#this happened a few minutes ago but I needed hyping up to post it

[release-the-sheep]

UM. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT STEPPING ON THE JUGULAR CHERYL??

[forever-once-gone]

Day 3: Yoongi - You Meet Your Fated at a Coffee Shop <3

Part of the Love, Amour, Aur Pyaar drabble series for February! (lol)

Word count: 3.7k (can't keep them short for the life of me)

Content and Warnings: soulmate au, coffee shop au, gn!reader, sharing preferences, arguing, frustration, they're both a bit dense lol, but other than that nothing too terrible in this, just sweet honestly, almost throwing up, coffee snob!Yoongi, barista!Yoongi, mocha slander, terms of endearment: baby, dear, Y/n is ready to FIGHT

Author's Note: Hey! So like I know it is well past Feb, but tbh it was crazy of me to even think id have time to publish these things during midterms season. Even though I had reading week, it was just not going to happen. Even though I did manage to write some of the days, I obviously couldn't every day. And posting? Forget about it. Anyway, even if it's past Feb, would you want me to post the ones I did write? It won't be instantaneous, but I would like to share what I did write, and maybe even finish all the other days as I had already planned out what I wanted to write each day. Let me know if you're interested! Anyways, as always, enjoy! <3

Another mocha, just another mocha to fill up in the takeaway cup for another person who is trying to get through the February cold. Yoongi gets a lot of mocha requests before the winter holidays season. When so many are hyped up with Christmas cheer. Even people who do not celebrate Christmas tend to indulge in peppermint mochas when the snow hits the ground. And the trend trickled into the post holiday months every winter season. To the point when people ordered mochas even into early spring.

Yoongi, ever the coffee enthusiast, hated having to make so many mochas.

Frankly, he considered mochas just snobby chocolate milk with the smallest hint of caffeine. Like do mochas even deserve to be considered coffee-based beverages? He thought not. You could barely even taste the coffee in between the thick, tongue-coating taste of chocolate and the heaviness of way too much milk.

Everytime he had to make mochas, every single time, he’d be cursing in his head about how he would rather just be able to make his espressos, black coffees, and iced americanos. Iced americanos are the most he’d be willing to go when it comes to diffusing the taste of coffee.

Adding milk? Forget it.

Adding sugar? He’d rather just pour it down the drain than drink it.

Alas, when it comes to his job, he has to fulfill the customer’s wishes. No matter how much he hated the sugary, barely-even-coffee, more-like-milkshakes drinks, he would make the drink for them. A waste of good coffee in his books, but he needed the money that came from his overpriced caffeinated chocolate milk 

So, when it came to a coffee-novice coming into his coffee shop asking for a mocha, he would grit his teeth but make the drink nonetheless, the underline he requires to be able to pay his shop’s mortgage and keep all of his employees.

It was another one of these spring days when he’d unlocked the front doors of the café only to see someone new. Normally, only a few select people would come to his café so early in the morning, after all, most people started work at 9 or later. Only a few people would come at 5:30 when he opened. But today, there was someone new.

There was you, a person he’d never seen before standing behind his regulars. A cheery looking person, giving him a smile when he unlocked the door and opened it for the small group of people to trickle in.

He made his way behind the counter as he began his small routine with his regulars, smiling at each one of them as they gave him their orders, even though there really was no need as he had gotten each one of them memorized ages ago.

He took and prepared each order with practiced ease, until he got to the last person in line. The one who had spent the last ten minutes scanning the chalkboard menu with an analytical look.

You.

“Good morning,” you said to him with a kind smile.

“Good morning,” he replied. “What can I get started for you today?��

You wrung your hands, scanning the menu again, before looking back at him. “Can I get a large mocha?”

He scoffed. Seriously, chocolate this early in the morning? Typical from a cheery-looking person like yourself.

“What?” you asked, wondering if you’d broken some unspoken social cue. You’d seen the way he’d kindly spoken to the customers before you, making small talk, so what happened when it came to you?

“Nothing, nothing,” he waved you off, before pressing some buttons on his cash register’s screen. “That’ll be 5000 won.”

“No, no. That definitely was something. Did I say anything wrong?” You insisted, brows furrowed together in a mix of worry and a bit of indignation.

“No, not at all. It’ll be 5000 won.” He tried to force a smile, but your eyes were squinted together just as you did before when you were scanning the menu, but this time your object of interest was him.

“What? You just don’t like me or something?” You felt a bit uncomfortable, out of place in this cafe with a barista who seemed to hold a certain disdain for you from the moment you opened your mouth. But that didn’t mean you were going to back down from this entitled man. You eyed him up and down, letting him know the contempt was mutual.

He let out a small scoff, before seeming to recompose himself with customer service professionalism. “Of course not. I’m sorry if it seemed that way. Your total is 5000 won.”

You could see through his poorly reconstructed composure, but nonetheless gave him the requested money. You were already running late to your job interview, and you needed this job if you hoped to actually be able to rent a place in this city. You had already spent three weeks staying with your friend after moving here from your old city. You couldn’t stay with her forever, even if she was willing to keep you for forever if you needed it.

You stepped away from the register after he had given you your change and moved away to make your drink. You took the time to continue admiring the interior of the cafe as the barista flew around his counter space. You took in the worn furniture resembling something half between industrial and contemporary. The hanging lights and the various maps lining the walls of the place. Very hipster. Fitting for a coffee shop.

The call of: “One large mocha?” brought you back from your inspection. With a hum, you took your drink from him, feeling the drink warm your gloved hands.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, have a nice day.” And with that he was moving back to his dishes to clean up the dishes he’d used before the next customers wandered in.

You turned away from him, moving towards the door. Before you pushed open the door to brave into the cold, you flipped open the flap on the top of the to-go cup. You took a quick sip, ready for the delicious drink to coat your tongue, but instead your tastebuds were assaulted with a heinous amount of sugar. It tasted like you’d boiled a pool full of chocolate and dumped a truck full of sugar and then reduced the entire pool full over a roaring fire until only a cup of the concentrated mixture remained full of pure chocolate and sugar.

You immediately turned back on your heel. Pressing your tongue against the tip of your mouth, trying to rid it of the sweet assault. “You messed up,” you slammed the cup on the counter, seeing the barista’s shoulders jump at the loud thump.

“What’s the issue?” he asked, as he wiped off his hands on a hand towel before flipping it onto his shoulder. He leaned onto the counter with the palms of his hands, not even trying to hide his annoyance with you anymore considering the frown he sent your way.

“This is way too sweet. Like what, did you dump a whole bag of sugar into this thing?” You nudged the cup towards him. “If you didn’t like me, you could have just refused to take my order, you didn’t have to do all this!” You gestured to the cup.

“Please, I need you to calm down. I didn’t do anything to your drink. It’s just a regular mocha. Mochas are sweet, you should have known that before you ordered it for the first time.” He rolled his eyes slightly.

“First time? Oh, honey, no—I know what mochas are meant to taste like and this is not it. It’s practically the only thing I ever get!”

He scoffed yet again. Typical, he thought to himself. Never would've guessed. “Just take your drink and go, I don’t have time for this.”

“You don’t believe me do you?” You said in disbelief. You never would dare fight with someone like this, but for some reason, this one guy was just getting on your nerves. Typically, even if your order had gotten mixed up you would just swallow your disappointment and try to enjoy the drink anyway. Even if it was something bitter and boring like a plain black coffee. But the way this man had been acting from the moment you ordered has been rude and completely ruined your confidence. Not what you needed at all before trying to get this job. And for some reason, it felt like all your senses and emotions had been turned up to 100, so controlling your anger was a lot harder.

“Drink it,” you told him, holding his eye contact. “Yeah, drink it. If you can drink even one gulp without making a face, I’ll admit I was wrong and leave.”

The barista tongued his cheek for a moment, contemplating what you said. “I don’t want to. I don’t like mochas, besides, I can’t drink a customer’s drink anyway.”

“I’m just gonna take your refusal as you admitting that you fucked with my drink.”

By this point the two people left in the shop were watching the two of you fighting at the counter. A middle aged man walked up to the counter, stepping in to try and defuse the situation. “Why don't you just take a sip of it, Yoongi? Just to prove them wrong?”

“I refuse,” the barista, Yoongi, said to the man. “It’s a matter of principle at this point. I’m not drinking it. I know my abilities, and I know that that mocha would be as good as mochas get. I’m not gonna take a sip of a nasty ass mocha just cause this person wants to throw a fuss at five in the morning.”

“So you admit you fucked with it?! You admitted it’s nasty!”

“No,” he rolled his eyes at you for the umpteenth time this morning. “I just hate mochas, they taste like shit. But anyone who likes those chocolatey messes will admit mine are as good as they get. I might not like them, but I still put all my effort into making sure they taste good.”

“Just fucking drink it then! I’m not joking, this tastes like shit. Maybe something is wrong with your milk steaming machine or something—this just isn’t right!”

The middle-aged man decided to try and put the fight to an end. “Why don’t I just give it a try, huh?”

“No!” But Yoongi and you said at the same time, before turning back to each other again.

“He refuses to admit it, and he has to be the one to try it!” You crossed your arms.

“And they’re the one who is making a big situation over nothing, you should never give in to people like them.” He glared at you. Now that his patrons were getting involved, he wanted to get you out as soon as possible.

“Just try it! I swear it’s unbelievable. Just give it one sip!” You threw up your arms in frustration. “Come on, I’m not even asking for a refund or anything, I just want you to admit that you took your anger out on me for no reason. That’s all, I don’t even want an apology!”

“I don’t need to apologize! I didn’t do anything wrong! That mocha is PERFECT! I’d bet my life on it.” Yoongi was fuming now, chest heaving with frustration and annoyance. He was this close to calling the cops on you and calling it a day.

“Oh shut up with the ‘perfect’ nonsense! It’s not perfect! Just try it! This whole thing would have been over ages ago if you just gave it a try!” You pulled the cap off of the cup. “If you’re afraid it’s poisoned, I’ll take a sip of it before you drink it. See look.” 

You took a swig of the drink, nearly choking on the sugary beverage as you tried to keep the concoction from coming right back up. You gagged for a second or two, before finally straightening back up, wiping your mouth with the back of your gloved hand.

The two men around you exchanged expressions, their anger turning more to disbelief. Either you were a great actor or that drink really, really sucked.

“There, see. I didn’t tamper with it. Now, please, please just try it. Please. Don’t make me look insane. Just try it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Fine. Fucking fine. I’ll try it. But if it tastes fine, you need to leave my shop and never come back, you hear me?”

“I swear. I won’t come back, don’t plan to anyway.”

Yoongi raised an eyebrow at that, before grabbing the lidless cup from the counter. He held it up, hesitated, and then said, “I really don’t like mochas,” with a scrunch of his nose. He took a breath and then took the smallest sip you’ve ever seen a human being take before slamming the cup down. His hand immediately came up to cover his mouth, his eyebrows furrowed.

You couldn’t bear to hide your smug look. How was he gonna hide how terrible the drink was now? He looked like he was going to throw up. Ha! That will show him!

But then he did the weirdest thing. He took another sip. A long sip this time. Other than his furrowed brows, he didn’t choke, gag, or even dry heave for a millisecond. Just watching him drink was making you nauseous.

“Oh my god!” you yelled, snatching the cup from his hands before he could take another sip, holding it up behind you, away from him. “You’re going to give yourself diabetes if you drink that whole thing!”

Immediately he tried to reach across the counter and get it back from you. “Hey! Give that back! This makes no sense!”

“Yoongi, calm down!” The man said, pushing the barista back off of the counter that he was practically leaning his whole body onto at this point.

“Why does it taste good?!” The distress that the barista was under put even you on pause. You watched the barista scramble around, rubbing at his head as if it was aching him. Was this the effect of all the sugar?

“Hey, man, you doing alright?” You placed the cup back down on the counter, holding a hand out to him to show you meant no harm.

He just shook his head, picking up a half empty mug from behind the counter that you had seen him periodically sipping from between the preparation of yours and the others’ drinks. He took a large gulp only to immediately run to the sink, spitting the drink right into the drain.

“Why does my coffee taste so heinous?! Why does it taste like fucking bitter gasoline? Why does the mocha taste so fucking good?!” He was still hunched over the sink, the only thing you could see of him was his back a bit of his lowered head. His arm reached to grab the hand towel on his shoulder to throw it to the side.

You had no answer for him. This was all so bizarre.

“This—” the middle aged man brought both your and Yoongi’s attention to him, as he brought the cup back to his lips for another sip. When had he taken your mocha from you? Was it when Yoongi was losing his mind? 

“This tastes…” He took another sip. His brows furrowed in concentration. 

“This tastes like a regular mocha.” He put the cup back down. “I think you guys need to calm down for a moment and think about what this means.”

“What do you mean?” you asked him.

“I think you know what I mean, dear.” The man had a kind-hearted look on his face as his eyes flitted between both you and Yoongi.

“OH MY GOD.” Yoongi grabbed the edge of the counter, seeming to understand the man’s insinuation. “There is no way.”

“What? What am I missing?” The man only shook his head as Yoongi raised his head to meet your gaze. He just pushed his half empty mug to you. Inside was black coffee.

“Try it. I need to see if it’s true.”

“Um, no. I don’t like black coffee. Yuck.” You nudged the mug right back to him only for him to stop the movement halfway. 

“That’s exactly why you have to try this,” Yoongi said as calmly as he could, though you could swear he looked almost like he could faint right then and there.

“Fine,” you took the mug from him. “Just cause you did drink the mocha.”

You swirled the dark liquid in the mug, debating whether it was worth it to drink the bitter liquid. But when you looked up to see that both the man and Yoongi were watching you like scientists inspecting their latest mutant rats for their observational notes, you just took a sip only to get them to stop staring at you.

Instantly your throat was soothed as the smooth taste of the perfectly roasted coffee made its way through your mouth. You’d never drunk anything so refreshing, so calming as it warmed you up from the inside out. Even though there was no sugar or cream, you surprisingly didn’t mind it as it allowed the rich flavour of the black coffee to shine through strongly. It tasted so good.

You didn’t put down the mug until you’d finished the whole thing.

The middle aged man had a small smile on his face, while Yoongi seemed to be still in his inspector mode.

“So,” the man began. “How was it?”

You thought about it for a second. “Good. Like really good. Like surprisingly good.”

The man clapped his hands. “Well there you have it. Congrats you two.”

You shook your head for a second, scrunching your face in annoyance. “What are you talking about?”

Yoongi came around the counter, finally coming to stand beside you without anything between you two. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Easy, Yoongi. Don’t want to scare them off now do you?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at the man but then nodded his head in understanding. “You don’t like black coffee right? Too bitter or something?”

You nodded. “Yeah, too bitter. I need more sugar or else I just can’t get it down.”

“And I hate mochas. They’re too sweet and you can’t even tell there is coffee in it since it's so overpowered by the sugar, chocolate, and milk.”

“Okay… What does that have to do with me though?”

“But I just liked the mocha. Not just liked, I loved the mocha. And you loved the black coffee.”

“Yeah…” You waited for him to clarify further.

He waved his arm as if urging you to think further, but when you just cocked your head to the side in confusion, he dropped his arm back down to his side. “Seriously?” he asked, exasperated. “I hated my usual coffee and loved your mocha. And you hated your usual mocha and loved my coffee.”

You nodded your head, trying to understand what he was trying to get at. Until it just clicked, your eyes widening instantly, reaching to grab his elbows. “OH MY GOD! We’re soulmates! Oh my god! We switched preferences! We’re soulmates!” You threw your arms around him, pulling him as close to you as you could through your thick winter jacket.

“Took you long enough,” he huffed, his arms reciprocating your grasp.

“Oh my god! I knew I was meant to move here! I have to tell my roommate! But wait—” you pushed him out of your hold.

Yoongi let out a light groan, as he caught himself from stumbling.

You pointed a finger at him accusingly. “You hate mochas, you black coffee supremacist!”

“Seriously?” Yoongi asked you. “That’s your biggest concern now?”

“Well yeah! I mean, I don’t know if my preferences will change back, but if they do, I can’t stay with a soulmate that thinks he’s superior to me because of his coffee preferences!”

Yoongi let out a small laugh, his lips tugging into a smile. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I will never be able to hate mochas after today.”

Even with your finger still pointed at him, you felt your lips pull into a wide smile at the hidden meaning behind his words.

You both jumped at the clearing of a throat behind the two of you. The man had made his way to the front door of the coffee shop with his order in his hand. “Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to let you know that my wife, Maria, had been recording the entire thing in case you needed to call the police.” He nodded towards the other patron who had been at the shop when you and Yoongi had started fighting who was now standing holding the door open as she waited for her husband. “Let me know if you want the video of your first meeting, I’m sure your friends and family would love to see it,” he said between kind-hearted soft laughs, before leaving hand-in-hand with Maria.

“Maybe even our future grandkids,” you teased him happily, taking a step back towards him.

Yoongi just smiled in reply, showing off his perfect teeth to you.

You felt your heart swell.

He took another step towards you, grabbing a hold of your hands by your side. “I would like that.”

You heard the door chime as a customer walked into the coffee shop before their steps halted somewhere behind you.

“Uh, is this a bad time?” The customer asked from behind you.

“Give me a second,” Yoongi replied.

“Alright,” the person cleared their throat. “Just don’t want to be late for work.”

That seemed to jolt you out of your Yoongi admiring stupor. “Shit! I have an interview!” You tightened your hold on his hands before letting go.

By the time Yoongi realized what was going on, you were already halfway out the door.

“I’m going to be so late! I’ll be back later, okay, baby?” You had pushed the door open taking a step out before turning back to him. “I am allowed to come back right? Or am I still exiled from your shop?” You asked with a smile.

“Seriously?” He laughed, shaking his head as he made his way back behind the service counter. “Maybe you’ll just have to try your luck.”

“You’re impossible.” You laughed into your hand, waving your hand at him. “When I come back, if you don’t let me in, I’ll tell all your customers that I almost threw up after drinking your mocha.” You stuck out your tongue at him as he fake gasped, before finally actually leaving the shop.

Well, there's that.

So if you didn't get it, in this case, soulmates have different ways of finding out if they're meant to be in this universe. For Yoongi and Y/n, they met and ended up switching coffee preferences (or maybe even more preferences but the only thing they noticed so far is the coffee). Even though their reactions may seem extra, when you meet your soulmate all your emotions/feelings/everything is meant to be heightened. So they had each other's preferences, but n times stronger. So that's why they loved the other's preference like it was ambrosia, but their own preferences tasted like so bad to them. Y/n found the mocha wayyyy to sweet like Yoongi would usually, and Yoongi found the black coffee wayyyyy too bitter cause Y/n likes her coffee well sweetened and with a lot of stuff to mellow the coffee flavour.

But anyway, yes they're in love.

So yeah, do let me know if you want me to post the rest of these. It will be a slow process, but I would like to do so.

Take care!!

[bobawitch]

Hey could you write something abt Nick and reader being best friends and like she gets heartbroken and Nick is js there for her bc their like bestie until the restie so ya‼️ but I love your writing and if you can’t write this or your uncomfortable with it I get it!! Thank you for your timeeee :))))

a/n: i hope this is what you were thinking of, i recently got dumped so this was rlly helpful

wc: 967

cw: none just platonic stuff

Nick had been one of your closest friends for years now, you had met once at a sale for urban outfitters when you were 18. He grabbed a shirt with excitement and noticed the price, scrunching up his face and shaking his head, throwing it back on the rack. You noticed and laughed, making a comment about the price and how a sale isn’t actually a sale. And that’s all it took, soon enough you were inseparable. You, Nick, and Madi were always hanging out, just as you were when you first met your boyfriend, Madi hyped you up to go talk to him but he beat you to it. You almost immediately caught feelings for the boy and Nick was there helping you pick your outfit for your first date. That was about a year and a half ago and even though your boyfriend was nice and caring you noticed that he had his flaws. Unfortunately for you, Nick noticed too. So currently you sat in bed staring at your phone, the words “Read 15 minutes ago” haunting your brain.

Your stomach twisted into pretzels trying not to let your worst nightmares cloud your mind. Soon the familiar bubbles popped up on your screen, you whipped up in bed, clutching your phone with your breath stuck in your throat. You watched as the 4 dreaded words came to your screen. “We need to talk.” Tears stung at the back of your eyes as you slowly began to type “Ok.” You watched the message send before your phone buzzed, a phone call you never wanted to answer popping up. Slowly you pressed the green accept button and held the phone to your ear. “We need to break up. We aren’t in the same place we used to be.” And que the water works. All the air you had held escaped you, seemingly gone forever. You didn’t respond, you just hung up. Quickly scrolling to Nick’s contact and pressing call. “Heyyyyyyy! I’m in the car with Chris and Ma-” Nick fell silent as he heard you desperate gasps for breath. “Y/N? Y/N what’s wrong? Hold on, we’re coming to pick you up. Matt, go to Y/N’s house now.” You knew you didn’t need to say anything to Nick. He had heard every fight between you and your boyfriend, knew every single time your boyfriend pissed you off and knew that if you were crying like this that there was something extra bad happening. 

