor, you stared at the selfie picture and your heart picked up its pace at the cute cats and Ten’s smile.

One day, you arrived to work with your heart expecting to see the cute kitten in the form of a human, only to be disappointed by his absence. All your colleagues had arrived on time shortly, except for the one beside you. It was past 10 am, an hour after the expected arrival time, which you thought was weird for Ten to be away from work without informing anyone.

Your phone vibrated beside you, displaying an unknown number. “Weird,” you mumbled but answered in case it had something to do with Ten. “Hello?”

“Hello, am I speaking to Y/N?” An unknown female’s voice was heard over the line.

“Yes?”

“Hello, I’m calling from the hospital regarding a patient named Ten.”

Your body froze. Hospital? Patient? “Oh my God! What happened to Ten?” You didn’t know you were loud for others to hear you. A sick feeling formed in your stomach at the thought of Ten being hurt.

“Not to worry too much. He has a minor injury and he requested for you.”

You grabbed your belongings and sprinted out the office.

- ❀ -

Your eyes scanned the room full of patients sitting on the beds, waiting for either the doctor or their loved ones.

“Y/N! Over here!” Your head snapped in his direction, where he sat on the bed with a cast on his arm. The boy really only knew how to smile, even when he was injured with his dominant arm.

“Why the fuck are you here? What happened to you?” you yelled full of anger.

A nurse attending another patient hushed you, and you muttered a sheepish apology.

“I was on my way to work and on the crosswalk-”

“Ten, why don’t you look both ways before crossing the road? Why do you always do reckless things? How are you going to work now? Even worse, how are you going to take care of yourself and your cats?”

“Woah, easy there tiger. It’s just a small cast. I’ll be fine,” Ten waved his free hand in a dismissive manner. “Everything will be okay.”

You groaned, frustrated with his carefree attitude. “Why do you love causing so much trouble? What the hell is wrong with you?”

He didn’t say anything back, opting to stay mute with pursed lips. Of course you wouldn’t have anything to say, you thought.

A man appeared beside you. “Hello. Are you Ten?” he asked the boy on the bed.

Ten nodded. “Yes I am.”

You gave the man a quick glance who wore a black formal suit. He couldn’t be working at the hospital with that kind of attire.

“Hi, I’m Taeyong. I want to sincerely apologize and thank you with all my heart for this morning.”

Wait what? “What happened this morning?” you asked him utterly confused. Why was this man saying thank you and sorry to Ten?

“My son was crossing the road and wasn’t paying attention to the pedestrian lights, almost getting hit by a car.”

You gasped audibly. “Oh no! Is he alright?”

He smiled at you. “Yes he is. All thanks to Ten for jumping into the traffic and saving him.”

Ten? Ten saved a child? Ten risked his safety to save someone? Your heart fluttered as you gaped at the one you’d always call the devil, for once having done an angelic deed to save a child’s life.

Ten avoided your eyes and looked at Taeyong. “It’s not a problem at all. I hope he’s okay.”

Taeyong nodded. “Yes he is. As a form of gratitude, I’d like to pay for your hospital bills.”

“Oh there’s no need-”

“I insist. Please,” Taeyong pleaded, not willing to back down.

Ten let out a deep sigh. “Okay. If you really don’t mind.”

Taeyong smiled warmly. “It’s the least I can do. I’ll take your leave and pay at the front. Take care, Ten.” With that, Taeyong left.

You huffed. “So you were just to leave me in the dark and not tell me?”

He shrugged. “You cut me off before I could explain.”

Oh right. “Sorry,” you mumbled.

He nodded. “Apology accepted... under one condition.”

You rapidly blinked a few times. Condition? “Okay what is it?” You still felt guilty for jumping to conclusion and you were ready to take him on another date if that was what he wanted. But you were still confused that Ten even wanted to go on a date with you earlier.

An innocent smile formed on his face. “I’m going to need help now that my one arm isn’t working.”

You nodded, agreeing to his words, and expected that much. “How can I help?”

“Live with me.”

“WHAT?” You earned another hush from the nearby nurse and apologized again. “I am not living with you. I have Sakura to take care of and she has a problem adjusting to new environments,” you said through gritted teeth.

“Then I’ll come live with you. Louis and Leon have no problem with that,” he stated seriously.

“That doesn’t solve anything. You know our cats have to get used to each other first. Otherwise they’ll just be hissing at each other every day.”

“Anything to do with cats, leave it to me. I’ll fix all the problems.” He smirked for the nth time. “So that means you’re okay with me living with you, huh?”

If he didn’t have a cast on him, you would have grabbed the pillow off the bed and chucked it at his face.

- ❀ -

“Your place is pretty cute. Like you,” Ten said while his eyes wandered around your small apartment. You heard him say the last part but chose to ignore it, assuming that he was either lying or joking.

The old you would have never agreed to let Ten live with you. But your feelings were slowly developing for the devil and you wanted to slap yourself for that. Why Ten out of anyone? And even though you went out with Ten, why was he okay with you?

Oh yes, you both had cats.

All your previous dates had made a dash towards the exit upon hearing your love for your cat. It was only three dates, but it was enough for you to pull the brakes on dating. You couldn’t figure why they had a problem with that. Wasn’t it normal to have a pet? Maybe yours was taking it a little too far and it seemed more like an obsession. You only ever thought about Sakura, bringing every little thing to connect to Sakura during the conservations. Every time you looked at your date, your mind went on overdrive thinking about what Sakura was up to. You had a security camera set up in the living room to check on her through the phone app.

Needless to say, you were more concerned about your cat than your dates, and that made you never hear back from them again.

Upon entry of the strangers in her home, Sakura ran up to the highest tier of the cat tower, hissing as her little furs stood up.

“Sakura don’t worry. They won’t hurt you,” you spoke softly while patting her backside.

Ten chuckled. “Sakura is feisty, just like you.”

You glared at him. “I never show my feisty side.”

He scoffed. “Please, it’s literally written all over your face.” He smirked and added, “It’s quite entertaining.”

You scowled.

Sakura continued hissing in the direction of the other cats. Louis and Leon were still in their carriers, looking around curiously through the windows.

“Meow?”

“Yes Leon, we’re staying here until I get better.” Ten took out a blanket from one of his bags and spread it out in the living room. He unzipped Leon’s carrier and waited for the cat to courageously come out. After a few seconds of popping his head out and looking around, Leon hopped out and nuzzled against the familiar blanket, not minding the hissing from the top of the tower.

Louis was next, and unlike Leon, Louis began his tour around his temporary home.

“When do you have to take your pain medication?” you asked.

“Before dinner. What should we eat?”

“You’re the patient. You should decide.”

He hummed for a bit. “How about ramen? I’m craving for those instant ramen noodles.”

Wow. You could really start tallying up all the similarities that you both had, and the thought of it made your heart skip a beat.

“Perfect. I have a stash of it,” you replied.

He grinned at you and you looked away from his eyes, coughing out of nervousness. “Um, for bed you can either take my room or sleep on this pull-out daybed here.” You were grateful for your selection of a furniture that came three-in-one for your living room. Sofa, additional storage, and bed. It was wiser to go for a multifunctional product when living in an apartment.

Ten’s eyes narrowed in amusement. “Wow is F/N L/N really giving up the bedroom for me?”

You froze. You didn’t think of it beforehand and worried if your heart was going to get caught. He was injured and you didn’t have it in you to force him on the daybed when he could feel better on your queen-sized bed. But if he was going to pull your leg, then you were going to take back the offer. “Fine, be in the living room.”

He smiled kindly. “I wouldn’t take your room even if you insisted. But I really appreciate the thought, Y/N,” he spoke softly.

The way his eyes brightened when fixed on you had your heart ready to jump out the window.

- ❀ -

Sakura’s bed was usually in the living room. But because of the strangers that hijacked there, she moved into your bedroom. It didn’t really make a big difference to you as she sometimes slept next to you in bed. Meanwhile, you were surprised that Louis and Leon had adjusted fairly quickly to both the new home and its owners.

You got out of the bathroom after taking your bedtime shower, cuing Ten to go in next. Walking into the kitchen, you prepared a glass of warm milk for yourself. Leon and Louis began meowing and purring at your drink and so you decided to prepare three bowls of it. You placed the bowls for Leon and Louis down on the floor, in which they began sipping immediately, while keeping Sakura’s on the counter, her preferred location for meals and away from the ‘intruders.’ You picked her up and transported her to the counter, keeping her far away as possible from the other cats.

“Y/N, can you help me?”

You headed to the direction of the bathroom and found him standing like a kicked puppy. “What is it?”

“I need help taking my clothes off.”

“WHAT?” You were not going to strip him naked.

He laughed hard, holding his stomach. “Chill I was joking. At least for the bottoms. Can you help me take off my shirt?”

You felt your cheeks heat up, bashful at the request. Well this was what he meant when he said he needed help, you thought.

You moved to stand in front of him. Your fingers hesitated to touch his shirt and Ten watched you with an entertained expression. Taking a deep breath which you smelled your favourite body wash coming from him, you grasped the hem of his shirt and slowly pulled it upward. You weren’t trying to look at his abs knowing it was going to freak you out. But when your eyes landed on his six-pack abs, you yelped and accidentally tugged on his injured arm.

“Ow!”

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”

He chuckled. “Calm down Y/N. My abs aren’t gonna come to life and bite you. I think you should pull the sleeve out of my arm first and then pull it up.”

You did as he said and eventually got him free of his top. So now you were standing in front of a shirtless Ten, his abs staring at you, your eyes avoiding him, and you felt like your cheeks were on fire.

“It’ll be easier to wear a sleeveless shirt... or no shirt at all. Your reactions are so cute to watch,” he cooed.

“Have some manners at least for Sakura.”

- ❀ -

Before you left for work the next morning, Sakura had surprisingly warmed up to Ten. That was good news because she continued hissing at her new housemates. Having at least one soul at home who she wasn’t afraid of would bring her relief. Louis and Leon didn’t give her much attention and minded their own business.

At work, it felt weird to not have Ten next to you even though he was living at your place. The office environment felt different without him just as it felt different when he first joined the company. You used to be irritated of having him as your work buddy, and it was funny that you recently liked having him around, especially when work got stressful. He’d always add humour to every situation and your colleagues loved him for it, motivating them to work with a calmer mind.

Your colleagues asked you about him and when you filled them in on what happened, you wondered what was going on at home without you. You pulled out your phone and went on the security camera app. A hand flew to your mouth before you could scream.

“What is it, Y/N?” Sally asked and appeared behind you, looking at your screen. “Oh my goodness. This is...”

“What what what?” Mina ran up, followed by Joshua.

“Woah,” he breathed out, upon seeing a shirtless Ten lazing around in the living room.

You should have expected it from his words the previous night. Ten was playing with Sakura and your heart was far from okay seeing the two kittens you had a soft spot for being friendly with one another.

“So did the date happen with Ten yet?” Mina asked.

You nodded. “Yeah it did. We went to the mall.”

“Ooo~ How did it go?” Joshua asked.

“Of course it had to have gone well enough for Ten to be living with Y/N,” Sally winked in your way.

Sally was right in the sense that the date went well. Even though you weren’t a fan of Ten back when the date happened, you couldn’t lie to yourself that the date itself wasn’t fun. It was fun going to the different shops to check out cool outfits that looked jaw-dropping good on Ten, and buy some new toys for the cats. You both went to a Japanese restaurant and had sushi for lunch. The wasabi that was provided with the meal made you think back to the wasabi chocolate that Ten ate to win a date with you.

How did it taste like, you thought.

- ❀ -

One day, a meeting in the morning had bad news broken to your team. The deadline for a particular project was the next day, which meant that your entire team had to work overtime to complete it. You texted Ten of the news and he replied saying to not worry about him or the cats. You felt bad that he was going to have to handled everything on his own with his injured arm and an additional cat on top of his. Even though it was a matter of few seconds to check the security camera and see if everything was all right, your stress kept your brain preoccupied with the urgent assignment at hand and not check on the situation at home.

When you arrived home after eleven at night, you were greeted by three cats waiting for you behind the door. Your tired brain noticed that Sakura wasn’t hissing at Louis and Leon, meaning that she had finally warmed up to her new friends.

“Oh my goodness... Ten! Did you see Sakura-” You went speechless upon your entry into the living room.

Ten stood smiling at you with a canvas sitting on an easel behind him. The canvas was a painting of what looked like flowers and vines in the background that surrounded... your face?

“How did you... your arm?” You were impressed that Ten had painted it with his non-dominant hand.

“Being in here all day, I tried painting with my free hand. I’m sorry if it didn’t turn out good.” He bit his lip nervously.

You were dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me? This is so cool! It’s literally flawless. But what is this supposed to be?”

He smiled genuinely at you. “It’s a painting of you blooming around plants. There’s something I want to confess...” he trailed off nervously scratching his head.

Your heart beated faster, hoping that it was something good that he wanted to confess after showing the painting of you.

“I really like you, Y/N. I know I’m not in your good books, but I promise to be one from now on. So if you’re willing to give me a chance, will you let me be your boyfriend?” he asked with a hopeful expression.

You blinked, not believing your ears that Ten liked you back. “You seriously like me?”

He chuckled anxiously. “Yeah. I did ever since the first time I saw you again at work.”

Woah. “So that’s why you wanted to date me,” you breathed out.

He nodded. You grew silent and so he raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to confess back?”

“What?”

“I know you like me too.” His infamous smirk made a comeback. “It’s so obvious and written all over your face every day.”

“Ten?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“I see you’re not denying it.”

You pursed your lips but failed to stop the smile from spilling onto your face. “Okay you win. I like you too.” You were ecstatic that you were not only going to live a successful life, but a satisfied one as well.

“Good, because there’s another surprise for you in the kitchen,” he stated.

You blinked at him. “What?”

“You’ll see,” he smiled innocently.  

Walking into the kitchen, you found what Ten was talking about. You brought the heart shaped box wrapped with red gift wrap to the living room, excitedly unwrapping it and opening the box in front of him.

The contents of the box being heart shaped chocolates.

“Awe, this is so cute.” You took a bite without any hesitancy and your face scrunched up miserably.

Wasabi.

Ten’s laughter resonated off the walls of your apartment as you dropped the box on the coffee table and sprinted to the kitchen, spitting it into the trash. You stormed back to Ten and crossed your arms angrily.

“You literally promised!” you yelled.

“Yeah I did. But I never said that these chocolates were for you to eat.”

“You said it was a surprise for me,” you deadpanned.

“Yeah but your surprise is this.” He picked up a piece and popped it in his mouth, chewing it as if there was no spicy filling inside it. Once he swallowed it all, he opened his mouth for proof. You were confused as to why he willingly ate the wasabi chocolate. Though you did slightly swoon over how sexy he looked when he ate the bomb so effortlessly. He closed his mouth and grinned at you.

“You owe me another date.”

[obxlife]

Hotel Madness (JJ x Reader)

A/N: Another JJ fic, yes! Fun fact: JJ is my favorite character (along with Rafe too) and I think Rudy Pankow did an amazing job at portraying him in every single way. Like WOW, talk about acting skills. Anyways, this request is super cute and I tried to make it fluffy and sweet and everything. I loved the idea so much! Some of the fragments of this fic are short and some are long, but they are all part of the same story!!!!

Pairing: JJ x Reader

Word count: 5,930 (oops I got a little carried away with this one)

Request: Hey! I absolutely loved Slipping in and was wondering if I could request an imagine where you're a Pogue and work with JJ at the Hotel and them just having fun during their shifts and after or something?

Summary: Working with JJ at the hotel means a lot of inside jokes, laughs, and flirting. It means getting in trouble together and messing around in the kitchen. It also means some of the best memories ever. Some of the fragments of this fic are short and some are long, but they are all part of the same story!!!!

Warnings: FLUFF but also swearing, teenage recklessness and what not lol

HOTEL MADNESS

“JJ!” Mama L screamed out as your blond best friend stole a fry from the plate she was working on. Her wooden spoon came down to smack his hand, but he was too quick for the old chef. You giggled from where you stood, perched on the table next to Andrew, your other coworker. 

JJ moved towards you grabbing your hand and helping you jump off the counter. 

“C’mon, Y/N,” he told you, “Gotta head to our posts now.”

You frowned as you headed towards the restaurant area of the hotel. You smiled at the guests that were staying this weekend, your hands behind your back, and your uniform in place. 

You had been working at the hotel with JJ for a while now. It was one of the few places in Kildare County that had good job offers for kids your age. The best part was that most of these jobs were easy. So you and JJ had applied together (you guys hated working alone as you thought it was boring) and surprisingly got the job. Ever since you had been having a lot more fun than what was intended from your bosses, and you got into a lot more trouble than intended, too.

You had known JJ your whole life. After all, you were friends before working together. It all began back in the fourth grade when you had first arrived at the Outer Banks. You were nervous about being the new kid, but JJ and John B had approached you out of pity. Soon enough you guys were friends, bonding over your love for surfing and getting in trouble.

As the years went by, nothing seemed to be able to keep you apart (except that one time when you didn’t speak to them for two days because they made a period joke). You would head out in John B’s boat along with his father and fish all day. Or you would go into the forest and try to climb a tree as high as you possibly could. Or, once you hit your teen years, you would throw parties together and have beer chugging contests. Whatever activity you were doing, JJ and John B were always by your side. 

As you grew, Pope and Kie also joined the Pogues (that’s what you called your group). They were a bit less reckless than you, JJ, and John B, but they brought a lot to the group. For one, Pope was a lot smarter than you three. Granted, none of you were stupid, but you did tend to make rash decisions all the time (just ask sheriff Peterkin about it and she would pull out your very long transcripts). With Pope, these decisions seemed to become a bit less frequent. Kie was also smart. And she was a girl, which was a relief to you, as you couldn’t bare trying to have girl talk with JJ and John B.

“Gross!” they would exclaim. “We don’t want to know who you have a crush on right now!”

Boys. 

The five of you were always together. There were a rare few occasions when one of you was missing (normally Kie or Pope helping their parents), but you guys were a family.

Lately, however, you were spending a lot of alone time with JJ. Not only because you had decided to work at the hotel together but because all of the other Pogues were unusually busy. 

John B was normally hanging around a girl he had met which he still hadn’t introduced to the Pogues. Kie was also hanging around someone that wasn’t part of your tight-nit group (and you suspected it might be the girl she told you she had a crush on), while Pope was working hard on his scholarship. This meant that the only person available to follow through with your shenanigans and ideas was JJ. Which was fine, as he was always down for everything, no matter what it was. 

The blond in question was standing next to you, cracking out jokes about the hotel guests under his breath. You were trying not to giggle at what he said in hopes of not gaining any unwanted attention. The last time you had laughed loudly at one of JJ’s jokes your boss had called both of you into his office and scolded you. 

These times you shared with JJ were something you truly cherished now. Inside jokes had sprouted between you, and you felt as if you had never been closer. He even began to talk to you about his dad (which was a topic he usually avoided) on a regular basis, and you would tell him about your own problems. 

Noticing an empty table at the end of the dining hall, you poked JJ and cocked your head towards it. Together you moved to the table and looked down at the plates. 

“People are starving at the Cut but here they leave half of their food on the plate,” you mentioned to JJ softly. 

Starving was something both of you were used to. Not eating a well-sized meal was something that happened every once in a while, and was the root of your needs for your current jobs. 

JJ threw you a look as you both gathered the plates into your hands and moved towards the kitchen again. You dropped the plates at Andrew’s station, where he was going to throw the food away and wash the plates. 

You both began to rush back outside into the dining hall but were stopped by Diana, the receptionist, who grabbed your arms and pushed you back into the kitchen. 

“Whatever you think we did, it wasn’t us,” you stated, raising your hands in surrender. 

Diana scoffed. “So you guys aren’t the ones that sneaked a rat into room 501?”

You gave JJ a wide-eyed look, knowing her suspicions about you were right. The woman that was staying in that room had been exceptionally rude to you the day before, and JJ had convinced you to get revenge. 

JJ was an expert at lying and he quickly denied your actions. “No! We would never do that.”

Diana gave you a deadpanned look. You kept your mouth closed and your perfected poker face mask on (it had taken you years to make it as perfect as it was). 

Diana sighed and muttered, “God, I hate my job.” Then she sighed and said, “Okay. we have no evidence to prove it wasn’t you, so you’re off the hook.”

You beamed at Diana, but truly you were smiling to yourself. You knew the hotel had no evidence. JJ had Pope hack into the security and deactivate the security cameras of the fifth building’s hallway. 

“So we can get back to working now?” JJ inquired pointing towards the kitchen door. You could hear Mama L murmuring about you and JJ being misbehaved behind your back, as she knew all too well that you guys had escaped the consequences of your actions once again. Andrew was also stifling a laugh. 

Diana shook her head. “We need you two to deliver the room services that were ordered. Can you do this without getting into any trouble?”

JJ raised an eyebrow at her and laughed, nodding. 

“Bold of her to assume we get into trouble. It’s more like trouble chases us,” JJ laughed pulling out one of the kitchen’s carts from a supply closet. You took the tablecloths for the cart, laughing. 

“J, you most definitely know that we always are getting in trouble.”

JJ just shrugged. “It’s still bold of her to assume.”

You laughed at this. He simply beamed at you and pressed a hand to your waist, signaling for you to load the cart and head out of the kitchen.

Once you were away from the eyes of your superiors, you hopped onto one end of the cart as JJ began to run around and hop onto his end as well. Laughing out loud and speeding around, you tried to hold onto all of the plates on the cart. Stopping before the doors that had ordered room service, you caught your breath before knocking. 

After finishing all of the orders, JJ continued to push you around the halls of the building. Wind rushed by your ears as strands of hair fell from your ponytail. Suddenly, you tumbled off the cart as JJ pulled to a stop after turning around a sharp corner. While groaning in pain, he helped you up while apologizing to the hotel guest in front of you. 

When you were standing you looked towards the guest you had almost crashed and apologized as well. The apology, however, got caught in your throat as you looked at the boy standing before you. 

“It’s okay,” he assured you. “At least someone around here knows how to have fun.”

The boy was gorgeous, and both you and JJ let out a laugh at his statement. The guest was only looking at you though.

“Again, we’re really sorry. We should have been paying attention to where we were going,” you said once more. 

Finally turning away from the boy and returning to the kitchen, JJ said, “That guy was totally trying to flirt with you.”

You froze. “You think so?”

JJ nodded. “Yeah, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. He was probably imagining you naked or something!”

You laughed. “Piss off, JJ.”

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

The classic place to find you and JJ after finishing your shifts at the hotel was at the back of the building smoking a joint. It had become a tradition for you two to smoke some pot before heading towards the Chateau or your place. 

Normally, the conversation that would flow between you would be a random topic that had sprung into your head that day. Sometimes they were about the plans you and JJ had with the rest of the Pogues. Sometimes they would be about the Kooks and plotting revenge on whatever they had done to your friends this time. 

“I know, for sure, that if I was up to Rafe, one on one, I would win,” JJ exclaimed. 

You pretended to think. You knew JJ could take Rafe, but you liked to mess around with him. “Hmmm, I don’t think you could. That boy is ripped.”

JJ raised his biceps and kissed them. “Not as ripped as me!”

“Whatever,” you laughed out. “Now Topper is someone you could definitely take on.”

“And Kelce too,” JJ said while nodding along with you. “And you could take on any of those Kook girls.”

“You bet,” you cheered, taking a drag from the hand-rolled joint. 

You were seated on top of some crates that were stacked behind the hotel as JJ stood before you. He took the joint from your extended hands. 

“You could probably fight them off better than Pope would,” JJ continued. 

At this, you belted out a laugh. 

JJ loved making you laugh. He had a thing for you and everyone seemed to know except for you. This ‘thing’ had been going on ever since he had met you, and there was no denying, to anyone, that you were his favorite person in the world. 

Sometimes, when he would have a fight with his father, he would think of running away from Outer Banks. And for some reason, he would always include you in whatever his plans were. Whether they were going to Yucatán or heading to another state or just to the mainland. He couldn’t bear the thought of not being with you or of leaving you behind. 

He would never admit it, but JJ truly thought you were his soulmate. Even before he had developed more than friendly feelings for you, he was sure you were a person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. You just clicked together, and your friendship made sense to everyone. He secretly hoped you thought this of him too and would spend many sleepless nights thinking of scenarios where you realized you were completely and utterly in love with him. 

“I would just need to watch out for their acrylic nails,” you continued talking. “Those things could pop one of my eyes out if I’m not careful.”

Giving you the joint JJ nodded before changing the topic. “So what are we doing tonight?”

You shrugged. The Pogues hadn’t planned anything to do together as a group. 

“Come over to my place, J. We’ll have a sleepover!”

JJ gave you the joint so you could have the last taste of it. Once you were done you threw it onto the ground and stomped it out.

“I’m down. Only if I get to sleep with you on your bed.”

You laughed before pressing a hand to your chest and opening your mouth in shock. “Are you trying to seduce me, Mr. Maybank?”

“I’ll only say yes if it is working,” he responded, winking at you. Of course you knew he was joking. You had been having sleepovers since you were young, and you had always shared a bed. 

You ran through the orderly streets of Figure Eight and then the run-down streets of the Cut. You walked up the pathway to your house, noticing that there still was no car in your driveway. It had been almost a month since the car hadn’t been there. 

You stood frozen and JJ took your hand, pulling you into your house. He hadn’t spoken to you much about your father leaving, but he knew that it pained you. 

Your father had left your house after he had been fighting with your mother. He had jumped into his car and he hadn’t returned. You had seen his car around the Cut a few times, which meant he was still on the island, but he was yet to return home. 

Your mother had been crying herself to sleep for the first two weeks, but soon she had vacated the house as well. She hadn’t been home for a while, and you were sure she was probably on the streets at night waiting for men that had enough money to pay her price. 

Your parents were clearly a sensitive topic. 

Your good spirit had died down a little when you noticed you were in your room. JJ had let go of your hand and was in the bathroom down the hall. He was shocked to find you in the same spot he had left you. 

“Do you want to talk?” he asked you gently. You shook your head. “Okay. Then we’ll just lay down for a while.”

He took your bag off your shoulder and set it down on the floor next to his, right at the foot of your dresser. He grabbed your hands and shoved some clothes into them, which you realized was one of his old shirts he had given you a long time ago and sweatpants. You took the clothes and headed towards the bathroom to change out of your work uniform. You knew JJ was probably changing into something more comfortable in your room. 

When you got back you saw JJ laying on your bed with only a pair of basketball shorts on. You lay next to him silently and he wrapped one of his arms around you. You snuggled together as JJ threw the covers over your bodies, encasing you in much-needed heat. JJ kissed the top of your head gently as he rubbed circles into your back.

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

“I will be,” you answered.

Trying to lighten the mood, JJ exclaimed, “Damn right, you will be.”

