#to lying back and hearing someone confirm for her that she really *is* a big fucking deal and deserves so much more than to have to beg

[jyou-no-sonoko19]

An inversion long overdue

[armpirate]

Anti-romantic || JJk | Ch. 27

Pairings: Boxer!Jungkook x fem!reader || Enemies to lovers, neighbors

Genre: smut, angst, fluff, curse, illegal boxing, violence

Warnings: fuckboy!Jungkook x reader, smut, dirty talk, curse, mention of tarot and fate

Summary: Jungkook had always been carefree when it came to love. He always believed he was worth sharing himself with everyone, and thought it was selfish of him to ever think of keeping himself exclusive to just one person.

And maybe that was exactly what got him into the big problem he was in.

A curse that kept him away from love didn't seem an issue for him. The fact that his ex-girlfriend thought he'd be affected by the idea of the girls he slept with running away from him after sex was ridiculous. She actually did him a favor, and took a burden away from him.

At least that was what he thought at first.

He had never found himself thinking of the possibility of repeating with neither of his hook ups, because they disappeared before he was able to even think about it. But when he makes the mistake of sleeping with the sexy neighbor that lives in front of him, he finds himself hoping to get the chance for a second round every time their paths cross.

Y/n hated him the second he set foot inside the building by the way he started making her life a miserable mess for no reason. Sleeping with him was a big mistake she wasn't thinking of repeating. At least not until he came up with the excuse that she rejected him for a curse. Not only she thought he was annoying, but she was also convinced he was crazy. 

There was no way she could take him seriously.

Aprox. time of reading: 14 minutes

Previous || Next

MASTERLIST

The incense smell only had him shaking his legs even faster, while he tried to avoid lying his eyes on any of the mystical objects that were spread all over the room.

Sageous was written on one of the plates hanging next to the bohemian rags hanging next to the window, which was covered with a dark lilac curtain. Was that her name? After so many months visiting her, it was the first time he was aware of the name she used to advertise herself to her public.

—Let me guess —the old lady started, taking the seat in front of him while dragging the cards over the small rounded table—: another round to confirm you're free like a bird in a cage?

—Actually... —he opposed, shyly looking down— My questions are a bit different this time. There's this girl... and I think I messed things up with her.

For the first time since he started those weekly visits, Jungkook was asking about someone else that wasn't himself, looking for an answer that gave out he was indeed leaving that curse behind because of Y/n.

—Shuffle —the lady signaled him to do, changing her tired expression from a serious one just by hearing the way that session started—. Do not cross legs, do not cross arms, and focus your energy on what worries you.

His fingers moved skillfully over the table, picking up every card spread to pile them up on his right hand while he mixed them with his other hand.

—What I have with her is illogical. She isn't even my type —he started—. She's a freak who always needs to get things done her way. She's impulsive and irrational, and determined and confident. She knows what she wants, and she gets so excited when she succeeds —he realized he started smiling a bit too wide when the cold breeze hit his lower teeth, going back to serious—. We are incompatible. I'm sure.

—What are you here for, then? —Sageous tried to get him to explain.

With a playful grin, she motioned him to give her back the cards. Her thin fingers started shuffling those same cards at the same time her eyes closed, shuffling skillfully while she took in all the energy he allowed to share.

—I sense she has a really powerful aura, doesn't she? That woman ain't no joke —she chuckled—. The type of person that doesn't bow down to anyone, especially you —one of her eyes opened, giving Jungkook a funny look—. That's what got you so hooked, huh? She doesn't come to you when you want to, and she doesn't stay when you're begging her. Must be odd for you.

—I never begged her anything —he scoffed, looking away.

—And maybe that's the reason why you're here asking about her and your non-existent relationship —she mocked him, closing her eye back again—. The fool —she dramatically announced when she flipped over the first card.

—I'm starting to think you're trying to tell me something...

—Not me, your guides —she corrected him—. Either way, The Fool represents new beginnings and taking a leap of faith. Very fitting for your situation, no?

Jungkook held back from making the smallest move, thinking it was better to react once everything was set and done.

—The Lovers —she hummed, flipping another card.

As if he wasn't an expert on all the meanings behind those cards, Jungkook smirked, fooling himself with relief at the thought of that meaning being something positive.

—Hold your horses, lover boy —she teased him, bursting every sight of hope—. In your context, it means your relationship with this girl will become a turning point in your life. Hmm... tough decisions to be made, and difficult risks to be taken. It'll be scary, but you'll grow a lot if you follow your intuition. Your real one, that one deep inside your brain being held hostage by that little evil one —she let out two other cards to clarify that first one—. With the magician and the knight of pentacles, something you're looking forward to will be coming your way.