Within 10 minutes Nick was in your apartment and Matt and Chris had gone to get you food, Nick’s orders. He walked into your room and sat on your bed, pulling you into a tight hug. You felt like you were in another world, like you were watching yourself cry into Nick. Honestly part of you was happy you weren’t totally in it because it felt a bit embarrassing to be this upset over someone else. Nick gently petting your hair as he let you cry into him. After a few sad songs and a good 20 minutes of crying you had stopped, sniffling and pressing the puffiness that had accumulated around your eyes. “He broke up with me…” You softly admitted and Nick’s face contorted. “Ew, what a fucking idiot.” You giggled a pained giggle before looking up at the boy. “Yeah I guess so.” He smiled at you and pulled out his phone. “You know what helps me when men decide to be stupid?” You shook your head as you watched Nick open tik tok. Quickly he pulled up an old video of Matt and handed you the phone. “You boyfriend broke up with you? Here’s what I’m going to say, you ready? His loss. It’s ok that you’re single, it’s ok that you don’t have a boyfriend.” You stifled a laugh before liking the video. Nick’s jaw dropped and you smirked over at him. “That person is going to post something about me liking that video, you know that right?” You laughed at Nick’s shock. “Yeah I know.” Nick laughed with his mouth still open before taking his phone back and turning it off. “Matt really spitting facts though, you know that?” You nodded silently, a smile still present on your face. You heard your doorbell ring and stood, walking to your door and opening it to see Matt and Chris holding your favorite milkshake and shitty burger. Chris was leaned against your door frame and Matt held the food out to you. He awkwardly smiled and nodded at you. Chris smiled at you and gave you a fist bump before Nick came over to shoo them off. You closed the door and stared at the food. “Your brothers are awesome, tell Matt I’ll venmo him.” You said as you brought the food to your living room table. “Nope, I paid for it. You don’t need to worry about that right now.” You stood and hugged Nick again, tears threatening to fall down your cheeks once more. “Nuh uh hoe, we just stopped crying, it's food time now.” You sniffled and nodded, stepping back to your food and immediately devouring it. Nick watched in awe before laughing again. “Gimme your phone.” He said, you complied without much thought. Honestly you were in concentration of your food, barely noticing Nick removing your ex from your social media and gallery. 

The day carried on, Nick pulling your focus away from anything that even resembled your new ex. The two of you now sat by your tv, the credits of Edawrd Scissorhands playing in the background. “Sooo now that I’m single, what’s Matt up to?” You were joking of course but seeing Nick whip his head around at you made you bust out laughing. He watched you die laughing before shaking his head. “I hate you bro.” “Love you too Nicky-poo!”

[smolghostbot]

GT July: Melancholy / Video Games

So, I maybe read the prompt list in the wrong order, but... I spent like all day yesterday trying to hype myself up (hooray for anxiety) to post this first piece since it's one of the longest and I think most well-written one I have. So we're just rolling with the punches here, if i am sent to the jar for my crimes then so be it. Not that anybody's going to read this anyways, but...

Word Count: 900ish (😅) Character bios in my pinned post. TWs: Vague depiction of a panic attack / PTSD episode (non-POV), and light discussion of triggers and past abuse, in a supportive way.

========

It was happening again. Mel sighed, she had been through this before with her little roommate. Slowly, carefully, she stood up and walked away, watching the little creature on her living room table cry and hug his backpack like it was a security blanket. She wordlessly went to the fridge and grabbed a strawberry, carefully cut the skin and seeds off, and then placed it on a napkin on the other end of the table from her tiny companion, knowing better than to intrude on his personal space. They sat down on the floor, and gently whispered.

"Patch… Patch… it's me, Melody. We're friends. You're safe, everything is fine. Look, I got you a strawberry. Please calm down Patch, come back to me buddy…"

They knew that living with a tiny little thing like Patch would be difficult, they had accepted that when inviting him into her home a few months ago. But, the strangest things would set him off into these episodes. She knew he had… a bad experience in the past with humans, but didn't know what she even said this time to set him off. He was just watching them play a video game, and they said something about… they didn't even remember. Was it the friendship meter? Something about axes being useful for this boss? And the next thing they knew, Patch was freaking out.

The human repeated her kind affirmations, full of regret for something she wasn't even sure of. After a few stressful minutes, the little thing's eyes returned to normal. He looked around the room, as if waking from a daze, noticing that the game was paused and Mel was sitting on the floor, clearly worried about him. His sparkling purple eyes glanced at Melody, a shameful look in them. She responded with a kind smile.

"Welcome back, Patch. I got you a strawberry, I know they are your favorite. Please eat some? You were crying a lot, you need to stay hydrated."

Patch looked full of shame as he crossed the table, took his little utensils out of his bag's pocket, and began to eat a bit of the strawberry.

"So… would you like to talk about it? You don't have to right now, but I'd like to know what I said to upset you so badly."

Patch just looked at Melody's eyes, that guilty look still on his face. He shook his head no, and pointed to the TV, which was sitting on the home menu for the game system.

"Was it… something about the game? I know it has fighting in it, was that upsetting to you?"

Patch shook his head no. Mel seemed to think deeply, her eyes glancing between Patch and the TV. Eventually, she grabbed the notepad kept on the end table, which Patch used to draw out things he couldn't explain with just gestures.

"Okay… it might be notepad time. Can you please try to explain? I don't want to upset you again. Unless thinking about it would be upsetting right now. If so, just shake your head no and we can do it later."

The little being began drawing, clearly drawing one of the enemy characters Mel was facing, a despotic king. She was actually impressed at how accurate it was for a character who Patch had only seen for the first time a few minutes ago.

"That guy upset you? Why?"

At that, Patch drew lines coming out of his mouth, as if to indicate speech. Mel thought about his voice lines… Maybe the actor sounded like somebody? Or maybe it was about the lines themselves.They were pretty commanding, he was supposed to be an evil tyrant and all. She realized that Patch's episode happened right after he gave a big speech about the world bowing to him. Her expression went grim as she started to put some pieces together.

"Patch… this is about… that monster, isn't it? Did… did the king remind you of them?"

Patch's purple eyes glancing away from her, combined with a sad nod said everything. Melody was suddenly filled with a fire inside.

"Listen to me, Patch. That character? Is a bad guy. He's not… he's a bad person. Humans hate people like him. The literal point is to hate him. And… people would hate that monster that hurt you, too. At least I do. If I could have them arrested… or worse… for what they've done…"

Melody stopped and took a deep breath, sighing and collecting herself before continuing. They know that anger was a big trigger for Patch, even if it was born from a desire to protect the little guy.

"You know… one reason people like video games is because you get to do things you can't in real life. How about this, I'll mute the TV, and the two of us will kick this guy's ass and pretend that he's the one who hurt you. Would that be okay?"

Patch looked up at her, a small smile on his face. He pointed to her hand. As she curiously brought it up to him, she was surprised as he wrapped his arms around her fingers in somewhat of a hug. Considering how apprehensive Patch usually was about being touched, this was huge. When he backed away, she gently returned to her seat on the couch, ready to help her tiny friend face his demons in this small way.

[thisliminalspacedaydreams]

Hi, probably weird question, but can you offer any tips on how to co-write, like two different authors working on the same fic? How does that work?

hello there is actually nothing i would rather do let me give you the unabridged version because I think people romanticise it and it's important to be real. I'm going to give you all of my experiences and why I did it and which ones worked and which ones didn't.

HERE IT IS :

2-Let's start with @greenvlvetcouch who was my first duo writing experience. I was heavily part of an online thing at the time and I met him there, and we somehow (I genuinely can't remember how but I think it was me) ended up DMing about something, which actually pretty quickly evolved into me throwing a concept idea into the chat, and it just took off. We ended up losing our minds over the library scene from God Eater and that was that. I had read Zar and Jude's fic where every 15 min they switched (I think??) and I'm not a "minute" writer so I suggested to Green we did 700-1200 words each and pass it back. I also have a background in theatre, and I am part of a improv group in my city so improv games was part of my curriculum and I've always LOVED IMPROV GAMES, especially in small groups. (this is relevant for later). That's how God Eater was written. it happened very organically. We wrote it all in four months, in a doc, and didn't talk about publishing it until we realized that actually it was going to be a thing we were super proud of, that we would want to post it. The writing experience itself had none of the stress of "what if it's bad". We just wrote until we were done with no expectation. There were a lot of inconsistencies we fixed when we were done and TA-DA.

Since then Green has been a writing partner for a lot of published and unpublished works. We have several projects, some which we started and never finished because we lost the interest, some that we might publish, we don't know. I think he and I are aligned on the fact that writing is meant to be this fun thing and if the joy isn't there when writing, then the project dies. We had a LOT of really cool fun projects that only lived inside our mutual DMs and I think it still makes them real and great. They just weren't tangible enough to see the light of day. Green and I's writing process isn't *super* involved. We rarely fangirl over each other's works. I think we've reached a healthy balance of we *know* we love each other's writing, so we don't need to tell each other that. We will when a line slaps particularly well but other than that we mostly just hype the story up which is our way of saying we love working together.

Which is a perfect segway into inthesquare and I's writing process (hi I still don't know if I can tag you so imma send it to you after).

2-I'm currently writing a story with her, and our start was very different. I read this fic from hers and lost my mind. I cried and was very upset, it was such a great story, so I left a comment (as one does). What would you know, a few days later I get a comment on my fic about how she freaked out because she liked *my* work. So we literally met the most organically way possible: through ao3 comments. Then the normal pipeline happened: Tumblr, then Discord, then Whatsapp.

I wrote one fic that felt very much like something she would do and asked her to participate and add bits and bobs, she said yes, I was overjoyed. And then a few months ago I popped in and was like... *you like myths, right?* and TADA we have the amaranth hymns.

The writing process with us is very different. We each write until we're done with a scene (which usually ends up capping at 1500/2000 words-ish). We are posting as we go, we have 0 plan, zero foresight, we're just hoping for the best, rocking with a Pinterest board and voice noting each other at 3am going "hey do what was this thing you wrote and what does it mean?" "oh cool" "and so does this mean that X? Cuz we need to Y then" "Yes, right". We're problem solving as we go, and I think we're both kind of unbothered and unstressed about it: the story will write itself, we're just along for the ride. We also don't really hype each other up (a little ya know, when a line slaps), but we *do* talk about the fic itself a lot, which I think is our way of showing our engagement. We talk about the fic because we like writing it (I have a point to make later on bear with me).

3- You remember how i LOVE improve games, right????? WELL. There is a game called the "yes" game. A scene starts, you have a theme and a concept and you can't backtrack. Whatever the person throws your way you have to work with it....hence the "yes". You can only move forward, never back. That's how Raise Hell was created. I asked a bunch of my friends if they wanted to create a frankenstein fic, some said yes, some said no, and Raise Hell got started. I knew all of these people beforehand, so that made it easier. We still want to finish this fic but ya know, life got away from us.

What ended up happening is that there were no "writing" rule aside from : you must write enough to propel the next person. Give the next person *something* to work with. So what accidentally ended up happening is each person ended up writing a chapter.

Now let's talk about the rest:

As stated before, I love writing with people: I have the bandwith to work on numerous fics at once (it keeps my brain fed and entertained, I like the community of it), I like it, and thus I seek it.

But I think (and THIS is my point) that people romanticise it and it can stress people out. This is what I mean:

I started writing fics with several other writers because *I like it and I seek it and it brings me joy*, but some writers didn't like feeling like they were one in a lineup.

I wrote 30k with a writer and then the story died and we never picked it back up.

I have had two people I was writing with tell me they didn't like it because I wasn't 'involved' enough (by this I think what they meant was that I wasn't showing enough hype and enthusiasm for their writing).

I had one person tell me that our writing didn't match up and it felt weird and they didn't want to continue.

I have had one person tell me I hurt their feelings because I made them feel like their writing wasn't good enough by the way I edited.

I think it's important to mention that co-writing *is* a skill and it's not something that will work for everyone.

I have a graveyard of fics and a few friendships that died because of that, too. I'm not a big hyper. I do edit a lot. I show my enthusiasm in ways that perhaps isn't obvious enough. I don't praise other people's writing that much because in my mind, the fact we're writing together is proof enough that I love their writing, but that actually isn't always enough.

And I think the difficult part of all of this is that writing is a very personal endeavour. When you expose your guts to another person and they do not react the way you want them to, it's not very easy I think to say "Hey, you hurt my feelings because you didn't tell me you loved this and that". That's another layer exposed and because talking about hurt feelings is hard and uncomfortable, sometimes it will drag on and take proportions that lead to broken friendships.

So you do have to be careful.

...But I also don't know how, in the sense that *before* you start writing with someone, you won't *know* how they will react to the duo process.

What I'm saying is it' a gamble and actually I have lost more than I have won, BUT I still don't regret trying. I personally have had good experiences every single time. I have grown and I have learned.

I know for instance that writing with Green and Inthesquare is a great experience because we approach writing in the same way and we are all very confident in our own writing. We like how we write. We like how the other person writes. We know that, we don't feel the need to say it.

But I think I tend to forget that some writers (even really good ones!!) can feel self-conscious about their own writing and need more praise than what I give.

So bearing all that in mind here is my advice:

-Talk about what you need from the experience BEFOREHAND. How much hype, can I edit, how much editing can I do, etc etc. When green and I edit our works, we fully destroy each other's parts. We will go in and add and remove a LOT, to the point where it really becomes kind of undetectable, who wrote what, because we're in each other's lines everywhere. This isn't something that will feel good for everyone. When I write with inthesquare, we *barely* edit each other's work. The separation is much more obvious, and I don't really know why this is? It just is? We just kind of never edited the other person's part. And it works really beautifully, too. My point is these are two very different approach yet there isn't one better than the other, it's just different.

Some people do not like when you tinker with their writing too much. Some people do not like when you tinker with their writing at all. Make sure you know what each person is comfy with.

-Decide on a plan: are we writing each for a set amount of time? Of words? Are we each doing a chapter? The only rule is the one you make up.

-Don't put pressure on the work. See where it goes. If it dies, let it.

-I would advise against posting as you go if this stresses you out. That way if the story doesn't finish, no stress.

-Start with someone who you feel very confident writing with. Someone you know, who knows you, where the communication canals are OPEN. You're gonna need to be able to tell each other if someone does something that wasn't appreciated.

Not all co-writing will end up with a fully fledged fic. Not all co-writing will end up being a good experience. If the person you really want to write with doesn't want to write with you, don't take it personally. It just do be like that.

But I'm the kind of person who really has come to love it, and while I'm a lot more picky now with who I write (because I'd love to like, not lose more friends), I think I will always seek it out, especially with the people with whom it's been a success before. I love, love, loveeeeee writing with my friends. I find it so rewarding and fun and great and I have nothing bad to say about it. I just really, really love it.

And if you've made it till here just know I have ONE fic I wrote with 2 other writers that we published under anon. and it's just out there. Doing its thing.

[ladyazulina]

Azu is Talking — A Little Too Personal at the End

This week, the dental pain I have been updating you about has been decreasing. Slowly but surely. I was able to stop numbing my mouth to fall asleep earlier in the week, so that’s… good? I guess? It’s still hurting, but I see even the smaller of steps as progress, so.

This Creative Monday was… intense, to say the least. Fortunately, the mechanic of this game seems to be coming pretty nicely. Wordy-wise, at least. I easily spent the whole afternoon working on it, seven hours. From late morning to right into the evening, with a long break to prepare and eat lunch (watching a series episode~) and a shorter one to have a coffee.

My eyes were tired of seeing words and I still wanted to try to add something to the [REDACTED] adventure, ‘cause that goes whenever I can, remember? And I did, though very little, and my eyes ended up also hurting after that. I still have just a bit more than two weeks left to work on it. Not sure how many words missing just yet. But with just an hour or so to end my working hours, I wasn't really sure about my odds (I did the add-up with five minutes to spare). Don't have to rush and worry about it just yet, but the sooner I can end it, the better I will feel. And I always want to feel the better.

That’s not what usually happens on Tuesdays… Particularly this one. When reading a book in which you have 50+ favorite highlighted quotes, Review Tuesday becomes a nightmare.

Read this week’s review:

Posting each and every one of those quotes individually (because I want to 😭) is a heavy job. I can try to quell it a bit by listening to music and reading those quotes during the arduous posting to remind myself how much I loved that book, but it still leaves a toll. Especially if after the first massive posting on Tumblr, I'm doing the same on Patreon, repeating it on Ko-fi, and doing it once more on Co-host! Doesn't surprise me that it took me a whole day. But a whole day trying to post a review was going to easily become a killer instead of a cause of excitement. That's why I rebranded my Ko-fi and the way I shared the reviews on Co-host! Now it's a headache, but a headache that takes a slightly less amount of time and leaves me with enough left to try to fix the rest of my day. Or madden me even more, who knows?

Iron Valley, Linney's Campaign, is being live every Tuesday.

Yeah, kind of that is what I meant. Not only that, though.

I started the day by sharing everywhere I could the second post of Linney’s campaign on Iron Valley. Then I worked on posting the review of the week. All those reviews are from books I read in 2022 and 2023, I haven’t had that much of a reading spur this year mostly because I wanted to slow down and read some books I wanted outside of ARC and Beta picks. It hasn’t worked like that, if I have to be honest, but it’s like I needed the rest. I am still reading (or trying to 😬) for the teams I am already a part of, just took a year’s pause from actively looking and pursuing new teams to apply for.

After that, anyway, I had a really motivating brainstorming session with a trusted friend 💙 (my heart aches for being able not only to say but also believe that I have friends I can trust) that led me to dive for almost six hours on the [REDACTED] adventure. I was satisfied (and oh so tired) for basically finishing it with a little more than two weeks before the deadline (being aware of the time was, is, and will still be jamming my head), but I still have to make a few editions to make it the best I could. I feel so low-key hyped.

Working Wednesday, though, didn’t have much of ‘Working’. I started the day with a power outage and that wrecked my plans, even if they were really not that time or head-consuming. I could have finished with my Collaborative Writing Workshop later on, but I wasn’t feeling it. Had enough of a time figuring out what I was going to eat and how I was going to dive into the darkness of a kitchen I had even in the brightest of hours (and I had, for a change, the brightest of days so far lately). Fortunately, the power came back for a little bit to let me fix my breakfast. And then came back again so I could fix my lunch (really, really thankful for that). It went out for a little bit again when I was prepping my dessert (the first time in a long time, I can get accustomed to that 😏). But so far it held. Still have no idea what happened that day (to warrant the power outage, I mean).

So, when I finally was able to settle, it was already time for the coffee break (sacred, do not disturb), and I felt so out of sync that I just made some last-minute editions and called it a day. I added a few more things to my schedule (’cause I just remembered), but so far it could have totally gone as an UnPlanned Resting Day. I took a book from my small, brand-new, growing, personal library collection and read for hours. I don’t remember when was the last time I read a physical book I physically held in my physical hands (my last birthday doesn’t count because the book wasn’t mine yet and I was in a bookstore 👀), so it was nice. Now I just have to finish it. Preferably before the end of the month. Hopefully more on that next week 🤞

Backstage Thursday was… backstaging, ba dum tss 🥁 I did an orderly move of tasks to help me manage a bit better few certain things outside my thematic days. Like an edition I had to start because of me getting into a new project… as an editor. It took me longer than I expected, but I had so much fun starting to dive in there and I’m loving a lot the setting and the concepts and I’m into the idea that my ‘boss’ is such an easy-going person, it will be hella fun to work with them. I did my scheduled task as well, and also had to reject a possible paid project because I didn’t find myself fit enough for it. Mature decisions. I’m growing way so fast 🥺

I also found a solo TTRPG game I could playtest the week after next. I know I ‘should’ have finished the previous one by now, but life happened. Anyhow, I’m happy and excited for the new game. I really can’t wait. I’m surprisingly content as well with the subjects I was able to grab for my incoming semester. I had to withdraw all of them last semester, so I wasn’t sure how things were going to go on this one, but I even found a virtual class! It’s the best of the best of what I can get. I will totally talk a lot more about my college life after the semester starts in three weeks anyway, so let’s wait until then.

On Secret Friday, though, I was not having it. I woke up in a m o o d, that much I noticed. Last week I signed up as a player for an incoming charity weekend stream to raise funds for medical aid for Palestine by playing TTRPG games. I woke up that day overthinking the help I could give as a player with my need for accommodations. If I haven’t said it yet, I’m hard of hearing and that is such a Big Thing™ in my life… at least for me. All the session zeros and games seemed to be taking place on voice channels on Discord, and Discord doesn’t have yet closed captions integrated (w h y?!). The session zero for a game I wanted to play was taking place that day, so my mood wasn’t helping. It was pushing me to just withdraw altogether, not wanting to be a bother by switching the calls to Google Meets, which could be a problem during a live stream if none of us had a paid account cause Google would be kicking us out every hour. For a game of at least three hours. I… I wasn’t having it.