You giggled softly, grateful that JJ was always there for you through everything. 

“Don’t let your parents get you down, Y/N,” JJ whispered after a few moments of silence. “You’re so much more than whatever shit they put you through.”

He felt you smile against the skin of his shoulder, and you were gladly inhaling his scent. 

JJ was right. All you needed was your real family. And your parents did not fit into that mold.

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

“Would you mind getting me a second serving of this?”

The old man before you had been sweet to you throughout his stay at the hotel. He had been giving you large tips and friendly smiles. JJ thought that the man was a pedophile and had just taken a liking towards you. 

So, as you took the plate of the man and headed to the kitchen, you ignored the obscene gestures that were being made by the blond behind the old man’s back. 

Once you arrived at the kitchen you left the plate at Andrew’s station (“Hey, Andrew.”), before repeating the man’s order to Mama L.

Right at that moment JJ burst through the door. 

“What time is it?” JJ asked you. You fished your phone out of your pocket before telling him it was almost three in the afternoon. “Great. Only fifteen minutes left for our break.”

You nodded, going through your phone as you waited for Mama L to assemble the old man’s plate. Meanwhile, JJ wrapped his arms across your body, pressing himself into you and pressing you into the counter in front of you. He put his head in the crook between your neck and your shoulder and stared down at your phone. He read the text messages that had come from the Pogues stating that there was a kegger later that night. 

“You wanna go?” JJ asked you softly. He knew how much of a party animal you were, but he also knew you weren’t always up for partying. And if you wouldn’t go, he wouldn’t go either. He needed his party partner there to actually have a good time. 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

You felt JJ smile as he pressed his lips to your temple. “Good, because I really have been wanting to get drunk.”

You let out a laugh as Mama L called you over with the finished plate in her hand. Grabbing that, you broke out of JJ’s arms and headed towards the dining hall. 

Your coworkers watched as JJ followed you like a small puppy out of the kitchen. 

Mama L sighed. “If those kids don’t get married…”

Andrew nodded from his place behind the sink. “Yeah, I know.”

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

“Y/N, be quiet!” JJ called out from the other side of the room. 

You and him were on a mission. You had heard a word from other members of the hotel staff that a celebrity was staying at the hotel. This obviously intrigued you and JJ, which caused both of you to concoct a plan. This consisted of figuring out which room this celebrity was staying at (done), stealing a room key that would get you into the room (done), and sneaking into the room (in process). 

JJ had convinced you to steal some of this celebrity’s money with him. Which, looking back, was a terrible idea, but here you two were.

You had deactivated the security cameras of the hotel and had managed to sneak into the room with no problem. However, while being excited when seeing all of the designer clothes strewn across the room you had dropped a lamp from a table. This was causing JJ to promptly tell you to shut up. 

JJ was fumbling with the drawers of the bedside table as you continued to snoop through the celebrity’s belongings. 

Suddenly, you pulled out a long object and screeched. 

JJ turned towards you to reprimand you but stopped once he saw the object in your hand. 

“Oh, shit. Is that a vibrator?”

“Ew, ew, ew,” you let it go, watching it fall onto the floor. 

A knock at the door made your eyes widen. 

“Ms. Jones! Is everything okay?”

Your eyes darted between the door and JJ, before looking at the empty closet behind him. Tugging his arm, you pushed him into the closet and you followed inside, closing it after you. 

Straining your ears to listen, you heard as the door of the room opened. In walked Diana with a maid, looking around the room. 

“I’m sure I heard someone shriek from here!” Diana said while she looked across the room. 

The maid shook her head as she, in the most respectful tone as possible, said, “I’m sure it had to be another room! Ms. Jones hasn’t been here all morning.”

“I know! Which is why I’m sure those Maybank and Y/L/N kids are here. They’re always wreaking havoc through the hotel.”

Diana sounded as if it was her dream to fire you and JJ. This caused you to almost let out a giggle. Luckily, JJ’s hand clasped around your mouth and pulled you into his chest so that your back was against it. 

“Oh, they are lovely children, those two!” the maid exclaimed. “They are always bringing smiles to the guests!”

Diana shook her head and gave her a look of disbelief. “I don’t believe that at all.”

The maid kept talking as if she hadn’t heard Diana. “Oh, and everybody thinks they are such a lovely couple! Which they are, don’t you agree?”

Diana shook her head and continued to mutter, “I’m sure they’re here somewhere,” under her breath. 

In the meantime, JJ’s heart was racing and trying to look at your reaction to what you had heard. More specifically, the part about being a couple. 

You could feel his heart beating but had assumed it was due to the adrenaline of the moment, and not due to the fact that the maid had mentioned you were a couple. This thought made your hands sweat. You had imagined multiple times what it would be like to date JJ, but you didn’t truly think you had any feelings for JJ. Or did you? You knew the real answer to that question.

Diana kept looking around as the maid stood at the door, babbling on about some other members of the hotel staff that were nice. Diana simply ignored her, standing up from looking under the bed and turning towards the closet. 

Looking through the small crack between the closet doors, you saw Diana approaching the closet. Your breathing got heavier. This was it, you were going to be fired.

JJ’s hand moved to cover your nose as well. Your breathing was going to be heard by the receptionist if she continued to come closer, which she was. However, and like a miracle, a scream that had sounded similar to the one you had let out some minutes ago came from outside the room. Diana turned towards the room door as the screaming continued. 

“I think you should check on that,” the maid motioned with her finger towards the hallway. Diana sighed and nodded, leaving the closet untouched. You let out a sigh of relief as soon as JJ’s hands left your face. 

Unmoving you both stood there catching your breaths. Out of nowhere, the door of the closet was pulled open by the maid that had been talking with Diana. You recognized her as Ms. Amy, a woman from the Cut that lived near you. 

“You kids better run out of here before she comes back,” she scolded you and your best friend. JJ nodded, as you stayed still and shocked that she had known you were here. JJ grabbed your hand and tugged you to the door of the room. Before he could even touch the doorknob, Ms. Amy called out, stopping him. 

“Oh, and do give me the key you stole to put it back in its place. We don’t want you getting in any trouble with Diana.”

JJ sheepishly dropped the key into Ms. Amy’s hand. Ms. Amy only smiled at the both of you as you left the room. 

“I am never letting you convince me to do something like that ever again!” you exclaimed once near the kitchen. 

JJ pretended to frown at you. “Not even if I ask nicely?” he pouted. 

You laughed and shook your head, pushing the double-doors of the kitchen open.

You ran into the back, where your bags were set down in the staff room. You checked the time on your phone and noticed that your shift was over.

You took off your apron and grabbed your’s and JJ’s bags from the floor. Exiting the staff room into the kitchen you turned towards JJ who was talking with Andrew. 

“C’mon, blondie,” you called to him by his nickname.

JJ hopped off the counter by Andrew’s station and said bye to him and to Mama L (of course, with a kiss on her cheek). Then he followed you out of the kitchen’s back door and out to the alleyway between two of the hotel buildings. You settled down at your usual smoking spot, waiting for JJ to pull out a joint from his backpack. 

He pulled a little tin box from his bag and slipped a white, pre-rolled blunt from it. Then, putting the tin box back, he took his lighter, which was engraved with a double J, and placed the fire near the tip of the joint. 

Breathing in, smoke filled his lungs. He passed the weed to you, which you grabbed and inhaled. 

The nerves of almost getting caught were almost completely dissipated by now as an easy conversation began to flow between you and JJ. You soon reached the topic of the kegger you had gone to a couple of nights ago. 

Passing him the joint, you ruffled his hair, and asked, “Who did you hook up with this time? Was it that Touron you were talking to?”

JJ shook his head trying to get away from your hands. His hair was probably awful now. “No,” he simply stated. 

“Really?” you hummed, “I thought you did because you disappeared a while later.”

JJ shook his head, this time to answer you. “I was talking to Kie.”

This peaked your attention and curiosity. For some reason you felt jealous he was confiding with Kie and not with you. Before you could bring this up, however, he asked you, “What about you? Did you hook up with anyone?”

You laughed at the tone of voice he was using. “No, I didn’t.”

JJ frowned. You and him were similar in that way, always hooking up with people at parties. 

“Why not?”

“No reason,” you replied. You had actually wanted to say, You.

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

As summer approached, the hotel had changed your’s and JJ’s position. Now you were working at the hotel bar, which meant khaki-colored shorts and white polos for your uniforms. The heat from outside was unbearable, and all you wanted to do was dip your feet in the pool. 

Summer also meant that the hotel got filled with a lot more people your age than during the winter. Families on vacations and groups of young adults wanting to party on the east coast of the country were regulars, which meant that you were getting flirted with. A lot. 

This made JJ’s blood boil. All he wanted was for those guys that approached you to leave you alone because you were supposed to be his. But that was the thing. Supposed. 

Due to hotel policies, all of the waiters from the bar were allowed to have two drinks throughout the day for free. And JJ was just waiting for your break so that he could grab two drinks and head down to the hotel’s private beach with you.

After what seemed like hours JJ approached you with your drinks. You latched onto his hand, saying goodbye to the group of boys that had been talking to you, and headed towards the beach. JJ turned to witness the look of disappointment on the boys’ faces. He smiled to himself. 

“You’re knocking them dead, tiger,” he said to you, which caused you to snort. 

“No, I’m not.”

“You really are though. They’re all flirting with you.”

You just laughed as you sipped your drink away. JJ had chosen a strawberry juice for you, a mango juice for himself in his hands. You both took your sandals off your feet and dipped your feet into the ocean water, instantly feeling a lot cooler than before. 

You let out a sound that was similar to a moan, grateful that the water was cold and brought you relief. 

“Don’t make that sound,” JJ said, laughing. “It sounds like a moan!”

You opened your mouth, offended at what the blond had said. “Hey!”

JJ continued to laugh, dodging the hand you had thrown towards him in an attempt to punch his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t mind hearing that during sex.”

“JJ!” you shrieked out. You splashed some ocean water onto him by raising your foot. He raised both of his hands in front of him, trying to block the water (which didn’t work). Then, he moved his hands even higher in a sign of defeat. 

You secretly wished JJ had actually meant what he said. JJ secretly wished you had taken what he said seriously.

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

The first kegger of the summer was always filled with people. This year was no different. 

You had been dancing with Kie for the most part. A couple of Tourons you recognized as guests from the hotel had tried to ask you to dance, but you had denied all of them. 

JJ had been staring at you from his post at the keg. He stood with John B and Pope, who surrounded him.

Everything was seemingly falling into place for the male Pogues. John B had broken up with the last girl he had been with (turns out she was a cheater) and Pope was all ready for his scholarship, which he needed to secure in an upcoming interview. Every one of them was happy, except for JJ. Wait, no - he was happy, but not as much as he could be. His longing eyes staring in your direction were enough proof of that. 

“Dude,” John B said in an exasperated tone of voice. “Just tell her.”

Pope nodded along, saying, “I’m pretty sure she likes you back.”

JJ pretended not to know what they were talking about. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

John B groaned and rubbed a hand over his face as Pope just gave JJ a look while the blond turned towards them. 

“Y/N,” Pope deadpanned. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Stop being difficult, JJ,” John B snapped. “We all know you like her. And Kie said she’s pretty sure she likes you, too.”

“Really?” JJ inquired in an excited manner. 

John B and Pope laughed. “We rest our case.”

JJ turned back to you, a smile dancing across his lips as he noticed you take Kie’s hand and spin her around. 

He could do this. He was going to ask you to dance with him. It wasn’t something you hadn’t done before together, but it was the first part of the plan that was forming inside of his head. 

He walked towards you, throwing a “See you later” to the other male Pogues over his shoulder. Mid-way through a spin you had spotted him and smiled. He was only about twenty feet away from you when a body covered his path. The large back he stared at blocked his view from you. 

“Wanna dance?” a gruff voice said. JJ was about to step back and let you dance with the boy before you, until he was surprised to hear you say, “Sorry, I was just about to dance with someone else.”

Going around the boy, you took JJ’s hand and dragged him to where you were before with Kie. The brown-haired girl had disappeared, which left you alone with JJ. 

You placed your hands around his neck as his went around your waist. You had danced before, so why was your heart pounding really hard this time?

You were moving to the rhythm of the music, swaying a bit and fooling around as people around you were grinding. You preferred your style of dancing. It was fun and lighthearted, just like you and JJ were. 

After a couple of songs and a lot more physical contact than usual, you had both decided to head back to John B’s house as you were bored. You first stopped by the Pogues to inform them that you were leaving and to gather your bags you had discarded. 

When you arrived at the Chateau you collapsed onto the hammock outside. On the chairs around it, there were a few of your discarded sweatshirts from other times you had been over there. Putting one of JJ’s on, you lay on the hammock and waited for JJ. When he was by your side you snuggled into him. He pulled out a joint from his pocket and held it between his ring-clad fingers.

You took it between your lips as JJ’s lighter was raised by its owner to the joint. You breathed in slowly and then let the smoke out. 

You sighed in content as you placed your head on his chest. 

“JJ, I love you,” you suddenly voiced out to the blond under you. He coughed a bit before saying, “Yeah, love you, too.” 

You shook your head softly and finally accepted what you truly meant. It didn’t matter if he didn’t feel it back, but you just suddenly had to speak it out loud. 

“No, JJ,” you softly spoke. “I’m in love with you.”

JJ tensed beneath you and you felt dread build up inside of you. Was he going to reject you or…?

You couldn’t complete your thought as the blond boy grabbed onto your face and pressed his lips into yours. You took his face into your hands as well and moved your mouth against his. It felt like heaven on Earth to kiss him this sweetly and softly. Your growing feelings for him exploded in confirmation as you realized that the person in front of you was the person you wanted to kiss for the rest of your life. JJ was it for you. 

He tasted of mint and weed, but you were sure you tasted similar to him. He smelled like he always had smelled (freshly cut grass and like the ocean), but this time, as you inhaled a breath, you were intoxicated by it.

One of his hands moved to grip your waist and you moaned as, at the same time he squeezed your side, he slipped his tongue into your mouth. 

When you pulled away your foreheads remained connected. Staring into each other’s eyes and smiling like idiots, you said, “I guess that is your way of saying ‘me too’?”

JJ nodded and pulled you into another kiss. It was just as intoxicating and thrilling as the first one.

The second time you pulled away, this time panting because of the more intense kiss, he spoke, “I’m in love with you, too. Ever since we took those goddamn jobs at the hotel.”

You grinned at him before burying your face into the crook of his neck. He felt the grin you were sporting pressed against his skin. JJ shivered at the feeling of having you in his arms, rubbing one hand up and down your back and the other one cradling your head. 

The joint you had been sharing lay discarded between your bodies. Unlike the times at the hotel, you wanted to be completely sober now. This was what your hotel madness had been building up to. To you and JJ, together. 

Mama L was going to be happy to hear about the new couple.

[thesnowinthemountains]

NCT 127’s First Time Saying I Love You

(a/n:  1. i wrote a good half of these drunk, so apologies for the excessive fluff 2. i didnt know i was whipped for mark until i wrote that okay im sorry 3. i nearly threw my laptop out the window trying to post this please love it)

Taeil

You were sitting across from each other at the small dinner table in your apartment’s kitchen - the only one you could afford for the time being. There was barely enough space for two plates and glasses, but neither of you seemed to mind the proximity, and Taeil kept staring at you, which distracted you anyway. “What is it?” You asked for the millionth time. “Nothing, nothing,” he replied calmly, going back to his food, but just pushing it around his plate. Not a minute passed before he did it again. You swallowed a bite of food, sighed, and calmly put your fork down. “Taeil, what?” You asked, sharper this time. He smiled to himself and took a second before looking at you. “Your eyes are a really nice color.” He said, failing to hide a mocking smile. You frowned. “Why are you laughing?” You were just confused at this point. “I don’t know how to do this, just-” he breathed, gathering himself. “I love you.” Now you blushed, looking down. “I love you too,” you mumbled. 

Johnny

You came home from a long day of work, swearing to yourself you were going to quit. You needed to, your current job was starting to get to your head and affect your moods. You slammed the door on your way in, tossed your bag aside and launched yourself into the couch. You let out a long groan and a few seconds later, Johnny’s voice came from the hallway. “Long day?” he laughed, settling himself in the space next to you so you could lay your head in his lap. “God, you have no idea,” you sighed. You sat together quietly for a while, him playing with your hair until you were almost asleep in his lap. He let out a pensive hum. “What?” You murmured, eyes closed.   “I love you,” he said simply, like it was a fact he just read online.  “You just made my day,” you laughed softly.

Taeyong

You couldn’t remember what you had said, but he had smiled, his eyes bright, and you just knew. It was easy. He was so easy to fall in love with, easy to be around, your whole relationship was easy and fun. You were in a perfect space. He got excited about ducklings, and made little noises to himself when he cooked. He cooked. He liked big sweaters, and you liked borrowing them; they smelled like him. You liked to sleep in his bed, too, liked waking up surrounded with everything that was him and about him. It was a little while later and you couldn’t hold it in any longer, afraid your heart might just burst if you did.  “I love you,” you said it heavily, like it had been weighing on you and just the mere action of putting it out into the world would heal you of all your ailments.  “I love you too,” he smiled over the pot on the stove in front of him. You revelled in the domesticity of it, ready to pause this moment and never let it go.

Yuta

You and Yuta had met through mutual friends, ones he played soccer with, and ones you were in various classes with. You were at a study group with them one evening, going over notes from the past week’s classes, trying to gather information for an upcoming midterm essay you were dreading. One of their phones rang. “Hey, Yuta, what’s up?” You didn’t want to eavesdrop on the conversation, but your ears perked up on their own. “Study group. Yeah, she’s here, you wanna talk to her?” Your friend now looked at you from across the desk. He handed you his phone, but mumbled a quick: “Keep it short.” “Hey,” you spoke into the phone after pulling your tongue at your friend. “Hey, I was just thinking about you.” You heard the smile in Yuta’s voice. You smiled in return. “Oh?” “Yeah, I was just thinking I love you. You know, if you’re, uh... into that.” You could hear him shuffling with something on his end, and he was not a nervous person, but you could tell he was trying hard to be casual. “I see,” you decided to toy with him. “Well, then.” “Well, what?” The shuffling stopped. You hummed loudly, like you were thinking something over. He sighed. “Fine, fine, I love you too,” you smiled down at your notes before your friend snatched his phone back from your hand. “That’s enough of that,” he spoke into the phone, but looked at you, addressing you both. You pouted at him but a smile quickly crept back on your face.

Doyoung

This was to be the dinner during which you would introduce Doyoung to some friends of yours to test the waters, see how he would get along, see if they liked him. It was a work dinner, relatively casual, where some of your favorite coworkers were joking among themselves, and poking fun at other people around the table. You were in the younger ones, the newer hires, so you, Doyoung, and a handful of work friends sat at the farthest edge of the table. Doyoung was chatting away with a girl he didn’t seem to realize was in fact a close friend of yours. He looked away for a moment and she flashed you a thumbs up, and an impressed look. You smiled to yourself, happy to have the stamp of approval. “What’s so funny?” Doyoung focused all his attention on you now. You laughed to yourself quietly before meeting his eyes. “I love you,” you cocked your head. He blushed, but grabbed your hand under the table. “I love you too,” he kissed the side of your head, going back to his conversation. There was no helping your lovestruck smile, and a friend of yours across the table made fun of you for it, but you couldn’t be bothered to care.

Jaehyun

You were getting ready for bed, brushing your teeth, washing your face, doing all the final things of the day, when Jaehyun leaned into the bathroom’s door frame. He was just watching you, and when you eventually looked back at him, he looked down. You went back to what you were doing, and he walked up behind you, moving your hair out of the way to kiss your neck. “What’s up?” You giggled. “I love you,” he mumbled against your neck before looking at you through the mirror again. Eyes wide, you turned to face him. He looked down at you, not saying anything. “Well, I love you too, then.” You laughed, pulling him into a kiss.

Winwin

It was late, you knew it, but you and Winwin were huddled together under a big cozy blanket on the couch watching episode after episode of your current favorite show. You had noticed him dozing off time and again, waking himself up with a start each time. You didn’t want to disrupt him, but there was an important scene involving his favorite character, so you lightly shook him awake, his head coming up from your chest and his eyes opening slowly. He looked somehow like both a puppy and an angel and you couldn’t believe you got to see him in moments like these. At that point, you had forgotten why you had woken him up in the first place, and the television was just background noise. “I love you,” you breathed, and your heartbeat sped up almost instantly. He smiled a small, happy smile. “I love you too,” he whispered, laying his head back on your chest, eyes closed.

Jungwoo

You were taking a walk around the neighbourhood. It was a perfect day, the sun shining but just enough of a chill to entice you to wear your favorite sweater. He was commenting on the surroundings, making silly jokes and getting giggles out of you. In the midst of his narration of your environment - the houses and cars and the little lives of the little people in all of them, their fun names and jobs and hobbies - he cut himself off. “I love you,” he said hurriedly before going back to his antics. “What?” You laughed. “What?” He looked at you innocently. “Oh, what, the “I love you”? Yeah.” He shrugged. “Is that a big surprise?” “No, I guess not,” you acquiesced, “I love you too, though.” You elbowed him playfully.  “Well, good, I hope so! You’d better!” He exclaimed, then smiled to himself.

Mark

You had found that loving Mark came in stages. First, you picked up little habits he had - none too specific, but you took notice and would smile to yourself. Then, you would go out of your way to make him laugh, because the sun shone in his eyes when he did. It went on like this until you finally admitted to yourself that you were in love with him, this cute dorky guy with the weird ears and sweet smile. You never said anything, and you figured if you ever did, things would get awkward and eventually your friendship might phase out, which was worse than pretending you felt nothing at all. One night, though, the two of you were in the middle of playing video games when you made a joke that had him doubled over in laughter. “Fuck, I love you!” He exclaimed through his laughter before getting very serious very fast. “Oh, I- I mean the- the- I- uh...” he stammered on like this until he noticed the look on your face. “What?” He eventually asked, startled by his own words and your wide eyes.  “I wouldn’t be mad if you did,” you said quietly, in what was probably the most serious tone you’d ever used around him. “Love me, I mean.” He stared at you, giggled, and got this big, stupid grin on his face. You thanked all your lucky stars and every light in the universe for allowing him into existence, into your life, and allowing him to feel for you as you did for him. 

Haechan

You had gone to laser tag with friends, and you had made him swear he wouldn’t somehow cheat, or eliminate you in some snide way. Ultimately, you knew perfectly well that he was the sort of boy who played dirty or not at all, so when he snuck up behind you and you heard the loud sounds of your elimination, you were mildly annoyed, but not surprised. You turned to stare at him, mouth open in mock offense. “Haechan!” You cried. “It’s the game, don’t blame the player,” he held his hands up innocently. You fumed, sticking your tongue in your cheek to stop from snapping back. You moved to catch him and he ran away. “I love you?” he called back, his laughter echoing, while you sighed and returned to your team’s home base. 

[brideofcthulhu10]

The Lost Boys Find Out Their Fem!S/O is Pregnant [4/4]

SUBJECT WARNING: PHYSICAL AGRESSION, SEXUAL THEMES AND A WHOLE LOT OF SWEARING. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Alrighty then, my lovely fang babes! Here we are, we have the last of the first edition of the pregnancy saga! Worry not, dearest readers, for there is hope! I plan on doing a separate series about going through the pregnancy, and maybe even going through the childbirth with how the boys are as new dads. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more, and by tomorrow night we'll have a whole new set to love!

It was such a blast writing Paul's, I'm not gonna lie I got lost in the magic! We have a cute little character cameo for all you 80s movie nerds, lemme know if you can figure out what it is! So, without any more delays; here he is. The gorgeous, the goofy, the one, the only:

PAUL

Today had been an unexpected challenge. You barely got through your shift at the record store, every time you were in light it made you dizzy. Hangovers had nothing on this! Did you drink too much the night before? No, now that you thought about it any attempts to drink had you hugging a toilet. Not to mention your period was late as hell! Well, not the cramps, go figure. Just no blood. None at all. 

You never let on to your beau, Paul, though. The party boy vampire would become overly worried if you told him you were sick, and you weren't about to spoil a good time with a bit of nausea. So here you were, stumbling about the day into the late afternoon absolutely miserable. Your manager Iona offered you some crackers and ginger ale during your lunch break. No dice, within an hour you were running to the bathroom again. 

"Gosh hon, I dunno what ta tell ya. Maybe you ate something nasty, I told you that boardwalk food was fishy," Iona sighed, poking at her own lunch with a fork. Currently your coworker Andie was watching the front until you were feeling better.

"Kill me now, Iona," you groaned, chin resting on the table with your arms laid over your head. Then there was a smell. The greatest, most flavorful, mouthwatering scent you've ever experienced. Like a honey baked ham and a New York sirloin had a glorious new baby drizzled in ecstasy. Glancing over, your stomach growled at whatever it could be. If this were a cartoon you'd be flying to what it was.

Oddly enough, it was coming from Iona. Well, whatever black stuff was in her little plastic tupperware dish. Who cares what it was, it smelled incredible.

"Hey uh..," you asked, leaning over towards the sticky, mysterious delicacy calling your name. "You wouldn't mind if I had a bite, would ya?"

"You sure, hon? This isn't exactly your average dish, it's kinda weird," she tried to explain. God you couldn't take your eyes off it! Finally, your merciful manager pushed it your way, and you couldn't resist any longer. 

"I don't even care, this is the first thing in the past two days that hasn't made me nauseous," you muffled between cosmic bites.

Oh shit, this was heaven! It had to be some sort of meat, it reminded her of a nice spicy kielbasa, a slow roasted brisket, every second it changed to some new world of food you had never tried. What it was didn't matter by this point.

"Wooow. I've never met someone who liked black pudding that much."

Pudding? "I thought it was meat or something? It doesn't taste anything like pudding," you insisted, polishing off the very last specs of it. "Got any more?"

"No, no, not like chocolate pudding or stuff like that, kiddo. black pudding. It's this dish from the UK my new boyfriend made me. It's congealed pig's and cow blood mixed with spices."

You made a face. Blood? Like, blood blood? The cow equivalent of what Paul drank on a daily basis? Yet this was the first time you didn't puke, in fact, you kinda wanted more. Even knowing what is was made of.. for some reason you craved more. Meanwhile Iona continued to talk on and on, until one phrase caught your ears. "Yea, ya know my mom was so into for the longest time. Said she craved it her whole pregnancy, I never got a taste for it honestly."

A single thought popped into your head. A dangerous, foreboding thought that your intuition said was very much a possibility. In a flash you jumped up, nearly slamming your hands on the table. "I gotta go. Oh shit, I gotta go! I'll be right back, I swear, I'm so sorry, I swear to god I'll be right back," you shouted as you bolted out of the store.

"Wait what-?!"

