#they’ve been attached at the hip for four months now

[mer-se]

Food, fog and late night bike rides

[missnxthingg]

I CAN'T LIE TO YOU ✮ LN4

pairing: Lando Norris x bestie!Reader (childhood best friends to lovers) summary: Lando Norris decides to surprise his best friend after being a long time away from home. What she didn't expect was that he had a big secret that he couldn't share with her words: 4.5K - warnings: swearing, suggestive content & not proof read author's notes: I'm back once again! Now you just know I'm a sucker for childhood besties to lovers. Also, I may have already started writing a part two for this one... let me know if you want it!

main masterlist | main blog | taglist

The days in England have become more boring with time. Y/N was losing her mind over the repetitive routine that follows the life of a college student. Work, study, beer with close friends and bed. So when her mother invited her for a family dinner, she worried about how excited she got with the event. It wasn’t supposed to be anything special, just her parents and a few of their close friends gathered to catch up over nice food. 

Coming home felt way too good. It’s a feeling most college students get when they go back to their hometown, leaving their crappy flat in university to be served with their parents pampering during their quick visit. Y/N was supposed to be back to her place in just a couple of days, but she felt satisfied to be in a different place than the four walls of her house. Not to mention that she was having a good laugh with everyone at the table.

Her mother always takes dinner parties to another level, serving the best food in her special crockery, saved for moments like this. So Y/N packed a nice new outfit; a cute long-sleeved dress that looked perfect with tights and heels. Not that the guests cared about how she was dressed, but it felt nice to look beautiful and all put together for once after months of hoodies and leggings.

As usual, her parents invited the Norris family, as they’ve been the best of friends for the longest time. Not only they lived next to each other for years back when she was younger, all of their kids were really close friends with Y/N. But the spotlight always goes to Lando, who is the same age as her, making them grow up attached to the hip.

They all grew up going to the same school, not to mention that she would always tag along in Lando and his brother’s karting sessions, having the best time watching them drive flawlessly on tracks. He always enjoyed the times when she’d steal her parents cameras so they could make some homemade videos of their time together. Or when they would sit back, watch their dads play golf every Saturday and share candies in the cart. 

  Y/N and Lando have been inseparable since the age of four, growing up side by side, going through everything together. She was so important to him that, when he joined Formula 1 and had to choose a number to race, he chose the age the two of them had become friends. 

“The number four is for my best friend, Y/N. She was the one to suggest it, and the meaning behind it is very cute. Actually, I don’t want to tell you to not spoil anything, but I can only say that it’s very dear to my heart”, Lando said once in an interview during his second season in F1, making every single one of his fans curious about the meaning.

But it’s been a while since the infamous duo had been together. They supported each other from afar; Y/N sometimes joining him for race weekends and Lando coming back to see her on birthdays and weekends in London, while he visited the McLaren factory. But the last time they had been together was four months ago, during summer break, when he dragged her to join him for his crazy trips around the world. When racing and university was back on, they lost a little bit of touch; almost no calls and only a few texting breaks so they wouldn’t fall apart.

A lot happened in those four months. Lando had a new gorgeous girlfriend; a model who everyone had become obsessed with her TikTok videos for beauty tips. They had been seen together a few times around the world, her joining him for the races and a lot of make-outs behind DJ booths at parties. Y/N, on the other hand, was lacking in the dating department. But the friends she made over the past year made everything worthy. After years of pretty much having Lando as her only very close friend, she finally found new people to go out and have fun as a normal 20-year-old.

With that, Y/N and Lando’s friendship got weird. He had been avoiding her for a while, with the excuse of being too busy with racing, but actually not wanting to talk about his personal life with someone who knew him like the palm of her hand. Meanwhile, she was having a good time with her friends to be bothered by anything. But lately, life had become more boring and Y/N felt like having Lando back would bring some more fun into her life again, with all the epic parties and the good times they always managed to happen.

“Only one month left”, she thought, as winter break was approaching, meaning that Lando would finally be free to come home for the holidays.

She was pushed out of her thoughts by Adam Norris, who now seemed interest in Y/N’s life after a long catching up with her dad. “Tell us more about college! Are you having fun? Learning anything special?”, he asked with a kind smile.

“Oh, I’m graduating this spring, so it’s been… rough”, she chuckled. “But everything has been amazing, you know? The internship is so cool and the people are nice as well”.

“I just can’t believe it will all be over soon”, his wife, Cisca, responded. “It feels like it was just yesterday when you joined uni and Lando started his first season in F1. Time really flies, uhm?”

Every mention of his name made Y/N smile like a fool. But lately, it has been accompanied by a ting of pain on her chest. God, she missed him so much.

“What is it that you miss?”, Cisca asked, pulling Y/N out of her thoughts. Shit, did she say that out loud?

“I said I missed your pie so much, Cis. You know I have always loved it growing up”, Y/N tried to cover it up by stuffing her mouth with the cheesy pie, trying to keep her thoughts of being spoken out loud. But something caught her by surprise.

“Yeah, mum’s pie is the best in the world, isn’t it?”, a male voice said from behind her, one that she hadn’t heard in person for a while. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was, only to turn around and see Lando standing right behind her tugged into his signature comfortable hoodie, with a giant smile plastered on his face, and a bouquet in his hands. “Surprise!”

Y/N brought her hands up to her mouth, trying not to cry at the sight. She couldn’t believe what was standing in front of her. So she jumped out of her seat and jumped into his arms, not caring about anyone else in the room or the flowers being crumpled up in his hands. Lando buried his nose in her hair, taking in her scent, making him feel at ease for once

“What are you doing here?”, she leaned back, holding his face between her hands. His soft eyes looked down at her, his smile never faltering.

“I thought I could surprise my best girl”, he admitted, digging one of his hands into her hips, making her securely close to him. “I had a break before the end of the season, and it had been so long…”

“Shut up, you idiot. I just want to hug you”, she cut him mid-sentence, burying her face in his neck, making his smile even wider, if that was possible. Everyone on the table laughed at her reaction, but let them have their moment after months without seeing each other. It felt too good to be true. 

“I missed you so much”, he whispered in her ear, pressing a small kiss to the top of her head.

“I missed you too. Welcome home, Lan”, she leaned back and kissed his cheek, making it tinted red. Lando was so cute when he blushed. “You brought me flowers! How cute is this?”

She took the giant bouquet filled with red and pink roses out of his hands, bringing it close to her body. “It’s an apology for not being here as much as I should”, he said, making her heart so warm with the thoughtful gift.

“You being here is enough”, she pressed another kiss to his cheek and quickly pulled him for another hug. They just couldn’t get enough of each other.

“Alright, we all know you both really miss each other, but you can catch up after dinner. Food is getting cold and poor Lando must be starving”, her mother cut them off, making Y/N look back at the table, her face burning in embarrassment. He laughed at her behavior and pulled the chair next to her so they could sit together.

Through the whole dinner, Lando told all of his amazing stories traveling the world, leaving all the ‘best friends only’ parts for later, when he would be alone with Y/N. She felt so happy to finally have him by her side, making fun of her table manners, resting his hand on her knee and cracking any bad jokes just to see her roll her eyes. And even though he lived those many adventures, Lando knew life couldn’t get better than having his favourite person in the world back on his side.

“So, Lando, what finally brings you back home?”, Y/N’s father asked, making him shrug.

“You know, the championship could’ve been better and I feel really tired, you know?”, Lando searched for his best friend’s hand under the table, entwining their fingers once they met. Then he looked at her with an adoring smile on his face. “I just need some recharging. Thought I could use some home time before the last few races of the year”.

“You’re always welcomed to recharge in our house if you want to, Lando”, her mother said before the conversation was taken somewhere else once again.

While everyone else chatted, Y/N and Lando updated their phone gallery with new pictures of them. A lot of cute selfies and pictures of their homemade dinner which soon found their place on their Instagrams.

y/username

liked by landonorris and 3,419 others

y/username: always feels good to have my best friend back in the house

tagged: landonorris

landonorris Besties reunited LFG!

↪ y/username you’re such a bore

fanacc1 FINALLY SOME Y/N AND LANDO CONTENT

fanacc2 Wasn’t him dating a model?

↪fanacc3 He is, but Y/N is his childhood best friend

fanacc4 ugh, if i was his gf, i would be so jealous of them together

↪fanacc5 I bet his girlfriend actually hates them

fanacc6 Does this mean more Y/N around the paddock?

The dinner was coming to an end with the delicious sweet treats they prepared for dessert. At that point, Lando and Y/N were just existing at the conversation. He slipped an arm around her shoulder and she found a comfortable spot to lean into him and keep sipping on her wine while they shared a slice of cake. But even though they were quiet, they surely weren’t tired. So as the rest of the adults continued with their chat, they took their glasses of wine to the backyard, just so they could have some alone time.

Lando chuckled when he saw what was still standing strong in her backyard. “You still have our old treehouse?”, he asked and she nodded excitedly. “Wow, it looks so much nicer than before”.

“It’s because I renovated it, you fool. Haven’t I told you?”, she asked, but Lando shook his head. “Oh my… you have to see this! Now it’s a grown up treehouse! Take a look”.

Y/N dragged him to the small construction and made him climb all the way up to the house. It changed a lot with the renovations. Their wall doodles from when they were little kids were preserved by a varnish coat on the wood. She also substituted the old toys for books and her collection of vinyls, making the place look extra cozy. There was even a table for afternoon tea and card games, a TV and a huge futon, with lots of cushions, so they could just lie down and spend the rest of the day hidden from the world.

“What a glow up!”, he joked. “I loved it. This is amazing”, Lando took a place next to the window, where the moonlight invaded the room. Y/N sat next to him and almost immediately pulled out her camera just to capture the moment. And just like old times, they had fun doing a tiny photoshoot together, only to be cut off by his mom, calling them from the ground.

“Are you coming, Lando?”, Cisca asked, making him look over to Y/N, who replied for him.

“I’m not letting him go anywhere, Cisca”, she joked, throwing her arms around Lando, making his mother laugh. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your son”.

“Have fun you two”, they waved at her and sighed after finally being left alone for a proper catching up between best friends. Lando had a satisfied smile on his face and he felt so calm at that moment. He threw both of his arms around his best friend and hugged her tightly.

“Home, at last”, his cheek was pressed on the side of her face, making her giggle with the contact. “I want to know everything going on with you. Just blurt it all out. I owe you this”.

“Oh, nothing great happened”, she shrugged. “Nothing that you didn’t know already. The internship is nice, but it’s coming to an end soon and I’m not sure they’ll keep me with them. And college is almost finished, so that’s kind of bittersweet”.

“I thought you were excited to have a degree”, he said, making her sigh. “Are you not happy about graduating?”

“Of course I am. You more than anyone knows how important this is to me”, she answered. “And I made so many good friends and I’ve been having the best time with them. I know graduating will make us grow apart”.

“Endings aren’t always nice, uhm? But you have to look at the bright side of things”, he started. “You’re finally achieving something great and you managed to have a really good time along the way. Made friends and worked really hard to become the best professional out there. I’m so proud of you!”

Lando has always been her biggest supporter on pursuing her academic path. He remembers all the talks they had about her wanting to master in communications. While he didn’t get to finish school to up his game in racing, he was there for every step his best friend took until enrolling in university. So when they talk about it, he always has that beautiful proud smile on his face, to which Y/N loved seeing.

“Thank you”, she smiled shyly. “And what about you, Mr Worldwide? You’ve been everywhere these past months. How was it?”

“Oh, always amazing”, he beamed. “I got to see so many amazing places around the world. You would’ve loved all the clubs I went to. The DJ booths are amazing. Oh, and the golf courts… breathtaking”.

“Yeah, I saw all the pictures”, Y/N arched her brows and rolled her eyes. “You didn’t even bother on calling, telling me about your adventures”.

“Sorry, I lacked in that department”, he apologized. “Even though everything has been amazing, I’m so tired of this year. I could’ve done better on the track and the last few races have been exhausting. I knew that I needed to recharge before the last two races, so I came back to you”.

“It’s always a pleasure to have you home”, she ran her hand through his curls and smiled. Lando always saw Y/N as his home. She always brings him that sense of familiarity, and her absence in his travels around the world were taking a toll on him.

Not to mention that hiding a big secret from his best friend also wasn’t doing him any good.

“But I’m not here to talk about me. I want to know everything about you”, he poked her side with his index finger and smirked. “Anyone special appeared in your life in the past few months?”

“Please”, she rolled her eyes. “The last time I had a proper hook up was during our summer trip to Bali with that guy on the club”.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad”, he giggled, but Y/N’s face was burning in embarrassment.

“I had a few dates in the past months, but fuck me, they were annoying”, Lando laughed at her statement. “One of them found out you’re my best friend and spent the entire time asking questions about you. And the only guy who was actually decent came in his pants when we were making out in his car. Didn’t even get to touch me”. 

“Oh, poor you”, he giggled. “So no boy to be my new best friend? I mean, come on, we need more male energy in this friendship”.

“Sorry, Lan. No boyfriend this time”, she said. “You, on the other hand, started dating this gorgeous model and forgot to tell me about everything.”

And there she said it: the topic Lando had been avoiding the most throughout the whole night. He really didn’t want to talk about it with Y/N, because his big secret had been hiding right there. He knew he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, lie about anything to her. And he also knew that he really needed to vent about this secret with her as well.

Lando turned really quiet, and looked away, avoiding her eyes. “Don’t start now, Y/N. I mean, there’s not much to say, to be fair”, he mumbled.

“Come on, I want to know everything about the woman who stole my bestie’s heart”, she poked him, but Lando didn’t dare to look Y/N in the eyes. “I mean, everybody loves her and she seems sweet. Why don’t you want to tell me about her?”

“Because we’re not together”.

“What do you mean? I’ve seen the Instagram pictures and the gossip pages posting videos of you two kissing in the club. I thought you were becoming a thing”.

“Y/N, don’t push it”, he asked, his voice bargaining on his throat.

“Why don’t you want to tell me about her?”

“Because we’re not together, I told you”, he sighed. “She’s a PR stunt. She’s not my girlfriend, and it’s been consuming me from the inside ever since we started this little thing”.

Lando finally looked her in the eyes and Y/N saw them brimming with tears. As an immediate response, she rested a hand on his arm and waited until he was ready to talk more. He leaned into her touch and the tears started to stream down his face. He’s never one to cry for anything, so the tears meant that it was so much more than he was letting show. Her heart broke at the sight of her best friend.

“Is this why you look more tired than usual?”, Y/N asked and he nodded, making the tears fall harder. “Oh, Lan… Come here”.

She pulled his head to rest on her chest and Lando wrapped his arms around her, needing some sort of comfort. He didn’t say much for a couple of minutes after, feeling his heart aching on his chest. He wanted to talk about everything with Y/N, because he knew she would understand him. He always feels vulnerable and safe enough to talk about anything with his best friend. 

“Everything is so fucked up, Y/N”, Lando cried out. “God, I can’t take this fake relationship anymore. Do you know how disgusting it feels to pretend to be in love with someone you’re not? And to lie to everyone, hiding it from my parents. From you. I can’t stand it”

“I’m sure you have a good reason to be doing so”, she said, fingers running through his curls and making him sure that she was right there with him. Y/N felt his fingers clinging tighter onto her. “You’re just doing your job and that’s okay. This won’t last forever”.

“I feel so lonely, you know? I was doing so bad on the last few races and I missed home so much. I missed talking to my dad and hugging my mom. I missed making fun of my sisters and going for a drive with my brother. And I missed you so much. I wish I could just stay here for a long while”.

“Soon you’ll get to be here for as long as you want, baby”, Y/N pressed a kiss on top of his head and Lando sighed in comfort. It ached a little less with her there. “And we’ll get to spend so much time together. You can come over and we’ll have sleepovers. We can take the car, drive around and go clubbing until sunrise. Whatever you want”.

“God, it would be so easy if it was you”, he whispered, still holding onto her as if his life depended on it. What did he mean with that? Just those single words made Y/N’s heart skip a beat. Truth is, while her heart ached for her best friend, she was relieved he’s not in love with someone else. Did he have feelings for her? 

“You know, I looked over my so-called girlfriend one night while we were hanging out at the club and I wanted to shout to everyone that it was all an act. She’s like a solid reminder of how lonely I am all the damn time. It’s ridiculous”, he grunted. 

“Come on, look at me”, Y/N pulled his face to look up and held his head between her hands. “Lan, you are never alone, okay? Even if you feel like you are, and even if I’m not there physically, you know that I’m always with you. I’m right here”, she rested a hand over his heart, making him smile through his tears. “I've been in your heart since the moment we met”.

“I…”, he started, but couldn’t get to say the rest. After all this time, Lando was afraid that the next move would ruin their friendship forever. But looking her in the eyes, comforting him through this rough time, he knew she felt the same. “I love you, Y/N”.

She was expecting anything. ‘I know’, maybe. That was so much bigger than what she imagined. Lando had said he loved her countless times over the years they’ve known each other; after all, they grew up together, almost like brother and sister. But this time, it was different. Y/N knew it, and Lando knew it too.

Y/N was too stunned to speak, so he continued with his confession. “I always have, you know? And I only hid everything from you because I can’t lie to you. And because I thought you’d never look at me the same way if you found out”.

“Lando, I…” she stopped mid-sentence, trying to catch some air. “Fuck, this is a lot. Just wait a second”.

They giggled together and he leaned his forehead against hers. “It’s okay to not say anything right now. I just dropped a giant bomb on your lap. This wasn’t the way I wanted to confess to you, but I just couldn’t keep it to myself anymore”.

“Are you saying this because you’re emotional? Because I swear to God, if you are, I’m gonna kill you for misleading me”, her eyes were brimming with tears and Lando whipped them away.

“I’m telling you the truth”, he assured. “I think I’ve loved you my entire life. With all the crazy things I’ve experienced in my life, you were the only constant. You’re home, Y/N”.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”, she asked and he took a deep breath.

“Because I was afraid of losing you. Scared this might ruin our friendship somehow”, he admitted. “You’re the most precious thing in my life. Do you know how scary it is to fall in love with your best friend when you’re just a kid? And then grow up, and those feelings never go away, just getting stronger every day. I just didn’t want to lose you”.

“You weren’t going to lose me, Lan”, her eyes softened at his confession and now he was the one wiping her tears. Y/N brought him back for a hug and even though he didn’t have an answer, deep down he knew she felt the same.

“I’ve loved you since we were four. There’s a reason why I always carry this number with me”, Lando confessed. “God, look what you do to me. I never cry”.

“You only cry for the important things”, she reminded. “That’s why I love you, Lando. I’ve been in love with you for my entire life too, idiot”.

His eyes widened as he looked up to her, who had a smirk plastered on her face. “Can I kiss you?”, Lando asked, but before she could properly shake her head in agreement, he crashed his lips into hers. He needed to be home, and Y/N has always been home for him. It was the most intense kiss they ever had, like years of lingering had finally paid off for both of them.

Lando pulled her closer with a hand on the back of her head. She wrapped her fingers around his neck, smiling into his lips. Then, as if it wasn't enough, he pulled her to sit on lap, making them closer somehow. She slowed down the pace, making the kiss needier and more delicious. Lando even let out a satisfied throaty moan, his heart speeding on his chest. Her touches made him feral, knowing that after years of pinning, he finally had his dream girl.

“Thank you for this”, he whispered against her lips, a wide and satisfied smile on his face. “Thank you for all the years, all the times you've been here for me, to tell me everything is going to be alright.”

“Always, Lan”, she played with the hairs on his nape. “I love you so much”.

“I love you too. So much”, he left one more peck on her lips before hugging her again. “I don't know what I'd do without you”.

“Yeah, me too”.

The story of how they fell in love with each other was long, but beautiful. Lando and Y/N sat in that tree house all night and shared all of those stories with each other. And for a second, he really believed everything was going to work out. After all, if he had Y/N, Lando would be just fine.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

⤿ add yourself to the taglist!

Lando Taglist - @celestialams @lizaschronicles @kapsylia @igotnorrrizz @hiireadstuff @bishhhitsaurion

*Bold means I can't tag you! Send me a DM so we can solve it out

[withwritersblock]

Oh! Darling pt. 3

~Oh! Darling by The Beatles~

Author's Note: a bit of a fluff piece tehe Summary: Y/N and Quinn get a night away Warnings: none Word Count: 2,082 Quinn Hughes x fm!reader Masterlist

July

Ellie was asleep in her nursery, it was well past eleven and Y/N and Quinn were still wide awake. Despite Quinn’s best efforts, he’s been gone a lot more than he’s wanted this summer. The NHL awards and the draft took a week of his time. His family was in town with him but the two most important girls in his life were still in Vancouver. 

He spent all day with Ellie practically attached at his hip, now he was spending time with his girlfriend. They were simply laying together in bed, watching Miracle. A movie that they can have in the background while they simply talk. It’s been too long since they’ve spent alone time together.

“What if Riley comes by and watches Ellie for the night while we go on a date?” Quinn asked as he rolled onto his side, meeting her gaze. She tilted her head down, her eyes squinting slightly. “What’s with that look?” he asked teasingly. 

She rolled her eyes playfully as she rolled onto her side, meeting his gaze. “Riley? Riley watching our four month old? Really?” she questioned sarcastically. Quin smiled as he dryly laughed. “She can barely watch herself!” she said while laughing.

“Would you rather my friends do it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. She sighed while rolling onto her back, staring towards the ceiling. “That’s what I thought,” he leaned towards her, pressing his lips to the side of her head. “We need a night to ourselves, you need to be pampered and you need to get all dressed up,” 

“Oh really?” she asked. 

He hummed as he climbed on top of her, staring down towards her, “When was the last time you went out and got all fancy?” he asked while staring down towards her. She pouted as her hands ran up and down his chest before she looped her hands around his neck. 

“I’ll be getting pampered?” she asked suspiciously. He nodded while leaning towards her. He pressed his lips to her cheek for a moment.

“We’ll have the whole afternoon and night together, only if you trust Riley to watch Elliana for that long,” he said while scanning her features.

She was hesitant. Maybe it was easier for Quinn to spend a night away from Ellie because he’s done it so much already. She’s never been away from Ellie for a whole night, let alone leave her alone with someone who’s never been alone with a kid. 

“I’ll ask Riley, I’ll make a full list of everything she needs to do so it’ll be okay,” she mumbled. He leaned towards her pecking her lips for only a second.

“It’ll all work out, I promise, my love,” he whispered before he kissed her lips again. 

~Two Days Later~

Ellie was starting to eat some baby food, they have only introduced apple and banana to her as they were given a list to do one day at a time. Today Ellie was sitting in her high chair, waiting for Quinn to give her some food. 

“Alright, my baby girl, we’ve got peas or carrots, probably both gross but maybe good to you. I don’t know,” he spoke, a small laugh leaving his throat. Ellie simply babbled, not fully understanding what he was saying. He sighed, “Carrots will probably be better,” He set the peas container down on the counter.

He clicked open the carrots container, “I’ll give it a try first and then you, okay?” he said and she giggled. He dug the tiny green spoon into the suspiciously orange baby food. He brought it to his mouth, taking the tiniest bite. It was awful. “Oh-so good, so good,” he cringed out as he tried not to show his disgust. “You try,” he said as he dug the spoon back into the baby food and he airplaned it towards her.

She gladly took a bite, clearly enjoying it. “Better you than me, Darling,” he whispered as he smiled towards her. Quinn lifted his gaze to see Y/N standing at the door way. “Hey love,” he said as he met her gaze from across the room. “Elle Belle likes carrots,” he offered excitedly. 

“Clearly you didn’t,” she teased as she walked across the living room towards where Ellie and Quinn were.

“Shhh, she’s not supposed to know that,” he said with a teasing grin.

“You put on a good performance though,” she offered as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder. Tilting her head to the side she met his gaze for a short moment before she pressed her lips against his briefly. “Riley’s going to be here in thirty minutes,” she offered. He hummed as he switched his attention back towards his daughter.