Fortunately, it did not have a grasp of me. The session zero was held on Google Meets, and the organizer said we would have an account with a Google free trial, so it shouldn’t be able to cut us out during the stream. I had a lot of fun meeting the cast and was glad of hadn’t listened to my head. Now I can formally invite you to accompany us from August 2nd to August 4th on Desis & Dragons’ Twitch channel, we will be playing a lot of games with huge diverse casts for such an amazing cause.

Still on that same Secret Friday, I was also having sad feelings, finding an article in my inbox that very morning that started like this:

Living with hearing loss impacts every aspect of my life. It shapes how I communicate, navigate the world, and connect (or, more often, don’t connect) with others. During Disability Pride month, I find myself thinking lately about unexpected support — the small, impactful ways people have shown up and advocated on my behalf when I couldn’t. There’s my wife, of course, who helps translate basically everywhere we go, and who’s learning ASL with me so we can communicate a little easier. — Pride and Perseverance by AnnaGrams.

As I said, I was having feelings, and I was already a filled well, so I was overflowing. That start hit me somewhere and thought about approaching the author, Anna Pulley, but I was at a loss for words.

I tried to do things that day, but nothing (apart from the session zero) seemed to be working for me, so, understandably so, I just let it be. My partner spent a lot of time with me and, after the session, we had our coffee break (I started having coffee breaks thanks to him) and a few hours watching a series.

I partly knew what I was feeling, so when I didn’t wake up on Playful Saturday feeling better, it didn’t surprise me. It took me a while to figure out what it was though, but after the first harsh wave, I noticed there is only one thing able to destroy me completely overnight. The hormones were shifting to prepare for the period.

What’s the problem with it? The feelings, thoughts, and emotions I have been feeling for the last decade around the hormones have been extremely radical. I don’t consider myself an impulsive person… in this sort of thing, at least, but the intensity that overcomes me has been huge enough to scare me. Of myself. For myself. I’ve been fighting depression all my life and earlier with this I noticed it is something that affects greatly my style of life. Very few people believe me, not the ones who could help me do something about it though. Yet. So it hasn’t been funny.

After communicating with my partner, he decided it best to keep me in his line of sight. So dear friends I also kept in the loop were checking on me. I felt a prisoner of my own body (though this happens often and not only because of this particular matter) and a hostage of my own mind. I made the smarter move, but it was a difficult day.

Reaching the evening, my partner started looking for activities to actively distract me. We ended up playing a few (many) puzzles from Baba is You. It was highly stimulating and I ended up deeply engrossed, so much so that when he had to leave me to spend time with his family, I shifted the attention toward the TTRPG game I’m playing. Instead of the four parts I used to go over in the previous weeks, I was only able to focus through one and a half of another, but so far that was more than I expected to do that day. Depending on how this new week goes, I may or may not finish this first campaign there. I’m excited.

The excitement doesn’t break through this mood that’s bringing me down, but now that I recognized it, it’s slightly easier to fight it. Just slightly. Being able to differentiate when something comes from you and when it comes from the liar you have as a brain makes it all a bit less strenuous. And, sometimes, that’s all you need.

I’m only playing in one game so far next weekend, but nonetheless, I hope to see you there. Until next week 💙

[mediadiscord]

The Last of Us - Season 1 Episode 1 - Review

Hey everyone, I know I’m late to the game, but I am finally going to sit down and watch the first episode of The Last of Us. As of this writing it’s been out for a few days, and I’ve done my best to avoid anything I can about the show. I see high praise all around and ratings that don’t dip below a 9/10 so the hype train is in full motion. As I mentioned above, I am about to watch the show which means I’m starting this before I do. I do this because I want to start off and let you know where I am coming into this. I’m an Xbox, Switch and PC player so The Last of Us is known to me only by what others have said about it on podcasts that I listen to and mentions in videos that I watch on YouTube. I also know that this game has a lot of iterations with there being remasters and a sequel where a main person may or may not die and there being controversy with the sexual preference of the girl in the game that may or may not lead to said death. I know this game is coming to PC and I’ll finally get to play it as I don’t known a PlayStation. Ah, yes, I also know Joel and Elle as they have been mentioned numerous times and Elle has a special gift of invulnerability to whatever virus is happening in the game. I also know there is a virus that plagues the game and not everyone is affected. I also know the infected are sometimes or all the time known as clickers because of the sound they make. I don’t know what year this takes place but the term post-apocalyptic gets thrown around a lot. One more thing, I know that Joel had a wife and possibly a child but now only has a watch that means a lot to him because of the memories it provides. I do believe that’s all I know of the premise of the game, now it’s time to watch the show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtkt8BonwM Ok, so just got finished watching the first episode, which ran an hour and twenty minutes. I think the mini movie length episodes are good only when needed. Stranger things had a few long episodes, but he season was also shorter. If you’re going to be doing mini movies every week the content is going to get stale. I can see why this episode was longer, it had a lot of world building and character introductions to do for those not familiar with the source material. In games you can walk around and talk to NPC’s to help build the world, but in this case they had to lay it all out. As a father the beginning of the episode really got to me. I knew his daughter wasn’t going to be the one he goes with, because her name was not Ellie. The watch I mentioned did some into play and now I understand the significance of it. Having his daughter taken out while in his arms is some psychological scarring that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. A simple sprain turned into a death sentence, like they were living in the 1500’s. I liked how they started off the episode with footage from literally 40 years ago speaking of what could happen. This is a good reminder that you should probably listen to science when it comes to viruses and global warming affecting otherwise non-lethal fungus. I saw this interesting video where they broke down fungus and how it affects animals and how the writers of The Last of Us took that and ran with it. It’s not the normal zombie like creature hunting, eating and spreading. There is actual science behind this and not someone telling another person that we all are affected without any explanation. I really enjoyed the big action scene up front. Having Joel’s daughter come out and go to the neighbors where the woman in a vegetative state is now fully mobile. This harkens back to what was said in the beginning of the episode where the scientists state that Fungus keeps the host alive. Seeing how the town is going to hell in the matter of hours really made you think about how if this really happened how long it would take for your neighborhood to turn. There was one sequence that felt just like a video game. When they are driving and you’re looking out through Joel’s daughters’ perspective, and you hear Joel and Tommy talking off camera. It’s what would happen in a video game. You would be looking around while people talk, instead this time there wasn’t any captioning on the bottom. Jumping forward to current day, the world being in complete shambles is something I want to know more about. I’m sure the fireflies is a story that will be explored more and why Elle wasn’t called Elle when we first get introduced to her. I had a good time, but I felt like the show was killed by the hype. Yes, I was going to like it either way, but everyone calling this a pure masterpiece subconsciously set a very high bar that the show met but it would have been better to have it reach that bar without knowing if the world thought it was good or bed. I know this review is late, but I’ll try to be more on top of things for the next episode. I do like the show, I’m going to keep watching and I like that this is a show based on a video game that looks to be done correctly. I would have no problem telling my family about this without having to say it was a video game, because it really wouldn’t matter. The cast is good and there isn’t anyone chewing up the scenery. These are characters that look like they’re going to make me care what happens to them, and that’s promising.  I want a reason to come back other than the story being interesting. Read the full article

[simpforboys]

enchanted

she/her pronouns

summary: y/n and vinnie had liked each other for months until a new girl comes along.

warnings: angst, swear words

LISTEN TO ENCHANTED BY TAYLOR SWIFT!

y/n l/n and vinnie hacker; the rumored upcoming couple of tik tok.

after commenting on each other’s posts, flirting and teasing each other, their long awaited collab sent the entire internet into a spiral.

y/n and vinnie knew of each other’s feelings. how could they not? the constant touching, teasing, flirtatious behavior. they were drawn together.

everyone knew it too. the biggest influencer ship as of 2021, as stated on tik tok and twitter.

“vinnie, don’t you dare!” y/n gasped. the blond had picked her up, a wicked grin on his face as he got dangerously close to the pool.

“i swear, i’ll kick your ass!” y/n shouted, trying to squirm out of his reach. “tempting,” vinnie laughed.

vincent took a chance and jumped. y/n fell out of his arms as they hit the water, both coming up for air. “you’re dead, hacker!” y/n laughed, shoving vinnie underwater.

that was four months ago. y/n still smiles at the memory, until it becomes sour. a painful aching in her heart makes her stomach hurt as she can’t stop reliving the memories that took place a few weeks later.

y/n was in love with the blond. cliche, yes. but she couldn’t help it. his captivating smile, amazing personality, gorgeous looks. she fell hard.

of course, all good things end at some point.

that was until she came along. alex had introduced her to the hype house, saying she was thinking about joining.

y/n had her legs resting on vinnie’s lap, him drawing circles on her calves until alex came walking in. the way vinnie quickly pushed y/n’s legs off made her heart drop.

she was absolutely stunning. long blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes, slim body. y/n was even captivated by her.

she introduced herself as sarah and y/n knew she was done for. the way vinnie hugged her a little longer then he should have.

that was the first thing that did it for y/n. second was when he began cancelling their plans last minute, until he eventually just started standing her up.

y/n waited patiently at the restaurant, her leg bouncing anxiously as she picked at her finger nails. vinnie was 15 minutes late.

15 minutes soon turned into 45 until she realized he wasn’t coming.

y/n laid in her bed, a black hoodie covering her hair as some random movie played in the background. she despised how she still loved vinnie, even if she heard from him two times a week.

obviously, their lack of posting with each other quickly caused their fans to be suspicious. however, vinnie only posted sarah once (and it wasn’t even her full face).

y/n couldn’t help but let her thoughts roam about it. was he ashamed? embarrassed? he posted y/n more than that. maybe he was using her?

she went back to the video every few days, reading the comments. barely any of them supported it, and everyone picked up that it wasn’t y/n.

it was vinnie driving his rx7 with sarah’s tan legs in the background.

user3455: that ain’t y/n yall

vinniesfan20373: what happened with y/n :(

user0653: who the hell is that

y/n couldn’t help but feel… proud that everyone didn’t support them. selfish, she knows, but she can’t help it. vinnie hacker broke her heart.

y/n clicked on an audio, beginning the recording.

after setting a timer, she quickly got up from her bed and set in on her dresser. “please don’t be in love with someone else,” she folded her body as she danced.

petty, maybe. but she needed to vent. after adding the text, “we were never dating, idc what he does. also me:” she posted it without any hashtags.

within seconds, she already got hundreds of likes. her 11.2 million followers quickly got the video out. within two hours it had a million views.

y/n clicked on the comments.

y/nfan: this is about vinnie huh :(

user5057261: here for u bae <33

vinniehacker: :/

usedbag3937: @/vinnie you fumbled big time💀

hypehouse383728: miss u and vin 🥺

a ding caused y/n to feel her stomach twist in knots.

vin <3: can we talk?

y/n: come over

fifteen minutes later a knock on her apartment door caught her attention. opening the door, she sucked in a deep breath. vinnie looked… different.

he got more tattoos, his hair was longer. okay, maybe not that different, but it felt different.

“hi…”

“hey…”

-

vinnie and y/n awkwardly moved to the house.

“listen, y/n. i came here because i need to apologize for how i treated you. i guess-“ vinnie took a deep breath.

“i guess i was scared because i was so fucking in love with you. i needed a distraction- and as horrible as that sounds to both you and sarah-“

“vincent-“

“please, y/n. it absolutely terrified me that i actually had all i wanted in a partner, and i wussed out and ran away. i’ve changed and i’m so fucking sorry. i miss you so much,” vinnie was practically in tears as his lip quivered.

y/n felt her own bottom lip quivering, tears threatening to fall. “you broke my heart, vinnie. i was- fuck i still am- so in love with you. and you just left me for the next model girl that walked in,” y/n heard her voice break as she cried.

vinnie had tears rolling down his face. he took y/n’s hands in his own, trying to comfort himself and her in this vulnerable moment.

“i’m so sorry i treated you like shit. you didn’t deserve that,” vinnie said.

“i want you, y/n. i’m so ready to treat you like how you need and deserve to be treated, like the fucking goddess you are.”

y/n swallowed. did she want this?

“i need time, vinnie. i’m open to talking again- but how do i know you’re not gonna do this again?” she asked.

“i understand. i’ll prove to you i’m so ready for you, and i’m willing to wait forever if that’s how long you need. i love you, y/n. you’re worth whatever wait.”

that’s what y/n needed to hear in that moment.

“i’m so glad we met,” she sobbed. she pulled vinnie in tightly, cherishing the way she felt to be back in his strong and safe embrace.

“i’m forever grateful for you, y/n. it was hell to not have you in my life. i didn’t know what i had until it was gone.”

“i love you, vin.”

“i love you, y/n.”

[moonxbabe]

vinnie hacker smut - take it out on me -

hi readers - this was another request I had, not my best work and also pretty short so I apologize but hope you like it - also - this story has a bit of that cigarette incident with Vinnie, but I do NOT care that he smokes, sadly I find it attractive (I know, I'm the worst) but anyway Its just a story.

warning: smut 18+

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Vinnie groans exiting his now stalled car on the side of the road. He slams the door closed causing Jett to jump as he gets out as well. 

“Let me make some calls so someone can come out here and get us, dont stress,” Jett assures him as best as he can but he already knows Vinnies had a rough day and there's only so much he can say to make it better. 

Vinnie moves both his hands to the back of his neck holding it tightly pacing by the front of the car ignoring Jetts attempt at comfort. He pulls out his phone and opens your text thread typing. 

Vinnie: I'm having the worst day. 

You read his text and sigh knowing it was coming. A few hours ago Tik Tok room also blew up a post at their weekly attempt to “Cancel Vinnie Hacker” along with his meeting regarding the boxing match that he never got paid for. Things just weren't going his way today and when that happens he falls deep into the dark. 

You: Come over?

Vinnie: I'm stuck on the side of the road. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm turning my phone off. 

You read his text and slightly frowned. You knew he was in a bad mood but you hated when he pushed you away and wouldn't even let you help. You decided to grab your things and go to the Hype House to wait for him to get back. 

                                                       ---------

Vinnie storms into his bedroom slamming the room shut startling you as you sit on his bed slowly closing your laptop. He turns around and slams his first against the back of the door leaning his head against it for a moment before turning around to press his back to it and slides down taking his head in his hands. 

“Hey hey, let's breathe for a second?” You say softly approaching him, getting down to sit in front of him. You touch his arms gently stroking them softly with your thumbs. 

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,” He finally responds after a few moments and sighs, leaning his head back against the door. He takes one of your hands and squeezes it softly, intertwining your fingers. 

“You didn't, I'm just worried about you,” You brought his hand up to kiss it softly. He closes his eyes for a minute before opening them.

“I'm just tired, tired of everything,” He lets go of your hand and slowly gets up “I need a cigarette” He walks over to his dresser pulling out the box. 

“Vinnie,” you say with a warning as he pulls one out of the box and attempts to find a lighter. 

“Don't start with me, y/n. I'm not in the mood,” He doesn't bother to look at you as he continues to search for the lighter. 

“I promised your mom that I’d make sure you didn't smoke anymore,” you walked over to him annoyed and attempted to take the cigarette out of his mouth. 

“You really think I care about the promise you made to my mom right now, y/n? I don't give a fuck,” He grabs your arms, slightly pushing them away. You frown at his reaction.

“Okay but I don't want you to do it,” you hold back tears as he tries to walk past you but you hold him. He doesn't say anything but attempts his best to avoid eye contact. He knew he was hurting you but he was hurting himself and the battle within him was strong. 

“Stop,” you grab his face with both your hands using your thumbs to stroke his cheeks softly before using one hand to tuck some of his curls away “I know you're hurting right now, but-- but-- this isn't going to help,” you search his face for a moment as he still doesn't look at you, you take a moment before saying anything else “Take it out on me, let me make you feel good,” you say quietly waiting for him to say something, anything. His eyes linger for a moment before finally looking into yours causing your body to somewhat relax. 

He still doesn't say a word, but moves his hand up to grab your neck slightly pulling you closer, his lips crashing onto your kissing you hungerly not wasting a second. He groans softly as you suck at his bottom lip sliding your tongue into his mouth. He moves his other hand deep into your hair, gripping it pulling you even closer to him, you can almost taste his pain. He bites at your bottom lip tugging at it before pulling away to take your hand leading you to the bed. 

“Knees, now.” He says sternly as you nod and get down onto your knees looking up at him. He started to undo his jeans, pushing them down along with his tight boxers freeing his hardness. You bite the inside of your cheek in anticipation as he nods looking down at you giving you permission. He sits at the edge of the bed as you get closer in between his legs. 

You take his dick in your hands stroking it, causing him to let out a soft groan before leaning in closer and slowly taking it into your mouth. His hand quickly finds its way deep into your hair once more grabbing it as he lets out another groan at the feeling. You begin to bob your head up and down his length, allowing your tongue to roam all over before pulling up and using it to gently lick his tip a few times.

“Fuck baby, so good” He moans gripping your hair tighter as he watches you work. Your mouth slides over his dick again, taking in as much as you can using your hands to stroke the rest.

“Be a good girl and take it all,” He groans and pushes your head further down on his cock causing you to slightly gag but you continue as tears form in your eyes. Your hand strokes his balls as your tongue proceeds to lick all over. You begin to feel his dick twitch in your mouth as you slightly hum sending vibrations along it. 

“I'm so close baby, don't stop,” He moans softly, stroking your hair as you keep bobbing your head faster taking him all in as his tip hits the back of your throat. His hips buckle up as he grips your hair once more pulling your head back, you continue to stroke him as your mouth remains open, sticking your tongue out ready for his load. He shuts his eyes and lets out a loud grunt cumming into your mouth as you lick your lips and swallow. 

“My good fucking girl,” He says in a husky tone and wipes off remaining cum from your lips with his thumb shoving it into your mouth, his eyes locked on yours as you suck it clean. His hand slides down to grab your neck again pulling you close. 

“Open,” He says and without hesitation you open your mouth as he leans in to spit in it. You swallow as a slight grin appears on his face, he pulls you in kissing you hard. 

“Such a good little slut for daddy huh?” You slightly bit your lower lip and nod. 

“Do we think she deserves a reward?” His hand slides up to grab your jaw as you both don't break eye contact. 

“Yes daddy,” you almost whine and nod once more. He studies you for a moment before nodding.

“Get up, lay down,” He pats at the edge of the bed, you do as he says and wait for him as he pulls off his tshirt leaving himself completely naked aside from his silver chains around his neck. You bit your lip at the view of him wanting him deep inside you. You press your thighs together but he's quick to push them apart, grabbing the edge of your shorts, pulling them down and throwing them off to the side. 

“Those look so good on you,” He licks his lips at your black lace thong “But sadly they have to come off,” He rips them off tossing them as well. 

“Vinnie I just b--!” you attempt to say but get cut off by his warning look shutting you up. He leans over moving his hand to your neck once more pulling you in to kiss you deeply as his other hand cups your pussy causing you to slightly moan into the kiss. 

He slides two fingers in between your folds feeling your wetness and pulls away to groan softly against your lips. 

“Look at you, so wet for me and I’ve barely touched you,” He rubs your clit causing you to moan once more as your back slightly arches off the bed. He slowly enters two fingers into you pumping them in and out at a steady pace. 

“Vinnie,” you bit your lower lip moving your hand down to grip his. 

“I want to taste you,” He said in a husky tone, getting down pushing your legs even more apart and replacing his thumb on your clit with his tongue sucking at it. 

“Oh my-- don't stop” your hand moved to grip his hair pushing him further in, your eyes rolled back at the pleasure as his fingers continued to work in and out of you at a fast pace. 

“Cum for daddy,” He whispered against your heat before letting his tongue trailed up and down causing your legs to shake. You felt your walls begin to clench around his fingers as he suddenly curled them hitting your g-spot,  you tried to push his head away from the overwhelming pleasure but he didn't budge. 

“V-Vin, I'm about to cum” you moaned loudly gripping his curls harder as your climax took over. He slowly pulled his fingers out, licking them all over as he leaned back down to lick you clean. You groaned softly, closing your legs still sensitive from your over stimulation. 

“Delicious,” He said quietly before leaning over kissing your lips softly. Your eyes fluttered tired from your high. Before you knew it you were flipped over on your stomach and he was behind you.

“Ass up baby,” He growled, giving your behind a hard slap, causing you to wince but you followed his orders quickly. You got on all four as he positioned himself behind you. One hand gripped your hip as the other slid up your back to the back of your neck pushing it down into the bed. 

“I said ass,” He ordered once more as you nodded. Your cheek pressed to the bed sheets as you bit your lower lip nervous but also excited. You liked it when he played rough, but he was also in a bad mood today so you didn't know what to expect. Before you could even have another thought he slammed into you hard causing you to scream gripping the sheets next to you. 