You'd make it up to her once you got back. You had to know! You had to be sure..! Please just let it be paranoia! Please let it be anything, anything at all besides what you thought it was!

Once you reached the nearest CVS you made a B-line to the women's health section. Your hair clung to your face, your lungs stung like crazy but all you could think about was getting answers. And cue the disapproving glare of some old bat picking out a box of pads. Alright being 17 in front of the pregnancy tests looked bad. You weren't just a high schooler, you looked it too. "What're you looking at, " you snarl. Immediately she clutched her pearls, startled by this abrasive youngin' in no mood for dirty looks. God why'd there have to be so many options? Pink boxes, purple ones, bright yellow insisting it worked the fastest. The heavy fluorescent lights were no help at all, it made your head spin. You had no time for this crap. In a sweeping motion you grabbed three different brands and threw them into your basket, all you needed was….where was your wallet? Shit... Glancing around you checked for any nearby cameras or staff. Karma be damned, it was an emergency! Five finger discount it was. 

Once again you made a mad dash back to the record store as the sun finally set. All three boxes were crumpled in your hand, your boots running so fast it you hit a rock that'd be it.

But getting back to the record store was your best bet. You weren't about to pee in some dirty, old, nasty pharmacy bathroo- oh fuck. There was something that finally slowed your steps, nearly making you trip in the process. Four bikes parked right outside. Three of which were occupied by by Dwayne, David and Marko all talking amongst themselves.

Shiiiit, shit, shit! All you could do was swear repeatedly. Before they could spot you, you practically dove into the alleyway behind the store, rapidly disabling the alarm. If that went off it'd be a dead giveaway. Quickly you looked left and right before you slammed the door shut behind you still trying to catch air.

But there, right past the door to the employees lounge, over by the counter you could see a mass of blonde hair chatting away with Iona about Led Zeppelin's best album to date. Paul, gorgeous as every, laughing. It made your heart flutter, but then it sank. What if it was a-... He was never the type to run away from a challenge. But then again, a kid wasn't a challenge, it was a massive ordeal. It would take a huge chunk of his life- well, afterlife! Boozing and cruising would be switched out with drowsy days and busy nights. You weren't sure if you wanted him to know if you were, it would take all that from him. Unfortunately, he must've smelled you or sonething, because immediately he turned around like a puppy being called.

"Babe," he cheered with delight, rushing over to hug you. Rather squeeze you by your hips and lift you four feet off the ground. Quickly you stuffed the skinny boxes into your back pocket, now smushed up against his chest. "Where were you? Ion's said you just bolted mid-shift, we were worried sick! Well, I mean, I was more worried though, cuz I can't stand you bein' gone, kitten."

"Well, yeah uh, I forgot something I had to get at the store, and I forgot what time I got off," you hesitated, still antsy to escape to the bathroom. Truthfully you didn't actually want to, you had to! If you could, you'd just kiss him and ride off into the night to raise some hell like you always did. But this was too big to ignore.

Paul raised a brow. You weren't known for being this jumpy. You wouldn't look him in the eyes, they just kept darting towards the bathroom. Boy, you really did look sick, though. Pale, almost greenish with dark circles under your eyes. You even felt colder than usual. "Am I uh, interrupting something, babe?"

You managed to work out if his arms, giggling nervously. "Actually I-I had some of Iona's lunch earlier, and I just, gotta- be right back!"

With that, you bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door behind you. Again, weird. Paul just shrugged, maybe you had some bad Mexican.

 Iona wasn't convinced. Little miss jumpy-pants skipping out on her, you owed her an explanation. While Paul perused the albums she sunk over to the bathroom, rapidly tapping on the door. "Y/N! Psst! You good in there, hon?"

You were most certainly NOT good! Your hand shook, the third test finally finished. Not like it mattered! They all said the same thing. Every fucking one of them.

Positive. Positive. Positive.

No, no, no!

"Shit," you hissed. "Shit! Oh shit, oh fuck! Fuck-fuckity shit fuck fuck! Dammit." That's all you could do! You swore over, and over, and over, rapidly kicking the wall in front of you. Stupid pink plus! Why? Why did it have to be a plus?? Immediately you threw it in the trash and scooped up the other two. Maybe they were all flukes? Maybe only a doctor could tell you! You had to get home. Like now. Right now, you just had to rush home, make an appointment at the doctors, maybe hide in shame for a few days just until you could figure out what the hell to do with all this! Once again you wedged the tests in your back pocket and nearly tripped, cracking open the door to face your boss. "Iona, I gotta get home."

"Seriously, Y/N?? Why? What is with you?"

"Please, I swear I will make it up to you, I'll take a double shift, I'll wash your damn car-"

"Oh no, nuh-uh. Not until you tell me why you're being such a spaz," she practically shouted in a hissing whisper, absolutely exasperated. You teens and your drama, when she always said she wanted to fell young again this is NOT what she meant!  

"Listen i-... iyay amyay egnantpray," you whispered. Pig latin. It was a little code you two usually reserved for secrets. Well, that and talking smack about snotty customers. But wow was this a big ol' secret. 

Iona covered her mouth. Oh, you little idiot! You poor little idiot. Looking over at the unsuspecting boyfriend she sighed, looking you in the eyes. She wanted to just tell you to come clean to your man. The boy hung around you constantly, you two were the ultimate it-couple, there wasn't even sparks it was like watching supernovas. Something this big.. it shouldn't be left in the dark!

But that pitiful expression on your face just begged her to keep quiet, and frankly it wasn't her place to tell you what to do- well, at least in this regard. "Alright, alright. This saturday you're taking my night time shift, there's a big concert I wanna go to. And you gotta wax my car, it's gettin' nasty. And you better write the best damn apology note in the history of apology notes, sweetie. This is huge, you better come clean to him eventually, or I'll kick your little butt you hear me?"

"Yes. Absolutely, fine, deal. Just please, please keep him busy, I'm not ready to tell him," you whined, clutching the door. Frankly it sounded like a piss poor plan, but it couldn't be helped, not right now at least. You didn't have the strength to confront the situation head on, you were barely keeping it together. You wanted to cry all over, jump into his arms and come clean now, but this was neither the time or place.

As soon as Iona went to go over to Paul you stuffed the tests into your purse and bolted out the back door, only this time stealth was not on your side. Right at the mouth of the alleyway, just as you were about to be home free- you ran smack dab into a particularly lithe blonde that felt like a brick wall. You went flying onto the ground, your purse crashing onto concrete with a hundred pieces of your privacy going every direction. In a panic you began to rapidly stuff it all back, barely able to hide the first two tests as you threw some half baked apology Marko's way. Honestly he deserved a better one than that, but you were too frazzled to be fair at the moment.

"Oh shit, Y/N," Marko exclaimed, immediately kneeling down to help you gather the scattered remains of your purse. "Sorry, I didn't even see you, I was coming back for a smoke. Big Ed is such a douche, can you believe theres no smoking on the-..." His words trailed off, and you shortly saw why. Grasped between his pointer finger and thumb was the little pink strip, and a look of complete disbelief. All you could do was snatch it from him, a heavy moment of silence magically muffling the wild noise and shouts of the busy boardwalk. 

"Do...D-Don't worry about it. Look, I gotta get home, I'll see you arou-," you started, trying to jump up, maybe catch him off guard and make a run for it. Not this time. 

You hadn't even noticed he grabbed your wrist, it was such a blur. He stayed silent, standing up and looking right into your eyes with hidden malcontent. You swore if you answered wrong this mischievous cat would tear your throat out. After all, you were his best friend's girl. If you did anything, ANYTHING, to hurt him... Well, let's just say a pregnancy would be the least of your worries. "Why are you running, Y/N? What the hell is this thing," he asked quietly, eyes flickering between red and blue. "Did you…?"

"Oh don't fuckin' even," You snapped, smacking his arm, yanking your hand out of his grasp. "Of course not! You butt! God, are you serious? What do you take me for- No! I- fuck I just- no!" You kick the tin trash can beside you, watching a plethora of trash fly into the air. "I am freaking out! Of course it's Paul's. Oh fucking god, it's Paul's and I don't know what to do!"

Marko's expression softened, placing a hand on your shoulder. "Hey, I didn't mean to make it sound like that, Y/N. Paul's my friend, I just had to be sure you weren't sneaking around, you know?"

You sighed, pushing back your mess of a hair with misty eyes. This was perfect, a real big screw up from start to finish. All you could do was look over at Marko with pleading eyes. "You can't tell him yet. Please, just please please PLEASE, Marko, don't tell Paul yet!"

"Tell me what, babe?"

Shit. Shit on a stick. You looked behind to see Paul halfway out the back door with a look of concern, one that he rarely carried. You and your dumb mouth, go figure.

The blonde pushed through and let the door close behind him, looking over at his best bud standing alone with his girlfriend who was begging him to keep something secret, from him no less.

 "Marko?"

"Nah, nah, don't look at me man, this is all on you guys," he sighed, hands up in a shielding motion. "Good luck buddy. Gotta go, Y/N." with that the young vampire excused himself from this melting pot of drama, hands stuffed in his pockets. 

You just stood there, keeping the little strip tightly grasped behind your back. Paul was silent, but glancing at his hands you saw they were balled so tight his knuckles were white. "P-paul…," you hesitated, biting down on your bottom lip. "I should really… get home.."

Paul only raised a brow, glancing at your arms still tucked behind you. This wasn't like you to hide from him, and that alone frightened him. Nothing had ever frightened him before. And he didn't like the taste of it one bit. "What's behind your back, babe?"

"What?"

Again his spoke, this time his voice lowered into a low growl. "What... do you have... behind your back, babe?" The way he said it was so firm, it made you shake a little. You didn't like stern Paul. They way he hissed the word "babe", practically spoken through clenched teeth

Your throat ached, eyes darting across the ground struggling to think up a good excuse. Anything. A book, your purse, a surprise for him! Anything!

"N-nothing." Apparently, you failed to find any excuses. Great.

Paul's knuckles began to crack, jumping forward to try and snatch it from behind you. When you dodged him, he grew even more furious. You both began to struggle, pushing him away, insisting he just stop and let you leave. But every attempt to reject him only upset him further. Why were you hiding things from him?! How could you just ditch him at the record store when he was worried sick about you??

The struggle built up until finally he had enough. His eyes turned white with rings of fire, brow looming heavily over his eyes and fangs jutting out where his incisors once were. In a flash he grabbed you by you wrists, pinning you so hard to the wall it shook. You still tried to struggle. Thrash, kick, squirm! Steel wished it could be so strong, your muscles ached. This probably wasn't even his full strength, but it dwarfed you in comparison. This terrifying side of Paul you had certainly seen before, but never had you been on the receiving end. It was in all sense of the word, predatorial. He'd never try to kill you, but you still felt that horror build up inside. Rapid, sharp breaths made your chest heave, too afraid to look up at those red eyes still fixated on whatever you kept hidden from him. He continued to pry your stubborn fingers open, ignoring your shaking whimpers. He squoze your wrist, the tendons aching and contracting until your fingertips began to lift up. Any resistance was pretty much useless at this point, but dammit you still tried everything to worm out of his grip. But he had finally had it, you weren't gonna be keeping secrets from him. Now your last finger was pushed off, and he could see what was so damn important that you physically fought him to keep it secret. It was almost slow motion the way the strip spun to the ground, clattering down and landing beside his mud caked boots. He froze, slowly looking down at it. That's it? That's all you-...

You could barely read his face, so many different emotions flashing across it all at once. Occasionally he'd look back up at you, then back down at it. To the point you almost got annoyed that you were still being stuck to a wall while the reality set in. After all, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that was, just put you down already!

Paul looked at you still pinned beneath him, horrified at how he lost his temper and immediately released you. Still rubbing away the pain across your wrists, you watched him pick it up. A wave of guilt swarmed your body, you didn't know whether to hug him or punt him in the chest.

Hell, a massive tidal wave of guilt overflowed him too. It'd been such a long time since he got that angry.. but worst of all he'd never been like that with you. Never grabbed you so forcefully and ignored your pleas, it was a dark side of him he never wanted to display in front of you. Glancing at the little pink plus at the end of the stick, his mind swirled with a plethora of questions. But slowly he stood up, looking down at you still really trying to process everything that had happened in the past few minutes. "I don't… I don't understand.."

"You- You are such an ass," you shouted out of nowhere, enough that it made him jump. There you were. That's the fiery girl he knew, not the one he exactly wanted to be on the opposing side of at the moment, though.

Paul wasn't surprised you were pissed, but he definitely didn't expect you to start punching his arm. Again. Then again, and again you just kept hiting his arms, his chest, pushing and crying, you were so mad you wanted to chuck him in the ocean! It didn't really hurt that much, but he felt awful he drove you to that point.

Tears blurred your vision as you lashed out on him. All you could do was yell names between sobs, even whack him with your purse. "Paul, you absolute jerk! Butt! Jackass! You smarmy, half wit, blood-sucking tool! You said you were packing blanks, you absolute liar! I was gonna tell yo-! I mean, I know I shouldn't have run-! But you just couldn't wait- and then Marko- and you! You ! Jerk ! Butthead !"

"Hey, ow! Ow! Ow, dammit! I know, I know I went to far-ow not the hair dammit," he demanded, grabbing your arms before you could lay another mighty blow. "Babe! Babe, stop! I thought I was! I swear I didn't know- I-..I never thought that I could get you...." His hands slowly released your shoulders, moving to your hips. "I'm so sorry, baby. I swear, I didn't know.. I'm so sorry."

The way his voice softened only made you want to cry more. This whole day was a mess. You didn't mean to try and run.. You never should've tried to in the first place. God, you were so tired. All this running around, all this secrecy, the fighting, it was exhausting. Paul was the last person you wanted to fight. Sure you had spats and a few heated arguments. Every couple did, even vampires. But this, it was just so.m draining. With a firm thud you plopped your forehead on his sternum, your fingers tightly clinging to the upper sleeves of his jacket. "Wh-what am I supposed to do-… what are we supposed to do now..?"

Paul pondered his options with a solemn face, but there was only one that made him happy. Only one that sat right in his heart. What else could he possibly do, there was only ever going to be one answer even if you told him right away. Most of all, he couldn't stand the sorrow in your eyes. A frown never suited such a beautiful face. He never expected there to be anything to come from your heavy sexcapades, it never seemed like there was any risks in it. He'd never seen a vampire munchkin, least of all he'd never even heard of a vamp conceiving with a human. All he knew now is you, crying in his arms, terrified of what you were carrying. What it could mean. In that moment, he steeled his resolve and came to a final decision.

Silently he tilted your chin up, using his thumb to brush away all those tears staining your cheeks. Those blue eyes, you could get lost in them. Swallowed up by the sea. It wasn't hard to read his mind when he held onto your hip with one hand, while the other that pushed away salty droplets now cupped your cheek. Within moments you crashed your mouth into his, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck.

Warm. A surge of heat filled your body. It was the first time you felt truly alive all day. You could feel your chest heave against his, you didn't want any space between the two of you and only pressed tighter until there wasn't anything left. Each kiss gave momentary breath before you dove in for more. Neither of you could stop. You didn't want to pull away, not even for a split second. The way he smelled, the way he tasted, the way he touched you, the way he felt beneath your fingers; it made your head spin. His hands began to wander, you clutched at anything you could get a hold of. Your body burned, so sweet and long. In those moments the world stopped, it just melted away in streams of light. No one was there but you two. 

It was over too soon, both of you rapidly panting for breath still intertwined. Oh, how you could stare into his eyes forever.

That frown was long gone, replaced by a tender smile. The one he had come to cherish. Paul chuckled softly, breathlessly nuzzling against your collar bone. Slowly he leaned in close to your ear, his disheveled blonde hair brushing up against your cheeks. Lips trailed up flesh, reavhing just beneath your ear. And then you heard those three forbidden words. Such sweet, tender words, you hadn't expected him to say. Although he whispered them so softly they might have gotten lost in the wind, to you they were as clear as the moon on a cloudless night.

"Y/N.... I love you."

It made your heart throb, you thought you might even faint. A lifetime of struggles led up to this beautiful moment. You never expected it to be a half-undressed heavy make out session with your vampire lover, the father of your unborn spawn, in the back alley of a record store on the Santa Carla Boardwalk. But here you were, nestled between him and an old brick wall. Paul loved you, he had said it, he finally said those words that could destroy any doubt you had. And more than anything in the whole wide world, you knew once and for all, you loved Paul.

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Seventy-Six

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: Fluff, and smutish

It was nearly the end of June, it was sweltering, and you had your period. You were thankful your apartment had central air. Harry often found you standing above the vent, with your head pressed against the wall.

“Babe…what…why do you keep doin’ that?”

“I’m sweating.”

“We can just turn the A/C up.”

“No, it’s not enough. My hormones…they’re making me sweat more, and I feel disgusting. So fucking disgusting. And I hate working when it’s this humid out.” You turn to look at him. “I feel like a sausage casing every time I put a dress on, and I can’t really wear my sundresses because they’re not appropriate, and we’re not even allowed to wear Bermuda shorts. What’s inappropriate about a Bermuda short? They’re the least attractive shorts out there!”

“You know what you need? A chocolate milkshake. I’ll just run to McDo-“

“A milkshake? A milkshake?! I just told you I felt like a sausage casing in my clothes and you want to get me a milkshake?”

“A…smoothie then? I could make you a smoothie?”

“I don’t want anything to eat! It’s swimsuit season, any extra calories are bad calories Harry!”

“Just tell me how to help you!”

“Go take Buster for a walk!”

Harry grabs the leash and whistles for Buster. He texts Niall to meet him downstairs. It was 8:30 at night. Niall comes rushing out.

“Thank god you texted me. Sarah’s goin’ bananas.”

“So is Y/N.”

“She got her period too?”

“Yeah! I offered to go get her a milkshake and she yelled at me. She’s really hot, I thought it would cool her down.”

“Never offer a woman food on her period, you have to wait until she asks you to go get her somethin’. I thought I made a kind gesture to Sarah once, and she freaked out and called herself fat. Sarah, for Christ’s sake, called herself fat!”

“I can’t listen to Y/N when she talks shit about herself. It breaks my heart.”

“Mine too. I feel so bad when Sarah does it. She’s perfect to me.”

“Same with Y/N!” He sighs, and Buster yips at him. “Mummy’s scary sometimes, huh Buster?” He looks at Niall. “I’m afraid of what I’m goin’ to walk into. She’s not like this all the time, I just think the heat is gettin’ to her.”

“Same with Sarah. We’ll survive this like we do every month.”

Harry gets back upstairs, and finds you sitting on the couch with a pint of ice cream. He wants to say something, but he knows he’d be dead if he did. He sits down next to you and he smiles. He sees tears streaming down your cheeks.

“What, uh, what are yeh watching?”

“Um, I made the mistake of rewatching Glee, and…it’s the first episode, and oh god they’re singing don’t stop believing! Corey Monteith had the voice of angel!” Your voice cracks as you sob.

“Do want me to put somethin’ else on?!”

“No leave it! I love this show so much!”

“I think…I’m gonna go read.”

“No! Please stay, I want you near me.”

“Okay.” He moves closer to you.

“I said near me, not on top of me.”

“Okay.” He sits there and faces the TV.

He really didn’t want to watch Glee, but he had no idea what else to do. You had never been so worked up on your period before. Buster sits between his legs, and he mindlessly pats at his head. You finish the pint of ice cream, there wasn’t much in there anyways. You stand up to go throw it out, but you feel a sharp pain.

“Ow! Oh god.” Harry looks at you as you start to crouch and then lay on the ground. You start crying again. He stands up and stands over you. “I took some ibuprofen with the ice cream, why is this happening, Harry?”

“I don’t know, love.” He sighs and sits on the floor next to you. “Where does it hurt the most?” He asks softly.

“Like right in my lower stomach, feels like I’m being stabbed.”

Harry’s heart breaks for you. If he could take all your pain away and endure himself he would.

“Okay.”

He scoops you up and carries you to the bedroom. He lays you down and leaves.

“Harry?”

“One second!”

He returns shortly with a hot water bottle wrapped in a rag. He gets on the bed and presses it lightly on your lower stomach. You wince and then you relax.

“My sister used to do this when he cramps got really bad.” He strokes your face. “Is it helping?”

“A little, yeah. Thank you.” Your eyes get watery again. “I was so mean earlier, I’m sorry.”

“Please, Y/N, I can’t watch you cry anymore. It’s okay, I know you can’t help it sometimes.”

“I don’t deserve you.” You sob.

“Please, honey, please, just take a deep breath.” He gives you a reassuring smile. He presses the bottle a little harder and you close your eyes.

You eventually fall asleep and Harry sighs. It was like having to calm a child down. You were never like this, ever. He wondered if it was the heat, or if you were just having a particularly heavy flow.

//

Harry was in absolute shock at your bright attitude the next morning. You got up, showered, took Buster out, and made breakfast. It was like you hadn’t gone psycho at all last night.

“I’m so excited to have a long weekend soon. We’re still going to Hull right, you’re okay with it?”

“Uh, yeah…how are you feelin’ this mornin’?”

“Great! Why?”

“You, um, well…”

“Did I scare you last night?” You chuckle.

“A little bit, yeah.”

“I’m sorry.” You sigh. “I don’t really know what came over me. Just a rough night. Good news it, it’ll be gone in time for the party so we can go swimming.” You smile. Your phone goes off. “Oh shit, Niall’s downstairs, I gotta get to work. Taking Buster with you today?”

“Yup.” He kisses you. “Have a good day.”

“You too, my doll.”

You head down to the car, and Niall looks frightened honestly.

“Good morning?”

“Mornin’.” He starts to drive.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just didn’t sleep much last night. Apparently, I don’t fold my socks correctly, which resulted in Sarah reorganizing my entire dresser and closet.” You burst out laughing. “It’s not funny, it’s like a demon possessed her.”

“She and I are the same person sometimes I swear. I wasn’t too kind myself last night.”

“Heard you were cryin’ like a baby.”

“How nice of the two of you to compare notes about your girlfriend’s periods.”

“If you compare notes about sex with us, then it’s only fair we compare notes on that.”

“You got me there.”

“Then this mornin’ she got up before me and made me breakfast. It was very confusing.”

“It’s because you’re not actually the problem, you’re just in the line of fire. I feel like every year, every month I just angrier. Like I have to deal with this easily for another thirty or so years, and then what? I get all dried up and get reminded I no longer can produce life, great.” You scoff. “It’s a shit deal.”

“I remember when my mum started havin’ hot flashes and shit, no Bueno.”

“Exactly. My mom didn’t have hot flashes, she just had a mid-life crisis and left my dad.”

“Jesus, Y/N.” He laughs.

“Sorry, too dark?” You laugh.

//

Your stomach felt better, but the same could not be said your breasts. They were super sore and felt like hard rocks. You ripped your shirt off the second you got home, including your bra. You let out a large sigh. You threw on some athletic shorts, and filled a bag full of ice, not even bothering to wrap it in a towel, and pressed it to your chest.

“Mother of god.” You say to yourself. “What is wrong with me this month?”

You drag yourself over to the sofa and turn the TV on. You put Glee on, hoping you don’t cry again, but fuck it if you did. You had leftovers from last night’s dinner in the fridge. You didn’t have the energy to make something new, Harry could just eat that if he wanted.

He comes home with Buster around 6PM. He runs right over to you and you pat his head. Harry stops short when he sees the water from the ice dripping down your chest.

“Hi.” He says, cheeks growing red.

“Hey.”

“What’s all this?” He gestures to the bag of ice.

“My boobs really hurt, so I’ve been icing them.”

“Is it helpin’?”

“It’s numbing, so a little.”

Harry sighs and thinks for a second.

“How do they hurt?”

“They’re just really tender, and they feel heavy.”

“Alright, how about I give you a little massage?” You raise an eyebrow at him. “A genuine massage, nothing more.”

“Okay, well, that actually sounds nice.” You smile.

“Come on, it’ll be easier if you lay on the bed.” He extends his hand out to you and you take it.

He stops in the kitchen quick to throw the bag of ice in the freezer. He strips down to his boxers to cool his own body off, getting used to the A/C.

“It was so hot out today.”

“I know, baby.” He looks at you for a second. “Lay with your head towards the end of the bed, then I can stand over you.” You do as he says.

He grabs your lotion from your night table and rubs it in his hands. He starts with the back of your neck and your eyes flutter closed. He kneads his thumbs into your shoulders and works his way down your chest. You wince slightly, but you relax at his gentle touch. Your nipples were already pebbled. Harry could feel how hard your breasts were and he felt awful. He grounds his knuckles in and then slides his palms over you. You let out a sigh.

“So nice.” You whisper.

“Feels good, babe?”

“Mhm, thank you.”

Harry continues to massage you. He moves his hands back under your neck and you arch up a little so he can get at it better. He remembered you raving about this part of the massage when you went away at that weekend. He smooths his hands back down to your breasts and you groan.

“Is it feeling better?”

“Much, yeah. You’re the best.”

He smiles and continues to work on you. He spends a full thirty minutes massaging you before your hands get tired. You sit up and start to tear up.

“What, what’s happening? Why-“

“It’s just.” You sniffle. “You came home from work and didn’t even get to eat or relax, you just jumped to take care of me, and for what? What do I even do for you?”

Harry’s mouth falls open. How could you not know what you do for him? You do everything for him? You do his laundry, fold it, and put it away. You iron all of his clothes and make sure they’re hung up. You make him breakfast every single morning, and make sure his lunch is fully packed before you leave for work. You take care of him in so many ways, how could you even ask that?

“Y/N.” Harry sighs. “You do a million things for me every day, I can’t even begin to list everything.”

“But you were probably busy all day.” You hiccup. “And you were probably tired, and there I am being a big baby, and-“

He grabs you by the back of your neck and cups your cheek with his other hand, crashing his mouth to yours. You needed to calm down, and he didn’t know what else to do at this point. You sink into his touch and kiss. Your eyes flutter closed when you feel his tongue enter your mouth. He could feel your tears against his own cheeks, and could taste the salt from them. He lets go of you slowly, and uses his thumbs to wipe your face clean. You press your forehead to his.

“I really need you to calm down.” He says lowly. “Can you do that?” He says looking at you, and you nod your head yes. “Okay, did you eat yet?” He lets go of you.

“No.”

“I’ll go heat up the leftovers. Go get comfy on the sofa. Buster’s been missin’ his mummy all day, I’m sure he’d love to sit with you.”

“Okay.” You go over to your dresser and grab a t-shirt to throw on. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He gives your bum a smack and you squeal as you both leave the bedroom.

Harry washes his hands and makes up dinner. He comes out with a bowl for you and you happily take it.

“So, what did I miss on Glee?” He asks and your smile brightens. You pause the TV.