His smile immediately infected her, making her smile shortly while shaking her head, going for another card that could clear up all those assumptions that had Jungkook almost jumping on his seat.

Until the tower showed up.

That hum she let out when the fourth card fell over the deck had Jungkook looking over at the table with panic.

—What?

—I see there will be a good connection with this girl. I'm feeling there are more connections to her other than just that attraction.

—Like what? Is it about the curse?

—It could be —she frowned—. I don't know. I see something dark and upsetting, so it could be —Sageous went back to her explanation—. You like her, and she likes you, but there are decisions to be made for it to work out. You'll need to sacrifice some things and proof you aren't playing when it comes to her. Oh, boy, she really knows what she wants —she scoffed—. You said you argued, right?

—I just said that I messed things up.

—Uh-hum. I see there will be a bridge that will bring you closer again. But there's an event, there's something here —she pointed at the Tower card—. It's destructive. I don't know how serious it'll be, but it'll make the two of you rethink a lot of things.

—Can you pull another card?

Although he regretted that question when the Death card covered the ones that had him smiling like a fool.

—Something will need to end for something new to begin —she shrugged—. It could mean you'll have to cut some habits, or change some manners.

—Or it could mean things with Y/n will end before they even start... Could this also be related to the curse?

—It could be. Your energy must be chaotic for the cards to be mixing things about the curse and your relationship with this girl though.

It was indeed chaotic.

—Fate isn't set in stone —she said, dropping her cards back on the table—. This is your path with the decisions you've made until now, but any small change from now till the moment it happens can change a lot of things —her words tried to sound optimistic—. Not because you've been avoiding love until now, it means you will keep doing it. Take this as a reality check, and start working on yourself so next time you come you receive nothing but good news.

—So should I try to reach out to her? Yeah?

—An apology is always a good start —she shrugged.

Jungkook stood, with a breaded smile that hid how upset he actually felt over those news, heading to the door with mixed feelings.

—And don't forget to pay on your way out! —she warned him as he crossed the corridor—Mystical advice doesn't come free, you know!

While giggling, he dropped the money of the session inside the payment jar next to her door, exiting her house with a subtle bow and a dimpled smile.

It was obvious he needed to do something to get Y/n back -it wasn't like she was ever with him, but it was his way of explaining a difficult situation he didn't quite understand himself. He needed something that would excite her so much that she'd be willing to listen to him -not apologize, because he knew Y/n was way too hard to reach to earn her with just a random thing.

He needed something, but what?

And while he played with the chain on his neck, he saw it crystal clear. The silver necklace fell over his black t-shirt while he stopped on his tracks, lips parting in surprise at how fast his brain worked whenever it came to Y/n.

He was sure he wouldn't have found a solution to his problems that quickly if they hadn't been encouraged by just the image of her.

His solution was simple: a necklace that could make her feel closer to her brother, and which she was upset to see go back again as he dragged her out of the warehouse to protect her. He just needed to make some calls, pay a few visits that morning, and probably that chain would be inside an envelope on its way to its real owner.

And he knew exactly how to get it.

He didn't bother to go to the gym, he didn't bother to go back to his place, because he knew where to find the person he needed.

—Jungkook —Hashim sighed, answering his call straight away—. Hey, I know I owe you money, but...

Jungkook didn't hear any of his excuses. He had been done trying to get any cent from him after he kept coming up with one excuse after the other, indifferent towards every warning he was told. He tried to walk on his shoes, forgiving every payment in his gym until he couldn't take it any more -mainly because the rest of the trainees started getting some hints about it.

—Forget the money —he cut him off—. I need something better from you.

He was convinced he had seen that man before around his gym, and one of the few last times he was seen randomly talking to Hashim before he started his training, or later when he was about to leave.

It took him less than twenty minutes to show up to the location he was sent, chuckling while he thought there was nothing more desperate than a person that owed big money, while also being threatened with Elijah's name and the two gorillas that always did the dirty work.

The hardware store was empty when he stepped inside after parking the motorbike next to the door, eyeing over the short corridors that reached his eyes from the door.

The same man showed up, cleaning his hands with a rag while looking up at the tall man that had just stepped inside his establishment. His customer service smile dropped as soon as he squinted his eyes, recognizing Jungkook's tattoos.

—The Doberman of Busan —he greeted, dropping the old rag over the counter—. What brings you here?

—I was looking for something —he casually said, picking one of the mallets hanging on the metallic wall—. And I thought that you'd help me.

—More like you're the one who owes me an apology after your girlfriend punched me on the face —he threatened back with a calm tone.

—I bet the police would love to know about the scheme you do with the drugs under this counter.

—Hope you have proof of that.

Jungkook chuckled, holding the mallet to hit it against the wooden counter, denting through the material and causing some superficial fractures. If Hashim was useful for something, it was to get that type of information.

