#they got very nervous whenever they lost track of me and thought they were alone Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[luvsavos]

hello rain world tumblr i would like you to meet my friend Big Ol Eyes (i named them that for their big ol fuckin Lookers and tiny ass . . pupils)

they followed me back to my shelter and proceeded to adopt me as their emotional support animal for the next cycle

[barzzal]

take me as i am

summary: like he always does, sidney picks you up after work. the only thing he didn’t expect was to see you kissing one of your workmates. the one he’s been jealous of, to be exact.

↳ pairing: sidney crosby x you

↳ warnings: jealousy, make up sex, and the whole narrative of sidney learning you love him for the first time, minors dni*

↳ genre: angst if you squint, fluff, smut, pre-established relationship (you’re not there yet but almost), +18

↳ length: imagine; 5.9k

↳ masterlist: the barn

↳ track: skin, drunk on love by rihanna

note: this fic has been in my drafts for a while and i’m just happy i get to share it with y’all now! a lil nervous putting this out but as always, feedbacks are very much appreciated! <3

Sidney has never gripped a steering wheel so hard in his life not until he spent the entirety of waiting outside the café of your building, watching the innocent touches and laughs you share with a colleague that he has been secretly observing every time he comes and picks you up after work or your usual work brunches such as this.

You hadn’t been dating officially which is basically the reason behind why he didn’t want his petty issues out in the open. But Sidney has got to admit that even though the obvious age gap between the two of you didn’t bother him, the sight of you hanging out with guys your age– someone who could potentially connect with you in levels he knew he never could, scares the shit out of him. 

So, when he sees you give that guy a kiss goodbye and a smile that he knows he only brings out of you, that’s when he lost it. 

As soon as you get out of the café, you immediately see Sidney’s car parked at the usual spot he takes. His car was fairly tinted so he makes it a point to come out and greet you with a quick kiss before opening the door for you. However, this time, (the first time for the matter) instead of Sidney’s well built arms, what welcomed you were the car’s flashing lights beaming your way, signaling you to walk over where he was.

You didn’t mind, thinking that he must’ve been just tired from practice. Once you’ve snuck in the car and got settled, you turn to Sidney who was already turning the engine on without even bothering to give you the one thing he’s never failed to do ever since you two started going out. Kisses.

“Hey, babe.” You greet him, hand already massaging his nape as you lean in to plant a small kiss on his cheek. When you feel his jaw clenched, that’s when you knew something was definitely wrong. With furrowed brows, you were utterly bemused at his strange behavior. 

“What’s with you?” You ask him, hand still placed on his nape, now running your thumb on top of it endearingly to ease out the stress you thought he was under. Sidney didn’t bother answering and instead turned his eyes onto the rear view mirror, finally pulling off the parking spot and into the main road. 

He mumbles something which you didn’t quite hear. “What?” 

Sidney only shakes his head, dismissing the attention you have been giving him. “Nothing.” 

You decide not to push him further so you just took your hands away from him and closed your arms. You look outside the window, watching the normal busy day of the city rush before your eyes. 

It’s safe to say that you and Sidney spent the whole ride sitting in an uncomfortable silence. You try and steal a couple of glances, evidently clueless as to what caused his sudden change of demeanor. You were sure the two of you were fine because you had woken up real good this morning and even shared a steamy shower before heading for work. You sat the remainder of the car ride listening to Sidney’s heavy sighs that comes every time he stops at the traffic light. 

“Baby, come on. What’s wrong?” You ask him. This time, fueled with the desire of learning what could have possibly upset him. 

“Nothing.” He repeats only now with his voice distant and inattentive as his eyes were still pinned hard on the road.

Your gaze tread onto his veiny hand holding on the steering wheel. His brief movements whilst he maneuvers it, and his Rolex shining under the golden sun, were more than enough to send your mind miles away from where you are. You clear your voice, practically turned on by the man who’s busily ignoring you, “When you’ve done nothing but ignore me, it’s definitely not nothing.” 

Sidney is a fairly quiet man. A man that’s secured and guarded. A man that thinks about how he should react to certain situations. A man with certainty— a man that knows what he wants. That’s at least what you’ve learned from going out with him for almost a year. Sure, you haven’t had the talk about making things official after said given time, but you absolutely see yourself committing not just to him but more importantly to the relationship you have been able to build with him.

You were still working your way with having a full grasp of his sudden mood changes although this time, you just know it’s different. You see, Sidney may not be that talkative compared to his teammates but he still treated you differently. He moved around you differently. Perhaps, it’s even safe to say that the only time he gets to be himself is whenever he’s with you. His connection with you was just undeniably surreal that he’s even certain himself that he has never been this comfortable and so at home with someone who was probably still cruising through life when he got drafted in the NHL; let alone, connect with her on so many levels that no one, not even a shit ton of girls from his dating track ever did. 

However, given said time, and possibly even the age difference, Sidney does tend to get all dominant towards you that it even intimidates you at one point. That being said, that intimidation would later on ignite a fight that’s usually composed of blank stares, cold shrugs and treatments as the two of you ignore each other for the rest of the day. 

“Hon, come on. Tell me what’s wrong. Please?” You ask for the hundredth time as you tugged on the hem of the sleeves of his shirt.

You keep persuading Sid to tell you what has been bothering him that it finally got into his nerves, resulting in him involuntarily snapping at you with the sudden rise in his voice. 

“Stop it, y/n! I said it’s nothing. I’m tired. I just want to go home.” He finally breaks, causing you to take your hands off of him in an instant as if his words burn your skin. 

Lo and behold, “Alright. Fine.” were two words that rang in his ears all the way home. You did what you’re told and shut up and ignored him the whole time. You would often see him taking glances in the corner of your eye but your ego was far too stepped on to even care. You did care. He was just too much of a prick to acknowledge it. Now that he’s made his bed, he can lie on it as long as he pleases. 

Much to his realization, he immediately regretted having to raise his voice. He didn’t mean to, of course. It’s just that the image of you and the guy you’re working with was the only thing running in his mind all throughout the car ride. He couldn’t bring himself to tell you because who was he to begin with?

He didn’t have the right to tell you these things because he wasn’t exactly in the place to do so. He would never order you to quit seeing that man nor will he ever ask for more than what you can give. He just hated himself for feeling insecure and quite possibly terrified of the idea that he’d eventually lose you to a man that’s far better than him. However, out of all scenarios playing in his head endlessly, you realizing that you’re better off without him was what scared him the most. 

As soon as he pulls over the driveway, you get out of the car without uttering a single word. A thing that Sidney knew will cause him another night of sharing a cold bed with you.

𖥸

Sidney follows you into his home and watches as you head towards the stairs. The cold dead air settles quickly between the two of you whilst you continue to ignore him completely. Sidney frustratingly sighs and tosses his keys onto the accent table. He ran his hand through his hair as he followed after your steps, knowing full well that he was clearly the one in the wrong.

He sees you sitting at the end of the bed whilst you take off your red pumps. “I’m sorry.” he says at once, voice still soft amidst the fact that he was still testing the waters.

Without an ounce of thought, you stood and walked over his closet to get rid of your work clothes, sparing not an ounce of attention for the man. As you walk further his huge closet, you hear the sliding doors glide all the way as Sidney follows after your track.

“Baby…” He coos, the familiar tone in his voice that was missing a while ago now hits every nerve in your body. Although, despite feeling the same effect he’s always had on you, you still manage to let out a wild scoff while you start removing your white button down shirt in front of the mirror that stretched all the way to the ceiling, revealing nothing but your black laces that held your breasts underneath. A mundane sight that’s always left Sidney’s throat high and dry.

“Oh, so now I’m baby?” You snarked, eyes darting on him through the giant mirror.

Sidney didn’t break off contact as he approached you but once he did, your skin was the first thing his hands found the moment he wrapped his arms around your waist before you could even protest. He then plants a small kiss on your shoulder before he rests his chin on top of it.

The biggest mistake you’ve made however, was to turn your gaze on his apologetic eyes because not only did it make your heart beat faster, but it also made you realize that you can never win with this man. You were done for for good.

Besides the sight put forth exclusively for him, you brush your hand on his skin, making up for the time you’ve spent ignoring each other.

“I’m sorry.” He concedes with a pout and the little voice he makes when he’s done arguing with you; enough to make you let out a quiet laugh whilst the two of you rest in each other’s arms. You just roll your eyes and bite back a smile. A thing that lets Sid know he got through the fight even if it barely was one.

“Why were you having a fit anyway? Rough day?” Your hand finds his cheek to caress it while Sidney presses feather light kisses on your now exposed skin. 

“No. I’m just– tired.” He lies again, losing count on how much he’s told you that he was just tired. Or that it was nothing worth worrying about. But he should’ve known better. You weren’t that gullible to believe it. So, you just arch your brows and watch him stifle a tight smile upon having caught on his lie. 

“Come on, tell me.” You persuade him.

“I saw you with that guy earlier.” He starts, treading his way lightly on what’s been bothering him. His voice leaves vibration on your skin as he speaks.

You hum and asked, “Who? Mike?”

Great. He even has my back up name. He thinks but only resorts to nodding his head, admittedly enjoying how your hand brushes on his muscular arms, making it difficult for him to argue his case.

“What about him?”

“I saw you kiss him—” were just the words you needed to hear to understand the whole point being Sidney was a big jealous man himself. “You’re jealous.” You confirm with a smug smile on your face. Now having a full understanding of his unusual quietude. 

“Honey, there’s nothing to be jealous about.” You guarantee him. You then turn your back and face him. You put your arms around his neck whilst his arms fitted well as it embraced your middle. You plant a small kiss on the tip of his nose, sending heaps of the same immeasurable feeling through his system.

Sidney lets go of a sigh. Amidst his knowledge, and frankly, even the certainty of you not breaking his trust, he had nothing just as much as the guy you’re working with. The only difference, however little, was that he’s the one who’s able to take you home. Other than that, he wasn’t really sure if you were feeling the same thing as him. Or if you’d even reciprocate what he’s been trying to tell you. 

Despite that, you know best that Sidney was a clueless man and was frequently teased by his constant miss on the more important things. (Other than getting that puck inside the net.) That being said, you were just as scared as him when it comes to dealing with where your relationship with him was headed. Or if it was even headed somewhere.

“I know you would never do anything and I trust you. It’s just that– I can’t help it. It bothers me.” He confesses. The man of the ice that everyone has looked up to crumbles before your eyes— and all that because you kissed a friend goodbye. 

You giggle at the sight of a jealous Crosby unravelling before you. You wrap him in your arms whilst he buries his face on the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent, savoring it as much as he could.

“You’re so cute.” You tell him the moment you break off the hug. A wide smile printed on his now reddened face, quite smitten and shy to be put under your gaze.

As you inevitably drown in his scent whilst he cages you in his embrace, the next words slipped off your tongue as fast as it recoils your way the moment you heard it yourself. “You know I love you, right?” 

To say that you were nervous was an understatement. Horrified would not even suffice what you felt the moment your eyes locked with Sidney’s. His dark round irises looked through yours as if he knew what’s going on inside your head. If only you could move past this and save it for another fight, but you know you couldn’t. Not when his arms were still wrapped around your middle. Thus, for lack of a better term: you’re screwed. 

You were frozen to your feet at your sudden profession. Sidney, albeit having dreamt of this moment, was just as startled as you, feeling his throat dry whilst he tries to utter the right words. Both of your rapid and yet seemingly still breathing serves as the only constant exchange between your bodies.

Finally, Sidney gathers himself and speaks, “Now I do.” 

Before you could even break a smile, Sidney’s lips was what welcomed yours in an instant. The urgency and desire overflowing with every move his lips make as if to drown you deep in the pool of his voracious thirst, letting you know that what you had just told him is exactly what he’s been feeling towards you. Perhaps, even more. 

“You love me.” He breathes, both your teeth clashing just as you both gasp for air, perceptibly choosing to deluge yourselves in each other’s kisses than to take even just a second to catch your breaths. You take all might you still have left and nod your head, you’re hasty at how his kisses felt more than enough to tell you he felt just the same. 

Once you caught up with his pace, Sidney finds support by pinning you up against the giant mirror. His hands, roaming on the hem of your skirt before pulling it up just above the middle of your thigh. His hand then moves to your back, pushing his body closer to yours. He breaks away from your lips just so he could make his way onto your jawline and down to your neck, leaving sloppy and wet kisses in every corner he could get into. 

Without a word, Sidney takes you in his arms, busying himself with your lips yet again. Your arms wrap around his nape just as he makes his way towards the king sized bed. 

Once the bed is beneath the two of you, he carefully lays you down, letting his physique tower all over your body. The sight of your half-nakedness burns before his eyes— sending shivers on his skin, the fervent wanting to have you all out for him and him alone circles his now empty mind. Empty, being that there was nothing else cruising it other than the thought of having you take him through and through.

You watch him take off the shirt that mirrored the color of his irises, revealing his strong athletic built. Your eyes travelled from his flushed torso, down to his well-sculpted abs, before finally settling onto the thickness of his jeans that was hindering you from seeing his bulging member. Sidney lets you take him all in, his eyes grim and filled with lust once it meets yours. Not long after, clearly not needing to mutter any word, he dives on top of you, claiming your lips as if to seal a dance that ought to fuel the burning desire kindling in your veins with every touch he floors you with. 

You have gotten used to how Sidney takes you in the bedroom. Slow and steady at first, clearly holding himself back from all unimaginable pains and pleasures you know he would take no second guesses inflicting on you. This time, however, the only thing he wanted was to give you all that he has to offer. You two have always connected in ways more than just for the sake of satisfying each other in the bedroom. Or occasionally, in the passenger seat. Nonetheless, every kiss and every touch he leaves you with wasn’t meant to send you such insinuations. This time, what Sidney wanted from you was to be his alone. All for him— just like what you have told him. 

You know I love you, right?

The two of you gasp for air, evidently aroused by your deep desire to claim each other. Sidney’s fingers found your neck as his lips sought resort on your clavicle, leaving marks all over your skin just as his free hand went to unclasp your bra.

Once your breasts are out of the only material covering it,  Sidney assures no second is spared as he takes one bud into his mouth, letting himself feel your muffled moans through the vibration on your neck, resulting in him tightening his grasped onto it just before letting go so his hand could tend to your other bosom.

His kisses then moved to the center of your body, enough to make you arch your back for him, meeting him in between whilst his hand got busy with discarding all the remaining material that has irkingly caged the part of you he certainly needed most. Sid’s hands grazed every line, every curve, and every inch of your nakedness. 

You feel the firmness of his skin graze from where your neck meets your shoulder, to the skin parting your breasts, down to your stomach before stopping onto the hem of the last undergarment you were wearing. You watch him savour the sight of your black work underwear, the undeniable truth of Sidney wanting to rip it all off exuding off his demeanor. Nonetheless, he stopped himself, trying to sustain his breathing and keep his mind straight.

“Sid…” You moan under his touches.

As an effort to make things easier for Crosby, you part your legs voluntarily, giving him all access to the thin fabric covering your now throbbing core. And just like that, once he sees your moistness through your laces, a muffled groan escapes his lips, making him grip onto your thigh all the more tighter than he already did. 

Sidney throws himself on top of you just so he could kiss you once more. His lips moving slowly as he stops to take the sheer material of your panties in his mouth, getting a whiff of your now damped sex whilst his eyes were pinned on yours, savouring how you sheepishly return his gaze; visibly still shy to be put under his sole attention. Despite that, you watched him strip the clothing off. You lightly push your back upwards so he could get it under the curve of your ass before he finally succeeds in letting it slide down your smooth skin, the material falling onto the floor like the rest of your clothes.

Full, wet kisses was what welcomed your body next. It was gentle— yet firm as Sidney presses his lips onto your thigh, his hand lightly grazing the other in an upward motion. Your hand finds Sidney’s hair once he’s knelt in his desired position. He feels you tugging his head onto your center, silently pleading what you have been wanting him to do the moment he laid a hand on you. 

He hushes at his needy pup, “We have all night, my love.”

Sidney returns his attention back to your inner thigh with a smug grin. He makes sure to place whole kisses to every corner but your core, leaving you wanting, aching and more.

His breathing didn’t do much help either. It made the yearning much worse as Sidney’s touch becomes so addicting that you find yourself fighting for more than what he could give. 

Thankfully, Sid finally obliged. 

He takes pleasure in getting a whiff of your scent. Overwhelming his senses, sending jolts of adrenaline up his spine. He wanted to take you right then and there. Only taking you whole wasn’t the only thing he had in mind. He wanted to own you— mark you. Even if it meant having to do it all night so no one else would be worthy enough to even dare to share a bed with you.

One single stroke sent you to madness. The tip of Sidney’s nose, already doing wonders you’ve never once imagined. “Sid, please.” You beg in a muffled whimper. To which he only reciprocated with pressing his lips on top of your slit, humming. Not long after he takes his tongue out and lets himself taste your wetness. 

Your fingers weave through his midnight colored hair, pulling him closer as he stuck his tongue inside you, the humming he occasionally makes sends overwhelming pleasure through your walls. As your endless moans and whimper covered the room sinfully, Sidney pushed his fingers inside your center. Letting himself bask in your warmth, curling it so he could finally fuck you while he endowed himself with the treat that is: eating your cunt. 

As you mount your high by grinding your hips against Sidney’s lips, his name was the constant thing you utter— almost as if it was a prayer for the gods responsible for having such a man kneel down before you; taking all you could give him with every mouthful of liquid dripping out from your now tightening and pulsating sex. 

You were close to your high upon the continuity of Sid’s teasing strokes, switching from circling his tongue on your bud to the nibbling he does that surely floods you with ecstasy. Sidney knew you were close, so the only thing he did was to keep going, curling his fingers inside you as he keeps hitting the right spot over and over again— and once he feels your pussy throb in his mouth, he positions himself down on your opening just so he could take all of your juices, his arm wrapped around your hips to secure his wedged head in between your thighs, making you squirm and yell all the words you could even utter, your fingers sinking onto his duvet sheets.

Sidney takes his fingers out of your already spent pussy, fixated on watching your heaving chest, breasts spread out beautifully for him whilst you still drown in the bliss of meeting your high. He then takes both fingers into his mouth, sucking all that’s left of you on his skin, your distinct taste waking up the beast in him. 

Sidney was eager to spend the night worshiping you. To give you the love and affection you deserved even when he still feels like he’s no good for you. All he wanted to do was to prove himself to you. Not just as someone who would gladly concede before your needs, but as someone who’s worthy enough to spend what remains of your waking days regardless of it being good or bad.

No matter the circumstances. No matter the highs and lows. Sidney wanted to be the one holding your hand through it all. He was ready, and willing to give it all up if that meant having a chance at a life spent with you. He wanted nothing else but you alone. 

The odds must have taken his side for when Sidney looked into your eyes, he knew you wanted the same thing too.

Before Sidney could hover back on top of you, you were quick to pull yourself up which startled him for a bit, clueless as to why you were getting up not until he met the suggestive look on your face whilst you crawl your way towards the end of the bed. 

Your hands find their way to the thick fabric of his jeans, teasingly creeping up to his belt buckle without breaking your gaze off of him. He doesn’t say a word and lets you do what you do best. He watches you work your way through, the sound of the cold metal on your hand echoes in your ears as it further builds up the anticipation of finally getting your hands on Sidney.

He helps you get his pants off and once it was on the floor with the rest of your clothes, his hands then take rest holding your hair, gathering it all in his fist whilst you busied yourself by stroking his far too hardened dick along with the pre-cum that’s already dripping on its tip. 

Sidney’s flushed chest heaves the moment you take the head of his cock in your mouth; looking up at him as you continue teasing his end, licking off what remains of his pre-cum. You take time just like what he did a while back, ensuring that no part of him was left untouched by your lips— that his massive build will be taken by your mouth down to the very last inch. 

“Fuck.” He groans, his grasp on your hair tightening as he pushes his length further into your throat. 

Nothing but sloppy and wet noises of your mouth taking Sidney whole was what can be heard in the room. Every moan that slips off Sidney’s tongue makes you feel alive more than ever before. The muffled praises he gives you whilst he watches you devour him whole was all that ran in your head. The beads of sweat on his temple, the hoarseness of his voice, and the way his Adam's apple moves the closer he feels he is to coming signaled you to continue whatever it was you were doing not until seconds after you take his hardened balls into your mouth. 

“Baby, no.” He didn’t want to but it is what he had to do. He pulled himself off of you when you started sucking on his balls. Your tongue was doing too much with the build up thickening in his region. He didn’t want to spoil the evening by cumming sooner that he intended. The night was still young and if he’d let you devour him all the way, he knew he only had seconds left before he fails in stopping himself from cumming all over your face. 

You shot him a puzzled look and quickly rose to meet his eyes, “Why? Is there something wrong?” 

He breathes, taking both his hands on your shoulder, steadying you under his softened gaze. “Nothing. It’s just- I don’t wanna cum yet.” He sheepishly admits, enough to make you bite a smile and rest your head on his chest. 

You whisper an assuring “Okay.” and wrap your arms around his nape to lock him in another kiss. His rough hands grazed your naked body so beautifully. Tucking some of your hair at the back of your ear before travelling down the line your back as it finally takes rest on your butt, the other brushing on your nipple first before it goes down just below your breasts and your waist, pulling you closer to him.

Sidney tread to the corner of your lips as he lightly presses small kisses, working his way down from your jaw line onto the crook of your neck before finally settling down on sucking onto your clavicle. Once he breaks away, you both look deep into each other’s eyes, completely enthralled and enamoured to be in each other’s embrace, drowning in what seems to be the night you’ll never forget. 

“I love you.” He professes, the words finally leaving his chest out for you to hear. 

You always thought you’d smile when you hear it but you just didn’t. You were happy, sure. But for once, throughout the time you’ve spent in Sidney’s arms, whether in bed or not, you were so sure that none of the scenarios you’ve played in your head endlessly came off as right as caging him in your hold, sealing his words with a much needed passionate kiss. Pretty much like how he did when you’d told him the exact words you needed to hear moments ago back in his closet.

Sidney brushes his thumb on your cheeks and looks deep into your eyes once you break off, “What do you want me to do, y/n?” he asks, voice husk and yearning.

Without even giving it much thought, you chase Sidney’s lips and let out words enveloped with the same wanting and desire he had already been feeling from months on end, “Take me, Sid.” was the only thing you tell him. “I only want you.” 

Sidney wasted no second and claimed you with his lips once again. This time, lustful and needy— like the kind of kiss that takes your mind off where you actually are but not so much as to let you fly far off his reach so he ensured keeping you close to his skin whilst the two of you basked in a much heated kiss. 

His hands squeezed every inch of your skin he could find and with just one swift motion, Sidney props your legs around his waist as he finally takes you down the bed, allowing you to feel him in your middle, hard and heavy for your core. 