“Okay, so Sue, Jane Lynch, doesn’t like that Will’s club is taking from her funding, and Rachel has a crush on Finn, and he likes her too, but he’s dating this cheerleader…”

Harry let you go on with the synopsis so he’d be caught up. He could have cared less, but it made him happy to see you get so excited to talk about a show you loved so much. And there were a few songs he actually didn’t mind. And sometimes you’d sing along to certain songs, which he loved so much.

The next morning you get up and cheer happily, waking Harry up. You burst out of the bathroom.

“That bitch is gone! Fuck you Aunt Flow!” You cackle, and Harry gives you a thumbs up. “Get your ass up and come shower with me, I’m feeling frisky.”

He didn’t have to be told twice, he got his ass up and joined you in the shower.

//

Harry closed the studio for the fourth of July. It was a Friday anyways, and no one had booked anything. He didn’t get to see what bathing suit you put on before you put your blue coverup dress on. He could tell it was white from the knot peeking out, but that was about it. You put a hat on and pulled your ponytail through it. You and Harry packed a cooler and a bag of things you’d need. Buster would be spending the day with his Uncle Isaac at his apartment.

You meet Sarah and Niall down on the street. Sarah had a red coverup dress on with a blue bathing-suit on underneath. One could assume Rachel probably had a white coverup dress on with a red bathing suit. Harry had his yellow trunks and a white T on. Niall had on a pair of green trunks and a white T. Everyone looked summery and ready for a day at the beach. You and Sarah decide to sit the back together as Harry drove off towards Hull.

“Check out this air bnb at the Cape.” Sarah shows you on her phone. “Not terribly expensive, and it would fit all of us.”

“Yeah! I saw that one too. I think we should book it. Rachel said she could get the time off that weekend, and I already have it off.”

“Friday to Monday right?”

“Yup.”

“Alright, I’m booking it.”

“Oi! I’m supposed to do that.” Harry says.

“Snooze you lose.”

“But now they’ll have your credit card, and-“

“Harry, I promise, you can just Venmo me later.”

“Oo yeah put him in his place, Sarah.” Niall says winking at her and she makes a kissy face towards him.

You arrive at Seth’s parent’s house just when Rachel and Mariah do. Mariah had a one piece bathing suit on with a cute pair of jean shorts on over.

“Yay! Now we can all take a picture!” Sarah squeals. “See, we’re red, white, and blue.” She hands her phone to Niall and three of you line up.

You smile brightly and then giggle, getting a good and a silly picture out of it.

“Where should be put all our stuff?” Niall asks. “Should we just leave all our spare clothes in the car?”

“Yeah, for now.” Sarah says. “I’ll just bring this bag with our towels in it.”

You all walk up to the house, and around the back. The three of you had been here before, you knew where to go. The house was huge, and had its own private beach. There were a ton of hard games set up and a volley ball net. There were plenty of people there already, and a ton of food out. Seth had set up a bar on the deck for drinks.

You look over and see the tall boy with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He was shirtless and you notice a new tattoo from the last time you went swimming with him.

“That’s Seth.” You point him out to Harry and he nods.

“Look, there’s a bunch of lawn chairs, we can go put all our shit down and claim a spot.” Mariah says. “I’m already ready to get in the water.”

You all walk over to the open chairs and put your things down. Seth notices you, Sarah, and Rachel and jogs over to you.

“You all made it!”

Seth was handsome, there was no denying it. In a way…he was your first Harry-esque kind of guy. He has a deep voice, paints his nails black, has tattoos, and he has small hoop in his bottom lip. But he as sweet as all hell. And one of the funniest people you had ever met. Before you can stop him he’s hugging you three.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I can see you’re setting up shop, that’s great. Bar’s up on the deck, help yourself to whatever and however much you want. Plenty of food too. The water’s actually warm too, it’s great. Got some extra sunscreen too.”

“Thanks Seth.” Rachel says. “This is my girlfriend, Mariah.” They shake hands.

“Great to meet you.” He looks over at you and then to Harry who was just taking his shirt off.

“This is Harry.”

“Hey man, heard a lot about you.” They shake hands.

“Same here.”

“And this is Niall.” Sarah says.

“Welcome. Well, uh, I better keep playing host. Really glad you all are here. Max and Ben are here too, they’ll love to see you.”

Oh god. You swallow hard and give Sarah and Rachel a look as he walks away. You take your hair out of your hat and shake it out. You decide to just put it half up.

“You all want drinks before we head into the water?” Niall asks, taking his shirt off.

“Sure! Why don’t you all go up and grab some of whatever, we’ll go test the water.” Sarah says.

Harry, Mariah, and Niall all head up to the deck.

“Oh my fucking god.” Sarah says. “I haven’t seen Ben since we broke up! What am I gonna do?”

“What are you going to do? Max is here too!”

“Times like this, I’ve never been so happy to be a lesbian.”

“You’re not helping.” Sarah glares at her.

“Relax, it’ll be fine, we’re all adults now, right?”

The three of you rid yourselves of your cover ups. You all help each other put some lotion on your backs and shoulders. The sun was strong today.

Harry, Mariah, and Niall were busy making drinks when Mariah gasps.

“Oh, I could kill her.” She says.

“What?” Harry asks.

“Look at them!”

The three of you had the same bikinis on. You all looked cute, but Harry was hoping you’d wear something a little more modest for a party. Plus, you were wearing a white bathing suit, which just made your skin look even better.

Harry and Niall’s jaws fall open as they watch the three of you walk into the water.

“It’s going to be a long day, isn’t it?” Niall asks.

“Yup.” Harry says. “Good thing there’s plenty of free liquor.”

“Bro, is that Sarah?” Niall whips his head around to see a couple of guys talking.

“Looks like it.”

“She looks good. I didn’t think she was still friends with Seth.”

“Yeah, and that looks like Y/N, damn…”

Harry’s jaw tenses immediately. He did not like college friends, nope, not one bit. He sighs heavily, and the three of them come down with the drinks. The three of you turn around and smile at them.

Mariah takes her shorts off and goes into the water. Harry walks right in and grabs you, lifting you up, making you squeal.

“Harry! Please, I don’t want to get my hair wet!”

“Should’ve thought about that before comin’ to the beach.”

“Please! Please don’t drop me!” You cling to him and wrap your legs around him as he wades deeper in the water.

“Don’t worry, I gotcha.” You move around him so he’s giving you a piggyback ride. “That’s a nice bathing suit.”

“Okay, so I know it’s a little revealing, but we all wanted to wear red, white, and blue. Are you mad?”

“Nope…just know a lot of people are gonna be lookin’ at you.”

“Don’t worry, anytime I’m not in the water I plan to have my coverup on.”

“Okay.” He loosens his grip on you.

“Harry, I mean it don’t drop ah!”

He drops you in the water and starts laughing hysterically when you come back up.

“Not funny!” You pull the scrunchie out of your hair and flip it over.

“Come on, now you’ll have those beach waves you’re always after. You’re looks so nice when you leave it naturally.”

“Fuck you.” You flip him off and walk back towards your friends.You stop when you see a soaked Sarah.

“Niall just did the same thing to me.”

You feel a hand clasp on your shoulder.

“Are you really mad?”

“No.” You sigh. “What did you bring us to drink, I’m thirsty.”

“Vodka tonics.”

“Perfect.”

You all get out of the water and sit down on the chairs. You put your sunglasses on and sip on your drink. Once you’re dry enough you put your coverup back on.

“Hey Y/N!” Seth says.

“Yeah?”

“Will you come be on my volleyball team? We need another person.”

“You know, I haven’t played since college…”

“So, it’s just for fun.”

You look at Harry. He nods towards the net and you stand up.

“You all can come play too, you can play winner.”

He puts his hand on the small of your back as he leads you over.

“She played volleyball?” Harry asks Rachel and Sarah.

“She was on an intramural team, that’s how they met.” Rachel says. “We used to go to her games.”

Harry turns around and watches you laugh and say hi to the other people.

“Alright, so let’s go watch.”

Everyone gets up to stand near the net and watch you play.

“You serve first.” Seth tosses the ball to you.

You wind up and jump to hit the ball, and the people on the other side miss.

“Yes!” Seth turns to you and gives you a high five. You turn to your friends and they all give you a thumbs up.

You serve the ball again and someone calls base so you run to your actual spot and watch the ball. You bump the ball so someone can set, and Seth spikes it.

Harry had never seen you so…athletic. You worked out, but the two of you never worked out together. You never even went for runs together, and you certainly never went to the boxing gym with him. He was impressed.

“Hey Sarah.” Ben comes up to her and she immediately loops her arm around Niall’s.

“Oh, Ben, hi.” She gives him a fake smile.

“Didn’t know you and Seth were still friends.”

“Sure, yeah, we talk from time to time.” Niall looks at the man talking to Sarah. “This is my boyfriend, Niall.”

“Hey mate.”

“Boyfriend? Wow, good for you. Hey man.”

“Yeah, we’ve been together for like nine months.”

Niall notices how uneasy Sarah is and hooks his arm around her waist.

“How do you two know each other?”

“Friends from school.”

“Right, because dating for a year is totally just what friends do.” He smirks. Harry looks over to make sure everything’s okay.

“You know what? You’re right, I’m sorry. Niall, this is my verbally abusive ex-boyfriend, Ben. Ben, this is my incredibly wonderful amazing love of my life Niall.”

“Sup.” Niall says smiling.

Harry focuses his attention back on you. Your team was about to win. Seth sets the ball for you and you jump to tap it over the net, securing the win. Your team cheers and Seth nearly lifts you to hug you but you shake your head no and push him back. You awkwardly shake his hand, and walk away from him. You jog over to hug Harry who happily takes you in his arms.

“You were incredible.” He says.

“Thanks. Think I’m done though.” You look at the situation with Ben and Sarah and you storm towards him. “Ben Richmand, walk the fuck away.” You say crossing your arms.

“Chill, Y/N, we’re having a pleasant conversation.”

“No, you’re trying to cause trouble, look at her, she’s shaking.” You get in his face further. “I’ve beat your ass before, and I’ll gladly do it again.”

Sarah and Rachel burst out laughing.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“No?” You step towards him and he steps back. “We all came to have a good time, so please, do everyone a favor and just leave us alone.”

“Dude, are we playing Polish horseshoes or not? Y/N…hi.” Max rubs the back of his neck.

“Hi.”

“Please, if you’re gonna beat up Ben again, make sure you tell one of us so we can get it on video.”

“Can do. I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Think you can keep him away from Sarah? She’s clearly here with someone.” You point to Niall.

“What about you, you here with someone?” She smiles smugly and you blush.

“Um…yeah…Harry?” You turn to him and wave him over. Max smirks and shakes his head. “This is my boyfriend, he own a dog together, it’s pretty serious.” He starts laughing.

“How’s it going man?” Max shakes Harry’s hand. “Wish I knew all it took was a few tattoos.” He smirks. “Come on Ben, let’s head over to the game.”

“I…have so many questions.” Mariah says. “You beat that dude up?”

“Let’s go back down to our chairs, too many people around here.”

You all make your way back down and you all sit together.

“Okay, so there was the four of us. Me, Kate, Rachel, and Sarah. Then we had the boys. Kev, Seth, Max, and Ben. Kate and Kev got together, and later Sarah and Ben got together. But what none of us realized was that Ben is a sick fuck, and poor Sarah was too scared to say anything. One night Rach and I got back from a party and we heard Ben violently yelling at Sarah, which in turn set me off because my father used to violently yell at me. So-“

“Y/N tore Ben away from me and broke his nose.” Sarah says. “It was awesome.”

“I thought I broke my hand when I did it. It was like right before we all graduated. Rachel called campus police and got him out of there.”

“You’re a little badass.” Mariah says.

“You broke his nose?” Harry asks. “You must have really socked him.”

“She did! Cried like a baby.” Sarah says.

“You never told me, Sarah.” Niall says concerned.

“It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about.” She shrugs.

“Man, you girls have so much bullshit to deal with.” Niall shakes his head. “I’m glad you all have each other to lean on.”

“So what’s the deal with Max then, is he your ex-boyfriend?” Mariah asks you.

“God, he wishes. He had a thing for me, but I didn’t like him like that, and I made it very clear.”

“Oh please, Y/N.” Rachel scoffs. “That boy did everything you asked, all you had to do was smile at him.”

“I did nothing on purpose, nor did I lead him on. I told him I wasn’t into him like that, and that I just wanted to be friends.”

“Wait, do you remember when he walked in on you and Seth.” Sarah starts giggling. “Think that made it really clear you just weren’t that into him.”

“And could you have been more obvious before? Uh, hi this is Harry, we have a dog together.” Rachel laughs. “You’re a bitch.”

You mouth falls open. At first the boys and Mariah aren’t sure what do to, but you start laughing and whip the lime from your drink at her.

“As if you didn’t fake being straight to get Max to tutor you in math.” You say.

“Look, it’s not my fault that he’s the type of guy to only be friends with girls because he think he might have a chance. And thanks to him, I was able to graduate.”

“So this guy had a crush on you, and he accidentally walked in on you and that other guy?” Harry asks.

“God.” You groan. “It was so embarrassing. I had accidentally spent the night at their place…and…”

“How do you accidentally spend the night at someone’s place?” Niall laughs.

“Oh, this was Y/N’s thing, it was so smooth, honestly.” Sarah says. “The master of getting what she wants.”

“Okay, can we get a drink refill please?” You say.

“Yes! Let’s get fucked up.” Mariah says. “I love drinking with you guys.”

You all get new drinks and go back to where you were to tell stories.

“Okay, please explain, what exactly were you the master of?” Mariah asks.

“Nothing!” You giggle.

“Shut up, you did this all the time. If there was a guy you wanted to hook up with, you did one of two things. You either asked them to walk you home, if you knew you’d have the room to yourself, or you’d get them to play video games with you until you were the last two people in the room.”

“Video games?” Harry smirks.

“Oh sure, I’m pretty good at NHL, and Mario Kart.”

“You’re a savage as Smash Brothers too.” Rachel says.

“Thank you.”

“That’s how she finally scored Seth. I was dating Ben, so I didn’t really care that she wanted to hook up with him. We were at a kickback at his place, and she got him to play NHL. Everyone else had left after a certain point.”

“And we were both too tired to walk me home.” You say. “So he let me crash in his room with him, but no one knew. And we when we both woke up in the morning we started fooling around, and poor Max walked in because Seth had Max’s phone charger.”

“I think he knew you were in there and he wanted to get hurt.” Rachel says, sipping on her drink.

“I don’t understand why you had to work so hard to fuck some guy.” Harry says. “Look at you, how did he not just say hey let’s go?”

“He didn’t know if it would be weird for Sarah. Seth’s a really nice guy.”

“I think Harry, Louis, and I all had sex with like ten of the same women when we were in school.”

“Probably more.” Harry says.

“I secretly wish we all could’ve gone to the same school. You two totally would’ve hooked up back then.” Rachel says to you and Harry. “I just wonder who would’ve made the first move.”

“I’m sure I would’ve had to work to get his attention with so many girls probably trying to hook up with him.” You nudge Harry and he shakes his head. “I would’ve stayed across the room and made eye contact occasionally. And then at the end of the night, I would’ve walked up to you.” You turn to face him and he looks at you. “And said, I know this is your party, and you probably don’t want to leave all this, but I can’t find my friends, and I don’t feel safe enough to walk home alone.” You bite your bottom lip. “Could I ask you to walk me?” Harry starts grinning, his dimple popping out.

“As much of a prick as I was, I don’t think I could’ve said no to that.” The group starts laughing. “That’s a pretty good move.”

“It worked just about every time I wanted it to.” Harry pulls you into him and kisses the top of your head.

“Well, it would’ve been my honor to walk you home.”

You were so happy he was being chill about everything. Sometimes your friends had zero filter with bringing up stories. You all decide to grab some food and mingle with some other people. You all swim for bit, and eventually decide to change once the sun starts to go down. You had a pair of capri, cuffed jeans on with one of Harry’s sweatshirts. You hair was really curly, but you used your sunglasses like a headband and it actually looked cute.

Someone gets a bonfire started and you all sit around it. Seth comes around with blankets for everyone.

“When we watch the fireworks later, we’ll go down closer to the water. Sand might be wet.” He says to you with a smile.

“Thanks Seth.”

“Having fun, Harry?” He asks, genuinely.

“Yeah, your parents have a great house.”

“Thanks, it’s just a summer home. It was actually my grandparent’s. We rent it out a lot to make some money back on it. It’s super expensive to take care of.”

“I bet, lot of square feet to take care of.”

“Hope you’re taking good care of this one. She’s special.”

He gets up and walks around to other people to keep giving out blankets. Harry throws his arm around you and you lean into him.

“So you two never actually dated?” You look up at him.

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“We were just better as friends. It was our senior year, neither of us wanted to get into something when we didn’t know where our lives were going.”

“If it had been better timing do you think-“

“Harry, why all the questions?”

“I don’t know…would you like me better if I had my lip pierced?” You burst out laughing. “You clearly have a type.” You laugh harder. “No really, I see it. Tall, tattoos, I really am just missing the lip piercing.”

“His tongue’s pierced too.” You both laugh.

“There it is.”

“What?”

“That’s why you and Sarah wanted to keep hookin’ up with him.”

“Because he had his tongue pierced?”

“A straight guy only get his tongue pierced to do one thing with it.”

Sarah overhears the conversation, and takes the opportunity while Niall is getting more drinks to chime in. She leans into Harry.

“He also has a huge, thick cock, so there’s that too.” He pats him on the shoulder.

“Sarah!” You swat at her and she laughs.

“I don’t feel bad saying it because Harry has nothing to feel self conscious about, do you Harry?”

“I don’t know Sarah, you tell me.”

“Oh, are we talking about Harry’s dick?” Mariah says as her and Rachel sit down. They had gone off to change. “Cause it’s huge.”

“Oh my god.” He groans. “How the fuck would you know that?”

“You used to wear the tightest fucking pants when you started, dude. Your bulge was just always there.”

“It’s true mate, you used to wear some tight jeans.” Niall says, pulling Sarah into his lap.

“You all are just jealous that I know a thing or two about fashion and you don’t.”

“Yeah, that’s what it is.” Mariah says.

“Anyone hungry?” Seth asks. “Did we have enough to eat?”

“Seth, relax.” You say. “Everyone knows where the food is. Chill, enjoy your party.”

He laughs and nods. He nudges your shoulder and walks away. Things for s’mores get passed around as everyone hangs out around the bonfire. You had some melted chocolate on the corner of your mouth.

“Babe, you got some..” Harry taps his mouth.

“Oh, do you have a napkin?”

“No, but I’ll do you one better.”

He pulls your towards him and sucks the chocolate off your mouth. You giggle while he does it, realizing you’ve barely been able to kiss all day.

“Alright you two.” Sarah says. “Don’t be gross.”

“I was just helpin’ her get some chocolate off her face like a good boyfriend.”

“Mhm, you’re so considerate.”

Eventually you all head down closer to the sand and find separate spots. It was dark enough where you could all cuddle openly. Sarah sat against Niall’s chest with his arms wrapped around her. Mariah and Rachel were laying on their backs holding hands. And you were laying on top of Harry. You both were giggling and talking. You start kissing and he rolls you both over onto your sides.

“Fireworks start in two minutes!” Someone yells.

You both sit up and he has you move between his legs like the way Sarah and Niall were sitting. He rests his chin on one of your shoulders and keeps his arms around you to keep you warm. You take your phone out so you can take a selfie.

“Oh look, Isaac texted us a picture of Buster…he’s home now in his little bed.”

“We’ll be home to him soon, babe.”

“I know.”

You pull up your camera and take the selfie of the two of you. Harry sticks his tongue out and you make a funny face too. A firework goes off and you both look up. A few more start to go off and you both lay back so you can see better without having to crane your necks.

“These are amazing.” Harry says.

“Yeah!”

Harry looks over at you and smiles at the way you look at the fireworks and the way the light your face up. The grand finale starts and everyone cheers when they’re done. Harry helps your up and you grab the blanket. You all head up back towards the house and you throw the blankets on the stairs that lead up to the deck. Seth was drinking beers with his friends.

“We’re headed out.” Rachel says to him. He frowns and stands up.

“So soon?”

“We’ve got like an hour drive back to the city.” Sarah says.

“Oh right…”

He hugs Rachel, and then Sarah. He looks at you.

“Are we shaking hands again, or can we hug?”

“We can hug.”

You wrap your arms around his neck and his go around your back. He squeezes you close to him and lets you go.

“It was great to meet the three of you. These are probably my three favorite girls, and it seems like they’re all in good hands.”

“Thanks for a great party, mate.” Harry shakes his hand, and so does Niall. Mariah waves goodbye.

You hug Rachel and Mariah goodbye as they get into Mariah’s car. You and Sarah sit in the back seat again. Harry lets Niall drive back. You and Sarah lean against each other and slowly fall asleep.

“They’re knocked out.” Harry chuckles.

“Got a lot of sun today.”

“You know what’s nice?”

“That we both kept our cool today?”

“That, and…this is the part of growin’ up I don’t mind. Goin’ to parties with our girls, you and I still gettin’ to hang out.”

“Yeah, I like when we all get to do this. Gotta make time for fun.”

You and Sarah wake up to the sound of Niall and Harry laughing about something. You were parked in the garage of your building.

“What are we doing?” You ask.

“We were waitin’ for you to wake up.” Harry says.

“I’m…so tired. Niall carry me up.”

“Alright babe. Can we grab our shit outta your car tomorrow?”

“Sure.” Harry shrugs.

Niall gives Sarah a piggy back ride and heads across the street. You and Harry walk hand in hand up to your place. Buster wakes up when you get int and you squat down to love on him for a few minutes before letting him get back to sleep. When you get into your bedroom you wrap your arms around Harry.

“Can we just shower tomorrow? I’m exhausted.”

“Course, honey.” You say looking up at him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“You were unbelievably cool today, and I appreciate it.”

“It’s like you’re always sayin’, I’m the one sleepin’ with you not them. I know I have no reason to be jealous.”

“Nope. Cause at the end of the day, you’re the only boy I want to trick into walking me home so I can bang him.”

You both giggle and he presses his forehead against yours.

“You know, you didn’t ask me what my move was.”

“My apologies, what was your move?” You step back from him and cross your arms.

He puts a hand on your shoulder and looks at you.

“That’s it? An intense stare?”

He keeps looking at you and then he licks his lips and smirks.

“Yeah, I can see how that worked.”

You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Harry.”

[the-record]

Love at First Sight (2)

Category: FLUFF ABSOLUTE FLUFF

Warnings: None (In this part.)

Spencer Reid x Fem! reader

A/N: Hey! This is a totally fluff slow burn. There will be multiple parts bc I suck that way. Enjoy!

Gif not mine

“Hey genius!” That had become your nickname for him, he didn’t seem to care that you called him that but never gave you one. “Pen invited us out for drinks, you coming?” He nodded and smiled a little.

“Sure.” You got all excited and pulled him towards the elevator, desperate to get to the bar. “But I’m not drinking.” You look at him disappointed and pouting.

“Spencer please?” He shook his head no.

“Someone has to make sure that you Garcia, and JJ don’t get too drunk. Or if you do, Derek can’t take all of you home. So, no drinks for me.” You threw your head back. 

“Fine, but next time we can take a cab and I am getting you drunk!” He smiled and the two of you walked out together. Nothing more than friends.

***

“There are my two favorite angels! Y/N come with me to get us all drinks, we have been waiting for you.” Garcia says pulling you towards the bar, eager to get you away from the team. “So, Reid drove you here? Oooooh.” 

“Are you sure you haven’t had anything to drink? You seem tipsy to me.” She shakes her head.

“Not even a sip.” She orders drinks for everyone, getting you an insanely alcoholic drink.

“I’m gonna get you back for this Pen, don’t forget it.” You push her shoulder and help her take over drinks, handing JJ hers.

“Oh thank you love, I need it desperately. I have not had more than a small glass of wine in months.” JJ says kissing you on the cheek. Se cared for you like a mom, making sure you were always ok and not hurt with the occasional teasing.

“Of course JJ. Please don’t let Garcia get more then 3 drinks in me, I am not in the mood for a hangover.” She smiles and nods but you knew that you would end up with more than 3 very strong drinks in you system by the end of the night. 

***

“Y/N what drink number is that?” You smile at Spencer who was counting the glasses on your table knowing that at least a third of them were yours. “Ok, it’s time to get you girls home.” He went to get Derek is you started your next drink which was quickly pulled out of your hands. 

“Hey baby girl. Come on let’s get you home. JJ, Hotch will take you home, good night pretty girl.” Derek says to you kissing your head, as Spencer tried to hold you up.

“Come one, my car is right outside.” You nod but can hold yourself up somehow making it to the car. “I am taking you to my apartment so you don’t do anything you regret in the morning.” He says buckling your seatbelt as you nod yourself to sleep. When you wake up again it’s because you could feel someone carrying you. You opened your eyes to see Spencer.

“Spencer...” He shushes you and tells you to go back to sleep and you do as he says.

***

When you wake up you feel like absolute shit. You know where you are, Spencer’s apartment, but his side of the bed is neat so you assume he slept on the couch.

“Good morning.” You roll your eyes at him as you make coffee for the two of you.

“I told JJ no more than 3 drinks. 3 drinks. You’re in charge next time because obviously it’s not a good idea to trust a drunk JJ.” You see your phone on the counter and there are a couple of texts. 

Garcia: Well well well, someone got into Spencer's arms last night!

Derek: Hey loser, make sure to drink some water and eat food. Soak up the alcohol in your system love you.

JJ: I’m not sorry about last night, someone got taken home by Spencer, thank me later.

You knew exactly what they were talking about with Spencer but it wasn’t like that. You were just friends. And besides, you were coworkers.

You bring him his coffee and sugar as you sip yours. 

“Thanks.” He says as you hand him the mug. He is sitting in an arm chair reading a book as he drinks it. You sit next to him on the arm of the chair.

“What book is that?” He looks up at you showing the cover. “Well well well, Sherlock Holmes. Very good series.” He smiles and you return. 

“Thought I should re-read them considering how much you like them.” You can feel your cheeks go red.

“Uh, what d-do you have to eat here?” He points to his cabinet.

“There is some pancake mix in there. Pans and mixing bowls in the cabinet by the stove.” You head to the kitchen and whisk the mix before turning on a burner and pouring some on a greased pan. You flip it to reveal a perfect golden side. 

You finish up the batter and put half on a plate for him and half on a plate for you. He is now sitting at his desk and you bring his plate over to him. He perfectly golden pancakes are cover with syrup and there are utensils next to him. Yours are the same.

“Didn’t know you could cook.” You laugh a little.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I could cook. Pancakes were the go to breakfast food when we had time. Weekends, snow days, summer, sleepovers. Any time we could make them, we did. Got pretty good at knowing when to flip them so they were cooked but not burnt.” He smiles at this. He was totally gonna hold this above your head.