He was planning on breaking his teeth, one by one, until he finally gave up, but he didn't want to waste any energy and well-being on someone like Tyjon.

Two, three, four... and the proofs he was asking for were shown all over the extreme Jungkook was standing against.

—I wouldn't be acting so smartass when I know what you do, too.

—As far as I know, you have no proof of me being anywhere. While I have it as easy as making a quick call to the police and waiting here until I see your ass taken to prison —he tilted his head—. Not to mention... how would you know I'm in those fights if you didn't frequent those places either? —with a grimace, he spoke again— 'Didn't think things through, I see.

—What do you want?

—The necklace she asked you to give her yesterday. That's what I want.

Tyjon mumbled some incomprehensible words while he just handed out the necklace in his pocket, resting his hands on the edge of the counter while he felt his blood boiling with Jungkook's satisfied smirk.

Five dollars flew over the counter a few seconds later, following the mallet.

—I broke the mallet a little, and the model didn't really convince me —he twisted his lips—. Have a good day.

He only needed to send Y/n a text, and convince her to speak to clear things up, and things would be done between them.

Her pen was hysterically hitting the desk, on the spot right next to her keyboard, letting out the anxiety that rushed her brain with the unwanted thoughts that kept going through her head. The words from the previous night kept replaying, ringing in her ears as if she were just hearing them all over again while in the office.

She was angry at Jungkook, but she was even angrier at herself for letting her guard down with someone she knew she couldn't show any sign of weakness to. She was smarter than that, or so she thought. She assured herself she was able to see that man coming from miles away, reading through all his signs to get ahead of his actions before they could even cross his mind.

Yet there she was, thinking about that big mistake that man was, when she kept reiterating she'd focus on work only, while trying to find out more about those fights and their relation to her brother and his death.

After she arrived at the hotel room the previous night, she kept insisting she wouldn't let that little problem affect her. She assured herself it wouldn't be a burden to her. She was even convinced it was the excuse she needed to stick her head in her work and the investigation, yet it seemed like it was something that only worked with words that got lost in the air.

She had bigger problems to worry about, way bigger than a simple love story that she knew would take her nowhere.

Jungkook was everything that was wrong with the male species. He was childish, irresponsible, annoying, impulsive, egocentric, and a player. He was the reddest of the flags, with a huge sign that warned her to stay away.

Hell, she should've seen that outcome coming with the little she had known from him.

A huff left her lips, trying to calm herself down from the pile of negative thoughts that were making her blood boil and her body move nervously on her seat. She clicked her tongue with pain when an electric shock ran through her wrist to the tip of the fingers of her right hand, reminding her of what a bad idea it was to punch someone in the face when she had no protection in her hand.

The previous night was awful: that fight with Jungkook, she hurt her hand, she lost her brother's necklace again...

Her head moved up as if something had lit up with that thought, remembering the situation that had Jungkook getting in between and pulling her away so the problem wouldn't get any bigger.

That conversation...

—Y/n? —Jason answered, confused.

—Hey, sorry to be bothering you.

—Don't be stupid. You never bother me —he chuckled—. What's up?

—Can I ask you a question?

—Sure.

—The other day I was checking on some of Noah's old documents —she started her lie, covering up herself from everything she had been doing the past few months—, and something got my attention —after hearing his best friend's name, Jason prolonged his silence—. Did Noah have heart problems?

—Y/n...

—Did he?

—Yeah —he finally sighed—. His heart kept going weaker after each fight, and he was determined to give up that life after he paid all the bills.

—But?

—But his heart was so weak and fucked up that he needed a heart transplant. So he went back to the fights when he was offered half of what he needed to pay for all those bills, and his girlfriend...

—Wait, girlfriend?

Jason stayed a few seconds in silence again, sighing after he realized how deep he messed up when giving up information he shouldn't have.

—Y/n.

—My brother had a girlfriend no one knew about, he had a heart disease no one knew about, don't come up with that shitty tone now —she stopped him, looking around to lower her voice when she noticed a few eyes on her.

—Noah wanted to introduce her to you when he got better. He barely spent any time with you himself the last months of life because he hated what boxing did to him —he admitted—. He wanted to wait for the surgery to let you all know everything. But he didn't make it out of his last fight.

—And what about her?

—She personally asked me not to tell anyone about her, because she didn't want to make things harder for you and your mother.

—And you seriously didn't think of telling me after all this time? I don't know.

—Y/n, understand, Noah didn't want to make things difficult. And Elia knew it was going to be hard for you to accept all those secrets from Noah, so it was just better for her to go on with life.

—I'm... this is nuts... Are you justifying it?

—I'm saying I understand them, and I understand you —he quickly shut down.