“I’ll go get the rubber.” He says, aiming for the bedside table instantly but you lightly grabbed his nape and planted a kiss on top of his nose, “No, don’t. I want to feel you.” 

“Are you sure?” He asks you, concern evident in his eyes. It’s not like you needed him to have it anyway. You were safe after having met with your gynecologist for an appointment a week ago. You give him an encouraging nod and smile, taking his lips as an answer. 

Sidney gladly does what was asked of him and delivered. His mouth travels from your chin before nestlin’ down one of your buds just as his hands roamed your body before landing on your thigh, positioning himself in front of your entrance. 

Sidney hovers back on top of you, meeting your lips yet again, finally thrusting inside you. Your walls overwhelming his senses in a snap as you choke his thick length, making the two of you gasp in between each other’s mouths. 

“Sidney, please.”  you beg underneath his weight. He pulls out just to push back slowly, easing himself through your tight walls. “Always so fucking tight for me, eh?” 

He rests an arm just above your head the other entwined with your fingers, sinking both your bodies in his sheets once his thrusts progressed at a pace both your bodies exactly needed. 

Your wails went in sync with Sidney’s antagonizing groans. Admittedly not helping you straighten your mind for it did nothing but worsen your hunger to have him. He rests his forehead on yours, sharing beads of sweat whilst he continues to pump himself through you. In and out, just like you need him to. 

As he further himself inside you, hitting your end over and over again right on the very spot that only shows how much he knows you and your body and how you communicate with him without having to say a word other than your moans and his name leaving your lips as a curse. 

Your fingers ran and dug on his back the closer you feel yourself reaching your own high. Your eyes swell with tears, overwhelmed with the feeling Sidney has been pouring you all night with. Letting his touches resonate within you, sending you a well-received message of how much you mean to him. Perhaps, more than you will ever know. 

You were it. And for once in his life, after all the years he’s spent alone; nights spent with his arms wrapped around the wrong people, he finally found someone that was able to make him feel so much more than he thought he could ever do.

“I’m coming.” You breathed out just as you finally let yourself collapse beneath him. Your legs shaking with ecstasy whilst you let Sidney pump himself inside you faster now that he feels nothing but your throbbing walls retching him whole. 

“God, y/n.” He grunts, biting his lower lip as you feel his body tensed up, his jaw clenching, and his biceps filling your palm like stones.

“Come for me, baby.” You pant, meeting his gaze before he shuts his eyes once he finally lets go and fill your walls with all of his juices, coating it all and letting it sit as he lets his body collapse on top of you. 

You let out a small laugh at how flushed and hot his cheeks were once he buries himself on the side of your head. You sweetly plant a kiss on his cheeks and he meets your irises with a gentle gaze. 

He makes his way down shortly, pecking on your shoulder before pulling himself up again to release his shaft from your core. 

“Wait for me, okay?” He says at once, savoring how his cum spills from your lips, fashioning your slit with a sight that only leaves Sidney wanting for more. 

Nonetheless, he knew you were tired. He strut his way back to the master bath to get a warm cloth that ought to clean you up. You, on the other hand, propped yourself up, letting your weight sit on both your arms as you admire the scenery of Sidney Crosby’s ass. 

He walks back towards you with a smile, his face glowing with the post-sex rush, holding a white gentle cloth that ended cleaning you down your clit, making you gasp instantly upon contact. 

Sidney then throws the cloth with the pile of mess you won’t bother cleaning up until morning. Once he was settled with you in bed, he takes you in his arms with the same gentleness he’s never failed to give you whenever you’re in his embrace. You rest your head on his arm, your hand safely placed atop his chest, content and satisfied in each other’s presence.

Now with both of your breathing settled and steady, exhaustion slowly catching on, Sidney places a soft kiss on your temple as you bask in each other’s arms, finally letting yourselves drift off to sleep.

[animewhoree2]

little drabble bc summer’s almost over <3

a/n: i wrote this a year ago for something else but if you squint it's not that bad. i kind of hate it but my soft headcanons are getting so much love i’m so thankful🥺❤️

some kind of au idk which kind, slight NSFW

atsumu miya x f!reader 

You didn't know when it first started, but whenever you needed space from your family, you took your two childhood dogs either on a walk or let them outside. You took your time when doing this, as it was your only get away from these interactions. You learned this from early on in your teen years, making up bizarre reasons of why you would rather go alone.

You were the "annoying" yet innocent younger sister. As the two of you grew up, you became closer and the bullying turned into a rock-solid friendship. Ever since your brother was about 15 or 16, his friends actually seemed to like you. You weren't much younger than him, only 2-3 years, so it wasn't strange. When you first entered high school, tail tucked between your legs, you were so grateful for them. For a bunch of boys, they were very kind to you. Especially Atsumu.

He and your brother were the closest and still remained close friends as he turned to volleyball when your brother turned to business. So that's how you ended up in the situation you were in right now.

It was summer, thank god, and your brother and you went back home for a week or two to visit. He had some friends over (Atsumu included), reuniting with the old bunch. It was getting late, your parents slowly heading upstairs as the boys hung around the kitchen island. You were being the good, younger sibling, doing the dishes as the group laughed and drank beer. You tried to not disturb them as you moved around the kitchen, putting things away and rinsing the plates and utensils that were used. You sighed as you finally closed the dishwasher, content with how quickly it went. You leaned against the counter, taking a sip of your own drink as you glanced around, your eyes catching Atsumu's. He was so stunning, it was annoying. He held your gaze until you felt heat rise to your face, looking away. You quickly whistled for your dogs and headed out the back door to try and ignore the way he looked at you.

He was always THAT friend of your brother's. The annoying one that was known for being a player yet you wanted to be with him all the time. You managed to keep your distance as you grew up, but now you understood your feelings and were able to make your own decisions, which weren't always good. You were sitting on the steps of your porch, looking out into your backyard, lost in your thoughts, so you hadn't noticed someone was following you until you heard the door slam shut. You turned, to see Atsumu, visibly annoyed he forgot that your door was that loud. You laughed a little before turning back around. He sat next to you, bumping your shoulder with his.

"Hey,"

"Hey." You didn't even need to look at him, you knew he was looking at you, waiting if you would further engage the conversation.

"Didn't think you would come back this summer," You turned, shocked.

"I'm always here! Well, as much as I can stand," He elbowed your side as you laughed, a smile remaining on your face as you carried on the conversation. Unfortunately, the summer evening was not in your favor.

"Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, I'm going in. These bugs make me want to change my flight sooner." You called for your dogs, and the four of you headed inside. Everyone seemed to be getting ready for a movie, and as you were sneaking off you were invited with multiple pairs of pleading eyes.

"I have other things to do,"

"Like what?"

"Uhm, shower?" You said, walking away before anyone could stop you. No one seemed to notice, but Atsumu swallowed at the thought of you in the shower. It was so wrong. But god, he couldn't help it, you were so beautiful.

-

A shower was exactly what you needed. The way the hot water ran down your body made you relax and you were able to clear your mind for a second. Literally. You closed your eyes and recounted the day. Which quickly led to Atsumu. Maybe it was the water, but you definitely were pooling between your legs. Your mind wandered. You'd seen him shirtless before, pool parties of course. He was just so... You didn't even notice the way your hand dipped down between your thighs and slowly applied pressure to your clit. You sighed, losing yourself in your thoughts. However, a loud bang pulled you out of them. You quickly got out of the shower, pulling a towel around you, and walked to the top of the stairs.

"You guys okay?" No one responded, and you didn't really want to walk downstairs in just a towel. "Hello?" Nothing.

Boys.

"Hey," His voice came out of nowhere, and you almost fell down the stairs if he hadn't grabbed you. You were pulled into his chest, your towel scrunching up a bit.

"What the hell are you doing?" You whisper-yelled at Atsumu as you straightened your towel and regained balance. He shrugged, eyes raking down your body. He made little effort of trying to hide it, as he was taking his sweet time.

"Looking for you, actually." Your eyes went wide as he brought his gaze back to yours.

"Well before you drag me somewhere, can I put some clothes on?" You mumbled, turning to head to your room.

"I don't know, I like you like this." You stopped in your tracks but continued walking to your room. Him in tow. You tried to quickly close your door behind you, but he somehow slipped in after you. You leaned against the door, one hand on the doorknob as he looked around your childhood room. He started approaching your bed,

"Don't you dare," You spat, in which he turned around with a stupid smirk on his face. A stupidly HOT smirk. So he walked towards you instead, stopping only centimeters in front of you. You couldn't take your eyes away from his face, but you looked everywhere but his eyes. You could see the way he was looking at you, with so much hunger in his eyes. "Sumu- this isn't-" He stepped even closer, pinning you against the door.

"You're so beautiful, Y/N." That's all you needed. Your hands shot up to his jaw, pulling him close, kissing him hard. He made a noise of surprise, but quickly took control of the kiss as one of his hands rested on your waist as the other was on the door, locking you in place. The second you moved your hands to the back of his neck, your towel loosened around you, quickly dropping to where his hand was. The cold air made a chill run down your spine, but you were so caught up in the kiss you barely noticed. He started kissing down your jaw and down your neck, glancing up at you as you closed your eyes and leaned against the door. You could feel his smirk, but once he realized your towel fell, he couldn't wait. He ducked his head and started leaving marks down your chest, making your eyes shoot open.

"Shit," You whispered, your hands pulling him up to grab your towel. He stood up and looked at you, his pupils blown out and his lips a bit swollen. "I- uhm,"

"I can go if you want," He said, ignoring whatever his brain was yelling at him for. The two of you stood there for a minute, and he moved to open the door, but you grabbed his wrist.

"No," Now it was his turn for wide eyes.

"Are you sure?" You didn't raise your gaze, as you dropped your towel on the floor. He sucked in his breath at the sight of you, bare. Your hair was still a bit damp, falling in your face before you raised your gaze. You moved your hand, quickly locking the door before you looking up at him. You felt so vulnerable, you were nervous for god knows why. "Are you trying to get us in trouble?" He smirked, breaking the silence. You shrugged, a small smile appearing on your lips before his attacked yours, leading you to your bed.

[shinazugawaswife]

hi babes! can i please get something with Niall Horan the loml extra cute && fluffy

9. “Stop being so cute”

thanks sm! no rush! have a great day!🥰

A Sushi Disaster - Niall Horan

Thank you so much for the request!

I love this man so much and I was so excited to write for him, I hope you like it<3 There’s really no plot, it’s just Niall fluff

Prompts

Summary: a night in with Niall

Warnings: a little smut, but not a lot, lots of fluff

Not my gif, creds to the owner

Niall loved going out and partying from sunset to sunrise, doing a ton of shots and getting wasted. He loved hanging out with his friends and dancing all night long until his feet couldn't carry him anymore. But what he loved even more, was a calm night in with you, eating dinner and snuggling up on the couch watching a marathon of movies. The two scenarios were complete contrasts, but he never hesitated to choose you over any party or any group of people at any time.

He could never get tired of you and he wanted to spend every moment he possibly could with you. So when you'd asked if you could come over and spend the night, he'd immediately canceled the plans he'd had for dinner with a couple of friends and told you that you were always welcome, you didn't even have to ask.

Your relationship was still very new, and though you were both hopelessly in love, there were still boundaries you hadn't tested yet and things you weren't aware of about each other yet. Everything was so new to you, all the feelings you carried for Niall and all the simple things he managed to make so special. You were still nervous around him and the thrill of seeing him and being close to him still made your heart pound like crazy. He was everything you'd ever wanted and you already loved him so much. You knew that you were still in the honeymoon phase and there would undoubtedly come a time where you would disagree on something, but that didn't scare you, because you were certain that you and Niall could get through anything.

When you knocked on his door, not even two seconds passed before it opened and Niall appeared in the doorway, looking as handsome as ever. His light brown hair, which had gotten a bit darker during the winter, was a mess on the top of his head, but somehow it still looked perfect and matched with his attractive features. His eyes were a beautiful blue, matching the sea and always completely sweeping you off your feet whenever they met yours. His face was slightly bearded and you honestly preferred it that way.

He was wearing a white t-shirt with a black Nike logo in the middle of the chest and a pair of loose black shorts, reaching just above his knees. He was smiling as he looked down at you. "Hey baby" he greeted, his Irish accent always sending a chill down your back. There was just something about it.

"Hi" you answered sweetly, feeling a slight blush creep onto your cheeks, which tended to happen a lot when you were around Niall. You closed the space between you and kissed him gently, his hands snaking around your waist and pulling you into him, making you arch your bag slightly.

Your faces stayed close as you pulled apart, only a couple of inches between you. He brushed his nose against yours, "I've missed you" he closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of you in his arms. "You saw me two days ago" you giggled, but you had to admit you'd missed him terribly as well. "Way too long" he answered as he opened his eyes again, a smile still complementing his features, and his blue eyes boring into yours. You stayed wrapped in each other's arms, starring into each other's eyes for a minute, before you kissed him again shortly. "I've missed you too" you admitted as your lips disconnected and he winked at you before loosening his arms from around you and grabbing your hand instead, leading you inside and closing the door.

"I was thinking we'd make dinner together, hm?" He spoke as he lead you into the kitchen, keeping you close to him the whole time. "I'd love that" you agreed, "got anything planned?"

He shrugged before letting go of your hand and with a smug grin he turned around and opened the fridge, revealing all the ingredients needed to make sushi. You were taken aback for a second, did he want you to make sushi?

"Your favorite" he exclaimed excitedly and you couldn't help but laugh. "That's very sweet, but do you know how to make sushi?"

His eyebrows turned down in a frown and he looked confusedly at you, "no, but I thought you did?" he asked hesitant. You kept laughing, "I have no fucking idea" you admitted and walked over to him, placing a kiss on his lips, "but what can go wrong right?"

An hour later, everything that could go wrong had gone absolutely wrong. It hadn't seemed like such a hard task when you'd grabbed Niall's computer and searched how to make sushi, but you'd been very wrong, it was definitely a challenge. The kitchen was a mess, to say the least, and both you and Niall were absolutely exhausted. "I give up! This stupid thing won't roll" you sighed as you tried rolling the different ingredients into a sushi roll.

"This turned out better in my head" Niall mumbled as he tried getting the sticky rice off his fingers. "Aw baby, it was so sweet" you walked over and planted a kiss on his cheek. You looked back at your unfinished sushi before meeting Niall's eyes again, "how about we do takeout? Nando's?" You tilted your head with a smile. Niall's face lit up at the mention of his favorite fast food chain, "you know me so well" he answered with a smirk.

It didn't take you long to order, since you both had a standard order that you always got from Nando's. As you waited for the food you settled in the living room and started surfing through Netflix, looking for a movie to watch, leaving the mess in the kitchen to be dealt with tomorrow.

You were leaning against Niall's side, his arm slung around your shoulders, pulling you close to him. He looked away from the tv and down at you, "what do you wanna watch, baby?" He asked,  the hand in which he held the remote was resting on his thigh. You looked up at him, your faces so close that your noses brushed. "The Avengers" you announced with a giddy smile, already knowing that he would roll his eyes before he even did it. "Not that bloody superhero movie again" he complained with a groan. "Please?" You begged, looking into his ocean eyes. He tried to be persistent for a second, but quickly gave up. "Stop being so cute, I can never say no to you" he shook his head, but his focus was already back on the television, typing out The Avengers in the search felt on Netflix. Your smile was big as he hit play without further complaining, but you knew you were gonna have to listen to him ramble on about how stupid this movie was throughout the whole thing though.

"I love you" you told him, it just came out. His head turned back to you, his eyes slightly wide and a grin slowly appearing on his face. It wasn't because you hadn't exchanged the little phrase before, he just hadn't gotten used to hearing it yet, but god he loved it.

"Well, you better" he chuckled, "I'm watching this dumb movie for you."

You just smiled. You'd watched this movie a ton of times with Niall already, just because you loved it and though he made an effort to disagree with everything in the movie every time you watched it, you knew he didn't mind it. He just loved spending time with you, no matter what you were doing.

"I love you too" he finally said, his face slightly more serious, but the smile never fading. You didn't have to lean forward much before your lips met. The kiss was gentle and sweet at first, his lips so soft on yours, until he put down the remote and placed his now free hand on your cheek. He slid it back into your hair, pulling you closer as his tongue ran across your bottom lip. You parted your lips and Niall immediately deepened the kiss, moving his tongue with yours.

Your hands were on his neck, playing with the tiny hairs there which you knew drove him crazy. His hand moved from your cheek, down your body and grabbed your thigh, pulling you on top of him in a swift motion. You gasped at the sudden repositioning of your body, which made Niall smirk against your lips. He traced soft circles on our thighs with his thumbs, and you were kind of embarrassed that that simple touch alone could make you go absolutely crazy.

You moved your hands fully into his hair and tucked on the thick and silky strands that roamed between your fingers. He let out a hungry growl and moved his upper body forward so his chest met yours, sitting on the edge of the couch, you still on his lap. He moved his hands up and grabbed your ass and you both moaned at the same time as he pushed your crotch against his groin. The kiss quickly turned heated and more sloppy as you were enchanted by the pleasure from simply the movements of your hips on his, even though you were both still fully clothed.

He moved one hand from your ass and grabbed your neck gently, tilting your head and giving himself access to the soft skin. He left a trail of kisses down your jaw and stopped under your ear, where he knew you were extra sensitive, and you let out a moan as he sucked slightly, sending chills running down your back. He moved from the spot where there now was a little bruise and down your neck, his kisses open mouthed and absolutely fucking mesmerizing.

You'd never been with a guy who could make you feel as Niall did. He was experienced and he knew what he was doing, but that wasn't it, you'd been with other guys just as experienced and they'd never been able to pleasure you the way Niall did. There was just something special about Niall's hands on your body and the way he sucked, nippled and kissed your skin that could make you loose track of everything happening around you.

You kept grinding your hips against Niall's as he mumbled against your neck, "hmm feels so good pet." His lips met yours again in a hungry kiss and you were both so lost in each other that neither of you heard the doorbell as it rang the first time. The only thing on your mind was Niall's tongue moving with yours and the throbbing between your legs. You first noticed the sounds around you when someone started banging loudly on the front door.

You pulled away and looked around confused. You were out of breath, your chest heavily rising and falling. "What?" Niall asked, clearly having heard nothing, but you were sure... then the knocking sounded again and you both looked towards the sound.

"The food" you stated, finally realizing what was happening, the food had arrived. You looked down at Niall as he let out a whine, annoyed that the moment had been ruined. You giggled and kissed him once before getting off his lap and walked towards the door. Your legs were unsteady as you were still affected by the episode you and Niall had just had, but you made it to the door and opened it to see a young guy with an annoyed look on his face and a bag of Nando's in his hand.

"I'm so sorry," you apologized for the wait and quickly paid him, closing the door after you as you walked back into the living room with the food. As you unpacked your orders Niall couldn't help but smile, "I love that you eat as much as me" he said, making you blush slightly. Niall had once told you that he knew he was in love with you the first time he'd seen you eat, because you were the only one able to eat as much as him.

The movie had already been playing for thirty minutes, but you'd watched it so many times, neither of you had any problem keeping up. Niall watched you more than the movie, adoring your beautiful face as you concentrated on Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. arguing on the screen. Sometimes he would lean forward and place a sweet kiss on your cheek, loving how it always brought a rose color to your cheeks, and once you'd both finished eating, he wasted no time pulling you into him and you stayed like that for the rest of the night, in Niall's arms.

[albertasunrise]

Mistakes - Chapter 4

Masterlist

You’d known it was a bad idea to get involved with Javier Peña. You were just another notch on his bedpost but you were a notch he kept revisiting. You know you should have stopped it, declined his offers to rock your world but you couldn’t and now you had to deal with the consequences. Consequences that you knew he would refuse to accept.

Warnings: Angst, Mentions of Sex

Pairings: Javier Peña x Reader

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

~

Javier had been back at work for almost two weeks.

Neither of you had spoken about that night since it had happened. Clearly, his memories returning to him had been fairly traumatic as he then struggled to know how to be around you after that. You hadn’t kissed again. You'd barely spoken. You just cohabited and you were finding it too difficult. So that's why you had come to the decision that you had.

Chucho had returned to Texas after Javier had started back at work and you had found yourself on Steve and Connie’s couch more and more, crying into one of their shoulders as you lost all hope that Javier would return to you.

You had hoped that the kiss and him, somewhat, remembering you would have helped move things forward but all it had done was make things worse and so after two weeks of silent suffering, watching him battle with his internal demons you’d decided that enough was enough. So you found yourself sitting on his couch, Alicia at the Murphy’s. You needed to be able to have a quick exit after you told him what you were about to.

Javier’s key turning in the lock grabbed your attention and after taking a few steadying breaths you stood from your seat and turned so that you were facing him as he entered, catching his eye as he looked up from throwing his coat and keys on the table.

‘Everything okay?’ He asked after a few moments, noting your nervous demeanour ‘Where’s Alicia?’

‘With Connie and Steve.’ You stated as you rubbed your sweaty palms on the front of your jeans.

‘Why?’

‘Because I need to speak with you and I didn’t want there to be any interruptions.’ You answered, your gaze never leaving him as he moved through his home, grabbings a beer from the fridge and offering you one which you refuse.

‘What do you want to talk about?’ He asked casually. If he was nervous about what you were about to say he didn’t show it.

‘I’m moving out.’ You got straight to the point and he stopped dead in his tracks, attention now on you fully.

‘What?’

‘I can’t do this anymore Javier.’ You declared, trying hard to keep your voice from wobbling ‘I can’t keep pretending that I am okay with all of this’ You continued as you signalled your hand around ‘I can’t stay here and endure the hurt of waiting for the man I love to come back to me. I thought that night that we were making progress but then you remembered a few things and now we’re back to you being closed off and distant with me.’ You paused, scrubbing a shaky hand over your face to wipe away your traitorous tears ‘So I’m done. I put in a request for a larger apartment a few days ago and it was granted.’

‘Wait so where are you moving to?’ He questioned, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

‘To a building a little closer to the embassy.’ You explained and he shook his head, anger now bubbling beneath the surface.

‘No, you can’t do this.’ He growled ‘You can’t leave. You can’t take her from me.’

‘I’m not taking her from you, Javier.’ You snapped ‘You will still be able to see her but I need to do what's best for me or I’m going to suffocate.’

‘I just need time-’

‘I’ve given you nothing but time Javi.’ You sobbed ‘Almost 3 months of it! But it’s clear to me that you regaining any memory of me is not your priority and so I need to remove myself from all this…’ You paused as you looked him dead in the eye ‘From you.’

‘Come on wait.’ He pleaded ‘Let's at least talk about this. I don’t want you to leave.’

‘Well, it doesn't feel like you want me here all the much either Javier so…’

‘When are you moving?’