“How does she like this stuff?” he asked as he gave Ellie another spoonful. She gladly ate it no problem. Y/N giggled.

“She’s a baby, Quinny, she doesn’t know anything else,” she offered as she stared towards her little girl. 

“Yeah well wait till she finds out what ice cream is,” Quinn said smiling. She kissed his cheek for a few seconds.

“I’m going to get dressed and do my makeup. Any guidance on what I should wear?” she questioned as she slowly pulled away from him. Quinn watched her walk away.

“I’m wearing a suit, if that helps my love,” he let out, a grin oon his lips. 

“It does, thank you,” she said as she hopped and walked excitedly towards their bedroom.

After thirty minutes, Riley arrived. Not knocking per usual. “Where’s my beautiful date for the night?” Riley called out as she walked into the apartment. Quinn chuckled as he stood up from the couch as he held Ellie to his side. “There she is! Ellie, my girl,” she said excitedly reaching for the girl. Ellie giggled as her arms reached towards Riley. 

“Amazing, I can start getting ready,” he said excitedly jogging around Riley towards his bathroom. Riley rolled her eyes playfully as she shifted her attention solely to Ellie. He jogged into the bathroom squeezing past Y/N. She was standing in a robe, styling her hair. She smiled towards him as he started ripping his clothes off so he could jump into the shower. She rolled her eyes playfully as she watched him.

It took another thirty minutes before Quinn was ready. Well, almost ready. Y/N stood beside him finishing her makeup while he was running his fingers through his hair, styling it. He was in his suit, the same one he wore when he won the Norris trophy. 

“Ri, you doing alright?” Y/N shouted as she tilted her head back, peeking towards the hallway. 

Riley smiled widely as she walked up to the doorway, no Ellie in her arms. The baby monitor in her hand. “Nap time started at three, she’s out like a light. I got this, you two finish getting ready and have an amazing night away,” she said smiling widely before she slipped away back towards the living room. 

Y/N shifted her gaze towards Quinn, smiling softly. “She’s got this,” Quinn offered while pursing his lips forward. She rolled her eyes playfully as she finished applying the last of her makeup. He smiled as he adjusted his collar as he stared towards his girlfriend smittingly. 

“I’m going to get my dress on and we can head out,” she stepped towards him, kissing his cheek before she wandered towards their bedroom. Quinn smiled to himself as he dropped his head. He walked out of the bathroom, towards the living room. 

Riley was planted on the couch, a blanket covering her frame as she was clicking through Netflix trying to find something to watch. “Thanks again for this Riley,” Quinn offered as he shoved his hands into his pants pocket awwardly. 

“Y/N’s been needing this, she’s missed you a lot Quinn,” Riley said as she smiled a wide grin, “I’ll be full time babysitter if it means you two get to be Quinn and Y/N again.” she said. Quinn smiled as he dropped his gaze to the floor.

“Thanks Ri,” he mumbled, shyly. “She’s got to get up at four if she’ll be asleep by eight. And you want her to be asleep by eight or else-”

“She won’t sleep at all, I know Quinn. I got this, remember?” Riley offered. Quinn chuckled nervously.

“Right, yeah. We just haven’t left Ellie alone with someone who’s not our moms,” he said with a chuckle. “But between Isabella, Luke, and Jack, we trust you the most,” 

“It’s not the fact that I live in Vancouver and Isabella lives in Michigan. Luke and Jack are Jersey, none of that matters?” she asked sarcastically. He shook his head laughing.

“Even if any of them lived in Vancouver, I would never leave them alone with my daughter until they have their own kid,” he explained while laughing, he lifted his gaze to see Y/N walking towards them in a short black dress. It was flowy, had semi-long ruffle sleeves. “Oh, wow,” he let out breathlessly. 

She shyly dropped her gaze towards the floor before she continued walking towards him. “You like it?” she offered as she took in a deep breath. He nodded dramatically, a wide grin to his lips as he walked towards her.

“You look amazing,” he mumbled, taking a hold of her hand, spinning her. 

“Okay, stop making me sad and more single than I already am. Go out, don’t make another baby, and come back refreshed,” Riley expressed, her face squirming up in disgust. Quinn and Y/N chuckled as Quinn took a hold of her hand and guided her towards the door. 

“No promises, on the baby making,” Quinn teased, Y/N shoved him slightly as they giggled. They continued out of the apartment, hand in hand. 

“So where are we heading, my love?” she asked as she began to swing their hands back and forth. 

“We are going to that fancy restaurant you love, and then we are going to go walk downtown and then we are going to a very fancy hotel with very amazing room service,” he explained. 

“You don’t have to spend that much money on this day, Quinn-”

“You deserve to be pampered, my love,” he whispered as they entered the elevator to the parking garage.

“But this is too much,” she whispered as she turned to face him. They waited for the elevator to reach their floor. Quinn reached his hand over, brushing the small piece of hair away from her face. 