The thick silence floated through their mics, when neither of them knew how to go on with the bit of information that was exposed that day.

—I need to go —Y/n finally spoke.

She didn't get to hear Jason say goodbye, because her finger hung up the call before he could even say a word.

Of course his brother was hiding more than what she thought. She should've known when she and her mother knew about the illegal fights only after they rushed to the hospital because Noah was suffering a cardiac arrest. Only for all of that to be followed with it heading the news. As usual: displaying the victim, over mentioning the cause, but never going too deep into details on who were the real responsibilities of that.

Two of her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose when she heard the notification from her phone, thinking that it was Jason insisting on speaking with her deeper into the situation when they got time.

Jungkook.

Just seeing his name made her roll her eyes, but she still clicked on the notification to read the whole thing and, who knows, maybe distract her from everything she had found out.

Jungkook: I didn't mean what I said yesterday. I know I'm an asshole, and I wouldn't speak to me if I were you. But since you're a better person than me... can we meet up?

Jungkook: Tell me where you are and I'll pick you up.

She let out a tired scoff as she read that message. That was exactly what she was thinking of not doing.

Jungkook: I have something for you. Please, let me know if you want to talk.

She was indeed going somewhere else after work. She needed to free her mind from all the worries and the overload of thoughts she was going through, but it wasn't going to be Jungkook the one helping her with that.

Nope.

The only things that'd help her were four Gintonics, three shots of Tequila, and seeing Donna losing it after she showed up at Alma's bachelorette party after she told them she wouldn't attend.

That was the way she'd cope with all of her problems that night. 

Taglist: @jk97bam @ttanniett

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[azsazz]

Dead by Dawn (Part 2)

Azriel x Cassian x Reader

Summary: Zombie!AU: It’s been a while since the end of the world.

Warnings: Blood, gore, injury, graphic depictions of violence, eventual poly!relationship, undead, death.

Word Count: 2,789

(Part 1)

_________________________________________

Night 189

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

You hate waking Feyre, you really do.

Neither of you hardly ever sleep these days, and for once on a mattress so soft, so inviting, so luxurious. You almost don’t wake her, jealousy rearing its hot head in your side that you won’t be able to rest on it.

“Fey?” You ask, softly shaking her shoulder.

You feel her body stiffen beneath your hand and you know instantly that she’s awake. The both of you have learned to become light sleepers, a survival tactic that was quickly picked up. That, and having someone to always keep watch.

Feyre sits up quickly, hand unconsciously reaching for her weapon as her eyes search frantically around the room, looking for signs of danger. She’s immediately on high alert.

She blinks once, twice, gathering herself after seeing no imminent threat. There’s a red mark on the side of her face from where she’d curled it under her cheek for a pillow. She studies you for a moment, taking in your furrowed brows and the way you’re tugging your lips between your teeth nervously. She understands that something isn’t right.

“What is it?” she slurs slightly. She feels like she’s been hit with a pile of bricks, and she’s exhausted. The plush mattress beneath her had been the best hug, and seeing that familiar look on your face the cushy bed beneath her turns suffocating. She clears her throat, and her voice loses its sleepy rasp as she slides her legs off of the mattress, tugging on her shoes as fast as she can. “Zoms?”

“Eh, no,” you scratch the back of your head, “S’people this time.”

Her hands still. “People?” Feyre looks up at you for confirmation.

You haven’t seen people in a long time.

“How many?”

“Three.”

She stands from the bed. “How big?”

“Bigger than us.”

Her brows furrow and a deep frown forms as she contemplates. The only weapons between the two of you are a short blade and a rusty gardening scythe. Odds aren’t looking good.

“Think we can take ��em?”

“One of them is injured, I think, but it’s not a good idea.”

Feyre nods, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. She’s balancing the odds, you know. The situation isn’t ideal, but you’re running low on nearly all supplies, and maybe they have something that can be of use to the two of you. It’s nearly getting to the point of every woman for herself out here.

She fastens her holster tighter around her waist and nods, “Let’s go then.”

“What if they have guns, Fey?” The worry is as clear in your tone as it is on your face, with your eyebrows drawn together and your eyes widening. You try not to react to the spine tingling shudder clawing its way up your back as you think of the last time you’d encountered humans. It hadn’t gone well.

“We just have to be careful,” Feyre explains, “We’ve dealt with worse. Okay?”

You sigh, shaking your head sadly. There is no other choice, this town has been emptied of the resources that actually matter these days.

“Okay.”

“(Y/N), I don’t want to do this either,” she starts. She’s only half lying, but she won’t let you see the way her hands shake at the thought of trying to overpower three men, even if one is injured. She’s hopeful, has been since you met her, and you’re worried it will be her downfall. She’s been lucky so far, unlike you. “But it’s a zom eat zom world out there, and we have to do this to survive.”