‘I already have!’ You declare and his eyes grew wide before he sprinted to the nursery, noting that it's empty ‘The embassy moved mine and Alicia’s things to the new apartment today. I asked Connie to watch her whilst I spoke with you. I’ll collect her once we’re done here and that will be that.’

‘So what… You thought the best way to spring this on me was to tell me the day you’ve already left me?’

‘I didn’t expect it all to process so quickly. Give me some fucking credit Javier I have been pretty honest and upfront with you from the beginning.’ You snarled as you pointed an accusing finger at him ‘I tried to talk with you after everything and you shut me out so the way I look at it. You brought this on yourself.’

He stood there seething. Chest heaving as the two of you glared at each other, neither one breaking the intense eye contact that you were locked into. When he said nothing more you took that as your cue to leave, nothing more needed to be said.

‘Goodbye Javier.’

‘No, I’m not letting this happen.’ He sobbed, tears falling freely now as he grabbed you before you’d managed to walk out the door ‘You can’t just leave. I need you. Don't leave me.’

'You don't need me, Javier. You've made that perfectly clear.' You sob, heart breaking at the way he was looking at you but you knew it wasn't because you were leaving.

'You can't do this.'

Pulling your arm from his grasp, you shrugged your coat back into place and looked at him one final time.

‘Watch me.’

~

1 Month Later...

‘Where the fuck is Peña?’ You snapped, as you threw Steve a cold look.

‘He called in sick.’ He replied, shrugging his shoulders but his expression didn't match the action.

‘Sick?’ You questioned ‘What’s wrong with him this time?’

Steve shrugged again and you scoffed, downing the last of your coffee before standing and making your way out of the office you shared. You knew that Steve knew more than he was letting on but you found it difficult to care.

Things had been difficult between you and Peña since you had moved out. He’d spoken to you only to get updates on the baby and regarding work. You had agreed on a schedule where he could have her for a few hours in the evenings before Connie collected her and brought her back to you. It was easier than attempting to exchange pleasantries that neither of you wanted to share.

After refilling your coffee you stormed back into the office where your anger-filled rant continued.

‘You know that he’s refused to have Alicia the last few evenings?’ You growled as you angrily stirred your drink ‘One minute he’s begging me not to take her away and now he refuses to see her.’ You stop to take a sip of your drink before you resumed ‘And the worst part is, is that she won’t settle now because she hasn’t seen him. She got into a routine and now it's fucked. Can't the man just man the fuck up and take responsibility for his child at least?’

‘Perhaps you should cut him some slack.’ Snapped Steve, taking you by surprise ‘The man was used to seeing his infant daughter whenever he wanted and now he gets her a few hours an evening? He’s a fucking mess and no wonder. He misses his daughter, he misses you, though he’d never admit it, and he’s all alone now with very little memory of the last year of his life! I get that you’re upset but the two of you need to sort this shit out.’ He scooped up the folders on his desk and abruptly stood from his chair ‘I’m sick of watching and I’m sick of being in the middle of it. Talk to him.’

You were stunned by Steve’s outburst. You stood there frozen to the spot as you meditated on his words and you realised that you’d once again been so caught up with your own pain that you had ignored his. Grabbing your purse you fumbled around until you found what it was you had been looking for and after telling the office assistant that you needed to run an errand you were out of the door and sprinting to your truck.

You needed to speak to him.

…

It didn’t take you long to get to Javier’s apartment but after banging on the door for some time you knew he wasn't home and so you rushed up the stairs. Connie answered her door after three knocks and was shocked, to say the least, when she found you stood there.

‘What are you doing here?’ She inquired as she nervously shifted on her feet

‘I wanted to talk and to check on Alicia.’

‘Oh um…’

‘Connie, what is it?’ You questioned, noting her shifty behaviour.

‘She’s not here.’ She declared and your eyes grew wide.

‘What?’

‘She’s with Javi.’ She said as you barged past her ‘He came to see me, he was an absolute wreck and when he saw she was with me he begged me to let him have her for the day.’

‘Connie you can’t just let her go off-’

‘With her father?’ She snapped and you turned to face her ‘Hun he’s her dad and he’s been broken since you left. He hadn’t even known she was here when he arrived but when he saw her he sobbed.’

‘You should have told me.’

‘You’re right I should have and I’m sorry.’ She asserted ‘If I’m being honest I wasn't expecting you back so soon.’

‘Yeah well, I actually came to talk to Peña.’ You confessed, noting her shocked expression ‘Your husband kinda yelled at me about how I’d been acting and I realised I may have been a little harder on him than he deserved.’

‘He misses you.’

‘He misses Alicia.’ You scoffed, rolling your eyes when she shook her head.

‘Well yes but he misses you too.’ She continued, taking a seat at her kitchen table ‘He realised that he’d dealt with everything so wrong. He wanted to reach out but didn’t know how to. Over the weekend we helped him with a few things for the nursery, he wanted to get some new furniture just in case he finally got Alicia overnight and as we were building it he just broke. Sobbed his heart out to us. Please, just give him a chance to prove he’s sorry.’

You nodded as you mulled over her words, knowing that you needed to take steps to repair your fractured relationship with your child's father. Perhaps baby steps were the best way to go.

‘Okay. Can you drop Alicia off when he gets back? She’s got a check-up appointment and so do I.’

‘Sure thing you.’ Connie returned, smiling sweetly at you as she walked you to the door.

~

Standing by the car looking at your baby girl in her seat you felt your heart ache a little. You knew that this was the right thing to do but that hadn't made it any easier. You'd gone to your appointment and after being given the news that everything was perfect you'd gone home and prepared her a bag. A few bottles of breast milk, formula, diapers, changes of clothes and her favourite stuffed toy.

‘Right baby girl now I want you to be good for Papi okay?’ You said as you lifted her from her car seat and placed her in the carrier ‘I’m going to miss you like crazy but I know that you’ll have so much fun and I’ll see you tomorrow.’ You finished as you slung her bag over your shoulder and lifted her carrier before ascending the steps of the building you had once called home.

Making your way to his front door you knocked three times and waited.

Nothing.

You scrunched your face in confusion as you knocked again only to once again be greeted with no answer. You placed your ear on the door where you heard what sounded like Javier crying out and your stomach dropped. Without thinking you slotted the key you still had for his apartment into the lock and opened it quietly, leaving Alicia and her bag tucked safely behind the large potted plant beside his door. Pulling your gun from the holster at your waist you entered his home, weapon drawn and ready.

What received you made you sob.

Javier was laying on the floor, a redhead bear beneath him and both of them were coated in a thin layer of sweat. Your stomach twisted as you stumbled back, gun dropping to the floor with a thud which then grabbed Peña’s attention. His blissed-out expression soon turning into something completely different.

‘Shit.’ He breathed before you snapped back to reality and looked at him with an expression that broke him completely before you fumbled for your gun and turned to leave ‘Wait.’ He called out to you as he pulled on his jeans and sprinted after you, catching up as you made it to your truck, the baby in your arms ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I came to give you Alicia for the night.’ You stated, looking at him now with a stone-cold expression ‘Connie told me how broken you'd been without her and how much you missed her. I felt bad that you had only been getting her for a few hours in the evenings so thought that maybe this would cheer you up a little’ You proceeded ‘She said you missed me too but clearly that's not true.’

‘I do.’ He stated and you snorted in response before pulling open the back door to your truck, placing Alicia in her seat.

‘Right.’

‘Fuck, I do.’ He roared, instantly regretting it when Alicia started to bellow ‘Look I’m sorry you saw what you saw. It meant nothing. I met her at the bar and we got to talking and-‘

‘You ended up fucking her on the floor.’ You snapped as you threw Alicia’s bag in the footwell and started to make your way to the driver's side door 'Some things never change eh Peña?'

‘Will you just stop.’ He begged, grabbing your arms and spinning you so you were facing him.

‘Why Javier? Why should I do anything for you?’ You sobbed ‘You say you miss me? Well someone who misses someone doesn’t then proceed to fuck a randomer he meets in a bar. He tries to talk to said person and maybe work things out.’

‘Would you have talked to me?’

‘Why do you think I’m here Javier?’ You growled ‘I wanted to talk... To try and have some sort of relationship with you, for our daughter's sake whether that was friends or something more but now… Now I’m done.’

‘Can I still have her tonight?’ He pleaded, eyes then falling on his screaming infant in the back seat of your truck.

‘No.’ You spat, shoving him back and jumping into your truck before locking the doors ‘We’ll work something out but I won't have my baby around one of your whores Javier. I rule the line at that.’

Turning the ignition you threw it into drive and you disappeared, leaving him stood there staring off after you. After a few numb moments, he allowed himself to cry, hands covering his face as he fell to his knees and allowed everything he'd been holding in to flow freely and that's what it took.

Looking up at the dark stain on the concrete pavement ahead.

He remembered everything.

~

Part 5

[thewritingbasil]

First time writing and publishing something like this! I hope you enjoy!

Chrome x modern!Reader

* When you find out Chrome goes out to explore on his own and lives outside the village, you worry about who will notice if something goes wrong. Since you’re curious and also love discovering things and can’t sit still in the village for a long time, you tell Chrome about the modern-day buddy-system idea and start joining him on his expeditions.

* He’d love to take you exploring and show all the exciting things he discovered! He’s never had an exploring buddy before, and while Senkuu does appreciate what he finds, Senkuu spends more of his time creating blueprints and solving problems in the lab and using what he has available, not looking for things that will maybe be helpful in the future. That’s why he trusts Chrome and, now, you to have an eye for materials that will help the Kingdom of Science grow

* At first Chrome has a lot to teach you, like how to notice materials, where to walk, and how to keep track of time and your location especially since you need to get used to not having a cell phone.

* But eventually you become a great explorer in your own right and he has a lot of trust in you as his partner. In fact, he ends up trusting you a lot when the buddy system helps out, like when he once experienced a small cave-in or when he needed emergency first aid.

* You also find things he overlooked because you both tend to look in different directions when you’re searching.

* He loves that someone else shares his love of exploring with him. When he used to search alone, it was very isolating and he could get lost in his head while walking. Now, you remind him about food and he’s willing to take slightly greater risks when trying to reach somewhere because he’s got you as an extra pair of hands and eyes and brain.

* The combined haul is also bigger, which he gets super excited about. You both chatter to each other and compare stashes when you’re organizing what you found into different baskets at the end of the day.

* When Senku compliments you both on the materials found, Chrome proudly grins at you.

* Chrome isn’t just an explorer though, he’s a scientist which means he can’t spend all his time exploring with you. He goes to work with Senkuu while you help out elsewhere because, buddy system! You’re not going on your own.

* If you’re also working in another group like crafts or the power group, you go for a period of time without seeing him because you’re working on different projects.

* However! During your trips, you both became used to showing each other your finds and communicating when working in different sections to know how each other is doing

* He also appreciated the conversations you would bring about the modern world and about yourself, and how you were eager to learn about himself and his village. So he gets used to that routine of you being there to converse with.

* Chrome ends up talking with you during breaks about what the each of you are doing and exciting progress reports and how the materials you found are being put to use. Both of you get excited learning that something you’ve found has a cool scientific purpose/property and you invite each other to stop by and watch it in action.

* He loves seeing your eyes light up in amazement as you watch and praise his work.

* When you show him your group’s work, it’s not as science-y but he acknowledges your skill and hard work and he is also a craftsman and not too strong so whether you’re in the crafting group or power group, you still impress him. He’s not shy about praising you and gives you high fives or says “Baaaad!” This also helps him get along with other people in your group since he and they don’t usually interact.

* Obviously, Chrome would take a long time to realize that he’s fallen in love with you. He’s known Ruri for over 3 years and he still hasn’t figured it out.

* But others start noticing that he goes out of his way to get you to show off something. They’d understand if the project was finished, but when it’s a work in progress, it’s not very impressive to show. But you love it every single time because you’re curious and actually enjoy seeing everything put together little by little. Then, when the project is done, you can visualize the components and hard work that was put in to create it.

* And the villagers watch how he gets more talkative when you show interest and ask questions. He brings up inventions from the modern era that you’ve told him about so you both seem to share a mysterious language that they can’t understand. Some of them start shipping you two long before he notices anything.

* During mealtimes, you sometimes eat together. You talk about your next scavenging trip, new places in the village you haven’t explored, new projects, so many things. You both can get pretty sucked in to your conversations, forgetting the food. However you’re usually the one who finally remembers that you’re eating, and you teasingly shove food in his mouth. Your cheeky grin has blood rushing into his face and he is dazed, until he shakes himself out of it and starts to eat again.

* People are watching and nudging each other.

* Soon, Chrome becomes aware of you in a way he hasn’t before. He can’t help but smile every time you make eye contact. He craves the casual way you touch him and makes sure to be within your arms’ reach so you’re more likely to nudge him or grab him to drag him off somewhere in your excitement.

* When you first met him with Senku and Kohaku, you learned that he liked Ruri and never questioned it since. Whenever he talked about her, you could tell she was special to him. You made teasing jokes like forging a hairpin from iron and giving it to her with the line of “the burning fire in my heart for you was so hot I melted the iron with it” and he got flustered and groaned over the dumb line

* Recently, when you made those types of jokes, he felt conflicted. Part of him still got flustered but when he looked at you grinning and thinking you were oh so clever, he started to wonder why you would act like he liked Ruri when, thinking about it, he liked you...wait what?? He didn’t like you!

* Sure he thought you were cool and fun to hang out with and capable but that’s just something he admires and that’s a good friend, right?

* Right, he thought, shaking his head. You were a trusted partner, he didn’t want to kiss you or anything...

* “What?” You looked over your shoulder at him. “You got quiet over there.” You two were spending the late afternoon before dinner organizing your haul and you had just said that the location today was so beautiful Chrome should show it to Ruri once Senku cured her.

* He stared at your slightly parted lips. Did he want to kiss them? He was a man of science. When he collected rocks and plants, he’d grind, combine, set on fire, and experiment to find out how they reacted. Your mouth was kind of pretty, and yeah maybe he did want to see if kissing you was enjoyable.

* Chrome’s hands stopped working and now he was looking at you with unfocused eyes and a furrowed brow. You paused in your sorting and turned fully towards him. “You got a look on your face. Whatcha thinking about?”

* He is totally used to telling you his ideas so without hesitation, he answers before thinking, “What kissing you would feel like.” Then, he realized what he said. “Noooo! Sorry, that’s creepy right?” He zoomed backwards away from you, almost crashing into a table. How could he say that to you, you were one of his best friends!

* “Uhhh...” Chrome closed his eyes and braved himself for a rejection, ready to be kicked out of his hut for the next hour. “It’s not that creepy, I guess?” He heard you say. Were his ears working properly? He cracked an eye open to peek at you. You grinned awkwardly at him, having one side of your mouth quirked up.

* “Science inquiry, right? Question everything.”

* Maybe it was the afternoon sun or him imagining things, but your face looked a little pink. Kind of tempting. Whoa, did he really like you?

* “I need to figure something out.” He looked at you intensely.

* “Let me in on it, I wanna know.” Before, you had been avoiding eye contact out of shyness but now your eyes looked into his, drawing him closer. His footsteps seemed to be drowned out by the drums in his chest. He was getting nervous.

* He stopped a little ways in front of you. Being so close to you was almost making him lose his nerves. Kissing you? That seemed impossible.

* “Come on, Chrome.” You entwined both of your hands with his and pulled him closer until you were sharing the same air.

* You closed your eyes and patiently waited. Still with his heart beating in his ears, he looked at your long lashes, your eyebrows arched expectantly, and your flushed cheeks.

* You were getting nervous standing there and you bet your hands were all sweaty now. “Did you change your mind?” You did tend to grab him and drag him places. This was something he should be able to choose without being pressured. You started to loosen your hands, and he ripped his hands away.

* Before you could get disappointed, you felt those hands suddenly on the sides of your face and your lips met something soft.

* He was kissing you.

* Despite the sudden kiss, he knew enough to not just smash your lips together. It was much more of a firm press, one that had you craving for more even as butterflies exploded in your stomach and fire rushed over your skin. But you didn’t want to push it. You simply adjusted your lips to overlap better onto his and put your hands on his hips to hold him close.

* After a few seconds, Chrome leaned back with an entirely red face. “Baaaddddd,” he breathed. That had been enlightening. And soft. And pleasurable. Okay yeah, you weren’t just a best friend anymore. If it meant you would look at him like this, wide-eyed and giddy and hungry for more, he wanted to keep kissing you.

* Your hands squeezed his hips nervously, fingers a fluttering pressure on his flesh. “Practice for Ruri?” You asked in the small distance between your mouth and his.

* “Not Ruri,” he said distractedly. His eyes were still dazed and drinking in the tempting picture you made. “I want to kiss you.”

* And your mouth curled up into a pleased grin, looking hard to resist. So he didn’t.

[minniepetals]

buttercup.02

— summary: a simple day in the beautiful life of your love story

— pairing: bts x reader

— genre: fluff, poly!au, ceo!au

— word count: 2.1k

— warnings: none

╰ part 1: buttercream / part 2: buttercup / part 3: buttermilk / part 4: butterscotch / part 5: butterfly

"Y/N, come here!"

"Whoa, Jim—"

"Shh!" The man hushed you, his finger quick to press against your lips the moment he grabbed you and pulled you into an empty dark room. You fell quiet as he held you close against the door but it wasn't easy as his chest pressed up against you while trying to peak from the window of the door to see whether anyone had caught him.

"You're breathing hard, baby."

"Sorry," you whispered back at his scolding before trying your best to remain quiet as silence surpassed the room.

After a long moment of just standing there, Jimin let out a little sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I think I lost—" He paused the second he looked back at you and finally realized just how close the two of you actually were. A smirk danced along his lips as he watched you trying your best to avoid his gaze. "Y/N," he called, voice still a whisper and you replied with a soft hum. "You're blushing," the man singsong.

"N-no I'm not," you stuttered, lying uselessly.

"Oh really?" Jimin raised a brow as his thumb brushed along your cheek. "Then what's this pinkness doing here, hm?"

"It's..." you bit your lower lip, "the lighting."

"There's no light here."

"Exactly. So you can't see anything and I'm not blushing."

"Alright, alright," he chuckled, "we'll let you win this match. But just know, Y/N," he leaned in closer, lips grazing against your earlobe, "I can see it all even with my eyes closed."

He was such a flirt. Nothing about him changed except for the fact that Jimin was flirting so much more after the confession. You had to admit that you didn't exactly hate it. After all, you were the only girl special enough to receive such attention from him and the other guys. Still, you weren't going to let Jimin know you secretly enjoyed his teasing.

So you cleared your throat and lightly pushed him away.

"So...who are we hiding from?"

"Jin hyung," Jimin replied with a cheeky smile, grinning from ear to ear like a little kid and you let out a sigh.

"You need to give the man a break. Stop pulling pranks on your boyfriend."

"But he's the only one I can prank!" Jimin argued. "I can't ever do it to Namjoon and Yoongi hyung and Hobi hyung is scary when he gets mad so Jin's the only option left."

"But Jimin-"

"And besides, I wasn't the only one who did it this time. It was Tae's idea."

Putting his best friend and boyfriend under the bus was something you had gotten used to from the guys since they didn't like getting scolded by you alone. So you just rolled your eyes as another sigh left your lips.

"Speaking of, he's probably getting scolded right now."

"You ran off on your own to find me and left Taehyung to get in trouble by himself?" You asked, raising a brow and looking unamused.

"Well yeah because hyung has a soft spot for you so if he ever finds me, he won't be able to scream."

"Jimin-"

"But I think I saw Taehyung running over to Jungkook so hyung probably thinks he was in on it too." He grasped your shoulders. "You have to save them — save Kookie. He doesn't deserve this, he didn't even do anything."

You grunted. "So go out there and tell Seokjin the truth."

"But then I'll get scolded and..." Jimin looked at you with eyes that glistened of a thousand starlight, the eyes you were always weak for because he knew you could never resist them and stay mad at him for long. "Please, baby?" He pled, puppy eyes and all. "I promise I'll apologize to hyung but you have to go there with me. Please?"

If it was easy to ignore those eyes, you wouldn't care as much. And you did always tried to ignore them by shutting your eyes but then it was also his voice that got to you. They always took those cute eyes and voices at an advantage whenever they needed and you, you couldn't ever say no.

So Jimin jumped with delight when you turned around to open the door, grabbing his hand to walk on over towards Seokjin's office.

"You owe me-"

"Big time," Jimin singsong as he completed your sentence with a kiss on your cheek.

As the days and weeks passed and the confession of those three words finally left all of your lips, they've gotten much braver showing PDA around the office, something everyone had come to note since the younger ones were always too eager to show their love for you. The older ones were a little more modest who preferred showing their affections behind doors, liking to keep you to themselves instead.

Even before you knocked three times against the door, you could already hear the rapping of Seokjin scolding poor innocent Jungkook and the mischievous Taehyung.

"I'm busy!" The older man shouted and you cringed for a moment at the sound.

But Jimin just smiled without a care. "It's me, hyung," he mused, voice carefree without any sign of fear.

A loud grunt. "Park Jimin, get in here!"

He swung the door open, dragging you in the room just as Seokjin began another lecture for Jimin but was quick to pause in mid-sentence at the sight of your small figure who was forcefully placed right in front of the cheeky male.

A small nervous smile tugged at your lips as you gave Jin a small wave to which he could only let out an exasperated sigh as his hand rested against his temple.

"Park Jimin, I'm going to kill you."

"Really hyung? Right in front of Y/N-ie?" Jimin pouted, his eyes blinking rapidly to show off his innocence even though everyone in the room knew he was all but innocent.

"That is the exact reason why I'm going to kill you!"

"But hyung-"

"Baby, will you please excuse us?"

"I-"

"No, no," Jimin insisted, placing two hands on top of your shoulders to keep you from leaving. "This is a family talk and what better way to talk it out by having all of us in the room? You can't kick Y/N out right away, she came because she wanted to see you, right baby?"

What a shameless little kitty.

You let out a sigh and Jimin allowed you to leave his grasp to walk on over towards the eldest, the brazen smile still plastered on his face.

"I know it isn't right for them to pull pranks on you but everyone's stressed out and I think this is Jimin's way of trying to destress and keep himself from going insane from everything's that's weighing down on him."

You were always so good at turning a bad event into a very good explanation, something Jimin was always thankful for.

"Baby, I'm tired too," Seokjin pouted as he leaned down to rest his head against your shoulder and you comforted the man by rubbing your hands along his back.

"I know, baby. But he won't do it anymore for the rest of the month, right Jimin?"

"What, but-" A small hit from Taehyung was quick to shut his mouth up from wanting to refuse. "Right."

"You promised you'd apologize, right?"

Though pouty, Jimin obliged. "I'm sorry hyung, I'll refrain myself from pulling pranks." Seokjin wasn't the only one who held a soft spot for you, they all were.