“Fuck, you’re so tight” He groaned at the feeling as he thrusted in and out of you at a fast and hard pace as his anger got the best out of him. It hurt but you tried your best to keep it together in hopes it would get better. Your teeth sunk harder into your bottom lip as your eyes shut feeling him deep inside you as he kept going with no remorse. 

“Vin, slow down” You mumbled moving your hand behind you pushing him back a bit. He grabbed your hand and moved it down to press it above your head into the bed. 

“Take it like the good little slut you are,” His voice husky as he leaned in to growl in your ear, holding your hand in place for a few moments before moving it in between the both of you to slowly rub your clit. His thrusts slowed down a bit but remained just as hard causing you to moan. He rubbed your clit harder as his other hand gripped tightly at your hip keeping a good rhythm going. 

“Yes, yes right there,” you moaned loudly at the feeling as your eyes rolled back, your hips meeting his with every thrust. You could feel his dick in your stomach from how deep he was.

“There she is,” you could hear the smirk in his voice as he picked up his pace again. The room filled with skin slapping skin noises as he watched himself slide in and out of you. His hand on your hip slid up your back once more reaching your hair and grabbing it all together tugging at it. It hurt but in the best way. You could feel your climax coming as you turned into a moaning mess. 

“You feel so good baby, I love the way your pussy feels around my dick,” He groaned as his words sent chills down your spine causing your legs to shake. He leaned his head back before lifting his leg up fucking into you hard from a different angle finding your g-spot once again. 

“Holy shit, Vin,” you cried in pleasure as you felt your walls begin to clench around his dick. “I'm about to cum,” 

“Hold it,” He demanded and kept going, wanting to climax at the same time. Your body was shaking uncontrollably as you gripped the sheets tighter. His hand on your clit not moving driving you insane.

“I'm close, don't you dare cum” He groaned as you felt his dick twitch inside of you, feeling like you were ready to explode. 

“Vinnie,” you moaned loudly as he moved his hand shoving you into the bed getting in a few more thrusts.

“Cum baby,” He moaned, stiffening inside you as you immediately came all over his dick. You both rode out your highs as he slowly pulled out of you grabbing a towel to clean you up as you laid there tired and breathless. 

After throwing the towel in his basket he walked back over to the bed as you turned over on your back grabbing a blanket to cover yourself. He laid next to you putting his arm around you pulling you to him as you both stayed silent for a few minutes. 

“Was it too much for you?” He said quietly looking down at you as you hugged into his chest. He felt guilty for taking it out on you.

“No, im fine Vin” you nodded and looked up reassuring him. He gave you a slight smile kissing your forehead. 

“I'm sorry about earlier,” He sighed, “I shouldn't have shoved you like that or said what I said,” He leaned his head back against the headboard. 

“It's okay, I know you're having a rough time right now, I just wish you’d talk to me instead of shut me out,” you looked up at him and placed a hand on his cheek stroking it softly with your thumb, he leaned into it closing his eyes for a moment before nodding. 

“I know, its stupid of me, I just get too deep into myself sometimes,” His eyes fluttered open as he reached for your hand placing his over it before taking it and kissing the inside of your palm. 

“I love you, thank you for caring for me and still sticking around even though I can be a shit boyfriend,” He held your hand tightly.

“You don't need to say that and you are not a shit boyfriend Vin, I care because I love you and want you to be happy” you kissed his bare chest as he held onto you tightly. 

“You make me happy, only you” He leans in to kiss you softly as you kiss him back smiling. 

                                                          -------------

feedback is always appreciated <3

[showtoonzfan]

Wanted to pop in real quick to discuss what's recently going on with the Vivziepop drama, because when is there NEVER drama with her am I right?

So apparently, a local HH/HB fan on YouTube made a Livestream discussing their thoughts and frustrations towards the recent Helluva boss update, and long story short, Viv herself commented a few times, along with a few spindlehorse members. (However I couldn't find anyone that was other than Viv, but it was confirmed by the Livestreamer) This caused a lot of people to come after said person, so they not that long ago made a video discussing things and touching upon everything, speaking calmly and professionally from the heart:( https://youtu.be/qgIBgwJPXfI )

Before I get to the actual video, I wanted to share my thoughts on viv's comments on the Livestream. I'll link the Livestream down below! For those who don't know, these are what she said. I had screenshots, but since I'm on my phone, I'll have to just type what she said:

"You don't know what's going on. The episode DOES matter but not in the way that causes massive narritive with season 2 and we LITERALLY do not know when we can release."

"We hyped it up because of the work that went in, we were proud. The updates we got completely blindsided us and now we are trying to slavage it. We are doing what is best for the show. We are all heartbroken."

"We had wanted to be honest about everything but a lot happened behind the scenes. All we ask for is understanding. I'm sorry to anyone it upset. I'm heartbroken for everything."

"I'm only saying anything because it's hurtful to see misinformation come out about this, that's all, sorry to say anything."

LINK TO ORIGINAL LIVESTREAM: (https://youtu.be/umVwZwMi2CI)

Okay so.....phew, that's the comments she made under the video I just linked above. Now that you can see what she wrote, let's discuss because......SIGHHH.

First, let me say this now. Like I have said before, it is rather unfortunate that this episode can't release. It is understandable that Vivzie and her crew are disappointed, and you can feel sympathy towards them for something they worked hard on that wasn't able to release. They have a right to be disappointed themselves.

HOWEVER......there NEEDS to be some form of accountability here, ESPECIALLY for what happened to this fan. On the subject matter of her comments, while I’m of course glad Vivzie wasn’t rude or passive aggressive, that doesn’t mean I condone what she did or what she said. First of all, the livestream itself was 35 minutes, and I sat through the WHOLE THING. After listening to it all, I can tell you that there was NO misinformation spread, nor ANYTHING that would warrant vivziepop to comment in the FIRST place. This fan was frustrated yes, but they spoke calmly, professionally, and didn’t say or act out of line ONCE. The video is just her saying her genuine thoughts of how she’s disappointed and how the situation could have been handled better, as well as interacting with the comments. There was NOTHING here that would warrant a sappy comment from Vivzie, this fan did NOTHING wrong and I’m saying that right now. Regardless though, Vivzie still did what she did. The first and MAJOR issue is just that this wasn’t fucking necessary. Why post an update, check YouTube to see if anyone is upset, then go to the comments to give your 2 cents? And yes, Vivzie of course has a right to do this, but the problem is that she SHOULDN’T OF. The issue with Viv as a creator is at this point, she hasn’t learned that as an internet creator, there are going to be times where you GET HATE. People are going to be mad at you or dislike what happens, and the best and most ADULT thing to do in the situation is continue to make public announcements, and just let the other side do what they need to do, aka IGNORE them and just keep doing what you’re doing. Of course though, VIVZIEPOP can’t do that! Nah, she has to comment under someone’s video, therefore increasing the amount of hate said person will get from 50% to 100%.  This has been said before, but while I know Vivziepop doesn’t control her fan base, whenever she adds herself to the equation, she should be SMART ENOUGH to know AT THIS POINT that her fans will see her upset, and immediately attack the person that upset her. So….yeah, she can’t control her fandom, but that doesn’t excuse that she could still be a fucking SMART adult about it and go about the situation professionally. To respond to VALID criticism like this is odd. At this point and time, she should VERY MUCH be used to people not agreeing with her and ESPECIALLY on how episode 8 was handled. This should NOT at all be that fucking bizarre to her that there will be people who don’t agree with her. She needs to STOP feeling the need to respond to any sort of negative feedback for her sake and the sake of others cause regardless if she wants it or not, her fans will feel the need to attack or scold anyone who even SLIGHTLY makes her sad.  Now, thanks to her, a fan got attacked all because they expressed their frustrations, hence why they made the video I linked at the very top. I suggest watching that, because not only do I agree with everything this person has said, but I feel bad for her. She was a huge fan and she didn’t do ANYTHING wrong, and now she claims that she doesn’t even know If she’s going to buy merch anymore or support the show because the experience has botched it for her. Congrats Vivzie, at this point you’re making your own enemies. 

 Like I get Vivzie wanting to let everyone know how down she is, and how this has taken a toll on her, but if you want to do that, do it on fucking TWITTER, not some fan’s livestream. This is why I don’t see her as a good person y’all. She makes the same mistakes over and OVER again and instead of acting professionally, she deadass got into some RANDOM fans comment section to feel sorry for herself and it’s DISGUSTING. I’m not even going to discuss what she specifically said in her comments because it’s a load of bullshit anyway. Like….honey just admit you went about the situation illy and work to be better in the future, it’s not that hard. 

And the saddest thing is that literally EVERYTHING this fan has said in BOTH videos are correct. She should have been smarter and learned from her past mistakes, she shouldn't have hyped up this episode knowing that it wasn't what she made everyone think it was, she should have owned up to things instead of saying it's "free" knowing damn well her FANS are the one's paying for this shit, and she should have improved by now as a content creator, but she's still the same childish inexperienced person she was since Zoophobia. She may not be as aggressive as she was in the past, but I can clearly see that she hasn't improved.

[sunmoonandsandsoundtracks]

love me harder

what's this? i'm posting early?! someone call the vatican, because i'm pretty sure i'm possessed.

full confession, this story was never meant to be, but one review over on ao3 changed that. for those of you who wished for a sequel to love me like you do, direct any joy/gratitude/positive feelings toward the spectacular @starthesenpai, who has been an invaluable part of my creative process for the last few months. she's also a great hype woman, and a kick ass writer, so i highly recommend you haul ass over to her page to check out her stories. you can see my personal favorites of hers in my fic rec list. seriously, you should have been there like five minutes ago.

i really hope this holds up in the shadow of its predecessor, but my style/mentality is vastly different than it was when i wrote said story. there is no angst involved here, so it's all just happy, feel good moments. and sexy time... that i hope i did okay with.

masterlist

spotify/youtube

word count: 7148

warnings: none

nsfw below the cut. enjoy, and happy valentine's day, friends!

You never knew how fast time could go by.

Sure, it seemed to pass a little too quickly when you thought about your age, but that wasn’t the case when you thought about your relationship. You could look back over the time that you’d been dating Gaara with nothing but fondness and joy. The same joy that radiated from you the morning after, and had your coworkers fearing for your sanity, considering the shape you’d been in the day prior.

“Okay, what happened to you, and what do I have to do to get me some of that?” Ittetsu questioned, luckily after your boyfriend was in his office.

You just shook your head, grinning like an idiot. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much as I did.”

“Oh, come on! Sharing is caring!”

Matsuri just stared at you, quizzical. When she left you at the end of the day, you had all the enthusiasm of a convict on death row. What could have changed you so drastically in just over twelve hours?

“It’s good to see you. I told you he wouldn’t fire you if you explained yourself,” she greeted you.

“You were right, and I did know that. It was just that this was such a big deal. I was freaking out,” you explained as you got set up for the day.

“It obviously went much better than you expected. You just walked in beside him with no problem.”

It took every ounce of control you possessed to not give yourself away.

You invited her out for drinks that Friday with you and your two best girlfriends. She’d almost turned you down, but the skillful wielding of your rarely used puppy dog eyes and the promise of some details that you couldn’t divulge in the office had proved to be too much for her to resist.

“All right, spill,” Sari- who you found out knew Matsuri from a yoga class- commanded as soon as you sat down at your table at the bar, not even letting you get comfortable first. “We’ve been bugging you since that night, and all you’ve said is that it went well and you still have a job. Explanation, now!”

You sighed, knowing this would be the first thing you’d have to talk about. Skimming over the intimate details, you told Matsuri, Sari, and Yukata what had happened from when you entered Gaara’s office to when you left with him. By the time you were finished, all three of their jaws were on the floor.

“Let me get this straight. He gave you a pass, you spilled hot coffee on yourself, he helped you strip, gave you his shirt, poured you some wine, showed you the tattoo that matches yours, the two of you confessed to liking each other, and then you fucked in his office?!” Sari questioned, her voice getting higher and higher, reaching a shrill shriek when she reached the last part. “Now you’re dating him?”

You sipped at the drink they’d only let you get once you agreed to start talking. “It was a little more romantic than that, but yeah, that’s essentially it.”

“Damn, girl! Okay, start taking notes, because I’ve got some workplace fantasies that I need you to live out for me.”

You just laughed and waved her off. “You know I’m not really into stuff like that, and I don’t think Gaara is either. This was a one time thing because so much got out of control.”

“How would you know?” Yukata questioned. “Have you talked much about it since this started? You mentioned that he was a virgin. He might not know himself.”

“No, we haven’t talked about it, I didn’t say he’s a virgin for sure, just that I suspected he was, and he’s busy. He’s important at work, and at home.”

“Oh, right! Have you explained to his kid who you are, and why you’re coming around?” Sari questioned.

“I talked to him a bit that night. He’s an intelligent boy, but romantic relationships are definitely a foreign concept to him. I just hope he’ll be okay about all of this. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable, or make him think I’m stealing his dad.”

“What can you really do other than let him get to know you?” Yukata asked.

“You’re right,” you sighed. “It’s not like I’m trying to be his mom.”

“But if things get serious, that’s who you could become,” Sari pointed out.

You shook your head. “No matter what happens between Gaara and I, if Shinki doesn’t want a mom, then I won’t be one. I’ll just try to be his friend. If he decides he doesn’t like me at all, then… I don’t know. I love Gaara, but that’s not something I think I could handle long-term.”

“So you’d break up with him?”

“It depends on what he wants, but I won’t say that I never would. Anyway, enough of this. We’re supposed to be celebrating. I’m in a relationship with a great man, and it’s off to a great start.”

The rest of the night was spent inducting Matsuri into the group and dodging questions about the specifics of just how good Gaara was as a lover. All you said was that he either had some experience yet to be disclosed, or he was a natural.

You and Gaara successfully kept your relationship covert, typically spending at least one evening a week together, either going out to dinner, or you’d go over and the two of you would tackle a new recipe. Shinki was a very straightforward critic, not holding back on the blunt feedback.

Speaking of the child, you did exactly as you’d told your friends you would, and focused on being a friendly adult figure to him whenever you were there. You tried to be attentive to him, watching for any signs that he was uncomfortable or jealous of the attention Gaara was giving you, but he was very mature, and even though he was taking time to warm up to you, he seemed content.

He had warmed up to you more than you realized by his ninth birthday, not even a full five months after meeting you…

“So what do you want to do for your big day?” You asked as the two of you waited on Gaara to return from taking a call before eating. “It’s only a week away.” “I want to go to the museum, and there’s a new movie that just came out,” he plainly explained.

“That sounds like fun! I’ve heard the interactive exhibit for children is really good, and if I’m thinking of the right one, I bet that movie will be entertaining. I’m sure you and your father will have a great day!” You replied with a smile. “Then you get to pick whatever you want for dinner. Do you have what you want in mind?” He looked back at you in confusion. “We’ll pick something up from the restaurant we like on our way home. Aren’t you coming too? It’s Saturday, so you aren’t working, right?”

Taken aback, you took a moment to answer. “Do you want me to come?”

“It would make Father happy.”

“Shinki, this is your birthday. It’s about what will make you happy, not your father. He wants you to have what you want,” you said in a gentle tone. “I would never intrude on the special time you two get together, especially on your special day.”

He blushed and looked away, eliciting a laugh that you barely stopped.

“I want you to come too,” he mumbled, drawing a grin from you. “Well, if that’s the case, then while we’re out, do you want to pick your present from me? Or do you still want it to be a surprise?” Later that night, as you and Gaara cuddled in bed after he all too easily convinced you to stay, you told him about the conversation between you and his son.

“Did you think he didn’t like you?” He asked.

“I wasn’t worried that he didn’t like me at all, but to want me to be there when he could have you all to himself for an entire day is way more than I was expecting,” you explained. “I’m still a little concerned that he doesn’t really want me to be there-”

“He wants you there,” he cut you off. “I’ve talked with him often about you, and he truly enjoys having you around.”

The smile that split your face was so wide, it was almost painful. “That’s great! I just want him to be comfortable, and I’d be so happy if he was just okay with me being around, but I wouldn’t think he’d actual-”

He cut you off again, this time with his mouth on yours, and you immediately calmed down from the happy buzz. Jumping from one good feeling to the next was abrupt, but it introduced a new kind of buzz to which you had quickly grown accustomed.

“What was that for?” You asked when the kiss ended. “Do I need a reason?”

“Well, no, but when you interrupt me like that, I can’t help but wonder.”

“It’s nothing,” he said, but his smile told you otherwise.

You did go out with them the day of Shinki’s birthday, and you had the photographic evidence on your phone to memorialize the wonderful day.

There were several moments in all that time where you couldn’t help but smile when they came to mind. The secretive smirks and kisses exchanged at work, When you introduced him to your friends-

“So you can thank us at any time,” Sari teased Gaara once the formalities were out of the way. Her and Yukata had joined you and Gaara at dinner one date night.

“Forgive me, but for what?” He questioned, puzzled.

“For your relationship! Can you say it would have happened if it hadn’t been for that pic she meant to send to us?”

He chuckled upon hearing her explanation. “I suppose I do owe you my thanks for that.”

“Sari,” you said in warning as you sipped your water.

“What? It’s true, and every time you light up because you get a chance to talk about him, we get more bragging rights! If you two eventually have kids, you better tell them they owe their existence to us!”

You’d swear your face was glowing because of all the heat that rushed to it. “Okay, let’s leave that alone,” Yukata intervened.

You chanced a look over at Gaara, and he seemed… oddly calm. Your relationship was barely past six months, and there was no foreseeable end, but it was still way too soon to even be mentioning children, especially considering that he already had one. You couldn’t imagine having that discussion with Shinki yet.

“Oh, and if you get married, I’m demanding a chance to at least give a speech-” “You are not allowed to tell anyone that story!” You interrupted her.

“Well, then what will you tell people that ask how you got together when you can be more open?”

“We haven’t figured that out yet,” you groaned. “Everyone that we’d consider telling and or can tell already knows the whole story, except Shinki.” “Why don’t you just say it was a message that wasn’t a big deal, but because he’s your supervisor, it had to be cleared up?” Yukata suggested simply. “Then when you went to discuss it, things just fell into place? I mean, that’s exactly what happened. That picture wasn’t really a big deal to us, but it was inappropriate for him to get at the time.”

“That’s… that’s a pretty good way to put it,” you admitted.

“Yeah,” Sari agreed. “Not bad. Now, the real question is how long are you planning on riding this out?” -along with other big events, literally every time you made love… Your top memory was of his birthday, which was also your one year anniversary. He’d been insistent upon focusing on the latter reason to celebrate, but you told him you were not going to be denied more of a reason to dote on him. Not that you needed a reason. You did it pretty much every day, but this was going to be special. As much as you hoped to have many, you didn’t know how many more birthdays of his you���d get to share, so you did your best to make the second one better than the first.

“I was more than happy with last year,” he said when you told him you were determined to really celebrate with him this time around.

“Well, I’m raising the bar,” you insisted as the two of you relaxed on the couch one evening, just before the new year. “Just a nice dinner with Shinki, Kankuro, and hopefully Temari, if she can make it this year. Then we can come back here, and I’ll wait on you all night.”

“We’re supposed to be celebrating both of us. I don’t want it to be all about me.”

“We can celebrate both of us the day after. You can get the day off, I’ll call in sick, then we can have the whole day. I just want to devote one night to you. We can do whatever you want.”

“I guess that does sound nice. As long as you aren’t injured this time around.”

You gently hit him with one of the decorative pillows, then smirked. “Yeah. You can actually tell me you want me to take my clothes off, or better yet, do it yourself. You don’t have to rely on a freak accident.”

He threw the pillow back. Had Shinki not finished up in the bath right then, you might have started something.

The night of his birthday would always elicit a wistful sigh and smile as you reminisced.

The two of you went a little out of your way after finishing work that day so that it wasn’t so obvious you were leaving together. That whole day, you’d been reliving the day that it all started, but in a much better mood than you had been when it happened.

“Hey, what’s with that goofy smile?” Ittetsu questioned, pulling you out of your reverie an hour into the work day. “Are you holding out on us again?” “I’m not holding out on anything,” you told him, barely stopping your gaze from shifting to Matsuri. She’d been such a great ally in the office, and the two of you had become very close friends since you included her in the informative meeting with Sari and Yukata. She covered for you when the gossip mill started over a completely innocent interaction between you and Gaara by the coffee maker. Nothing that wouldn’t have happened before you got together started the accurate, but unfounded- as far as Matsuri had convinced them- rumor.

“I don’t believe you!”

“Believe me or not, you’re not going to hear otherwise, so deal with it.”

That evening, as he drove the two of you to the restaurant, you recounted the discussion to Gaara.

“He gabs worse than any girl or woman I’ve ever met,” you laughed. “But he gets so offended if you call him on it.”

“That may be, but he’s a hard worker.”

“I know he is, and he’s a great hype man. He’s also into Matsuri, and I want to set them up.”

“So you’re a matchmaker now?” He questioned, amusement coloring his tone.

“I’m a woman who wants to see my friends be happy, and I happen to think they’d be super cute together. They’d be fun to double with. Them and maybe Sari… with your brother.”