The same conclusion you’d come to. Hearing it out loud doesn’t lessen the incessant coiling in your stomach.

“I know,” you sigh. You, on the other hand, don’t trust easily, which is why she and you work well together. She might be a glutton for survival, brilliant in that aspect of the apocalypse, but you’re the voice of reason. Unfortunately, this isn’t a decision that offers an easier solution.

The two of you will do anything to survive.

Even if it means killing other humans.

“Hey,” she says softly, placing her hands on your shoulders, “We have to eat too, (Y/N).”

It’s times like these that you can’t believe you’ve only met her a few weeks ago. You’d quite literally run into each other, a horde of zoms chasing after the both of you. There hadn’t been time to grapple for weapons or try to wrestle the bag off of her back, instead clutching each other's arms tightly as the zoms crowded in. You remember the terror in her piercing gray eyes and had made the split decision to drag her down the only way the undead weren’t blocking.

She’d been with you ever since.

You release a breath and nod more firmly. You know that you’re in desperate need of food and water, as you had just shared your second to last can of beans. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

As Feyre readies herself – forcing her tired eyes wide open and giving her cheeks a couple of slaps – you brief her on the three figures you saw run into the store across the street, pointing to the run down building out the murky window.

“Fey,” you grab her arm as she steps out into the street, “What if he’s bit?”

“Then he should be happy about what we’re going to do,” she replies quickly, but the slight quiver to her tone tells you that it’s the last thing she wants.

Killing the live ones was just…different. Harder to forget.

She leads the way out the back of the clothing store. The door creaks on its rusty hinges and you cringe, but you’re ready all the same, watching Feyre’s back for zombies. She shoves the door shut quickly, cursing at the high pitched grind it makes as it swings closed. It’s not so loud that the three men across the block will be able to hear it, but it sounds like a scream compared to the eerily silent night.

“C’mon,” she whispers, taking the lead.

You creep through the back alley as quietly as you can. Feyre notices you limping slightly, your jaw clenched tightly against the pain and a sense of guilt washes over her. She should have let you rest first, maybe elevated your leg, but she’d given into her selfishness too easily today and let you take the first watch.

Her steps falter for a second and she almost turns to usher you back to the safety of the abandoned clothing store but at the last moment changes her mind. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts. You both needed resources more than rest.

“Alright (Y/N)?”

Only then do you realize she’s been whispering a plan to you.

“What?”

She huffs a frustrated breath. Leave it to you to miss the plan.

Feyre counts to ten. She tries to calm herself but she’s pissed. She’d barely gotten any sleep, you’re both in constant danger, and you’re not helping by not listening.

She knows that she should give you the benefit of the doubt, but in such a time like this she can’t be bothered.

“You’re going up there first,” she points impatiently to the fire escape. “Wait for me and we’ll sneak in through the window. See? It’s already open.” 

You squint up to the second floor, where indeed, the window is missing. It must be an attic or a storage room of sorts. If it’s a cafe maybe there will be some sort of abandoned food. Your saliva thickens and your stomach growls loudly at the thought.

“Once we’re both up there, we split up. Hopefully they’ll be sleeping and it’ll be an easy kill. We go through their stuff and then we’re out of here. Got it?”

“Got it,” you whisper back. You tuck the knife back into your belt and then Feyre is there, helping boost you up to the lowest rung of the ladder. The bottom half has been broken off (or rusted away, you’re not completely sure but it’s nowhere to be seen on the ground).

You struggle for a moment, grappling with the metal as you try to support your own weight. There’s little muscle left on your arms, and they’re burning by the time you’ve caught your balance on the bottom rung. Peeking down at Feyre, you see her looking around the alley to make sure it’s still clear. When her gaze meets yours again and she catches you frozen in place, she waves frantically up at you, a signal that you better get your ass moving.

You make your way up the ladder as silently as you can. When it groans under your weight you pause and hold your breath. Your heart is in your throat and it’s difficult to hear anything but the raging drums in your ears. You strain to listen but there’s no sounds of warping metal or screws being stripped of their threads, so you continue your climb.

You only let out the breath you’re holding when the ladder turns into stairs.

Peering over the railing, you wave Feyre up.

The girl on the ground backs up a few steps before she’s sprinting forward and jumping to grab onto the first rung of the ladder. She’s always been athletic, or at least that’s what she told you, and she doesn’t have an injured knee, so it’s a fairly easy task for Feyre.

She pulls herself up with an ease that you’re jealous of, her ability to move so swiftly and silently.

Feyre nods towards you, a silent agreement of what you have to do.

You slide your knife from its home on your hip, and then Feyre’s slipping into the window.

You follow closely behind.