"And apologize to Taehyung whom you dragged in on the prank and Kookie who was falsely accused of."

"But it was Tae's-"

"Hyung!" Jungkook scolded and the man huffed.

"I'm sorry."

"Are we all good now?" You felt Seokjin nodding and saw Taehyung and Jungkook happily bouncing their heads. "Good, because I have to get back to work."

Even before any of them could protest, you were quick to rush out the door, a giggle leaving your lips only for you to hit your head right into someone's chest.

"I'm so sorry!" You quickly apologized.

"Baby?" You looked up to find Namjoon in front of you who looked at you for a moment before staring in confusion at the door you had just walked out of. "What were you doing in Seokjin's office?"

"Jimin and Taehyung pulled a prank on him and Jungkook was falsely accused of being a part of it so I had to settle the situation before Jin could get all fired up."

He let out a light chuckle. "Same old thing again."

"Yup," you nodded, laughing along.

"I have a meeting soon but could you see me in my office in about an hour?"

"Yes, of course." You wondered whether it was just about him wanting to see you or needing to discuss some things based on work. Either way, you couldn't wait.

"Hoseok and Yoongi were looking for you, by the way," Namjoon informed just as his phone began to ring to which he was quick to answer. "Mr. Kim speaking." He looked back at you, mouthing the words of 'i'll see you soon' before placing a quick kiss on your forehead and then rushing off. Busy as always.

You smiled at the sight, watching his back as he walked away for a short moment before you were quick to jump at two strong arms wrapping itself around your waist.

"Taehyung, you can't just scare me like that!" You pouted but he only just chuckled.

"Thought you had work to take care of?" Jungkook asked.

"I was just talking to Namjoon."

"Ah."

"Jimin's still in there?" You noted at the sight of just the two of them who left Seokjin's office.

"Yeah, they're...talking it out." The smirk on both their faces at Taehyung's comment left you confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means, baby," Jungkook chuckled as he placed a kiss on your cheek.

Suddenly you were back to blushing and quick to leave Taehyung's grasps.

"A-anyways, Hoseok and Yoongi are looking for me so..bye!"

"Y/N!"

But you were too quick to leave before they could run after you and the two men gave out a tired sigh.

"She's always so quick to leave us," Jungkook pouted.

It wasn't hard to search for the two men when all your coworkers were informed of Hoseok and Yoongi looking for you so you found yourself knocking on the door of Hoseok's office and finding them there in no time.

"Heard you were looking for me?"

"Don't you keep track of the times we have our breaks?" The younger man of the two groaned the second he saw you, quick to pull you in so that you could join them on the sofas that laid in the center of the room.

"Well, no because you guys don't often get breaks since you're always so busy."

"Which means you gotta be available at all times in case we do so that we can see you as soon as we can," Yoongi said with a cute little pout resting on his lips.

"I was...occupied."

Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Who was it this time?"

"Jimin."

"It's always Jimin. That little brat's always seeking for your attention at any moment he can get," Yoongi grunted.

"He's lucky he's cute."

"By the way, today's a Friday so could you come over?"

You were pulled into Hoseok's lap who nuzzled his head against you like a little puppy seeking for attention. "You should just move in, baby. Wouldn't it be nice to wake up to each other every day and say goodnight every night?"

"Hoseok's right," Yoongi agreed as he stood up to take a seat beside the younger man. "You won't have to take the bus every morning to work if you moved in and we won't have to say goodbye as much."

"But I..."

"What is it?" Hoseok asked when you trailed off. "There's no problem, everyone wants you to move in already."

"Are you sure?" You asked, eyes catching sight of Yoongi's crooked tie with your lack of eye contact so you reached out to fix it for him. "I'm already spoiled enough, now you want to give me a home?"

"There are no limits when it comes to you." Yoongi took your chin in his hand, tilting your head up so that you could meet his gaze and allowing you to forget about his tie for a moment. The two of you stared at one another for a long while, the closeness making things more intimate. "We'll spoil you as much as we want."

"Because we love you, baby girl," Hoseok nodded as he placed a kiss on your temple. "Move in with us, hm?"

"It'll make us happy."

"Will it?" You asked.

Yoongi nodded. "Of course."

"Then..." you looked away for a second before meeting his eyes again and this time, you smiled. "Okay."

"Okay?"

You nodded. "Okay." And Yoongi placed a sweet kiss on your lips.

[georgemackayhey]

Worth Fighting For (Part: 3)

summary: You're entirely certain George is the one. So he hasn't got to put up much of a fight... but in a way, that's all he knows to do.

a/n: I've been so busy!? But like I said, I'm commited to this story so here's part three! Gotta build up that drama..... Some true blue (probably poorly written) boxing content is about to be unleashed. So I've got a question.... would yall mind if the next chapter was written from Georg's point of view? Please let me know!

w/c: 3k

Part 2

───※ ·❆· ※───

The end of another weekend like the one before was shifted by the excitement of a party. The kids had completed their run of the Peter Pan musical, and you made it out to see the last show. All the dances you'd thought up for the musical were made better by the kids who nailed each move, young and old. And when it was over you invited the lot to come to the studio to celebrate all their hard work. You bought sweets and streamers and played music and danced all night long.

And when the kids had packed up and headed home, little Louis was still lingering near the door, standing on his tiptoes to peer out of the glass. You stalled in the middle of your clean up to meet him.

"Your mom isn't here yet, huh?" You knelt to meet him. His big brown eyes looked up into yours as his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"Danny is supposed to come get me. He forgot." Louis whimpered, fighting tears. You commiserated and pulled the kid into a hug, assuring that his big brother couldn't have forgotten and was likely just running late. After a quick call to the kids mother, who assured she'd track Danny down and send for Louis, you kept the music playing and offered him an extra slice of left over cake. You even danced around a little more, and taught Louis a watered down fouette that he nailed in the first couple of tries.

But when you glanced up at the clock another hour had passed and the worry in your gut that you'd been trying to suppress was sprouting. As you thought of who to call, there was a knock on the door as it creaked open.

It was Geogre, who you were just as surprised to see as Louis.

"Figured you might want help cleaning up." George grinned, easing into the room. Since the night you spent with him, you stayed two more days in George's flat. When your power finally came back on, you didn't have an excuse to stay any longer, and Geogre let you leave without begging otherwise. The last thing he said to you was that he'd pop round the studio this weekend, to help clean up the party you were planning.

But you didn't take his word for it. You figured he was just offering a polite farewell. You figured you wouldn't hear from him for the rest of the week, and you hadn't. You knew George wasn't like the other people you'd been with. But you didn't expect him to be as good as your imagination made him out to be, either. Nothing ever was. So how, despite your other predictions coming true, did George keep surprising you?

But before you could smile back at the guy you hadn't stopped thinking of since you broke your bloody hand, a question flashed urgently to mind.

"Hey, do you have Danny's number?" You asked, when George's big blue eyes landed curiously on Louis, who stood clutching your bright yellow sweatpants despite having met the brooding blonde once before.

George pulled his phone from his pocket in a flash, after shooting you a sure look. The way you could read his eyes then sent a chill down your spine. You hadn't seen him since he'd made you feel at home in his very own bed. You weren't sure how to act, now.

But before George could raise his phone to his ear, Danny strolled in the door.

"Louis, I'm sorry." He seemed to pant, resting his hands on his knees as you felt the kid relax at your side.

"Nice of you to make it." You frowned, unable to greet him happily. Danny was a nice guy, but this wasn't like him. It cracked your heart to see little Louis so worried, even though he smiled as he ate his extra bit of cake.

"I lost track of time on my run. Cross my heart it won't happen again." Danny nodded to you, seemingly truly apologetic. The dark headed fellow ushered his kid brother to grab his shoes so they could hit the road. And after a polite farewell, Danny and Louis were gone. You and George were left alone.

"Danny started his run before I left the gym, today." George noted, turning his curious gaze from the empty doorway to you.

You didn't want to worry. But something wasn't right. You knew Danny well enough to know that. But not enough to gossip. So you nodded past your furrowed brow and moved to start cleaning up. George followed your lead.

"You didn't have to come and help. But it's nice you did." You noted. There wasn't much to do. Tear down the dozen streamers, toss the rubbish and turn the lights out. No sooner than you'd had the trash in the bin, George had yanked down the streamers, and left them to rest on a shelf in the far back corner.

"Well I left my bag in the gym, so I did have to come back round here anyway." He explained, walking toward you as you turned to listen, "And I did tell you I'd be by to help." George didn't quite smile, but you noticed the turn of his lip and recognized the way his bright blue eyes lit up. As he stalled a step away, you glanced down for a beat to hide your blush.

"Both excuses just to see you again, of course." Geogre's voice softened as his piercing blue eyes locked on yours. You bit your lip to stall from bursting into nervous laughter.

"Oh yeah?" You asked, a small chuckle escaping. George rose a brow, reached over to switch the lights out and nudged your toward the gym to collect his things. You shuffled along, perhaps too quickly, with your shoes in hand, and sat on the bench along the wall to slide them on.

You let out a sigh mentally cursing yourself for putting off buying cheap slide on sneakers, because tying these was a hassle in your current one handed state. George heard you grumbling, crouched without question, and reached for the laces of your shoes.

"Two more weeks in this thing, then I won't need you anymore." You chuckled, resting your nonfunctional hand in your lap. You got to take the brace off whenever you pleased, but your doctor recommended another 14 day's worth of support. That meant another 14 days of feeling terribly embarrassed for how long it took you to do most basic things single-handedly.

As he pulled your laces into a bow George said, "But I'll still be around, so you better get used to it." The sweet smile he gave you settled your soul and sent your heart into a frenzy all the same. Where did the two of you stand? Just then, the entry door jostled open.

"What are you two still doing here?" Barney asked, with a hand on his chest, startled to find folks in the gym at such odd hours, relieved it was only you two all the same. The older man let the door shut as he shuffled in for a chat, you presumed.

It was a treat to see him, as you hardly seemed to these days. It was like none had passed since your last chat with the owner of this place, your safe haven, as his crooked smile shone your way. Sure he was a little older and his beard was peppered with white patches, but he was still the brilliant supportive fellow who'd talked more than most of the gym and studio patrons to stick around and be their best selves.

"Just another late night." George shrugged, standing from his spot on the floor at your feet. You started reaching for your jacket as George grabbed the bag he'd forgotten.

Barney explained he'd stopped by to do some paperwork in his office. Apparently, some big annual event was coming up, where all kinds of fighters from nearby states worked toward winning the top title and a pretty penny. You listened to the old man's rambles and watched his eyes glisten as he spoke of the excitement of it all. You wondered what kind of boyhood dream he might have had of the event he spoke of so fondly.

George listened too, offering Barney small grins as he collected his things.

"I know you're weary these days... but don't you miss it?" Barney asked George in a cautious yet obviously hopeful tone.

"I've got nothing to fight for, mate." George let out a small laugh, sliding his bag over his shoulder.

"S'that so?" Barney asked. The room fell silent for a beat as you stood to leave, catching Barney's curious gaze set on you. But before you could leave, the old gym owner had more to say.

"I'm looking for someone to sponsor, George." Barney shifted in his place, glancing at the guy at your side.

"I'm a trainer. Why shouldn't I sponsor someone?" George countered. You stood watching the unexpected standoff, biting your tongue.

"Because you could win this whole thing. You nearly did before throwing in the towel." Barney grew passionate, the sparkle in his eye shining brighter. "Even after all this time, you're better than half the meatheads who've been working for this."

George nodded, but not in agreeance, only in understanding. In a flash, you recalled all the things he'd told you about boxing, so far. Why he loved it. Why he hated it. What it all meant to him. You had no idea what might have been running through his mind now, though.

"It would be a shame for all your talent to go to waste in your prime." Barney challenged. "And winning... it's a lot of money. You could by your future and call this whole scene off for good; leave this moldy gym behind and paint all day, or press your own books or whatever hobby retirees pretend to like."

Barney started to back away as his speech came to an end, reaching for the door to the hall. George reached for your hand, all the same. The only one he could hold. He'd never done that, before.

"Just think about it, yeah?" Barney finished, opening the door, raising his brow and locking eyes with George before shuffling away. "And turn the lights out, you hooligans."

You let a small laugh escape your lips as you were left alone in the gym once more. You bit your lip and glanced up to George who was stood, already looking to you.

"What are you thinking?" You asked in a hush, curling your fingers around his a little tighter.

"I think it's time we head home," George spoke with a shy grin. He stepped toward the door that hadn't shut all the way, and turned the lights out. You floated along in a love-struck haze, glancing at the glowing light from the end of the hall where lied Barney's office, and wondered what the morning would bring.

///

You stayed with George that night, and spent it like the ones before. You woke up and weren't afraid to scurry about the kitchen and make some morning meal. Sadie wove between your feet, meowing in response to some of your questions about where on earth the salt and pepper might be hiding. George awoke to the sound of the kettle whistling and padded in to find you'd set out an impressive spread of things Geogre hadn't even realized he'd had the stock to create with.

He poured your tea, saying something about how he wanted to feel like he was helping, and the two of you ate in a comfortable quiet. He asked about your week ahead, and you asked about his, and then you decided to see yourself out. Because you wanted nothing more than to stay right where you were, but you couldn't overstay your welcome.

George let you go without much more than a pleasant goodbye, and you wondered what the hell was going on. He obviously liked you enough to bring you home, more than once. And your own feelings were seriously sickening.

You tried not to worry much. In fact as you went about your usual routine, you felt glad that you'd gotten the chance to know George as well as you had. If nothing more came of your knowing him, you could only feel elated that you had, in some very lucky ways.

You tidied up your home, called your landlord to send for an electrician, and headed out to the studio. You taught kids to dance, and went to the local college to help the newly established cheerleading squad stick to a certain rhythm. You were talked into thinking up a program for the local nursing home, by one of the mothers who stuck around to watch you teach her child one on one. All the while, you tried not to worry when Louis wasn't showing up as often, and took his mother's word that his schooling was becoming more intense. And then you went home at the end of every day to something falling apart, much like usual. You'd come to treasure the bus ride to your place; the calm before the storm of stepping foot into the dingy old flat.

When the weekend came and ended, George was at the end of the hall, waiting for you. A routine you'd grown fond, and a little tired of. Would you be stuck in this loop with him, forever? You accepted his offer to DeAngelos with a grin, and felt bad that you couldn't invite him over to your place, in turn. Not if he enjoyed staying warm and didn't mind the sound of melting snow dripping from at least one place in every room.

"It's the holidays. What do you normally do for them?" George asked on another drive to your beloved weekend restaurant, at the end of another mundane week. Only this time, the town square was setting up fairy lights and plastic snowmen as Geogre drove by.

"Not much, these days." You shrugged, already dreading the coming week your landlord would be an ocean away, with his family, leaving you quite literally, in the dark.

"Good." George said. It made you laugh. He invited you to come and stay on Christmas eve. You tried to pretend it wasn't a big deal, but agreed in a hurried manner, in case too much silence set in and changed his mind to take back the offer.

So you stayed with him that night.

And then the next.

And the next.

And one morning you woke up and realized a whole week had passed, and you'd been totally unaware of anything besides George. Besides the way he'd taken to holding you close as you fell asleep. The way he'd wake earlier than you to make breakfast, even when you tried to beat him to it. Even the way he kept to himself, as you watched films or sat in the quiet of the same rooms. He'd shoot you a look with those crystal blue eyes and you'd feel dangerously right at home.

So one night, when the threat of another average work week was one sleep away, you got the guts to say something.

"I could tell you that my shower stopped working. And my ceiling is leaking. Or, I could just tell you I really like staying with you, anyway." You grinned, lingering in the kitchen doorway. George looked up from whatever he was so concentrated on making and said,

"Good."

It made you giggle.

"I wouldn't like to see you go." He added, before waving you over to try the recipe he'd been working on.

So you stayed with him that month. And you shared his bed. But nothing else had much changed. You went about your separate jobs and duties. You met up for dinner, and chatted over things you always used too. And then you'd go to sleep.

It perplexed you, but you knew better than to question what was going on between the two of you. And you were too scared of ruining a good thing by pushing to make it better so you didn't curl into his side unless he pulled you in first. And you didn't ask any of the millions of questions you had unless he'd approach the topic himself, and those times were more rare than anything.

And in between it all, there was the hell hole of a place you called your own apartment. On trips over to collect a new set of nightclothes or switch out the buckets that caught the numerous leaks, you didn't know what to do. This place was only worth it, because it's all you could afford. You still needed to save up for another year to even dream of moving. Even though it was a mess, it was all you had.

As you sat going through bills and junk mail, a knock came on your door. You rushed over to answer it, ready to give your landlord an earful. But your slimey, frail landlord wasn't looming in the doorway. Instead, you found George with a worried expression on his pretty sculpted face.

"I've been trying to call you for ages." He spoke, batting the hood of his jacket away and stepping past you, inside. He'd been around a couple times, but only to help you shut the broken window, and another to bring you back to his place. You hated to let him in, though you kept the place clean and in order, it felt as if you were living in a damp cardboard box.

"My phone died," You sniffled, wrapping your sweater a little tighter around your frame to beat the cold. You could have charged it, but sure enough as you plugged something into an outlet your power would have gone out. So you didn't.

You followed George's lead toward the kitchen where you'd only just come from. He took in a seat in the chair you'd been sat in sorting through the mail, and before you could pull out the other seat, George latched onto you. He pulled you to his lap without a word, and ran his strong hands along your arms in an effort to stop you from freezing. You dared not question it. You only settled against his chest and lost yourself in the feeling of George's embrace.

"What did you need?" You wondered after a while, keeping your head tucked against his shoulder. George kept his hands traveling against your arms, slower than before, but still. You could feel the rumble of his gentle response when he spoke.

"I wanted to ask you something."

You meekly encouraged George to go on, and stayed glued to his side. He stilled his movements to loosely wrap his arm around your middle.

"I've been thinking of what Bareny said." George spoke softly. You rose a brow and waited. After a beat of silence George asked,

"If I do it... if I say yes," George chose his words with great care, and you felt his fingers curl around the fabric of your sweater. "Would you be there?"

You had to peel yourself from him now. You had to see his piercing blue eyes lock onto yours.

"Of course I'd be there." You said, searching his face and the barely unchanged furrow of his brow.

"Why would you ask that?" You wondered through a small grin. Hadn't you made it obvious you were well attached to George by now? That you'd go any place he so much as nodded you toward following along?

He searched your face now too, keeping one of his fists balled around the fabric of your top, and the other of his hands wrapped around you.

"No one ever used to come." George shrugged. "Well, my dad just the once." You thought back to the photo framed in the hall of George's home, as he spoke to the tune of the drip of your ceiling. "But then he passed and... well there was no one. And that's why I stopped."

George explained that coming home to an empty house night after night seemed to make his aches and pains from all the fights seem even harder to handle. He said it wasn't worth it, hurting all the time. He said he wasn't sure if it was worth even thinking about now, but that he couldn't get Bareny's offer off his mind.

When he'd finished saying the most at once than he ever really had, you placed both hands, even the bandaged one, on either side of his face and felt George's arm tighten around your middle.

"Whatever you decide, I'll support you. I'll be there if you go. And I'll be here if you stay."

You watched George watch you with those brilliant eyes of his, and felt his calloused hands pull you ever closer toward him. You could tell, somehow, that George had already made up his mind. And you realized that even though you couldn't tell what was running through his head, that you'd managed to learn how to read him, and a wave of some kind of contentment washed over you.

And after stamping an assured kiss to his lips, George moved to stand, nudging you to do the same. Then he said,

"Get your things. Let's go home."

───※ ·❆· ※───

taglist: @haileymorelikestupid​​  @maria-josefin​​​ @imaginesandyeah​​​ @queen-bunnyears​ @okaymackay​

[omniswords]

if you’re still taking kiss meme requests, a combo of 19 + 27 with marichat or adrienette?

19. One person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss. +

27. Kisses exchanged while one person sits on the other’s lap.

leave me a pairing and a number and i’ll write you a kiss! [CLOSED FOR NOW]

You can’t tell me Adrien and Marinette wouldn’t have Animal Crossing dates if they ever got together. Because they would. They totally would.

It’s been a month. A month. (Well, Thirty-two days and a half, but who’s counting?) And yet for some reason, Marinette literally can’t believe that Literal Adrien Agreste is her Literal Boyfriend. Literally.

It’s not because of anything she’s done. And it’s definitely not because of anything he’s done. In fact, he’s been as perfect as the day he gave her his umbrella. He’s put up with her rambling, and started to figure out how to make her stop rambling, and that dopey look he gets on his face when she keeps going and going—it makes her squeal into her hands just thinking about it.

He’s so good. He’s actually perfect. The perfect boyfriend.

Now that they’re in high school, too, his father’s become… a little more lenient with his scheduling and practice sessions.  And she’s become way more lenient with actually keeping track of it, even though it’s still good to know when she can stay after school in the art room while he’s at fencing practice, or when not to call him because he’s having his Chinese lesson. Or when he can come over and watch a movie with her, just because she wants to see him outside of school. The difference, though, is that she can just ask him now, because she wants to know for his sake. And he’ll just tell her, because he wants her to know for hers. It feels deceptively easy, carrying themselves like this. Carrying their relationship like this. And yes, it’s still so, so unbelievable.

In fact, the only thing that’s more unbelievable is the fact that he hasn’t kissed her yet.

She gets it. It’s something people get nervous about; even she does, from time to time, get more than her fair share of flustered whenever she daydreams about how it might happen. She just… sort of figured it would happen by now. They’ve gone on dates—date dates. They’ve hugged, and exchanged cheek kisses hello and goodbye. They’ve even held hands; he even did that thing he rubbed his thumb against her knuckles, and for a while she thought she could die happy. Does her breath stink or something? Or does she have to be the one to start it? Or what?

It’s just about the only thing she can think of the next time Adrien comes to visit her, to the point that she can barely get her words out. Like she’s fourteen all over again. At least her parents have the good sense to leave them alone this time; they’re so busy with the bakery downstairs that they probably don’t even have the chance to hover the way they usually would. (Especially her dad. God, she loves her papa, but sometimes he needs several hints before he can just take one.)

Not that there’s anything to see. They’re just huddled up on the couch playing video games—a relaxed village-building one, nothing like Mecha Strike 3. And honestly, she kind of wishes they were playing that instead. It would give her something else to think about, at least, besides the overwhelming fact that they are alone and sitting so close that they could be cuddling, but aren’t, and they definitely could be kissing, but they definitely aren’t.

Maybe, because he’s the perfect guy, he’s waiting for the Perfect Moment.

She just… wants the Perfect Moment to be Right Now.