“Sari and Kankuro?” He clarified in disbelief.

“I just think that if we put them together, they’d click. They’re fun people who love to annoy us to frustration, and then back off just before we turn homicidal.”

He was silent, and you grew more worried the longer it dragged on. Did you say something wrong? Did he think what you said was stupid? It wasn’t until he had parked the car that he replied.

“If those two were to get together, they wouldn’t just drive us all to frustration, they’d drive us all up a tree, or off a cliff.”

You started laughing before he finished speaking. “You’ve got a good point.”

“I’d be happy to see them happy, but I want no part in creating our inevitable torment.”

You just continued to laugh until you could get under control enough to walk in with him. Hand in hand, the two of you entered the restaurant. You told the host the name of your party, and the two of you were directed to a private dining room.

“Why do we need a whole room? It’s just the four of us,” Gaara pointed out, confused, believing it was just his son and brother.

“There was a change of plans,” you said, smiling, puzzling him further.

When the two of you were directed into your room, he was surprised to find his sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and best friend as well as the two he was expecting.

“Happy birthday!”

“What?” He looked at you for an explanation, only to receive a knowing smile in return.

“Looks like Temari was able to make it after all.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“A little while. Now let’s get over there and greet your friend and family.”

You were happy to see Temari again. The two of you had bonded a bit before she left after Gaara’s birthday the year before, and had exchanged numbers so you could keep her up to date on anything big happening. As well organized as he could be, Gaara didn’t remember to check in with her very often, and Kankuro didn’t even seem to try most of the time. It helped the few times you had wanted to surprise Gaara with something small, but hadn’t learned all his preferences.

“So that’s her, huh?” Naruto rhetorically asked Gaara when you were distracted with meeting Shikamaru and Shikadai.

“Yes,” your boyfriend replied, smiling warmly at you.

“Uh-oh,” Naruto chuckled. “I’ve seen that look a few times. I know what it means.”

Gaara looked back at him, curious. “What?”

“You’re sunk, man. In super deep. Just give me plenty of notice when you decide on a wedding date.”

Those cool eyes drifted back to you. “I will.”

The other man almost dropped the drink in his hand. “What? Really? I know you don’t mess around, but this is your first serious relationship. Are you sure?”

“Why would I need to go through a dozen wrong relationships when I know I’ve found the right one?”

His friend chuckled again. “Got me there. Well, it’s great to see you with someone who makes you happy. You were doing fine on your own, better than I have, but it’s different now. When she called me, I wasn’t sure what to think. She seemed nice over the phone, but I-”

“She called you?”

“Yeah. Just before Christmas. She’d already cleared it with Temari and Shikamaru, so I could ride with them. She honestly did everything but pay for the hotel, and she even offered to help with that, if it would get me here… She’s a good one, Gaara. I thought she was nice just from the call, then Temari told me about her, and I thought she’s even cooler. While we were waiting for you, I talked to Shinki, and he really likes her. How long has he been calling her mom?”

The poor redheaded man could have given himself whiplash with how fast he moved his head, eyes wide. “What?”

Naruto raised a brow. “Yeah. When she came up, he called her Mother, but then he got nervous. Has he not been calling her that?”

“This would be the first time I’ve heard about it.”

“Maybe it was just a slip? Even if that’s true, I don’t think he’d be against it if you did take the next step. You could have her move in before getting hitched, just to be sure.”

Gaara was stunned. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered moving forward in your relationship, and he didn’t feel that Shinki would be against it either, but he was afraid of putting any undue pressure on his son.

“So this is the famous Naruto?” You said as you appeared at Gaara’s side. “You look exactly as I pictured you. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Naruto smirked. “No, I think I just shocked Gaara into silence anyway.”

“What’s your secret? I don’t think I’ve been able to do that since a year ago when we got together, and that was just a crazy evening.”

“Can’t tell ya, sorry!” He chuckled.

“All right, all right. I like hearing him talk anyway,” you laughed, turning your head in Gaara’s direction. “Shall we sit down so they can start serving?”

The way his eyes burned into you as he nodded had you both concerned and… very excited.

Dinner was enjoyable and intimate, and you were happy to get to know more of Gaara’s precious people. That evening, the two of you returned to his home- Shinki was having a sleepover at the hotel with his cousin, aunt, and uncle, giving the two of you more privacy than you’d had in months- and you were ready to spoil him.

Until he had you pinned, back to the door the second you were inside, anyway.

“Gaara?” You questioned. The following kiss was almost disappointingly tame in comparison to the intensity he was radiating. It was sweet and tender, but very much at odds with how tense you could feel his body was.

“I love you,” he muttered when he ended it, sending a shiver down your spine.

“I love you too,” you responded, running a hand through his neat hair, disheveling it a little, just how you liked it. Temari had shown you pictures of when he was younger and wore it messier, and you were glad he changed it up. If he kept that style, you and every other even remotely male attracted person in the building you worked in would have been in so much trouble. It was a little too close to what he looked like after you’d gotten as much of him as you could physically handle for the night.

Nothing else was said as he kissed you again, slipping a hand under your shirt and lifting it up to just above your stomach. He broke the kiss and knelt in front of you, analyzing your stomach, causing a rush of familiarity.

“You look like you’re going to kiss it better,” you joked.

As he had when there was a fresh injury there, he pressed his lips to your abdomen, moving higher and higher, unbuttoning your blouse as he went, until he was staring at a very familiar piece of lingerie. The corners of his mouth curled up, and his eyes flitted up to yours, receiving a deceptively innocent expression in return. He stood to help remove your jacket and shirt, tossing them on the nearest furniture, which happened to be a kitchen chair.

“Do you remember what the terms we defined were?” He asked you, his hands going to your hips.

“That I use your name,” you sighed, “and that we both be honest, clear, and ourselves. I’d say we’ve kept that contract pretty well.”

“Except for when you decide to be a brat,” he pointed out.

“Yes, well, that’s just having fun.”

He shook his head with a small smile. “I think we might need to revisit and add to those terms.”

If he hadn’t already been showering you with affection, that would have made you uneasy. “Okay…”

“I think that we should still have date nights as usual, even though we’ll be spending a lot more time together, and we’ll have to work a little harder to not be seen together too much since we’ll be arriving and leaving work together everyday-”

“Wait, what are you talking about? It’s impractical for you to come pick me up and drop me off every day. I’m practically on the other side of town.”

“That wouldn’t be an issue if you were living here.”

Eyes wide, you processed his proposition. “Are you really asking me to move in?”

“I am. I understand if-”

“I want to talk to Shinki about it first.”

It warmed his heart beyond measure to hear your concern for his son. “I already did. His exact words were ‘I was wondering why it was taking so long.’”

You laughed, hearing him say it in your head. “How long have you been waiting to ask me?”

“About an hour. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple months, but I was also worried about how he’d feel, so I held off on asking him, until tonight.”

“What changed?”

He softly sighed. “He might not be too happy I told you this, but… he was talking to Naruto earlier tonight, before we got there, and he called you Mother.”

“He what?” You gasped, getting hit by a meteor of mixed feelings, most of which were positive. “I-It’s only been a year…”

Despite knowing you pretty well, Gaara took your surprise as apprehension and reluctance. “It was likely only a slip, so you shouldn’t feel like you have to because he’s-”

He stopped when you rubbed at your eyes, revealing tears, then really started to panic.

“Please, don’t cry. I’ll explain to him-”

“Gaara, please stop talking,” you said softly, then smiled. “I’m just really touched. Even if it wasn’t intentional, to hear that he thinks of me that way at all… I knew the first night that if he wasn’t okay with me, I wouldn’t be able to continue this relationship. He needs you more than I ever could. I would never come between a child and their parent, especially one that’s as loving and attentive as you are. Every time I’ve been around him, I’ve done my best to be his friend and not impose. Yes, I feel we’ve gotten pretty close, and I’d do anything for him, but you know how he is. No matter how much he comes to like me, it’s clear that he doesn’t need or want a mother at this point. He might never openly call me that, but this is a sign that he’s at least testing out the idea in his head, which means he’s figuring out if it’s what he wants, not what he thinks you want.”

You paused to sniffle and wipe your eyes again. “I’ll keep doing my best to be what he needs me to be, and I’m so grateful that he sees me as someone he can trust, not just as your girlfriend. A year seems like a long time for me to worry about whether or not he’d be okay, but some children never develop a comfortable relationship with who their parents date, even if that person becomes their step parent. It’s just… I never expected that this would happen, and I was fine with that. At first, I wanted him to like me because it would be easier on you, and our relationship would last longer. It wasn’t very long before I wanted him to like me because it would make it easier on him, especially once I saw how much he looks up to you. He wants to make you proud so badly, and he’s willing to put himself out for something that makes you happy. He’s a really great kid, and I love both of you so much.”

If Gaara wasn’t absolutely sure about your relationship going the distance when he confidently told Naruto that he didn’t need more experience to know that you were the one, he definitely was when you finished your speech.

“So is that a yes?”

“My lease isn’t up until April.”

“I’ll pay your rent for the last two months, and you can move in next weekend.”

“Yes, sir. Whatever you say,” you purred. “What would you like to do now? It’s your birthday, after all.”

No more than a few steps were taken at a time before an article of clothing hit the floor as you exchanged touches, kisses, and moans. You didn’t even make it to the bedroom before you were on your knees in front of him, pulling his underwear down. You smirked as you took in the sight of his erection before teasingly stroking it and fondling his balls, getting high off the way he said your name as he leaned back against the wall of the hallway for support. You didn’t make him wait long before brushing your lips down his length, then taking him in your mouth.

The first time you’d deepthroated him was in his office, when he was staying late and you were on your way out. You were one of the last, so hardly anyone was there to catch you, none of them being in your area. He was so stressed, handling the quarterly reports, and you managed to convince him to let you help him relax for a bit. When you knelt down in front of him and started undoing his belt, he was hesitant. With a little coaxing, you got him to allow you to continue.

Convincing him to let you take care of him was much easier after that, even when your playful offer was made at a riskier time than you’d usually dare. Like over lunch instead of after hours. To say the least, you discovered that both of you enjoyed walking on that edge more than anyone would have guessed.

His hand cradled the back of your head as you bobbed up and down, urging you to move faster. You complied, following through with complete obedience.

“Do-don’t-” he groaned, and you took that as your warning. You sped up and sucked a little harder, moaning when he grabbed at your hair. When he couldn’t grip any tighter, you pulled back, just in time for him to release. The tip of your tongue flicked across your bottom lip from one corner of your mouth to the other, giving you a taste of the cum that landed on your face. He was panting heavily as he wound down, and while he caught his breath, you went to the bathroom to rinse it off.

Your name rolled off his tongue when you returned to him. With a smile, you pulled his briefs back up so you had something to remove when you made it to the bed, drinking in the sight of him, dimly lit by the low watt lights overhead. You still had on the bra and briefs that you could thank for everything.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get totally used to this,” you whispered as you rested a hand on his chest. “It’ll always be a thrill, and no two days will ever be quite the same.” He nodded, then embraced you tightly, not saying a word. He didn’t need to. You’d come to understand him pretty well in that first year, proving that the man you fell in love with before barely scratched the surface of the one you could no longer see yourself without.

That man was well spoken, and he never seemed to be unsure of what to say. This man often found himself at a loss of words when emotion took hold of him, and when he did speak, he had come to trust his ability to convey what he couldn’t verbally through action- the simplest contact through reaching out to you, and when needed, pulling you closer.

That man was respectful of everyone and noticed the strengths of all those under his purview. This man was devoted to his loved ones beyond what any but a few could see, and valued every contribution anyone made, down to the ones most would deem insignificant.

That man was kind and polite, someone that would be welcome pretty much anywhere. This man was passionate, gentle, fiercely protective, secure, and composed ninety-nine percent of the time. When he let loose in that one percent, gentleness and composure were thrown to the wind.

To lose the first would leave you heartbroken, as you’d tried to prepare yourself to be when you thought things would play out differently. To lose the second would leave you without a heart to break.

“Shall we?” You asked, keeping your voice soft to avoid disturbing the utter tranquility that had encompassed the two of you.

He simply took your hand and led you to his bedroom, closing the door behind you. He directed you to the bed and gently laid you down, the frantic pace at which you’d torn off each others’ clothes was long gone, replaced with a slow and sweet speed. He hovered over you as you held a hand to his cheek, a knee on your right, with the other in between your legs, rubbing against your sex.

“What do you want me to do next?” He whispered.

“It’s your day. I want you to do whatever you want.”

After a thoughtful pause, he donned the shadow of a mischievous smile that sent a pulse straight to your heat. You knew what that smile meant.

“Whatever I want?” You made a little noise of excitement as you nodded. He ran a hand down your side to the waistband of your lacy briefs, fingering the elastic, then leaned down to breathe a husky whisper into your ear that sent a violent shiver through you.

“I want to love you until you forget that anything exists outside this room.”

A whimper escaped you and there was no question of your consent. He tugged your briefs down to your knees, revealing the slick building between your legs. With a smirk, he slipped a finger in between your folds, skillfully stroking your clit. It had taken a while, but with practice and guidance, he eventually reached a state of self assurance about his ability to bring you to your climax without help, and he went from that to reasonably confident in relatively no time at all.

You squirmed a bit, biting back a moan and raising your hips. You went from biting back the moan to biting your lip as he changed direction, applying pressure to your lower pelvis with his palm, driving you to try to grind into it.

“A-ah!” You cried when you couldn’t hold it back any longer, the noise riding on a breath that weakly and suddenly cut off. The breaking point was when he paused to brush his nose up your throat, nipping at the base first, then running his lips over your jaw. When you had settled into the affection, your entire body relaxing, he suddenly flicked the bundle of nerves and pressed his hand down again. It only took a few more good strokes before you sharply gasped, then cried out in ecstasy as you came.

“You’ve… been… studying,” you said, panting heavily. The second you felt you could breathe well enough, you pulled him in for a loving kiss, thriving in the feeling of his bare stomach against yours, but craving more. With a little maneuvering, you managed to worm your way out of your bra, breaking the kiss for a few seconds before pulling him back in.

“You did the work for me,” he mumbled, and before you could ask him what he meant, he had moved. Before you could so much as wonder where he was going, you felt his hot mouth on your left breast, tongue running over the peak, his left hand tweaking your right nipple, and his right hand working your still sensitive pleasure zone. You’d barely wound down from the first orgasm and he was already bringing you to your second.

“Gaara!” You begged. “Please, I need you.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?” He asked with a taunting lilt to his voice that you knew only you ever heard. “Yes!” “I think I should make sure.”

Then two fingers were inside you, pumping, pulling that second release from you as they slowly slid back and forth, getting coated in your arousal.

“Te-tease,” you muttered, voice cracking.

“No one would believe that.”

Unlike the first time you had called him that, and he responded in kind, he was not about to lose the hold he had on you. His hand sped up, and while it felt good, you needed more. Adding a third finger helped, and with a curl of his fingers, he carried you through another climax. Your mind went completely blank, your eyes closed, and anything that wasn’t a function your body did independently wasn’t happening.

“I love you,” was the first coherent thing you could say.

He didn’t reply. Not verbally, anyway. At some point while you were trying to return to your senses, he had removed the last of his clothing as well as your briefs, and started rubbing his hardened member against your well lubricated entrance.

“Give it to me already,” you intended to command, but it was no more than a desperate plea.

“So demanding,” he chuckled, but finally did as you requested.

Satisfaction ran through you, reaching every cell of your body as he filled you. Your hands ran over every inch of him they could reach twice before they stilled and you embraced him. He started slow, too slow, so you encouraged him with a buck of your hips.

“I love you too, and I don’t intend to ever let you go,” he spoke into your ear, succeeded by a grunt as he hastened his pace.

“Good. While I appreciate every day I get with you, a year is not nearly enough, and I’m not sure another fifty or sixty will be either, but I really want to see if the rest of our lives will come close.”

His hands caressed you as he captured your lips in response, not trusting words to fully convey how much he agreed with you. Your hands delicately felt every familiar, memorized, beautiful inch of him within reach once more as you rolled your hips. It was tantric, emotional, and erotic in a way that you were secure in knowing would happen again and again, as many times as the two of you could possibly do it.

Once you finished for a third time and him for a second, you held each other, basking in the comfortable silence and lingering peace of the night, enjoying the vulnerability you could show only to each other.

“Did I succeed?”

How long it took you to realize what he meant should have been answer enough, but you lightly laughed as you gave him one anyway.

“Not only did you succeed at that, I forgot that it was your birthday we’re celebrating. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had forgotten too.”

He hid his smug smile with a kiss to your head.

One year… You would say that it went by too fast, but you were just so glad that you had those memories at all-

“Hey! You can’t space out through your own party!” Ittetsu barked at you from across the table.

“I’m the birthday girl, and the one saying goodbye, so I should be able to do whatever I want, shouldn’t I?” You quipped.

“I still can’t believe you’ve been with the team the least amount of time, and you’re bailing before any of us,” another coworker said.

You just shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

“I think the boss is going to miss you,” Ittetsu speculated. “He never picked favorites, but I kind of got the vibe that he liked you more.”

You glanced at Matsuri, but she offered no help. There was no reason to hide your relationship anymore. You just weren’t sure about making the reveal because Gaara wasn’t there yet. Your team had gone straight to the restaurant you selected for your goodbye slash birthday party following the end of the work day, but he said he had to stay behind for a little bit, and would catch up.

“No, I think you-”

“Is that an accusation?” Your boyfriend’s voice said from behind you, and you whipped around to smile at him.

“No way, boss! I would never accuse you of picking favorites!”

Gaara gave him a half smile, then glanced at you, setting a hand on the back of your chair. “I appreciate that, though you’d be right. I’ll miss seeing her at work, but I’ll still see her.”

The table fell silent.

“You two are dating, aren’t you?” Someone chimed from the far end.

Your smile widened as you looked up at Gaara. “As of last night, that’s not the word we’d use.”

You almost dropped the plates in your hands when you turned to set the table and found Gaara on one knee, holding a small velvet box that housed a glittering gem on a shiny metal band. You were afraid you were going to with how much your hands started to shake. Movement in the doorway to the kitchen drew your attention, and you found Shinki watching you. If you hadn’t gotten so familiar with him, you would have been worried about how apathetic he appeared, but you could see through that to the small, hopeful smile he was holding in.

“You told me you wanted to see if the rest of our lives together would be enough. I want to find out too, and I feel that now we can openly make that commitment. Will you marry me?”

You retrieved your engagement ring from the smallest pocket you had in your purse, slipped it on, held up your left hand, and everyone lost their minds. Laughter was all you could muster for a response, until they started pestering you for information and making sure that they’d all get invites.

“Do you really have to ask?” You wiped the tears of joy from your eyes after setting the plates down. Before your eyes were dry, the ring was on your finger and you were in his arms.

Life moved much too quickly at times, like when you were approaching something you dreaded- like owning up to an accidental incident, or each birthday that you always moaned and groaned about theatrically- or when you were having an experience that you wished would last forever- like those precious moments with your loved ones that were simple, but so perfect. It couldn’t bother you, because you knew that regardless of how fast time passed, you’d take the pleasure with the pain and let them carry you to the next great experience. You kept your focus on those special people- two in particular- that you were so fortunate to have in your life, and the love you shared that would only strengthen with time.

[ks-dreams-fantasies]

Hii can i request a Vinnie x reader where the reader live at the hype house and shes a big tiktoker too and the reader is just soft and she spend alot time at Vinnie's room bc they're secretly dating but no one knew abt it just they're family and thomas and alex and the others kinda knew abt it bc the reader and Vinnie is kinda spending time together a lot and one day Vinnie got a cold and that same day thomas is filming a video and the reader is cutting apples(or any fruit ) for Vinnie and thomas started filming her and ask her if thats for vinnie the fruits that the reader are cutting bc they knew vinnie is sick and the reader said "no, its for me" why a little laugh at the end and she didn't know that thomas is filming her going to vinnie's room and suddenly thoms burst in to Vinnie's room and filming them and see the reader is taking care of Vinnie...you can do whatever you want at the endd just vinnie soft and cuddly thank youuu! <333

Taking care of our boy? - Vinnie Hacker

Hey love 😘 Thank you so much for your request, I hope my story did it justice … I made a few changes, but the idea is still there 🙄 I feel like Vinnie would be such a baby when he’s sick 😆 Enjoy

Warning : None

Word Count : 1.2

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Vinnie hated being sick. He had been feeling off the past couple of days and when he woke up congested, his throat burning, he groaned, rolling onto his side seeing you laying peacefully next to him. You had fallen asleep the night before, after going to Vinnie’s room to watch anime with him. You, being a newly big TikToker, had moved into the Hype House a few months ago, hitting it off quickly with him. You always got teased for it, often getting shipped online with the fact that you guys seemed to be close to each other. People weren’t totally wrong since you and Vinnie had decided to start dating a few weeks ago, hiding it to the public due to the fact that it was still new and scared of the hate you would get if his fans found out.