You’ve only just pulled your other foot inside of the room before someone’s knocking the weapon from your hand and slamming you up against the wall, a hand clasped around your throat.

Your head cracks against the brick wall and you see stars, stunned by the strength of whomever had grabbed you. Their hand is warm, calloused deeply, you can feel the warped texture of it against the smooth skin of your neck, clamped tightly over your pulse points.

You claw at their arm once the shock wears off and the adrenaline kicks in. You don’t care that you’re probably breaking skin. Good. You try to move further up the arm, over the bulging muscles to claw at their face but their reach is far longer than yours and you end up swiping at the air like a fool.

The breath is caught in your throat – not only from the firm grip they have around your esophagus – but also because of the man the large hand belongs to.

He towers over you, easily a whole foot taller than both you and Feyre. The moonlight casts through the open window, illuminating his dark features. His plump lips are set into a firm line and his eyes are blazing with anger and what you think might also be a tinge of fear. His inky black hair falls across his equally dark brows, the heat and effort from carrying his friend has the tendrils damp with sweat.

You know that you should be scared out of your wits, but if you’re dying you’re glad it’s by the hand of this handsome man and not by the hand (teeth) of a zom.

The ice cold barrel of a gun presses into your temple, an icy promise of death. Okay, now you’re scared out of your wits.

“Say goodbye,” he spits at you, cocking the gun back. His voice is like darkness and gravel, and you lie to yourself and say that the goose bumps pimpling over your flesh is from the gun and not his low timbre.

Your heart hammers in your chest and you feel dizzy. Where the fuck is Feyre?

You can’t help the little smirk that tugs at your lips as you watch his golden eyes widen slightly in fear as the curve of Feyre’s blade coils around his neck likes the whispers of fluid tattoos you’re just now noticing. The tip of her scythe comes to rest right below his Adam’s apple.

The hand wrapped around your throat loosens just slightly.

“Put the gun down,” Feyre’s voice is quiet yet firm, threatening, “Before I fucking slit your throat.”

You watch the man think through his options. His throat bobs and your gaze follows the slow trail of blood from the nick in his neck down to where it soaks into the collar of his dark shirt.

The gun is slowly removed from your head and you grab it in shaky hands before Feyre can tell you to. You slide out of his grip, shuffling a few steps away, aiming it right at the attractive man’s head.

“Don’t make any sudden moves,” you demand.

“No, you don’t make any sudden moves,” a new voice says, startling the both of you. Another man enters the room, his gun raised and aimed at Feyre. He’s shorter than the boy that was pinning you to the wall, but his stature exudes power. His hair is also dark, and you think that they could be related maybe, by the similar structure of their faces.

You immediately turn your gun to point it at him, but you spare a nervous glance to Feyre who’s gaze hasn’t left the man she’s got under knifepoint. Smart girl. That’s the last thing you want her to do, look over to the other handsome man. You don’t need her attention drawn so that the taller man can slip out of her grasp and take her down.

“You shoot her and I shoot you. Then I shoot your friend,” you find yourself saying, voice even. It surprises you.

The man with the gun seems stumped for a moment before he turns his gun on you. Your heart halts in your chest. “Then I’ll kill you.”

“And I’ll kill Shadow,” Feyre answers with a roll of her eyes, nodding at the man she’s holding captive.

The man makes a face at the nickname but stays otherwise still.

“Do it, Rhys,” the one in Feyre’s grasp replies harshly, kile he’ll do anything to keep the other boy safe.

“What? I’m not letting them kill you Az,” the man – Rhys – says desperately.

Az. You mouth his name and it tingles on your tongue.

Az pinches the bridge of his nose, “For fucks sake Rhys–”

“No,” Rhys cuts off his friend.

Their banter is annoying and you’re beginning to think it’s some sort of way to distract you and Feyre because there are three of them and only two are here with you in the room.

You jolt into action, taking one step closer to Az. You ignore the gun Rhys is pointing at your face.

“Go get his gun,” you tell Feyre quietly. She wears a questioning look on her face, her bright gaze flicking between you and Az’s broad shoulders.

With a nod of encouragement, she moves. She’ll ask later.

She pushes Az away from her but he’s so large that he hardly gives a step closer to you. Your gun stays locked on Rhys, but as soon as Feyre takes a step closer to him, it swings to land on her.

There’s a zip of electricity in the air as their gazes meet and it makes everyone’s spine straighten painfully.

Your gaze flicks to the man holding the gun to your friend. Rhys has deflated a little, no longer standing in a threatening pose with his chest puffed out. With the quick glance you take you catch the slight tremor in his hands and the fear in his eyes, despite the edge to his voice.

“Fey, get the gun. He’s not going to shoot you,” you order, calmly returning your stare to Az, who’s watching you through narrowed eyes.