“I really like the way you’ve set up your town, Marinette,” Adrien says over the calming music and faint jingling bells. Even the way he says her name makes her want to melt into the couch. Has she always been this dopey about it? About him? “It’s very you.”

“M-me?” she stammers, wincing internally for it. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh! Um, nothing bad.” Awkwardly, he rubs the back of his neck, still holding onto his controller. “It’s just very artful. Like you have a design in mind, and you want to see it through to the end. I’ve only been here for a while, and I can already see it… I could never think up stuff like that. I usually just time travel to try and get everything right away.” Then he sighs, almost dreamily, and sits back with a smile that look—unbelievably—admiring. “I shouldn’t be so surprised. You’ve always been kind of amazing.”

Marinette wants so badly to quip back that she’s not just kind of amazing, she is amazing, or even to tell him that he’s pretty amazing himself. Instead, she chokes out some garbled, unintelligible noise, and immediately wants to kick herself for it. One month, and she’s still pulling this nonsense.

Adrien lets her down easy at least, with a laugh hidden behind his fist. He puts his controller down and coaxes hers out of her hands, so that all there is to accompany them is the game’s music and their two little characters, swaying side by side in the middle of an orchard. And he… hesitates, before draping an arm over the back of the couch. “Can…” He pauses. “Can I come closer?”

He’s killing her.

“Yeah,” she says, her voice cracking with her own nerves, and she’s buzzing from head to toe when his arm comes around her shoulders, pulls her closer to rest her head on his chest. His heart is pounding under her ear. She almost can’t hear anything else over it. She doesn’t know how long they stay like that, but the whole time, something in her is screaming, DO SOMETHING. FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY, DO SOMETHING BESIDES SITTING HERE AND HAVING AN ENTIRE INTERNAL CRISIS ABOUT HOW GOOD YOUR BOYFRIEND SMELLS.

Eventually—and she doesn’t know how she does it—she shifts out of Adrien’s arms, just to look up at him. He’s still got her close, though loosely, and as soon as he meets her eyes, he smiles. “Hi.”

And she smiles back. So wide she knows her face is going to hurt. “Hi.”

There’s that hesitating again, while he’s looking at her so intently, and little by little that amusement fades away into something more pensive. Like maybe he’s coaching himself through something, but she doesn’t know what that something is. At least, not until he leans in, so slowly she thinks she might die from it, and presses his lips to hers in the softest first kiss she could have ever imagined. No, softer than that, because she never imagined him holding her face like this, or breathing in so deep, like he’s been revived, as soon as they make contact. And when he pulls back, it’s slow, almost apologetic, and she totally regrets him doing that.

“I…” Adrien swallows hard, his face flushed and his fingers trembling against her jaw. “Sorry. I should have asked if that was okay—”

It’s all he gets to say before she’s kissing him back, shaky and nervous and wanting to kiss him and not stop for anything. Not even to save her game. It doesn’t matter. It auto-saves anyway. Who cares about hitting a button or two when Adrien is finally, finally kissing her? Holding her close the way she holds him, all but clutching her back as he tilts his head and whispers another apology when their teeth accidentally clack together.

“It’s okay,” she whispers back with a breathless giggle. “It’s okay.”

“You’re okay?”

“I’m okay.” Her face is burning, probably bright red, but she finds the resolve to crawl into his lap and lace her fingers together behind his neck. And she doesn’t bother asking what took him so long, because there’s no need to ask when he lets her lean in and make up for lost time.

[fangirling-throughlife]

So close, and still so far

Word count: 2517 words. 

A/N. This is the first non-academic thing I’ve written in a year or so, so it might not be the best. Inspired by the song So Close by Jon McLaughlin and one of my favourite movie scenes ever, the dancing scene in Enchanted with Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Idina Menzel and James Marsden. Comments are appreciated!!

“Peter Moore and Ella Lewis invite you to their engagement party, on Saturday 22nd August.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise, as Brian had told him about the engagement, but having the invitation in his hand made his heart stop. Peter and Ella had been a couple, The Couple of their group, ever since their high school senior year. Now that they both had graduated college, it was the logical next step. After all, Ella and Peter complemented each other. She was as organised as he was playful, she was as logical as he was spontaneous. They were the power couple, and they were so absolutely right for each other that it made no sense to avoid the unavoidable.

Still, Shawn’s mouth went dry, and for a moment he seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. His best friend in the world was getting married. The person who knew everything about him, his rock, his muse. The girl he’d written every single song about. The love songs, the heartbreak songs and the hopeful songs. His world revolved around Ella Lewis, and she would never know it did.

As if life were mocking him, he heard his phone ring with the sound of her favourite song, Everything I Do by Bryan Adams. Shawn had to swallow twice before he was sure he’d sound normal.

“Hey there!” he tried to sound as cheerful as possible.

“Hi, Shawnie! I was wondering if you’d got the invitation, because almost everybody replied and you didn’t.” she sounded excited. Of course she did. She had just graduated top of her class, and now she was organising a party to celebrate her engagement to the love of her life.

“Yeah, just got it. I was about to call Andrew to ask if there was any problem with me going.” He lied. He knew that, in the writing process, he was mostly the one who organised his own schedule, so he could free that day without any problem. But he wanted to seem busy, for some stupid reason.

“Uh… Alright, I guess?” He could picture her nibbling her lower lip. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, but couldn’t you try and get the day off? It’s pretty important for us, and all our friends are gonna be there, and…” She was pacing now, he could hear her footsteps down the stairs. He was being cruel, he knew that. But he couldn’t tell her that he’d leave everything just to make her happy. He didn’t have a partner, and music was all he had. She couldn’t know she came first.

“I’ll talk to him, I promise.” He heard her low hum, and the click of a pen. “So, anyways, congratulations! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me though.” A text would’ve been nice, he added mentally. Just so he could prepare himself for the gruesome conversation that they were having.

“Well, yeah. I’ve been busy with some paperwork, and my final project and stuff, so I’ve been a bit out of it. This is honestly the first day I’m fully invested in this, so call yourself lucky that you’ve been the very first person I thought of!” Against his own judgement, his heart sped up, but the little mean voice in his head reminded him that she thought of him while organising her engagement party. He knew he was being ridiculous letting his hopes up.

“Lucky me!” He forced a chuckle. “By the way, congratulations on your graduation. I have no clue what your final project was about but I heard the guys say it was ground-breaking.” He tried to steer away the conversation from the invitation on his table.

“Oh, thanks! It wasn’t that big of a deal, truth to be told. Sheldon Cooper would’ve totally mocked me.” He rolled his eyes. There was no real person to criticise her work, so she went to fictional characters. “By the way, are you bringing a plus one? Camila, perhaps? Haven’t seen her in ages.”  

Hearing her mention Camila felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.

“Um, I’ll have to get back to you about that. I don’t think she’ll be able to make it, though.”

“Erm… Okay, I guess? I mean, it’s not a big party, or anything. But I wanted to have it…”

“Controlled.” Shawn interrupted her.

“Well, yeah it comes down to that.” She giggled. “Hey, I’ve got to go. Peter’s family is coming over to have lunch, I’ve got to go check on him in the kitchen. Love you!”

“Love you too!” If only she knew how true that was, he sighed as he heard that she’d hung up.

 Ella was a very dedicated person. Whenever she had an interest, or a plan or a goal, she was invested a 100%. Her engagement party was no different. That was the reason why she didn’t reach out to Shawn in the month prior to the party. She spoke to Vanessa, her maid of honour, and to Brian, who would be Peter’s best man, but her interactions with Shawn went no further than a couple of texts to check up on each other every couple days. He seemed busy, he never said much. Honestly, she was busy as well, so she didn’t dwell on it. That went on until three days before the party, at 2 a.m.

She would be lying if she said he woke her up. Her body wasn’t used to her new-found freedom, so she couldn’t sleep until past 2 or 3 in the morning. She spent those late hours, when Peter was already asleep, reading scientific papers, reading books or playing the keyboard. After spending so many late nights working on papers and studying, she felt like her mind was the sharpest when the world was asleep. And, suddenly, after almost a month of silence, Shawn was calling her.

“Hey, what’s up?” She asks. Being friends with Shawn for years, she knew that this could very easily be a breakdown. She closed the door of her study room so she didn’t wake Peter.

“I love you, you know that?” It was very clear that he was drunk. Very drunk.

“Of course I do, Shawnie.” Ella could hear him open a bottle of something, then knocking something over, and taking a big gulp. “Is that why you’re calling me? I’m not mad or anything, I was reading. But… do you know what time it is?”

Her words seemed to get lost and never reach the other side of the line. “You know, Kid in Love is actually about you. And so is Never Be Alone. And Imagination.” She was startled. She knew he had a crush on someone in their friend group, but she never imagined it was her.

“So… It was me you had a crush on in junior year?”

“And so are Because I Had You, and If I Can’t Have You, and Mercy…” He lost track of his own train of thought, because he went silent.

“Are you really saying you’re in love with me, Shawn?” Those words were difficult to speak out. He couldn’t do that to her.

“Do you remember when I was just the Vine kid and we were sitting in my room looking for a song to cover? And we kinda jammed to Everything I Do? I tried to tell you then. And when I got drunk for the first time because of just one beer and I kissed you? You started dating Peter a week later and I brushed it off.” Every word Shawn said felt like a dagger directed to her heart. Tears were threatening to fall, and she let out a silent sob. “It has always been you. You're with somebody I can't be. But I can tell that you're happy.” He started singing. “I know you and Peter are a perfect match, don’t worry. But I needed to get this out of my system, you know?”

At that point, she couldn’t hide the fact that she was crying. And Shawn heard her ragged breathing, which seemed to sober him up.

“Oh, El. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, very deeply sorry.” He started crying as well. “I’m such an idiot. I’ve kept it to myself for so many years, and I tell you now. I understand if you don’t want to see me ever again, if you hate me now. Oh my god, El. I hate myself so much now.”

As much pain as he was causing her, he was still her Shawn, her younger brother from another mother (by six exact months, she reminded him continuously). She had had a crush on him for a few months, back when he was writing Handwritten. Now she knew that those songs she hoped he wrote for her were actually about her. Knowing it didn’t change anything though. She was wearing Peter’s ring, because she was in love with him, because they balanced each other out. While Ella considered Shawn to be her little brother, Peter was her best friend, her soulmate.

“It’s okay, Shawn. I’m just shocked… Why… why would you keep that from me?”

“I’m so stupid, I was nervous you’d make fun of me and hate me. It’s okay if you do now. I mean, not okay, obviously, but I’d understand.” Another sob escaped his mouth.

“Shawn, I don’t hate you. You’re… you’re like my little brother. I just wish you would’ve told me sooner. I could’ve helped you get over me.” She let out a sad chuckle. “We’ll see if some of my friends from uni is your perfect match at the party, okay?”

Shawn couldn’t believe his luck. He was so drunk he wouldn’t remember any of it in the morning, yet she wasn’t mad at him. Peter could never know what jewel of a person he was marrying. What Shawn didn’t notice was that he was thinking out loud.

“If his words are any pointer to go by, he knows.” This time, her laugh was genuine. “Shawnie, go to bed. Sleep this off. I’ll see you at the party, okay? I… I’ll see you.”

Ella couldn’t bring herself to tell him she loved him. She honestly did, but it felt wrong to say it, now that he’d said he was IN love with her.

She looked at the clock. Half past two. The crying had been very tiresome, so she’d give sleeping a go. She entered the room on her tiptoes, but somehow, Peter sensed her coming in.

“Love… what’s the matter? I’ve heard you crying.” He sounded worried.

She didn’t even give it a second thought. The conversation between Shawn and her would remain private. Peter didn’t need to know. Hell, she wasn’t even sure Shawn would remember in the morning.

“It’s nothing. I was watching kitten videos.” She mentally facepalmed. It was probably the lamest excuse she’d ever given. But Peter just shrugged, patted on the bed and snuggled into her neck as soon as she laid down. “I love you.” Ella whispered. Peter was already sleeping, because he answered with a hum, just one beat too late.

 On the day of the party, everything was perfect. Ella had organised it, so nobody was surprised. Everything, from the pins in her hair till the wine that was served, had been handpicked and controlled. She was a quantum physicist, after all. She liked details and perfection. The guests started to arrive with gifts, and she greeted them all like a perfect hostess. Peter was chatting with his grandmother when she saw a familiar set of curls by the open door. The smile on his face as he approached her could mean two things: he had let go of the whole situation or, most probably, he had forgotten all about it.

“Hey, El. Nice party.” He greeted her with a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks, Shawn. Peter’s over there,” she pointed to him “and the rest of the group are somewhere inside. Probably close to the snacks.” She chuckled. “I’ll catch you guys later.” With that, she turned to greet her cousin and her nephew. “Hi! Thanks for coming.”

 Even though Ella enjoyed being the perfect hostess, half an hour later her mouth was so dry she needed a glass of something. When she approached the table, Shawn was pouring himself a glass of white wine. “I’ll have one of those as well, Shawn.” She half asked-half demanded. He nodded, acknowledging her words, and gave her his new glass. It wasn’t until he was done pouring a second glass that he looked at her.

“Look, El. I’m sorry about anything I said last Wednesday. I don’t remember all of it, but I’m pretty sure it included me confessing you my…” Ella quickly cut him off.

“It’s alright. I’ve thought about it and, honestly, I feel sorrier for you, for not being able to help you, than for the situation.” Shawn nodded solemnly.

“So… water under the bridge?” Instead of answering, Ella simply hugged him, and she felt Shawn’s chest relaxing.

Ella closed her eyes, happy that they had finally made amends. Suddenly, she felt Shawn humming a song that sounded familiar. She focused on the music that played softly from the stereo. So Close by Jon McLaughlin. She hadn’t realised that it was still on the playlist. She loved the song, but it didn’t seem suitable for an engagement party.

So close to reaching that famous happy end. Almost believing this one's not pretend. Now you're beside me, and look how far we've come. So far, we are so close.

Just like in the movie, her favourite movie, he whispered the words in her ear. They weren’t dancing though, just merely swaying in place.

Ella felt sorry for Shawn. She didn’t understand how she could have missed the song when she was grooming the playlist to engagement party-appropriate songs. She hoped Shawn didn’t take it to heart. He was still her best friend, and she hoped that nothing would ever change that.

For Shawn, hearing that song, at that exact moment, was bittersweet. Somehow fitting. He was saying goodbye to the love of his life, who considered him a brother, who was marrying the love of her life. He was holding her close; he could pretend for a moment that he was hers. But he knew it was a lie, a hopeful thought. He would always love her; he would always be there for her.

As the final chord of the song died out and something else, much happier, started to sound, they started to become aware of their surroundings again. They let go of each other, and they smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes.

“I love you, Shawnie.” “I love you, El.”

They both walked towards their friends, sharing a secret that nobody knew. Ella’s eyes were gentle, and her laugh was genuine, and nothing had changed between them. And Shawn knew that was the first step to heal. His smile was bright, and he was having fun. Ella decided to let him be. She’d tell him they were moving some other day.

[akaiaowl]

Happy Stranger Things Day!!

It’s been 4 years since Stranger Things was first premiered on Netflix! (already?) This series is very close to my heart, since it managed to inspire me after 3 long years of writer’s block. To commemorate that, I’ll be posting the epilogue to my first fanfic on AO3: Reality in Motion (also known as RiM by some in the ST fandom). Here goes the summary and first chapter:

Reality in Motion

Modern College AU.

It hurt her to listen to the ruthless voice in her head, but, as much as she hated to admit it, El knew it was probably right. It had happened countless times before. Well, actually two. Two times in which El found herself feeling funny and giddy and hopeful about someone, only to be disappointed. It always ended that way. She was destined to be alone and it was probably for the best.

AKA: Socially awkward Jane Ives' first semester in college. Also AKA: Not your typical nice-boy-meets-drunk-girl-at-a-party Mileven fic (because of all the angst and slowwwww burn, be warned).

Chapter 1: Changes

Wednesday 29th, November 2017

If there was something El Ives put her mind to, she was sure to accomplish it. Always.

Well, most of the times.

As a matter of fact, today was one of the few rare exceptions to that rule. This, since Will Byers, El’s best friend, had managed to convince the otherwise socially awkward El to finally come with him that weekend to some party at a friend’s house.

They were both currently seating on the beige colored carpet of her dorm room, supposedly trying to be productive by getting their History 102 assignment done before the due date.

“Pleeease El! I’m about to beg you, it’s almost Christmas break and, for once, I’d like for you to come meet my friends and not stay locked up here again like a loser”, Will had been pouting at his friend for over two hours.

“Hey, I happen to like being a loser”, said El feigning indignation and scowling at her skinny best friend.

Will managed to hold back his smile at his oldest friend’s antics and maintained a serious expression for the sake of getting his point across. They’d been friends since the age of twelve and both knew just how determined the other could be. Holding each other’s stares defiantly in a silent challenge, neither of them wanted to give in.

As she stubbornly stared into Will’s lively brown eyes, El suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. She had been having a few of those for a while now, especially whenever she thought back on their high school days on Hawkins High School. Actually, the biggest irony was thinking about how much she had looked forward to graduating and moving as far away as humanly possible from that hell hole she called hometown. Whereas, now, she couldn’t help feeling strangely homesick. As a matter of fact, lately, El was often ambushed by random flashbacks from her teenage years and usually found herself wishing she could somehow go back and do it all better.

She regretted everything, actually, except for her friendship with Will.

Their friendship was yet another reason El kept thinking back in nostalgia to her high school days: even though Will and her had managed to get accepted into their dream college together and even lived in neighboring dorm buildings, she felt him more distant than ever before. Worse than that, El was painfully aware that she was the reason of the increasing (figurative) distance in their friendship and she loathed herself for it. Now, more than ever, she hated herself for her apathetic and awkward personality. Why couldn’t she be a normal eighteen year old? Why couldn’t she just stop feeling so nervous around other people? Because of this she was finally managing to drive her best friend away, her partner in crime, after being the closest of friends for over half a decade.

For most of their first semester at college she had declined Will’s enthusiastic invitations to parties and any social events, preferring to skip them in favor of spending her afternoons in the solitude of her room either reading ahead or watching some movie or TV show. It was just easier that way, it seemed. El had never really been a social butterfly and she knew how much Will loved meeting and bonding with new people. So, she just figured that she could give him some space by making herself scarce.

However (and she’d never admit it out loud), as Will started spending less and less time with her and his invitations became rare occurrences, El began feeling terribly lonely (which was weird). She usually cherished her alone time, often glad she wasn’t out there fake smiling and making small talk, getting emotionally drained after overthinking and worrying over every tiny detail of her social interactions. Nonetheless, now, it just felt like a very different kind of loneliness.

El felt lonely in a bad way, a way she hadn’t felt for quite a long time: the kind of lonely she used to feel before meeting Joyce Byers and befriending her son, Will.

Finally, after glaring at Will some more, El lowered her gaze in defeat. Mostly because she missed spending more time with him, and also because she was a bit curious about going to a college party.

“Ok. Fine, I’ll go. BUT I’ll only stay until a reasonable hour and you better not be dragging me up there so I can be your designated driver”, answered El with an annoyed huff, hurling one of her fluffy pillows on Will’s general direction and feeling quite annoyed (mostly at her pathetic, abnormal self).

Her friend easily managed to catch the pillow midair and offered El a sympathetic smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. She knew he was worried about her spending so much time by herself – the fact that she had no roommate made it easier for her to just hide away for hours on end without any excuse.

“I’m only doing this for your own good El, you know I look out for you and it’s about time you start having a normal college experience and, you know, getting to know people. After all, the semester is almost over”.

--….--…--…---

Friday 1st, December 2017

El bit her lip as she stared at her reflection on the mirror critically. Was her top too revealing? Was her midsection looking gross and bloated? Should she put any make up on? Was her hair ok? Were jeans and sneakers too casual for the party?

Man, I badly needed a School of Life 101 crash course, El thought with a groan.

It was always on times like this that El really wished she had a roommate or a best friend who could actually give advice on these kinds of things. It was also on times like these that El regretted not learning about this stuff back on high school. Finally, after examining her reflection some more, she decided to change her sneakers in favor of her black leather boots and apply some lipstick to her dry lips.

Feeling quite nervous, she turned her phone screen on and was surprised to see several messages from Will.

8:02 pm U excited yet for your first college party?

8:03 pm Totally getting drunk as skunks 2nite.

8:46 pm Waiting for the guys, we’re coming to pick u up

9:29 pm On our way, expect a call in 15

9:44 pm Almost there

9:59 pm Ok, let’s go

*3 missed calls from MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD*

10:03 pm Pick up the phone

10:11 pm We’re waiting downstairs

10:27 pm What the hell u doing? We’ve been here for ages

El was surprised to find out how long she had taken to get ready, her nervousness was really not helping. As quickly as possible, she grabbed her tiny purse and keys and made her way out. At that very moment, her phone screen lit up and the contact name Will had programmed for himself popped up.

*incoming call from MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD*

Smiling, El answered.

“I’m sorry, I completely lost track of time, that’s all. I’m almost there”, she said breathlessly while making her way down the flight of stairs.

“No problem El, just making sure you were still up for it”, answered Will sympathetically.

“Wait. So did I actually have an option?” replied El only half joking.

She really was terribly nervous, like she always was whenever she had to face a new social situation.

Will laughed at her lame attempt at making a joke and was silent for a bit, maybe trying to empathize with his best friend’s nervousness.

El could hear Will’s friends talking loudly on the background:

“We need to hurry if we want to get wasted before the night ends, that’s kind of the point of tonight”, a loud male voice whined pathetically.

“Hey, I’m actually enjoying watching this show”, another male voice answered in fake annoyance.

“Booooooring”, someone else interjected.

“You’re too lame Wheeler”, the first voice teased.

The conversation on the background grew faint as El realized Will must have walked away from his friends to talk to her privately.

“Everything will be fine and you’ll have fun, you’ll see. If you feel uncomfortable or something you have us”, finally whispered Will before hanging up.

El had really tried to avoid meeting Will’s friends for a while now, feeling resentment and jealousy towards them because her best friend spent most of his time with them now and talked all the time about how fun and loyal they were.

It actually made sense that they spent time together since they were all taking science related careers and had most of their classes together – Will was an engineer major, like Lucas, while Dustin and Mike were physics majors.

It was silly, she knew.

Calm down El, it’s going to be ok, Will’s friends are probably as nice as him.

Finally, El got to her building’s common area. She saw four guys sprawled comfortably all over the beige couches, two of them were fighting over the remote and the other two were trying to watch whatever show was on TV.

They didn’t notice her presence until she started timidly approaching Will, who was gazing at the screen with mild interest. He was the first one of the group to notice her and his face was instantly filled with a broad smile.

“You’re finally here!” he exclaimed, startling everyone.

“Guys, this is El”, Will said loudly. Then, pointing at each of the guys next to him, he introduced them, “These are Lucas, Dustin and Mike”.