“Next time I want some pancakes, you have to make them for me considering I had to take you home very drunk last night.” You chuckle at this.

“Deal.” You hear your phone buzz on the counter and walk over to grab it. JJ is calling you. “Hey J what’s up?” You sigh and Spencer can already tell what’s coming. “Yeah yeah I will let him know. See you it 40.” You hang up.

“Case?” You nod.

“They said they can fill us in on the jet we just need to get ready to go.” He nods and you do your best to throw yourself together putting on yesterdays clothes since you had decided to start keeping pajamas at Spencer incase something like this, you getting sickly drunk, happens. Which did pretty often. 

***

“Morning.” You say as you walk in, Spencer behind you. 

“Late night?” Morgan laughs at the redness of your eyes and coffee in hand. Your second cup of the day.

“I will beat your ass Morgan. And yeah, since JJ, didn’t stop me at 3 drinks.” She shrugs with a smirk on her face. Hotch comes into view.

“I will discuss you two later,” looking at you and Spencer, “Now, Y/L/N and Spencer, grab your go bags let’s go.” You take a deep breath preparing for the teasing.

***

Hotch had finished briefing you guys and telling us what you would do when you  landed. You felt sick, like you could throw up so you sat next to Spencer on the couch and tried to sleep but the motion just made it worse. Your head laid on his shoulder, a usual spot for you to sleep. He put his arm around you bringing you in close which shocked you. 

“Hey love birds.” Morgan says as he sits in front of you two. You look at him.

“Morgan I swear to god I will kill you, go away.” He laughs.

“Alright alright, chill out. What’d you two do last night after he took you home?

“He took me over to his place, I slept is his bed he slept on the couch like normal. He woke up before me, I made us coffee and pancakes because I was hungry. Penelope called me to tell me there was a case, we got ready and left. Happy? Now please, I feel like shit so let me sleep. Leave me alone.” Derek’s smile disappears slightly.

“Fine. Get some rest, we need you at your best when we land.” You smile a little and lay on Spencer’s shoulder, falling asleep quickly.  

***

It had been days since you had arrived. A serial killer was targeting families with 1 child and happily married parents. You were assigned to work on the geological profile with Spencer. It wasn’t your strong suit but the two of you put your heads together. You felt a phone buzz as you wrote something down. “Hey what’s up?”  

“They found another victim.” You look at Spencer disappointed.

“Ok, send me the location. Oh and have Garcia find out some stuff about the victim, see if there are any connections now.” You hang up the phone.

“That was JJ. They found another victim. He is sending me the location now.” He nods. “Spencer, can you pass me a pen?” You hand was behind you as you stared at the map and when he handing it to you, you started to mark some points down. When you connected them they made a star with one missing point. It was a single family house. “Spencer, call me Hotch, now. I know who the next victim is.  

“Hey love.” You called Garcia to get some information.

“How can I assist you my angel?” She responds.

“Hey I need some information on an address. 20973 Rockstone Lane. I need a phone number and to know who lives there.” You sigh. “They’re the next victims.” She immediately gets to work. You don’t hang up your phone and grab your gun and badge.  

“Spencer, let’s go. We can meet them up there we are closer. Garcia is getting me a number, hopefully we can warn them.” He grabs your arm.

“Are you sure?” He looks concerned. This case was important to you. The killer had been shooting the parents and torturing the child. It was messing you up and everyone could see it.

“Spencer, grab your gun let’s go.” He nods and heads to the car.  

“Hey beautiful I got a number. Sending it now.” She hung up and you dialed the number she sent you.

“Hello?” It was a woman, there was a T.V. on in the background.  

“Hello. Ma’am I’m Agent Y/L/N with the FBI. I need you to listen very carefully. Get your husband and child and hide. My team is on my way and we will be there soon.”

“What? Why?” You heard screams and looked at Spencer nervously.  

“Ma’am? Hello?” The phone hang up. “Spencer, step on it.” He turned on the sirens and went faster, something he had never done. You arrived and saw a van out front. “I’m going in Spence, we can’t wait any longer.”  

“Y/N, wait! They will be here in like 2 seconds, you aren’t going in alone.” You heard guns shots and your mind took over. You jumped out of the car hearing your name being called. The door was closed but unlocked and in front of you were the parents, the child not in sight. Next to them was a man holding them at gun point. You knew him, you had interviewed him just days before.  

“Jacob, you don’t have to do this.” You remembered everything about him. His parents had hurt him as a child and he wanted others to feel his pain. It all clicked as you saw him. “Jacob, one way or another you are getting out of here. You decide whether it’s dead or alive.” He pointed his gun at you.  

“You don’t understand. These people don’t deserve their child. They aren’t good people.” You slowly set your gun down.  

“Jacob, lower your gun.” He held his finger on the trigger about to pull it. “Jacob. Let them go. Think about what you are doing to their child? Leaving them without their caretakers, torturing them. Jacob you know what that’s like to not have people that care for you. Don’t do this.” He started to lower his gun but raised it again, pulling the trigger and hitting your arm as Derek tackled him.

You felt someone behind you. “Don’t worry about me. Go help the parents and find the kid.” Derek had put Jacob in cuffs and Spencer was helping the parents. Hotch came up to you. “I’m fine. Really. I can wait we have to go find the kid.” He shook his head.  

“The medics are outside. Let’s go.” He grabbed your other arm so you had to walk with him to get checked out. Lucky for you the bullet had just grazed you arm, it still took some skin but nothing serious. As they finished bandaging you up Spencer came to sit next to you.  

“I’m fine genius. Just grazed my skin.” He still looked concerned.

“Good job. I heard you talking there and uh, just wanted to say you were brave. I shouldn’t have tried to stop you and I’m sorry I was just-” You interrupt him.

“It’s fine. You were probably right but I don’t know. Something just, took over me. I didn’t even realize I was running off. Don’t worry.” He smiles and I squeeze his hand.

On the jet you sat in a chair towards the back where no one else was. You felt someone looking at you only to see Hotch. “Aaron please.” He sits in front of me. “You would have done the same thing. I heard the gun go off and we couldn’t risk waiting. He could have already killed them and gotten ready to do something to the kid. I couldn’t let that happen. I mean, what if he had already killed the kid when we had heard the gunshot? Aaron-” He stops your rambling.

“Good job today. You shouldn’t have gone in without back up, but you saved lives today. I’m more thinking about you and Spencer almost missing the flight. If you two are in a relationship I need to know.” I look at my hands.

“No, we are not in a relationship. We were late because I was hungover and had to get ready in 5 minutes so we could make it in time. I’m sorry it won’t happen again.” He nods and walks away. All you could think about was Spencer. He definitely didn’t like me like that. We are just friends. Right?

[bangtan-sonyeonddaeng]

Hybrid! Yoongi Scenario|

Your day started off a mess. You woke up late, and were consequently late to work. In your rush you had completely forgotten your umbrella. And now as you stand outside running through the puddles, clothes becoming soaked as the water sloshed up you began to feel the frustration settling in. You were exhausted and just wanted to get home. You race to the bus stop and finally make it to the shelter. You sit on the bench, breathing heavily as you try to catch your breath. While you are sitting there, you notice a small black form across the street underneath a bench and shivering. You become curious, walking across the street. As you get closer you notice its a black cat with piercing green eyes. It’s wary of you, looking like its ready to run. You kneel down sitting on your heels, uncaring that you are becoming soaked again. The cat hisses at you.

“Hey there, none of that. I’m not going to hurt you I promise.” You hold your hand out and the cat bats it away with its paw. 

“You’re a feisty little one aren’t you? I promise you don’t have to be afraid of me. Do you want to come home with me? It’s gotta be better than staying out here shivering in the rain.” The cat stares at you and seems to be thinking over your words. It cautiously steps out from under the bench, before bumping its head against your hand. You smile and scratch its ears and can hear the loud purrs escaping from its throat.

“Yay! Okay but you have to be quiet! I need to take the bus to get home and they can’t hear you or they’ll kick me off.” The purring immediately stops and the cat hops onto your lap. You scoop the tiny creature into your arms and under your coat to hide. There is a rather large lump and it is painfully obvious you are hiding something, you just hope no one cares enough to confront you on it. 

You step onto the bus and make your way towards the very back, hoping not to draw attention to yourself. You glance down at the inside if your coat and see the furry critter fast asleep. You smile and scratch its head, earning an odd look for the woman sitting closest to you. You make a face at her and she quickly turns back around to face the front. 

You stop off at the 24 hour mart near your house to buy the supplies you need to take care of your new friend. You set up a nice bed in the living room. The cat is still asleep, poor little thing seems to have had a rough go of it today just like you.  You set it gently on the bed and pat its head earning a content noise. You are exhausted after the day you’ve had, and walk back to your bedroom to collapse onto the bed. You are just about to drift off to sleep when you hear scratching and a soft meow at your door. You stand up and open the door and see the cat standing out there staring at you. 

“Oh? You want to sleep with me?” The cat walks into the room and jumps onto your bed and looks at you expectantly. 

“Alright little one you can stay here tonight.” You lay on the bed and pat your chest and the small dark cat curls onto you and purrs contently. 

“I should probably think of a name for you huh? Are you a boy?” That earns you a meow. 

“Okay, how about shadow?” A low growl escapes his throat. 

“Mittens?” That earns you a bop on the nose with his paw. You giggle. 

“Alright how about Min? Or Minmin that’s cute right?” The cat meows and begins purring again happily.

“Alright, Min it is then.”

Over the next few weeks you begin to notice some odd things happening in your home. Your shampoo and conditioner seems to be running out faster than you remember. And you could have sworn 2 pairs of pants and a sweater were missing from your closet. Not to mention your fridge also seemed to have food periodically go missing from it. You are discussing these strange occurrences with your coworker. 

“Did you even consider the fact that maybe the cat you brought home is a hybrid?” You drop your chopsticks on the table and nearly choke on your rice. 

“There’s no way! Hybrids are so rare and most of them have owners.”

“Maybe his abandoned him.” 

“Min can’t be a hybrid. And besides why would he hide it from me? There’s no reason for it.” Your coworker contemplates this for a moment.

“The only thing I can think of is that he’s scared y/n. His old owners probably abandoned him and he thinks maybe if he stays in his cat form you’ll see him as defenseless and needing to be taken care of so you don’t abandon him too.” You heart sinks at that before the panic settles in.

“Oh my god. If he really is a hybrid then I’ve been such a shitty owner! Making him sleep on the cat bed and having him eat that horrible canned food. Oh he’s probably starving! I need to go to the store and get him some real food.. wait what do cat hybrids even eat?!”

“Whoa whoa whoa y/n calm down. You don’t even know if he is a hybrid. Why don’t you go home and talk to him first. I’ll tell the boss you got food poisoning or something. Just ask him and go from there.” 

“Okay, you’re right. Thank you by the way you’re the best. I’ll see you on Monday!” You rush out of the restaurant and head home. The bus ride seems to take longer than normal as you can’t wait to find out if you do actually have a hybrid living with you. 

You open the apartment door and see Min sleeping in the cat bed, but his ears seem to perk up when he hears the door open. You walk over and scratch his head and he slowly opens his eyes. The look he gives you is almost... fond?

“Hey there Min, did you miss me?” A meow. 

“Well good because I missed you too. Listen I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest with me.” He tilts his head at you and seems confused. 

“Well, you see it’s just that me and my coworker were talking and… okay there is no way for me to just beat around the bush.. are you a hybrid?” You notice the fur on the back of his neck stand up and his ears flatten against his head. 

“It’s totally fine if you are, Min. I just need to know so I can take care of you properly.” He seems to make himself smaller and averts his gaze.

“Minmin, please. Just be honest with me I won’t abandon you I swear.” You swear he sighs as he gets up and stretches and walks away. You think you are wrong about this whole thing until you see a man’s face peek around the corner of your bedroom door. He’s wearing the sweat pants and sweater that went missing from your closet weeks ago.

“Holy shit you really are a hybrid!”

“U-um.. yeah. Hi.” 

“Hi! Oh do you have a name already then?”

“Well, my real name is Yoongi. But you can call me Min or Minmin still. It’s um.. cute I like it.” You smile at that. 

“Okay.. but I don’t understand. Don’t you have an owner already?” His gaze falls at that. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject. Come here.” You pat the spot on the couch next to you. Yoongi sits on the far end, away from you. 

“Min, come on I won’t bite you come closer to me.” You pat your lap and he hesitates for a moment before laying his head down on your lap. Your hand rests on his head and you begin scratching behind his ears. He visibly relaxes at that. 

“My old owners abandoned me.”

“What?! Are you serious?! Where do those assholes live I am going to beat the shit out of them and then report them to the authorities it’s illegal to abandon a hybrid!” You move to stand up but Yoongi keeps his head firmly on your lap to prevent you from getting up.

“It was my fault y/n.” 

“What do you mean?”

“One of the kids in the house… I swear to God this kid just kept trying to provoke me so I would lash out and get kicked out. He never liked me from the start because I took the attention off of him.. Anyway. He kept pulling on my ears and tugging my tail no matter how many times I asked him not to. One time he pulled a little too hard and my instinct reaction of course was to scratch and bite him. They threw me out and told me to never come back. I was on the street for two weeks before you found me.” 

“I’m so sorry, Yoongi. But that wasn’t your fault at all that brat had it coming if you ask me. I would have done the same thing.” 

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Gosh I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through.” You continue running your fingers through his hair and he purrs happily. 

“Yoongi.. do you want to stay with me?”

“Um… Y-yes I’d like to. If that’s okay with you. You’re.. nice.” He says this with a small smile on his face.

“Of course it is. I would love to have you here with me. This is your home now. You’ll always have a home with me, I promise.” Yoongi’s eyes open at that and he smiles at you widely. 

“Okay.”

“How about if tomorrow we go get you a collar, I’ll register you too so we can make it official. We can get you some clothes and go shopping for some food you’ll actually like.” Tears well up in his eyes as he sits up. He wraps his arms around you and nuzzles into your neck. 

“Thank you y/n. Thank you so much.” 

After that day you two had grown quite attached to one another. You absolutely adored Yoongi, loving to spoil him and take care of him to show him how he should have been treated all of this life. And Yoongi absolutely adored you in return. He was your life companion. He was your best friend as you were his. As you grew older, Yoongi noticed you becoming weaker. The smallest things would tire you and you began to struggle to even do simple things like cook or clean up the house. You were aging, however hybrids do not age nearly as fast as humans so he still had the same youthful energy he did when you met him. In spite of all this, you were incredibly stubborn. Not allowing him to help with anything and staying determined to keep your independence. 

Everything came to a head one day when you were standing in the kitchen cooking. You had been standing for a little too long and your legs gave out and you collapsed onto he floor. 

“Y/n!” Yoongi rushes over to you and looks you over to make sure you’re okay.

“I’m fine Yoongi you don’t need to fuss over me.” You wave your hand as if to dismiss him.

“Goddamnit y/n stop being such a stubborn old fool and let me help you!” 

“This stubborn old fool is going to clock you if you keep disrespecting me you brat!” You muster up your most intimidating glare but Yoongi immediately starts laughing at you. You can’t help but laugh along with him. 

“Y/n.. please it’s my turn to take care of you now. You’ve given me everything. A home, a life, you’ve shown me what it’s like to be loved unconditionally by someone and also love them just as much. You’re getting old. I know you hate hearing me say it but you’re going to seriously hurt yourself if you keep being so stubborn. Let me help you.” You sigh in defeat. You look up at him and smile. 

“Alright, Yoongi. You win.” You hold your arm out and he stands to help you get up off the floor. He walks you over to the couch and helps you sit. He pats you on the head and you laugh at that. 

“Now you stay here. I’ll finish up dinner.  Like I said, It’s my turn to take care of you so you just stay there and don’t move a muscle.” He walks away and you look after him with a fond smile on your face. You can’t help but think that horrible day at work was the best thing that ever happened to you. If you weren’t late, you never would have had to stay past your normal shift. Which means you never would have met Yoongi. He looks over his shoulder feeling your gaze on him and smiles, feeling grateful for the hardships he endured because they lead him to you. 

[rougebangtan]

pairing: namjoon | gender neutral!reader

genre: fluff, a laughable attempt at crack

word count: 1.099

prompt: candle

a/n: @moccahobi​, lilli! this one is for you since you picked namu hahah. hope you like it. also, huge thanks to @youarejesting​ for supporting me in this effort, and acknowleding me. i appreciate you so much. i posted this last minute!! saved by the bell 🥱

Walking inside of your home, you finally let yourself heave a grave sigh.

As you threw away your bag and keys and got rid of your high-heel shoes, there was only one thing on your mind: you needed a bath. You heeded your coworker’s advice after you couldn’t stop complaining about the tension and stiffness of your muscles, and she carefully told you that she usually did a nice session of hot yoga before soaking up in the bathtub when her body felt rusty.

You considered her advice to be quite useful; the idea sounded too relaxing to turn down, and you wanted nothing more than to loosen up. While still at work, you’d stare at the clock countless times, wistfully wishing the time would pass in a blink of an eye, so you could go home. Expect that hoping for something to happen doesn’t equate to it happening. The workhours had been painstaking torture, but you were free. Home, at last.

The laziness, however, began to cripple on you once your eyes spotted the coziest spot in your apartment – the living room. You see it every day when you get back from work, and the sight brings you an unshakable sense of peace. The sofa had been placed right beside the glass door, which led to your tiny balcony that was filled with plants and flowers. Resolute in your decision to actively get your body moving, you sigh as you march towards your room to freshen up.

If one thing adulthood had taught in your life, it’s that a proposed challenge is a challenge meant for solving, and that’s exactly what you aim for the evening. Just to do some hot yoga, and take a nice bath. Not only would you induce your brain into a serotonin frenzy, but also, you’d finally have the opportunity to use a scented candle you got as a birthday gift the previous year.

You spared the item for a long while because it was one of the most bougie presents you’ve ever received as of late. Besides, it had been given to you by the cute boy next door. Namjoon wasn’t a boy, he was probably a couple of years older than you, yet his dimpled smiles gave him a boyish type of charm. Said charm that you pleaded guilty of swooning over every single time.

Determined is how you feel when you go back to the living room, ready to rock the yoga class. With your phone in your hands, you swiftly mirror the video from the link sent earlier by your coworker on the TV. As the instructor begins her class with easy stretching movements, it gives you more confidence to follow her steps. To your dismay, that short start was a treacherous trick to bring you into a false sense you can, indeed, replicate her positions.

You’re in agony, holding your ankle to a height you never imagined possible when the yoga instructor calmly announces the class would end in 5 minutes. She looks so serene even as she twists her body yet again in another impossible pose for your unaccustomed body.

“Ugh!” You bemoan at the painful stretch. “Why doesn’t it end?”

Right when you’re about to switch positions again, you hear a thump coming from outside, and naturally, you look out on your balcony’s window, only to spot Namjoon arriving home. He sees you as well and waves at you from the distance, his signature smile graciously directed at you. The fact causes you to feel self-conscious. Your crush shouldn’t be able to see you looking all sweaty like this.

You jump on your feet at the silly, and uncalled for, moment of embarrassment. Wanting to take your relaxing bath, you decide to light the candle beside the tub, so it could scent your bathroom while you prep your skin and let the tub fill with hot water. It doesn’t take long, and soon you’re basking in pure bliss. Both your skin and body are taken care of.

The candle’s scent was of a delicious mixture of marshmallow and pumpkin spice. Everything was going great; you had music playing and started to fall asleep. That was until the smell of smoke began to waft into your nostrils. It causes you to jolt awake, and let out what you consider to be a shameful scream, as you promptly spot the causer of such mess. A small hand towel had caught on fire.

Climbing out the tub, and still a bit panicked, you carefully remove the towel from the hook, quickly throwing it into the water. Before you have any more time to process what happened and, maybe, to also dress (not that it was a big of a deal), you hear a knock on your door. 

Hurriedly, you wrap a towel around your body and run to answer it. It must be important, seeing as no one knocks on your door. You’re deeply surprised when you open it and encounter with your eye-candy of a neighbor, sweet and helpful Kim Namjoon. He smiles at first, but as he takes in your appearance, his eyes are fast to dodge yours.

Clearing his throat, he gestures towards you. “You are not wearing anything.”

Your eyes bulge out of their sockets as you realize it and you swear you had never closed a door shut so quickly in your life. “Oh my freaking goodness…”

“Seems like I caught you at a bad time,” He utters loudly, his voice trespassing through the wooden barrier.

“Yeah,” you trail off, just as loudly. “I just got off my bath. What did you want to talk about?”

“I wanted…” He begins to answer but then cuts his sentence in the middle. “I wanted to see if you’d be down for some dinner…? Sorry to have interrupted you, though.”

“It’s okay,” you giggle happily and you don’t know if you were cursed or blessed for the turn of events. “I’d love to. Just give me a few minutes to put something on and I meet you there, okay?”

You can’t see him, but you suppose he nods at your question. Barely do you know is that the man has the biggest smile on his face. “Alright, I’ll warm up the food! Don’t take too long!”

“Sure!” You shout as your feet run back to your room, your mind conjuring up the many possibilities of outfits you could wear. Even though, you’d know you’ll settle with a hoodie and sweater pants.

Chuckling to yourself, you shake your head in incredulity. If God existed, he sure did miracles.

[severeblizzardlady]

Music in My Ears

Soulmate AU - You hear your soulmate’s music. But what are you supposed to do if they happen to be in another universe entirely? 

Pairing: Jin Bubaigawara x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, Sexual themes (some non-con/dubious consent), Jin’s shenanigans (also, language barriers? Sometimes they’re a thing, sometimes they’re not), and a weeeeee bit of yandere

Disclaimer: I don’t own the music

“Baby shark, do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shark--”

“[Name], I swear to God, you need to stop singing that fucking song.” Your cousin said, glaring at you from the corner of her eye. After visiting your cousin and her family for the week, it was time for you to fly back home. She’d offered to drive you to the airport, even though you were fine with getting a taxi. 

Obviously, she was starting to regret it.

“It’s not my fault that’s the only thing your kids wanna listen to!” You snapped. And it was true. The entire time you’d been there, those sweet, angelic children begged to hear that song at least once or twice a day. 

She muttered something then, something about “empty heads,” but Mom had taught you not to hit someone when they were driving. Louder, she said, “Just listen to the song all the way through. That should get it out.”

“Okay,” You reached for the stereo’s power button only to get your hand smacked. “Hey!”

“I’m not listening to it, use your player!”

Dammit. “Hmph, this better work,” You stuffed your earbuds into your ears, finding the song. “I don’t wanna get thrown off the plane mid-flight.” 

---

“No good, no good, no good.” Jin Bubaigawara, AKA the villain Twice, couldn’t breathe. The walls were constricting all around him, and not just from that yakuza Mimic. He’d been slow in making the wall that separated Twice from that Salaryman hero. It was on purpose, he’d wanted Jin to get caught.

No way, that couldn’t be right!

Gin grit his teeth. The pull was getting worse, the one deep inside, threatening to rip him into pieces--of course it wasn’t, he was fine. Just dandy even!

“Gonna split apart. Hooray! I’m...splitting!! I won’t!”

Hurting, it hurt so bad. No, actually, it felt just fine, like a warm bubble bath! Where was Toga? Why couldn’t he have just ignored those beaked bastards that day?

“Gonna split...if I don’t cover up!!” He, he was--

“Baby shark do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shark do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shark do-do-do-do-do-do. Baby shark!”

The splitting stopped. Something in Jin’s chest shifted, no it didn’t! It was deeper, in his soul. Like a piece that he hadn’t realized was missing had just snapped into place as music filled his ears. A song about sharks that just kept going in his ears. Even as Toga wrapped her handkerchief around his head to prevent him from splitting further (Unfortunately!~). 

Did this mean he had a soulmate? For all of his life, Jin had never had a soulmark. No red strings, no mysterious bruises (but the ones he made were plenty mysterious on their own!), no music...until now. The song sounded like it was for kids, a real banger! Was his soulmate a kid? They could just call him grandpa!

“If this cooperation thing doesn’t work out,” Toga said suddenly, dragging Jin out of his thoughts (She didn’t have to be jealous!). “We’ll never get our revenge.”

“It’s the end do-do-do-do-do-o. It’s the end!”

---

You didn’t get thrown off the plane. And you no longer had the Baby Shark song in your head. Both were a plus. 

Once you were home safe and sound, you had a little time to rest and relax before you were back to work again. Honestly, you hadn’t planned to spend your entire time off visiting family, but your parents blackmailed you. Really, you serenade a cat in public one time, and suddenly you’re marked for life. 

Whatever, you would do it again in a heartbeat. All cats deserve to know they’re loved!

You worked. And worked. And worked. And worked. And every day after work, you’d collapse on your couch with something quick to eat, like food from the freezer section at the store or takeout. Sometimes your neighbors, the couple in the next place over, would start yelling or start having sex. Both were loud and messed with your stomach--whether in anxiety or just...not wanting to hear them have sex because, holy shit, who had sex that often (where they leads in a smutty romance?). So you’d listen to music. 

You flinched at a dull thump that came from the wall on the other side of your apartment. You knew, from the one time they’d invited you over, that your neighbors had a bookshelf there. It sounded an awful lot like something had been slammed into it. 

“O-oh fuck!” The woman moaned.

“Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.” You nearly threw your takeout to the floor with how quickly you grabbed your ear buds. Trying to shove them into your ears as a repetitive thud started, you turned up the volume as high as you could before pressing play. Then, as Freaks by Timmy Trumpet started playing, you collected your food and hustled to the bedroom.

“I need to move.” 

---

“The bass and the tweeters make the speakers go to war. Ah, the mighty trumpet brings the freaks out to the floor.”

“You’re doing it again.” 

“Huh?” Jin whipped around to see Dabi fixing him with a blank stare. Wait, nu-uh, the blank stare was his usual look. That was Dabi’s annoyed look. 

When Jin just kept staring back, Dabi sighed. “You hearing your soulmate again? Every time you do, you start wriggling like you’re gonna pee yourself.”

“That’s because I wanna dance! Nah, you caught me, this music’s bad on my bladder!” 

Weeks had passed after the League had gotten their revenge on the bird bastard yakuza. With vengeance for Big Sis Magne taken care of, it was back to business. Well, when they felt like it anyway! They mostly lazed around a lot. 

With the yakuza’s serum in their hands, it should’ve been smoother sailing, but Jin wasn’t able to copy it. Shigaraki’s disappointment had been palpable that day (well, maybe he was just constipated!). The guilt of it weighed on Jin. Again, he’d let his friends down again. 

And yet, every time he felt down, every time he felt like a failure, he heard it. Music. His soulmate (stalker!).