“Like hell I won’t,” Rhys threatens as Feyre takes another cautious step forward. “Don’t come any closer, darling.”

“Fey,” you talk over him sternly. You’re not fucking around. Not this time.

“How do you know, (Y/N)?” Feyre questions, clearing her throat a little. Her voice sounds unlike her own, as if she’s watching herself from miles away.

I know because I’m not capable of shooting either. 

“Because if he does, I kill his friend, then him, then their friend downstairs.”

Both men turn to gape at you. Clearly they didn’t know that you’d seen them dragging their friend across the seemingly abandoned town.

Feyre takes the chance now that Rhys is caught off guard, lurching forward to grab the gun from his hands.

Only Rhys is too quick and pulls the trigger.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

(Part 3)

Taglist: @writingsbychlo @kemillyfreitas

[commence-screaming]

I know you all are awaiting my response, and I’m grateful for your patience. There are some things I have to address here. Never wanted to put everything out there—I don’t like drama on my blog. I have a document that’s over a thousand words long, but I realized that when people have blocked me and are saying stuff in the main tag, they don’t want to listen. They just want to hurt me.

So I guess now there are things I have to clarify… it’s heavy, but I tried to keep it short. I didn’t have the energy to read everything they were saying about me so I may get things wrong. I didn’t really want to post this.

Content warnings for mental illness, suicidal ideation, mentions of abuse.

Let’s get right into it.

1. I’ve always lived with the paranoid delusion that everyone was conspiring against me, that people secretly hated me and would smear me behind my back. I passed these off as negative thoughts, anything that might’ve “confirmed” this would set it off. I’d have an episode I would have to deal with on my own. I thought that nobody would stick with me in a crisis, and I would always be thinking along the lines of, “is it all over?”

I feel liberated, now. There’s no need to fight when they’re true. I am more at peace with myself.

2. I never want to hurt anyone. Not a real level, the angst stuff is fictional pain. I am autistic—the things you’re hearing me say are the first times I’ve talked to people (other than my family) for my entire life. I always want people to go to me when I do something wrong so I can handle it and learn from my mistakes, that’s why I have my bio set to what it is.

That, and my memory is so fuzzy that I can’t remember too much from even last week. I tend to dissociate and my brain turns into mush.

3. The “minor incident” that Ghouse and the others were talking about was one of his mods saying she’d “tear people apart” and then immediately citing me as the main cause because I was “being rude.” I told her why I was taking a break, as I couldn’t handle it, this had happened before and I asked them to correct me if I was wrong—even confirming multiple times that we were just joking around because I was paranoid.

I suggested they go straight to me for future reference. I was having a mental health episode. She called me crazy and that I was overreacting, implying I was stupid. Another mod told me I was overreacting and that I was acting pathetic and childish. This made point 1 so much worse.

4. The “suicide baiting” was something I told the Panic Room server in confidence. I told them I was talking a break. Ghouse said “it wasn’t that bad but okay,” as if he were gaslighting me. He said things like this as I was sobbing alone in my room, which he was well aware of.

I have to clarify that it wasn’t baiting. Suicidal ideation has been something I’ve been dealing with since I was 9 years old. I have been abused/gaslit for more of my life than I have been safe. I never wanted to say this, but they were brushing me off at a point where I was trying to find a reason to live. I had stupidly thought that they would understand what they were doing to me if I said.

5. That was the first time I had an episode like that. To say that it was baiting is to say I was lying. Let’s play devil’s advocate here.

If I were lying for attention, why would I destroy all my relationships in a single night? Why wouldn’t I make art or something along those lines? They’re big on art.

If I wasn’t, then that would mean that I was having a few bad days and they did nothing to help me… beyond condescendingly saying that I need help. I don’t blame the minors in the server, I’m talking about Ghouse, who is older than I am by around 2 years. I told them I called 988 and it didn’t really work. He continued to tell me off.

After I was kicked I was made aware that they immediately started insulting me. Whether you believe me or not, purposely attacking someone who’s mentally ill is… too far. I hadn’t done anything to them before this incident.

6. The reasons I freaked out was because I was sad that I had unintentionally hurt people, I had started a new, dangerous job, and… well, to be honest, I was terrified.

They were making me forget that I’d been hurt. I was starting to trust them. I had been starting to look forward to tomorrow. And, I was so scared that it would all be over. I didn’t know when, just that it would be.

Now, it is.

7. I may very well have been joking around with everything while on the server, but serious topics were serious. I was never “demeaning” when Ghouse was venting about something that happened to him beyond a couple of lighthearted comments. I thought they’d have the same respect for me. Again, I had confirmed multiple times that I was joking.

8. I might not have done much wrong in the Panic Room situation, but the other things that people are saying about me? I had no idea.

That was the first time I’d ever heard of them.