“You deserve a lot more than what I planned for tonight,” he leaned towards her, delicately kissing her as the elevator doors opened.

~~~

They stopped on the path, turning their gaze towards the water. The moonlight was cascading over the water, illuminating it. She stared towards the water, smiling softly as she inched closer to Quinn. He switched his gaze towards her, pressing his lips against her forehead, “What are you thinking, my love?” he asked softly as his hand ran up and down her back. 

“Did you think at fifteen this would be our life?” she asked as she continued looking ahead of her. He furrowed his eyebrows as he hummed. “I honestly thought we wouldn’t make it,” she dropped her head.

“Why’d you think that?” he asked. She pointed towards the small bench closer to the water edge. He followed her towards the bench, sitting closely beside her. 

“I knew you would make it, I knew you would be drafted to some team and you would be successful. I thought that we would do the long distance thing and we would fizzle out. Like a lot of high school relationships do. But you asked me to go Vancouver with you and I was going to say no. I really was but I agreed and I never looked back,” she paused, taking a deep breath. “You’re my dream Quinny, our daughter is my dream,” she mumbled out meeting his gaze. He swallowed hard, blinking tears away from his eyes. 

“Where’s all this coming from?” he asked, choked up slightly. She smiled towards him.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just happy,” she expressed a soft grin to her lips. 

“Maybe I’m just happy too,” he whispered as he leaned towards her, pressing his lips against hers. He reached his hand up, resting it onto her cheek for a moment. He glided his hand from her cheek towards the base of her neck.

[bookuce]

One More Day (Roman Reigns One Shot)

Summary: It’s been four months since Joe lost the Undisputed Championship at Wrestlemania 40. Although you are enjoying this time together, Joe has to go back on the road tomorrow, and you plan to make every second, every hour leading up to his departure count.

WORD COUNT: 1.4K

WARNINGS: Fluff

PAIRING: Roman Reigns x Black OC

“I’m…Caught up in the Rapture of love.” Music and the smell of food fill their kitchen. Anita Baker was a staple in this household, an artist passed down from Jaiden’s mother to her. She could recall hearing this music on a Sunday evening, her mother quietly singing while she cooked a meal big enough to last them a few days. Now, she was in her own kitchen doing the same thing. Like mother, like daughter.

This song was Jaiden’s favorite. It always puts her in a loving mood. “Nothing else can compare.” She sings softly to herself, her hips swaying from left to right on beat. “When I feel the magic…”

“You better sing it, girl.” A new voice enters the kitchen, causing Jaiden to smile at the pot on the stove before her. She turns over her shoulders, watching as her boyfriend of two years dances up to her. Joe holds his hands up, snapping on the one and two. Jaiden giggles softly. “Ay, caught up in the rapture of you.” He sings out of tune.

“Don’t you go messing up my song!” Jaiden warns him, turning to face him fully.

“I make it better.” He boasts, wrapping his large arm around her waist. “Dance with me.” He commands, moving his hips against hers. Jaiden will never turn down a chance to dance with her man. He’d take her hands into his own, the pair stepping back from each other. He’d lift her arms, crossing them and prompting her to spin into his embrace from behind. She would do just as he requested, leaning back into his touch. They would sway from side to side, smiling at the moment they were sharing. They don’t get many chances to do this since Joe is always on the road. For the last one hundred and twenty days, he’s been home.

She could recall the night he lost his championship like it was yesterday. He mourned the loss at first but quickly came to terms with it. He felt free. He was free. He would like to thank Cody for taking that burden off him. He’s thought about it multiple times. Because of him, it was now possible for Joe to come home to his lady. He needed to make up for lost time, and that he did. They’ve been attached at the hip since they got off the plane from Philly. How many times can one couple have a honeymoon phase? Jaiden wasn’t sure, but she was not complaining.

“I love you here by me, baby…”

"That I do, that I do.” He sings into her ear in agreement, sending shivers down her spine. She’d arch in towards him, giggling softly. Joe moves her past the stove, his eyes venturing into the pot. “What do you have cooking?” He begins to reach in, causing his girlfriend to slap his hand away.

“I knew that was why you came in here. Get out of here.” He holds his hands up in surrender, laughing softly at her.

“I came in here for you.” He lies.

“Alright, Joe.”

“I did!”

She lowers her eyes at the playful Samoan in front of her, slowly turning away to continue preparing dinner for the two of them. “Since it’s the last night I’ll have you here for a while, I wanted to make your favorite meal.” She says, sadness sweeping over her. Joe could hear the sadness in her voice, causing him to be saddened. He approaches her from behind, wrapping his large arms around her diminutive frame.

“You can always come with me.” He tells her. Each time, it was the same proposition. Every time, she would shoot it down. ‘I don’t want to be in the way,’ She’d tell him. He would argue that she was never in the way. In fact, he’d rather her be in his way. He’d prefer her to fill the space around him, to suffocate him with her presence. That’s how much he loved her.

“I can’t just take off from my job, and who’s going to take care of the house while we’re gone?” She asks. Joe lays his head on top of hers.

“I told you to quit that job and let me care for you. You’re using it as Plan B at this point.” He says.

“Plan B?” She asks.

“Mhm,” He hums. “If things don’t work out with us, you want to be sure you’re safe.” She gets quiet. He was right. Her mother always told her not to make big or permanent decisions because of a man. She wanted her to learn from her mistakes. “I don’t intend on things not working out with us,” He starts. “I do intend on making you my wife one of these days.” He says, causing her to smile softly to herself. Believe it or not, they’d never had the marriage talk before this moment. With Joe being as famous as he was, she half expects him to meet someone who matches him perfectly. He would argue she fits him like a glove; it doesn’t get more perfect than this.

“You see me as a wife?” She asks.

“I see you as my wife.” He corrects her. She turns around in his arms, her brown eyes peering up at the man before her. “We got something good going on, don’t we?” She would like to think they did. She couldn’t imagine a world without him now that she had a taste of what could be with him.

“I’d like to think so.” She agrees with a single nod.

“So, come with me on the road.” He asks once more.

“The house—.”

“My mom has already said she’d watch the house. You won’t come home to dead plants if she does. You will if you let your cousin do it again.” He mutters the last half, but she hears him. She stifles a laugh. “I’m still trying to figure out how she did that much damage in three days.”

“I think she watered them each day she came over.” Jaiden assumes.

“Mm,” Joe hums. A comfortable silence would fall on the two for a few seconds. “So, are you coming or not?” He says suddenly. Her head would drop against his chest, a silent laugh shaking her. He was eager to have her on the road with him and was no longer taking no for an answer.

“You just don’t let up, do you?” She mumbles. Jaiden would lift her head from his shirt, locking eyes with the giant man once more. “How about next week?” She offers.

He’d suck his teeth at her, his head slowly shaking. “That ain’t gonna work for me, Jaiden.”

“And why not?” She asks, eyebrow now lifted.

“Because you say next week, and then next week will come, and you’ll come up with some crazy excuse as to why you can’t—Much like you are right now.” He explains, looking down at her once more. Jaiden’s eyes would lower at him again. How dare he perceive her? “You can get that look off your face.” He tells her.

“Or what?” She challenges him. Joe’s head would tilt to the side at her question.

“You know what.” He replies. Jaiden sinks her teeth into her bottom lip at his answer. It’s been an ongoing battle keeping that man off of her today. The only peace she had was when he went down for a nap and when he went to the gym. She wasn’t even sure how she was walking, let alone standing now. Her stomach swelled with butterflies—anxiety, as she quickly turned away from him. She reaches forward, turning the stove off.

Joe couldn’t help but smile at her response as she turned away from him. He would lean against the island behind him, his hand reaching up to scratch his beard. “Dinner’s ready.” She says, turning to face him. “Can you set the table for me?” She asks. He’d hesitantly move from in front of her, moving over to a cabinet with dishware. Her gaze would follow him as he moved slowly past her. “Are you okay? Are you not tired?” She asks, putting her hands on her hips.

“Of you? Nah, that’s a hunger that’ll never be satisfied.” He turns to face her, two plates in hand. “Now, give Daddy a kiss.” He leans over her, his lips slightly puckered for a kiss. She’d reach up to give him a quick peck before grabbing food to take to their table. When she entered the dining room, Joe was already sitting at the table. His eyes light up at the sight of his girlfriend.

—————————————————————————————————

A/N: This is one of my first one shots I wrote for Tumblr that never saw the light of day! Inspired by the song I listed up above (old R&B is my jam btw). It was supposed to be longer, but I lost muse for it. If you’d like to see more of it, maybe I can muster up the energy to keep writing it eventually! But until then, enjoy!

🏷️ list: @thesamoanqueen @whatdoeseverybodywant @headoftheetable @mzv11 @southerngirl41 @yana3sworld @wanderingreigns @wrestlingprincess80 @siriuslycee @vebner37 @astridxxxxxx @alichesmi @tshepisho @scarlettnoir01 @brokenglassslippers @reignsboy19 @sayyestoheav3nn @cyberdejos2 @empressdede @sisinever @truefant4sy @paigereeder @tbmotw @fearlesschimera @venusesworld @usoholic @sageispunk @bebesobrielo @jstarr86 @vibessonvibes @issahyland @fandomphasess @evilli0s

[greynatomy]

soulmates

lia wälti x reader

i just started writing and came up with this. idk how i feel about it, but it was an idea.

also… writing endings are very difficult.

———

A couple years back, in a small town in Switzerland, two best friends decided to have a stroll around their town. They come across a very familiar park that they’ve been going to as kids.

Not far from the girls, are two boys, playing a game of football. Too occupied in their game, they didn’t see the two girls, who also weren’t paying attention to their surroundings, and ran into them, literally.

The boys quickly get off the ground, dusting themselves off and offering a hand to each lady.

“We are sorry about that.” One of the boys said.

“We weren’t paying attention.” The other saying.

“Oh, it’s alright.”

“We weren’t paying attention ourselves.”

This was the start of four friends’ unbreakable bond.

Over the years, the four grew up together. If you see one of them, the other three aren’t too far behind. Each girl eventually fell in love with one of the boys, same with the boys.

They finished school, got married, moved into houses right next to each other and to no one’s surprise, the girls fell pregnant at the same time.

Two girls.

Born within a month of each other.

Two girls who would grow up being best friends. You both would become inseparable. Always attached to the hip.

You started preschool together, eventually going off to kindergarten together.

One day, when you were both ten years old, under the old maple tree in her backyard, two other friends of yours are standing close together, both her hands holding onto yours.

Your parents watch through the kitchen window, wondering what you kids were up to now. To their surprise, they watch as Lia pulled you close, like how she sees her parents do, and gave you a little kiss on the lips, pulling away, wide smiles on both your faces, your two friends clapping and cheering.

Only when the two of you ran inside the house did they understand what happened.

“We got married!” You yelled, while Lia said, “She’s my wife!” Referring to you.

The four friends looked at one another in understanding.

They created soulmates.

From then on, Lia would always refer to you as her wife. “Hi, wife.” She would often say whenever she sees you, a love struck expression on her face. You would always respond with a kiss on her cheek, caressing the other with your hand.

You both were quite young, but old enough to know what love was, as both your parents were the examples you had to know about what love was.

Unfortunately, on one summer day, your parents had informed you of your move. Having to move away to another country. Away from Lia.

Your twelve year old self immediately ran towards her house, never needing to knock, straight towards her room, where you found her on her bed. She already knew it was you without having to look up, but once she did, she saw tears staining your cheeks.

“What’s wrong?”

“Papa said that we’re moving away. I don’t want to move away.”

All Lia could do is hug you tight and not let go.

When the time came, everyone promised that they would communicate and not lose contact of each other. It could be the first time in years that the best friends would no longer be together.

Lia gives you one last kiss and you hope it wouldn’t be the last.

You ended up in the United States, telling Lia through letters which you send through the post, Lia doing the same. But as the years go on, the letters eventually stopped when you were fourteen. You cried for a week straight, mourning what could be the ending of a beautiful friendship.

———

You were now thirty years old, who’ve accomplished so much and made a name for yourself. You became a professor at Stanford, teaching about the wonders of science, becoming quite popular to students.

Lia of course became a force in the world of football. You were never one for sports m, but you aren’t ashamed to admit that you’ve kept up with her career, cheering her on through the television.

It’s been sixteen years since your last contact with her, you don’t know whether she still remembers you or not, but she was someone you couldn’t exactly forget.

You did hear that the Arsenal women’s team would be playing a match in Los Angeles, so you asked for a few days off and made your journey all the way down.

You were lucky enough to get tickets close to the field. Watching Lia play in person for the first time was quite the experience. You cheered for her as loud as you could, cringing whenever she was tackled down.

Arsenal ended up wining 1-0 with an assist from Wälti. The team made their rounds around the stadium, thanking as much of their supporters as they can. You stayed in your seat, eyes following her as fans started filtering out, you being one of the last ones still there.

“Hello, Miss.” You’re snapped out of your thoughts by security.

“Yes?”

“I was informed that I needed to escort you down to the locker room.” You didn’t really know what was happening, but you did follow him. “Just go right in there.” He points to a door.

You walk through the door to be met with the whole team of Arsenal, who quieted down once they saw you. You stand awkwardly in front of everyone as they stare at you.

“Hi, um, did you get lost?” Someone asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so? I followed some security person.”

“Hi, wife.”

You snap your head to the left so fast it could’ve given you whiplash. You turn you whole body to face her, her standing so close to you. Slowly, you lift your right hand to her cheek, caressing it with your thumb as she nuzzles into it, your lips finding its place on the other, the familiar gesture makes the midfielder starts to tear up.

“I can’t believe you remember that.”

“How could I forget our wedding under the maple tree?”

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“You know,” Lia began. “I’ve been waiting for the day I see you again.”

“How come?”

“Because I wanna make it real?”

“Make what real?”

“You being my wife.”

You and Lia were in your own bubble, completely forgetting about the rest of the team that surrounds you, who has never seen the love struck look on Lia’s face until now.

“What’s going on?” Caitlin asks, confused as the rest of the team is.

“This is my wife, and we’re gonna make sure it is not fake this time.”

At this moment, you felt like you were back in Switzerland, under the maple tree in her backyard, Lia by your side.

Two souls who lost their way, back together again.

[constantnbpreg]

Describe someone who's terribly pregnant, but refuses help~

i can imagine him so well. a strong, independent boy who’s always been able to take care of himself. doesn’t need help from anyone!

so when he gets nice and bred for the first of many time, he of course is determined to be the same self-efficient boy he’s always been even if his seeder assures him that they’d be happy to take care of him

for the couple of months, he was fine. a little more tired, a little more sensitive tummy wise, but fine

until the first ultrasound appointments show four little blobs on it’s screen.

quadruples? that’s fine! he can still take care of himself!

that’s what he says at least until he really starts growing. his waistline quickly disappears as his belly swells with life. his womb full of babies that his belly has no choice but to stretch and grow. by 16 weeks along, he’s already losing a lot of his mobility. the round orb attached to him getting in the way, driving him further from counters and creeping into his lap to make it hard to get up

he still insists he’s fine though to his partner as he huffs to stand up for a third time at six months pregnant

finally, he’s eight months pregnant. he’s absolutely huge now. his belly takes up his whole form, he can’t even dare wrap his arms around the wide thing. his hips spread to help but it doesn’t do much when his swollen gut sits so low and heavy on his poor pelvis. he aches so much now from the weight of his big babies, especially when they rolls and kick around in his belly

he’s laying on his side when he realizes he might be in trouble. hungry, he wants another snack (his babies constantly demanding food) even though he just stuffed himself silly from his lunch. it didn’t matter though, he was craving pizza sooo badly.

placing a hand on the bed and one arm under his giant swell, he moans as he tries to turn himself over so he can face the edge of the bed.

only finding he can’t

his arms, even with the added weight to them, are still too thin and weak to hold what is no doubt forty pounds of pure baby in his womb. he whimpers as his litter starts to squirm inside him from the commotion and he tries again only to fall back onto the same side.

his worse fear has happened. he truly could not get up. he still tries and tries, unable to fully admit that he was helpless to his transformed body.

all while his partner waits beside him, enjoying watching his so horribly pregnant lover, try and try to roll over like a flipped turtle. the moment he admits he needs help, they can finally properly spoil him like they’ve been wanting

[ccerealsoupp]

10,000 miles away (yet I’ve never felt closer to you)

Kageyama tobio / Hinata shoyo

Rated T, 2.2k, post timeskip

...............

Outside of Tokyo Haneda Airport, a teary-eyed set of goodbyes are occurring between the Hinata family and their son; their, as Hinata’s parents would say with pride, star, who is moving across the world from their small town of Musashi Japan to Brazil: to improve strength and skill in order to pursue his dream of becoming a Professional volleyball player.

Hinata hugs his mother tight, “Mom, thank you for always believing in me. It was you who first let me play volleyball, and your constant love and support have gotten me to where I am today. I couldn’t have done it without you.”. He doesn’t mention it when he hears her sniffle slightly, just closes his eyes and hugs her tighter.

She pulls away and cups his face gently. “Shoyo, go do big things, my golden boy.”, she smiles and kisses him on the cheek, drying her eyes with a handkerchief.

He moves to his father, embracing him as well. “Love you, Dad. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, what am I going to do without you?”, he smiles into his shirt.

His dad laughs, clapping a hand against Hinata’s back. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You’re a Hinata, there’s nothing you can’t do.”

A small force thunks against Hinata as his little sister tackles him, clinging to him as if she grips hard enough it’ll ground him to the island. “Why do you have to go so far away . . ? I’m gonna miss you so much, Sho.”, she mutters against his shirt, voice quivering with tears.

“I know Natsu, I’m going to miss you like crazy,” Hinata tells her, patting her head comfortingly.

“I’ll come home during the summers though, and maybe you can convince Mom and Dad to take a family trip to Brazil. If you come I’ll take you to a theater to watch a ballet performance, that’s a promise.

They have really fancy ones there you know? And make sure you get Dad to record every one of your recitals, I want to see them all.” She nods, sniffling into his t-shirt and leaving a damp patch behind.

Finally, he turns to Kageyama, his best friend of four years; and despite knowing what great opportunities Brazil will bring, Hinata finds himself wishing he didn’t have to say goodbye.

His heart hammers in his chest. The letter hidden in his jacket pocket suddenly feels as if it weighs a hundred kilograms; carrying the weight of years of longing glances, wistful daydreams, and secret feelings.

He wraps Kageyama in a bear hug and tries not to let emotions get the better of him, to focus instead on making this moment last. He smiles when he inhales and is hit with the scent of jasmine and sage, the smell of home.

For the last 4 years, they’ve been practically attached at the hip. For the next 2 years, they’ll go months without seeing each other, the longest separation of their lives (Excluding of course when they didn’t know each other).

He tries to keep things light and bury the thought that leaving Kageyama behind feels as unnatural as leaving his own head.

“Don’t you go replacing me while I’m gone, okay?”

Kageyama rolls his eyes and lightly punches Hinata’s shoulder. “As if I could. Nothing and no one could ever fill your dumb shoes.” His eyes are glossy with tears threatening to spill over, but Hinata pretends not to notice.

Kageyama hated showing vulnerability in front of anyone besides him, and he’d already cried plenty in Hinata’s bedroom last night which he proclaimed was “So embarrassing, I can’t believe I’m crying over you, Boke.”

Hinata pulls the letter out of his jacket and quickly presses it into Kageyama’s hands. It was now or never, his one perfect chance to confess everything he’s been too scared to say to Kageyama’s face, too tongue tied to even mutter in person.

“I wrote this for you. Don’t open it until you get home.”

His family gives him a knowing look, and he hopes he doesn’t look as sweaty as he feels when he responds with a pointed expression that screams "Please be subtle." Kageyama looks at him in confusion, but finally nods in understanding. They hug once more, heads tucked into the other’s shoulder, a final goodbye.

Hinata walks into the airport, turning to wave as the doors close behind him with a bittersweet smile on his face.

The airport processions go by without a hitch.

He checks in his luggage (Praying that nothing will be missing by the time he gets to Brazil), gets through security, and finds his gate with plenty of time to spare before his flight. Still, he feels a nervous stiffness throughout his body, each nerve ending a taut wire.

It was a huge decision he made, packing up his life and moving across the globe to follow his dream.

Well, one of his dreams.

He thinks of Kageyama and a future of waking up every day to the sight of him bathed in the

soft morning glow of sunrise, of golden bands sitting comfortably around their left ring fingers.

He thinks of the letter and how he poured out the contents of his heart in black ink against porcelain sheets of paper.

It had taken him dozens of times to get it just right, now he just hopes his feeling will reach Kageyama.

He decides to get Starbucks, perhaps some tea will help put him at ease. As he waits for his name to be called, he checks his watch. It’s been thirty-five minutes; Kageyama should be home by now.

Hinata wonders absentmindedly when he’ll read the letter, and whether or not he’ll hear from Kageyama before he boards.

That’s what he wants, or at least, he thinks it is.

Maybe it would be easier on him if he was already out of Japan when he finds out what Kageyama’s reaction is, but he’d rather carry a broken heart all the way to Brazil than have the other stress out waiting for Hinata to come down to earth and reply.

Miles away, Kageyama takes out the letter from his pocket.

He carefully rips open the vanilla envelope and extracts the folded pages, placing them down on the coffee table. Whatever Hinata has to say to him, it must be important.

He grabs the first page with a sigh, settles into the crook of his couch and begins to read.

My dearest Tobio,

.......

If you want to read what happens next, go check the story out here!

[demxters]

—𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐢

jake ‘hangman’ seresin x f!aviator!reader

series summary: “there’s no place like home for the holidays,” is a saying you loathe with a passion.  you didn’t hate the holidays. you just wished you had a place to call home when the winter days are lonely and the nights are long and cold. little did you know that home was a lot closer than you think, and came in the package of a charming green eyed pilot with a surprising amount of love for the holiday season.

wc: 9.1k (oops) 

warning(s): fem!reader, idiots in love, swearing, some self deprecating thoughts (from both jake and reader), mentions of anxiety, implications of bad family relationships, self esteem issues, angst/fluff/then more angst, a plethora of cliches from my favorite xmas romcom (iykyk)

part of the ‘through the seasons’ universe 

prev.

𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊, 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃!

you wanting me, tonight feels impossible…but it's comin' down no sound, it's all around. like snow on the beach… –snow on the beach, taylor swift (ft. lana del rey) 

His brother was only older by one year, and yet the distance between the two has never been bigger. If you could believe it, growing up the two boys were inseparable. Two peas in a pod, partners in crime. Jake looked up to his older brother. He wanted to go where Luke went and do what Luke did. The Seresin brothers were each other’s best friend. Until high school. 

The changes hit him like a freight car. Luke being a year older set a precedent for what was expected of Jake going into his freshmen year. It was barely a month into the new school year that Jake noticed it. The second his teachers heard his last name it was always “Luke” this or “Luke” that. He tried so hard not to let it bother him, but he was so tired of being compared to his brother. 

Luke, who was captain of the lacrosse team. Luke, who was in student government. Luke, who was a straight A student. Funny, smart, charming, charismatic Luke. No one cared to give him a second glance. No one cared to notice that Jake Seresin could be funny. Jake Seresin was smart. Jake Seresin had good looks like his brother.

And while Jake was getting buried under his brother’s shadow, Luke was soaking up the spotlight. He loved the praise he received from teachers, from students, from girls. But most importantly, from his parents. He knew his parents meant well, but he couldn’t help but feel so small in comparison to his brother. 

You want to join the chess club? Why don’t you do lacrosse like Luke instead? 

You should ask Luke what he would do. 

Maybe you should try to be more like Luke. 

Luke let all that praise go to his head and he eventually thought he was better than his little brother. Too good for his little brother. Jake hated that he found himself believing it too. 

So he did the only thing that made sense to him at the time. He acted out. He distanced himself from his family. Jake stayed out late past curfew. He kissed random girls at parties. He landed himself in detention every week or so. If everyone wanted him to be more like Luke, there was no way he would give them what they wanted. Jake Seresin wanted to be his own and he would make a name for himself. 

As high school came to an end, so did Luke and Jake’s brotherhood. It was as if the two were barely family. Luke lived off of reminding Jake who the better Seresin was and his parents didn’t know better than to believe he was only trying to help Jake stay on track. He wished he could make them see that was far from the truth. 

His saving grace throughout those four years came in the form of Javy Machado. The two had met in sophomore chemistry class when they almost set the lab on fire during a bunsen burner experiment. They’ve been attached to the hip ever since. Javy never saw Jake as Luke Seresin’s younger brother. To him, he was “just Jake.” Javy became the brother Jake had lost. Even now, years later that still held true. 

He always felt like he had to compete with his brother for attention. Jake hated that he was beginning to feel it again right now. 

Jake’s blood was boiling. Hot, red bubbles of anger passed through him as he watched Luke converse with you. You looked uncomfortable and his brother clearly didn’t get the hint. 

“Javy, put that bag down.” Jake motions for him to leave the duffle bag on the floor. “Hey, Luke, you mind helping us out back here?”

Coyote snickers as he drops the bag down by his feet, sending Jake a smirk. “Smooth, man.” 

“Shut up,” he retorts, though a ghost of a smile appears on his lips. 

“Yeah, I’m coming.” His brother calls out, leaving you standing by the curb. But not before giving you one last look he liked to call, the ladies man. He misses the way your nose crinkles as he walks away. “Really, Jake? You two big Navy men couldn’t lift this one bag into the trunk?” Luke guffaws. 

“Luke, always a pleasure.” Coyote nods at the man in faux pleasantry. 

Jake resists the urge to scoff. “We could. I just wanted to tell you something about Thumper.” 

“Man, you weren’t kidding when you said she was a looker. Thumper’s hot man,” Luke smirks. 

“Woah!” Javy scolded with his hands out. 

Jake on the other hand, felt that hot, boiling anger start to bubble over. He clenches his fists and his nostrils flare as he jabs his finger into Luke’s chest. “You better watch it.” 

Luke shrugs his shoulders. He was loving the rise that the mere mention of your callsign got out of Jake. He knew his little brother was protective, but damn did this girl have a hold on him. One he hasn’t seen since Jake’s last girlfriend. “I’m just saying. Now is that all? Because the lady is waiting.” 

He narrows his eyes at Luke, not letting the pressure on Luke’s chest weaken. “Thumper’s off limits. You got it?” 

Luke looks back at him without an ounce of fear. He raises a challenging brow. “We’ll see about that, brother.” 

________________

You fell asleep somewhere along the way to the Seresin’s ranch. The drive was another two hours to get out of the suburbs and by the time you woke up the cityscape was gone, now replaced with vast land of various shades of brown and green. 

You smile in amusement to yourself, watching a tumbleweed pass by. You were almost pressed up against the window staring in awe as they rolled. In your defense you thought they only existed in cheesy, low budget Western movies and cartoons. Seeing one in real life made you feel like a child again. 

The car ride was uncomfortably silent due to the presence of Jake’s brother. You haven't heard much about him other than that he was a year older than Jake. You noticed he didn’t like to talk about his brother much. His mother and father, however, you have heard all good things about. The nerves started to creep back into you and your leg started to bounce in the quiet of the car. 