Not a lot of people knew about your relationship, just your closest friends and of course the other members of the Hype House. Living with them, didn’t make it easy to keep you both a secret, but they respected your decision. You had thought about coming out since people kind of assumed you were together after seeing how close you both were in Thomas and Alex’s vlogs. The responses to their videos were mostly sweet and encouraging, so you often thought about it. You had both posted a few TikToks with each other over the past couple of months and you were seen leaving places together lately, hinting to the public that something was happening between you and Vinnie

He tried getting back to sleep, closing his eyes, coughing a few times before feeling you move beside him. You got closer to him wrapping one of your arms around his torso, opening your eyes as you felt the temperature of his body.

“Baby, you’re boiling hot” you gasped, lifting your upper body to look at him, putting your hand on his forehead. He groaned again before coughing making you sight

“I’ll run you a bath so you can relax, and I’ll go to the store to buy some medicine, okay baby?” you said getting up grabbing a hoodie out of Vinnie’s closet

“You don’t have to do that, I’ll be fin-“ he got interrupted by a fit of coughs

“Sure” you chuckled lightly “Wait here, the bath should be done in a few minutes” you said, disappearing into the bathroom connected to his room, turning on the faucet for the water to start running. You took a towel putting it near the bathtub, calling him in when it got filled up

“Ok, so I’ll run to the store really quick, I’ll be back in a few, try to relax” You said leaving a kiss on his temple, before leaving his room, going downstairs towards your car.

You got back home about 30 minutes later with a bag filled with medicine for Vinnie when you phone dinged indicating a new notification. You opened your phone, seeing that Vinnie had just posted a new Tiktok. You shook your head, laughing slightly, even when sick, he always found a way to make something for his fans. The video consisted of him getting his head out of the water, his hair now being wet. Vinnie being Vinnie, didn’t write much for the caption

Sick 🤧

The comments were already flooded with a bunch of messages from girls saying how much they would kill to come take care of him and how good looking he was. You put your phone in your back pocket as you entered the house, making your way to the kitchen seeing the others sitting at the counter, sipping on their coffee, laughing at something Michael had said.

“Look who decided to join us earlier than usual” Alex said pointing his camera towards you, as showed him your middle finger, sticking out your tongue

“Ouhhh grumpy, she probably didn’t have her coffee yet guys, excuse her” he said laughing, turning the camera back towards Calvin, who was trying to do god knows what. You went to the fridge, taking out some fruits to cut while you put the teakettle on the stove, waiting for the water to boil. You prepared everything while listening to their stories and laughing at them. You took out a tray, placing a plate of freshly cut berries with two mugs and some pills on the side to bring up to Vinnie.

“Two mugs? Perhaps the tea is for Vinnie? Taking care of our boy while he’s sick, I see” Alex stated, grinning softly as he turned the camera back towards you

“Vinnie’s sick? I didn’t know” you said shrugging your shoulders “I’m just really thirsty, that’s all” you continued as you picked up the tray, the others humming, knowing well enough you were lying.

“Anyways, see you later, I have some things to take care of” you said already halfway out of the kitchen making your way up the stairs

“I bet you guys a hundred bucks that the things she needs to take care of is Vinnie” Michael said, laughing as he shook his head.

Arriving to Vinnie’s bedroom you knock on the door hearing a faint “come in” before opening the door, seeing your boyfriend lying in bed, watching anime.

“Hey baby, I brought you berries and tea” you said walking up to him while he moved to sat down “Here take these” you handed him the medicine and his cup of tea while you move to sit beside him with the plate and your own cup of coffee.

“Thank you” he sipped on his tea, the hot liquid soothing the tickled in the back of his throat. You had both finished eating and drinking, putting the plates and mugs away on the nightstand when Vinnie started coughing again

“Poor baby” you said stroking his warm cheeks “Is there anything else I can do to make you feel better?” you asked him, worried

“Can we just stay here and cuddle?” he said looking into your eyes, pouting as you smiled at him

“Of course, Vin” you answered as he laid his head on your chest, your hands massaging his scalp slowing, making him let out a small groan of appreciation, enjoying the comfort. A few moments later, the sound of light snoring made you smile softly, indicating Vinnie had fallen back asleep. You knew he didn’t sleep much the night before, so you were happy that he could relax for a bit. You could hear some shuffling in the hallway and soon enough the door opened, Alex and Michael entering the room, fake gasping at the sight before their eyes.

“Well, well, well what do we have here?” Alex said, capturing every moment on his camera

“Shhh! Can’t you see he’s sleeping” you whispered-yelled trying to shush them up, wavering your hands for them to go away

“I guess I was right hun?” Michael said to the camera, a wide grin on his face.

“Mhhhhh” Vinnie groaned, squeezing your body tighter “Baby, tell them to go away” he mumbled groggily, still sleepy.

“AH I TOLD YOU SO! You guys owe me 100 bucks” Michael shouted as he pointed the lenses with his index finger, before Vinnie threw a pillow at him, exhausted

“I swear if you guys don’t get out –“ he got interrupted by the two guys laughing and exiting the room, closing the door behind him. You laughed lightly as he laid back down on your chest

“They are so annoying” he sighed “Thanks for taking care of me baby”

“Anytime Vin” you responded, smiling, leaving a kiss on his forehead.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading

Hope you liked it, let me know what you think

-K

[mono-dot-jpeg]

the antarctic idiots [pt.1] - c! technoblade

summary; in which two anarchist piglins adopt an ender boy.

genre; child! ranboo, piglin hybrid! reader, slight canon divergence from dream smp, fluff, found family au is my shit, reader is now ranboo’s parent i don’t make the rules, techno is a grumpy father but it’s okay you love him, realistic minecraft? (idk how to describe it-)

pairing; c! technoblade x reader, platonic! ranboo x reader

word count; 1.5k

a/n; fuck it, it is here now. here’s the techno x reader you fucking simps. i can’t even be mad bc i too am a simp for the anarchist pig that is technoblade. 

i hope this is somewhat up to par with everyone’s expectations since i hyped this up so much. this is one of the few writings that i actually like so- i couldn’t resist waiting so long to post it AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

next >

now you never really expected to find yourself on a side of history that was deemed "the villain's side", especially when the villain wasn't even that bad.

okay, that's a bit of a lie. this piglin man blew up an entire country to end government. plus he has evaded his taxes. i mean the list goes on but that's not the entire point here.

the point is, you found yourself actually being friends (even going as far as housemates) with the so-called evil anarchist.

now we might be moving too fast here, so let's move it back a little bit.

"so you want me to join pogtopia?" you looked up, shutting the book in your hand as you leaned back on your chair. "and what would i get in return exactly?"

"...our friendship won't die?" the voice of wilbur soot rings in your quiet home, unsure and nervous at your stern aura and words.

"why can't you just help us?!" tommy flared up, nearly throwing a fit if not for his older brother holding him back.

"just because i am your friend, does not mean i am interested in fighting for your conflicts." you place the book on the small side table, adjusting your gloves while you explain yourself to the two boys, "i'm not saying i'm a pacifist, but i'm not here to fight. i live far away for a reason. i told you this before."

"can i call in that favor then?" wilbur asked. "you still owe me one." you huffed at his words. you saw this coming.

"you're lucky i'm a nice person most of the time." you sighed, standing up and nearly towering over the two boys if not for wilbur being a bit taller than you. "i will get my stuff packed, and then we can get to your pogtopia. but while i do that, please explain the whole situation." since you lived so far away from society, you didn't know too much about what was happening unless wilbur told you about it and wilbur never really talked to you too often.

"well, you know how we had l'manburg.." and then he starts to explain how that completely backfired on them because they lost the election and now they lost their country. "and now we want to fight back for l'manburg." wilbur finishes explaining as you put your old netherite sword in its sheath that hung on your waist. "we just need your help. are you willing to train us?"

"it's not like i have much of a choice since you're cashing in that favor." you pointed out. "i better not be staying for too long."

"i can't make any promises about that." you sighed. "you ready?"

"unfortunately." it was time to leave your home and face violence once again.

"if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only person we've asked to help us." tommy says in an attempt to get you out of your bitter mood.

"that made me feel worse, tommy. i think you guys would've been fine without me if you have another person helping you other than tubbo." you slung your bag over your shoulder. "but if you really insist on getting the help of me, then who am i to judge?"

"since it seems like you're ready now, let's go to pogtopia!" tommy said, ignoring most of your words of complaints as he starts to drag you by the arm towards the dream smp. "it's quite the walk from here. why do you live so far from everyone? don't you get lonely? why didn't you join l'manburg with me and will?"

"slow down with the questions, tommy. first of all, i've told you and wilbur why i live far away, you did not listen though." you pressed a finger on his forehead, earning a huff of annoyance from the blonde. you moved your hand back to your side. "i simply do not like people. also why get pulled into conflict that you never were apart of to begin with? but that's pretty hypocritical of me to say now."

"i get that you're not fond of people, but aren't you lonely out here?" you three walked into the portal that would take you right into the nether. the sounds of bubbling lava and squealing pigmen was always an oddly comforting sound to hear.

"i'm perfectly content in my house. even if it's very far from others. i'm happy." you answered though your words sounded so... monotonous. tommy gave you a look, he definitely didn't believe you. "i know i don't sound happy but i am." before you knew it, you made it to the other nether portal which would actually take you to the manburg and pogtopia. oh how you didn't miss this place at all.

you never liked how manburg was ran even before shlatt was elected. you never really like government in general. it always seemed to be ruining everything. freedom never felt like freedom, at least that's what you thought especially when there was a goverment.

"welcome to pogtopia!" you were so deep in your own thoughts that you hadn't realized that you had made it to pogtopia.

"so where is your other helper? the first choice that wasn't me?" you asked.

"i think he might be here. he's been staying up for a long time. ever since he got in here." wilbur said. "technoblade? you here?" wilbur leads you to a potato farm and you soon feel a sense of familiarity as you enter the room.

"yeah." a low huff is heard, causing you and wilbur to turn your heads toward the source of the sound. "i'm here." what immediately catches your attention is the crown messily placed on his head as he farms. as a piglin, you've always been fond of gold, that adoration never left you once you went to the overworld. you never really wore a crown but you wore a gold pendant instead that was pinned to your cape.

"you have a really pretty crown." it takes you a minute to realize that those words came out of your mouth. "fuck, i didn't mean to say that out loud." you explained quickly to the male that was farming. "piglin things." you muttered.

"a very unexpected compliment. understandable." techno said. "wilbur, who is this again? have i met them?"

"well, you'd think you know each other since you're both piglins, but i guess the world is bigger than i thought. well, technoblade, meet y/n, y/n, meet technoblade."

"i call him the blade." tommy said smugly. "the blade! how's the potato planting doing?"

"it's doing fine. i didn't expect any company to come though."

"well, this is the person that we wanted to recruit for pogtopia."

"nice to meet you, even if the circumstances aren't the best. wilbur is lucky i owe him a favor." you said. "i sort of expected meeting you since tommy and wilbur mentioned you once they came to get me. i just never expected to see another piglin here in the overworld."

"never expected to see another piglin here either." techno hummed slightly.

maybe staying in pogtopia won't be too bad. at least you made a friend?

that was sort of a lie. you and techno never really talked after the encounter. it never worried you, you’re not one for conversation right now anyways. you had a mission to do and you’re gonna do it. you didn’t have time to make friends, at least that’s what you thought. friends seemed to be temporary in the smp, considering the wars that were and have happened.

you weren’t going to make another friend, knowing that you just might get pulled into their fights.

“why did you stop fighting once you left l’manburg?” wilbur’s voice rings in the small fighting pit that was made for training.

“i simply didn’t find the need to fight. it doesn’t mean i’m any weaker though. i will still fight for what i want to fight for.” and that’s gonna be really ending this whole government. you think to yourself, letting the nighttime ambience fill the air.

“you still have your lives...right?” you show him your wrist which had 3 hearts tattooed on it. 

“i’ve been living away from everyone, of course i won’t die that easily.” you let out an empty laugh. “bold of you to assume i would even die.”

“i know it’s ridiculous to even think that you would lose a life after you left l’manburg but what if dream were to chase you down and kill you?”

“i understand your worry, but need not to worry, i can handle myself. if i couldn’t you guys would never even assign me as cavalry captain those years ago.” you said, unbuttoning your gold pendant to place it on the stone cold floor along with your other accessories you had. “it’s not like dream can do too much to me. we made a deal after all.”

“a deal?” wilbur raised an eyebrow as he took off his jacket, tossing it on the ground.

“don’t be too concerned. i’m not like eret. i wouldn’t betray you.”

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[mikkomacko]

Sweet As Honey 18

Hello everyone! Here she is! Thank you all so much for being so patient with me and this chapter. I hope it lives up to the hype and the wait lol. I'd also like to say that I will still be writing and finishing this series as well as my other in progress ones. However, I'm currently feeling like I'm not that interested in Harry right now and I feel like it's mostly all the drama and everything going on with him right now so updates will be slow. Also I've changed my theme to a Marvel x One Direction theme because I've decided to take one of my Bucky Barnes plot and actually publish it. I'll still post Harry because of course I love him but he won't be the main focus of this blog anymore.

Thanks for waiting and reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter! X

Harry's good under pressure. At least looking from the outside in, he is. It's a skills he's picked up from boxing. Always pretend you know what's going on. No surprises, no shocks. If he's in a fight and his opponent is stronger or faster than he originally thought, he doesn't show it. Acting like it was expected, like he planned it rattles others and helps him maintain his grace.

He keeps that same approach when it comes to interviews.

Liam meets him outside the gym, waving with a bright smile that Harry just smiles at, shocked to find his trainer in the parking garage rather than the ring.

"What's going on mate?" Harry greets, trying to step around him to get to the stairs but Liam halts him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Gotta reporter here who wants to chat with you about recovering from your concussion and reaching the finals."

His tone is laced with hesitance, lips pursed in suppressed grimace and Harry doesn't blame him. Liam knows how much Harry hates interviews. They're his least favorite part of the job. He's here to box and get paid, to provide for his family, not to tell the world every detail of his life.

"Oh," Harry mumbles, shrugging and stepping up to the door. "Alright. Only for a few minutes though, wanna get home a little early today."

If Liam is surprised by Harry's ease he doesn't show it. "Got something going on?"

Harry follows Liam inside, nodding to Mark at the front desk. "Y/n has just been exhausted lately and Arlo can't spend a second alone without screaming bloody murder. Just want to be there to make sure she's resting and Arlo's not being a pest."

"He's your son, of course he's being in a pest."

The comment leaves too much pride in Harry's chest for him to even care that Liam just insisted he himself is a pest. Besides, Harry knows he's clingy and a little too attached but that's just how his relationship with y/n is, and they love it.

In his private locker room,Harry finds the reporter, a young girl who can't be too far out of undergrad with dark hair and a bright red lips. She's sat on the bench, a notepad on her thigh and her phone resting next to it.

"Hello Mr. Styles." She greets, shaking his hand when he approaches her. "I'm Rebecca Weese."

Harry takes a seat next to her, nodding. "Nice to meet you. I don't have a lot of time today but I can answer a few of your questions if we can make it quick." He smiles guiltily, hoping to not come off as rude.

She nods, immediately glancing down at her notepad and crossing some things out. Harry assumes they're questions she's decided aren't important enough. "Is it ok if I record this? Just sound of course."

Again, he nods, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie as he waits for her to begin. Tapping at her phone, she places it between them to catch both voices and then scans her notes again.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you've only been boxing for a few years, right?"

Harry shrugs. "I trained a lot when I was teenager, worked under Ted until he decided to bring me up to the pros. Was about 20 I think when that happened." He tries to stay vague, knowing he can't tell the public that his "training" was an illegal boxing ring.

"Five-Six years is a short amount of time to be included in a tournament like this one. Most contenders are well into their careers before being qualified to participate. What do you think has been the main factor in your success?"

Routine question, and he's got a routine answer. "I was fortunate enough to figure out early on that boxing is what I wanted to do and I think that helped out a lot. I also got a very good team behind me. My trainer, manager, my wife, they're all the main factors in my success. I'm very grateful to have them."

Rebecca smiles a bit, jotting down a few words. "Does your wife work in the industry?"

It's her casual tone, as if she were a friend just wanting to hear him brag about his lover that has him answering so honestly.

"No she works in design but I met her early in my career and she's always supported me. Takes care of me after bad matches and whatnot, always comes to my fights even if it means being on her feet for hours. Which isn't exactly her favorite thing at the moment with the baby-"

Harry stops, eyes widening a bit at what he's just revealed. Part of him wishes desperately that Rebecca didn't hear him but he knows that's impossible.

"I didn't know you're a father," she says kindly, sensing his panic. "Do you want to talk about it more or should I scratch that part?"

He doesn't know what makes him say it. A year ago he'd have fled the room if he were questioned about his family. Harry likes to keep them separate, to keep his kids away from his boxing. It's possibly a small part of him that's conditioned to keep his work a secret from his family even if he doesn't have to. But Rebecca's offer to drop the whole topic is what breaks him.

"S'ok," he says "I've got a son that's about a year old and another on the way."

Her eyes light up, beaming at him and he grins shyly but somehow proudly at the same time. "That's awesome. Congrats. I know your son's young but does he have any part in your career? Influence maybe?"

"He doesn't watch any of my fights or anything. Too young to be around violence like that but he does affect my fighting in a way. I used to go into boxing with just the mentality that I'm doing something I love, but now I've got the added success. A win means more support for my family and I want them to always have what they need so I've got sort of an edge there."

"Like having something to fight for?" She confirms, and Harry nods immediately.

"Yeah. I'd do anything for them and I think that makes me a bit dangerous in the ring."

No matter what, he'll always be fighting for them. Everything he does is for y/n and his boys.

~

The house smalls of tomato sauce and pasta when Harry walks in, mouth instantly watering and stomach rumbling. He had a light breakfast this morning before going to the gym and now that's he burnt off all that energy he reckons he could eat a horse. Dropping his keys on the table in the entryway, toeing off his sneakers, and dropping his gym bag to the floor, Harry makes a beeline for the kitchen. He's so caught up in wanting to eat he doesn't notice the TV playing a Disney movie or the two figures sprawled out on the couch until one of them is calling for him.

"Daddy!" Arlo's head pops up over the cushions, dimples sunk into his cheeks and eyes bright. Harry immediately changes course, coming up behind the couch and meeting Arlo's outstretched arms.

"'Ello bug," Harry greets, smacking a kiss to his cheek. Arlo coos happily, curling up against Harry's shoulder. Y/n is watching them with a small smile, a hand resting easily over the stretched fabric of his tee-shirt she's wearing. "And hello darling." He leans over the back of the couch to press a crooked kiss to her lips.

"Hi baby," she sits up, smiling dreamily at him. "How was the gym?"

Harry shrugs, adjusting Arlo on his hip. "Was good. I had an interview today about finals and....stuff." Her eyebrow quirks up at his hesitancy to continue.

"What stuff?"

Gnawing on his bottom lip, Harry drops his gaze to Arlo. "You, Arlo, the baby." She doesn't respond immediately and he knows it’s because she’s trying to analyze him. He's fairly private about his family, especially his children and the only reason he'd informed the world of Arlo was to get people off his back about leaving y/n, so he knows she's probably confused by his ease with talking about the new baby.

"How'd it go?" She asks, pushing herself up from the couch with a hand on her belly. Without hesitation Harry reaches out to place his free hand over hers, moving her with him towards the kitchen. "Where are we going?"

"M'starving darling," he says and his stomach grumbles in agreement, making Arlo gurgling back and nudge his foot into Harry's tummy. "But interview went well. Announced the pregnancy."

"You did?" She questions, perching herself on the counter stool with wide eyes. "Seems a bit early compared to Arlo's announcement."

Managing as best he can with one free hand, Harry retrieves a bowl from the cabinet and serves himself a heaping mountain of spaghetti. "Just came out if m'being honest," he shrugs, settling into the stool next to her with Arlo still glued to his lap. "'sides it's different this time. He was my first baby and I was scared."

He doesn't realize that she's fallen silent until he's slurping back noodles and she doesn't scold him. Curiously, Harry rotates just enough to look at her. Y/n is staring at him, eyes big and moony when he mumbles a suspicious "wha'?"

"You were scared?"

Swallowing down his food, he nods. Her intent gaze brings a blush to his cheeks and he has to drop his eyes to peer down at Arlo. "Y-yeah. Didn't know if he'd like me as his dad, ya know?"

Harry's never said those words out loud, now that he's come to think of it. Whenever something's pertained to Arlo, Harry was always the positive reinforcement, the one reassuring y/n about them stepping into parenthood. He never really told her how much it scared him because he didn't want to scare her.

"I-I didn't know that," she mumbles. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugs, lifting his gaze from Arlo to y/n. "Because I wanted to be a good dad. Ya know, like the kind that can kill spiders and scare aware bad dreams.....Just wanted to be strong I guess."