“Thanks for waiting”, El managed to smile at them without making eye contact. She hoped they didn’t notice her nervousness.

“No problem”, said the smallest one of them, Dustin, “honestly, we were all dying to finally meet you”.

“Yeah, we had a bet going on about Will’s friend being imaginary”, laughed Lucas.

Upon hearing that last comment, El snorted while trying to contain a laugh and turned to look at Will with amusement. Her friend merely shrugged.

“See how you make me look bad El?”

“Oh, it was only for the sake of making the bet more interesting”, answered El with a laugh, “it would have been no fun without the mystery, now would it?”

The guys smiled, amused, and the air significantly relaxed. She felt a tiny bit more comfortable, and the voice in her head repeating her own doubts and fears in a loop grew quiet for the first time that night.

“So, who won the bet?” asked Will, looking at his friends.

“Me”, said the tallest boy, Mike, smiling.

He was the only one who hadn’t spoken up yet, but she recognized his voice from her phone call with Will – he was the one who claimed to be enjoying the TV show while they waited for her to arrive.

Overcome by curiosity, El risked a glance up at him and was surprised to find him already looking at her, matching her interest. They made eye contact.

“So thank you for being real, I guess”, he said smiling kindly at her.

She quickly averted her gaze, not knowing what to do or how to respond, and tried to keep her upcoming blush from actually showing on her face. It wasn’t even a compliment, why was she reacting like this?

Social awkwardness truly sucked.

There was a short moment of silence, which was (thankfully) quickly broken by Lucas.

“Ok, let’s get going”, said Lucas enthusiastically as he strode to the nearest exit.

--….--…--…---

Saturday 2nd, December 2017

She’d drank too much, too soon.

Of course, the fact that Will kept refilling her red solo cup with mysterious mixes of liquor didn’t help at all. But she wasn’t complaining at all. All things considered, El found the whole experience quite interesting. Actually, she was pleased to realize that the alcohol numbed that voice that constantly reminded her of all her insecurities and flaws. She found this quite liberating.

She felt like she could do anything. Be anyone she wanted.

Will’s friends had left them to join a game of beer pong not so long ago, which had also helped El feel a whole lot more relaxed. Up until then, she had been too scared of acting like a weirdo around the guys and so she had barely talked.

For the first time in a long time, no worries or guilt lurked El’s mind.

As time went by, the music surrounding her stopped being too loud and the vibration of the bass on the floor actually made her lively in a way she had scarcely felt before. Before she knew it, her foot was tapping the floor to the beat of the unknown song. She tried to pay attention to whatever Will was saying (maybe a funny story about someone in one of his classes? What was that about a teacher?), but words kept jumbling around making it hard for her to understand anything at all.

My thought process is screwed up, El thought.

Suddenly, it occurred to her that that was the funniest, wittiest thing she had ever come up with, so she giggled uncontrollably.

Will smiled affectionately at the giggling girl beside him. He had really tried to be a good friend that night, staying with her the whole time – probably suspecting that if she got to feel too awkward, she’d escape the party.

“I loooooove you so much Willy Will”, said El hugging her friend, “do you know that?”

El’s ears suddenly caught onto a tune, alerting her of something.

Something quite urgent.

Do you recall, not long ago We would walk on the sidewalk? Innocent, remember? All we did was care for each other

“BYERS!!!! COME ON!” she exclaimed giddily, standing up clumsily and dragging her skinny best friend to the middle of the room, “IT’S OUR JAM!”

But the night was warm We were bold and young All around, the wind blows We would only hold on to let go

Will could only smile at her random behavior. He had never been a good dancer and he had not drank nearly as much as El had, so he just sort of awkwardly tried shuffling his feet and swaying his body to the catchy song.

“BLOW A KISS FIRE A GUN, WHEN YOU NEED SOMEONE TO LEAN ON”, El was screaming while swaying her hips wildly, her eyes were closed, “BLOW A KISS FIRE A GUN, ALL WE NEED IS SMEBODY TO LEAN ON”.

Will tried his hardest to keep up with El’s moves, but she was like a woman possessed, jumping around and twirling in every direction. It seemed that all those months of pent up energy – probably gathered after all those afternoons of voluntary isolation – were finally finding an outlet. After a couple of songs and happy to see his friend finally having fun, Will decided his job there was done.

“El. El! EL!!” he screamed to get her attention.

She faced him, smiling wildly. Her face shiny with sweat from the exertion and the warmth in the room. Will couldn’t help mirroring her grin.

“I just can’t keep up with you!” he said teasing her, “I’m gonna go find the guys”.

El stuck out her tongue at him and waved goodbye.

“YOU’RE SUCH A KID ELEVEN!” Will exclaimed as he headed to the other room, where he last saw his friends heading to.

--….--…--…---

Her feet were killing her.

El made her way to the nearest sitting space she could find, a couch on the left side of the room. She sat down for a minute in the crowded couch, slowly trying to move her toes so she didn’t feel them cramping anymore. She was currently sandwiched uncomfortably between a sleeping guy and a couple making out. She tried to ignore the snores and the sounds the couple were making.

She hadn’t seen Will or any of his friends for at least a couple of hours and she was not about to go wandering off looking for them. Will was probably drunk by now, maybe talking to the cute guy from their History 102 class that he always rambled on about. El smiled fondly, remembering how much of a hopeless romantic her best friend was.

She tried laying back on the couch and closing her tired eyes, but everything was too hot and her feet hurt too much. It was way too uncomfortable.

El glanced hopefully at the glass doors that led into the balcony. With any luck, there wouldn’t be anyone out there smoking.

She hated the smell of tobacco. It reminded her of him.

El shut her eyes tightly, desperately trying to chase away the memories that begged to be replayed on her mind, and massaged her throbbing temples. She tried to take a deep, calming breath and relax somehow, but the air felt too moist and everything smelled like alcohol and sweat. Suddenly, she was too aware of the extremely loud music and the annoying presence of the people around her. And there were too many people. Too many unfamiliar faces. Frustrated, El opened her eyes slowly, glancing around at the room full of strangers.

Dejection filled her thoroughly, tonight had been great so far and she just happened to ruin it by opening a door she had closed more than five years ago. She’d promised it would never haunt her, never hurt her again. But it was always there, lurking. It was always him, never allowing her to escape his choking grip.

Without even thinking about it, she had started walking on the opposite direction of the balcony, towards the main door of the house. As she stepped outside of the house, she couldn’t help noticing the wide brown door was ajar. El moved forward taking slow, deliberate steps, knowing her balance was far from being the most stable.

She glanced around quickly.

Sighing in relief at the fact that she had apparently managed to escape the smokers, El leaned on the nearest wall and stared off into the darkened streets and houses. Her body still felt light, but most the energy she had at the beginning of the night had ebbed away by now, leaving her exhausted. Soon enough, she noticed that the volume of the music and the noise from the house was once again bearable for her. However, without the loud (loud! loud!) music infecting her thoughts, she was left at the mercy of the familiar cold voice in her head: it was her own voice, but ruthless and emotionless, and it never tired of always repeating everything she didn’t want to hear.

She wondered what time it was, she was too lazy to get her phone out and check the time. Her fuzzy brain was making everything a lot harder.

“You ok?” a familiar voiced questioned.

El found herself staring up into the freckle-covered face of one of Will’s friends.

“Just tired and hot”, she replied, “it’s like a freaking oven in there”.

He just chuckled.

“Why are you out here?” she suddenly asked.

“Oh, just getting some air to clear my head”, the tall guy answered shrugging, “I am the lucky soul who gets to be the designated driver for tonight”.

El smiled in amusement.

His name is Mike, El suddenly remembered, her scattered, hazy thoughts becoming a tiny bit clearer.

“You know, I was convinced the only reason Will invited me here was so I’d have the honor of being the DD”.

They remained in a comfortable silence for a while, both staring off and busy with their own thoughts.

“Will is worried about you”, Mike stated after a while.

“I know”, El answered sadly, “it’s just hard for me, you know?”

Mike furrowed his brow in confusion.

“No matter how hard I try, it’s hard for me to feel comfortable or relaxed or even normal around new people or in new places”, she explained almost in a whisper.

“It’s ok to feel that way”, he said like it was the most natural thing in the world, his gaze showing empathy.

El snorted, fully aware that no, it was not okay to be such an introverted freak. She was not stupid. She knew it was a limitation, something that held her back from experiences and people and things she really wanted. She was all too aware that it was what isolated her from everyone and ultimately stood like a solid barrier, shielding her even from the ones she deeply cared about.

“I felt very lonely coming here at first”, Mike confessed smiling crookedly in her direction, “I consider myself a lucky guy, having Dustin as a roommate and meeting Lucas and Will on my first week here”.

“Will is an amazing friend”, El answered smiling, “and all of you seem like pretty cool guys”, she added honestly.

Mike blushed a bit and lowered his gaze, focusing on his wristwatch.

Who even owns a wristwatch these days?, wondered El with amusement as she glanced at him with the corner of her eye.

“Hey, it’s barely 1 am, how do you feel about going for a drive and coming back to pick up our friends’ drunken asses?” suddenly asked Mike.

Full story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12840366/chapters/29318523

[cryoculus]

Lunaris [3/11]

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Chapter Title: First Quarter Pairing: Yokai!Akaashi Keiji/Reader Word Count: 2,557

***

A few days passed by in a blur after your fainting spell at training. 

When you came back to school once you've fully recovered, Itsumi practically bawled her eyes out, sputtering apology after apology as if the reason for your absence was because she'd untied your laces. You could only console her awkwardly, explaining that, no, the untied shoelaces weren't the cause of your domino effect of misfortune.

For missed school work, your classmates had been kind enough to share their notes from the previous lessons you'd missed, filling you in on some of the upcoming requirements for the week. You only had two days' worth of backlog, but it was a lot. Thank god you were generally a likeable person.

"Yo, (Surname)!" 

In the middle of rewriting some missed notes, the familiar glee in Bokuto's voice sang in your ears. Your body reacted before your mind could, sending jolts of heat creeping up your face before you could even face him. The ace stood by your desk, and when you looked up, he was grinning like he'd just won the lottery. You weren't even classmates. What was he doing here?

"Bokuto-san," you breathed, hoping he won't comment on your flustered appearance. "Do you need anything? Ah, belated happy birthday, by the way."

Bokuto waved away your concern. "Thanks, but it's nothing. Heard that you blacked out the other day and I didn't even notice." His words were followed by the ace reaching a hand to scratch the back of his head apologetically. "If I'd known, I would've helped out."

You could feel your heart rate doubling at the sight of him apologizing for something that wasn't even remotely his fault. Why? Why was the universe orchestrating this interaction? Were they seriously trying to make you like him more?

"You don't have to feel guilty, you know," you chuckled, putting your pen down to face him directly. "You looking out for me is nice enough of you." 

"Heh, really?" A sheepish smile stretched across his mouth. "Akaashi kind of guilt-tripped me for being so dead-set with going home that day, that I was totally oblivious. And then..."

Akaashi. The mere name was enough to trigger a dull throb in your temples. Your memories of that day were still muddled, but there were a couple of things you recalled with striking clarity: your glowing charm, and Akaashi's apathetic gaze turning blood-red feral in the blink of an eye. 

When Fujimoto explained that you got hexed by a yokai, you didn't ponder about it too much—total recovery being your top priority during the past two days. But now that the topic of the seemingly ordinary second year had come into light once more, your instincts told you that he was, indeed, the cause of your so-called affliction. 

"You alright, (Surname)?" 

Blinking, you realized that you spaced out in the middle of Bokuto's rambling. He's gazing at you, golden eyes wide and head tilted to the side like a curious owl. 

"Um, yeah!" You followed that up with a nervous-sounding laugh. "I'm just swamped with all this school work, and I just don't know how to manage them all." 

"Ohhh," he drawled, nodding in understanding. "Well, I won't eat up any more of your time. See you around!"

Once that force of nature stepped outside of your classroom, you noticed that some of your classmates were casting you curious stares, whispering among themselves. Itsumi, who was grinning at you like a fox, just happened to be one of them.

You sighed, occupying yourself with your notes. Who knew what kind of ideas Bokuto's little chat had planted in your best friend's head? You didn't want to know, nor did you have the time for it. 

*** 

"You really didn't have to lead today's laps when you just got back, you know?" Coach Yamamoto told you off with a hint of a scolding in his words. "If you relapsed, I think the Amatsuki shrine might just have my head offered at the lunar festival." 

You humored him with a soft laugh as you squeezed what's left of the contents of your water bottle in your mouth. Wiping the excess moisture from your lips, you turned to your coach with a reassuring look. "I'll see to it that it doesn't happen, coach."

When he politely excused himself out of the conversation, you headed straight to the gym, where the rest of your teammates have just about finished showering. You looked around for a bit, and it seemed that the volleyball team finished early because it was only their manager and coach left inside along with the track team. You refused to acknowledge that the bite of disappointment that pricks your heart was because Bokuto wasn't around.

"Hey, (Name)! You gonna shower?" Itsumi called out from the bleachers as she towelled her damp hair. 

You shook your head, slinging your gym bag across your shoulder. "I just came in to check on you guys. Could you make sure everyone gets home safely? Oba-san's making me run errands for the festival."

Your best friend nodded. "Sure. I'll tell them to send updates to the group chat so you can see, too."

"Thanks. I owe you one, Sumi. Bye guys!" 

"Bye captain!" was the singsong response of the rest of your teammates who were waiting on the others. You smiled before turning on your heel to make your exit. 

The walk from Fukurodani to downtown Tokyo didn't take very long. You knew each nook and cranny like the back of your hand, and wading through the abundance of evening commuters didn't hassle you as much as any other person. Your grandmother had only told you to meet with her middleman somewhere near Ikebukuro station, and that you would definitely recognize the man when you see him. 

That didn't really offer enough clues about the middleman's identity, but as you neared the station, you were able to spot a middle-aged monk in traditional Shinto robes, carrying with him a gilded crate similar to the ones you've always seen in the shrine's offertory hall. He certainly stood out from everyone else in the vicinity.

"Takahashi-san?" you asked once you got close enough to speak to him.

The monk turned to you questioningly, but his eyes shone with recognition the following second. "Ah, Amatsuki-sama! The elder mentioned I would be meeting with someone who wore a charm." 

You blinked in confusion before glancing at the bell on your wrist. It tinkled with the slight motion, and you realized that he was talking about your bracelet. 

"Oh, I'm not an Amatsuki," you corrected sheepishly. "My grandmother just sent me out to get the...?"

"Omamori amulets?" Takahashi continued, chuckling as he turned the knob on the crate and lifted the cover. Inside, dozens upon dozens of omamori or protection amulets were safely sealed in bubble wrap packaging. Each pouch came in a plethora of colors and patterns on the fabric, and you found yourself gaping slightly at the beautiful designs.

When Takahashi sealed the crate shut once again, he handed it to you like its contents were fragile. You half-expected for it to be quite heavy, but it was lighter than you thought!

"I apologize for mistaking you for Anri-sama," he said, the name catching your attention. "You're her daughter, yes? You do look very much alike." 

The mention of your mother made your heart sink, but Takahashi probably had a long way to go back. Your grandmother did say he was from one of the sacred shrines in the Fuji mountains. He didn't have the time to hear your tragic backstory. 

"Thank you for going all the way here, Takahashi-san. Our shrine is looking forward to giving these to our visitors." You bowed politely. "I'll be on my way, and I hope you make it safely back, as well."

"May the gods favor you," he imparted with a gentle smile. 

***

When the weekend rolled by, you found yourself climbing up the moss-coated pathway that led to the highest point of the hill. You'd just finished eating dinner with your grandmother before excusing yourself to go up to the cemetery to do some contemplating. The worried look that creased her brow once you said the words was an expression you'd prefer for her not to make, but you've been itching to go back up here since meeting up with Takahashi last week.

The rusty, metal gates creaked with age when you nudged it open with your foot. After, no other sound followed. It was just you under the watchful gaze of the half-filled moon, standing before the grave of several of your shrines followers. 

You breathed in the rich scent of the earth before treading forward. 

Most people would be unnerved to be walking alone in a cemetery at night, of all times. You understood why. It was like time simply stopped flowing for both those buried beneath the ground where you stood, and the area itself. The air was stale and the leaves underfoot fell apart much quicker than those scattered in the lower parts of the hill. The grass seemed like it's been a while since it was last watered, leaving the shrivelled up blades decaying at your feet.

But not once did you ever feel a surge of fear whenever you paid your parents a visit. 

"I'm back," you said, kneeling before their graves as you clasped your hands together to offer up a quick prayer. There were no incense sticks to light up, no offerings to be made. Your grandmother said that her daughter hated receiving things she couldn't give back to, and you respected that preference up until now. 

Amatsuki Anri and (Surname) Kazunari died in an accident about sixteen years ago—too long ago for you to remember. You'd been in the same car with them on that fateful night, but you miraculously survived; having been protected by your mother until the very end. Though you had no actual attachment to your parents, you were still grateful to them for bringing you into this world, and for saving you as well. 

Lost in your thoughts, you didn't notice the way a gust of wind rustled the nearby trees; didn't notice the figure emerging from the forest your grandmother warned you to stay away from. Akaashi observed you with rapt attention, blue eyes never missing a motion made. You were speaking to a couple of stones, and though he found the practice quite useless—for lifeless objects did not have the capacity to speak back—he's witnessed hundreds of humans in his lifetime do the same thing. 

When the demon announced his presence, you were quick to identify where he was. Akaashi frowned. For a human, you were awfully perceptive. 

"Y-You..." your voice trembled, and for the first time, dread settled in the pit of your stomach, creeping up your skin in the form of gooseflesh. "You were the one who hexed me!"

Akaashi cocked his head to the side. "Hexed you? Yokai do not have such capabilities. It seemed to me that your body simply reacted to my presence is all. Oh, and so did that little warding charm, I suppose."

Your arm jerked away instinctively when you felt the familiar heat searing your skin. But the sensation wasn't as severe as the last time—the charm's glow having been contained into a small prick of light. With a grimace, you turned to look up at Akaashi, who seemed so normal, so unassuming that you never would have guessed what he actually was.

"Why are you pretending to be a human?" you asked, knowing full well that further interactions with yokai would only lead to your demise. "Is there something you're after?" 

In lieu of an actual response, Akaashi took it upon himself to walk closer to you. However, the closer he got, the hotter and brighter the charm glowed on your wrist. You hissed, attempting to undo the knots of the bracelet until the bell simply stopped glowing. You muttered a confused, "what?" before turning to Akaashi, who was barely a meter in front of you. 

"Were you really about to take off your only line of defense in the face of a yokai?" he chuckled. "Humans really are strange, indeed." 

You inched away from him slowly, but each step you took back, he closed the distance with a step forward—trapping you in between him and your parents' gravestones.

"We've been going to the same school for two years," he began, taking your hand in his. "Didn't you ever wonder why that charm of yours never tried to repel me before?" 

You were too stunned to take your hand out of his grasp, but you took note of how deceivingly smooth his skin was. When you didn't respond to his question, Akaashi heaved a sigh, tracing each of your fingers with a gentleness that yokai shouldn't have.

"I can conceal my demonic presence so warding charms like that do not react to me," he explained. "The only reason it did the last time was because I wanted to alert you of my presence."

"Y-You still haven't answered my question," you told him, praying to the gods that he didn't hear the terror in your voice.

Akaashi sighed, carding his free hand through his messy hair. "Impatient little creatures, aren't you all? But I suppose it's fair. Your time on this earth is awfully limited." He then lifted your hand up to his chest, flattening the palm on the firm surface. For someone who seemed slender, Akaashi's chest was certainly toned underneath his shirt. You could feel yourself flush at the idea of feeling up an athlete like him, but there was something amiss—something that should be there but wasn't.

"You don't have..." The realization dawned on you, turning your gaze frigid. "You don't have a heartbeat."

"That, I do not," he affirmed, loosening his grip on your hand so that it fell to your side. 

You were gaping at Akaashi like he's grown two heads. Though yokai were an entirely different race, they still needed a heart to be able to use their powers. If Akaashi was able to conceal his presence at will and assume the form of a human all without a heart, then he must be someone powerful; someone you never should have involved yourself with.

"Who are you?" you whispered, almost fearing to hear his answer. 

Instead of morphing into his original form to kill you on the spot like you expected him to, Akaashi spared you a lopsided smile. He shoved his hands in his pockets, turning around while waving a hand in farewell. 

"If you want to know, meet me here tomorrow night, where the moon shines brightest." His words were obscured by the sudden breeze that howled in your direction, but you managed to understand, still. The wind cut through your face sharply enough for you to shield it with your hands, screwing your eyes shut. It roared in your ears, and you genuinely wondered if you were ever going to go home tonight. 

Suddenly, the gale died down. When you lowered your hands and opened your eyes, there was no trace of the boy who'd been here just a minute ago.

It was just you under the watchful gaze of the half-filled moon. 

[askdragonagecompanions]

Hi! I’m sorry if I’m annoying, but I wanted to ask, how would the DAI romances help the Inquisitor get used to their left arm being missing from the end of Trespasser? Sorry if it’s bad.

[Don’t worry you’re not annoying at all

Dorian: Maker Dorian feels horrible for what happened to his Amatus. The man needs a break. He had been away tending to some family business in Tevinter for the past few months and he had missed his amatus so much. He had gotten more excited than he probably should have when he was told he was going to be the Tevinter ambassador, because it meant he had an excuse to see his amatus. The man had hidden the anchor flare ups well at first. Dorian didn’t even know that the anchor was bothering the Inquisitor. He was just so caught up with seeing him, having to tell him he was going to take over his father’s spot as Magister... He should have noticed. He should have been able to do something, at least to make the pain less horrible. Dorian thought he was going to lose his amatus, after everything they’d been through he couldn’t lose the man now. Dorian postponed going back to Tevinter for months. His amatus needed him and the Magisterium could wait a few more months. Dorian stayed by the Inquisitor’s side, and with the Inquisition disbanded he had more time to just relax and heal. Dorian would help put on the salve and change the bandages in the first month so that infection wouldn’t set in. They started slow, just helping the Inquisitor put on his shirts at first, then when he had more energy they started on reworking his balance in battle. Even if he wasn’t Inquisitor anymore he would always need to protect himself. The first month was the hardest for the Inquisitor. Dorian doesn’t even want to think what it would have been like if he was alone. Some days he can’t even get the Inquisitor to leave his bed, so Dorian laid down next to him and just held him close. He would murmur sweet nothings, affirmations that the Inquisitor was still his amatus, that they were both still alive. He didn’t know what was going through his love’s mind, but Dorian made sure he was there for the Inquisitor every step of the way. When the Inquisitor’s arm is healed enough that it no longer needs a bandage, Dorian can see that his amatus is avoiding even looking at it. So, during quiet moments when its just the two of them Dorian gives it a little kiss, and then him a gentle kiss. “I love you. I am... so glad I still have you with me amatus.” and he lets the Inquisitor lean against him. Eventually he can no longer put off returning to Tevinter, but they each have the amulets Dorian charmed so that they can talk to each other. Dorian talks with his amatus every day... Maker he misses that man so much, but he’s confident now that the Inquisitor will make it. It’s going to be hard, but he no longer fears losing him. Whenever they do get to steal time to be with each other Dorian treasures it. 