Coyote catches your eye and he gives you a soft smile, placing his hand on your knee like Jake had once before. You exhale deeply, silently thanking him with a nod as you continue to pace your breaths. Going off the rails now wouldn’t help you in the long run, you knew that. You take another deep breath and you find some clarity. You were feeling the same way you felt every time you took off in your plane. As you went higher, so did your anxiety. Once you reached the right altitude, you fell into autopilot and it was all smooth sailing from there. This wasn’t any different. Meeting Jake’s family was the incline. You just need to get past the climb and everything will be okay. 

Your jaw practically drops as Luke pulls up to the property. The ranch was beautiful. Despite the winter climate, the lawn was green for miles. There was a large tree in the front with an old tire swing tied to one of its thick branches. A red, rusted truck that reminded you of Bella Swan’s was parked to the side. 

As the SUV pulls into park, you exit the vehicle staring at the house in awe. Small and simple didn’t describe it at all. “Holy shit,” you exhale, never taking your eyes off it. 

Jake steps out of the car as well and grins at you with his hands on his hips. He glances between you and the house and chuckles at your expression. 

“You’ve been holding out on me, Seresin. This isn’t a house. This is a mansion.” Your eyes run across the stunning two story home. The entire estate was painted a shade of pearl, one that reminded you of the White House. The home was modern, yet had a rustic appeal that fit perfectly against the country backdrop. 

Jake blushes, lowering his head in embarrassment. Being in the Navy has exposed him to people of different backgrounds than him, yet he still wasn’t used to the shameful reminder that he came from a family that had better than most. “It’s really nothing special. Just wait ‘til you see the horses,” he drives your attention away from the structure. 

You squeal at that. “Horses?” 

He slings an arm around your shoulder and laughs as he brings you to the trunk so he can help Javy with the bags. Luke had already wandered off to the front door, alerting his parents that they had arrived. 

At the sound of your gleeful laughter, Coyote shakes his head. “I told you if you just led with the horses, she wouldn’t have fought against your invite.” 

Jake scoffs. “That’s not true, right?” He looks down at you with wide eyes. 

“Well…” you trail off as Jake takes full offense to that by pulling his arm off of you to place a hand on his chest. 

Javy leads the way to the front door and the small banter exchanged between you and Jake was enough to take your mind off your impending doom. However, that also meant getting to the door quicker than you anticipated, giving you little to no time to prepare for a meet and greet. 

Jake takes your hand as you walk through the doorway, giving it a reassuring squeeze. You feel your palms start to sweat and you hope he can’t feel your moistening flesh. You barely make it a foot into the home when you’re bombarded by a short older woman throwing her arms around you. 

“My goodness, you’re even prettier in person!” She pulls back, holding you by the shoulders. She gives you a quick lookover. You immediately recognize the woman as one you’ve seen in many of the pictures Jake had in his room back on base. She had the same crinkles by her eyes and that breathtaking smile. 

You waited for the agony of feeling out of place to hit you, but then she’s gathering you in her arms once more. You let out a squawk of surprise and look at Jake who has released your hand and is pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Ma, lighten up there. She needs room to breathe,” he scolds. He mouths a sorry to you that you only dismiss with a subtle shake of the head. 

“Oh give me a minute to look at her, Jake.” She waves off her son before grabbing you gently once more. “It is so nice to finally meet you! Jake has told us so much about you.” 

“Mom–” He tries to interject but is cut off by his mother once more. 

“We’ve been hearing him go on and on about you for years. I mean, Thomas and I,” She pauses and hollers a loud, Thomas! behind her shoulder before turning back to you. “Thomas and I never thought we’d actually meet you in person, let alone in our own home! It is so good to have you here.” 

Her sweet words warm your heart. Though the bit about her knowing about you for years throws you off just a bit, you decide to keep it in the back of your mind to bring up later. “Well, thank you for letting me stay. I hope I’m not any trouble, I know this was all last minute and I’m sure you had other plans for the holiday.” 

“Nonsense, honey,” Mrs. Seresin coos. “We always love having company around here. Speaking of company, Javy Machado, I see you. Get over here!” 

You step out of the way with hot cheeks so Javy can take your place in Mrs. Seresin’s arms. You giggle as she squeezes Coyote’s cheeks. 

Luke comes back into the room with another man who you can only assume is Thomas Seresin. The man was intimidating, just as his sons were at first glance. You shrink into yourself, unknowingly stepping behind Jake’s broad shoulder. 

“As I live and breathe, if it ain’t my son finally back in town,” Mr. Seresin grins under his wide brimmed hat. 

Jake’s back straightens. He greets his father with a firm handshake and a small part of you is afraid of what his father is going to say next. But when the two break into similar smiles and gather one another in their arms, that fear turns into relief. Jake had told you his relationship with his father was complicated, so you didn’t know what to expect from him upon arrival. You were glad Mr. Seresin chose the more civil approach to your stay. 

Mr. Seresin sees your figure from behind his son and scoots over so he can have a better view of you. “Thomas Seresin,” he greets with an outstretched hand. “I’m assuming that makes you Thumper?” 

“That’s me sir,” you timidly reach out to shake his hand. 

He blows a raspberry with a hearty laugh. “Please, call me Thomas. Are you alright with us calling you Thumper or do you prefer us use a different name?” 

“Thumper’s alright with me,” you nod as he releases your hand and goes to greet Javy who was finally released from Mrs. Seresin’s clutches. 

“Ma, look at the poor thing, she’s overwhelmed.” Luke comes to your other side, a little too close for your liking and you hook your arm around Jake’s and press yourself up against him. “Maybe you should rest in the room.” 

Jake notices and brings you closer to his side by unraveling his arm from yours and wrapping his arm around your waist. He pulls you flush into his side and feels the tension in your body begin to fade. This time, he won’t deny the smile that tugs at his lips at you finding comfort in him. “I think Thumper can speak for herself,” Jake challenges his brother. His stern glare softens as he looks at you. 

All eyes land on you and you can’t help but avoid eye contact with everyone else. You pick at the cuticles of your nails and exhale shakily. As lovely as Jake’s parents were, you needed a second to recuperate after all the introductions. You also wanted to make sure Jake was doing okay. Despite all the attention you’ve been getting, your own has been concentrated solely on the blond. There was this nagging feeling in your chest that alerted you to Jake’s own unease, similar to the way you could feel his rare moments of uncertainty in the air. “I was actually wondering if it would be okay for Jake and Javy to take me out to the town for a little while. I heard it was beautiful out there this time of year and can’t wait to see for myself.” 

The proud smirk on Jake’s face is no longer hidden as he smugly looks at his brother. “That sounds like a great idea, darling.” 

Coyote nods in agreement and checks his watch. “We should probably head out now though, before the sun sets. That way we can also make it back for dinner. If that’s okay with you, Thumps.”

“Sounds good, Coyote,” you affirm. 

“Maybe I should go with you guys,” Luke interjects, eagerly. “It might be easier for you to settle in if you have a more reliable guide.” 

This guy just would not quit, you think to yourself. Stubbornness must be a Seresin trait. 

Jake opens his mouth to oppose, getting irritated at his brother’s constant persistence to steal his time with you away. It was so typical of him to force his way into Jake’s life, just like he did in high school. 

Mrs. Seresin sighs as she hands Jake the keys to their truck. “Oh, let them be, Lucas.” She glances between you and Jake with a gentle smile. “Besides, I have a feeling Thumper’s gonna settle in just fine. You three better get a move on. You’re losing daylight.” 

“Thanks, Ma,” Jake mouths to his mother, though she pretends not to know what he’s talking about. Thank goodness his mother was on his side this time. 

_______

The Seresin’s property was around a thirty minute drive away from the nearest town of Mt. Davina. You don’t remember passing by on the drive up and you figure it must’ve been because you were knocked out at the time. You found yourself caught between Jake and Javy in the truck’s bench seat. It was a bit of a tight squeeze and you were straddling the middle counsel with your thighs, but you didn’t mind. It was similar to flying in your F-18. 

The entire ride there, you took in every story and anecdote that fell from your friends’ lips. Hearing about how Jake and Javy were when they were younger had you seeing your friends in a new light. You loved how their eyes lit up and their cheeks would flush when one of them would recount an embarrassing moment about the other. It gave you a sense of connection to their brotherhood, one you now had a better understanding of.

It warmed your heart that they were letting you into this part of their lives. Compared to the rest of the squad, they were more reserved when it came to sharing tidbits of their life before the Navy. They would rather keep up the reputation they had now instead of tarnishing it with their “uncool” lives before then. 

You were currently laughing along with Javy about the time he caught Jake belting Taylor Swift’s Picture to Burn while he was cleaning the horse stables back in high school. 

“Who knew? Hangman Seresin is secretly a Swiftie,” you tease, proud of how pink the tips of his ears were getting. You rarely pulled this flustered type of behavior from him so it was definitely one you were going to take advantage of. 

“It’s a good song, alright?” Jake defends. He won’t admit however that he was secretly enjoying this back and forth storytelling thing him and Javy had going on. It was enough to diminish your apprehensiveness from when you were meeting his family. He was glad he was able to pull the real Thumper back out of your shell. The way you threw your head back in laughter and wiped at the tears that dared to escape your eyes was something he could only describe as angelic. 

“He’s not wrong about that one, Coyote.” You nudge Jake’s shoulder with yours and your heart flutters at the smile he sends you in return. “Although, don’t be surprised if I get Bradshaw to learn some Taylor Swift just for you.” 

He groans and Javy bursts into another round of laughs as the two of you continue to take jabs at Jake’s nonexistent obsession with Taylor Swift. As Jake listens to the jokes you and Javy make, he realizes that he would share every embarrassing fact about himself if it got that reaction out of you. He would recount every time he has accidentally tripped over a hay bale or show you how ridiculous he looked in his oversized cowboy boots and hat as a kid just to hear you laugh the way you did just now. In fact, he found himself wanting to share every aspect of his life with you. He desperately hoped you wanted to do the same. 

You were somewhat of a mystery to him. Yes, he could read you better than the others could and you’ve grown closer during the time you spent in Miramar. But you could also be closed off from him. He didn’t know much about your past or what your life was like growing up. Phoenix had told him you didn’t like sharing that part of yourself. Not because you didn’t trust the others with it, but rather because you were afraid of what they’d think of you after. He begged Phoenix to tell him so he could understand you better, but she told him it wasn’t her story to tell. Jake respected that and let you keep your boundaries. However, the time he spent with you made him realize that the past no longer mattered. Nothing could change the way he looked at you. 

The town of Mount Davina was beautiful. So used to the crowded suburbs of San Diego, this felt like a breath of fresh air. The walk through town felt like a Hallmark Christmas movie. The quaint small town shops were adorned with quirky and elegant holiday decorations. There was a Christmas tree in the middle of the main street that was impossible to miss. Children and teenagers alike run up and down the sidewalks as the adults chatter and warn their kids to stay out of the street. You imagine little Jake and Javy running down the cobblestone streets, causing havoc like the troublemakers they were. 

A brief tour of some of the shops gives you a feel of the little community. While some shop owners came and went, there were a few who had been there to see Mount Davina grow. The familiarity in their faces when Jake and Javy walked in told you that much. 

“I can’t believe Mr. Edison sold that place,” Jake lamented. 

Coyote agrees, holding the door open for you and Jake to enter through. “Me too. Man, I’m gonna miss that place.” 

The warmth of the cafe hits you when you cross the doorway. The smell of fresh coffee and pastries is welcomed, smelling absolutely delectable in the cold, gloomy weather. “You’re going to miss the bait and tackle place? Do you guys even fish?” You giggle. 

“It’s the thought that counts, sweetheart,” Jake remarks matter of factly. 

After a battle of credit cards with Jake over the hot chocolate and pastries—he insisted on paying but you wouldn’t let him, which ultimately resulted in Javy taking the bill— the three of you settled in one of the booths at the back of the cafe. 

The sip you take from your cup is absolute heaven. The rich, smooth chocolate and its warmth as it goes down your throat sends a shiver down your spine as it melts your insides. 

Jake catches the way your eyes close in content with a grin. “Told you, it’s good right?” 

“Good? This is heaven in a cup.” You put the cup down and hang your head back with a sigh. 

They ended the tour with this stop at their favorite cafe before the three of you headed back to Jake’s house. The rest of the night went by smoothly despite the absence of Luke who seemed to have turned in extremely early for the night. Javy parted ways with the rest of you, leaving with Mr. Seresin to head back home. Jake had insisted on taking him home, but Javy made it clear that he wanted Jake to help you settle in for the night. 

A soft knock to your door takes you away from your book as you mutter a soft, “come in,” to the person on the other side. 

Jake enters the guest room with his plaid pajama pants and plain black tee shirt. His hair is slightly disheveled and no longer fixed to perfection. To put it simply, he was the epitome of domesticity in this light. Your heart fluttered as you took him. Jake was good looking. There was no doubt about that, but for some reason seeing him in this way made him even more attractive. You almost turn a hideous shade of green at the thought of anyone else getting to see him like this. 

He settles beside you, sitting against the headboard of the bed. “I just wanted to say goodnight before you fell asleep.” 

You smile sweetly at him and bookmark the page you are on before putting your book on the bedside table. He’s twiddling with his thumbs and he won’t meet your eye, giving you the impression that there was something else going on in his mind. “Talk to me, Hangman. How are you doing?” 

The use of his callsign told him you were all business right now. “I don’t know. Everything is just so weird, you know? Being back here, seeing my family again. Having you meet them… it’s just weird.” 

Your smile drops slightly at his words and you grimace. Every doubt you had before coming here came flooding back to you all in one go. You should’ve known this was all a little too good to be true. You should have known that Jake was only being thoughtful by inviting you home with him. It didn’t mean he actually wanted you here. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I can take the next flight out of Dallas and everything can go back to normal.” 

“Woah hey, Thumps, what are you talking about?” His brows furrowed in confusion and his hand shot out to catch yours. 

You pull away from him, shaking your head. “I’m sorry for making things weird. I can leave as soon as possible and we don’t have to talk about any of this ever again.” 

“No, no, sweetheart. That’s not at all what I meant. Hey,” he cups the side of your face, running his thumb across your cheekbone. “It’s not you making things weird. I want you here. I swear, I am so happy you’re here.” You see no hint of dishonesty in his form, making you relax just a bit. “You promise?” You ask, hesitantly. 

He nods, his grip on your hand tightening reassuringly. “It’s not you that’s making this weird, I think it’s me.” 

It’s your turn to be confused. “You?” 

“I’m not the same person I was the last time I was here. I mean, don’t be surprised, but I wasn’t always the confident hotshot of a pilot I am today,” he says in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

You laugh lightly, knocking your shoulder with his. “Really? You mean to say Jake Seresin hasn’t always been this cocky?” 

He musters a weak smile. “No, it’s true. You’d be surprised by the guy I used to be.” 

“Oh yeah? Humor me, Seresin,” you challenge. You turn to rest on your side, leaning on your arm to face him. 

“Where to start,” he pretends to contemplate. “I was quiet. Almost as timid as you, Thumps.” He reaches out to tap his finger lightly against the tip of your nose, eliciting a small giggle from your lips. “And I wasn’t an obnoxious attention seeker.” 

“You’re not obnoxious,” you interject. 

“I am! Ask anyone on the squad.” 

You see right through Jake’s facade of masking his insecurities with humor because you tend to do it yourself. But you thought the world of him, and hearing him belittle himself made you want to fight whoever made Jake think this way. “Why do you do that?” 

“Do what?” He questions, watching the way your forehead crinkles in thought. 

“Say that about yourself. You’re not obnoxious, Jake. No one thinks that.” 

You speak to him with such conviction in your eyes, such honesty, that it makes him want to kiss you right then and there. It takes every ounce of restraint for him not to. Instead, he plainly shrugs. 

“Jake,” you frown, scooting closer to him. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but whatever it is, you know that I’m here for you right? Just like you’re always here for me.” 

“Yeah I know, darling. Sorry for dumping this on you with no resolve—“ 

“Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. Sometimes we feel things and we don’t know why. And that’s okay. Just know that I never thought of you that way.” You hold his gaze, hoping he can feel the sincerity of your words. 

There’s a warmth growing in his chest that Jake has only ever felt when he was with you. He just wished he could put it into words to let you know just how much he appreciated you. He was never good with words, but he was great at taking action. 

He wraps his arms around you, the weight of him pushing you into the mattress. But you don’t mind. You loved being close to him. The two of you lay in that comfortable silence as he eventually moves to rest his head on your chest. Your fingers find their way to his hair and you run them back and forth through the short hairs at his neckline. 

You find yourself drifting in and out of sleep when Jake begrudgingly untangles himself from your hold. He knows he won’t be able to find it in him to leave if he didn’t now. He gently moves away from your touch despite the disdain that stirs in his chest. “Goodnight darling,” he whispers into the night. 

You acknowledge him with a hum, rolling over. 

Kiss her you fool, the voice in his head screams at him. 

He clenches his fist, desperate to brush aside the stray hair on your forehead and plant the sweetest of kisses there. But he doesn’t. As much as it pains him, he can’t. 

Jake opted for one last soft goodnight before heading to bed himself. That night he drifts off into dreams of you and what could be.

____________

A few days passed of you staying at the Seresin’s and you were settling in much better than you expected. You spent the mornings making breakfast with his mother and eating with his family, the days exploring the ranch with Jake and Javy, and the evenings wrapping presents with Jake. 

You found yourself feeling much more comfortable with them than you thought you would. You would even go as close to saying they felt like family. (Yes, even Luke who seemed to ease up and leave you alone). 

This morning started the same as always. You were helping Mrs. Seresin with the dishes while Jake and Luke cleaned up the table. Mr. Seresin had left early this morning to help one of their family friends down in the city. 

You’re laughing with his mother in the kitchen causing Jake to almost drop the remainder of the plates that sat on the dining table. 

“Jesus, Jakey. All that Navy training, and yet you’re still a klutz?” Luke chortled. 

Jake rolls his eyes, ignoring the jab at his childhood nickname that Luke knows he loathes. He stacks the rest of the plates as his brother continues to lean back, letting his brother do all the work. 

Luke’s eyes drift to the kitchen, following Jake’s stare and he sees exactly what had Jake so distracted. He clicks his tongue with a knowing smirk. “What’s going on with you and Thumper?” 

“Nothing,” Jake grumbles. He was not falling for another one of Luke’s games. Jake has had enough of his brother butting into his business in high school. He wasn’t going to let him get away with it now. 

“Really? Because it looks like you have a little crush on her.” Luke eyes the way Jake’s jaw ticks and continues on. “Did I say little? I meant big. A big crush on her. How long has that been going on? A year? Two years?” 

Jake fires back. “That’s really none of your business.” 

“Touchy, touchy,” Luke goads. “You haven’t told her how you feel. Why not?” Jake stays silent, giving him the perfect opportunity to strike. He snaps his fingers in mocking realization and leans forward so he can be eye to eye with his brother. “Oh, that’s right. You haven’t told her how you feel because you know she won’t say she feels the same way.” 

“Leave it alone, Luke.” Jake’s breath hitches in the back of his throat and there’s a familiar sting that tickles the tip of his nose. 

“You know you won’t be enough for her. That’s why you haven’t said anything, right?” 

Jake wants to punch his brother’s perfect teeth out as he smugly grins, knowing he hit him right where it hurts. “Shut up,” he hisses. 

“Because deep down, you know that compared to someone like me, she will never settle for a man like you.” 

He spins on his heel, grabbing Luke by the collar. Nostrils flared and cheeks red, Jake clenches his fists. “You better choose your next words, or I’ll–” 

“Boys?” The sound of their mother’s voice breaks up what would have become a full fledged fist fight. “Are you done with those plates?” 

“Yeah, I’ve got ‘em, Ma,” Luke hollers, scooping up the stack at the corner of the table. He gives Jake a wink, not at all phased by his brother’s behavior and strides off to the kitchen. 

Luke knows damn well that Jake is watching his every move and he purposely puts his hand on your lower back, gently moving you aside as he places the rest of the dishes in the sink. You’re a  bit flustered by the contact and you bashfully stutter over your quick words of greeting toward the man. You tuck your chin to your sternum with a shy smile. 

The way you don’t shift away from his touch feels like a stab to Jake’s heart. 

_________

“You ready to go, cowboy?” Jake’s staring out at the yard in deep thought as you approach him. You come to a stop beside him and he still has yet to acknowledge your presence. “Jake?” You tap him lightly on the shoulder. 

He doesn’t even turn to look at you as he replies shortly, “Yeah. Let’s go.” 

You frown at his tone, but brush it off with the assumption that it had something to do with the conversation you had a few nights ago. Since then, you never dared to bring it up knowing that Jake would come to you on his own time. You observed the Seresin family closely during your stay at their estate after that night, noticing how the Seresins seemed to favor their oldest son. Whether they realized they were doing it or not, you couldn’t tell. However, the innocence in his mother’s voice told you that she didn’t mean any harm by the things she said. Mr. Seresin on the other hand, was too hot and cold for you to come to a conclusion about where he stood with Jake. 

Falling into step with him during your trek to the truck, you try to get him to look at you. One thing you knew about Jake Seresin was that he held all his weight on his shoulders. Today, they were touching his earlobes, a tell tale sign that he was not at all relaxed. “Are you okay?” You stop him in his tracks with a gentle touch to his elbow. 

“Fine,” is all he says before unlocking the truck and jumping into the driver’s side. 

The ride to Coyote’s place was quiet. It wasn’t the usual, comfortable silence that fell between you and Jake but rather a heavy silence that was suffocating. The only sounds that could be heard is the hum of the truck’s engine and the staticky Christmas music that played off the old radio. 

Javy felt the tension the second he got into the truck. He sent you a questioning look to which you only gave back a halfhearted shrug.  

The melancholy atmosphere continued to carry over once you reached the small shopping mall in town. Javy tried his best to lighten the mood, but even his normally enticing jokes didn’t seem to work. Jake had excused himself to the bathroom, giving you a moment alone with Coyote. 

“What happened this morning?” Javy questions. 

“I don’t know,” you admit. “I’m just as lost as you are. Everything was good, great even. And then all of a sudden… nothing. He’s just icing me out.” You don’t need to say that it hurt you for Javy to know that. “Was it something I did? If it is I need to know, Javy. I can’t bear the thought of not knowing if I did something to make him mad at me.” 

“Oh, Thumper, I doubt that it’s anything you did. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll try to find out for you.” He opens his arm up to you and pulls you into his side. 

“Thanks, Coyote,” you say against his shoulder. 

When Jake comes back, he still doesn’t say much, letting the silence do most of the talking for him. You decide to ask the boys if you could walk around by yourself for a bit and you could tell that Jake is hesitant to let you go off on your own. But he doesn’t stop you. He lets you go. For some reason, it tugs at your already weakened heartstrings a little more. 

“Hey, what’s the matter with you, man?” Coyote stops Jake, pulling him off to the side. 

He doesn’t dare make eye contact with his friend. “Nothing.” 

Javy scoffs, clearly not buying any of Jake’s bullshit. “So what, ignoring Thumper and acting like an asshole is nothing?” Hand it to Coyote to call it as it is. “She thinks she did something wrong, you know. And it’s killing her.” 

That breaks a bit of Jake’s resolve. “She didn’t do anything. I swear, it’s not her.” 

“Then what? Because she doesn’t deserve to be thrown off to the side, let alone by you of all people.” There’s an unspoken understanding that passes between the two of them by his words. 

Jake knew he was right. Him, who promised he’d never leave hanging despite what everyone said about him. By avoiding you, he was doing just that. He tried so hard not to let the conversation he had with his brother this morning get to him. Yet after seeing how you interacted with his brother, he was suddenly in high school again. Left to his own devices, watching as Luke took away every good thing that Jake had. He didn’t stop to think that he was driving you right into Luke’s arms by his actions. “You’re right.” Jake finally submits. “It’s fucking Luke again, you know? He called me out on my feelings for Thumper and said some things that made me see red.” 

“What things?” 

“Just something along the lines of him being a better guy than me. You know, the usual. Then he spewed some shit about Thumper not feeling the same towards me.”

Coyote raises a brow. “And you believe him?” 

Jake dryly laughs. “I was really trying not to until I saw how she was with him. God, thinking of them together is already enough to make me sick.” 

“You know Thumper. And Thumper knows you better than Luke. I highly doubt that she’d ever go for a guy like him. Not when she has you.” Javy places a confirming hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Don’t let him get to your head again. Use that brain of yours to take your control back instead of letting him control you.” 

Jake’s shoulders deflate. “I don’t want to lose her, Javy. Especially not to Luke.” 

“You won’t, alright? You won’t lose her. Not to Luke, not to anyone. That girl loves you as much as you love her, hell, maybe even more!” Javy lightly chuckles. 

He blushes red at his statement. “Who said that I love her?” 

“Jake, I knew you were attracted to Thumper but it was pretty much implied the second you jumped the gun and invited her to come home with us. You would never bring anyone home. You don’t trust anyone enough to do that. And yet…” 

It doesn’t hit him like some kind of epiphany. The realization that he loved you, that he was in love with you flowed through every inch of his body. Because deep down, he knew the feeling was always there. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on you at Top Gun the second time, that you were it for him. That this was fate giving him a second chance to get to know the aviator who blew him away the first time he was at Top Gun and to actually muster up the guts to make a move. Jake Seresin was in love with you. He didn’t feel surprised as it dawned on him. It was why he knew all the little details about you by heart. Why he needed to keep his eye on your drink the entire time whenever you guys were at the bar. How every touch the two of you shared felt like magic. How naturally his body just melted into you. He didn’t feel surprised that he loved you because his body already knew it from the start. Only now, was he able to put that tug, that aching feeling in his chest that he got whenever you were around, into words. It was love. This entire time, what he was feeling was love. 

“I love her,” he says, like a secret only to be shared between him and Coyote. “I love her,” he says again with more conviction in his tone. “I love her,” he states. It’s a truth. It’s a fact. He loves you. He loves you and he needs to tell you before his heart bursts. “Come on, we should go find her now.” 

Jake leads the way like a man on a mission, remembering the store you told them you would be at. A newfound fire burns in his chest as he repeats those three words in his head like a mantra. He’s buzzing with hope, anxious but eager to find you and say those three words that linger on the tip of his tongue. 

He enters the department store with Javy right on his tail. Jake makes a beeline to the women’s clothing section when he hears your melodic laugh. He follows it like a moth to a flame, incapable of wasting another second away from you. 

Coyote can barely keep up with his friend as he has to jog to keep up with him. However, Jake abruptly stops causing him to run straight into his back. “Dude!” he exclaims. 

Jake’s body goes rigid, his shoulders taut, making alarm bells go off in Javy’s head. He peers around his shoulder to see what had him floored when he sees you and Luke looking a little too close for a public setting. Luke’s hand is in yours and your mouth is slightly agape as he seems to lean into you. 