The second time he heard the music was when he was in the middle of a League meeting. One second it had been quiet, nothing but Shigaraki discussing their next steps, and then: 

What a splendid pie, pizza-pizza pie. Every minute, every second, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy! 

 He was pretty sure kids didn’t listen to metal. But maybe their parents were just really edgy!! 

But the songs kept coming, none like the first. Some had a whimsical element to them, though, like the music had been doused in glitter and summoned from a unicorn’s ass. 

The music always came when Jin needed it. Always when he felt useless, like he couldn’t provide for his friends or protect their happiness. Maybe his soulmate could sense his distress and that caused the music. Nah, it was aliens.

“I still think we should find ‘em!” Toga cut in, chin resting on her hands. “Even if you don’t recognize the music, you. Being away from your soulmate for too long can’t be healthy!” 

“Yeah,” Spinner piped up, “but even so, how’re we supposed to find them? We can’t even find that music online.” 

Both were good points (eh, sorta). Soulmates had to unit at some point, particularly those with a hearing bond. Eventually, they’d begin hearing more than just each other’s music. They’d hear conversations and anything else their mate happened to hear. It drove people insane, the way the universe was desperate for destined lovers to be together. Or maybe it needed to be more aggressive, push a little harder! 

But....

“We’ll find them eventually,” Jin gave his friends a thumbs up. “For now, let’s focus on what’s ahead of us!” Of course a soulmate was nice, especially one that cared for him--so nosy!--the way his did. But his friends needed him. Unlike his soulmate, they were right there, and he could make sure they got everything they needed for their happiness. 

Toga watched him with curious eyes even when Shigaraki finally arrived for the meeting, but she didn’t say anything else. 

---

“You don’t look too good, [Name].” 

You smiled despite your upset stomach, trying to wave off your coworker’s concerned stare. “Had a little bit of food poisoning this morning.” Just the mention of food made your stomach want to wring itself out until you vomited again. 

It’d been a mistake, drinking as much as you had the night before, but you’d finally managed to snag a new place and had celebrated with a drink. Or three. Man, that had not been smart. 

“Hey, if you’re not feeling well, head on home, all right?” Your coworker said, stepping back a little. Like you were going to puke on her pumps. You would’ve bristled at that if your head didn’t hurt so much. A little bit of vomit would’ve been an improvement. Her shoes looked like they’d seen better days. “We’ve got that meeting this morning too.”

Yeah, that was the only reason you’d shown up. Your boss had reminded everyone about how important the meeting was. There was no way you could miss, especially not because you were hung over. 

As you ambled into the meeting room, there was a buzzing in your ear. You frowned, rubbing the back of your neck. Instead of dying down, especially once the meeting started, it got worse, to the point the buzzing sounded like, like music. A slow song, one full of longing and love. God, were you so messed up from just three drinks that you were suddenly hearing music? 

Which was what you thought. At first. But then it kept happening when you hadn’t had any alcohol. It was never at the same time of day, sometimes it happened when you were eating lunch or talking to someone. It was good, almost always rock after that first romantic-ish sounding song, but you had no idea why it was happening. 

You could still hear, but there was music. Music no one else could hear, and you’d asked plenty of your coworkers, nearly making an ass of yourself in the process. 

The only time it stopped was when you got home. The time you really needed it to and had to resort to your own music (until you could move out at least). 

You wondered if you were going crazy.

---

Jin was going crazy. And he didn’t want to say it was Shigaraki’s fault, because it honestly wasn’t! It really fucking was though. 

“We’re finding your soulmate,” Shigaraki said one day after they’d taken down a wannabe villain group that was trying to stake a claim on the League’s territory. The group had some valuables among them, some money and a nice stereo system.

Shigaraki had taken one look at it all and demanded it get carried back to the base. Mr. Compress, the swell guy, did all the heavy lifting, and he’d broken a sweat by the end of it! 

 “I thought we had more important things to do,” Dabi groused. He’d stepped out earlier, something about calling a potential recruit.

“We’re not doing anything without Jin,” Shigaraki stated, turning on the system. Music filled the air. “And if that means we have to take the time to find his soulmate, we’ll do it.”

If only Shigaraki wasn’t looking out for them all. If only Shigaraki didn’t believe in him. Because even with the music on his side, nothing had changed. Jin was letting everyone down because nothing seemed to be working. Not that first song, the one that was literally saying, “I’m here, darling, come find me. May this song be the only one that fills your ears so you know I’m thinking of you.” It was made for auditory soulmates by a singer with an auditory soulmate. 

It was because you were a child, wasn’t it? Because you didn’t understand, were too young, couldn’t tell your parents. You were avoiding him, wanted nothing to do with him, thought he was a waste of your time. 

The music could only do so much to fill the void your presence would fill. He couldn’t think about anything for too long without you somehow being involved. People watching turned into wondering what you were like. Fighting turned into imagining you being amazed by his abilities. Smoking out his window at night turned into dreams of you calling for him from his bed, saying you missed him. Needed him. 

But the searches still turned out nothing. The music did nothing. It was like you weren’t even real to begin with. 

Where were you?

---

“It doesn’t look like anything’s wrong. To be honest, your hearing seems to be even better than most at your age!”

That had been the oto--ear doctor’s diagnosis after he’d tested you. After a quick Google search, you’d been sure you had tinnitus, which would’ve made sense with how much music you played to drown out your surroundings, but apparently you were wrong.

You hadn’t told the doctor you were hearing full songs that you’d never heard before. But maybe you should’ve? Even as you’d gotten in your car after the appointment, you could hear it again, that slow, yearning song that you’d first heard. God, if only Google had a melody search bar!

The music had stopped as you pulled into the apartment parking lot. You sighed. “Just like clockwork, huh?” 

It was your last night at the apartment. Tomorrow, you were moving everything into a new place. One that  was closer to your work so you’d be able to walk more. Maybe get some fresh air. And maybe the change would make the weird music go away. 

Not wasting a second, you pulled out your headphones and stuck them in your ears. Who knew what would be waiting for you tonight? At least it would be the last time though! With that happy thought, you stepped out of your car....

and felt the world give way underneath your feet.

---

“I know that we’re just perfect strangers, and perfect strangers, that just won’t do, no.”

God, were you trying to kill him? 

Another day fighting nobodies and taking everything they had. Jin felt like his skin was too tight on his bones, like everything was too loud and too bright and not bright enough. Jin had gone back to the base early. It was a bad idea, too dangerous (how fun!) on his own. But he needed to play the song again. 

He’d been playing  music all the time to tell you he was there listening, waiting, needing. Except you weren’t coming (Sure you were!), always just teasing him with your stupid music--nope, you were definitely calling to him right back!

“Why not make today the day that a perfect stranger falls for you, oh!”

You didn’t want anything to do with him, that was why you were hiding! The fabric of his costume crinkled as Jin clenched his fists, body shaking with rage. You were just mocking him, tormenting him, he wasn’t worth your time at all!

“Then I don’t need you either!” He roared, lunging at the sound system--

There was a rumble. The building shook, throwing Jin off balance. He yelped, tumbling and shielded his head at the last second. The shaking stopped as soon as it started.

“What the hell?”

Yeah--wait. He didn’t say that. Slowly lowering his arms, Jin found himself staring at a complete stranger in the middle of the League’s base. 

---

You were sitting in some sort of warehouse. You blinked. Then you blinked again, just to see if that would help. It didn’t. “What the hell?”

Your ear buds were still in, “Herp de Derp” still playing in your ears. And you would’ve taken them out right away if it weren’t for the costumed guy on the floor staring at you. 

Was he some sort of cosplayer? The costume, black with silverish gray lines on the body suit and red wrist...things and a mask that was half gray and half black, looked sort of familiar. Like you’d seen it on Adult Swim at some point while channel surfing late at night. 

You hoped that all the muscle accentuated by the suit was padding. Wait, no, you needed to leave. 

“S-Sorry, I...where am I exactly?” He said something then, but you couldn’t quite hear because, duh, your music was still on. “Um, sorry,” you tapped your ears and tried to smile (it was all getting creepier by the second), “just lemme....” 

Tapping a finger on the screen, you paused the music, pulling out your ear buds.

The guy jolted to his feet then, making you flinch (you were starting to think the muscles were his, if the way they flexed was any indication). You had no idea what kind of expression he had under that mask but the eye holes were wider than they’d been before. Like he was bugging out. “You.”

“Y-yeah?” He had a really nice voice. It was a shame things were getting more surreal and even creepier by the second. You were still on the ground, your legs felt numb.

He was on you before you even realized it, solid, warm body pushing into you, making you feel that, no, there was no padding. The shock of it startled you, making your nerves zing in a way they never had before, like something about this was right, even as your stomach flopped at the fact that you were in a strange place with a strange man who was touching you. 

His body slotted against yours perfectly, making you feel every inch of him. Your mouth was dry, no words could come out, only a slight squeak. “You’re not a kid, I was worried. I was looking forward to being called ‘grandpa’!” His hands trembled as they went to your face, tracing your lips, cupping your cheeks. “I knew the universe would make sure we came together. Except this was all me!” 

You had no idea how to respond, not to his babbling or his contradictory way of speaking. You didn’t get a chance to either. His mouth was on yours, lower half of his mask pushed up out of the way. There was a vague feeling of stubble, but all you could focus on was the tongue in your mouth, inviting yours to meet it. 

All you could focus on was the thick hands sliding down to your ass to drag you forward until you were sitting in this man’s lap. 

All you could focus on was the heat of it all. Of how good it felt. Of wanting more. Of wanting to go home, wherever that was. 

He moaned when you clutched at his back, mouth leaving yours to plant kisses down your neck. “My soulmate, all mine. Finally.” He panted the words between each kiss, as though being away from your skin for even a second was too long.

Soulmate?

You shivered when he began to shift, hands moving to your hips. When he finally spoke again, his voice was raspy, thick with desire and something too dark to be considered love:

“I’ll never let you go.”

[eternalsehyoon]

Park Jinyoung - Beautiful stranger (part one)

Title: Beautiful Stranger

Pairing: Jinyoung x Reader

Words: 1.6k

Summary: You work in a café and meet a beautiful stranger. Being quite insecure when it comes to feelings, and completely naïve when it comes to guys flirting with you, you don’t really see how much this stranger is into you... until your much too involved best friend convinces you otherwise.

I was cleaning the tables in the tiny café I have been working to for the past three years and a half. As much as I told myself I despised it, it had become a part of my routine and I had built my circle of friends around it. The customers were all usual, except for the few occasional tourists. Which meant I could tell you the names of almost every client who walked in the café, and my coworkers were like my family. My goal was to be a best-selling author, but as you probably know, it's easier said than done. I had been working on my book since I got this crappy job, and even though the novel itself was complete, my perfectionist self couldn't dare to send it to a publishing company.

"Y/N!!" My colleague and, most importantly best friend Kim called. "I know how much you hate tying up your hair, but I swear to God Josie will kill you if she sees you serving food with your hair down." I simply sighed, rolling my eyes. I knew Kim was just checking out on me, but I couldn't help to be a tiny bit annoyed by her attitude. I lazily grabbed an elastic in the front pocket of my dark apron and rapidly tied my long brown hair in a messy bun. "See." I pointed to the top of my head. "Happy, now?"

"Very." She simply stated, with a wide smile plastered on her face. Her title had just bumped from simple waitress to assistant manager and she took her role way too seriously, if you ask me.

Kim made her way from behind the counter to literally five inches away from me in the span of a few seconds. My reflexes made me take a huge step back, but my friend quickly closed the space between us and approached her mouth to my left ear, only to whisper: "By the way, you know, just like that... You've been cleaning this same table for the last thirty minutes." I let out a slight chuckle, covering my mouth with my right hand. "I don't know what you're talking about." "Sure..." She rolled her eyes. "I'm certain it has nothing to do with the handsome young man sitting right there, a couple of tables away." She wasn't subtle at all, since she almost yelled out the last sentence. I looked over at the table in question, and thanked the Lord that the "young man" was wearing a large pair of headphones on his head.

I caught myself staring at him again, noticing every little detail. From the way he was holding his phone with one hand, to the way he was using the other to occasionally sip on his latte. I felt my heart skip a beat, what the hell was happening? His hands were veiny, and his fingers were slightly crooked but had a perfect length. His dark brown hair was falling on his forehead adorably, and I enjoyed the way he would grin every so often while looking down at his phone with a smile so genuine, he almost resembled a small child receiving his first toy.

It was the first time I had seen him, you know, he was far from our typical 60 year old customer. When he had entered the place, he shyly asked for a table for one and I escorted him to my favorite spot; a small round table accompanied by two leather-covered lazy boy type chairs, by the window. The bistro was practically empty, so he was the only customer I could take care of, if you didn't count the two elders who would occasionally ask me to refill their coffees. "M-my name is Y/N and I'll be your waitress today." I stuttered. I handed him our menu, and he simply nodded with a smirk appearing on his lips as a form of "thank you". "I'll be back in a couple of minutes to see if you've made your choice." He looked up at me and that's when I realized he had the most gorgeous dark brown eyes. "Earth to Y/N!!!!" Kim exclaimed, bringing me back to my senses. "Go ask him for his number, for God's sake, or I'll do it for you." She ordered, half-serious. I bursted out laughing. "If you think one second that I've got the guts to even do that, you don't fucking know me, Kim!" She cackled. "Don't make me do it, Y/N." She threatened me jokingly, while making her way to the counter to start a new batch of coffee.

Kim had been working here for the past five years; she could pour a cup of coffee, answer the phone and print receipts all at the same time. It impressed me how determined she was, since she was still a student and didn't plan on working here forever.  I followed her steps, only to print the stranger's receipt, since he had been in here for the past hour and a half. I awkwardly strutted towards the customer, "Here's your receipt, don't hesitate to tell me if you need any-anything else." I placed the piece of paper on the table gently, and as he took it, his hand brushed the top of mine, so I removed it swiftly. My cheeks were burning and I could see that his were turning bright red. It was like we were having a staring contest, and I swore I could get lost in his eyes for hours without even realizing it. His gaze shifted from my eyes, down to my nose and lips and then to the receipt he was holding. "My name is Park Jinyoung, by the way..." He muttered. "Uhm... I don't know why I said that but, yeah..." He took his face between his hands, his elbows leaning on the small round table and looked down. I let out a small giggle, I was sort of relieved that he was nervous also, I mean, that was a good sign, right?

Even when he was completely mortified, Jinyoung was still the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on.  "You can go to the register when you are ready to pay." I mumbled and left.

An excited Kim was waiting for me in the kitchen. She had witnessed this whole scene and was jumping around everywhere, I swore she was going to break something. She took my two hands in hers while she began dancing; I was just standing still, wondering what the hell was going on with this woman.

"He's soooooo into you!" She spoke melodically, almost like she was singing along to her favorite song. I sighed.

"Come on! You have to ask him on a date!" She was enjoying this too much, but that's what best friends are for, I guess. "Oh and I could tag along with Mark! It could be a double date!" She clapped her hands. Kim and Mark were the cutest couple I knew. They had just gotten engaged a few months ago and I always looked up to them as a model for what I want my future relationship to be like. I swore to myself that I would never waste my time with a guy if my eyes didn't sparkle like Kim and Mark's eyes do when they are around each other. That's what true love is, folks.

"Woah there!" I placed my hands on both her cheeks and gently pressed. "You need to calm down, he just told me his name. It's no big deal!"

"Whatever." Kim gave up and rolled her eyes, her sudden change of attitude caught me off-guard. "Just know you're your own cock-blocker." She pointed her index towards me and shrugged.

I was never the one to make the first move with guys. Even though I'm pretty confident most of the time, I always tend to chicken-out when feelings are involved. You could say self-sabotaging was my speciality.

I greeted new clients, placing them strategically all over the dining room. I was taking the order of a young couple while I noticed Jinyoung waiting at the register. My gaze scanned the place all over, Kim seemed nowhere to be seen so I tried my best to serve the couple as fast as I could in order to attempt to speak to Jinyoung for one last time.

Of course, the universe was totally against this plan. The guy, who was the male version of a Karen, wouldn't stop asking questions, and while I knew it was part of my job to answer him, I was completely annoyed. He kept on asking if the menu was vegan, and even though I told him it was not completely, but that we did in fact have some vegan options, he didn't want to cooperate at all. He only kept on yelling that we were all animal killers and left the restaurant, after insulting me.

I murmured a silent "go fuck yourself" to myself, before making my way to the register, noticing that Jinyoung had left the café already.

Just my fricken’ luck.

It was now the end of my shift, so I punched myself out and threw myself, completely exhausted, on one of the colorful bean bags in the break room. I had to wait for Kim, since she was my ride home. I scrolled on instagram for a couple of minutes when suddenly, a wild Kim appeared in the door frame, with the biggest grin on her face. I struggled to get up and out of the bean bag, my best friend laughing out loud at the view.

"I thought you'd want to have this." She handled me what I thought was a piece of paper.

I unfolded the wrinkly paper, soon realizing it was a receipt. Why exactly was she giving this to me?

"Flip it over and read." She ordered in a joyful manner.

It read:

To Y/N, Here's my number: 82-******* Please text me? I mean you don't have to... But I'd really like if you did? Jinyoung

My eyes grew three times their original size and I felt heat rise up my cheeks. So he was actually flirting with me?

******

Tell me if you guys are interested for part 2 and I will post it maybe in later this week!!! Thank you for reading :)

[sidehowriting]

Christmas Past

Masterlist in Bio!

A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you’re enjoying the holiday time! I shall be enjoying mine in Disney World with the boy and his family! What better way to celebrate this time then with some Christmas angst? This was written for 2 challenges. 1st is @capcountdownchristmas Count Down to Christmas and 2nd is @avengerscompound Take a Line Writing Challenge! The prompts just worked so well together so I had to combine them. 

Prompt 1:  Breaking up at Christmas

Prompt 2:  Why is duty such a jealous master?  Can it never share the heart with love? (not used as a quote but for inspiration)

Pairings: Steve x Reader

Summary: Steve is always late to Christmas. 

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: Angst, swears, fluff, light drinking, pregnancy, worry of miscarriage

Year 1 

"So, where's this secret boyfriend of yours?" Your coworker had asked you this question more times than you could count. It was starting to get annoying.

"He'll be here." You glanced at your watch again, noting that now he was officially an hour late. You knew he would be late but didn't know by how much.

"Mm hm." She sipped her cocktail, eyebrows raised. She didn't believe you. And that was fine. You didn't need her to. 

You rolled your eyes and headed to the bar, glad your company didn't skimp out and made it open. "Another daiquiri, please," you said, head bent over your clutch purse to fish out another single for a tip.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A work holiday party was the last place you wanted to get hit on. Especially when you were impatiently waiting for your date. 

"It's an open bar," you retorted, ready to take down whoever dare flirt with you. Your glare instantly fell when you realized who was talking. 

"Steve!" You threw your arms around his neck, hugging him closely. "You made it!"

"Of course, doll." He rubbed your back warmly. "I'm sorry I'm so late. I stopped to change first. I didn't think a bloody, dirty mission suit would be appropriate."

You pulled back, taking in his appearance. Besides the damp hair and dark circles under his eyes he looked fitting for a work Christmas party: a nice button up, dark slacks, just the faintest whiff of cologne. Stroking your thumb against his cheek you said, "It doesn't matter how late you are. You came."

His stare into your eyes were always intense and this time was no different. Such a sharp shade of blue piercing right into your soul. You closed your eyes, cutting off his gaze as you leaned into kiss him.

Your lips had just barely touched when your coworkers voice sounded. "Oh my god!" You pulled away from Steve, seeing your friend standing there, openly gawking. "Your secret boyfriend is Captain America!?"

"Surprise," you said sheepishly, glancing from your coworker to Steve. The two of you hadn't said that you were officially dating and felt uncomfortable that your coworker was the one to bring it up. 

If it bothered him, he didn't let on, however. He simply stuck out his right hand, the left going to the small of your back. "Steve Rogers. Pleasure to meet you." Him and your friend shook hands and any awkwardness you were worried about feeling never came. Everything seemed natural. 

And it continued that way for the rest of the night. Everyone you talked to was pleasant and warm to Steve. They weren’t as overbearing as you thought they might be. That, mixed with the free alcohol, you were having a great party. 

By the time the event came to a close, you were happy and pleasantly tipsy. You had carpooled with your coworker who had offered to give you a ride back home as well. “I’ll make sure she gets home safely,” Steve offered instead. You weren’t going to turn down that offer. After hugging your friend goodbye, she left, leaving the two of you alone.  

Steve pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, pressing a few buttons. You tried to stand on your tiptoes to see, but the alcohol made your balance unsteady. Steve chuckled softly, wrapping and arm around you to keep you up. “Whacha doin’?” You asked, still feeling wobbly. 

“Tony felt bad we were so late getting home from the mission, so he had one of his drivers take me here. I’m just letting him know we’re ready to leave.” He placed his phone back in his pocket. “C’mon, let’s head out. He should be here in just a moment.” 

With his arm still around your waist, he led you from the building. As soon as the two of you stepped outside, a sleek black car pulled up, getting you out of the harsh winter air quickly. Ever the gentleman, Steve opened the car door and made sure you got inside safely first. Once he was inside the car as well, you gave the driver your address and off you went.  

“So,” Steve started as the driver pulled onto the main road, “secret boyfriend, huh?” Even in your intoxicated state, you caught the humor in his voice. 

You giggled more than you would have if you were sober. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to say to her. The whole department really. They wouldn’t leave me alone when I said I was bringing a date to the Christmas party.” 

“I’ve been called a lot worse than a secret boyfriend.” He reached across the seat to take your hand. “Maybe we could lose the ‘secret’ part, huh?”

Warmth spread throughout your body as you looked from your joint hands to his face. “Yeah,” you said, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. “Okay. No secret boyfriend. Just boyfriend.” 

His smile matched yours as you both enjoyed the rest of the car ride in silence. The adrenaline was quickly eating away at the alcohol in your veins and by the time the car pulled up to your little apartment you felt much more sober. Steve offered to walk you up the steps and of course you let him. 

“Thank you again for coming tonight, Steve.” You fished around in your clutch again, this time hunting for your keys. 

“Of course, doll. Anything for you. Again, I’m sorry for making you wait.” 

“It’s fine.” You grabbed the keys tightly in your hands. “I’d wait forever for you.” 

As he smiled a few pieces of snow started to fall. You both glanced up, the sky now covered in white dots. “You should probably get inside,” he said, snowflakes landing in his hair. 

“Yeah, I should. It is…” Your phone was a lot easier to find in your small purse. “Midnight. Christmas.”

Everything was falling into place like one of those cheesy holiday movies you enjoyed watching so much. You stood on your tiptoes, now more stable, and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “Goodnight, Steve,” you whispered, slowly pulling away. Tiny flakes were sticking to your eyelashes, giving your vision a white hue. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Merry Christmas, doll.” He gave you one more chaste kiss before going back to the car. It didn’t take off until you were inside your apartment. From the window, you saw the car pull away and disappear into the snowy night. 

Year 2

“This boyfriend of yours coming or what?” Your dad asked, getting the table all set for Christmas dinner. 

You rolled your eyes, putting down the silverware. “He’ll be here.” 

“Well if he doesn’t come soon, we’re gonna eat without him.” Your dad huffed, going back into the kitchen to get more plates. 

You didn’t want to let on how stressed you were about Steve being late. Yes, you knew he would be, saving the world didn’t have a solid timeline, but the more your family bothered you about it the more the anxiety formed inside your chest. 

Once the food was ready, your mother said it was fine to wait a bit longer for Steve to arrive. A few more minutes wouldn’t do any harm. But your father insisted dinner be started. “What kind of boyfriend shows up late to Christmas dinner?”

You sat down across from your dad and folded your napkin onto your lap. “It’s just his line of work, Dad.” 

“And you still haven’t told us what that is.” He was annoyed by the secrets and you couldn’t blame him, but you knew if you told him he would have a hard time believing that as well. 

“You will when he gets here,” you said, coming to Steve’s defense. 

Your father made a comment about how rude it is to be late meeting the parents, especially for Christmas. You chose to ignore it and started passing the food around. Dinner was delicious as always and you wondered why you hadn’t come home for Christmas in years.

A few more comments were made about your boyfriend's lack of time management as dinner continued. It had tapered off as dishes were being cleaned and washed. By the time dessert was being cut and served, it seemed like everyone had forgotten he was coming. Everyone, but you. 

Three simple knocks at your parent’s front door had your heart racing. You hoped and prayed to whatever god was out there that it was Steve. 

"I got it!" Your dad called before you could get up. The winter wind entered the cozy house when your dad opened the door. "Yes?"

"Good evening, sir." Steve's voice greeted your ears. "I'm Steve Rogers. I'm sorry I'm late."

"Uh…" You watched your dad step aside so your boyfriend could walk in. "Yes. Of course. Come in."

Steve nodded his appreciation. "Thank you, sir."

You mother leaned over to whisper in your ear, "you didn’t say your Steve was the Steve."

You giggled as Steve came up to you. "I'm so sorry I'm late, sweetheart." He was still dressed for his mission, dark stealth suit covered in dirt and sweat. His hair was matted down and he desperately needed to wash his face. Hell, a whole shower would do him some good. "I had the team drop me off right at the house."

You gave him a quick kiss. "I'm just happy you're here." You wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him again, forgetting for a moment that your family was there.

Your father cleared his throat and you pulled away from Steve. "My daughter said I'd understand why you were late when you got here."

"Yes, sir. You see, we were in Germany when-"

Your dad raised his hand to stop Steve from explaining. "Son, it's fine. You were serving your country." 

Steve smiled, placing a hand on the small of your back. "Thank you for your understanding." 

Without a second thought, your mother offered a shower for Steve and whatever spare clothes they had that would fit him. Being polite, he declined at first but after some insistence he agreed. Clothing options were minimal, and he ended up in his white undershirt and a pair of overly decorated Christmas pajama bottoms your dad had from years ago. He looked a bit ridiculous, but he seemed happy.

With Steve out of the shower and by your side enjoying the remainder of your family’s Christmas dinner, you felt at ease. Steve fit in very nicely with everyone. Your mother found him charming, as you knew she would, and your dad, being an army vet, had a lot of common interests with him. Everyone got along better than you could have imagined. 

The guest room was made up for the two of you. You were elated to be able to lie in bed with Steve by your side. “I’m so glad you made it.” You pulled the covers up around you, the cold winter air somehow finding its way into the bedroom. 

“I am too.” He pulled you close, knowing how cold you always get at night. “I’m so sorry I was late.”

“It’s okay,” you said, maybe convincing yourself as well. “You made it and that’s what counts.”

He kissed your temple. “I know, I just wanted to make a good first impression with your parents.” 

“You did. They love you.” 