Solas: Solas knew that the anchor would eventually kill the Inquisitor if he didn’t do something about it. What he didn’t plan for was falling in love with her. After Corypheus was defeated he knew he had to leave. If he didn’t leave then he didn’t know if he ever could, and Solas didn’t want her to follow him on this journey. He was going to have to do so many things... he didn’t want to put his Vhenan through that it would be selfish. He had already been selfish by even entering a relationship with her. He couldn’t let his actions be her end, so he began to think of a way to lead the Inquisitor to him without exposing himself too early on. He couldn’t have the Inquisition stopping him, and he did need a way to warn the Inquisition of the Qunari’s plot. He used the Eluvians to lead the Inquisitor to himself. He knew she would be smart enough to follow the trail. He could save her. When she arrived her arm was worse than he thought. For a moment it was almost impossible to talk. His heart was in his throat and he wanted nothing more than to embrace her and hold her close. “So you really are him... you’re the Dread Wolf.” Her voice held so much sadness and contempt. Solas just hoped that she would understand why he hadn’t told her. He used his magic to give them more time, so that they could talk and he could try to explain what he was doing and why he had to do it. Solas removed his Vhenan’s arm so that the anchor would not kill her. He made sure her companions found her before leaving. Solas is not there to help her recover from losing her arms even though he desperately wants to be. He must walk this path alone. He has already put the Inquisitor through too much pain. She said she would prove him wrong, and Solas hoped she would. He would love to be proven wrong again...

Sera: It just wasn’t fair. The whole meeting to decide if the Inquisition was needed or not already sucked, but hey Sera turned it into a good thing and she and Inky got married and it was great! But then that stupid anchor... Sera felt stupid for not seeing it sooner. Inky had been looking a little green around the gills lately, but she always said she was just nervous and she’d be okay. Sera believed her of course cause it was her Inky, she fought Corypheshit and survived so Sera just assumed it was a little cold. Then the anchor started acting up more and more and it was physically hurting Inky. Her arm really started to look bad, and no matter the salves Sera put on it it was just getting worse. She knew it was killing Inky and it wasn’t fair! This was supposed to be their happy ending not Inky dying because of something she never asked to have, not full of Qunari warriors trying to kill them all and start a war cause of some wolf. Then Inky went through that mirror by herself and Sera kept trying to get through it because Inky needed her help and she was not going to lose her wife! Finally the stupid thing started working and they could get to Inky it wasn’t a pretty sight. Sera was a mess back at the Winter Palace while the healers helped get the Inquisitor stable. Sera couldn’t believe they were still going to make her address all those people after losing her fucking arm! Ugh, she was taking down names to pie later. She’s by Inky’s side the whole time. She can’t help but fret for the first week. It’s still giving Inky pain even though the healers all said there is no more fade magic in the arm that should be hurting her. They cuddle a lot and Sera tries to cheer her up whenever she can, but she understands that this has got to be really hard on the Inquisitor. She can’t imagine how it’s gotta feel, but Sera does love that they don’t have to worry about all the Inquisition business right now. She can just focus on helping get her Inky back on her feet. Sera’s very gentle, she tells a lot of stories about her favorite pranks she’s pulled especially on stuck up nobles who thought they were untouchable. She gets really excited as she tells Inky about how she’s been working on designing a pie arrow. On really good days she takes Inky to the gardens so they can look at the bees together. Sera makes it her goal to make the Inquisitor smile at least once a day even if it’s only for a second she’ll know she succeeded. She makes sure the Inquisitor knows she’s not going to leave her side, that she’s still Thedas’s most kickass woman ever, and that they’re friggin married! When the Inquisitor feels ready enough Sera starts taking her on small Red Jenny missions and she loves hearing her giggle while they prank the nobles that needed it. She stays by the Inquisitor’s side and is there for her whenever she needs her. 

Iron Bull: Bull had a feeling that this meeting would be a bit of a shit show. It wasn’t that he wasn’t excited to see all his friends again and get to be with his Kadan, it was just that they had the worst luck out of anyone he’d ever met. Bull had known something was up with them for a while now. They wouldn’t tell him what, but he knew they weren’t feeling the best either. When he heard about the anchor flare ups from Leliana he was worried. They should have told him sooner. He... he knows he couldnt’ have done anything to stop it but he could have helped them. He could have supported them and given them someone to talk to if they were worried about it. Bull needed to stay strong though. his Kadan needed him to be strong and so he was. They were both going to make it through this together. He had been Tal Vashoth for a few years now so he had no idea that the Qun was planning such a large attack. He couldn’t believe they tried to get him to rejoin the Qun and abandon his Kadan. The final battle was so intense and he’d lost track of the Inquisitor. The anchor flare ups were happening so frequently and every time the Inquisitor would cry out. Bull just kept fighting, kept trying to keep enemies off of his Kadan. When they finally won and got back to the Winter Palace it was clear that Bull was nervous, well clear to anyone who knew him well enough. He knew what it was like to lose a part of yourself and for the Inquisitor to lose their arm it was going to be a big change. When they wake up he’s by their side, smiling and probably a little misty eyed because, “Kadan I love you so much, but please don’t ever scare me like that again.” And he kisses them. He speaks softly as he tells them they lost their arm and it pains him to see them look so distraught. He holds them close and assures them they’re not alone in this. He knows it’s going to be tough. The Inquisitor is going to have to learn and relearn a lot of things, especially in combat, but for the first month he makes sure that the Inquisitor is just taking it easy. Their body needs time to recover, to heal. Besides, with no Inquisition Charger stuff can wait. The Chargers stop by all the time. Bull takes his Kadan to the Tavern when they’re more stable and they all laugh and tell stories with the Chargers. They’ve all gotten hurt pretty bad. Bull gives the Inquisitor massages and little kisses and assures them they’re still a bad ass, still gorgeous, that their scars just show how tough they are. Bull likes scars. It’s proof that someone survived through something dangerous. Once they’re physically healthy again and they’re comfortable with it he starts stealing away nights with them again. Maker knows they need to release some of that tension. Bull is very encouraging. When the Inquisitor has a bad day and breaks down he sits with them and lets them get it all, lets them cry and vent, and he affirms that yeah this fucking sucks, but he helps them see the positives too. He loves the Inquisitor more than he thought possible, and to Bull just having them here is enough. He’s there for them, whatever they need he’ll give. 

Blackwall: Blackwall had been terrified that he was going to lose the Inquisitor. He may not have had spy training, but he knew the Inquisitor and he knew there was something she wasn’t telling him. He would try to ask, but she kept assuring him everything was okay, that she was just worried about the meeting. He didn’t believe her entirely, but he wouldn’t press further. He kept giving her physical affection, though. Small kisses, assuring squeezes of the hand, hugs. He wanted her to know that he was there for her, that she could tell him anything. And then everything went tits up. Apparently the Qunari got the idea that the Inquisition was working with one of their enemies and were going to launch a full scale attack and so it was up to them to stop it and save the world... again. With each fight the Inquisitor just looked worse. She was exhausted and the anchor was definitely doing something to her. It was killing her. “Maker I cannot lose you...” He felt like his world was shattering and he hugged her. He hugged her close and tight and willed his tears to not fall but they wouldn’t listen. “We’re going to make it through this, both of us.” He couldn’t lose her, not now, not after everything they had gone through. She deserved peace, not death from something she couldn’t control. He was relieved when they won, but for a few days it was still dicey. The Inquisitor was in and out of consciousness, she had lost her arm, but it kept her alive. With the anchor gone she was finally starting to heal. Blackwall had known many soldiers who lost a limb before. They could still fight, it just took an adjustment period to learn a different way to fight, to learn new balance, and honestly just to accept that their limb was gone. When the Inquisitor truly wakes up he hugs her close and kisses her. “I thought I’d lost you...” He murmured against her. The Inquisitor took the news relatively well. She was determined to still attend the meeting even though she had only just woken. He was nervous she was going to push herself too far, but when the Inquisitor set her mind to something there really was no stopping her. He stayed by her side. She traveled with Blackwall, as he had made it his mission to help people like him, who had made mistakes in their past, to give them a second chance and hope. Blackwall helps the Inquisitor cope, he comforts her, when she cries and apologizes he assures her there’s no need. On days where she gets ghost pains Blackwall holds her hand and lets her squeeze to help with the pain. Most importantly he makes sure she knows that she’s loved, that together they can and have made it through the Fade and back. 

Cassandra: She had gotten so busy with rebuilding the Seekers that she really hadn’t had a lot of time with the Inquisitor in the months before the meet. Perhaps if she had been there she would have known sooner. The world was already crashing down around then and then she learned that she was losing her love too? It was infuriating and terrifying and she pulled him into a kiss, “I am not losing you. You are not going to die on me.” It was an order. She wasn’t going to lose him, not after everything they’d been through together. She actually managed to get a laugh out of him and she smiled weakly. “You should know I’m not joking.” “I know.” He murmured and kissed her again. They one the battle. Cassandra did not care about her own injuries and shooed away any Healer that tried to attend to her. She would be fine. She wanted them to attend to the Inquisitor first, he was more important. Only once he was stable did she allow for herself to be tended to. Cassandra was surprised when he disbanded the Inquisition but a part of her was glad. It meant they could be together with no duties keeping them apart. When he woke up she was by his side. She broke the news as gently as she could. Cassandra knows she is not the best at being gentle or helping with emotions, but she has been working on it. Ever since she and the Inquisitor got together she wanted to be better for him. Mainly she helps with the physical aspects of losing a limb. She encourages him to work on his balance, to learn how to use just one arm, simple things at first, and the more he healed the more complex the exercises became. She spars with him, she does not go easy. He needs to relearn, he needs to be able to protect himself. When he gets overwhelmed she’s at his side and there to help him calm down. She tells him about how far hes come, how he’s survived demons, dragons, ancient magisters, and ancient magic that was killing him. She feels guilty when she’s the one who caused him to be overwhelmed. She’s only trying to help and she knows she can do too much sometimes. She makes up for it by holding him close at night and running her hand through his hair while she reads to him. She knows just how to calm him down and help him relax. When she sees him avoiding his arm, or looking at it with disdain she pulls him into a kiss and puts her hand on that shoulder. “I know it is hard to accept, but think of it as a sign that you survived, that you are alive because... I do not know what I would have done without you. I love you.”

Cullen: The Inquisitor has done so much for him, and honestly he was quite nervous about this meeting. Nobles forget too fast how the Inquisition saved them from the world being destroyed from a giant breach in the sky, and now that the threat was gone they wanted to make sure that the Inquisition was either disbanded or allied to a certain power so that they wouldn’t have to worry about a new power taking over. It was all bullshit in his opinion. He stayed by the Inquisitor’s side through it all. He loved her so much, though lately he was worried. Some nights he would wake to her gone from their bed. She assured him she was fine, just getting some water, but he didn’t believe her. She looked to shaken up. He assumed it was just nightmares, but she never really told him. Then her mark flared in front of him and his heart sank. Maker not now... he couldn’t lose her, but it wasn’t like they could stop either. The world was in their hands again and she had to fight, and he had to stay and make sure that everyone was prepared in case... in case she didn’t succeed. Before she left he held her close and kissed her, their foreheads pressed together gently. “Please come back to me my love... I... can’t lose you.” His voice was quiet and pleading. “I’ll do my best Cullen.” Their hearts were heavy, though. This was an impossible situation and her anchor was already so bad. When the party came back Cullen feared the worse when he saw how they were carrying her. The healers came and he paced outside of the tent until he was finally let in. Cullen didn’t leave her side. Maker she was okay. When she woke up he kissed her forehead and gave her a teary smile. His new mabari also came to kiss her and they both laughed. “He was worried about you too.’ He murmured. Cullen had helped others go through something similar back when he was a Templar. It was never easy, but having support helped. He did not coddle her, but when he saw her getting overwhelmed he would step in and help until she was ready to try on her own again. He reminded her everyday that she was not weak, that she had succeeded, that they were together and she was alive and that was all that mattered. It did them both good that they were no longer in the Inquisition. They had a chance to breathe. He was honestly ready for it. He was tired of fighting and he just wanted to settle. While she was healing he would lay next to her at night and tell her of how they could go visit his family back in Ferelden, how he wanted to build them their own cabin. She smiled and he grinned back. He knew as long as they had each other they could survive anything. 

Josephine: One would have thought that with Corypheus gone her work load would have been easier, but it was the exact opposite. Without a major threat uniting the lands nobles began to either try and buy the Inquisition or call for them to be disbanded. In all her haste of preparing for the meet and trying to keep everything under control and calm Josephine had failed to notice her love’s declining health. They stayed so upbeat and when she did notice something she just assumed that it was nerves for the up coming meet. When she found out what was truly wrong she started to cry. Everything that could go wrong was. The nobles were threatening to disband the Inquisition, Leliana and Cullen were taking charge when they were supposed to be laying low and keeping the peace, and now her love was dying because of the anchor and there was nothing she could do. They still had to fight, to stop the Qunari attack and all she could do was try to keep the nobles at bay for a little while longer. She feels like her nerves are eating her alive the longer she has to wait to know if her love succeeded, to know if they are coming back to her. When they do she breaks down. She doesn’t care what the healers say she’s staying by their side the whole time. Josephine is already making plans. She’s going to contact some of the finest prosthetic makers she knows, she’ll get the healers to write down everything she needs to know to help ensure the Inquisitor makes a speedy recovery. She is going to do everything in her power to make them recover quickly and as smoothly as possible. She’s gentle and encourages them the whole time. When they break down she’s their to comfort them. When they call themself useless she presents them with a whole list on why they are the furthest thing from useless. She almost lost them twice, and she’s determined to not let that happen again. On days where they don’t want to get out of bed she stays with them and showers them in affection. She’s just happy to have them with her, to have them alive. It’s a few months later when she takes the Inquisitor to Antiva to meet her family. They still have bad days, she doesn’t expect that to go away. They went through so many horrible things, but she wants to build so many happy memories for them, so that when the bad days come around she can remind them that they’re not alone, that they’re loved, that each day is new and open for possibilities. She loves to hold their hand or lean against their shoulder. When it’s just the two of them at night she gives what remains of their arm a gentle kiss. Sometimes she sees a sad look in their eyes when they go to hug her and remember that it’ll never be the same, so she pulls them in closer and gives them a squeeze because “I love you. You’re here and I am so glad that you are.”

[xoruffitup]

Adam Driver on SNL: 1/25 Dress Rehearsal Recap

I’m having dejavu of the best kind. I’m sitting here on the bus on my way back from NYC in hungover euphoria and overjoyed disbelief at everything I just experienced, texting new friends and old, recounting everything in my head and smiling so hard. The September 2018 weekend of Adam’s last SNL show lives in my memory in unmatched infamy, so my excitement was off the charts to do it all again. And because this show was absolutely fucking INCREDIBLE, this weekend delivered in every way all over again!! Seriously, my face aches from how I can’t stop smiling aksnksj HELP :’)

My friends and I were in the Dress Rehearsal, so below the cut are retellings of ALLLL the skits including those cut from the Live show - and no small amount of helpless emotional flailing.

I had an idea of what to expect after attending Adam’s 2018 show, but I nevertheless felt sky-high levels of anxiety when Sarah and we arrived at the NBC shop at 6:30. I knew rationally that our chances of getting into Dress were good with numbers #12 - 14, but every now and then there’s the occasional oddity of only a handful of Standby people getting in. Though even without any uncertainty in the equation, my entire being goes on Hyped/Anxious Overdrive anyway whenever I’m about to be in the same space as Adam sO really there’s nothing for it. :’)

They lined us up by numbers, I did a lot of emotional wobbling like “I can’t believe we’re here again together guys waaaah” (have I mentioned I met these girls at Adam’s last show? Full circle moment of the highest and most beautiful caliber and it had me hella verklempt), and thennnn - drumroll and hushed silence please - the main security guy comes up to the giant line and asks the first 20 people to come with him.

As they constantly remind you throughout this thoroughly nerve-wracking process, there is no guarantee you’ll actually get into the show until you’re physically in the seat. It’s a long, harrowing trip from the NBC store where the line gathers, up stairs, elevators, and through hallways to reach the studio, and you can still be cut even as far as the very last checkpoint if all seats fill up with the people ahead of you. So as you get closer, the excitement spikes higher and higher but so does the worry! We went through security, and then I clung to our new Standby line friend Catherine’s arm as they lined us up two-by-two on the first staircase, with Sarah and @reylonly right behind. I was likely extremely annoying as I couldn’t help being rambly and weird in my nerves and compulsively hugging my girls’ arms. @reylonly did her very best to calm my hot mess down, bless her.

About 45 minutes later (Maybe? I had no idea what time was, lbr) we reached the final point of the elevator and last hallway, and were held just outside the studio. THEN - the woman there instructed the next 4 to follow her in (thank GOD because we were terrified of being split up), WE WENT INTO THE STUDIO WHEW YAYAY OMFG WE WERE THERE!!! - but then oh no it happened so fast that she pointed @reylonly down to a single seat in the center and then the other 3 of us to seats towards the left side of the stage. They were all single seats, but thank GOSH they were all end seats of rows right next to each other. So Sarah was right in front of me and I could grab her shoulder (which I would do a lot in increasingly desperate excitement over the next 2 hours), and Catherine and I could reach across the aisle to cling to each other’s hands! @reylonly was on her own but in an incredible seat, and during commercial breaks we would lean forward to wave and blow kisses to each other and mime flailing or crying as one incredible sketch after another played out in front of us. I made sure to be friendly and talk to the people sitting next to me so they wouldn’t be too annoyed with me and Sarah always grabbing at each other, but LOL they probably thought I was at least a little insane. I mean, maybe for the moment alone when I saw a girl I’d made friends with in line but then lost track of in a seat not too far from me, and we started waving and dabbing at each other. Once we were seated there in the studio, all the anxiety gave way to surging excitement and I was practically bouncing in my seat, so overjoyed to be there and see my dear fandom friends there with me!

Michael Che warmed up the audience with some standup, the House band jammed, and Sarah and I momentarily got Extremely Excited when we saw them setting up the hell backdrop set for the cold open and thought at the time it was supposed to be Tattooine for a Star Wars skit, lolol. But then the actual show started, and with our Adam-eagle eyes Catherine reached out to whisper “there he is! In the blonde wig!” And, heart in my throat no matter how many times I see this man in person, I frantically squinted at all the people waiting just off to the side of the set until I saw that unmistakably Tol Broad back, and then he stepped onto the set and into the lighted camera’s view and I was cheering and clapping so hard for his first appearance that I couldn’t hear who he was supposed to be playing. xD I was just tapping Sarah’s shoulder in front of me, bouncing in my seat a little, and trying not to start levitating with the sheer force of my excitement and joy to be there.

OKAY from here I’ll break this up by skit! Anything that was different or missing from the Live show I put in bold font if you want to skip to that! Starting with...

Intro Monologue

WHAT A GOOD MONOLOGUE, ITS LIKE THEY JUST LET ADAM RUN WITH IT AND WRITE IT HIMSELF IT WAS SO HIM AND HILARIOUS AND WEIRD AND YET CHARMING IDEK I WILL NEVER COMPREHEND THE WONDER OF THIS MAN??

So when he dropped the bomb of “I’m a husband and a FATHER” I clapped Sarah’s shoulder SO HARD, then he made he joke “I’ve made it very clear to my son that he’s second in everything” and I could not bELIEVE the wonder of what I was hearing omfg. I heard the words “my son” come out of his mouth with my own ears WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED, SURE AS HELL NOT ME????

Then he went into the audience to demonstrate how “approachable” he is and was so awk/weird/hilarious I was just losing it, then took his time meandering around the stage and making weird faces into the camera and I was just LOSING IT. And AKSKSJA after that he wandered over to another camera that was lower and kind of hummed as he lifted his shirt and put it over the camera so we got a full on belly button view for 2 unbelievable glorious seconds!! He looked up at the monitors as he was doing it and went “oh you can’t see anything” so that’s probably why he sadly didn’t flash his belly in the Live show.

“Cheer” with Adam as one of the team coaches

I’m going by the skit order in Dress, and this one was first after the monologue. Best part for me was the accent reminiscent of Clyde Logan. :3 But tbh, of the 6 skits they did for the Live show, I kind of wish this one had been swapped for the one performed last in Dress that was sO Wild and would have made fandom absolutely lose its shit aksnksal more to come on that.

UNDERCOVER BOSS AKA RANDY THE INTERN

THE BEST GIFT WE COULD HAVE RECEIVED!! BLESS YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR GIVING US KYLO CONTENT TO BE HAPPY OVER AND LOVE WHOLE HEARTEDLY. T___T

Honestly, I cannot even properly describe my reaction when the Undercover Boss intro logo appeared on all the monitors oHMYLoRDDD. I nearly leapt out of my seat, like my heart nearly jumped clear out of my chest oh my fuck and I was legit holding onto Sarah so much I almost slid out of my seat - I just couldn’t believe it and I cheered SO LOUD. The entire audience erupted with this “HOLY SHIT” vibe outburst and I was SO happy to be there in that moment - knowing that our entire fandom was only hours away from this!! I honestly didn’t expect it at all - after they didn’t do one of these the second time Adam was on, I thought there was no chance. But IT HAPPENED AND IT WAS SO QUALITY HILARIOUS WE ARE SO BLESSED - THANK YOU TO RANDY’S LIL BEANIE AND VEST AND HIPSTER PANTS.

Pretty sure I like half curled up on myself laughing so hard my feet left the floor at OK BOOMER. And at the part with “will Rey take his hand?” I swear MY SOUL NEAR LEFT MY BODY I MEAN IS THIS THE REAL LIFE IS THIS JUST FANTASYYYY

..... Can someone come promise me we really didn’t just collectively hallucinate that??

SAG Awards Fashion Red Carpet

I’m not too disappointed this one was cut. Of all the amazing skits performed, I would have ranked this one lower. Adam and Kenan Thompson were fashion critics talking about celebs’ looks on the SAG red carpet. A minute in Adam says, “We should be paying more attention to the kids!” Kenan: *nervous laugh* “uh, should we??” Adam starts talking about/admiring the outfits for like Finn Wolfhard etc, with hilarious but bordering creepy descriptions like “masculine but not quite fully grown,” until Kenan is like “umm maybe we shouldn’t be talking about kids this much?”