He looks from you, to Luke, to Jake, and if it weren’t for his brother’s boisterously loud greeting once he saw they were standing there, Javy was sure he would’ve been able to hear Jake’s heart shatter. 

____________

Luke showing up at the mall was the last thing any of you expected to happen on your outing today. You were caught by surprise when you heard your callsign being called in the store. There were only so many people who actually knew you in this town, and for a moment you were quite startled. That was until you turned around and saw Luke Seresin heading your way. 

The rest of the day took a weird turn from there. Jake and Javy had found the two of you and Javy, a little too enthusiastically, decided to join the two of you in your shopping. Well, you were shopping and Luke was being a bit of a bother. 

You had wanted to go to the ice skating rink after shopping today, but something about the way Jake and Luke were eyeing each other made you decide that it probably wasn’t the best day for that. 

Jake’s mood hadn’t changed since the last time you saw him, but at least he was talking to you a  little more now. It wasn’t completely better, but it was a start. You noticed the constant back and forth stares the brothers shared and the way they puffed their chests whenever one of them got a little too close to the other. 

You were getting tired of the two’s antics and decided to just head back to the ranch. At least there you could lock yourself up in the bedroom and have some peace. 

You dropped Javy back off at his house and went back for dinner at the Seresin’s yet the weird atmosphere between you and the two boys didn’t seem to waver. Luke had spent the entire meal talking your ears off about God knows what. You had zoned out, far too occupied with the other Seresin beside you who had barely spoken to you the entire day. After dinner, instead of sticking around to chat like you usually would, you excused yourself onto the back deck where Jake had disappeared not long ago. The deck had frozen over just a bit and you tried your best to wobble your way to Jake. 

He must have heard you because he turns around to meet you. You open your mouth to speak, taking another step forward when you slip. A yelp leaves you and you’re falling forward with your eyes closed, your reflexes far too slow to catch yourself. 

Jake, on the other hand, bolts forward to catch you in his arms. He almost slips as well but nearly regains his balance as you hold on to him tightly with your arms wound around his waist. 

“Sorry,” you breathe against his chest. 

His heart skips a beat and he continues to hold you close. You try to bring yourself back to a stand but your knees buckle and you end up slipping again. 

“Shit!” Jake lets out, shuffling to hold you up. He slides one arm around your lower back, pulling you flush against him, while the other wraps around your shoulders. You’re shaking from the cold and the adrenaline of the entire situation. Jake leans back on the wooden rail of the deck, but doesn’t let you go. He rubs a comforting hand up and down your back, relishing in your closeness as you bury your face into the crook of his neck. “You’re okay, I’ve got you,” he mutters. “It’s okay.” 

“I’m sorry,” you whimper this time, feeling the pain in your chest rise. You missed him. Jake had been here the entire time, yet all it took was one day of him barely talking to you and you missed him. 

“It’s okay.” Jake sighs into your hair. He doesn’t know what you’re apologizing for, but in his eyes, you can do no wrong. So to him, you were just spouting empty apologies. If anyone had something to be sorry for, it was him. 

You had finally stopped shaking. There was no reason for Jake to still be holding you and yet you didn’t want him to let you go. “I’m sorry,” you say once more, though you don’t really know what you’re apologizing for. 

He doesn’t answer you then. He just rests his chin on your shoulder. Jake’s touch felt different than the other times he has held you. You felt him everywhere. In your bones to the tips of your fingers, everything else beyond him ceased to exist. 

You don’t know how much time has passed before you’re finally letting go of him, remembering why you followed Jake out there in the first place. 

“Are you okay?” You peer up at him from under your lashes. 

“It’s nothing you need to worry about sweetheart.” He smooths his hands up and down your arms. “I promise.” He tilts your head up to face him so you can see the earnest look in his eyes. 

“Alright. But I still worry about you anyway.” 

He smiles softly. He knows you do. It makes him regret his reaction earlier even more. “I’m sorry about today. How I treated you wasn’t fair. I was just going through some stuff and–” 

“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself. I know you don’t like doing the whole feelings and vulnerability thing,” you dismiss. 

Jake appreciates how you just seem to understand him without him having to explain himself. He didn’t, however, get how you didn’t notice that you were the only person he was openly vulnerable with. What more could he do to make you understand that he wanted you to have every part of him? 

You move to lean up against the rail beside him. The Texas night sky is much clearer than the one in San Diego, giving you the perfect view of the stars. It was cold enough that you could see your breath out there, but you didn’t mind. “It’s beautiful out here,” you direct your words to the stars. 

Jake stares at you with full blown adoration in his eyes. “It is, isn’t it?”

You lean your head on his shoulder, admiring the view. 

Now was perfect, Jake was sure of it. You under the pale moonlight pressed up against his side with that dreamy look in your eyes…

Seeing you with Luke earlier that day made him realize that he could lose at any minute. And he couldn’t lose you, not to his brother. Not to anyone. Jake Seresin was done living under his brother’s manipulation. He was done being a coward. 

“Thumper.” 

“Hangman,” you parrot. 

There’s no going back. Take a breath and take the shot. It’s as easy as flying. Almost. 

“Hey, you two! Get inside. It’s freezing out there!” Mrs. Seresin hollers from the open door of the back deck. 

Jake lets out a heavy sigh, hanging his head low as you pull away from him. 

“Your mother’s right. We should head in.” You nod towards the door. 

He follows you in, silently cursing at the night sky for having his perfect moment ruined. 

“Wait!” His mother exclaims, stopping the both of you. 

Jake places a gentle hand on your hip to avoid running into you. “What, Ma?” 

She points up at the door frame with a giddy smile and the two of you glance up to see a cluster of green above your heads. 

“Oh…” You rub the back of your neck, sheepishly. 

Luke and Mr. Seresin enter the room, curious to see what the commotion is about. Luke has a sour look on his face while Mr. Seresin watches on in amusement. 

“Well?” His father pushes while Luke snorts. 

“He’s not gonna do it, Dad,” Luke laughs. 

You snap your head towards him with distaste. You don’t miss the way Jake’s face falls at his words. 

Jake’s cheeks are pink and it’s not because of the cold. Hand it to Luke to make Jake feel like an idiot in front of the girl that he loved. 

You turn to face him with wide eyes. “It is tradition,” you say softly. 

He masks his surprise with a cough.“I guess it is.” He leans in, meeting you halfway. Jake stops with the tip of his nose barely brushing yours. His eyes ask you for permission and you subtly urge him ahead.

The second your lips touch his, Jake’s sure he never wants to kiss another woman ever again. You’re pressed to his chest with your hands reaching up to pull him closer by the neck. Your lips mold together like pieces of a puzzle. No other kiss has ever felt so real. So right. 

The wait was worth it. He would finally be able to confirm that you were just as incredible as the fantasies he painted in his head. 

Your lungs start to burn and to your dismay you untangle yourself from him, gasping for air. Your lips tingle as you pull away and you can still taste him faintly on your tongue. Jake had just given you the best kiss you’ve ever had. 

You stare into Jake’s eyes that are as dark a shade of green as the mistletoe on the door. The quickening pace of your heart terrifies you as your brain tells you to kiss him again. You want to. You’ve never wanted anything more than to kiss him again. To have his hands roam every inch of your body, your bare skin. You want him. But you can’t. You can’t ruin this. You can’t risk losing the one good thing you worked so hard to have. 

You take a large step back from Jake who had been eyeing you wearily upon noticing your apprehensive state. 

“Thumper,” he breathes. 

You swallow harshly, darting straight to the staircase startling Jake and the rest of his family who you forgot was still there. 

You turn on your heel, quickly glancing over his family before landing on Jake. There’s an unreadable expression on his face and you have to bite your tongue to stop yourself from crying. 

“Goodnight,” is all you say before rushing upstairs and locking yourself in the guest bedroom. 

Your emotions begin to bubble up to the surface the second the events of the night have a chance to sink in. 

You just kissed Jake Seresin, your best friend. And you liked it. You would do it over and over again if you could. 

But Jake would never go for someone like you. Not in a million years. You’ve seen the women he flirted with at the bar and went on dates with. You were definitely not his type. You could never compete with them. Not by a long shot. Jake saw you as a pal. A good buddy. A friend. Not someone he would be romantically attracted to. You were sure of it. Never, in a million years, would you be good enough for Jake Seresin. He deserved more. He deserved better. 

When you let Jake in all those years ago, you never thought that you would end up falling for him too. After tonight, there was no more denying how strong your feelings were for your best friend. All it took was one kiss to confirm that what you were feeling was real. But you wouldn’t let yourself get hurt again. You swore to keep your heart locked away in the confines of your brick walls after what happened last time. Those same walls that Jake had managed to break down within one month of knowing you. 

Jake Seresin was a shoulder to cry on when no one was around. He was an ear to listen to all your crazy rants and terrible dad jokes. He was a home when you didn’t have one. Little did you know that he was also the key to unlocking the chains you kept wrapped around your aching heart. That he was the key to finally setting yourself free. 

a/n: thank you so much for all the love you’ve given this series!! it really keeps me motivated to continue writing. i’m thinking of having another part of this specific chapter that goes more into thumper and her backstory, if that’s something anyone is interested in. anyways, as usual, the inbox is always open for any of your thoughts/questions you may have. happy holidays! i love you all <3 

taglist: @joaquinwhorres​ @bobfloydsbabe​ @t-nd-rfoot​​ @gretagerwigsmuse​​ @marantha​​ @mountainrooster​​ @gcidrvsh @smoothdogsgirl​​ @pr3ttyboysmakemecry​​ @steve--harrington--gal @marrianena​ @cdauni @gigisimsonmars​ @bookaholics-stuff​ @dempy​ @potato-girl99981​ @captain-beskar​ @novagreen04 @enigmalynne​ @teacupsandtopgun​ @rhirhikingston @harrycherrylove

[demonicheadcanons]

Haha and okay I just saw that your askbox is open and read your rules, so if you don't mind, could I please request some hcs for Beel, Mammon, Asmo and Belphie and how they like to cuddle with mc? Cuddle hcs basically lol. If four is too many please feel free to adjust this! Thank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful day 🥰

The Obey Me Brothers: Cuddling / Sleeping Headcanons

AN: Sorry this took a while!! I decided to write for all the brothers because I have a tiny rough draft of cuddle headcanons back from like, the first week I started the game. Mammon’s was the first I came up with, and I filled in the rest from my impressions of the boys from the first 4 lessons. They’ve evolved since then, and I hope they’re alright!! Take care 💙

Brother x reader writing style. Gender neutral reader as always. Written on mobile primarily so excuse any formatting mistakes please ;u; I only go on PC to add finishing touches and a read more

Some things may come off as suggestive, but aren’t really intended that way except for Asmo’s - this is fluff through and through

Lucifer

- Ideal cuddles: Likes to have you lay on his chest in his bed. He doesn’t want his brothers intruding and annoying him or pulling his attention away from you, so his room works best. There’s something about being able to look down and immediately see you there that almost gives him butterflies. It settles him immediately. He’s canonically not a morning demon, but waking up to that sight and knowing you trust him and feel comfortable around him gives him enough motivation and hope to do anything. Getting through the days becomes a breeze when he knows he can return to that most nights. He’s also a real delight to see on those early mornings - tired, but his smile brightens up his eyes, and his hair is a mess over the pillows. He’s not stressed out yet, so he’s fully relaxed and looks quite elegant.

Sadly, he’s often busy, and regularly misses out on sleep. At times like this, he likes having you curled up in his lap whilst he works, so long as you don’t distract him. He’ll press occasional kisses to your temple and you can nap or read or just lay there and listen to the music he always has playing when you’re in his study.

- He has to be very close to the MC to let them cuddle up to him, and initially he’s a bit stiff and awkward because he kind of forgot what this feels like. For the first while he’s quiet every time you cuddle him, wrapping his arms around you and leaning his head against yours and staring off into the distance. He’s touch-starved. Give him a moment.

- Once he settles and starts to get used to affection, if you two are alone he’ll walk up and put his arms around your shoulders and pull you in for hugs, leaning his chin against the top of your head. One time, months into whatever relationship you have, he does it in front of his brothers without thinking, and whilst he feels embarrassed after he realises he doesn’t mind - somewhere between him seeing it as staking a claim, because he’s still the avatar of pride, and between feeling comfortable enough in your presence that he can’t bring himself to care how they’ll react.

- On his rare days off, will absolutely whisk you off somewhere else for a day out in the Devildom and a night in a cabin or hotel or something where no one will bother the two of you and he can hold you in his arms for as long as he wants to and talk to you about everything that comes to mind, completely free and relaxed. He’s one to mumble about something or other when cuddling, unless he’s working, so when the two of you are just relaxing together he’ll ramble about something or ask you questions and listen to you talk.

- Once Luci said something that made you laugh whilst you were laying with your head on his chest and he knows he’s never going to forget about it. Will intentionally try to make you laugh so that he can experience that again. He was an angel once and yet, nothing feels more like heaven to him. Only thing is he’s not above teasing and tickling you to get a reaction out of you, so long as it’s one that might end in you laughing and smiling up at him, and you’ll feel his own laughter rumbling about in his chest.

Mammon

- Ideal cuddles: In your bed - it smells like you and it’s tidier than his room, probably. He likes to have his arms wrapped around your midsection whilst facing each other, on your sides. He also doesn’t mind if you use his chest or shoulder as a pillow, so long as you both have your arms around one another. Often times he’ll bury his face in your hair to take in your scent and because it’s soft and calming. By the time you wake up, he’s going to end up wrapped around you like a koala.

- Adores cuddling on days off when the two of you don’t have to leave for longer than a few moments at a time, especially in a place where his brothers won’t bother you; think, staying in a cabin where it all feels so domestic, you two can wake up whenever you want and make breakfast together and stay practically attached at the hip the entire time, sinking back into bed or laying together on the sofa whenever you want. No responsibilities, no pressure.

- Plays with your hands, or runs his fingers along your side, or tucks one arm up behind your back to hold you really close and play with the strands of hair at the base of your scalp / top of your neck. So long as it doesn’t disturb you heavily, he tends to have some kind of motion, not one to stay still for long.

- He’s quite warm, almost rivaling Beel, so you might have to ask him to loosen his grip on you if you get warm easily. If you do, he pouts and suggests he lowers the temperature of the entire room instead, or buys thinner blankets or gets rid of blankets all together.

- He tries to stay up until you fall asleep because it feels so peaceful and he really feels like he’s protecting you. Also, no one can criticise him or be rude to him when they’re sleeping. Even if you don’t ever talk down on him, his brothers weigh him down, so watching over you whilst you rest in his arms makes him feel so much better without worrying that you’re judging him.

- One time you two were cuddling and he just started crying quietly, because damn, he’s the luckiest demon in all the Devildom and even Lord Diavolo would be jealous of him right now. He’s an emotional cuddler, and will randomly tear up or start chuckling to himself. He’s quiet and doesn’t usually voice his thoughts when cuddling but you can tell he’s thinking constantly and always really happy.

- He gets shy easily enough but he’s also possessive, and he’s not one to turn you down. Because of this he honestly doesn’t care where the two of you cuddle, or who sees. His grip gets a little tighter around you if his brothers walk in and you’re curled up together on the sofa or something, but he wants to be held 24/7 and any mild temporary discomforts are more than worth it when he’s with you.

Leviathan

- Ideal cuddles: Please lay on top of his chest. Literally just lay on top of him. He melts every single time. His bathtub bed is perfect for this, because there’s really no other way to lie unless you want him to lay on top of you, so he prefers cuddling there - that, and it helps him stay cool, and he gets to be in the safety of his own room. In an actual bed, he’s the little spoon all the way. It’s hard to convince him you truly like him, but when you cuddle up against his back and wrap your arms around him he feels a little safer believing you might be telling the truth. It also makes him feel really safe and comfortable, a barrier from the outside world that he rejects daily.

- It doesn’t happen very often, but Levi is one of the brothers most likely to sleep in his demon form, and occasionally when you’re cuddling he’s so relaxed he takes on his demon form without really thinking about it. He says sorry and, half asleep, offers to turn back, but if you’re not uncomfortable then he starts to do it more often. He’s mindful about his horns and prefers to cuddle in his bathtub so he doesn’t tear any of your pillows or accidentally jab you with his horns.

- He’s somewhat cold to the touch unless he forces himself to raise his internal temperature. You’re unlikely to overheat whilst cuddling with him, but you’ll need a thick blanket or you may end up shivering after a few minutes, at which point he’ll try his best to be warmer and apologise profusely. He hates being warm, though - best to just go for the layers of blankets.

- Y’know that one thing where (usually) a girl goes up to her boyfriend and climbs into his lap whilst he’s gaming? Adores that. Oh, it makes him so, so happy. The first time you do it he drops his controller and after a minute of startled silence where you wonder just how red his face can get, he wraps his arms around you tight enough that you feel your spine click, and he buries his face into your neck and stays there for as long as you let him. He’s so flustered and yet, you can tell he’s happier than he’s ever been. It instantly cheers him up no matter how bad his mood is. It’s even better if you’re playing a game on a handheld system whilst he plays or watches something and the two of you are just, wrapped around each other but still doing your own thing. He just wants you close to him. He just wants to know you like him. Please give this boy cuddles.

Satan

- Ideal cuddles: Like Mammon, in a bed he likes to have his arms around your waist and for the two of you to be facing each other. Your room would be ideal but he would really rather be in his so much he ends up cleaning all the books off his bed just so he can cuddle up with you. He also likes the idea of cuddling up under a tree somewhere, or in one of those plush window seats, where you two can look out over the Devildom and he can point out different places and talk about them all - Satan has connections everywhere, and you’ll feel like you know everyone by the time he’s done.

- Satan isn’t particularly warm or cold. His temperature varies with the seasons, but he’s mostly just lukewarm. This means you’re unlikely to overheat or be too cold when you cuddle, which is always good.

- He likes to read to you or have you read to him, or ask questions back and forth to prod at each other’s minds a bit. A talkative cuddler - there are brief moments of silence, but he’s thinking constantly and he wants you to be involved in that, just like every aspect of his life. There’s usually a clear connection between one of his thoughts and the next, and he’ll have calm discussions about thinks with you in his arms.

- Only falls asleep first if he’s really, really tired. Otherwise he’ll stay up and read or talk to you until you fall asleep. Like Mammon there’s something about the peace, something about knowing you trust him, that you don’t see him as his anger, nor as his false personality that he puts on to please the others and maintain a decent status in comparison to Lucifer. You just see him as he is. He thinks about this a lot as he pets your hair.

- Speaking of petting your hair, he has a tendency to run his nails over your scalp when you’re in his arms. If you’re uncomfortable it would be best to tell him early on before the habit is set in stone. His main source of affection comes from the stray cats he feeds outside, so he just uses whatever knowledge he’s gained from that. This also means he’ll take one of your hands in his arm press gently into your palm with his thumbs, like he’s pressing the pads on a cats paw.

- Feels close to normal when he’s cuddling. Like he was never born solely of one emotion, because he feels so many in those moments that he really could be a whole on his own. He’s not one to hide this, and will openly vent to you about it. As well as this, he’s quite likely to come straight to you if he isn’t feeling well and needs cuddles to settle down. The only exception is if he’s really angry and is worried he might hurt you by accident. Even then, if you can get close enough to take his hand or wrap your arms around him, there’s a large chance he’ll settle enough to hold you in kindness and he can begin to heal.

- He doesn’t talk about it openly but one time he’s in an awful mood and you grab his head and hold it against your chest until he lets out all his emotions and feels better and it becomes his favourite thing in the world. He loves to cuddle with his head against your chest and your fingers running through his hair. You can tell that he adores it because he ends up purring and nuzzling his face against you. Unlike Luci, he hasn’t been to heaven, but he’d be able to describe the feeling of it much better than God himself could using just that embrace as his reference point.

Asmodeus

- Ideal cuddles: “Whatever you want, honey.” He isn’t picky, he just wants to be touching you in any way possible. However, he really likes laying with his head on your stomach or chest - especially if he can press light kisses against them. He wants some skin-on-skin contact, even if its holding hands or one of you burying their face in the other’s neck, or pressing feathery kisses to the insides of your wrist. It soothes him. He can’t stop himself from grinning if you nuzzle into his neck.

- He’s just the right temperature for cuddles. He’s on the warmer side, but whatever the perfect temperature is for you, he’s there. When he sleeps on his own, he likes to have a lot of blankets piled up, and then have a fan on to balance out the temperature, and he’ll push for the same setup when you’re cuddling together.

- One of the brothers who will go up to you when he wants attention. He’s the least shy, and will happily throw an arm around you anytime, anywhere. Honestly if it doesn’t bother you, he’d pull you into his lap in public or in front of his brothers and cuddle you close to him. The only problem he could possibly imagine is that other people are jealous of the two of you, so you’d really have to sit him down and explain if PDA isn’t at all your thing. Happy enough to link pinkies if that’s all you’re comfortable with, but he needs a lot of affection, so expect him to essentially trap you in his room later so you spend time with him.

- King of gentle kisses and soothingly rubbing your arms / back if you’ve not had the best day. He doesn’t mind whether you two talk or not, but on bad days he’s the best to go to - he’ll listen to everything you have to say, and verbally destroy anyone who’s annoyed you, all whilst holding your head to his chest and tracing shapes against your back.

- Loves loves loves listening to you talk about your day and then filling you in on his own. He’s a gossip but harmlessly, and will talk about whatever’s trending currently, keeping you up to date on everything. If he really wants to show you something or take a photo with you he likes to cuddle up with an arm around you and hold his phone in his other hand, scrolling through whatever social media he’s found this really interesting or horrible thing on. Otherwise he’s quiet enough, with mumbled words of affection and some suggestive jokes (and touches, if you’re comfortable. He won’t go anywhere with it if you’re just cuddling). He’s just happy and he wants to soak in it for as long as possible; he finally understands how people feel when they fall for him, he says

Beelzebub

- Ideal cuddles: Big spoon. Preferably in his bed rather than yours. He wants to wrap his arms around you, especially if you’ve already got your arms wrapped around yourself so that he’s essentially holding your hands at the same time. He buries his face at the base of your neck / top of your spine. He also really, really loves just having you cling to him in some way, and will carry you around like that - usually he loves having you curled up in one arm whilst he goes about his day or eats.

- He is so warm, but if you’re laying down he’ll insist on having a blanket because it keeps him safe from the monsters in his closet :( You’ll definitely need something to cool you down, and he gets into the habit of getting you a glass and a large jug of water before you cuddle up together because you have to stay hydrated and it should help you cool down at least a little. Get him a thin blanket and a fan of some kind and it should just about balance it out.

- He’s the opposite of Belphie, in that he doesn’t tend to cuddle for long periods of time - he wants to, and pouts any time he has to get up, but even if you help him not feel quite so hungry, he still needs to eat regularly. If you’re asleep he’ll move as slowly and carefully as possible so that he doesn’t wake you up. If you’re awake he’ll gush out apologies and then ask if you want to be wrapped up in the blanket and carried along with him. If you say no he pours a fresh glass of water and rushes out and back because he really wants to spend time with you.

- Sometimes he just gets really excited and happy and he’ll grin at you wordlessly.

- He’s quiet but in the early morning, when he wakes up, even if you’re not awake he’ll press soft kisses against your shoulders and the back of your neck and whisper whatever comes to his mind. He tends to repeat over and over that he really cares about you and that he’s really glad you’re here.

Belphegor

- Ideal cuddles: In the attic on his nest of pillows and blankets, curled up so that you’re both mainly on your backs but somewhat facing each other. No matter what he’s going to end up curling up against your side by the time he wakes up anyway. He also really likes sleeping on top of you, but this is a bit risky because he sleeps like a log and its hard to wake him up when you need to get up to eat or use the bathroom. If you’re not in the attic, the only other place outside of your rooms that he likes to cuddle up together to sleep is the planetarium, looking up at the stars together.

- He’s on the cooler side, but likes being warm - he’s used to the kind of warmth Beel produces. Because of this, he’s liable to snuggling in as close as he possibly can to you to absorb some of your heat. You’re going to become his own personal radiator.

- Unlike Beel, he will cuddle forever. There are very few things stopping him from just sleeping constantly, with the main reason being that he wants to spend time with you and Beel. In fact, you’re going to have trouble getting out of his grasp once he wraps his arms around your stomach and pulls you down onto his pillow nest. Its best to devise a system and let him get used to it - tapping on his arm or hand 3 times, or something like that, and he’ll release you. He’ll also push for you to wake him up. The only other thing that will make him release you is if he brushes a hand against your side and you’re ticklish and laugh, in which case he’ll grin and start tickling you instead.

- Like Levi, if relaxed enough he’ll slip into his demon form. It takes less energy to be in that form anyway, and he likes letting you play with his tail when you’re  cuddled up together. Acts annoyed if you start poking and prodding at him because you don’t often get to see the boys relaxed in their demon forms, but he really enjoys it. Purrs if you pet his horns.

- He’s not at all talkative but likes to listen. However, he’s liable to falling asleep very, very quickly, so it’s not worth saying anything too important to him; he’ll listen, and he’ll remember when he wakes up, but he’s not going to respond effectively in a timely manner.

- Belphie smirks and grins a lot, but sometimes he wakes up earlier than you and he looks at you until you wake up too, and you’ll see his lopsided smile as he beams at you, content. Mornings are okay like that, he decides, even if he grumbles and complains when you tell him you have to start getting ready for class.

[machine-gun-casie]

tavern music

synopsis: corpse hears tavern music coming from your room (gn!reader)

warnings: rpf, reader gets cheated on, kind of unrequited feelings, mostly hurt/comfort and physical affection tho (what im trying to say is that this is mostly self indulgent)

wc: 1.7k

a/n: havent written in a while but i found this in my arsenal, fixed it up a bit and viola. original plans for this was definitely something longer that would end with them being together but im not up for writing rn. been feeling really shitty lately and ive been needing something like this in my life. hope u guys like it ♡

He couldn’t hear it at first. His headset was on and everyone was being so loud on the discord call. When he started the stream, he really thought it was gonna be a long one. But he’s only two hours in and he’s ready to get the hell off because something was definitely wrong.

“Corpse?” His name being spoken finally broke him out of his trance, he only hummed in response. “You’ve been really quiet. Are you sure you’re up for another game?”

“Actually,” he starts as he closes a few tabs, “I think I’ve gotta go. Today was fun, though. Thanks for having me guys.”

After a chorus of ‘goodbye’s and ‘see you later’s, Corpse disconnected from the discord call. “Thank you guys for being here,” he addressed the chat, “sorry I’m ending so early today. I promise I’ll make it up to you next time. Take care of yourselves. Later.”

After hanging up his headset and getting out of the chair he’s been sitting in for far too long, Corpse made the short trek to your room. 