Even in the dark you could see his blue eyes light up. “I’m glad.” He kissed you, lips a bit chapped but still warm and comforting. Like home. “I love you so much, sweetheart.” 

“I love you too, Steve.” Your fingertips gently stroked his cheek and you watched his eyelids flutter shut. You knew he was exhausted from whatever mission he was on and therefore weren’t surprised when his breathing evened out mere moments later. “Merry Christmas,” you whispered before closing your eyes and joining him in sleep.

Year 3

“I’m sorry, miss, but we do close early on Christmas. If you want to order something, I would suggest doing it now, I’m sure the person you’re waiting for will understand.” You glanced at your watch, realizing you had been waiting at the restaurant Steve told you to meet him at for over two hours now. 

“I’ll be there right after the mission, okay? I have a surprise for you.” 

A mission that wasn’t supposed to take this long, but then when did they ever go according to plan? 

The waiter probed you again for your order, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Right, sorry. Yes, um, I’ll just have the grilled chicken then. Thank you.” 

You had texted Steve several times at this point, mostly out of concern for him. But now your blood sugar was running low, you were hungry, and your butt was starting to hurt from sitting at a table for two for so long. You didn’t want to be too mean, but you wanted to get your point across. The restaurant is closing soon so I’m just gonna eat without you.

Once the text was sent, you decided to just push Steve to the back of your mind and enjoy this nice Christmas dinner for one. 

After eating your dinner and a complimentary dessert (the waiter said it was because they just wanted to get rid of it but you had a feeling it was because the whole staff felt sorry for you) you did feel better. You almost felt bad for your short text to Steve. Almost. He did make you sit by yourself at a nice restaurant for hours.

When you got back to your apartment, you sent Steve another text telling him of your new location. You were sure he would have been able to figure it out himself but part of you hoped that this text would be the one he replied to. 

Your phone remained silent and dark, however, so you drew yourself a nice bubble bath. That would be relaxing. The warm water and suds eased the muscles you didn’t realize were so tense. The annoyance you felt towards Steve was slowly being released as well. 

He said he had a surprise for you. Until now you didn’t give it much thought, but suddenly you really wanted to know what it was. You had an idea, though. Steve had made several comments about settling down together, being with you forever. He had to be planning a proposal which made you even more annoyed he never showed up. 

You sank down farther into the water, trying to calm yourself down again. Getting all worked up again wasn’t going to change anything. You got stood up at a nice restaurant and now might be spending Christmas alone. But it was fine. This wasn’t the end of the world. Deep breathes.    

You stayed in the tub until the water turned cold. Only then did you get out and wrap yourself in a big, fluffy robe. You grabbed your phone again and checked for messages. None. 

Now you were starting to get angry. Your whole evening was wasted because Steve didn't show up. If you would have known, he wasn't going to show you would have made other plans.

But it’s still technically Christmas and dammit, you were going to enjoy it. You got into your comfiest, softest, pajamas, grabbed the book you had been meaning to keep reading and headed to your bedroom. You were going to enjoy Christmas night with or without Steve. 

No sooner had you snuggled up did you hear your front door open. Steve and yourself were the only ones with keys so you knew it had to be him. Opening your book, you decided to just ignore him until he came into the room. You were still mad after all. 

With heavy feet, you heard him cross the threshold. “Nice of you to show up.” Your tone was icy, and you refused to look up, knowing the instant you saw his blue eyes you would cave. 

He didn’t say anything at first, just gave a heavy sigh. “I know.” You peaked up and saw him kicking off his shoes. His suit was ripped and bloodied. Not the first time he’s come home like this. You were familiar with him coming home with black eyes and busted lips. Smelling of mud and gunpowder. It always broke your heart, but you knew how quickly he could heal.

Closing your book, you set it on your bedside table. “I waited.” Crossing your arms over your chest you remained irritated. “For hours at the restaurant. You never showed up. It was humiliating.” 

"I know," he repeated, walking over to you and sitting down on the bed. "Sweetheart, I'm so so sorry." 

"What was the reason this time?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "We were on our way back from Russia when we were alerted about a nearby Hydra cell forming. We wanted to tackle it before anything happened." 

As far as excuses go it wasn't the worst, but it didn't make you feel any less upset. "You said you had a surprise for me." Changing the subject seemed like the best decision. And you wanted to know what it was.

"I do." He got up and went to the closet, rummaging around it. "It was hard finding a hiding place you wouldn't find while cleaning." A small box was in his hands as he came back to the bed, getting down on one knee next to you. “You’re my best girl, Y/N. I wanted to ask you to marry me.” 

Your heart melted instantly. “Steve…” He opened the box and pulled out the ring. Simple, elegant, with a round diamond in the center. It was perfect. 

“Is that a yes?” His blue eyes sparkled with hope and love. 

You wanted to just blindly say yes. You wanted to say yes and kiss him and just tell him over and over again how much you loved him. “Steve, I…I don’t know.” 

Steve was a big guy but, in that moment, he looked so small. And hurt. “That’s okay, doll.” He put the ring back in its box. He slowly got up; eyes cast down. 

“Just…” You grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the bed with you. “I want to marry you, Steve. I swear to you, I do.” He was still guarded as he sat and watched you. The ring box being clutched in his large hands. “But I need you to want to marry me, too.” 

“I thought getting a ring and proposing was a pretty big indicator that I do.” 

“Yes, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Like today, when I wasted my night waiting for you to show up.” 

“Sweetheart, you know I-”

You raised your hand to cut him off. “I know, Steve. I know. Duty calls. But sometimes I want to call too. I want to be the one you’re putting before everything else.”

He sighed, running his hand over his face, smearing the dirt and blood that covered his skin. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I need to get better at making sure you’re a priority. I’ll work on putting missions aside and putting you first.” 

“You promise?” 

“I promise.” 

You reached up and touched his cheek. His usually smooth skin now feeling gritty from the debris. It didn’t matter to you, though. After a swift kiss to his lips you said, “I’d love to marry you, Steve Rogers.” 

His whole face lit up at the words and he slipped the ring onto your finger. “I love you so much, sweetheart.” He planted another kiss on your lips, needy and hungry. Leaving your breathless. “I’m sorry I was late,” he repeated, resting his forehead against yours.

“It’s okay. Make it up to me now?” You batted your lashes sweetly, teasingly. 

Your reward was another hungry kiss from your fiancé as he climbed on top of you. “With pleasure. Merry Christmas, baby doll.” 

“Merry Christmas,” you gasped, his lips going down your jaw. Maybe this Christmas wasn’t totally wasted. 

Year 4 

“Jesus fucking christ,” you cried, frustrated and angry. You had lost track of how many times you had tried to call Steve and had it go straight to voicemail. “Where the fuck is he!?”

Natasha sat by your bedside, holding your hand. “I’m sure he’s on his way home.” 

“You don’t understand, Nat!” You bit, lashing out at your friend. “He was supposed to be home at the latest yesterday! He said he wasn’t going to miss Christmas this year but guess what? It’s here and he’s not! And to top it off, I’m in the fucking hospital! But where’s my husband? Who fucking knows!” 

You weren’t surprised at how calm Natasha was being. She was highly skilled and trained at being an assassin. And her calm demeanor was exactly what you needed right now. “Hey,” she said, leaning forward, elbows resting on the white, scratchy hospital blankets. “He’s coming, okay? He will be here.” 

You threw your head back into the flat pillows, laughing bitterly. “Yeah. I’m sure he will.” 

She gave your hand a squeeze. “He loves you and you know that. He just got a little caught up. None of us knew you would be in the hospital today. Including him.”  

Groaning in frustration you said, “That’s not the point! The point is that he said he would be here and he’s not. He should have been here when it all happened. He was supposed to cut back on all the fucking missions.” 

Wordlessly, she grabbed the tissues that were sitting on your bedside table. She handed a few to you and you graciously accepted. Wiping your eyes of the tears that had slipped out. “I just want my husband.” 

“I know.” She continued stroking your hand, her skin softer than it should be. “I promise you he’ll be here soon. How many voicemails have you left him? And Sam? And Bucky? The moment one of them get the message Steve’ll rush right over.” 

“I just wish he was here now." You felt defeated. There was nothing you or her could do to make Steve come any faster. All you could do was wait.

Hours ticked by, doctors and nurses came and went, gross hospital food picked over. You sent Natasha home wanting to be alone for a while. She complied saying she'd just be a phone call away if you needed her.

If only you could say the same thing about Steve.

The doctors wanted to keep you overnight for observations. You were trying to get comfortable in the flat hospital bed when your door burst open and Steve came running in. He was still in his stealth suit, obviously fresh from the mission. 

“I got here as soon as I could,” he panted, sitting next to you on the bed. He grabbed your hand, his blue eyes filled with worry. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“You were supposed to be here.” You were so relieved to have him here but that didn’t take away the pain and anger you felt. “You were supposed to be here days ago.”

“I know. Sweetheart, I know. Things got a little out of hand-”

“You said you were gonna cut back on the missions.” Tears started to form in your eyes. “You were gonna put me first. Put us first.” 

“I know. I know.”  He tightened his hold on your hand. “I know I promised you that. I’m trying. I really am-”

You didn’t want to hear whatever excuse he had. “I needed you here, Steve.” 

“Y/N, I-”

“Our child needed you here.” 

He froze for a second, caught off guard from your comment. “Child?” He asked, saying the word slowly. Trying to figure it out. “Are… are you pregnant?”

“Yes,” you hissed. “And you would know that if you were fucking here!”

“What? When?”

“Two days after you left for the mission you weren’t going to go on,” you bit. “You should have been there with me when I took the test. You should have been there this morning when I started to bleed.” You pulled your hand from him, furiously wiped the tears that fell from your eyes. “God, I was alone, Steve! Alone and scared and worried I’d lose the child you didn’t even know we had!” 

His whole body heaved with his sigh and you knew he felt bad. “I’m sorry.” His voice sounded hollow, defeated and raw. “I told you last year I was going to do better and I haven’t lived up to that.”

“No,” you chimed in. “You haven’t. I can’t keep doing things like this, Steve. I can’t. Not with a little one on the way.” 

“I know. That’s not fair to either of you.” 

Something broke within you, your sobs being unleashed. All you wanted now was for Steve to hold you. Tell you everything would be alright. That he would be here, forever and always. You wanted - needed - him by your side like the partner he claimed to be. 

You curled your knees to your chest, pulling them in close. “I was so scared, Steve. What if something happened to the baby? Who was gonna be there for me?”

He was by you side in an instant, squished in the small hospital bed. You were scooped up in his arms, his scent and warmth a familiar comfort. Bringing you the peace you hadn’t felt since he left. 

“I’m sorry.” He repeated, whispering the words into your hair. “I fucked up, okay? I know I did. And I’m so, so sorry you had to deal with that alone.” 

“I’ve been stuck here in this stupid hospital bed on Christmas waiting for my husband to come home,” you cried, clinging to him. 

His arms tightened around you, smashing you against his strong chest. You felt safe and protected, something you had been missing. 

“I’m home,” he said, combing your hair with his fingers. “I’m home and I’m not going to leave you.” 

You knew better than to ask him to promise. He’d already broken it once before and you didn’t want to put yourself in a situation where he would do it again. Instead, you remained silent, just enjoying the fact that your child was fine, and Steve was here. Steve was home.

It was quiet for a while, the only sound you heard was his beating heart. Calming and rhythmic, it helped you relax until your eyes started to close. 

Steve’s voice was soft and smooth, helping lull you to sleep. “Merry Christmas, Y/N.” 

Year 5

Dinner had been served, presents opened, friends and family had come and gone. You would say it had been a great Christmas. 

Except someone was missing. 

You weren’t surprised at all. Disappointed and hurt, yes. But surprised? Sadly not. 

You were curled up on your couch, scrolling through the pictures you had taken on your phone. It was your daughter’s first Christmas and you were happy you captured so many memories. While she was still so small, she loved being held by her family and she loved the brightly colored papers and lights. Her smiles were tiny, but they were there, and they warmed your heart every time you saw one. 

The clock was approaching midnight, signaling Christmas’s end. You wanted to go to bed, but decided to stay up, wanting to wait for Steve to get home. 

A few minutes later, the door creaked open and your husband walked in. He looked tired and frustrated as he closed the door. “You’re still up,” he said, a small, hopeful smile forming on his lips. 

“I am,” you said coolly. “Emily’s not. She’s been down for hours now. You missed it all.” 

You were all too familiar with his sigh and the way his hand ran through his hair and down his face. “I know,” he said, the words sounding broken and meaningless to you. 

“This was her first Christmas.”

“I know and I’m so sorry I’m late-”

“I’m not the one you have to apologize to, Steven. I’m used to being disappointed by now. But she’s not.” 

“Y/N…” He crossed the living room, approaching where you sat on the couch. "I'm sorry."

Your gaze at him was hard, calloused by so many apologies and empty promises. "This was her first Christmas and you weren't here at all."

"I know but… but she's so little. She's not gonna remember that I was gone," he tried to rationalize. 

"That doesn't fucking matter. She's gonna grow up and see all these pictures from today and she's gonna know you were too busy to spend time with her."

"I was doing it for her!" Steve was starting to get frustrated. His fists clenched at his sides. "I was making the world safer for her!"

"She should be your world!" You got up from the couch, anger spreading through your body, making it hard to stay still. "You've promised again and again that you were gonna slow down, especially after Emily was born. But have you? No!" 

"You know how important this is," Steve growled. "I'm trying to keep you guys safe!"

"By being god knows where doing god knows what?" You threw your hands up in exasperation. "You can keep us safe here. You don't have to leave for that!"

"The threats aren't always here! They're-"

"Then it sounds like it's someone else's problem yet somehow you keep ending up with it. I fell in love with Steve Rogers but all I've gotten is Captain America."

Your last comment silenced him, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do what's best." 

"Best for who?" You asked, pushing past him and going to your daughters’ room. You kept the lights off, not wanting to wake her. 

"Hi, baby girl," you whispered, gently running your fingers through the soft, wisps of her hair. Blonde, just like her daddy. She looked so much like her daddy. "Mommy loves you so much." You tenderly kissed her forehead before silently walking out, closing the door behind you. 

Steve was right where you left him, almost frozen in place. "Y/N…" he tried to call to you, reach out to you. "I love you, sweetheart."

Those simple words nearly broke you but dammit you were not going to cry over the man who perpetually put saving the world first and you second. "I can't do this anymore, Steve." You grabbed your jacket hanging up next to the front door. "I'm gonna go stay with Nat for the rest of the night."

You had seen him broken from battles before but not like this. The sparkle had left his eyes making him look so vulnerable and fragile. "Y/N… baby, please don't do this."

"Spend some time with your daughter " you said, ignoring his pleas. "You haven't seen her in weeks." 

"Y/N…" he reached out to you again and you pulled away, knowing his touch would make it that much harder.

As you walked out the door you called back to him, "Merry fucking Christmas." The door slammed shut just as the clock chimed midnight, signaling the holiday was officially over.

Tags: @teddybeardoctorr @lancsnerd @patzammit

[shibereshu]

“and they were in quarantine” [1]

Cao Yuchen // ‘OMG They were quarantined together’ AU

It was a bright warm day in March, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Your stomach growled, asking you for food, so you tried to finish your report as fast as possible and run to the interns’ coordinator’s office. He always gave you the longest tasks, since you were the one with a better understanding of English among the interns. 

When you decided to spend a year gaining working experience abroad, you thought it would be the complete opposite, and that they would be a bit less demanding regarding your situation, but it didn’t turn out that way. Nevertheless, you couldn’t believe how lucky you were… one of the biggest entertainment companies in China had approved your application, and you were surrounded by the best professionals in your field, so you were really happy and thankful for the opportunity.

Your superior greeted you with a smile and glanced at the report with approval. 

“(Y/N)! You always hand in the best work, thank you! You haven’t eaten yet, right? Go ahead, join the other interns, you can finish the rest after your meal.”

“Thank you, mister.” You left the room with a bow and walked to the canteen, where your fellow interns where already enjoying the menu of the day.

“Oh! (Y/N)! Are you finally done with the report?” your friend Yifei mumbled, gulping down a big scoop of rice. 

“Don’t do that, Yifei, you are going to choke!” the boy sitting next to her, Jiyang, exclaimed, while giving her a look of disapprovement.

    Yifei smacked the back of his head, making him drop his chopsticks and open his mouth to complain about her. You always spent your meal break with these two dorks, and you couldn’t help but find funny how they would keep teasing each other. However, after you finally sat down beside them with your tray full of food, Jiyang’s attention quickly shifted to you, and he began asking you about your day while trying to share some of his food with you and laughing at things you said he found funny for no reason at all.

    You had to admit, the way he acted towards you was kind of cute, and any other girl would probably fall helplessly to his charms. He was really considerate, always worrying about your health and mood. This was obvious, and you weren’t the only one who had noticed; Yifei usually teased you on your way back home, and you knew what the giggles and looks of other workers at the corporation meant. But you only felt pity for the boy, nothing more. You were a busy girl, making a big effort to live and learn as much as possible in this foreign country, you were too busy to even think about going out with a boy!

    You tried to turn him down as politely as you could, and you finished your meal and rushed towards your office, thinking about the big amount of papers you still had to fill before finally leaving the place.

    As lost as you were in your thoughts, you didn’t notice the person running towards the elevator you had stepped in, until the doors were about to close and their arm stretched out trying to avoid it. 

    “Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” you blurted, pushing quickly the button that would prevent the doors from closing, while you kept apologising to the person, “I didn’t see you coming! I zoned out and… Did you get hurt?” You finally looked up, and left out a sigh of relief as you recognised the boy standing in front of you: Cao Yuchen, an artist under the company, who you’d met on your first week there, “Oh! Cao Yuchen! I was so worried… I thought I’d hurt one of my superiors.”

    “Hey, (Y/N), did you forget that I’m also your superior here?” the young man looked at you with a frown between his brows, “I think one of my ligaments teared, ouch!” his face turned into one of someone in pain, and he held his arm carefully trying not to apply too much pressure onto it. 

    “Wh… what?? Does it really hurt that much? Let me see” you tried to reach his arm but he turned away, hiding his face and his arm from you.

    “Ahh… I think they will have to cut my arm off”

You froze for a moment, feeling the panic rise, but then noticed his shoulders shivering and heard a quiet giggle, signals that he was just acting and wasn’t actually feeling any pain at all.

“Hey Cao Yuchen! Don’t mess up with me, you bastard!” you threw your hands at him and punched him repeatedly on his arm, “Teared ligament, yeah sure, I can’t believe I almost fell for it”

By then, Yuchen was already laughing out loud. He rested his hands on your shoulders, trying to push you away from him.

“You totally fell for it,” another laugh came out from his lips as he continued speaking, “Ah, (Y/N), don’t you think my acting skills just keep improving each day? That was great, not going to lie.”

“I can’t stand you, I swear”

“Hey, be more respectful, I am older than you and also in a higher position here, so be polite” his mocking tone didn’t match the seriousness that filled his expression again. He was really good at controlling his facial expressions, you had to give him that.

“Okay, mister, I’m sorry. But don’t make fun of me ever again, or do I have to remind you that you still owe me?”

“Ugh… do you already know what you want me to do so that we’re even? I am tired of being indebted to you.”

“No, sorry, I still have to think about it for a bit longer.”

The elevator doors opened and Yuchen stepped out of it. “Okay, (Y/N), but don’t take too long or you’ll miss the chance. Bye now!” 

You looked at the boy walking away while the doors closed again and the elevator resumed his way up. Your mind forgot about the incident and went back to your tasks as soon as you arrived the floor your office was in. You stretched your limbs, knowing you would have to sit on your desk for at least six more hours before you could leave. 

    A few hours later, you were finally done with all of the paperwork, and it was almost time for the working hours to end. You walked around the lobby, waiting for Yifei, who you always walked home with. Not much longer after that, you saw your friend saying goodbye to a coworker and making her way to you.

    “(Y/N), I’m so tired… let’s hurry up, I have to stop at the convenience store before heading home.”

    “I should buy a few things too… I think I ran out of bread.”

    “Ah! I almost forgot,” Yifei’s eyes lit up as she said that, “I ran across Cao Yuchen when I was going to the restroom earlier today, that boy gets more handsome every day, I swear!”

    “Why do you like him so much,” you rolled your eyes, remembering what had happened in the elevator, “he’s just like any other Chinese actor these days.”

    “He’s way more friendly than any other actor I’ve met, and I’ve worked at four different entertainment companies, so I would know! Anyway, aren’t you friends with him or something? Wasn’t he the one you had to help that day?”

    “Well… I’d say we are rather acquaintances. I helped him and now he owes me one, but that’s it. I don’t really see him that often.” You shrugged.    “That’s because you are always busy! You don’t even hang out with me,” you friend pointed at you, in a blaming way, “Next week the spring sale will start, and we are going to go shopping together, no excuses allowed”.    “Okay, okay, we will.” You arrived at the street where you had to part ways, so you hugged before saying goodbye to each other and walked away, speeding up your pace to arrive as soon as possible. There was nothing else you longed for more than your bed.

Finally home, you put your bag and papers aside and made yourself something to eat before throwing yourself on your mattress. You still had to finish a few things before going to sleep, but it was quite early and a couple of minutes of relax wouldn’t hurt anyone. Just when you had started drifting into your mind again, a loud banging noise, made your heart skip a beat and your head lift from your soft pillow.

What is that? you thought to yourself, looking around completely disoriented.

Another loud bang followed the first one, so you go on your feet and walked towards the front door, trying to find the source of the loud impacts. As you got closer to it, the noise grew louder and louder, so you decided to open the door and take a look outside. Before your apartment, a short corridor led to a few other doors and the narrow stairs you had to walk up and down every single day. The corridor was usually empty, but that day a grown up man wearing a pair of overalls and a helmet stood in the middle of it, banging a big hammer against the door of one of the other properties.

“M… Mister,” you realised you had been standing there for a few seconds, staring right at the man without having said anything, so you tried to regain composure and thought the best thing to do next would be to ask him directly what was going on, “I kept hearing a banging noise, and was wondering…” you didn’t know how to ask him, but it didn’t matter anyway, because the moment he heard you, he dropped his hammer and looked at you just as if he was looking at a ghost.

“Young girl! What the hell are you still doing here! Did nobody tell you to leave?”

“What… sorry?” You had no idea what he meant, but you noticed you were the only one who had come out looking for the source of noise. Where you also the only one there apart from the builder?

“This whole floor is going to be demolished! A young rich man has bought the whole building and wants to turn all of this into a single apartment. Didn’t your landlord notify you? Everyone has left in the last week!” The man took his helmet off and run a hand through his greasy hair, worried about you, “Maybe you didn’t understand what was going on, since you look like a foreigner… Hold on, I will tell my boys to stop for today, but we will have to continue tomorrow, so I’m afraid you will have to leave as soon as possible. You can spend the night here, but you will have to be gone by tomorrow morning. You have somewhere else to go, right?” he gave you a concerned look, and looked for his phone so that he could notify the rest of the building team to stop what they were doing.

You looked at him with a blank expression, and went over his words again and again in your head, trying to make sense of the situation. I have to leave? your heart beating faster and faster at the thought, Where could I go… I have no one to call.

Yifei! Your friend would surely host you for a few days, right? You had gotten pretty close since you arrived there. You thanked the man for the information and concern and rushed back into your apartment (no longer yours) to call your friend. You decided to check for a message of your landlord first, and you realised an email of hers from a week before had been directed to your spam folder, so you hadn’t noticed that you had received it. However, you didn’t have much time to complain about it, you knew you had to act fast and focus on finding a place to stay for the following days.

Luckily, your friend picked up her phone pretty quickly.

“Yifei! Oh Yifei, I’m so glad you picked up!” you heard your voice crack and tried to control your agitated breathing, “Something terrible has just happened to me.”

“(Y/N), are you okay? What’s going on?” You could hear a lot of noise in the room your friend was in, but then she walked away, probably into another emptier room, and you could hear her much clearer after that, “where are you right now?”

“I’m at my apartment- well, what used to be my apartment… Yifei, they kicked me out!”

“What?! So suddenly!?” Yifei couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I got an email a week ago, but I didn’t see it and now I have to leave, and I have nowhere to go, and- What am I going to do, Yifei?”

“Okay, okay, listen, breathe in, breathe out…” You followed her words and tried to calm down, without much effectiveness, “Do you know anyone with a free room?”

“I don’t… But Yifei, can I stay at your place? It would only be for a day or two, until I find somewhere else! There’s no way I find a free room before tomorrow!” A thousand thoughts filled your mind, and you tried to think of any other solution, maybe staying at a hotel or guest house, but that would be way too expensive, and you needed the money to find a new place…

“Oh, (Y/N), I’m so so so sorry… I live with my parents, and my grandparents are also staying here right now… and if we also count my siblings… I am so sorry (Y/N), we really don’t have room for another person… Hey, turn that volume down! I’m trying to help a friend here!” the last words were screamed to someone else on that side of the phone call. You started losing hope, and saw yourself spending the following nights at a 24h store or café. Get yourself together, (Y/N)! There must be someone else…

Yifei kept talking on the phone, “What about Jiyang? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind hosting you for a couple of days! You know he would do anything for you!”

“Oh no, there’s no way I’m asking him… Can you even imagine how awkward that would be?! And I wouldn’t feel good knowing I’m taking advantage of him that way…”

“But who else can we ask then? Wait, I have a friend who lives in a rather big house, she has a son, but if I ask her she may-“

“Yuchen!” You suddenly stood up and screamed his name. Of course! He lived in a really big house, and he wouldn’t say no, since you helped him before and he had promised to help you once too, so that it would be fair.

“Yuchen? Wait… Cao Yuchen?! No no no no, are you crazy? You don’t know him well! How can a woman stay at the house of a stranger like that? He’s famous but that doesn’t mean he is a good man, who knows how he lives behind scenes and-“ Yifei kept ranting and ranting but you had already made a decision.

“Listen, you yourself said he was a nice man, and he owes me, so it’s not like I’m asking for too much! His house is huge, too, he won’t even have to look at me twice, and it’s only for one or two days and only for sleeping… it will be fine! I won’t disturb him.”

“But what if… what if he’s a pervert or something.”

“I’m not a kid, Yifei, I will make sure I can lock the room or whatever... bye now, I’m going to text him.”