They interview a girl who’s supposed to be Jojo Siwa and Adam’s like “you should know I think you’re beautiful. Kids need to hear more often that they’re beautiful.” Kenan panics, going “alRIGHT we’re gonna cut back to the studio now!” The skit ended with Adam: “I got a ticket to the Nickelodeon afterparty and I’m gonna swipe one of those kids in my pocket!”

“Slow” Digital Short

HONESTLY, this competes with Undercover Boss for my favorite skit of the night. I can’t even tell you - I had literal tears running down my face I was laughing SO fucking hard during this entire thing. From the first moment we heard Adam’s deep-ass voice I absolutely and entirely lost my shit oh my GOD. We’d been so pumped for Adam in some kind of rap sketch when we saw the photos of him and Kenan filming the day before, but it was SO FUCKING GOOD. I will never ever in all my days not bust out laughing at “Bring that ass here” and “In a 65 hour lane going 2” aksnskns I’m on the bus struggling to fight back laughter just thinking about it SEND HELP!!!

It’s just brilliant. The turtle next to his expensive loafers. His cheesy sunglasses. That shot of his glorious bare arms. His deep voice “Baby” when they’re at the door and “But I brought ice cream” oh my god I love it so much BLESS YOU SNL BLESS YOU. I never in all my days thought I’d get Adam rapping but it’s every single thing I never knew I needed.

Del Taco Commercial / “Aw Man I’m All Outta Cash!”

ADAM’S SLEAZY LOOKING LONG WIG LMAO. This one was a wild and funny time once you got into it and just let it go. Once Kyle, Beck, and Adam were all yelling the line and Adam went “You don’t want to kill yourself, you just want a taco, Jesus” everyone was ROLLING. I think the only difference (is this even worth color coding lol) was that after Kyle took his pants off Adam kept slapping his thigh during Dress bahaha.

“Hot Dad” Adam dealing with a clogged toilet at a teenaged girls’ sleepover

Adam and Kate McKinnon comedy together YES PLEASE. This one was all the same as far as I can remember, but I will say that a woop/cheer rose from the people sitting near the set for this one at the line about Adam being a “hot Dad.” Yep sounds about right.

(Halsey’s first song, Weekend Update)

Medieval Renaissance Fair

You can’t have Adam host SNL without giving him some ridiculous character skit ala Oil Baron Parnassus. I absolutely loved how intense and deep he was for this kind of nonsense xD We can thank this skit for giving us footage of Adam yelling “Whore!” and spitting, lmao. Also.... I’ll just say in that outfit and wig he looked even Extra Big in comparison to everyone around him.

Courtroom Trial / Sinbad on Cameo

I’m also okay with this one being cut, but I was biased to enjoy the hell out of it live because the set was right in front of where I was sitting and I had such a perfect view of him. <3

Adam was supposed to be the defendant in a case where a female coworker claims he harassed her by sending “threatening” videos. Adam goes up on the stand and the prosecutor asks “are you familiar with these videos?” Cut over to Kenan Thompson, who’s pretending to be Sinbad on the app Cameo, making videos for the woman that are like “Hey you better give Mark a chance! Otherwise he might come after you!” Adam responds with disbelief: “I have no idea who this Sinbad person is and frankly, your honor, this is pissing me off.” Kenan acts a few more videos which keep getting funnier because he keeps eating things or being in crowded public places while filming them. But in the final video he references Adam’s character’s name so it’s clear he was the one requesting the videos. Adam gets all sad on the stand: “It doesn’t matter. No one likes me anyway!” It ends with Kenan as Sinbad crashing into the courtroom in person.

This was more Kenan’s skit as he really was hilarious, but someone had to explain to me afterwards who Sinbad is and how the Cameo app works so I didn’t quite ~get it while watching. BUT more importantly - Adam looked great despite the weird brown wig he had on. During the second of Kenan’s videos when the cameras were on Kenan instead, Adam’s face definitely started quivering with suppressed laughter until he visibly locked it down like NO FOCUS ADAM. Most of my attention stayed fixed on the buttons of his shirt because hOOo boy were they straining! Without me even saying anything, Catherine reached across the aisle for me immediately afterwards and whispered, “That shirt did /not/ fit well.” OH YES I NOTICED >:33

PBS Science Show

Another one which was performed right directly in front of us!! I already knew this was going to be a good one because Adam went right over to the skeleton mannequin when he came on set and started playing with it, like making the arm and wrist wiggle around. The biggest dork cutie you’ll ever see.

He was standing right under me, which meant once he started handling the balloon I got mighty distracted watching his MASSIVE hands around that tiny-looking balloon. >:)) Then I cracked up so hard when he got exasperated and threw something back against the window. WE GOT TO SEE HIM SMASH SOMETHING IN PERSON YESSSS

Ketchup bottles

Oh my GOD EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING ABOUT THIS ONE FROM START TO FINISH. The best part though might have been the prep beforehand. Someone carried the giant Ketchup and hot sauce bottles onto the set before the actors came on and we were like wtf? (For a minute I was triggered remembering Kanye coming on in his Perrier bottle during the 2018 show) But THEN Adam and Cecily Strong came on in big red shirts and people started lifting the giant plastic bottles over them and LOL we realized where this was going. They definitely struggled for a minute getting Adam’s bottle up over his head because of his height xD People in the audience were already laughing just watching this costume set up, and once Adam got the bottle on a WOOT cheer rose which I later learned was none other than @reylonly aka my hero. It was followed by someone yelling “THATS HOT”, which akndosjan made Adam laugh and raise his arms with a hilarious little shimmy in the bottle. He really seemed to be enjoying himself during the whole show, but during this ridiculous and incredibly hilarious skit especially so.

Game Night / Movie Quote Competition

OKAY this is the skit it’s a real tragedy didn’t make it on air! There were lines in this I couldn’t beLiEvE my ears were hearing, and if we ever get a recording I’m pretty sure the fandom would basically implode. 

Three couples are sitting around a living room having a game night. Adam is sitting with Kate McKinnon with his arm around her. After they finish playing Settlers of Catan, Heidi Gardner suggests they play a movie quote game where one of them says a line from a movie and the rest have to guess the movie. She is clearly very into it, and the others reluctantly agree. It quickly becomes clear that Adam is just as good at the game as she is, and they immediately start becoming competitive. They reach the point where they quote three lines from Captain Phillips in a row, trying to trick each other. As the game gets more heated, they exchange aggressive flirty banter such as:

Heidi: You really know your movie quotes, huh? Adam: Yeah I do. Heidi: And with some BDE over there. Adam: Yeah, I got that too.

AND !!!!!!!!!!

Heidi: You’re quite the movie flick daddy. Adam: I’m the world’s biggest flick daddy.

!!!!!!!!! HE CALLED HIMSELF A DADDY HELP CALL 911 EMERGENCY !!!!!!!!!!

The game keeps escalating until Kate tries to calm Adam down and he brushes her off. Everyone else tries to tell Heidi to relax, and she responds “What?! I’m supposed to lie back and let (Kate’s character’s name)’s hot husband rail me??”

I WAS FLOATING ON THE CEILING BY THIS POINT, I literally couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing alsdfjsldafjlsdkfj!

It gets to the point where they’re both standing, shouting completely vague snippets of lines at each other while the other continues to guess correctly. Until finally Adam exclaims, “I got a good one!” He grabs her and fULL ON kisses her. 

(Pictures from The Adam Driver Files twitter.)

Immediately afterwards she goes, “I know! That was the kiss from (Movie X - I can’t remember the exact title).” Adam: “HOW DID YOU KNOW?!” Heidi: “From how you moved your tongue!”

I’m still reeling from this one. Adam calling himself a daddy, talk of “getting railed” by him, and intense kissing?! Oh my lORDDDD. I’m still trying to keep it playing on a loop in my ears. I’m not sure if we as a fandom could collectively survive a full video of this, but GOD I hope we get the chance to test ourselves. RELEASE THE UNAIRED VIDEO, YOU NBC COWARDS!!!

FLICK DADDY INDEED

...Aaaaaaand that was a wrap! After 10 skits and nearly 2.5 hours, it literally felt like I had run a marathon at a full sprint. I was just trying to process everything I’d just witnessed, while trying to focus on committing every single thing to memory. I just couldn’t believe the range of amazing and hilarious things I’d just seen Adam doing: Play a talking ketchup bottle, call himself a daddy, awkwardly talk about feminine products clogging his toilet, yell “WHORE” then spit and swing a medieval mace around, rap hilariously, and yell about umami?? It was all almost TOO MUCH. 

For full-circle and emotional fulfillment reasons, I wore my Save Ben Solo shirt to the show just like I did at the 2018 show. I had debated beforehand whether it would be too bittersweet to wear it after TROS, but now I’m so glad I did. All these hilarious and zany skits were just what we all needed to continue the cycle of fandom excitement and positivity despite the last month. I’m so incredibly grateful to SNL for such great material for Adam to work with and us to laugh at, and for giving us the perfect reminder that there’s still so much to whole-heartedly appreciate and love. Most of all, Adam himself. <3

THANK YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR ANOTHER LIFE-HIGHLIGHT WEEKEND! <3

[corvidkittytransboy]

(1/6) Hey Crow! I share a large apartment with six other guys and after we’ve been talking for a long time about how nice it would be to have our own personal sex toy around to let off some steam, I finally told them about you. They all seemed pretty eager and soon our horny banter turned into plans and detailed preparations. Maybe the guys got a little carried away, but now everything is all set up and waiting for you to arrive and give yourself to us, transportation provided by us of course.

(2/6) First you would be blindfolded and walked to our secret little storage room, it’s connected to our living room where only we can get to the entrance. Don’t mind the groping and teasing along the way, the guys will just be very excited to get started with you. When we get into your little living space, with just enough room for everyone to have their fun with you, you will be strapped down to the padded fuck bench we already have set up. (3/6) Your arms and legs tied down tight and another two straps around your body to limit movement as much as possible. Can’t have you getting away. At this point you may be having second thoughts and want to protest, but your words will be ignored as we stick a ring gag into your mouth, keeping you from talking but allowing wide enough access to your throat. Like this, all of your holes will be perfectly positioned for use and the boys will have their fun. (4/6) Your new life as our secret little sex toy will begin and they’ll take turns fucking you. I’ll get first pick and take your mouth while Brian takes the back. My first time with you will be just rough enough to hear you gag, giving you brief gulps of air, until I give you a warm load. Some of my pals might be more gentle and tell you what a good boy you’re being and some might be rough, I’m not too sure how they like it, but either way every hole is going to get a lot of attention. (5/6) After we’re done tiring you out and leave you there full and covered in as much cum as we can give for the moment, you’ll be stuffed up with a vibrator and butt plug. A plug also inserted into your ring gag to keep your mouth from getting too dry... or making too much noise. Then you’d better get used to that position, because from then on you’ll have guys coming in here and there to use you again and again, whenever the mood strikes. Seven of us using you through the day and night. (6/6) You may be trying to get some sleep on your bench when you’ll hear the door open up and you'll get filled with more cock, then left to wait for the next. And I won’t lie, you may just lose all track of time. How long have you been there? Days, weeks, longer? Once we have you at our mercy, I know we won’t be in a hurry to lose our favorite sex toy. So what do you say? I know it sounds intense, but the guys have their hopes up and we can always get into more details if you’d like. -z 

~~~~~~~

I’d be pretty nervous going to meet you all. Seven strangers? That’s a lot, you could do anything at all to me, but you’re paying for transport and I’m so horny and desperate that I’d just say fuck it and go. Seven whole people using me at once sounds like a dream come true, and I can’t deny that it sounds nice to be somewhere where I’m just kept and taken care of and my only responsibility is being a fucktoy. 

So I show up and then I’m blindfolded right away, which makes me more nervous, and part of me really wants to bolt right there, just leave, but you’re all so happy to see me, and if it doesn’t work out I can just leave later, right? So I follow where you take me, and when I feel myself being strapped down and fully restrained I let out a scared little moan, turned on and freaked out all at once. I ask where I am, what I’m tied to, what the plan is, etc, but quickly I’m stopped from answering and I realize we never set up a safeword or anything, and I start to get real nervous, squirming in place and tugging at the restraints a little. 

With my speech and vision blocked, all I can do is listen to you all discuss how you’re going to start using me and whine softly, wanting a say in all this. Eventually I feel your cock lining up with my mouth (where I’m drooling because of the gag keeping it open) and I let out one more whimper of protest before it’s all I can do to focus on breathing, choked wet noises coming from my throat as you fuck it, interspersed with yelps and cries of pain as I’m roughly fucked on the other end at the same time. As I’m fucked and filled and covered in cum from each of you I start to zone out, my mind emptying besides breathing and the feeling of the next big cock thrusting into me. When I resurface I realize I’m alone and I’ve been alone for a while, though none of my holes were left empty. 

I’m alone and starting to get scared again about my situation, and the most comforting thing I can do is just suck on the plug in my gag, focusing on the feeling in my mouth and having something to do. I drift in and out of sleep and finally I hear the door open. It’s been a while, right? Surely it’s time to let me out and give me a break, or some food or something, but no instead I hear a zipper and a rustle of cloth and one of my holes is left empty for a brief moment before it’s filled with someone’s thick cock thrusting at a leisurely pace. I whine around the gag, trying to get his attention, but he pays me no mind, since after all, I am just a fucktoy, and fucktoys don’t need to be listened to. I’ve lost complete track of time, and have really started looking forward to each time I’m used, craving the contact and wanting to be useful, to be your good little fucktoy so you keep using me and don’t leave me here alone for too long.

[lunatens]

mario kart

word count: 1937

genre: sO MUCH fluff

pairing: hwang hyunjin x gender neutral reader

summary: best friends to lovers through the power of mario kart

a/n: okay so if y’all haven’t noticed i’m in a bit of a skz mood recently lol and I've been feeling especially soft about hyunjin recently like ugH I love him anyways please enjoy this v fluffy thing I was so soft while writing it. hopefully it makes up for me not posting too much the last few days/next few days!! <3 also im kinda proud of this so pls give it love

song rec: fireproof - one direction

~

you: [mario kart, pizza and movie night at my house in 10'?]

you send a text to your bestfriend (and neighbour) hwang hyunjin, hoping he'll be able to make you feel better. your other friend, felix, just texted to last minute cancel your plans to go to the movies (apparently this boy he just met, changbin, is more important than you) so you find yourself annoyed and alone on this friday night. normally you'd just hang out by yourself and watch netflix or something, but you're actually in the mood to socialize tonight. you've changed out of the cute outfit you had planned into your favourite pair of sweat pants and a random hoodie you just grabbed off the floor. you're now lying sprawled on your bed staring at your phone screen and waiting for hyunjin's response, which doesn't take long.

hyunjin: [ya of course. loser buys the pizza!!]

hyunjin: [is everything ok? what happened to ur plans with felix?]

you: [don't worry about it, just come over. bring blankets!!]

you close your eyes, mentally preparing to get up from your bed. a loud knock sounds from your front door, and you groan and roll off your bed. you open the door to a smiling hyunjin, clutching an armful of blankets.

"you know, you can just come in; you don't have to knock."

"i know, but i like making you get up to open the do-is that my sweater?"

you look down to realize that it is, in fact, hyunjin's sweater.

"i guess so. well, your fault for leaving it on my floor. do you want it back? i can go change,"

"no! no, it's okay, you can wear it," he responds, slightly flustered, a subtle blush on his cheeks. you turn to head to the living room, not wanting him to see your own rosy cheeks as you fight back a smile. you and hyunjin have been best friends for as long as you can remember, but recently you've found yourself craving his presence more, longing to be around him, butterflies in your stomach going crazy at the slightest touch. it's the classic dilemma; you don't want to ruin your friendship by confessing, but at the same time it's torture to just be friends when you want so much more.

you lead hyunjin to your living room where the two of you set up your usual nest of couch cushions and blankets (hyunjin giggles to himself when he throws a pillow at you and it hits you square in the face, but it's your turn to laugh when you throw one back twice as hard, hitting his stomach with a dull thump!; you're surprised an all out war doesn't break out). you flop down, tossing him a controller as you open the game.

"my parents are gone for the weekend, so we can be as loud as we want," you mention, turning up the volume on the tv. hyunjin wiggles his eyebrows at you suggestively.

"not like that you idiot!" you say with a gasp, throwing another pillow at him and praying he can't see the redness of your face.

"can we pleeeeeease pick each other's characters?" he says, giving you his classic puppy dog eyes (he definitely knows they're your weakness). you narrow your eyes at him.

"fine, but ONLY if you promise you won't make me be wario again," you say as you trade off your remote. he giggles as you watch him carefully.

"waluigi isn't much better, jinnie!!" you pout, and he doubles over laughing. you choose cat peach for him as revenge (in his words, "i don't want furries in my mario kart,") and he makes a face at you, to which you simply smile angelically.

"best two of three?"

"like always," he says, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. you internally melt at how cute he looks, intensely focused on the screen and determination in his eyes.

~

you win the first round, throwing both fists in the air in victory.

"okay i would've won if you hadn't sent that stupid blue shell at me!!" he whines.

"okay sure, you keep telling yourself that," you tease.

round two begins, and hyunjin just barely passes you at the last second.

"haha!! yesss!!"

"you're so lucky i ran into a goomba on the final lap," you say; you and hyunjin are pretty equal in skill, so you often bicker back and forth, arguing about who's the real mario kart champion (although you know you're definitely better). you start the third race, both of you determined to win; neither of you really care about having to buy the pizza, the boasting rights are prize enough. at the beginning of the third lap, hyunjin elbows you, and you gasp in shock as you watch waluigi plummet off the edge of rainbow road. as competitive as the two of you are, neither of you has ever resorted to sabotage. as you're placed back on the track, you see hyunjin smirking and your brain whirrs, trying to think of a way to prevent hyunjin from winning. a thought occurs, and pushing the nerves aside, you lean over and press a quick kiss to hyunjin's cheek. out of the corner of your eye you see him freeze, his character veering off course allowing you to surpass him and cross the finish line.

"YES! i win!!" you gloat, buzzing from the adrenaline of winning and the fact that you just kissed hyunjin. you just kissed hyunjin. the realization sets in and you look at him in shock at your own actions. he's staring back at you; normally you can easily tell what's on his mind, but in this moment you have no idea what he's thinking.

"hyunjin i-i'm so sorry, i just-"

"did you mean that?" he cuts you off.

"what?"

"or was that just a diversion tactic?" he says, voice soft and serious, contrasting the playful mood. his eyes search your face for an answer, then he breaks out in a grin.

"haha, your face is so red; i'm guessing it was more than just a way to distract me..."

"okay fine, maybe--maybe i did mean it. maybe i think you're really cute and maybe i want to be more than just best friends with you and maybe i'm kind of really in love with you. and maybe your face is just as red as mine," you blurt out.

"well maybe i'm just as in love with you as you are with me," he says, and his gaze flickers down to your lips, then back up to your eyes. you're not sure when his face got this close to yours, but you aren't complaining. for the second time tonight, you find yourself brave enough to lean in, eyes closed, to press your lips to his. the equivalent of a disney fireworks show is going off inside you as his soft lips fit perfectly against yours and he wraps his arms around you, pulling you onto him. you can't help but smile into the kiss, ecstatic and relieved that everything worked out and your days of pining and daydreaming and complaining to felix are over. you feel hyunjin's lips curl up into a smile too, and you both giggle as you pull away slightly, your hands lost in his hair and noses brushing as you look in his eyes.

"you have no idea how long i've wanted to do that," he says, pressing another kiss to your lips.

"then why didn't you" you question, playing with his hair absentmindedly.

"i thought you liked felix!! i was sitting around in my room moping all day because i thought you and felix were going on a date! i've never been so happy to get a text in my entire life," hyunjin confesses with a nervous laugh. you can't help but laugh at the situation.

"i can't believe you thought i liked felix!! i've been asking him for advice on what to do about you!"

the two of you erupt in giggles, nestled in the mess of blankets with limbs tangled around each other.

"we're so silly," hyunjin says between laughter, pulling you back towards his lips. "i can't believe i can just do this whenever i want now," he mumbles into your mouth, and you deepen the kiss, wanting to be pressed as close to him as possible after desperately wanting this for so long.

"you still have to pay for the pizza, you know," you mention in between kisses. hyunjin's head falls back as he lets out a groan.

"...i was hoping you'd forgotten about that."

"nope! i'll set up the movie while you call," you say, kissing his cheek before moving to get up. you don't make it very far before hyunjin pulls you right back into his arms, peppering your face with kisses.

"hyunjin! i have to get up!" you giggling.

"no you don't. we can just lie here forever," he says, continuing to kiss you.

"we might get hungry though," you mention, this time pulling yourself away for real (even though it's probably the hardest thing you've ever done) to toss him his phone while you pick out a movie.

~

you're curled against hyunjin's side, head on his chest, listening to his slow breathing and heartbeat more than the movie itself. the room is dark save for the glow of the tv and the streetlamps outside. there's a flash as the headlights of a car pull into the driveway.

"we're gonna have to get up to get the pizza, jinnie," you groan.

"shhh baby, no we're not," he murmurs (you ignore how your cheeks heat up at the nickname), and your front door swings open as someone enters your house.

"someone order a pizza?"

you recognize the familiar aussie accent of felix and he walks in carrying a large box, changbin following close behind. he places the box beside you and gives you a cheeky grin, flashing you a thumbs up. you blush, hiding your face in hyunjin's chest.

"ew, they're so gross and affectionate," felix pretends to puke, and changbin laughs. "lets get out of here binnie. catch ya later, y/n; don't have too much fun!" felix says with a wink.

"bye, felix!" you say, encouraging him to leave. the front door closes and felix's car pulls out of the driveway, leaving you once again alone with hyunjin.

"jinnie, how-"

"i texted felix real quick while you were picking a movie asking him to help me out, then called him but pretended i was calling the pizza place," hyunjin explains.

"you're so smart," you say, kissing his cheek in appreciation.

"well, i try my best. oh, y/n?"

"hm?"

"you look really cute in my sweater."

"i know. i hope you know you're never getting it back,"

"that's fine with me," he says tackling you in another kiss. you lie there for a while, lazily making out while the movie plays in the background, hyunjin's hands on your hips and yours in his hair.

"it's crazy how so much has changed in just one night," you say, pulling away for a second.

"mhm...although really y/n, you're still my goofy, loveable best friend. just now we get to do things like this," he says, pulling you back into the kiss.

"i love you, hyunjin," you say, breathless. you've said this to each other many times before, but this is the first time you're saying it seriously and romantically.

"i love you too, y/n," he whispers back, and you want to live in this moment forever; just you and hyunjin, the rest of the world is a blur.