You had only been roommates for less than four months, but Corpse could confidently say that you have become one of his closest friends. Getting a roommate was the last resort that he never wanted to actually resort to. But alas, medical bills were piling up and youtube and music don’t make half as much money as people think they do. So cutting rent in half was the best plan he could come up with. He did have an extra guest room that no one ever stayed in. Of course having someone move into his personal space was terrifying to him. He didn’t just want to post an ad on craigslist or something. So he asked a couple trusted friends to ask a couple trusted friends… And that’s when you came in.

You were the trusted friend of a trusted friend of a trusted friend. When you met, you didn’t make a comment about his voice. Your face sure as hell showed your surprise but you didn’t say anything. To Corpse, this meant one of two things. You either knew who he was but didn’t want to freak him out, or you didn’t know about his online persona and were just genuinely shocked by his voice. It only took a few minutes of knowing you to know that it was the latter. Thank god. You were like anyone your age with social media. You had a few accounts, followed a few people, but mostly used it to stay in contact with friends. 

It only took you guys a week to realize you had way too much in common. After many a late night when he wasn’t streaming, and many an early morning when he was just done streaming, you two became inseparable. Nothing could keep you apart.

Except for one thing.

You had a boyfriend.

There was nothing wrong with your boyfriend, per se. Just the fact that he was your boyfriend and Corpse was not. 

Yeah, Corpse definitely had feelings for you. 

But right now, feelings didn’t matter when he could hear tavern music coming from your room.

He knocked lightly and pushed the door open slowly. “y/n? Can I come in?”

No response came, just sniffles and sobs. The lack of refusal on your part gave him the courage he needed to open the door wider and step into your room. He had only been in your room a couple of times since you had moved in. But he had never been in a room that gave off the feeling of a person so well.

You were curled up on your bed, facing your open laptop screen and the tavern music coming from its speakers. With every sob shaking your chest, Corpse felt his heart break. “y/n,” he murmured softly, “what’s wrong?”

“It’s not working.” Came your reply, heavy with tears. “You said it would make you feel like you're going on an adventure but I still feel like crap.”

“What happened?” Corpse asked as he sat down on your bed, facing you. You slowly sat up and crossed your legs at your ankles in front of you.

“He-” You sighed heavily. “He cheated on me.”

“What?”

“He cheated on me -has been cheating on me- with my best friend. My little brother found out.” You groaned and dramatically dropped your head onto Corpse’s thigh. His hand immediately came in contact with your cheek as he brushed a few stray tears away.

There was rarely any physical contact between you and Corpse. Sometimes you’d give him a high five, sometimes he’d give you fist bump. And there was that one time you came up behind him at the grocery store and hugged his arm to your chest. You immediately whispered something along the lines of ‘creep won’t leave me alone’ followed by a loud ‘hey babe!’

Corpse could barely admit to himself how much he liked that.

But this? This felt good. Corpse’s large warm hand on your face somehow made you want to cry more but in a good way. The tenderness with which he held your face made your heart squeeze as it remembered moments like this with your boyf- ex boyfriend. But then it remembered your brother’s words.

“Hey, what’s up?” You spoke as you answered his call. Your brother wasn’t much of a caller, so it made you worry. 

“Hey, where are you right now?”

“I’m home, why?”

“y/n… There’s something I gotta tell you.” He sighed and you could clearly hear the guilt.

“Did you break my DS!” It was your first thought as you had given it to him the last time you had seen him. “Dude! I’ve had that since I was seven!”

“No no, I called about something else.” He cut you off mid-whine. “But also I did lose the pen.” You huffed out a sigh of frustration but stayed silent so he could tell you what he wanted to tell you. “I saw your boyfriend at the park today.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “And?” How did this warrant a phone call? 

“He was with Bob.” 

When you had met your best friend, your brother was only a toddler. He had decided that her name was Bob, so it stuck. You always called her Bob, she was saved as Bob in your phone, your whole family called her Bob. But you still didn't understand. Why was he calling you to tell you that your boyfriend and your best friend were at the park? 

“Why are you calling me about this? You know that they’re friends, right?” You let out a chuckle, albeit still pretty confused. “They’re allowed to hang out without me.” 

“They weren’t hanging out.” You could hear your brother push out a strained sigh. What wasn’t he telling you? “They were making out on the swing set. As in, both of them on one swing. And I double checked, it was definitely them. I-I told mom and she said not to tell you, but I couldn’t not tell you when I’m the one who saw it!”

You couldn’t bring yourself to say a word.

“I’m sorry, y/n.”

There was no lying to yourself, you had doubts about your best friend and your boyfriend. But you constantly brushed it off. He wouldn’t hurt you like that. Hell, she couldn’t hurt like that. Not after everything you had been through together. 

But you had seen his call log by accident one time, he called her more than he did you. She face-timed him one time to ask his opinion about a dress she was going to buy while you were in the changing room. She had done a handful of things since your relationship with your boyfriend started that made you uneasy. If this was their first kiss, which was something you doubted, then they’ve both been emotionally attached to the other for far too long.

All those tender intimate moments, all those dates, throughout everything, he wasn’t faithful. Not emotionally, at least. None of those moments that you cherished meant anything to you anymore. He had played you. With none other than your best friend since middle school. You didn’t know who to be more mad at.

The thoughts of betrayal from someone who you considered a sister and the hurt of being cheated on made you nauseated.

So when the large warm hand on your face stroked your cheek again, you didn’t mind it. This was Corpse. Not your cheating boyfriend. Not your lying best friend. Corpse. And you knew that he would never hurt you.

“He’s been cheating on me for a while I think.” You mumbled against his sweatpants. “Maybe a couple months. I don’t know.” 

Corpse furrowed his brows in thought. You had told him you were going to visit your boyfriend for your one year anniversary next week. “Weren’t you go-”

“Yeah.”

“And Bob’s been your friend since-”

“Yeah.” Your chin wobbled as you answered. You brought your arms up around Corpse’s thigh and hugged it. It was a strange position, but you didn’t care. He was so warm and nice and hugging him properly required more movement on your end than you were willing to do.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Corpse sighed and reached out to untangle your arms from his leg. He gently pulled you across the few inches of bed between you and sat you in his lap. You wrapped your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, immediately sobbing into his shoulder. “Do you want me to turn off the music?” You shook your head no against him and he chuckled before he solemnly sighed. “When did you find out?” 

“When I came home.”

“But you came home hours ago. Have you been in here this whole time?” You nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were streaming, didn’t wanna interrupt.” You shrugged.

“y/n,” he sighed disappointedly, “you’re my best friend. I can end a stream if you need me.”

“Okay.” Your voice, broken and weak and tired, made him feel so guilty. You had been crying your heart out for over two hours just down the hall from where he was.

He gently grabbed you by your hips and tried to push you away, but you only held on tighter and whimpered. “I just wanna get you some water.”

“I don’t want water.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You.” You whispered. “Please stay.” 

Fuck. How could he say no to that?

So he stayed.

[chernobog13]

ULTRAMAN 5-POINTS BOXED SET

So this puppy was waiting for me at the comic book store yesterday.  I ordered it a few months ago, and after how well Mezco did with the Popeye 5-Points Boxed Set that I purchased a few weeks back, I was excited to get this home and open it.

Mezco’s 5-Points line of figures consists of smaller, 4-inch tall figures with only 5 points of articulation.  Now, normally, I tend to avoid action figures with minimal articulation.  But this is Mezco doing Ultraman, so I had to check it out!

The box sets come with cardboard dioramas that you can assemble for more play action!  The Ultraman and Red King set comes with a diorama of Tatara Island, where they first clashed.  I didn’t assemble the diorama because there is no safe way of disassembling it afterward, and I don’t have a spot to display it.

At first glance, Ultraman is a pretty solid figure..  The sculpt is nice, opting for the more muscular build Ultraman has been sporting the last few decades, as opposed to the slimmer build he had in the original series when he was played by Bin Furuya.

I am, however, disappointed that the silver portions of his costume have been painted a drab gray.  I can see a paint job customization in this fellow’s future.

Ultraman is articulated at the neck, shoulders, and hips (his 5 points).

This doesn’t give him a large range of motion.  And because his feet are rather small, it’s difficult to keep him standing up without using the base that is included .  Luckily, if you were to display this Ultraman separately somewhere, the base is small and doesn’t take up more real estate than the future itself.

Ultraman also comes with two interchangeable arms, so you can pose him firing his Spacium Beam.

The Red King sculpt is also very good, considering the smaller size of the figure.  Red king has such a distinctive look that someone would have to do a very bad sculpt job to make him unrecognizable (and yes, I’ve seen quite a few of those in my day).

Red King’s feet are large enough that he doesn’t need his base to stand.

His 5 points of articulation are his shoulders, hips, and the base of his tail.

Red King also comes with his favorite boulder with which he can throw at or smash Ultraman over the head.

Oh, it’s a duel to the death!

I don’t know whether Red King is surrendering or he’s upset because he dropped the boulder on his toe.

After the battle, it’s time to practice their ballroom dancing.

All in all, I’d give Mezco a solid B+ for this set.  I’m glad that they’ve obtained the Ultraman license, and I’d love to see them do more conventional action figures (One:12 Collective, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!) of Ultraman , his cohorts, and their kaiju opponents.

I like the 5-Points line from Mezco.  I know it’s marketed as a more affordable option for collectors (especially as the prices for everything seem to be climbing).  However, while I think the limited articulation was great for the Popeye Boxed Set, I don’t think it’s the best option for Ultraman.

Besides, you can still do a smaller figure, for less money, and not sacrifice articulation.

As an example, allow me to introduce you to Bandai’s Shodo/Chodo (I’ve seen it spelled both ways) line of articulated 4-inch figures:

Here is the Shodo/Chodo Ultraman figure I just took down off my shelf (he’s not hairy, just dusty) next to Mezco’s 5-Points Ultraman.

The Shodo/Chodo figure is actually painted silver.  He comes with four additional hands (many figures in the line come with even more) that attach to a stand.  The figure also has 16 (!) points of articulation.

The Shodo/Chodo figures are sold in individual boxes which include instructions and a piece of gum (it looks like a Chicklet, if anyone these days knows what those are).

And the retail price is $5-$8 USD.  I could’ve bought between 4 to 7 Shodo/Chodo figures for the price of the Mezco set.

Bandai has dozens of Shodo/Chodo figures that they’ve produced in the last ten years or so.  There is a Kamen Rider line that I’m aware of, but my focus has just been on Ultraman figures.  Here you see my Ultraseven Shodo/Chodo figure next to his older brother.

I will be the first to admit that the stands the figures come with are not the best, although they are great for storing the extra hands each figure comes with.

In addition to the extra hands, the Shodo/Chodo line also has accessories bundles available that contain other different items for the Ultras, including beam effects.

One of the items available in the accessory boxes are stands that attach to the figure via the hole in the back.  These stands, which have clear plastic arms, allow you to place the figures in flying or leaping poses.  I don’t have any out on my shelves right now (shelf space is very much at a premium right now) or I’d post a photo.

I have nothing near a complete collection, but the Shodo/Chodo Ultraman figures I have, including the two shown here, are: Tiga, Zero, Ace Killer, Gomora, Alien Temperor, Belial, King Joe, Bemstar, Baltan, Darkclops Zero, Ultraman 80, Alien Magma, Astra, Zoffy, Leo, Geed, Taro, Jack, Ace, Rosso, Blu, and Ultraman X.

Mandarake used to be my go to place to get these figures, but since the pandemic hit their shipping rates have been astronomical.  You can find plenty of these figures on eBay, but the prices are super-inflated; I’ve seen Shodo/Chodo figures going for over $90!!!!!  A bunch of goniffs, if ya ask me!

My point being, after all that long-windedness, is that it is possible to provide an inexpensive, well-articulated, small-scale figure figure.  Heck, if I were in charge of Mezco (hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?) I’d strike a deal with Bandai to produce the figures for their box sets.

In the meantime, Mezco, welcome to the world of Ultraman figures.  I expect great things from you!

[whump-a-la-mode]

this is such a general thing but defiant villain whumpee slowly breaking pls :)

Thank you so much for the ask!! I hope this is slow enough. It's not exactly the traditional whumpee breaking, but I hope it's interesting nonetheless! Feel free to send in another ask if you want something different ^^

CW//Talk of mass destruction, sleep deprivation torture, brief pet whump mention, forced to eat gross food

"It's over."

There was a weariness to the newscaster's voice-- the kind that those in the profession were never meant to display. The sheer essence of bone-deep exhaustion. A body squeezed dry of adrenaline, until fight or flight turned to fatigue.

But, the fight was won.

"For the last three days, we have been running twenty four hour coverage of the battle occurring downtown. The battle began when Villain's forces attempted to overrun an R&D lab, following the occupation of their original headquarters by our city's heroes.

The destruction has been uncountable. But, it's over.

After a final assault at three in the morning, today, the last of Villain's personal guard fled the stronghold, and were taken into captivity. An hour later, the menace themself was captured.

It's over.

What exactly will be done with Villain is unclear, but Leader has assured us that appropriate measures have been prepared for their secure containment.

As for us? At long last, goodnight Metropolis."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"And good morning, sleepyhead."

Villain could not help but wince as light washed over them in a boiling wave-- the warmth of darkness torn away from them-- as the back doors of the truck were swung open.

"You're making the biggest mistake of your life." They snapped back, hoping the venom in their voice reached its recipient, standing at the truck's mouth.

Hero.

Of course, of all people, their welcoming committee had to be fucking Hero. The biggest asshat Metropolis had to offer. The worst, most stupidly noble, stupidly loyal, stupidly-

Their fury reached a boiling point to which enraged thoughts turned incoherent. It did not matter why they hated the idiot standing before them. It mattered only that anger alone made their veins feel as though they were overflowing with magma.

"Am I?" The noble fool cocked their head to the side, mocking and arrogant. "Or are you just upset that you've lost?"

"You think I've lost?" Villain let out a hearty chuckle. "All this effort, and you've caused me a minor setback, at most."

"Well, which one of us in the cage?"

They narrowed their eyes to slits. Hero was right. They were both staring through the bars of a cage, but Villain was very much the one contained. It was a tiny, steel construction. Large enough to stand up in, and take one step in each direction, but such was all.

Loaded into the back of a truck like some kind of zoo animal. They wanted to scream!

But, unlike the heroes, they could hold back.

"Me staying here to amuse you does not equate to defeat, Hero."

"Is that all you're doing? Humoring me?"

"Do you have any reason to believe otherwise?"

"Plenty." They smirked. "For one, sitting in the back of a truck for fourteen hours doesn't exactly seem like something you'd do to humor me."

Fourteen hours...

"Have you considered that I'm simply playing a long game?"

"It'll be the longest game of your life, then. Don't plan on getting out of here anytime soon. Or, y'know, ever. That's kind of the whole point."

"You really think you can hold me forever?"

"Oh, I know so. If you knew what was coming for you, you wouldn't be taking this so lightly."

"Oh, I'm so scared. What are you gonna do, give me a donut and tell me to hug this whole thing out?"

Hero chuckled, at that.

"Why don't you come and see for yourself?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"You're sure this will work?" Leader cocked a brow, hoping that the teeth marks in their lower lip weren't visible. It was a nervous habit, chewing like that.

"Certain." Scientist had a chipper tone to them-- a student having solved a math problem. "We've been developing this method for months. Trust me, they have no chance."

"None?"

"None. Even better, this technique is more than a simple containment method. It has a progressive weakening effect. Within a few months, they'll be like putty in your hand."

"You know we're talking about Villain here, right?"

"Precisely!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Villain had expected high security.

Of course they had. They'd quite frankly expected something ridiculous. A cell suspended over a pit of lava. Or a shark-infested pool. Or maybe they'd simply contain them through the power of sedatives.

None of the options sounded particularly enjoyable. But, all three sounded better than the room they stood in front of at that moment.

Six guards stood around them, each heavily armed, and not afraid to display this fact. Two stood on either side of them, each holding a chain attached to one of the twin manacles that adorned both their wrists-- they'd expected handcuffs, but two shackles per wrist seemed a little excessive. The two remaining guards stood with one in front and one behind. Their chains were those connected to Villain's feet. One tug, and they'd be face-first on the tile.

The restraints didn't make them want to flee any less. Not when they saw that room. Even chained as they were, they squirmed at the very sight of what stood before them.

It was rather large, though not ostentatiously so. Though, its size was accentuated by the complete lack of furniture lining the walls.

No. There were only two things inside the chamber.

The first stood at the center. A massive, metal ring, perhaps ten feet in height and the same in width. Four cylinders of the same material extended into the circle's center, looking terribly like hungry mouths.

One for each wrist, one for each ankle.

They were going to be splayed out like a bearskin carpet. Not to mention the vulnerability... With their limbs spread in every which direction, everything would be exposed. Their stomach, their back, their head. And they would be without a hope of retaliation.

It was a terrifying thought, but the elaborate restraint was nothing compared to the other thing inside the chamber.

Light.

There must have been a thousand of them. Shimmering, dazzling lights. On the ceiling, on the walls, some even on the floor.

It had not been since Villain's childhood that light had truly affected them. The manifestation of their abilities had coincided with the appearance of their acute sensitivity to the sun. Such was to be expected' a supernatural ability to move through places dark and shadowed, to control the shroud as though it were a thing rather than an absence did not exactly leave one looking forward to the sunrise.

Yet, they were not a vampire. Through gradual acclimation, they had learned to become comfortable with normal levels of light exposure. Spending a few hours under the sun's rays was not a problem, nor was existing within an indoor space, dominated by artificial lamps and LEDs.

But that room...

Villain could not take it. In desperation, they pulled, tugging on the restraints that dangled around them like tails. But, even they were no match for six men.

And, thus, they entered.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Now, I can see you weren't lying!"

The voice startled Villain, sent a jolt through their chest, but it did nothing to raise their head or open their eyes. Not immediately. Lifting their gaze was a task accomplished with a considerable amount of effort, and unveiling their eyes from their lids made their corneas feel to have been pierced by searing blades.

They could hardly see Hero, through the blazing lights.

"You really were trying to humor me. This is hilarious!"

It was with a terribly uncomfortable feeling that they felt fury overtake their fatigue.

"It's only been six days. I can play the long game."

"Is that why you've been hanging around?"

Though they tried, in their manacles, it proved impossible to ball their fists. The metal fit too closely around their fingers, contoured to not allow the slightest shadow of movement.

"Maybe it is, Hero. Maybe it is."

"Maybe." The Hero took a step forth, then another, until they were mere inches from their captive nemesis. "They've really done something here, huh? Ya' can hardly move an inch."

"There's a difference between not being able to and not wanting to."

"Is that so?"

Hero placed a chilled hand on their nemesis' side-- just above their hip, where their range of movement was the most limited by their splayed limbs.

Villain's heart leapt as they felt a tiny spark, jolting through their chest.

Suffering a direct blow from their nemesis was a fate they had only endured a handful of times. Now, there was nothing to protect them from it. Not even the adrenaline of battle.

"They say you're gonna give up, y'know." Hero trailed their hand, up and down Villain's taut skin. "I think they're betting on it, up in HQ. It's only a matter of time. We can all see you're getting weaker. Tired. You aren't great at hiding it."

"What I'm good at is acting."

"You're saying this is all an act? So you won't mind if I do... this?"

That time, the feeling was more of a spark.

Villain's scream echoed throughout the chamber, but there was no one to hear them but the light.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Hey! Get up. Can't you hear me?"

Of course Villain could hear Hero. They'd been hearing their stupid voice every single one of these last...

How many days had it been?

They couldn't remember. Too many.

"There's a difference between hearing and listening."

"I thought this whole breaking you thing would be more fun."

"I'm sorry that I'm not entertaining you."

"Nah, I don't think seeing you strung up like this will ever get old." Like a child, Hero laughed. "Anyways, I brought you some food. It's fish!"

Villain hated fish.

But, struggling would mean opening their eyes. Looking at the light.

And, thus, they ate.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Come on."

A sharp vibration rattled through the restraint frame, and, consequently, to the cores of Villain's bones. But, they did not move.

"I know you can hear me. So get up!"

Hero kicked the frame again, but received the same reaction.

"I thought you were playing the long game. I'm looking for some payoff, here. This new Villain is boring."

Maybe.

Maybe they were boring.

But they didn't have the energy to be anything else. Not anymore.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"What did I tell you?" Scientist smirked. "Like putty in your hand!"

"I still don't understand how you did it." Leader shook their head. "The biggest threat to the city..."

"Oh, it was easy. They've got those weird dark powers, yeah? So they aren't hurt by the light. Not exactly. But, when there's lights on, they can't sleep! Not a wink. You could leave 'em outside and give 'em the keys to your own car, and they still wouldn't be able to escape."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. By the way, who won the betting pool?"

"Engineering department. They said three months, they were the closest. You're saying they haven't slept in three months?"

"Yep! There's not much left of the old Villain anymore, though. So... I mean, now, they can be whatever you want them to be. Do you have any ideas?"

"Hm..." Leader drummed their fingers against the wall. "I have always wanted a bodyguard."

"I thought you always wanted a dog."

"True, true."

"So... why not both?"

"You have a technique for that too?"

"Yep!"

[everything-withered]

Seventeen months is a long time.

He tries not to think about it; measuring it won't make the weight of those weeks, days, hours or minutes lighten any less, but it helped to remind himself that time itself still existed, and it passed whether he could keep up with it or not.

My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, it is four-seven-twelve-three o'clock, he recites to his reflection, and between those words, he became: the bed, the shower, the dining room table, the school bell.

He tried not to notice what being diminished from verb to noun felt like lest he grow too attached and like it -- he wasn't suicidal, but sometimes he wondered, and that's scary enough -- even if it would've been easier compared to the dizziness of the world spinning round and round without an axis to keep him steady.

Living, she's often told him with a weary smile and unfathomable blue eyes, is the hardest part, isn't it?

And in the beginning, he hadn't seen that admission for what it was, and scoffed, but now he knows better, doesn't he?

Even back then, she'd always remind him how much older she was than him, how much longer she's been doing this.

And now all he can think about when she says those words is if that means she's been as lonely as him all that time.

And he thinks.

Between the little notes she'd left him before she went away: reminders to watch his footwork, to practice kido, to remember to thank Yuzu more often, to be nicer to Dad, to hang out with Karin more, to loosen up a little.

To how she glared at him through her tears when he'd tried to stop her from her own execution.

He remembers, with a dull ache in his chest how she couldn't even look him in the eye when she faded from his world like the sweetest of mirages.

And thinks the answer is yes.

At the press of a fingertip to his cheek, he grunts in surprise.

Rukia, teasing and scolding at once, says, "I can hear you thinking."

He squeezes his arm around her waist. "You'd be blushing if that were the case."

She snorts, and while she doesn't poke him again, her hand slides easily into his hair, scratching a little at his scalp just the way he likes it.

Approving, he burrows in closer. "I mean it."

With his words against her skin, she shivers, and flicks his ear in reprimand.

"You really cared about me before," he says, hushed; a revelation, a confession.

"I did," she says.

He buries his face against her neck like that'll stop her from being able to tell how warm his cheeks are. But, at least from this distance, he isn't alone. She's just as flushed, just as warmed.

Rukia inhales, squeezes him tighter; always the hand that reaches back when he's flailing for a life line, for someone to see through whatever bullshit veneer he tries to fit on his face.

"I do."

Ichigo exhales, lets himself be held, and holds her in turn as she rebuilds whatever walls had trembled at the admission. He's patient.

They don't talk about this.

Not unless they're dying. Not unless they're preparing to throw themselves on the wire so the other doesn't have to brace for impact. Not unless they're trying to convince themselves of something stupid: like how the other would survive the separation, the loss, again.

They've tested the theory enough times to know what the answer is.

"Was that what you were thinking about -- that I cared about you then?"

He hums no. "I was thinking that I was lonely before you, and that if you were half as lonely as me, you've been that way a lot longer."

She doesn't reply, but the leg around his hip tightens just a little as if to draw him impossibly nearer still. Like she could open herself up and keep him there, a part of her, carrying him with her always.

"It's not a competition."

"No." But seventeen months was a long time, and she's waited so much longer.

He can't imagine it. Doesn't want to.

Not when he's haunted by his own absence, his inability to exist earlier as if that would make her loneliness quieter, her own lackof less obvious.

"I still wasn't there," and that is shame, that is anguish and sadness and desperation, and its those seventeen months in one big rush.

"You're here now," she says, and though its said soft, it rouses his attention, tugs him to straighten just to see her face -- solemn and lovely and heartbreakingly sincere. "We're here together. So stay, stay with me."

And he huffs out a chuckle because what else is there to be now that they're here, now that they're together?

Ichigo-and-Rukia.

Rukia-and-Ichigo.

Conjoined at the soul; they're a beast of too many limbs that ache with the too taut pull of any distance between them.

He's felt it every day they've been apart, and every day he didn't know for sure she was coming back.

He's felt it in reverse when they were together again, and calling it a reunion wasn't enough.

Not for the sense of rightness it created, not for the way it felt like a cosmic sense of justice prevailed.

Not when Rukia's got his breath in her lungs and his heart in her palm; home and safety personified.

When her arms are full of him and him of her, and that's all it takes to make the world slow just enough to make it bearable, to feel like everything will be okay because he's got her and she's got him, and being alone is just the temporary state between together and not.

Seventeen months is a long time, he thinks, for something like this? It's not nearly long enough.

[luminescencefics]

you feel like home - part eight

It seems that Harry feels the same, because she can hear him replying, “Of course I didn’t forget your birthday! How about you turn the telly on and wait for me, yeah? I’ll cook you my famous eggy bread and we’ll kick off your big day properly.”

Ryan hears Jackson squeal excitedly and she almost wishes she wasn’t buried underneath Harry’s duvet so that she could see his gleaming grin. And just before she can hear the door shut, Jackson asks, “Can we still invite Ryan and Luna to my party?”

story page // read on wattpad // join the taglist // banner credit

previous | story masterlist

*** In Which Five is a Big Number

“Oh my god, Ryan.”

Ryan’s almost positive there’s no better sound than Harry groaning her name. It’s somehow scratchy yet completely audible, and Ryan can hear the little breathy sounds in between each syllable. It’s a juxtaposition of breathlessness and clear-cut clarity, and when her name falls off his lips like a secret, she feels special that it’s only for her ears to hear.