He doesn't say it, but he knows she's picked up the fear he won't acknowledge. He doesn't want to be his dad. His father was great but the sad thing is, everything great about him was brought out by alcohol. Des needed that poison to combat his own fears and insecurities, and Harry doesn't want to be like that too. He doesn't want to leave his kids the same way he was left.

"Being scared doesn't make you weak Harry."

She leans over to press a tender kiss to his jaw, belly brushing against his side, and he thinks about those words for the remainder of the day.

~

Crouched down, Harry steers the shopping cart with one hand and guides Arlo along with the other one. By the way he's trudging along, Harry knows Arlo is getting tired of walking. It's good for him to practice though, so Harry leads him along for another few minutes before scooping him up in one arm.

"Did so well bug." Harry compliments, pecking Arlo's cheek. The toddler curls up into his chest, yawning. It's a bit difficult steering the cart with one hand but Harry manages, steadily making his way up and down each aisle. He gets baby cereal for Arlo, a couple bags of puffy hot Cheetos to stash in the cabinets, and he's stocking up on y/n's latest craving (spaghetti-o's and meatballs) when a familiar face rounds the corner.

Zayn is pushing a cart filled groceries, eyes scanning up and down the shelves and Harry curses under his breath. The last person he wants to see right now is Zayn. Last time they had a run in he said something that bothered y/n and Harry never wants anything to bother his girl.

In an attempt to hide, Harry pulls his hood up over his head, shrinking into his pullover and craning his neck to not make eye contact with his old friend. Grabbing a few cans of the fake pasta y/n is living off of, Harry sets them in the cart and quickly walks down the aisle. A man who looks a few years older than Harry moves towards him, stepping around Zayn and in front of Harry's cart.

"Excuse me," the man stops him, gaze dropping to the boy against his chest for half a second before regretfully meeting Harry's eyes. "m'so sorry to bother, didn't notice the little one-"

"It's fine." Harry cuts off, glancing at Zayn to make sure his back is still to them. It is and Harry relaxes a bit at that, but his curiosity grows. "How can I help you sir?"

The man smiles, grateful. "I just wanted to tell you that m'son and I are big fans and we're excited for your fight this weekend."

Harry knows he has fans, he's run into a few around the city but they're usually teens and kids that want an autograph. He's never had a grown man approach him about his career and it's odd. Flattering, but odd.

"Thanks man. I really appreciate your support." Harry says sincerely, smiling. The man nods in response, taking a step away from Harry. He moves to leave but stops last minute, turning back to Harry.

"Congrats on the baby news too." He says quickly, almost shy or embarrassed. Before Harry can even thank him, the man is rushing out a "have a good day" and then he's moving down the aisle.

Confused, Harry stands there for a moment trying to figure out what happened. He knew announcing the new baby would bring more attention to him in the media and he's not surprised that that man, who's clearly a fan, had already heard it. He is surprised that the man seemed almost scared to admit to Harry that he knows.

"Harry?"

Fuck.

He looks up, meeting the golden eyes that could only belong to Zayn. Harry doesn't even bother trying to smile at his old friend as he stands in front of Harry's cart. A lady maneuvers around them, murmuring a soft "excuse me sir." Harry scoots his cart over, smiling apologetically.

"How have you been man?"

Harry's gaze returns to it's impassive expression, glancing over Zayn's too-bright presence. "I've been good." Harry responds, moving Arlo to his other arm when he starts to lose feeling in his fingers. The movement draws Arlo out of his nap-like state, the toddler now noticing Zayn standing in front of them. Immediately his face scrunches into a look of annoyance.

If Zayn notices, he must not care because he smiles at Arlo, teeth dazzling. "That's good to hear. Congratulations on the baby, by the way! Saw the article up front. S'amazing!"

Article? Harry lips are just starting to form his question when his phone rings, the tune specific to y/n. "Sorry, gotta take this." Harry says in Zayn's direction, digging into his pocket and retrieving his phone. He hits answer before Zayn can even respond.

"Hi darling."

Harry wiggles Arlo into the basket. "Hi H. You still at the store?"

He pushes the cart down the aisle, not caring that he's left his old friend hanging. "Yeah I am. What's up"

The sound of a running faucet comes through the speaker. "Forgot to add yogurt bites to the list. Arlo ate the last of 'em last night and ya know how he is if he doesn't have any before bed."

Harry snorts, steering towards the baby food aisle. Arlo has fallen in love with yogurt bites and they've become his snack before bed. Harry thinks he shouldn't be having them every night and he'd tried to tell Arlo that two nights ago, but Arlo is a stubborn thing. He screamed his head off, ignored Harry's attempts at giving him fresh fruit instead, and then only calmed down after y/n nursed him.

"I'll grab 'em darling. No worries." He assures, tossing a couple bags of the bites into the cart. "Anything else?"

"Do we still have the old flower vases from our wedding in the garage?" She asks.

"Umm, I think so. You expecting flowers from a secret lover or something?" Harry jokes, eyes catching on a pack of bibs hanging in the aisle.

"Not unless you've got a trick up your sleeve Styles." She retorts.

He tosses a pack into the basket. "Buy you a whole flower shop if that's what ya want darling." Arlo grumbles from the baby seat of the cart, tiny fingers coming up to play with the rings on Harry's fingers that are locked around the steering bar.

"Don't worry about that, we've got enough flowers." Y/n laughs and he can hear her moving around the house. "Three bouquets just arrived with congratulations cards."

"What?"

"Guess the baby announcement was well accepted." She says. "We're getting lots of flowers for it."

Pushing towards the checkout, Harry frowns in confusion. "Got stopped by a fan today for the same thing. Can't believe it's such a big deal."

"Well you're more known now than when we were having Arlo." She reasons, and Harry hums his agreement. He passes the self checkouts, freezing when he spots numerous copies of his face on the ends of the aisle.

"Holy shit," he breathes, not even thinking about the innocent ears before him. Y/n gasps through the phone, scolding him for his language. "Sorry darling, s'just I'm bloody plastered all over the grocery store."

He reads over the cover of the sports magazine. It's got a big photo of him in the ring, gloves held up to his chin and jaw tight around his mouth guard. Next to it is a photo of him and y/n leaving a big fight awhile back. She's got her head down, hand snug in his as he leads her along. And written in bold yellows is "Harry Styles Expecting Baby #2 As He Prepares for Biggest Fight Yet!"

"They put me on the front page." He tells her, not bothering to flip open the article before he's quickly moving away from the display. "Why would they do that?"

When he did that interview, he thought it'd be a small, breezy section in the magazine. If he had known he'd be getting stopped in the grocery store and flowers sent to his house he wouldn't have said anything. As previously mentioned, he's a private guy, so having this detail projected in a way he wasn't warned about makes his stomach twist uncomfortably.

"It's alright Harry," y/n says reassuringly, knowing that he's become anxious at the publicity. "No harm done. It's just flowers bub and as long as we've got those vases in the garage, everyone will survive."

He chuckle weakly at her joke, picking an aisle so he can quickly checkout and go home. "Don't go digging around for them by yourself, don't need ya falling and getting hurt. I'll help ya when I get home."

"Aw my hero." She coos, and he knows she's teasing but it still makes him blush. God he loves her.

~

"Those bloody things are making my nose itch." Harry grumbles, aggressively rubbing the palm of his hand into his burning nostrils. He glares at the bouquet of peonies on the dresser, a gift from y/n's co-workers, and moves towards the bed.

Y/n is propped up against the headboard, a pair of his pajama bottoms on her legs but her shirt has been abandoned on the carpet by the bed. Arlo is attached to her hip, mouth latched to her nipple and she's stroking through his soft hair while he breastfeeds. Harry's heart throbs in his chest, warmed by the sight of his wife coddling their baby, and he's so fucking in love with her he's anxious to get Arlo into bed so he can have his way with her.

"I can't just throw them out, H." She sighs, pulling her gaze from the television to his pouty face. He huffs, running the damp towel in his hand through his hair one last time before haphazardly tossing it towards the closet. Kneeing his way up the bed, he curls into y/n's side and smiles when she tucks her arm around him.

"Stroke my hair too?" He mumbles, peering up with puppy eyes and she giggles before threading her fingers through his hair too. Arlo gurgles around a mouthful, bright green eyes opening to look at Harry. He worries for a moment that Arlo is going to get fussy and kick him away, but the toddler just blinks at him sleepily.

"Tha's ma boy." He coos fondly, squirming a hand over to pat Arlo's full tummy. Y/n giggles and continues to stroke his hair, Harry watching Arlo slowly be soothed to sleep. "Lemme get him to bed darling."

Grunting, he pushes himself up from the mattress and too his feet. Y/n transfers Arlo to his awaiting arms, swiping at the milk that dribbled out of his snoring lips and onto her skin. Harry leans down, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

"Wanna have a shag when I get back?"

A shocked laugh bursts out of her, Harry's face lighting up at the sound as his heart swells. He was trying to be a bit silly, not enough to have her eyes crinkling like that, but he's happy she finds him funny.

"Sure baby." She breathes, still grinning. His stomach flutters, excitement bubbling in his belly and he nods quickly before moving across the room.

Arlo stays cuddled into Harry's neck as he flicks on the nightlight in the nursery and adjusts the blankets in the crib. Theo watched Harry from his bed in the corner, sleepy puppy eyes following his every move. He lays Arlo down, gently shushing him when he store and tucks Bunny into his side. With a peck to his head and a quiet "good night bug," Harry partially shuts the bedroom door and rushes back into the bedroom.

Y/n has already kicked off her bottoms, leaving her naked on their sheets and Harry groans as he works to catch up with her. His shirt is playfully tossed at y/n's grinning face, Harry laughing as he wiggles out of his sweats. Naked as the day he was born, Harry jumps onto his knees at the bottom of the bed.

A laugh bubbles out of y/n when the whole bed shakes under his weight, clearly amused at how excited he is. She must be just as excited though because she quickly leans forward to cup his face, attaching their lips and bringing him back down to the pillows with her.

"Wanna be on top," he mutters into her mouth, ghosting his hand down her tummy and tickling his thumb over her clit. "f'that's ok?"

"Mmm," she hums, happily "too tired to top anyway."

Harry seals their lips together again, using his knees to spread her thighs a bit further apart for him. Her palms smooth down his sides and around to his back, a breathy moan interrupting their kiss courtesy of his fingers. Harry utilizes the chance to break away and snag a pillow from his side of the bed, urging her hips up by tapping the fluffy thing against her side. She lifts, and he settles it under her lower back and bum to prop her up. Luckily for him, he's had a lot of practice getting around a baby bump for a shag.

Settling between her thighs, Harry giggles when she wraps her legs around his hips and tugs him closer. His body hovers over hers, love-sick smiles a breath away from meeting each other, and he drags his fingers through her folds, groaning at how slick she's become.

"Don't even have to try anymore do I?" He teases with a wolfish smile, capturing her lips just as she rolls her eyes. Giggling, he leaves soft kisses across her cheek, heading towards the base of her jaw.

"S'the baby's fault honestly." She argues, her fingers disappearing into the damp locks sticking to the back of his neck.

He hums, smirking against her skin. "Is it?"

With a small tug she's pulling him back up to her mouth. "Yeah. Gets me revved up all the bloody time. I don't know what you're putting in there mister but it's exhausting."

Harry laughs quietly, nipping at her bottom lip. "Don't worry baby, I'm gonna take care of ya. S'my problem after all, isn't it?"

Y/n nods, biting back a grin as Harry grips his cock with the fingers that had previously been fondling her. Chest to chest, Harry smiles at the feeling of their stomachs pressed together as he guides the head of him into her slit.

The sigh that puffs out of her chest sends a zip of pleasure up his spine, as if she'd been partial without him and the pure relief of just having him in her is all she could ever want. Harry hums appreciatively, eyes fluttering shut as he basks in how warm and gooey she is for him. He'd almost forgotten how it felt to have her this desperate for him and his touch.

"Oh it's so good darling," he mumbles to her, dropping his head into the crook of her neck. He pulls his hips back, breath stuttering when he easily slips forward again.

Y/n moans softly, dropping one hand to the small of his back as if guiding him. "So so good H." She confirms in a whisper, her voice tickling his ear and he squirms with a small laugh at the sensation.

Harry's soft with his movements, cautious of the baby between them and the one sleeping down the hall. Even the kisses he places on her jaw and lips are tender, small brushes between their confirmations that he "feels so good" inside her and she was "made for being wrapped me huh?" And Harry thinks nothing ever been truer. Her arms were made to hold him, her hands were made for pulling him closer and closer, and her heart was made to completely consume his.

Y/n reaches her high before him, rolling her hips up to try and quicken his but he maintains his sensual thrusts, stroking her temple as she trembles and gasps, clinging to him in every way possible. There's something about how quick she falls apart for him when she's pregnant and how utterly earth shattering it is for her, that it completely obliterates any sense of stamina Harry's ever had. He couldn't care less when he follows shortly after, grinding down into her heat as his cock twitches and buries deep in her walls. She's the one stroking his temple this time, and he knows she's watching his eyes scrunch shut and his gaping mouth curl into a breathy laugh as he comes.

Maybe it's the lingering anxiety that washed over him at the grocery store, but when y/n kisses him and gently nudges him off of her so she can go pee, Harry's desperate as he grips her hand and pouts, practically begging when he asks "can I get back in ya after? Just to fall asleep darling?"

Of course she nods, brushing sweaty curls from his forehead to soothe him and just like that he already feels lighter. He never has to sorry with her, because they were made for loving each other.

~

"Oh fuck!"

"Would you stop being so loud! It's 8 in the morning!"

"Can't help it, darling."

Harry tightens his hold around y/n's thighs, dipping his tongue back into her slit and groaning loudly despite the warning she's already given him this morning. She tugs on his hair scoldingly, drawing a pained hiss out of him. Harry brings his teeth up to her clit, nibbling in retaliation. A pained hiss of her own leaves her lips, cut off by a soft moan as he soothes his tongue over the spot.

Grinding her hips up into his mouth, Harry can't help but push his own into the mattress and a deep groan escapes him as he does so. Huffing, y/n scolds him again for being too loud when they've got a sleeping child one room over.

"Stop yelling at me so I can make you cum." He purrs, lips brushing over her clit. Their eyes meet over the curves and dips of her body, Harry smirking when she raises a prodding eyebrow at him. He kisses her thigh just once, lapping his tongue through her slit and he's just reaching her most sensitive spot when the beginning stirs of Arlo waking up break through the baby monitor.

Simultaneous groans leave both their mouths, this time of frustration. Harry pouts, knocking his forehead on y/n's hip bone and shaking his head.

"I told you Styles." Y/n teases, stroking through his hair for a second. He can't even think of a rebuttal before Arlo is calling out softly for her, and she's pushing up from the bed to get dressed.

"Take care of that while I take care of this." She calls as she disappears through the door, snickering softly and leaving him there desperate for her. But then again, when is he not desperate for her?

~

Hey man, hope I'm not being a bother. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink Friday or something?

-Z

Harry stares at the message, wondering why Zayn would sign it when the Instagram handle is clearly him. He also wonders why the hell Zayn is trying to hang out with him now.

It's a sunny day, the air outside relatively warm for March so Harry slipped a sweater on Arlo and brought him out to the backyard to play. They're sat in the grass, Arlo between his legs as they teach Theo to play fetch. Arlo's gotten good at tossing the chew toy himself, so Harry used the free time to start clearing out the congratulations messages he's received on Instagram.

"What's the matter H?"

Harry locks his phone, tilting his head up and squinting into the sun as y/n stands over them. She's got a bowl of puffy hot Cheetos in her hand, cradling them as if they were a precious gem as she settles into the grass with them.

"Nothing," he mumbles, pecking her temple when she leans into his side. "just got a weird text from Zayn. He wants to hang out."

Crunching through a chip, she hums. "Did you know he lives here?"

She lifts up a Cheeto, offering it to him. Harry gladly takes it between his teeth, pulling it from her fingertips and crunching down on the puffy chip. Swallowing, he shakes his head.

"Ran into him at the store once around Valentine's Day," she says, eyes watching Arlo dig his stubby fingers into the dry grass. "Was trying to talk to me about you I think but your son threw a fit and I was too busy to care honestly."

"Really?" Harry asks, perking up at the idea of Arlo throwing a tantrum to keep people away from y/n. That's the only time he'll agree with such actions. "Taught him well then haven't I?"

Rolling her eyes, she elbows him. "If you're son grows up to be rude I'm going to kick your ass Harry Styles."

Laughing, he steals a chip from her, locking his phone and dropping it to the grass. Arlo, interested in the device, crawls over to pick it up.

"Wouldn't expect anything less darling." He says, reaching over to swipe his phone to the camera so Arlo can snap random pictures.

"What are you going to do about Zayn then?"

"Suppose I should see what he wants, yeah?"

Y/n shrugs but Harry can read the look on her face easily. She's always silently encouraged him to face things that need mending or fixing, and his past with Zayn is one of those things.

"S'done then," he laughs, pinching her side affectionately. "I'll figure out why he's so obsessed with me."

She laughs, throwing her head back and scrunching her nose in the way makes him want to stare at her forever. "Think it's that one he's obsessed with. Look how cute he is."

Harry follows her line of sight, smile growing at the sight of Arlo making faces at himself in Harry's camera.

So bloody cute.

~

"Are we gonna be besties? I think we're gonna be besties." Niall states, swinging an arm around y/n's shoulders. He's on his third beer of the night already and Harry hasn't even made it to the ring yet. Y/n just laughs, continuing to maneuver tape around Harry's fingers but he's not as kind.

Casting a glare at the Irish man, Harry calls out to Gemma. "Get your leprechaun off of my girl before I use him to warm up."

Niall isn't really phased by the words, only pouting softly at Harry's steel gaze but Gemma is quick to rush over and pull Niall up from the couch by his hand.

"Come on babe, let's go find our seats." She coos to him, sending Harry an apologetic smile. He waits for her and Niall to turn their backs before chuckling softly. Y/n pinches at his wrist.

"Be nice to Niall. I really like him."

"Oh you really like him, huh?" Harry huffs, nudging his knee against hers. She rolls her eyes, giggling when he slips his free hand around her waist and pulls her into his lap. "Please tell me how much you really like Niall darling." He requests, shoving his face in her neck and playfully biting at her throat and shoulder. Just as he'd expected, she giggles and squirms, Harry having to wrap her up in a bear hug to keep her from sliding right off his thigh.

"Harry! Stop!"

He laughs with her, moving up to bite at the apples of her cheeks and her nose, growling as if he were a rabid beast. His freshly taped knuckles ache under the tightness of the wrap as he grips her flailing legs but he ignores it in favor of listening to her laugh.

"I like you more! I swear!" She shouts between laughs, wiggling a hand free and gripping the back of his neck. Pleased with her words, Harry pants out a laugh before sealing his mouth to hers.

"Tha's good because I like you more than Niall too." He mumbles into her lips.

"You like me more than you like everyone." She chuckles, stroking her thumb along his jawline. Harry's eyes shine with delight, proud that she knows her place in his heart, but he still teases.

"Mmm almost darling. Quite like my son, ya know that?"

She rolls her eyes but looks at him fondly, pinching the meat of his cheek. "Cute," she murmurs, "now go get ready for your fight baby. Want everyone to see my husband's gonna be the national champion."

Her words bring a rush of blood to his cheeks (and his cock if he's being honest), but he nudges her onto the couch next to him. "Just need two more wins." He whispers in her ear, pecking her temple.

Just two more wins.

~

There's good fights and there's bad fights. Everyone knows that. But not everyone knows that there's good wins and bad wins. Harry's experienced a few of those bad ones. Wins that he probably shouldn't have gotten because he certain his opponent had landed more punches and the judges miscounted. Or it was clear the other fighter wasn't into it and let him win.

Harry thinks tonight is his worst win ever.

The fight had been good. Trinsky, tonight's opponent from New Jersey, was short and stocky but strong. Harry was quicker than him though so they'd gone back and forth for a few rounds. Nothing two rough, just enough punches to have bright red welts on his torso and an ache in his jaw.

He fought through it though, fueled by the sounds of y/n and Niall cheering for him. Win this fight and he's onto the championship match. So he went at it with all he had left, charging Trinsky just as the man knocked his fist into Harry's temple.

It felt like a lightning bolt of pain zapped through his brain, shaking his core and causing his feet to stumble. Trinsky slid to the right as Harry crashed into the ropes, blinking furiously as the room around him spun. He was still in a daze as his body moved on its own, quick enough to uppercut his left fist into Trinsky's chin. The man crumbled to the mat, out cold, and Harry's dizzy head brought him down as well.

There's cheering and an announcement of his name, declaring Harry the winner but he can't seem to focus on it. Trinsky is being moved from the ring by his team, Harry falling to his bum on the mat as he rips at the velcro of his gloves with his teeth.