“(Y/N) are you sure about this… I-“

You hung up on your friend, reminding yourself to apologise to her the next day and thank her for caring so much about your safety. A part of you also thought that this was a really bad idea and that many things could go wrong, but you were desperate. Furthermore, he joked around a lot, but in the couple of months that you’d been working at the company, you’d also noticed that Yuchen was a really nice guy overall, he even had a pet (the cutest dog) and people who cleaned his house for him, it wasn’t as if you would be trapped in a room all alone with him for weeks…

Reassuring yourself, you opened the chat app and wrote him about the situation. After a few minutes filled with stress and anticipation, your screen lit up, showing a new message from Yuchen:

Cao Yuchen [20:17]: Of course! I can’t believe you have to go through this! We can come tomorrow after work together, so don’t worry anymore about it. Just make sure your shoes are clean ;)

You took your pillow and pushed your face against it, before letting out a loud groan. Okay, (Y/N), things will work out you thought to yourself Just hold on for a bit, just for a few days, and everything will go back to normal… Yes it will…

[rumpelstilskenlovesfanfic]

Of cocoa and fire

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Word count: 1.3k ish

Warnings: Some snark and swearing.

Summary: My entry for @arawynn​’s Festive Winter Wonderland Writing Challenge! I am posting this from my sideblog, hope that doesn’t bother you too much (main is @rumpelstilskinxoxo) Thank you so much for hosting and for allowing me to participate!!! 💕💕💕

My prompt was “Want some cocoa?” and I also went with the mobster AU because I am a sucker for it and always wanted to give it a try.

-----

„Here you go, a hot chocolate with peppermint. Enjoy!“ You carefully hand over the steaming mug to the grinning little girl before watching her wander off with her parents further into the little Christmas market in front of the local hospital.

They truly outdid themselves this year: There was a booth with cotton candy and candy apples and chocolate covered fruits, a grill with hamburgers and sausages, a booth with all kinds of christmassy cookies, DIY tables with lots of tinsel, glitter and holly. A little carousel, Santa Claus as well as a snow fairy to take pictures with, so the children who don’t celebrate Christmas can also have a cute holiday memory framed. A little petting zoo from the local shelter to find some animals a new home. A very wholesome affair, all in all.

As a physician at the hospital, you volunteered your free evening to help out, currently manning the hot cocoa station with your friend and coworker Christine, who ran off finding some more peppermint sticks. Turning around, you noticed someone standing off to the side of the booth.

„Want some cocoa?“

The man just barely turns his head to you. There is a deep scowl on his otherwise handsome face, and he is wearing all black - expensive looking coat and suit, a scarf for fashion rather than warmth, a signet ring catching the light. „We have dark chocolate, milk and white, as well as a vegan option,“ you smile while listing the options, hoping to spread some holiday cheer. A deeper scowl, you notice two large figures looming behind him like shadows. „There is a lactose free one as well?!“

„Do I look like someone who drinks cocoa?“ he sneers, taking you aback, because this is a fun little Christmas market, there really is no need to be hostile. Patience is for patients so you have none for him and his attitude. „Well maybe it’d help with that frown on your face, you know, chocolate and it’s endorphins and all,“ you say rolling your eyes, turning back to the mugs behind you.

He scoffs. „I’d watch that tone, don’t you know who I am?“ You look over your shoulder, now it’s your turn to frown. „No, I don’t, and with that attitude of yours I don’t feel like I am missing out.“ He opens his mouth to answer but you’re not finished and fully turn back to him. „Honestly, what is your problem? And what a stupid question? Have you ever heard someone say „Don’t you know who I am“ and thought “well no but you sound just delightful, I’d like to find out“? Yeah, me neither.“ A snort from behind the man makes his scowl impossibly deeper. „So if the holiday cheer is bothering you so much, I have a simple suggestion: don’t be here.“

You make a movement with your hand indicating the market around you, then straighten shoulders and step to the other end of the booth, where a couple was looking over the menu. When you’re turn around again, the man and his shadows are gone. But Christine is back, and now she is sporting a scowl. What is up with everyone today?

„Erm, what were you talking about with James Barnes of all people, don’t you know who he is?“ She sounds almost irritated, making you scoff. „Why do people keep saying that? No, I don’t know who that is and he was pretty rude, so I couldn’t care less.“

„What did you say to him?“

„I told him to fuck off.“

Christine shrieked. „What, why would you do that?“

„What is your problem, he didn’t want hot chocolate in the first place so it’s not like it was bad for business!“

„That was James Barnes.“

„So you mentioned.“

„He is a fucking mobster and is rumored to basically run this whole city,“ she whisper-yelled.

You snort. „I’m sorry, did you just say mobster?“

Christine nods, which makes you full on laugh. „Where am I, in a CW show all of a sudden? Do we have to save the hospital in a dangerous game of violence and broken trust while family secrets pile up?“

You rolled your eyes. Christine just hushed you and looked around anxiously. „Will you be quiet, who knows who works for him around here!“ Her concerned tone made you look around, too, before shaking your head at her.

„You are seriously telling me that we have a mobster in our midst who came to this market to - what, check up on his assets?“

„Well maybe not his assets but his company sponsored the carousel and most of the food.“

„That doesn’t sound so mobster-y to me.“

„Well rumor has it Macavity Inc. is just a front for all kinds of shady stuff.“

„I’m sorry, what?“

„Officially he is the CEO of his company, Macavity Inc. …“.

„As in Cats?“

„What do you mean?“

„You know, the musical! Cats!“

„I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.“

You hold your hand to your heart in mock shock. „Chris! That is an educational gap that needs to be closed asap!“

Christine sighs.

„Anyway, there is a character named Macavity and he is literally the law-evasive bad guy.“ You laugh, starting to sing, „Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity - He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.“

A fit of giggles interrupts your performance. „Seems to me this mobster is very extra. And I highly doubt that no on in the NYPD has seen Cats so that must be very frustrating, him basically telling them that he is doing illegal shit. You know, via music.“ More laughter bubbles out of you. „I do respect his flair for the dramatic.“

Christine gives you a concerned look, whether it is for the mocking of the notorious mafia boss or the ongoing giggle fit is hard to tell.  

..........

It was pretty late by now, most of the patrons had left already and you were cleaning up the booth and packing away the mugs when a sudden scream made you look up.

„OH MY GOD, FIRE!“

You saw one of the nurses frantically looking around, making you spring into action. Grabbing the water bucket from the washing up, you ran to her, yelling „Wanda, careful, the hay!“

There was a decorative bale of hay next to the table which had caught on fire and it was dangerously close to burning as well. Suddenly someone pushed past Wanda and grabbed the bale, pulling it forcefully and away from the flames. You emptied the water on the fire before Wanda threw a thick blanket over the table as well, extinguishing all the flames.

„Phew, how the hell did that happen?“, you asked, running a hand through your hair.

„God I don’t even know - one moment I was putting supplies in a box and the next there was this fire, I guess I must have bumped the table and a candle fell over, I -„ Wanda sighed, putting her face in her hands.

You wrapped her in a hug, „It’s okay, nothing happened, are you hurt?“ you rubbed her arms soothingly.

„No, no I’m fine.“ She took a deep breath. „And everything was going so well up until now!“

„Don’t worry, everything still went well, no one got hurt.“ You gave her a comforting smile. “And the market was such a success, happy faces and holiday cheer everywhere!”

You gave her arms a reassuring squeeze, then turned around to see who had grabbed the hay bale, possibly preventing the fire department from showing up. “That was some quick thinking...”, you stopped in your tracks as you saw who it was: the snappy man from earlier, now dusting hay of his coat.

The maybe-mobster looked up. „You reacted very fast as well“, he sounded almost impressed.

„My sister is a fire fighter, I picked up a thing or two from her stories.“ You were still a bit dumbfounded and not sure what to make of him not only still being here, but preventing Carol from showing up as said firefighter.  

He straightened, looking at you so intensely you almost squirmed. He gave a curt nod to Wanda, then spun around and walked away, leaving you stare after him with a puzzled look on your face.

“Thanks, by the way”, you called after him. He raised his hand to acknowledge that he heard you, but otherwise kept walking and vanished between the booths.

“What the fuck just happened?”

[paradisobound]

I Want It, I Got It: Chapter 20

Summary: Phil Lester was a worker for the BBC in London. Working in the advertising department, he was content being alongside his friend and fellow coworker PJ during every shift. However, the BBC is temporarily being used as a film set for a new movie staring Hollywood ‘It’ star, Daniel Howell. Being stuck as an extra on the set, Phil finds it’s hard to ignore the famous star. And maybe, just maybe, Dan finds it hard to ignore Phil as well.

Word Count: 4k (this chapter)

Warnings: Occasional swearing and alcohol and sexual content 

Rating: Explicit

Updates will be every Sunday around 1pm EST

**MASTERLIST | READ ON AO3 | WATTPAD**

This party felt a bit different than the one that was at Dan’s house just a few nights before. This one felt a bit more intimate and if Phil was being honest, that made it that much scarier to him. 

He felt completely out place and like there was nowhere for him to hide. At Dan’s party, there had been so many people that it didn’t make a difference if he tried to push through the crowds of people and move on to a different area. But right now, he was stuck in the middle of a conversation at Dan’s side at a pub table that was dressed up way too fancy…Phil was sure that there were Swarovski crystals lining the outside. He was afraid to so much as leave a finger print on them. 

Dan looked right in his element though and maybe that was what made Phil a tad bit more scared that he should have been. Dan looked so comfortable and poised and here was Phil, stood with his elbows on the edge of the pearl white table cloth and a half-drunk glass of Champagne stood in-between his hands. 

Dan had introduced him to these people who he was speaking to but Phil can’t bothered to actually remember what Dan said about them. All he knew is that Dan knew them from his movie and that’s all. 

“…Phil lives in London.” 

Phil picked his head up and looked at Dan. 

“Oh really? Which area?” 

“I’m not sure,” Dan said, turning his head towards Phil. “Which area is it?” 

Phil looked at the brunette who was currently stood on the other side of the table, her arms folded elegantly on the edge as her bracelets draped her forearms. “Victoria.” 

“Oh, Victoria!” She cooed in a way that made Phil want to roll his eyes. He actually doubted she knew where Victoria was. He wasn’t trying to be brash about it, to be fair, he wasn’t sure many people even knew London was broken up that way it was. He didn’t until he looked for flats. 

“It quite cute.” Dan commented. “His flat is near a beautiful park. And he also has the cutest puppy ever.” 

Phil was quite in shock. Had Dan been speaking so openly to this other person about him and he was just not paying any attention to notice? Or was Dan really just playing up the ‘we’re friends’ card? Phil wasn’t quite sure anymore. 

“Puppy?” She said. “Do you have photos? I’d love to see it.” 

“Oh course I have photos, Mimei.” 

Phil suddenly felt his stomach drop out of his ass. Was he really not paying that much attention to anything around him to know that this was Mimei Lake? She had a different hair color from the blonde locks she had in the attached photo from the email a couple months ago. Now it was a natural red color that reminded him of his own―but maybe her’s was a bit lighter. 

Phil watched as Dan pulled out his phone and put it on the table as he turned it around and showed her all of the photos of Spike he must have taken when he was in London. Phil watched as Dan scrolled through the photos but he didn’t recognize any of them. Nor did he know Dan had taken so many selfies with his pup. 

“What’s his name?” 

“Spike.” Dan and Phil both answered at the same time, causing Mimei to laugh. 

“Where did the name come from?” She asked. “Because that sounds like the name of a ferocious beast but he looks to be the cuddliest creature alive.” 

“It’s from a character on one of my favorite TV shows Buffy.” 

Phil watched as Mimei’s eyes lit up. “Buffy? Oh my gosh, I loved Buffy as a teen! Sarah Michelle Gellar was my idol!” 

“I used to have the biggest crush on her.” Phi admitted with a chuckle. Dan laughed to himself next to him. “My mum used to find it weird how I had her photos hanging on the walls of my room.” 

“Amazing.” Mimei commented with a smile. “That sounds like me with Aaron Carter.” 

“You both with your teenage celebrity crushes.” 

Phil and Mimei both looked at Dan with wide eyes. “You’ve never had a celebrity crush?” Phil asked, elbowing Dan gently in the side. “That’s hard to believe.” 

“Why?” Dan asked. “I had celebrity crushes but I’m not gonna admit them.” 

“And why’s that?” Phil pressed. “How bad could they be?” 

“I’m not saying.” 

Phil was going to press more on the subject when someone else rounded to the table and stood by Mimei, placing her arm around Mimei’s waist. “Hello, Dan.” 

“Hi, Dayna.” 

Okay, so now Phil had another person to remember the name of. This time, their name was Dayna. That didn’t seem so bad to try and remember. 

“Phil, this is Dayna, Mimei’s wife.” 

Phil cocked his eyebrow up. That was a pleasant surprise. Maybe that’s why Dan was comfortable mentioning Phil so much around her. “Pleasure to meet you.” Dayna said, sticking out her hand for Phil to shake. 

“Dayna, this is Phil, my boyfriend.” 

Phil had to admit that it took a bit of his breath away to hear Dan formally introduce him as his boyfriend to someone else. He panicked a bit, looking around to make sure that no one else heard anything. Everyone else was in their own little worlds around the tables, just mingling with each other. 

“Ah, so you’re the famous Phil who Dan wouldn’t shut up about.” 

Phil looked at Dan with a smile just in time to see red flourish on his cheeks. 

“Wouldn’t shut up about me, huh?” 

Dan just shook his head. “Stop embarrassing me.” 

“You do it to yourself, bud.” Mimei said with a warm chuckle.

Dayna leaned over and whispered something in Mimei’s ear before Mimei looked up and smiled at them both. “We have to get going but it was great seeing you again, Dan. I know we’re done filming our parts together but it was a pleasure working with you.” 

“You as well.” Dan nodded back as Mimei and Dayna grasped hands and headed off towards another section of the room. 

“They’re both super nice.” Phil commented once they were gone. 

Dan nodded. “I loved working with Mimei.” He paused. “Although it was a bit awkward filming our sex scene when she’s a lesbian and I’m a gay male. Didn’t quite work how it should have but…” 

“I can’t wait to see the film.” 

Phil hadn’t really ever said that aloud because he wasn’t quite sure himself if he even was interested in the film before. But now he wants to support Dan in any way that he can. 

“I can’t wait for you to see it.” 

Dan began to lean down and Phil was ready to accept the kiss when Dan suddenly stopped and stiffened, standing up a bit straighter and stopping his movements. “We actually probably shouldn’t kiss here. Do you want to head out? I’m hungry and these tiny sandwiches aren’t doing much.” 

Phil smiled at him and nodded and they both left, their flutes of champagne long forgotten on the table. 

***

Dan had a driver chauffeur them around LA to get food and they managed to stop at just a quick burger place to grab food to take back to Dan’s house. By the time they got back, it was well past midnight and Phil was feeling a bit tired, but still a little buzzed from the party. 

It was apparent that Dan was a bit buzzed himself with a second wind of energy when they both got ready for bed and Dan laid down before Phil and reached for his phone, not even blinking or yawning in the process. 

Phil watched him for a moment as he rushed out a text with his finger tips and then threw his phone off the side of the bed and turned back to Phil with a smile. “Hi.” 

“Hi.” 

Phil will never get tired of this. Of seeing Dan in such a natural state like lying in bed with his pajamas on, his hair slightly messy and his eyes a bit glassy from the alcohol buzzing in his system. 

Phil’s said it once, and he’ll say it forever but Dan really was an angel. 

“Can I ask you something?” Dan says out of the blue. 

Phil feels his heart sink about but the hopeful look in Dan’s eyes make him remember that they promised to be there for each other and to never give up on the other person. He had to remember that, even if the question had his heart beating out of his chest. 

“Of course.” 

“Do you reckon we’re moving a bit fast?” 

Phil doesn’t know what he was expecting to be the question Dan was going to ask but it certainly was not that question. He felt his heart flutter a bit more before his eyes glazed over a bit. 

“What do you mean?” 

He was preparing for the worst. Maybe Dan was having second thoughts about all of this? Maybe Dan decided that he couldn’t be with some loser like Phil who wasn’t rich or famous? Maybe Dan decided that Phil wasn’t good enough for him? 

Dan let out a loud sigh that broke Phil out of his pessimistic thoughts. “It’s…not anything bad, per se.” Dan begins, rolling onto his back as if he’s avoiding making eye contact. “But I feel as if I don’t really know you?” 

Phil felt his heart break a bit more. 

Dan rolled back onto his side and looked up at Phil. “No matter how I say this, I’m aware I’m going to look like a dick but it’s just…let’s get to know each other, yeah? I don’t want to rush forward and not know anything about you.” 

Phil let out a staggering breath. “But this isn’t you giving up on me, right?” 

Dan suddenly shot up and moved so he was sitting onto his backside on the bed, looking straight at Phil. He reached out and placed his hands on Phil’s jaw, steadying the slight wobble that it was beginning to have. 

“No, God, no!” Dan quickly reassured. “You mean the absolute world to me, Phil.” 

Phil felt like he wanted to believe him but his heart was still a bit ragged and his mind was a bit clouded. 

“And you’re the one supposed to not be giving up on me, remember?” 

Phil felt his head nod subconsciously. 

“So we’re not breaking up?” Phil asks, the question lingering in the air. 

Dan moved his hands around to behind Phil’s neck and drew Phil closer, planting a firm kiss on his lips that cause Phil to hesitate before reciprocating. He reached around and put his hand on Dan’s side, feeling the soft flesh mould under his fingers. 

Dan pulled away and shook his head. “You’re it for me, Phil. That’s what I’m trying to say. You’re my person and I can tell already that we’re meant for each other. That’s why I want to get to know you. Now if you’re going to start crying, can you maybe warn me first because I’ll cry if you cry and I really don’t want to go to bed with swollen and sore eyes.” 

Phil let out a soft chuckle of relief as he and Dan disentangled themselves away from each other long enough for him to wipe away the moisture from under his eyes. “Now,” Dan continued. “Let’s play like twenty questions or something. You ask a question, I have to answered and we’ll go back and forth until we either get bored or pass out. I’ll go first!” Dan situates himself across from Phil on the bed and smiles. “How old were you when you have your first kiss?” 

Phil scoffed. “Oh we’re playing this kind of twenty questions?” Phil teased. “What are we? Twelve year olds at a slumber party?” 

“Hell fucking yes, Phil!” Dan bellowed out. “After this will do each others hair and then have a pillow fight.” 

“Shouldn’t we be drinking for this?” Phil asks. 

“Quit stalling and answer the question, mate!” 

“I was sixteen.” 

Dan’s eyes widened and Phil suddenly felt his cheeks flush. “Oh, Phil!” 

“I was a late bloomer.” He mumbled, trying to hide the embarrassment from his voice. 

Dan noticed and reeled the conversation back in. “If it makes you feel any different, mine was when I was age 6 with a girl named Lilith and all she did was lean forward plant her mouth on mine. It was quite gross.” 

Phil let out a laugh. “How old were you when you decided you wanted to go into acting?” 

Dan leaned back a bit and looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom. Phil studied his body, looking for any signs of discomfort coming from Dan just in case he stepped over a boundary that he didn’t really mean to. 

“Well, that’s a bit of a loaded question.” Dan says, finally looking down. “Because I decided I wanted to audition for my community theatre’s play when I was quite young but I didn’t fully decide that being an actor was something I wanted to pursue until I was about 14 or 15. It kind of came with the mentality of people always telling me I was good at it and that I had the ability to act.” When he’s done, Phil looks at him and notices that Dan’s face is a bit sullen and a bit sad. But he doesn’t look hurt or upset about answering the question. “When did you decide to work for the BBC?” 

“When I realized that I had no clue where I was going in life and I felt like I needed a sense of direction.” 

That was the honest truth. Phil applied for the BBC on a whim. He had no intentions of ever getting the job nor getting near London to even take the job. But he received it and was stuck working in the BBC in an office all day with Louise, PJ, and Gemma. 

But he doesn’t hate what he does. He just hates that he lost the passion he once had to go work for an office in London.

“And the BBC gave you that?” 

Phil had half a mind to joke with Dan and tell him that he couldn’t ask more than one question but honestly, he felt like he needed to answer this one. Not only to give Dan an answer, but also give himself an answer as well. 

“No.” Phil answered truthfully. “It gave me friends and it gave me memories and it gave me money. But in the end, it also gave me a job that…” Phil let his thoughts linger off before he looked at Dan and their eyes met and he finally spoke the words he hadn’t thought he’d ever speak. “But it also gave me a job that I hate.” 

Phil doesn’t think hate is the correct term. He doesn’t hate the BBC or hate what he does. But he does hate how the BBC took up his time and his job took his time away from him to follow the true passion he used to have which is YouTube. 

“Then why do you stay?” 

“I thought this was going back and forth.” 

Phil partly teased that but he also kind of wanted to drop the subject and move onto something much more lighthearted than talking about how actually miserable he is. He didn’t realize he was even this miserable until he began talking about the BBC right then. 

Dan smiled at him. “Ask me something then.” 

“Be honest with me, okay?” Phil began and Dan nodded. “Do you wish your life wasn’t like this?” 

“Like what?” 

“Followed by paparazzi all the time? Having a house with a gate you can only get through by using an access code? Your name the source of news and headlines all over the world and fangirls crawling all over your tweets and speculating about everything you do?” 

“I hate my life, Phil.” Phil looked at Dan and saw the way his jaw wobbled as he reached up and stubbornly wiped away a tear from his cheek. “This life isn’t what you want, Phil. It’s not even what I want anymore. And If I could leave it all behind, I would.” He looked at Phil quickly before squeezing his eyes shut tightly as another tear slid down his cheek and Phil moved forward quickly to wipe it away. Dan shivered underneath his touch and opened his eyes, staring into Phil’s with a grateful look. “I want to be normal, like you. I want to work for the BBC in an office job and make YouTube videos and have friends who actually care about me. But I’ll never get any of that.” 

My life was always characterized by my name and it forever will be. For fucks sake, I have word that I might even be getting a Hollywood Star of Fame sometime next year. I have no chance for a normal life anymore. I have no chance for that. And maybe it’s a bit selfish but I want to live vicariously through you. I want to be with you when you go to the BBC and I want to be with you when you make your videos because any chance I have at a normal life, I want to grab at it and never let it go. Because my life will never go back to normal, Phil. It just can’t.” 

Phil waited until everything Dan was saying was over before he studied Dan’s face and watched as he wiped his tears away before sniffling and let out a shuttering breath. 

“I’m sorry for just unloading all of that onto you.” Dan says, letting out a small laugh. “It felt really good to actually get all of that out but I hope it doesn’t like, scare you away or anything.” 

Phil shook his head. “No, I totally get everything you’re saying.” 

Dan gives him a look of ‘you really don’t but I appreciate the sentiment’, before he lets out a long yawn and gives Phil a sympathetic look. “I’m really tired now. Do you want to get ready for bed?” 

Phil’s eyes feel a bit sore and weary so he nods. 

Dan stands up quickly and makes his way to the bathroom first, shutting the door behind him. Phil is left sitting on the bed, gathering all of his thoughts about everything Dan had just said to him. It was a lot to process and it was a bit hard for Phil to really think about at this hour and also with his mindset. 

Dan came back out a few minutes later and by that time, Phil had already settled into bed under the duvet, waiting for Dan to come back. Once under the duvet, Dan immediately rolled into Phil and Phil wrapped his around him, letting himself snuggle the younger male. 

The amount of vulnerability and openness that Dan showed Phil tonight was something he would never forget and he was convinced that it’s something that will strengthen their relationship from this point forward into the future. Dan was right after all. They really did need to get to know each other before they can move on. 

“I’m glad we had this talk.” Dan said, his voice coming out a bit muffled from talking into Phil’s chest. 

He pulled back a bit and Dan looked up at him in the pale moonlight of his room that was seeping in through the sheer curtains. “Me too.” 

Dan leaned forward and connected their lips together. Phil pushed forward, deepening the kiss as Dan rolled onto his back willingly. Phil’s been hungry for Dan’s kisses all night and having Dan kissing him again was taming the embers that were firing up inside his core.

He found himself hovering over Dan, lips detached from his lips and making small kisses down his jaw onto his neck. He found the soft flesh of Dan’s neck and nipped at it with his teeth a bit before sucking onto the sensitive skin. Dan moaned out, reaching his hand out and placing it on the back of Phil’s neck to hold him in place. 

Phil loved this. The taste of Dan’s skin on his tongue was like a delicacy that he couldn’t get enough of. He pulled back and moved a bit lower, attaching his lips to Dan’s collarbone. 

Dan squirmed under him as he whimpered and continued to whine at the sensations. Phil honestly felt a bit drunk off from the pheromones Dan was giving off to him. 

He pulled away, moving his head back so he could connect their lips once more. It was a bit sloppy and a bit messy and Phil was sure their teeth might have clashed but he didn’t care. Anything with Dan was amazing and nothing would ever destroy that mindset for him. 

Phil’s hips instinctively rolled down, looking for friction to serve as relief for the heat pooling in his lower body and his cock springing to full hardness. He could feel Dan’s under him, the hard outline of his own cock jutting into his hip. 

“Are you okay with this?” Phil asked, looking for consent given how open and vulnerable Dan was just ten or so minutes ago. 

Dan nodded quickly and practically begged. “Yes! Please keep going and don’t stop.” 

Phil nodded to Dan’s command and reached his hand between them, fishing his cock out of his pajama pants and letting it spring free between them. Dan reached between them and Phil felt his hand down the same and then Dan’s hips cantered up and suddenly, Phil’s vision went white. 

His head tipped down and found solace in the crevice between Dan’s neck and shoulder as he let of a loud moan. Dan’s hand wrapped around both of them and began to stroke as Phil’s hips rolled forward on their own accord. 

He’s never done this before. He’s never felt the sensation of his already painful erection being stroked along someone else. The feeling of it was enough to send shivers of heat down his spine as he struggled to remain in control of his movements. 

He picked his head up and looked down at Dan who was smiling lazily up at him. Phil quickly reached down and pushed Dan’s hand out of the way as he took over, stroking them to his tempo and his speed. 

It was over far quicker than he would have liked to admit, shooting white over Dan’s stomach and dribbling a bit over Dan’s cock. Dan finished not long after, quickly shoving Phil out of the way as he stroked himself to completion and then fell back into a heap on the bed. 

Dan got out of bed first to grab them something to clean up with and when he came back with a damp cloth, Phil gently used it to clean off his hand as he tucked himself back into his pajamas. 

Dan yawned on last time before he settled into bed and leaned over, kissing Phil a few more times with quick little pecks against his lips before settling down onto Phil’s chest. 

“Thank you.” Dan whispered, just as Phil felt himself drifting off to sleep. 

“What for?” 

“For making me feel like a normal person.” Dan says, his voice soft. “For actually making me feel loved and not like you’re using me to say you got to sleep with the famous Dan Howell.” 

“I’d never do that.” 

“I know.” Dan pressed. “That’s why I’m saying thank you.” 

Dan fell asleep not long after the conversation ended and Phil was left, laying back on the bed with his eyes wide open now as he processed Dan’s words. 

Thank you for actually making me feel loved. 

The mere thought of someone not doing that or showing that to Dan made him actually hurt. 

Sleep took a while to come that night.