The tip of her nose tickles the thin patch of hair at the bottom of his naval, and when she feels him hit the back of her throat and tears start to spring from her eyes, he lets out another guttural “Christ, Ryan,” and she knows he’s very close to falling apart.

They’ve spent the past two months getting acquainted with each other’s bodies. After Harry finally kissed Ryan in her living room, he carried her over to the couch and they snogged like teenagers—all bitten lips and roaming tongues, knocking teeth and wandering hands. When Ryan started rutting against his thigh and the tightness in Harry’s pants became unbearable, they separated and decided to take things slow.

But that was two months ago. Now, if things went any slower, they’d be stagnant.

Those first three weeks they kissed so much that Ryan’s jaw ached and Harry’s lips were permanently raw. He wanted to take things slow because he assumed Ryan would grow overwhelmed with each next step they took. But one night after Ryan came over for dinner and pretended to say goodnight to Jackson, she waited in the hallway until Harry was certain Jackson was down for the night, and when his front door ripped open and his hands grasped her arms, he dragged her onto his couch and kissed her like he did every other night before that. 

But Ryan was growing restless, and while she thought it was admirable the way Harry wanted to be patient with her, she was practically losing her mind with the way his hands stayed planted on her ass and never went anywhere else, the way his lips kissed every inch of her skin above the neckline of her shirt, the way she would be begging for more and Harry wouldn’t oblige. 

Even though Ryan could barely look at Harry those first two months they were tiptoeing around each other, she knew that right now—with his mouth licking at the underside of her jaw and his hands squeezing the thick fleshy parts of her ass—she was going to fucking lose it if he didn’t do anything more.

Because they’ve finally figured it out. The unanswered questions that were plaguing them in the beginning have slowly been answered with every moment she spends with him. The lingering gazes and unknown feelings finally meant something to both of them. But now—now that she’s had a taste and gotten a glimpse of what Harry could do to her, she’s practically gone crazy thinking about it all. 

Ryan’s never been more sure of one thing in her entire life. And it’s that if she and Harry go any slower, she’ll burst.

So in a blind moment of bravery, Ryan reached down between the pair of them and palmed the growing bulge in his trousers. His mouth ripped from her skin and his head fell back against the armrest of his leather couch, a deep moan working its way through his throat. And when it finally exploded from his parted cherry lips, Ryan could feel herself freefalling, losing sight of everything in front of her and crashing aimlessly below.

“Shit, Ryan.” His voice was strained and Ryan loved every second of it, and before she could have a conscious thought of what she was actually doing, her hands undid the black button with ease and her tiny fingers worked their way through his zipper, and suddenly she was reaching into his briefs and feeling him completely. 

That was the first time she ever heard Harry groan like that, and Ryan’s almost positive she’s been addicted to the sound ever since.

That first night on Harry’s brown leather couch started a series of sneaking in and out of each other’s flats during all hours of the day just to get a piece of the other. Harry would slip out of his own when Jackson was down for his afternoon kip, opening Ryan’s front door and tasting her until he heard his mobile buzz with the sounds of Jackson’s stirrings. He’d sneak out just as quickly as he came, leaving her with a mouth-tingling kiss and the overwhelming urge of wanting more more more. 

Ryan would come over for dinner almost every other night, keeping the hidden touches and stolen kisses between the two of them without Jackson truly understanding what was happening. And when it was time for Jackson to go to bed, she’d say her goodbyes and wait for Harry in the hallway until his grabby hands were on her own, dragging her back inside. They’d fool around in Harry’s bedroom quietly, swallowing each other’s giggles and grinning whenever stars exploded behind their eyelids. 

Harry knew that if he dragged his teeth around Ryan’s earlobe she’d practically become a writhing mess below him. Ryan knew that if she wrapped a dainty hand around the column of Harry’s neck and licked at the piece of skin where his collarbone met his shoulder, his eyes would roll in the back of his head. Harry knew that Ryan was shy whenever he’d start kissing at the skin just underneath her belly button, simultaneously making sure that his green eyes never left her brown ones—because direct eye contact while he was lapping at the most sensitive parts of her body made her want to look at the ceiling or close her eyes tightly. But when they would switch positions and Ryan was the one in between Harry’s legs, she knew that sneaking a glance up at him while her mouth was around him was the exact thing that would bring him over the edge.

And she loved every second of it. She loved being the person bringing somebody like Harry to his end, watching the way his cheeks flushed a deep red color and his mouth opened widely, the way his chest would constrict and his hands would grip the closest thing to him—which most of the time was Ryan’s hips that she happily allowed him to bruise—the way his eyes would shut at the actual last moment, making sure to remember the way everything looked around him before his vision blurred with desire and his body vibrated, completely spent. And when it was all over and he would breathe deeply, a quiet hum resonated through his body that made Ryan’s heart flutter and her body wrap around his own like two magnets with opposite polarities. 

Harry loved how confident Ryan grew around him in these moments. While her cheeks still tinged pink whenever he would compliment her as she removed a layer of clothing, she knew exactly what she wanted and felt comfortable enough to tell him. She would tell him that she liked when he gripped her hair, she would tell him that she liked when he ran his tongue down the front of her body, she would tell him that when he gripped her too hard at times that she didn’t really mind it—in fact, she enjoyed it, she wanted it. And with each time they explored a new part of one another, she would grow much more at ease, until she was the one encouraging him to try new things.

And he was fucking addicted. 

Ryan tried not to make a habit out of staying over, because explaining to Jackson what was going on while she was trying to sneak out of Harry’s bedroom wearing one of his obnoxious graphic tees was completely mind-boggling to her. She didn’t want to make Jackson feel uncomfortable—and while Harry and Ryan both knew that they had to eventually tell Jackson about their relationship, sneaking around and keeping things just between the two of them has made everything that much easier. Because everything felt new and different, and bursting that bubble just as they were exploring one another seemed a bit disheartening.

Which is why when Ryan feels Harry’s hands gripping the base of her neck while he tries his hardest to subdue another groan, she’s immediately brought back to the present. The present— which consists of her sucking Harry off under the covers of his charcoal-colored duvet in the early hours of the morning, wearing nothing except one of his bright jumpers with vibrant lettering and images of kittens littering the front.

And just before he grips her hair harder and is practically careening towards his end, she’s surprised when she can hear the excited pitter-patter of bare feet slapping against hardwood over Harry’s strangled moans.

Before she can even scold herself for accidentally spending another night in Harry’s sheets, his gold bedroom doorknob begins to wiggle. All at once, Ryan tears her mouth away from Harry’s twitching length, muttering a frantic “shit!” from her position underneath the duvet cover. The door springs open before she can even contemplate hiding inside the attached en-suite, and suddenly Ryan finds herself in a position that’s possibly more humiliating than getting rug burn in front of her attractive neighbor almost four months ago—face squished against Harry’s bare stomach, chest flat against his thighs, and legs stretched out around his own, completely buried underneath the duvet.

Harry sits up gently, making sure Ryan’s body is flat against his own and hidden underneath the darkness of his room. “Hey—hi! Bubs, uh, what’s up?” His voice comes out extremely high pitched, and Ryan can’t tell if it’s from the fact that they were nearly caught in a compromising position by his four-year-old son, or from the fact that he was seconds away from an orgasm that never came.

“Daddy! It’s my birthday! Why are you still in bed? We have to celebrate me!”

Scratch that. Five-year-old son.

Without thinking, Ryan pinches the extra skin around Harry’s waist, causing him to jolt upwards in shock. Her brain instantly starts whirring, working in overdrive to try and remember if Harry had mentioned his son’s fifth birthday to her at all during these past few weeks. And when she can’t think of anything, Ryan feels herself frowning against the rigid muscles of Harry’s abdominals, immediately feeling bad about overlooking this important occasion.

It seems that Harry feels the same, because she can hear him replying, “Of course I didn’t forget your birthday! How about you turn the telly on and wait for me, yeah? I’ll cook you my famous eggy bread and we’ll kick off your celebration properly.”

Ryan hears Jackson squeal excitedly and she almost wishes she wasn’t buried underneath Harry’s duvet so that she could see his gleaming grin. And just before she can hear the door shut, Jackson asks, “Can we still invite Ryan and Luna to my party?”

Ryan bites her lower lip to try and hide the smile stretching across her face. She wishes that Jackson already knew about their relationship, because if he did, she’d rip the duvet off of the bed and scoop him up in the biggest hug she could muster, tickling his sides until his arms were wrapped around her neck and she could carry him into the kitchen, waiting patiently for Harry to cook them both his famous eggy bread. 

But unfortunately, she’s supposed to be hidden, and that looming thought turns her concealed smile into a heavy frown. Somehow Harry can sense it, and before their cover gets blown, he tells Jackson, “Of course they can come. Why don’t you grab the invitation we started yesterday and finish decorating it. We can drop it off after brekkie, sound good, Bubs?”

Jackson must have nodded appreciatively, because suddenly Harry’s bedroom door clicks shut and the charcoal-colored duvet is thrown to the bottom of his mattress. Ryan looks up at him with wide eyes, her lower lip bitten and her eyes tinged with sadness.

“We’re dickheads, huh?” Ryan offers, clambering off the bed and trying to locate her joggers on his carpeted flooring. 

Harry watches her, tucking his erection uncomfortably into his tight briefs and selfishly wishing his son had better timing.

“Don’t say that. Just got carried away, is all,” Harry offers lamely, running an exasperated hand through his messy hair when he notices Ryan practically fully dressed in front of him.

“We need to tell him, Harry. He’s got to know something, considering I’ve been going to the park with you guys and joining you for dinner almost every other evening.” Ryan keeps her voice down as she exchanges Harry’s obnoxious jumper for her cardigan and vest combination she showed up here in the night before.

Harry nods, offering, “We’ll tell him. Tonight, I promise. Can you just—just come here, please?” He’s growing dizzy watching her run around his bedroom grabbing her discarded items, and all he wants is to have her close to him so that they can potentially finish what they started moments ago. 

Ryan can tell from the look in his eyes that he’s desperate for her touch. And when she rejoins him on the bed, straddling his thin waist and wrapping her arms around his neck in a quick cuddle, her chest completely flat against his own, she wishes now more than ever that they could wake up every morning just like this.

She lifts her head from the crook of his neck and plants a quick kiss to his temple, before untangling herself from his body and slipping her trainers on her feet. “You’ve got a birthday boy to entertain,” Ryan mutters with a wink.

Harry rolls his eyes from his position on the bed, moaning in frustration when the sudden shift of his body makes his length twitch unforgivably. “How am I supposed to cook with a full stiffy? I’m in pain here, babe.”

Ryan just snickers before throwing Harry the shorts and hoodie he wore last night. “Have a quick wank in the shower, you’ll be sorted in no time.”

“You’re cruel,” Harry complains, slipping the clothes on and adjusting his shorts so that his erection wasn’t so painfully obvious.

“I’ll see you later, okay? We’ll finish this properly,” Ryan offers, snaking her arms around his waist when she notices the smirk threaten to break across his face. His strong arms wrap around her middle, and Harry brings his hand up to wrap his long pointer finger around a stray piece of Ryan’s hair that fell in front of her line of vision. 

“Properly, yeah?” He teases, bringing her closer so that the tips of their noses are brushing against one another. 

Ryan nods with a pretty smirk covering her lips. “Maybe daddy will get a present, too.” Harry drops his forehead against hers, puffing out a frustrated breath that fans against her cheeks. 

“You’re killing me, baby,” he whispers against her mouth, before pressing his lips against hers with a forceful kiss. Ryan’s arms tighten around his body, and when she feels his tongue prod against her lower lip, she backs away, knowing they need to reign it in before they get too lost in one another.

“Later, I promise,” Ryan says, hinting at the one barrier that they haven’t crossed yet, praying that Harry understands what she’s implying.

And when his eyes light up wickedly and he gives her one last toe-curling kiss, she’s almost certain that he knows exactly what she’s talking about. 

He opens his bedroom door and heads out into the hallway first, making sure Jackson isn’t lingering in the bathroom or kitchen as they pass. When they encroach upon his position in the living room—telly blasting Paw Patrol as he lays on the rug with his tummy on the shag carpeting, flannel-clad feet bent behind him as his chin rests against his opened palms comfortably—Ryan gives Harry’s waist one last squeeze before she slips out of the entranceway and into the hallway undetected. 

When Ryan enters her own flat and greets Luna with a sleepy smile, she immediately heads to her bathroom and turns the shower on. As she’s undressing, Ryan peeks at her reflection in the mirror and almost doesn’t recognize the woman looking back at her.

This version has messy hair tangled at the back of her neck from greedy hands knotting themselves through the tendrils. This version has flushed cheeks—but not in the way she’s grown accustomed to. No, this version’s cheeks are flushed because she’s excited, she’s thrilled, she’s exerted her sexual prowess on a deserving man and she’s in awe of the way she can make him practically fall to his knees in front of her, begging for more more more.

This version has love bites littering the swells of her breast. And if she squints hard enough, she can make out the dents carved by fingertips across her hips and along her sides, permanent reminders of the way someone else could want her. Could need her.

And when she looks at this version’s face and takes in her swollen lips from overuse, the bags under her eyes from choosing to stay awake and fool around with her boyfriend instead of choosing to sleep, the smile that seems to constantly grace her lips whenever she leaves Harry’s presence—Ryan finds that she doesn’t want to look away. 

She wants to stare at it. She wants to remember it. She wants it to consume her.

Comfortableness is a look Ryan never thought would suit her, and with each day she lets her walls fall down, she falls more in love with the person she’s becoming. Someone who is confident, someone who no longer lets her social anxiety rule her life, someone who is finally happy with where she is at.

Because falling in love and feeling free somehow coincide with one another. And as Ryan lets the hot water seep into her skin, she knows now that this is where she’s meant to be. 

***

“Fiona, for the hundredth time, I’m not describing Harry’s dick to you over the phone,” Ryan harrumphs through her mobile, reaching for the emerald green wrapping paper and unrolling a significant portion to begin wrapping Jackson’s birthday present.

“That’s not fair, Ry! I’ve gone into exquisite detail about Roger’s!” Fiona exclaims back, pouting dramatically from her position leaned up on the coffee table of Ryan’s mobile.

Ryan rolls her eyes before reaching for the scissors. “Once again, that information was unsolicited.”

“Ugh!” Ryan giggles from her position on the floor of her living room, folding up the edges and covering her gift with the wrapping paper. “I can’t wait until this lockdown is over so I can come by and slap you upside the head.”

“Since when have you become so violent?” Ryan asks, securing the wrapping paper with scotch tape.

“Since my best mate won’t tell me about her apparent dazzling sex life!” 

Ryan puts the wrapped gift to the side and rests both elbows on the coffee table with her back to the juniper couch. Her arms cross at the middle so she can rest her chin on her wrists, giving Fiona her full attention.

“Well, we haven’t really—um, you know,” Ryan begins, her voice nearly a whisper as her cheeks flame in embarrassment. 

“Haven’t really what, Ry?” Fiona presses, always the over-eager one.

Ryan gulps. “Done that.”

Fiona pauses for a moment, observing Ryan through the FaceTime call as she patiently tries to read her friend’s emotions. “You haven’t shagged him yet?” It’s not asked in an accusatory tone, or even a shocked one at that—just complete and utter curiosity. 

Ryan knows Fiona’s testing the waters to see how she feels about it all, and she’s a bit grateful to her friend for not being so glaringly obvious. “Uh, yeah. Haven’t really gotten there yet.”

“Well, do you want to?” Fiona asks.

Ryan looks at her with a dumbfounded expression. “Of course I do, Fee. He’s my bloody boyfriend!” 

“So what’s the problem here, Ry?” Her prodding is nothing but gentle and calculated.

“There’s no problem. It’s just—” Ryan takes a deep breath and sits up straight. “It’s just that I don’t want to muck this up, Fiona. He’s great and he’s kind and he’s so patient with me, it’s incredible. I’ve never had that before. And I love that he’s taking his time—that we’re taking our time. But I just want to be at that next step with him. I want to be able to spend the night without having to sneak out the next morning. I want to feel so comfortable around him that having sex is just easy, and natural, and just—I don’t know if I’m making sense.”

Fiona blinks a few times with a gentle smile on her face, and suddenly Ryan is nervous about her response.

“I’m proud of you, Ryan.” It’s simple, somehow profound in a way, and Ryan just cocks her head to the side in confusion. “Stop looking at me like that, you twit!”

A smile breaks out across Ryan’s face, a laugh ripping through her throat. “You’re just so happy, Ry, and I think a lot of that has come from Harry. Because not only did you find someone who wants to be with you, but you found someone who wants you to be yourself.” Fiona pauses, leaning a bit closer to her screen. “And I think you just need to tell Jackson the truth. It’s not like he’s going to be upset—from what I’ve heard, that boy is already in love with you.”

Before Ryan can reply, she hears the sound of paper scraping against hardwood flooring from the entranceway of her flat, followed by a familiar high-pitched giggle echoing through the hallway. 

She waits a moment before grabbing her mobile and heading towards her front door, bending at the knees when she scoops up the hand-drawn folded invitation on the floor. 

“Should I be concerned?” Fiona asks surreptitiously.

Ryan smiles and shakes her head. “No, no. Luna and I have been formally invited to a very important five-year-old’s birthday party next door.”

She holds up the paper, smiling when she notices the capitalized scrawl at the top of the page, clearly done by somebody who can spell Quarantine Birthday Party without hiccups. Surrounding the handwriting are various images drawn by a five-year-old: a picture of Luna sleeping on Harry’s brown leather couch, two Nerf blasters along the bottom, a pizza with orange squiggles that Ryan can only assume to be bell peppers in the top right corner, and finally Harry Potter along the top. 

Ryan turns on her heel, heading into her kitchen and hanging the invitation up on her refrigerator with a magnet. 

“I’ve got to go, Fee,” Ryan says, slipping her Reebok’s on and gathering Jackson’s presents. 

“Alright, alright. But seriously, everything’s going to be alright, you hear me?” Fiona’s yellow-painted pointer finger is extended to the camera, and Ryan smiles at the sight of her mate trying to be stern.

“Yes, Fee. I know. I’m going to be okay.” Ryan responds, meaning every word. 

Fiona nods and drops her finger, before adding, “And when you finally do shag, I would love a full synopsis on how Harry—”

Ryan hangs up before the blush could coat her cheeks.

Scooping Luna up in one arm and balancing her two gifts in the other, Ryan makes sure the lights are off before slipping out into the hallway and knocking thrice on 4G’s heavy oak door.

Not even a minute goes by before the door is being ripped open, revealing a sight that still manages to bring a smile to Ryan’s face.

It’s Harry—dressed down in a casual pair of brown corduroy trousers paired with a yellow Swim Deep graphic tee that Ryan can’t wait to wear to bed later on in the evening. His hair is held back by a clip, somewhat familiar to the way he wore it the first time they met in the ghastly hallway. And when her eyes finally land on him and he’s grinning like a fool, Ryan can’t help but mirror it, wondering if they’ll always feel like this whenever they see each other.

“Hi,” he says softly, reaching out and grabbing the two wrapped gifts from her hands.

“Hi,” Ryan responds, hoisting Luna further up in her arm so that she’s resting against her chest.

“You look pretty,” Harry says, and when he reaches down to plant his lips on hers, he’s halted in his movements when Jackson appears, practically bubbling with excitement.

“Ryan! Luna! Hi! I’m five!” His chocolate brown curls are in small cloisters framing his face, making his almond-shaped sage eyes twinkle in the light. He’s wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt that Ryan can only assume was gifted to him by his father, and when he skirts by Harry’s leg and stands right before Ryan, she can only grin right back.

“I heard! Happy birthday, champ. How do you feel?” Ryan asks, squatting down on her toes so that she’s eye level with Jackson.

She watches as he contemplates his answer, rubbing a small hand against the fur on Luna’s head. “I feel the same but bigger. I’m happy now that you guys are here, too. Do you think I could show Luna the toys daddy and Auntie Gemma got me? I’ll be quick.”

Ryan nods, handing Luna over to Jackson and watching as he holds her gently and carries her through the living room and down the hallway into his bedroom, chatting with her softly along the way.

When she stands up, Harry’s mouth is on hers greedily, pulling kisses from her lips and wrapping his arms securely around her body as if he was scared she was going to disappear. 

“Mmm, missed you,” he mumbles once they’ve parted. 

“You just saw me a few hours ago, crazy boy,” Ryan responds, tickling her fingers through the curls resting against the nape of his neck.

With one last kiss, he drops his arms. “Miss you whenever you’re not here.”

Ryan smiles shyly, taking a half-step back before Jackson can catch them. “I want to tell him today, Harry. Think he’ll be okay with it?”

Harry looks at Ryan with wide eyes, wondering how she could even fathom Jackson disliking that she was going to be a part of their lives. “Of course he’ll be fine with it. In what world wouldn’t he be?”

Ryan sighs. “I know.”

With one last look, Harry wraps his arm around Ryan’s shoulders and brings her body against his side, cuddling her closely until the tip of her nose was bushing against the veins pulsing in his neck. “I’m gonna miss having you all to myself, though.”

Ryan giggles loudly, hugging Harry closer to her body. “You’ll learn to be a good sharer.”

He pouts dramatically before dragging her into the kitchen, her body still tucked into his side. When she enters the threshold she notices the island countertop is covered with flour—three evenly spherical doughs spread out over top, with ceramic bowls filled with toppings littering the outskirts. 

Ryan leaves his side and looks at him with a quizzical look. “Pizzas on a non-Friday?”

Harry grins. “The birthday boy demanded it! How am I supposed to say no?”

Ryan just smiles before heading over to the sink and washing her hands. When she turns around after drying them on a tea towel, she notices a matching set of white feeding bowls on the tiled flooring to the right of the sink counter. And when she squints, she can make out LUNA etched in black writing along the front. 

“Is this…?”

Before she can get a conscious sentence out, Harry rounds the island countertop and meets her in the middle of the kitchen. When he notices the look on her face is a mixture of complete shock and adoration, he shrugs shyly at her and rubs his sweaty palm against the back of his neck.

“Yeah. Figured if you were going to start spending the night here, Luna could come too so you wouldn’t have to worry about feeding her.”

It’s amazing how a simple notion of purchasing cat feeding bowls for your girlfriend’s kitten can somehow make Ryan’s heart beat wildly against her chest. But it does—and she’s left looking at Harry fondly, wondering if the wicked thumping of her heart and her shortness of breath and the deep look in her eyes can equate to something like love.

“You didn’t have to,” she offers lamely.

Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I wanted to.”

The sudden sound of a phone ringing from the living room interrupts Harry and Ryan, and when he cranes his neck and notices the noise coming from the iPad strewn across the brown leather couch, he steps back from Ryan and starts following the ringing.

“It’s probably Rachel calling from New York. Wants to wish Jackson a happy birthday,” Harry explains as he grabs the device and answers the call with a simple greeting.

Ryan backs away and heads down the hallway into Jackson’s room, knocking on the opened door and crossing her arms against her chest when she notices him and Luna sprawled out on his rug as he attempts to build his brand new Lego set.

“Hey, champ. Your mum’s on the phone,” Ryan says from her position leaned against the doorframe. 

“Really? All the way from New York?” Jackson asks, standing up quickly and grabbing Luna so she’s securely nestled under his armpit.

Ryan nods. “Yeah, go say hi, okay? She wants to wish you a happy birthday.”

“Okay, Ryan,” Jackson obliges, hobbling past her figure and heading into the living room to grab the iPad from Harry. Making sure not to eavesdrop, Ryan returns back to the kitchen where Harry is spreading red sauce on all three pizza doughs. 

She watches him, taking in the way his arms strain against the thin material of his shirt deliciously. When he bites his lower lip as he makes a spiral with the tomato sauce, making sure each pizza dough has the same amount, ensuring he left space for the crust to lift at the edges, Ryan tries her hardest to keep her giggles at bay. She finds it incredibly adorable that Harry is such a perfectionist, even without an audience to watch him.

When he lifts his head up after feeling her hot gaze on him, he smiles at her bashfully before cocking his head to the side, gesticulating that he wants her near him. “C’mere and pick your toppings,” he says slowly, dropping a kiss to the crown of her head when she’s settled against his side. 

They work together in comfortable silence, working around each other in grabbing handfuls of cheese, chopped up pieces of vegetables, scattered slices of pepperoni. When Ryan grabs the bowl of pepperoni slices from Harry’s hand, he chuckles to himself before opening his mouth wide, waiting for her to feed him. She giggles at his immaturity, but eventually obliges, popping a slice into his mouth and letting the tips of her fingers graze his lips until he’s left shivering in his place.

Once their pizzas are finished, Harry starts spreading cheese on Jackson’s, before asking Ryan offhandedly, “Do you mind asking him what else he wants on his pizza? I want to pop these into the oven.”

Ryan nods, trying her hardest not to be difficult. But when she cleans off her hands and pops her head into the living room, she’s suddenly flushed with nerves. She feels bad interrupting Jackson’s conversation with his mum, especially on his birthday when she’s practically an entire world away. 

When there’s an appropriate lull in the conversation, Ryan clears her throat and calls out, “Hey, champ? Daddy wants to know what toppings you want for your pizza.”

She watches Jackson’s neck snap in her direction, an excited smile plastering his face. “Ok! Tell him I’ll pick them myself! Here, Ryan,” and with that he jumps off the couch, thrusting the iPad into Ryan’s hands without ending the call or saying goodbye to Rachel on the other end.

“Jackson, wait! Say goodbye to your mum!” After waiting a few seconds and hearing nothing but silence, Ryan sighs to herself before looking down at Rachel’s patient gaze on the screen. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for him to run off like that.”

When Ryan looks at the screen, she’s a bit astonished when she sees Rachel’s mouth begin to form a laugh. It’s the same expression as the photograph of her in Jackson’s room—full lips parted, mouth hanging open slightly, tongue resting against her bottom layer of teeth. She looks pretty with her straight hair clipped against her shoulders, and when Ryan takes in her bare face and fluffy white robe, she suddenly doesn’t feel as nervous around Rachel as she was in the past.

Because for once, she seems like a normal girl. And when her smile doesn’t break and she’s looking at Ryan without dark eyes filled with anger, Ryan’s not quite sure what to make out of it all.

“It’s okay, pizza is probably infinitely more interesting than speaking to his mum at the moment,” Rachel jokes, her laughter floating through the speakers in a way that makes Ryan crack a grin.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryan offers, trying to figure out how to end this conversation without making their already awkward relationship any worse.

“That’s nice of you to say,” Rachel responds quietly, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m glad you’re there, by the way. You mean more to them than you could ever imagine.”

It’s quiet for a moment as Ryan takes in Rachel’s words. Her simple comment of approval somehow makes the nervous pit in Ryan’s stomach unravel, and suddenly she starts seeing Rachel in a different light. Maybe in the past, she was the villain in Harry’s story, but that doesn’t mean it always has to be that way. Because Ryan finally sees Rachel for who she is—a mum who simply is trying to do her best, no matter how many mistakes she’d made.

“Thanks, Rachel. That means a lot,” Ryan says with a smile.

“No problem. I should probably go, I’ve got a Zoom meeting in an hour. Tell Jackson I said goodbye?” Rachel asks softly.

“Of course. Bye, Rachel,” Ryan says, smiling when Rachel waves just before ending the call.

Ryan locks the device and places it on the end table before rejoining Harry and Jackson in the kitchen. When she pokes her head in and watches Harry appropriately place the pepperoni slices wherever Jackson wants them, she can’t help but smile like a fool at the sight of it all.

And just before Harry asks if Jackson was happy with his pizza, his son quickly adds, “Daddy, can I add bell peppers too? The green and orange ones, like Ryan has,” and Ryan tries her hardest not to gasp.