The room is coming back into focus, someone is calling him from the side of the ring but he doesn't recognize the voice so it goes ignored. He gets his hands free, rubbing his fingers into the tender spot on his head and wincing. He needs to take some Advil and ice it.

Harry climbs to his feet, a bit disoriented as he ducks under the ropes to leave. He knows he's got a team here somewhere but his mind can't seem to recognize what they look like or how to find them.

"Man, what are you doing?"

He turns, confused to find two men watching him like he's grown a second head. Harry feels like he knows the warm brown eyes of the taller man but he's not sure from where. Smiling uncomfortably, he motions behind him.

"I n-need ice or something." He says, excusing himself with a shrug and turning back to the locker room. He doesn't like the way his stomach twists or how his chest is telling him he knows those men when he couldn't even tell you there names right now. His heart thunders in his chest, panic seeping in and he's desperate to find something or someone that'll just help him out.

"Harry baby," she says calmly, a hand rubbing up his bare back comfortingly. "you okay?"

Y/n appears at his side, head tilted so she can meet his nervous gaze. Almost immediately he latches onto her hand, shaking his head. Her eyebrows crease, lips frowning as she reaches to cup his cheek.

"What's going on H? What's the matter?"

"M'head hurts," he answers immediately. "I-I think I forgot my team."

A trembling breath leaves his lips, tears stinging behind his eyes when he sees the concern on his wife's face. She brushes her thumb over his temple, the one she knows got hit the hardest, and then brushes a sweaty strand of hair off his forehead to place a tender kiss there.

"Let's get you to the locker room babe."

He follows like a lost puppy, trailing behind her through the back hallway and into his locker room. Y/n closes the door behind him before anyone else can enter, twisting the lock. Harry sits in the closest chair, fiddling with the tape on his fingers as he tries to calm down.

"Do you want to talk to me bub?" Y/n asks quietly, pulling up a seat directly in front of him. He nods, lifting his gaze from his hands to her face.

"I don't know what happened. It's like I got hit in the head and everything got shook up." He explains, frowning. He hates the way this feels. Hates that his body is screaming at him to just remember but his brain refuses to accept the message. "I know them, I know I do but s'like their names and stuff are just gone."

Y/n inhales sharply, biting nervously at her bottom lip. Harry's not even sure what to say and that makes him feel so much worse. He doesn't even feel like he has a concussion, not really. Everything else is still there, still in the forefront of his mind. His wife, his boys, Anne and Gemma. And he faintly remembers sitting at bars with one of the men from his team, remembers crashing on his couch late at night. But the soul of those memories are gone.

"I'm gonna get you some painkillers and water okay babe? Then we'll figure out what to do."

He nods, smiling wetly when she kisses his forehead. Watching her move around the room to gather water and whatnot, Harry wills himself to just think. He knows these men, he's just gotta focus on it. A memory stands out, one of the three of them in a car on a road trip. His trainer is driving, his manager in the passenger seat and he knows this is a trip for a match. A recent match too because he remembers saying goodbye to Arlo and y/n, kissing her swollen belly before he went.

Y/n returns to him with a bottle of water and a couple pills, watching him cautiously as he squeezes his eyes shut and forces himself to just think. Recalling conversations from the car, remembering the screen in the front of the vehicle that reads Connected to Liam's iPhone. Liam. Almost instantly Nick's name floods his brain again and he feels his whole body tremble with relief.

Harry takes the medicine, gulping it down and slumping into his seat. "Nick and Liam," he finally murmurs, voice thick. "I couldn't remember darling. They were right in front of me and I couldn't remember their fucking names."

A silent tear trails down his cheek, Harry sniffling as y/n wipes it away with a tender touch he's only felt from her. "Its ok Harry. We'll figure out what happened. At least you remember now baby." She tried to comfort, but Harry's heart still aches.

"What if-" he peers up at her through wet eyelashes. "what if it had been you? Or Arlo? Or all three of you? What if I-"

He can't even finish the thought before he's shaking his head, more tears slipping down his cheeks and jaw. What would he have done if he'd looked at y/n and not remembered her name? Not remembered the beautiful son they created? Or the one she's growing now?

"It wasn't Harry," she stays sternly, cutting into his spiralling thoughts. "it wasn't and even if it did happen, it wouldn't change a thing. You're not getting rid of us."

Trying to smile, he nods and takes a deep breath. He trusts her, more than anyone, and he's never known someone that fights as much as she does. He knows, no matter what, that she'll always have his back.

[whisperlullaby]

Concentrated Sunlight

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, some angst (?) maybe a curse or two

Word Count:  1362

Summary: Steve Rogers owns a flower shop and is smitten with a regular customer. What happens when he finds out she has a boyfriend?

A/N:  This was done for @syntheticavenger​‘s challenge! It was a lyric prompt  “ If I told you that I loved you, tell me what would you say?” (The Neighbourhood ‘The Beach’) And I made up a little flower shop AU to go along with it! I want to thank @syntheticavenger​ for reading my story and @river-soul​ for hyping me up to post this! This is my first EVER fanfic for any fandom and the first time I am publishing my work anywhere. If I forgot any warnings let me know!

Friday, 4:00,  like clockwork you walked into Steve Rogers flower shop. The sunflowers always seemed to lean into you when you passed their cooler. You had been coming every Friday to pick up what you called “weekend flowers” for 6 months now and simply knowing you were coming seemed to make the weeks go by a lot faster. 

“Hey Steve! Got anything fresh this week?” you teased. You knew he went to the wholesale market daily to make sure each arrangement held the freshest flowers. You had asked about it the third time you came into the shop and he made it a point to tell you about his daily trips to the wholesale market. What he didn’t tell you was that he made a point of going 6 months ago when you started coming in, just in case you needed flowers any other day of the week.

“Hey doll, got some orange dahlia’s that look pretty good. Wanna take a look?” He moved towards the cooler that held the special find. Orange was your favorite. He noticed how you always seemed to pick out orange day lilies, poppy’s, marigolds, and orange Gerber daisies. There weren’t many impressive orange flowers so when Steve found eye catching ones at the market he would always buy them out of stock.

“No, actually, I’m not picking up flowers for me today.” You paused and looked at Steve who seemed to stiffen. “I’m meeting my boyfriend's family for the first time tonight and I think they prefer white flowers with lots of green filler, maybe roses? I don’t know though, do you have anything a bit more traditional?” You shifted around to where Steve stood at the cooler a bit nervously. You loved his flower shop and didn’t want to go anywhere else, but admitting to needing something to bring to another man's family seemed unsettling. 

Steve’s face visibly dropped and his hand white knuckled on the cooler door. You had a boyfriend. Of course you did. You were concentrated sunlight, even the flowers noticed. Each bloom always opened up a bit more when you were around. He knows he sure as hell did. “You have a boyfriend? How long have you guys been together?” His voice threatened to break, and his grip on the coolers handle somehow tightened. 

“Not long really, about a month? My co-worker kind of set it up, thought we would be a good fit. I’m not sure though it seems to be going a bit fast. Isn’t it a bit soon to meet the family? We’ve only been on a handful of dates. I'm not even sure why I agreed to it.” You mumbled while chewing your lip raw. Your eyes were looking all around the shop until they finally landed on Steve. “Are you okay Steve? You seem a bit flushed. Maybe you should sit down.” You moved to grab Steve's hand off the handle. He immediately relaxed at your gentle touch. You led him to the back office where he could sit while the color came back to his face. “Can I get you some water? Or do you have anything to snack on back here?”

“Don’t go. Tonight. To meet his family.” Steve spat out breathlessly. He couldn’t let you go. You said so yourself that it was only a handful of dates and you thought it was moving too fast. Surely there was a reason you hesitated, right? He had to say something, anything to get you to get your orange dahlia’s and stay for a few hours. He loved your Friday afternoon conversations and the thought of those coming to an end made him nauseous. He didn’t enjoy anyone’s company more than yours, you had to know that by now.

“Steve what are you talking about? I already agreed to go, what will they think of me if I cancel at the last minute without a reason?” You were fidgeting with your hands unsure why you cared what they thought of you. You knew very little about the guy as it was, he wasn’t much of a talker. He wasn’t much of anything really, but he was polite and punctual. When he asked you to go to dinner with him at his parents house you felt your brain start to cloud over. You had just taken a sip of the bitter coffee he had ordered for you when he dropped that bomb. What were you going to do, say no? You were caught off guard! He was a perfectly lovely person. Just not the one you had your eye on.  

Steve could see your hesitation, he knew you were uncomfortable. He saw the way your eyebrows knit together and how you were fidgeting with your fingers. You only did that when you were unsure about something. You did the same thing when you were trying to decide between the peonies and the anemone’s after you had a hell of a week at work. He knew that you thought buying flowers for the weekend gave you more time to enjoy the colors. He knew that you moved here after cutting off ties with your family, looking for a fresh start you said. He knew you preferred tea to coffee but he knew you wouldn’t pass up a peppermint latte during the holiday season. He had to tell you how he felt, he couldn’t let you start this relationship with this guy without having you know how he felt about you. 

“If I told you that I loved you, tell me what would you say?”

You stared at Steve in shock. Your mouth hung open with a gasp. You had a huge crush on the town's florist but thought he was way out of your league. After that revelation you finally caved and said yes to your coworker’s attempt to set you up. You always did have a problem saying no to people and now it was biting you in the ass. Steve made your Friday flower shop visits the highlight of your week. He taught you so much about each flower and the day he told you that you reminded him of a peony in bloom you could have kissed him right there. You knew he preferred coffee to tea after the hour long debate one afternoon ending in you storming out only to bring back a chai tea for him. He said it smelled like bells of Ireland and you had to agree. You knew he was taking care of his mom after her stroke and he had a best friend named Bucky who used to get him both in and out of trouble. You stared into his crystal blue eyes full of hope and adoration. You brought your hand to his face and he sighed leaning into your warm touch.

“I would ask you what took so long.” You teased as he smiled. He grabbed the hand that was resting on his cheek and pulled you into him. You felt his soft lips kiss the top of your head and you let out a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding. 

“So, how about I wrap up some orange dahlias and bring them by your place tonight.” You looked at Steve confused. “What? I don’t think you’re still planning on going to meet that guys family tonight and I want to take you to dinner. Call it a date”

You laughed incredulously shaking your head, “Ha I guess you’re right. Should have known it wouldn’t work out when he got picky with the flowers.” You spot a pen and paper on the desk and scribbled your address on the page. “Pick me up at 7:30 and don’t forget my weekend flowers.” You pulled away from Steve and headed towards the door.

Steve stared as you left his office with a cheshire cat grin. He walked back into the main store and grabbed every  available orange dahlia he had and closed up shop. He had a date to get ready for. 

[caiuscassiuss]

oppa! | ot7 (prologue)

Description: Being raised by a caring yet distant father, a close, tight-knit family is the one thing you have craved in your short life. After your adventurer father remarries a rich woman, you’re stuck with seven new brothers. Seven very hot, very different men. 

This is not what you meant by family.

(Based on the anime and game Brother’s Conflict, but with a twist.)

Prologue

Genre: Fluff | romance | later angst and smut. PG

WC: 2k

Warnings: For this chapter, none other than cursing.

(After some readers wanted me to post Oppa! on Tumblr, I have delivered! I really hope y’all like this haha)

[ The prologue delivers hints on who each brother will be. These hints will be bolded. Some will be very apparent, some will not. ]

Rubbing your head, your eyes glazed over the notes you took from yesterday’s lecture in preparation for today. Were you on drugs when you wrote these? It looked like chicken scratch. Was that drool in the corner?

Your ears perked up at the strains of loud music coming out of your friend’s Airpods. Hyerim, your closest friend at University, seemed oblivious as she bopped her head to the hard beat. Several classmates around the lecture hall noticed too, yet weren’t as accommodating as you and sent judgemental looks towards Hyerim.

“Hyerim,” you whispered, aware that class was starting in a few minutes. She didn’t respond, still nodding along to the music.

Pursing your lips, you plucked the small pod out of her ear. “Hyerim, your music—”

She gasped, eyes lighting up in excitement. “You liked it? Okay, so I was listening to this random rapper on SoundCloud—”

“Your music's too loud —” you hissed.

“—but the real feature is the producer, who made this beat. His name is Yoongi—” Hyerim continued on obviously, caught up in her own world.

“—that’s lovely, but can you turn your music down—” you pestered, looking around worriedly.

“—but his producer name is Gloss and he’s so talented and hot and his voice —”

Seeing the majority of the seats in the hall being filled up, you clamped your palm over her lips. She let out a whimper, finely shaped brows frowning at you.

“Have you not noticed the five separate glares you are currently getting at this moment?” you said between gritted teeth, enunciating each constant hard. You stared down each person around you who was giving Hyerim looks and, embarrassed, they averted their eyes and busied themselves with something.

“Oh wait, what?” Hyerim exclaimed. Closing a fist over her AirPod, the music continued and her eyes widened as she realized how high she had turned up the volume.

Hyerim turned to the person on her other side. “I am so sorry,” she said apologetically, the random student smiling awkwardly in acceptance.

Rolling your eyes with an unbidden smile poking at the edge of your lips, you turned back to the disaster of your notes. How were you supposed to understand this lecture when you barely wrapped your head around the last one? However, you honed in on your Calculus woes to ignore how your phone burned in your pocket and the latest text you got from your father...

So focused on your lamentation, you didn’t notice the boy behind you clear his throat. Nor did you notice the second or third time he did, each one getting progressively louder. As you attempted to retrace the argument on your paper, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“Excuse me?”

Whipping your head around, you craned your neck upwards to see where the tap had come from. To your surprise, you saw a very cute-looking boy, bangs pulled into a top knot, smiling apologetically at you from behind you.

“Hi! Yeah, do you need anything?” you smiled.

A blush rose on his chiseled cheekbones and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m super sorry to bother you about this, but I dropped my charger right next to your chair. I- uh, would you mind—?”

“Of course! No worries, it happens,” you comforted, bending down to get the coiled white wire from where your bag sat. “Here you go.”

He got up from his seat to hunch over the lecture hall desk to meet you in the middle. You eyed the large difference between each of your hands’ as you handed back the charger, as well as how huge his shoulders seemed up close.

“T-Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” you replied, turning around to open your laptop.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Hyerim’s mouth partially open in disbelief.

“You need something?” you prodded.

“I—” she took a glance at the boy behind you, as if confirming something— “I’ll tell you later.”

Shrugging, you zeroed in at the lecturer at the front of the hall.

“Alright, so what was that about?”

Your Calculus lecture had just ended, and the two of you were in the mob of students leaving the lecture halls to get to lunch.

Hyerim looked surreptitiously around, black bangs swishing around her face. She leaned in like she was about to share the juiciest piece of gossip, and you unconsciously did so too.

“Did you know who that is?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

You felt your forehead crease and you gave her a look. “No, I did not.”

“Really?!” Hyerim pitched her voice high in disbelief.

You gave her a dry look.

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “Sometimes, I swear you’re in your own world, Y/N.”

Incredulous, you opened your mouth to argue but she waved a hand in front of you.

“That was Jeon Jungkook, Y/N! How do you not know him?”

“Oh yeah,” you snapped your fingers. “He’s that Streamer dude, right? He games and shit.”

Hyerim nodded slowly.

However, you frowned. “I heard he was intimidating and cold and stuff. Are you sure that was him? Charger boy was super nice.”

“That’s the point! It was Jung Jungkook and I have never seen him acting this soft. What did you do, ma’am? Snap him? Flash him?”

“Who do you think I am?” you sputtered. “All I was doing was thinking about how much I hated Calculus, not— not seducing someone!”

Your friend gave you a suspicious look, but decided to let go of the topic. Shaking your head, you walked past the gates of Yonsei university and into the city proper on the lookout for your favorite food place. The beeping of horns, buzzing chatter, and the small of smog filled the air as you zig-zagged between side streets to avoid busy roads.

“Excuse me,” you muttered as you pushed your way through a mob of women all entranced by something above you. Since they were not moving, you huffed and decided to see what was worth all the hype.

It was a huge, flashing LED billboard that was the central focus of the square. On it, a very sensuous looking man with blond hair and a velvet, tight-fitting suit doing some very slick moves in a dark concert hall.

Happy Birthday Jimin! It read in bright white font.

“Wah, oppa is so handsome!” a woman, who must’ve been 5 years older than the man on the screen squealed behind her white medical mask. “I’m so glad our ad turned out well.”

Her friends agreed and ooh and aahed along with her. You turned around to see if Hyerim was following you but she stood, entranced, with the mob of women on the sidewalk.

“You can thirst over him later, preferably when I am well fed,” you snapped irritably, pulling at the pink flowy material of her blouse.

She pouted but acquiesced, taking your hand as you dragged her though the intersection. All you were focused on were some good dumplings, after the mental aerobotics Calculus had forced on you and the emotional stress your father was putting you through. As you turned the corner, you breathed a sigh of relief as you saw no line.

Nestled between a large office building and a parking deck, this tiny Japanese restaurant was a favorite among Uni students for its cheap prices and good food. You usually had to arrive here early to beat the line of students and office workers that gathered here for their dinner breaks.

The cute sign that said Umaido flashed brightly above your head as you entered the restaurant. To the side of the main sigh, a smaller print reading “by the RM Group” glowed, subdued.

Waving over a pimply teen, you ordered two servings of gyoza and waited for Hyerim. She ordered a very conservative meal of sushi and some salad, and you both watched the waiter retreat. Something glossy caught the attention of your eye, and you saw some magazines on the shelf next to your head. The main one in the middle, which looked like a new age artsy publication with a cult following, was simply titled with a white V at the bottom corner.

Like a robot that was powered off, you collapsed in your seat and put your head in your hands. You really did not want to look at your phone.

“Was Calculus really that bad?” Hyerim winced in sympathy, neatly patting your head.

“It isn’t Calc,” you mumbled. “It’s Dad.”

Her expression turned down even more. “What happened?”

Lifting your head from your arms, you propped your chin on your palm and looked out the window. “You know, you’d expect for someone to give you important news in person or at least over a phone call, right?”

“Yeah?” Hyerim asked, lips pursed in confusion.

“Like, if you got remarried or something , you would at least tell your loved ones in person or at least over the phone, right ?”

“... Shit, Y/N.”

Fumbling for your phone in your bag, you ignored the notifications and pulled up your latest conversation. “Look what he texted me this morning!”

Hyerim took your phone and scrolled through it with a manicured fingernail.

Dad : I wish I could call you, but I’m somewhere with limited service.

Dad : I just wanted to let you know I got remarried to this amazing woman, Kim Seoyeon, a few days ago. We met and just clicked, something I haven’t felt since your mom.

Dad : She has seven sons, all of them are grown up. I’m worried about you living on your own, so I’d like you to move in with them. Details coming soon. Love you.

Hyerim was speechless, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “I’m sorry, what?”

“My dad has gotten spontaneously remarried to some random woman and now wants me to move in with her sons. Like, geez, it’s not like life changing news was delivered to me in less than a hundred words!” you hissed, voice getting higher and tinged with a bit of hysteria.

“Your dad sucks,” Hyerim pronounced, taking a pointed sip of her iced water. “Seriously.”

“Hey, my dad is not that bad,” you defended. “It’s just… he’s a bit distant. Absent-minded. But he’s cared for me in the best way he could.”

“You and I have very different definitions of what constitutes good parenting, Y/N. This man left you largely on your own since you were five, and now he gets worried about you living on your own? Something's not right,” Hyerim retorted.

Ignoring her in favor of the food that arrived, you practically inhaled twelve of the fried gyoza. Rolling her eyes at your typical running-away behavior, she primly dipped a piece of sashimi in soy sauce and took a dainty bite.

“So? What’s the plan? Are you going to stage a rebellion and stay in your apartment, or go stay with some random men?”

Your response was cut off as cheers broke out from the corner of the restaurant, where a large group of men and women were huddled together.

“Cheers to our National win!” a man announced, his face already a bit flushed. “To Neuron!”

“To Neuron!” the group cheered loudly, and lifted up their shot glasses in celebration.

“To our leader, J-Hope!” the same man pronounced brightly, some sake sloshing over the tip of his cup.

“Hoseok!” the group whooped louder, more rounds going around.

As their cheers quieted down, you turned back to Hyerim. “I don’t know. I think I’ll decide when I meet them. They could either all be idiots or they could be chill. I really hope for the latter.”

“Good plan, good plan.”

An awkward silence permeated the booth since both of you were at a loss to say something.

“Onto lighter things, “ Hyerim forced out brightly, clapping her hands. “Let me tell you about my younger brother’s really hot doctor. His name is Dr. Kim and he’s tall and…”

As Hyerim continued to babble on about the tall, handsome pediatric doctor, you felt a buzz in your pocket.

Dad: Their address is 111 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-su

Dad: They’re ready for you.

Can you guess who each stepbrother is and what they do? Comment below!!

Arc 1: Stepbrother Introductions will be released on February 15th at 8pm ET. It’s about ~15k words of getting to know these boys. Please look out for it!