Harry grins before sprinkling the same amount on Jackson’s pizza, before popping all three into the oven. Ryan decides then to enter the kitchen completely, leaning her torso over the island countertop across from Jackson who’s happily munching on a stay pepperoni slice from his position perched on the leather barstool.

With a quick look at Harry, Ryan wordlessly tells him that now is the best time to tell his son about their relationship. Harry nods before sidling up to Ryan’s side across the counter from Jackson, looking at his son once he’s finished swallowing his snack.

“Hey, Bubs, Ryan and I have something we want to tell you,” Harry starts, watching his son nod happily on the barstool. 

“Okay, daddy,” Jackson says easily, looking between the two adults across from him with wide, inquisitive eyes. 

Harry looks at Ryan before speaking. “You know how we’ve been spending a lot of time with each other lately?” Harry starts, pausing until Jackson’s head starts bobbing up and down. 

“Right, well we’ve decided that we really like each other. And that we want to keep spending time with each other, if that’s okay with you?” It’s quiet as Jackson mulls this over, his hand resting on his chin as he tries to wrap his five-year-old brain around what his father just explained to him.

“Of course that’s okay with me. I like Ryan too, daddy,” Jackson says, his green eyes squinting in confusion as he struggles to understand what Harry is trying to tell him.

“I know that, Bubs. But I like Ryan the way adults like each other, do you know what I’m trying to say to you?” Ryan can tell that Harry is struggling, because his palm flies up to the back of his neck as he rubs it awkwardly, beginning to stumble over his words as his brain begins to work in overdrive.

“I think so,” Jackson starts, placing both palms down on the counter as he cocks his head to the side and looks at both of them from across the counter. “So you like her. And you kiss her, too? The way you used to kiss mummy?”

Ryan looks at Harry with wide eyes, hoping he can salvage the rest of this conversion before it implodes right in front of their faces.

“Yes, but I kiss Ryan because she is daddy’s girlfriend. Do you understand now?” Harry asks.

Jackson nods, looking down at the countertop before lifting his eyes to meet Harry’s. “Yeah, I get it. What does that make mummy, then?”

Ryan blushes, looking at Harry nervously. She can tell that he’s thinking, because how do you explain the difference between a mother and a girlfriend to a five-year-old? 

After a minute passes in silence, Harry clears his throat and says, “Mummy is still your mummy. And well, Ryan is, uh. Ryan is your—”

“—Your friend. Your very best friend, who cares about you and will always be here for you whenever you need me,” Ryan says, interrupting Harry before he stutters all over his words. 

Without thinking, she reaches her hand across the counter and grabs Jackson’s smaller ones in her own, the same way he did to her the first day they met four months ago in the hallway. And once his eyes are locked on hers firmly, she adds, “Think of it as having two women in your life that care about you very much. Do you think that’s something you’d be okay with?”

Jackson squeezes Ryan’s hands tightly in his own before a ginormous grin breaks across his face. Harry can feel his shoulders slump in relief, and when he brings his arm around Ryan’s shoulders and brings her against his side, Jackson just giggles loudly across from them, happily wiggling in his barstool.

“I think that’s just the bestest news ever!” Jackson exclaims, smiling so big that the tiny dimples carved into his cheeks deepen. 

The timer goes off, indicating that their pizzas are complete. Harry rounds the counter and begins pulling them from the oven. Ryan walks over to the barstool and lifts Jackson up from underneath his armpits, placing him on the ground so that he can settle into his spot in the breakfast nook.

After Harry places the pizzas on the table and grabs their beers and Jackson’s juice from the counter, the three of them sit around the table while Ryan cuts small pieces for Jackson’s little hands to grab. 

Once she’s made sure that Jackson’s completely settled, Ryan reaches for her own beer and begins cutting her into her pizza. The domesticity of it all no longer makes Harry or Ryan uncomfortable. Instead, they welcome the feeling with open arms, no longer batting an eye whenever Ryan wipes tomato sauce from Jackson’s grabby hands, no longer falling slack-jawed when Jackson asks for a piece of Ryan’s pizza instead of his own, no longer growing red in the face when Jackson grabs Ryan’s hand when she’s done eating her dinner.

Ryan offers to help Harry clean up, but once Jackson notices the two emerald wrapped presents in the corner of the living room, Ryan’s practically dragged into the living room so that he can excitedly rip open his gifts.

“How about we wait for daddy, champ?” Ryan asks, sitting cross-legged against the floor with Luna in her lap and her back against the couch while Jackson begins strategizing how he should rip open the wrapping paper. 

“I’m too excited I don’t know if I can wait!” Jackson squeals, reaching for the smaller box below to try and guess what’s hiding underneath.

After a few minutes of painfully waiting for Harry, he finally emerges and sits behind Ryan on the couch, caging his legs around her frame. When she feels him settle in behind her, Ryan leans back so that her head is closer to his lap, and Harry begins rubbing at her shoulders comfortingly while they both watch Jackson tear into the larger package.

“You didn’t have to get him anything, you know,” Harry whispers into Ryan’s ear.

Ryan turns so that she’s looking at him over her shoulder, rolling her eyes amusedly and repeating his words from earlier. “I wanted to.”

Jackson’s excited shriek causes both Harry and Ryan to look at him, and when he holds up the brand new Nerf blaster that he tested out with Ryan almost two months ago, she can’t help but grin wickedly back at him. 

“No way! This is so great, Ryan! Thank you!” The fluorescent orange plastic gun sits on his lap as he begins pulling the trigger and watching the empty ammunition compartment spin clockwise. 

“Should I be worried?” Harry asks ominously from behind Ryan, causing Jackson to look from his father to Ryan with nervous eyes.

With a subtle wink, reminding him to keep their secret between each other, Jackson giggles quietly before placing the gun back on the floor beside him. “Nothing to worry about, daddy,” he says, reaching for the smaller yet heavier wrapped package in front of him.

As he begins tearing at the paper, Ryan grows more alert, sitting up straight so that she can see the expression on Jackson’s face when he finally reveals the contents of his present. When the paper is finally removed from the top part of the gift, Jackson gasps when he notices seven varying sizes of books all with the words Harry Potter inscribed on the spine. 

“Whoa.” It’s the first time Jackson’s ever struggled with finding words, and when he turns the books over that are tied together with white tinsel, so that he can see each book separately, Ryan almost swears she can see his mouth open and close repeatedly.

“Figured you should have your own,” Ryan says quietly, reaching over to untie the string so that he can thumb through the brand new pages of his own books. 

“This is the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten,” Jackson whispers, dropping the books to the floor so that he can scramble up to his knees and wrap his arms around Ryan’s neck, engulfing her in a tight hug.

Ryan tries her hardest not to cry with happiness, because out of all of the hugs she’s ever received in her entire lifetime (including the warm embraces Harry has gifted her in the past two months) this hug from Jackson beats them all. His tiny fists knot together at the nape of her neck, and she can feel him squeezing her tighter when her own arms fall around his torso, bringing him closer to her.

“Thank you so much,” he whispers into her shoulder, letting her go and sitting back on the floor so that he can look at his brand new presents.

When Ryan sits back, she turns around so that she can see the look Harry gives her. She’s almost certain that it could be love, but when he leans down and kisses her on the cheek, thanking her profusely, she’s not sure if she’s overthinking it all. 

After the excitement of the party dwindles down and Jackson’s muffling yawns into the crook of his elbow, Harry decides that it’s time for bed. Jackson doesn’t put up a fight, and when he gets up and begins heading into the bathroom to start his nighttime routine, he turns around before Harry can get up from the couch and follow him.

“Ryan? Can you put me to bed tonight?”

His question makes the warmth she feels whenever he looks at her flush through her insides, and when his sleepy green eyes twinkle and he holds a hand out waiting for her to hold, she’s up and by his side without a second to spare. 

She lets Jackson pick out his pajamas, and when he’s too tired to put his head through his blue sleep shirt, Ryan holds it over his body so that he can stick his arms through the holes and she can push it down appropriately. She pulls out the stool for him in the bathroom so that he can step up and brush his teeth, making sure to reach the deep corner of his mouth and swipe his toothbrush over his tongue until his breath is minty fresh. And once he’s finished, she walks him into his bedroom and pulls down his covers, letting him slide in so that she can tuck him in tightly.

“Hey, Ryan?” Jackson asks sleepily, tucking his chin over the folded duvet against his chest.

“Yeah, champ?” Ryan asks, swiping a stray curl off of his forehead.

“Does this mean Luna gets to have a bed here, too? So she doesn’t feel alone in your home whenever you're here?” His question is a simple one, but somehow Ryan can’t find the words to answer. Because she’s spent a lot of time feeling alone in her own home, and in the past two months she hasn’t felt that feeling at all. She’s wondering what it all means.

Before she can answer, Harry pops his head in from the hallway. “Ready for bed?”

Jackson nods, yawning one last time before snuggling deeper into his pillow. “Mhm. Night daddy. Night Ryan.”

“Night, champ. Hope you had a great birthday.” Ryan doesn’t wait for him to respond, instead, she switches off his bedside lamp and flicks on the nightlight against the wall, shuffling across the room to meet Harry’s waiting arms. 

But before the door can fully close, they hear Jackson call out, “Love you both!” and Ryan halts in her steps.

It falls out of his mouth so easily, without question, as if it was something she should already know. And when Harry responds and Ryan’s left staring dumbly at the wall, she’s wondering if it really is that easy to fall in love with somebody else.

She’s thinking about this while getting ready for bed with Harry later that night, exchanging her jeans and jumper for the yellow shirt he wore all day. It smells like him—hints of vanilla and sandalwood, all citrusy shampoo and that distinguishable smell that follows him around. They work in comfortable silence in his en suite, sharing the one sink as best they can. Harry waits while Ryan washes her face, and when she’s hidden behind a face towel, Harry pinches her bum underneath the hem of his shirt and reaches for the toothpaste. Ryan squeals, and once Harry’s begun brushing she does the same, smacking his hands away whenever he tries to bring her backside against his front, dribbling blue foamy toothpaste onto her shoulder. And when they both spit into the sink and head towards the mattress, her mind is still reeling. 

It’s no secret that Ryan’s never grasped the concept of having a home. Growing up, she had two homes with two sets of parents in two different places. And when she became an adult, Ryan moved around more than anybody else—perfecting the ability to live out of cardboard boxes in different flats with different postal codes. 

But now, she’s actively thinking about what Jackson said about Luna having a home here in their flat. Because home isn’t a physical place—it’s a feeling. It’s that warmth, that feeling of wrapping yourself in a heavy duvet on your mum’s couch. It’s mixing up parcels on purpose with the perfect excuse to knock on their door and see them again. It’s that giddy feeling you get when you notice the other person’s tea mug resting on your drying rack, a piece of them seemingly interwoven with your own life. It’s reading a book you’ve read hundreds of times over again to somebody who’s never experienced it before, saying each word as if it were the first time you’ve ever seen them. It’s having matching food bowls for your kitten and a second bed for her in a place where she can make her own home.

Home is having two separate flats but feeling completely safe wrapped around each other on a juniper couch or in a king-sized mattress with grey sheets. 

And when they’re settled in these sheets, Ryan’s legs wrapped securely around Harry’s waist, Harry’s hands crawling further down her body until the tips of his fingers skim the hem of his shirt resting on her thighs, they both know that this is it. This feeling they’ve been running from suddenly makes sense—suddenly makes loneliness feel like the stupidest thing in the world. 

Just before Harry can rip the shirt off of Ryan’s body, they hear his doorknob begin to wiggle for the second time that day. Harry groans frustratedly underneath his breath, allowing his head to fall against Ryan’s shoulder before the door falls open. Jackson stands in the doorway, clad in the same blue flannel pajamas Ryan had just helped him put on, holding a red and orange book cover in his small hands.

“Everything all right, Bubs?” Harry asks once Ryan’s unwrapped her legs from his waist and rolled over so that they’re lying side by side. 

Jackson nods, shuffling into the bedroom inch by inch. “Since it’s my birthday and stuff, do you think Ryan could read to me a little?”

It’s timid and adorable and Ryan can’t help but start to smile, already knowing that she’s going to say yes without even acknowledging that his birthday is almost over as soon as the clock changes from eleven thirty to midnight. 

“C’mere, champ,” Ryan says, patting the mattress happily. 

Harry tries to argue, but when he sees his son’s sleepy grin and his girlfriend’s matching one, he knows there’s no use. So once Jackson reaches their bedside, he grabs him from underneath his armpits and plops him comfortably in the space between him and Ryan. 

Jackson shuffles under the covers, dropping the brand new hardcover into Ryan’s lap. Harry flicks the lamp on the nightstand before turning on his left side, releasing his head on his waiting palm with his elbows bent so that he can watch both of them. 

“Where’d we leave off?” Ryan asks even though she already knows from the dog-eared page in her own copy that Jackson clumsily marked off the last time they read together. 

“The map! Harry has the Marauder’s Map!” he squeals, turning his head so that he’s practically cuddling into her chest.

Ryan giggles and Harry feels himself melting into his mattress. “Oh that’s right. Okay, here we go.”

Before she can let the first word on the page fall past her lips, Harry interrupts, “Does this mean I finally get to hear the Hagrid voice?”

She looks over and rolls her eyes, ignoring the amused twinkle in his own.

Once she’s finished the first page, she can feel Harry’s arm extend over Jackson’s head and reach towards the messy plait falling past her shoulder. With steady hands, he removes the hair bobble and starts untangling the strands, wrapping a wavy tendril around his finger and letting out a quiet but relaxing breath that makes her feel more at home than ever before. 

And with Jackson curling further into her chest and Harry running soothing fingers down her scalp, Ryan should be feeling the complete opposite. 

But when she sneaks a look at Harry as she’s turning the page, she notices that he’s been looking at her instead of the black text carved into the book. And when their eyes lock for a brief moment, she feels time stand still. Her heart lets out a strong string of heavy thumps, her skin feels just the right amount of warmth, and she’s never been more sure of her place in the world. 

She thinks back to Fiona’s declaration of love at first sight, and wonders if the glimmer in Harry’s green eyes and the soft smile on his face is the same expression Roger wore the first time they met in that overcrowded club all those months ago. 

And when Harry scrunches his face, wrinkling his nose adorably and squinting his eyes, Ryan knows for sure that Fiona’s right.

It’s love. It’s always been love.

***

A/N: And just like that, we’ve reached the end of YFLH. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! I never thought Ryan and Harry’s story would go past a oneshot, and I’m so happy that you all have grown to love them as much as I have. I want to thank all of you who have reached out to tell me your thoughts, to those who have liked or reblogged, to those who have recommended this story to somebody else--I truly owe you the biggest thanks. You’ve made this process so easy and fun, and I’m so grateful to you all!

Don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know your thoughts about part eight or everything and anything in between. This story was a submission for the 1DFF Quarantine Challenge, which has other amazing writers participating as well, so feel free to check out the page! Hope you all have a safe and happy Holiday season, and I’ll see you all soon! x

(In the meantime if you’re looking to do some more reading, you can click here for my masterlist!)

taglist: @stylishmuser @vikki1220 @greatestview @verorax @cronias13 @adoremp3 @ilovegolden @taintedwonder @stepping-into-the-light @onlyphysicallypresent @dontwanttobealone @justsaying20 @elemayox @awomanindeniall @ihearthemcallingforyou @halloweenniall @live-at-the-forum @kakayam @harryinsweatersandbandanas @hopelessly-harry @ficnarry @morethanamelodyy @niallgolden @harryswinterberries @caramello-styles @harrysstyle @greatestview @solllaris​ @niallgolden​ @mellamolayla

[itcantbe]

WIP Wednesday

My thing lately has been listening to my favorite songs and albums and then deciding they are zelink in someway. One of those was "Popular Mechanics for Lovers" by Beulah, which led to me writing 1.6k words of a high school au court poet/link/zelda love triangle all at once. I'm still figuring out how I want it to go, and worrying over the high school aspect, since that time of my life was a long, long time ago and things are very different now. Hopefully I can pull it off!

(Mikan is the court poet, so to speak. I used the Sheikah fruit name convention, "mikan" is mandarin orange in Japanese)

“Hey Lank! I need your help, bro.”

Link takes a deep breath, holds it a moment, then closes his eyes as he slowly lets the air go. Just like he let go of his patience. And his dignity. And probably his sanity.

“It’s Link,” he mutters under his breath. It’s four letters. It’s spelt like it sounds. And yet.

“What?”

Link ignores the question, instead taking his time selecting the books he needs out of his locker and slowly shutting the door before arranging his features into a helpful expression.

“What’s up, Mikan?”

Mikan is lounging casually against the bank of lockers to Link’s left. His shoulder-length Sheikah-white hair lays in smooth, shining waves on his perfect head, which has the gall to be several inches higher than Link’s. He’s long and lanky, and dressed in that casual I-don’t-care way that manages to look straight out of a fashion magazine. Link’s hair is still sticking up in back, no matter what he tried this morning, so he scraped it back into his usual ponytail and tried to forget about it. He is also dressed in a casual I-don’t-care way but on him it just looks like he really doesn’t care.

“So, you know Zelda?”

Link sighs again, disguising it as another deep breath. Yes, he knows Zelda. They’ve only been best friends since fifth grade and practically attached at the hip. Until Mikan came along, that is.

“Uhhhh … yes?”

“So I’m going to ask her to prom, but I’m going to do it with a song! It’s going to be epic.”

Mikan says the last word with quite a bit of confidence and flair. To be fair, considering Mikan, it likely will be quite epic. Link isn’t certain what all of this has to do with him, however. He’d rather not be involved at all.

“Okay?”

“Thanks dude!”

Mikan walks off, content that it’s all arranged.

“Wait!”

Mikan turns back, a vaguely questioning look on his stupid handsome face. Link really tries his best to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, to think kindly of people no matter what, but he can’t help it. He hates Mikan. Mikan and his silver hair and red eyes that has half the school school swooning. Mikan and his thousands of obnoxious followers on Instagram and TikTok. Mikan and his blue-checked Twitter account. Mikan and his guitar and his album on bandcamp. (Most galling of all, Link actually likes some of his songs.)

Mikan and his girlfriend. Zelda.

“You're going to play a song and I’m going to … ?”

“Oh! Right! I’ll give you my phone and you’re going to record the whole thing.”

“Why me?” Link now desperately doesn’t want to be involved in this.

“Aren’t you in the AV club? Don’t you make little videos or something?”

Link looks away from Mikan; he thinks if he has to keep looking at him he’ll end up punching him. Mikan’s vapid, self-centered and clueless but he’s friendly, and can be kind and generous, when he thinks of it. He’s never mean, or cruel. He never does anything you could really hate him for. All of the animosity is Link’s. He’s not proud of it.

Mikan is right. Link is in the AV club, and he does have a YouTube channel. He mostly does unboxing videos of collectible figurines. He has about 100 subscribers. He doesn’t make money off of it. Mikan’s YouTube channel has 20,000 subscribers, adding more every day, and probably makes about $1,000 from it every month. Not that Link cares, really. He only looked it up because he was curious.

Link is uncertain why Mikan is insistent on him being the one to film this prom proposal, but he supposes it is a good friend thing to do. Not for Mikan, of course. For Zelda.

[rainbowtransform]

Neither Of Us Will Be Missed

OKAY! Chpater Two is here, up and running! Thank you for reading, thanks for listening, thanks for reblogging and liking! :D

He climbs the trees and the leaves rustle as he settles. The trees are one of the most important parts of hiding from Hunters, and even though Dream’s Hunters usually know his tricks and could try to cut him off, these one don’t seem to. Cat jumps onto the tree and slips off, falling on his feet.

Shame, come Dream’s thought, unbidden. If Cat broke his leg, then he’d be out of the running for the Jump at least. They’d have to leave him behind. Then again, Flame came after Dream with a broken wrist a couple Jumps ago. There’s no way to judge when they’d leave behind a teammate, or when a teammate will let themselves be left behind. 

But if Dream keeps jumping in the trees and if he shakes enough leaves, they’ll think that he can’t be silent in the trees.

(Hide, right now. Dream, hide, hide, hide)

He manages to look through his inventory again, and he rips another loaf of bread and chucks it overhead. The Hunters’ eyes snap toward where the bread dropped and Dream holds his breath. They end up going that way, and Dream sneaks toward the right. 

The first time they’d Jumped was when Dream was killed the First Time. He’d been sent right into a grassy plain, empty except for a sleeping Hunter next to him. Dream had nothing with him, no food, no supplies, nothing. The Hunter looked the same way, but Dream didn’t stick around long enough to exanime it.

Dream had set off running. A sleeping Hunter wouldn’t be sleeping for long, and even though it took the Hunter a long time (maybe three months? Maybe two? Dream couldn’t remember) to Hunt and Kill him, Dream won’t let it happen a second time.

(He survives this one for almost a year. He sees how desperate the Hunter gets and how reckless he gets as well. Dream watches as the Hunter steps into lava for the upteempth time, trying to get to him, seething silently.

Dream called him ‘Flame’ afterward.)

--------------------------------------------------------

He ends up by a river and he looks through his inventory again, searching for a water bottle or something to fill up. There’s nothing and Dream clicks his tongue. That’s not good. But it isn’t the first time he hasn’t had anything.

Why do you have Netherite? Only Hunters get it.

Dream shrugs it off. Hunters are usually the only ones who get Netherite, but then again, ever since they’ve entered the Jump, they’ve always been set back to the beginning. Dream swims across the river, all the while wondering why the Jump suddenly wants them all to have Netherite.

It’s weird, Dream decides. But the Jumps are all weird and Dream’s nothing if he doesn’t take it in stride. When Dream makes it to the other side, he climbs out, shivering. The air’s cool, and Dream takes a deep breath, feeling the cold air. Winter, Dream thinks.

It’s almost winter. 

The Jumps always start in Spring.

The Jumps… always start in spring.

--------------------------------------------------------

“Is he really not ours?”

“Yes! See the mask? Ours is more chipped, plus there’s no scar on his hand. See?” And here his hand’s yanked forward, and flipped this way and that, and he’s annoyed.

“Can he break it?”

“Break what?”

“The curse? The Reset?” 

“What the fuck is that?”

“Every time Mask kills a dragon, it resets him. Or every time we kill him.”

“Yeah, sure,” he says. “So what or why are you looking for this ‘mask’?”

“He helped a traitor escape.” Bad says. “Emperor Schlatt deemed him an accomplice and sent us to get him.”

“But if we knew what he was, we wouldn’t have even taken the job.” George claims, setting down a piece of bread into Dream-who-isn’t-Dream’s hands. 

“What is he?” He asks, tearing the bread into little pieces and eating it like that. 

“He’s a Marked.”

--------------------------------------------------------

Dream falters when he comes to a huge hole in the ground and things are built on stilts. There’s a bunch of houses, but Dream sees balconies and second stories. 

If he gets caught, he can jump from one place to the other; and the roof’s always a good option as well. He’s debating it when someone’s hand sits itself on his shoulder.

He grabs the hand and throws the person over his shoulder and slams him into the ground. A man with green and white hat and green clothing stares up at him.

“Hey,” Philza Minecraft, the World’s first Hardcore-born child says. “Whatcha doing here, mate?”

--------------------------------------------------------

Dream read and heard all about Philza back when he was younger. His mother would sit him down and read him stories about how Philza used to build big things in his world, and how he’d fought two dragons! 

She even told him about how all Hardcore-born children were sent to live in a normal world until they were old enough to realize that once you die in Hardcore, you’re dead. (By that point, many of the children never wanted to return to their Home Worlds), and Hardcore Worlds began to die out.

Philza Minecraft was born and hidden from people who searched for children to send away. How his parents didn’t want their child to be sent away from them, and how so they hide him deep underground. (The older generation had wings that they, apparently, grew themselves. Philza’s parents figured out how)

Hardcore is a hard place to raise children, but it’s even harder to raise a child privately. But at the same time, Hardcore is where wings are grown and minds are sharpened. Philza’s mind was as sharp as can be when his wings were just starting to form on his back. 

“He loved to fly, just like someone else I know,” Dream’s mother would tell him, holding Dream close to her chest as she rocked him. “And he wouldn’t stop flying, not even when his parents begged and pleaded.”

“What happened to him?” Dream asked fuzzily.

His mother hummed. “He didn’t die,” she said. “But some say his wings got clipped and he no longer could fly. Instead, he decided to settle down and adopt three children. Technoblade,”

“A rival,” Dream sleepy calls him, and Puffy laughs so hard, he almost gets up. 

“Technoblade, a rival and so called ‘Blood God,’” she agreed. “Wilbur Soot, self-proclaimed musician and lyric lover. And TommyInnIt, a child who had seen too much in the tiniest amount of time.”

Dream laughs a bit. “He’s a kid?”

“A teenager by now,” Puffy tells him. “You really like listening to these myths huh?”

“They aren’t myths,” Dream says. “They’re real, aren’t they?”

Puffy chuckles. “Of course, duckling,” she said. “As long as you believe in them, then I’m sure they’re just as real as I am to you. Right?”

“It’s a belief thing, right Mom?” Dream asks. Puffy ruffles his hair and begins rocking him and humming a song he hasn’t heard in a long time. Dream falls asleep to his mother’s humming and thinking about a family of four.

(And somewhere else, a hand grabs a teenager’s and helps him climb out of a ditch. A man with wings big enough to keep four boys underneath them blinks. “I’ll see if I can scout out a place,” he says.

“I’ll come with,” a piglin hybrid tells him. 

“Okay, son. Tommy, Wilbur. You two stay here, and make sure we’ve got something to eat when we get back, okay?”

“Got it, Dad.” Tommy says before grabbing Wilbur’s arm and beginning to tug it.)

--------------------------------------------------------

“Is it true?” Dream blurts out, and Philza looks back at him when they’re safely in his home.

“Is what true?” Philza asked, hands on his hips.

“That you were the first Hardcore child in millions of years,” Dream gestures wildly to the wings tucked tight against Philza’s spine.

“Uh, no?” Philza said. “Who told you that?”

“My… my mom,” Dream mumbled and Philza laughs. 

“Moms say a lot of things,” he says before checking out the window again. “Techno told me you might be coming.”

And Dream stops breathing.

--------------------------------------------------------

“Marked are people with magical ability,” Sapnap says, roasting a rabbit over the fire he’d made. “They can do basically anything if they really set their minds to it. Philza Minecraft’s a Marked ‘cause he can fly, you know? Technoblade is because he can Shapeshift; so’s TommyInnIt who can make anyone attached to him like a sort of family thing? And Wilbur Soot can use his Words to destroy someone from the inside out.”

“Dream’s pretty powerful,” Ant says, pinning up some laundry to dry. “He created the End Realm, you know? It wasn’t anything until he’d somehow did something and made it occupied with dragons, eggs, and those Endermen things. We think he started the Jumps too.”

“If we kill him permanently,” Bad says. “Then the Jump will stop, and we’ll all start going back to normal.”

“How long have you been trapped here?”

Bad takes a deep breath, and so does George. Ant and Sapnap don’t even glance up before George says, in a low, low voice “We’ve been doing this for twenty years.”

--------------------------------------------------------

“Breathe,” Philza says, slapping him on the back. “I won’t turn you in. You’re acting weird, but that’s just normal.”

“I don’t think I belong here,” Dream blurts out. Philza stops and turns to look at him. 

“What do you mean?” He asks.

And Dream spills everything. This is Philza Minecraft. He’d know what to do, if anything. (He even talks about how the Jumps work, and how it’s whenever he died or when the dragon dies, but never when the Hunters die, and Philza’s eyes light up.)

He takes a moment, and looks carefully at Dream, and then rearranges his wings (which look burned out, with holes in them and Dream can’t help but think: that shouldn’t be there.)

He looks away for a moment, thinking back to his childhood memory of big fluffy wings that can wrap kids around in them, powerful enough to fly so high in the sky while holding onto his children, and then Philza’s unfurling his wings.

And they look perfect. And Phil looks over at him, and something clicks in his head.

“Oh, mate,” Philza tells him. “You’re the reason the Jumps started.”

Dream’s silent. His hands shake, and he says, in a completely emotionless voice: “What?”

--------------------------------------------------------

@theseventhreincarnation [;)]