In the past, my autism had gone completely unchecked. some of those things were from when I was a week into being on my first server… ever. I was 17, had no idea how to check for age or even pronouns. Never used anything but tumblr, never interacted with anyone. Never went to school or even had a job at that point. I more tried to figure out everything based off of my own experiences… which was, not good. To say the least. The things I did, in my head, I thought they were “normal.” This doesn’t make it less terrible, but I hadn’t even remembered some of the incidents until someone pointed it out. It was so mundane to me—I was a messed up child. I’m sorry for this.

8. I wasn’t the best person, I really wasn’t. I didn’t know how to “mask” my traits at that time, I was excited to be able to talk to people. I was protective over my friends (my first friends! ever!) and very clingy. I didn’t know that people held characters close to their hearts, either? (When I have a favorite, I only want to hurt them, you see)

So while the doc was deliberately taking things out of context, some of the other accusations are true, unfortunately. I will be posting my DMs between me and the people on the server in my doc.

9. I have explanations for what I’ve seen of the accusations, but I don’t really recall anything from that incident over 3 years ago… if someone had told me, or even confronted me, I’d have known what was wrong. But they didn’t, and they kept talking to me like everything was normal. I was completely unaware. This is most of the reason I thought people were plotting against me—people would be cold to me and I wouldn’t know why. The worst part is that I can’t apologize. I can’t even try to rectify anything. Some of the people in that server still played PAYDAY 2 with me, some would even reply to my DMs. I had… no idea.

I have hurt people. Unknowingly, but still. I apologize to anyone I’ve affected. Most of it was not knowing how basic social media functions worked. I hope you understand that my behavior was out of line, and that I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Don’t defend me on that, I was entirely wrong. But… smearing me in the fandom tag instead of going to me directly means that they want to attack me. They don’t want an explanation.

All of my actions were genuine. I never intended to hurt anyone, but that’s what ended up happening. I’ll put more detail into the doc.

10. I was already going to take a break. I was already doing poorly, and the server knew this. At that point, they want me to go through with it. What else would they be saying when they do all of this? Unless I’m reading that wrong. Whatever the reason is, they don’t want to help me, they’re deliberately being malicious and they know I wasn’t baiting.

Although, I guess I have to thank them. Now, I can say that I wasn’t delusional. I can say that I was too smart for my own good. How crazy does it sound to think that everyone was just waiting to betray me? But… they were. I can begin to trust myself again, even if it’s accepting some of my “negative thoughts” as reality. I won’t be reaching out to anyone I don’t already know, and there is safety in never putting myself out there again.

Thank you to everybody who stuck around. My delusions… weren’t entirely correct. Just like how most of my former friends blocked me on sight, there were a few people who didn’t mind when I wasn’t responding. There are some people who believed in me to a point where even if all those accusations were true, they believed that I could change. That’s… something I never thought I’d hear, ever, in my life. That is a form of trust I don’t deserve, really.

So, I was wrong again. Not everyone wanted me gone. It took all of this for me to realize that there were people who loved me in the truest form of it.

As for everyone who cut me off… well, I hope you understand that because of my mental issues, I can never trust you beyond a professional level. It is for my own wellbeing, because I’m still not doing good. I will still be taking that break. The PAYDAY 2 fandom was a source of reprieve for me, and now it’s not. It wasn’t an accident that it turned out that way. All my safe spaces have been taken from me. I don’t know why the Panic Room server hated me, so I can’t provide any extra insight on that.

The truth is, I haven’t been around because I’ve been dealing with depression for a long time. I’ve been passively… yknow. Not actively. I haven’t had the energy to respond to anything on most days, I’m sorry for that :(

All of this was just the breaking point, really.

Thank you for reading. I know most people won’t, but I appreciate those who do. I won’t blame the rest of you if you all decide to leave as well, I understand that. I never made the blog for other people, I made it for myself. This whole thing will serve as a reminder that there are more important things than online spaces. Can’t get therapy because I’m broke, but I can enjoy the few things I still can… even if I’m reminded of what I’ve lost. I don’t think I’ll really be here anymore, but I will be okay.

[greatideas-badwriter]

SasuSaku: Sacrificed To The Banished Prince Ch. 14

Sasuke shared a look with his uncle at dinner that night. Sakura had refused every meal for the past two and a half days, not to mention every visitor. He’d only seen her for moments after she first woke from her coma, so he couldn’t positively say if whatever was wrong was from before her family visited. 

The king had approached him after lunch, stating he’d forced the pink-haired woman to join him for tea and that something was obviously severely upsetting her. That look he shared with the man just now was him confirming the notion. The woman lying upstairs in that dark room was even more closed off than when he first met her. 

‘She really hates me for what happened. I can’t even get her to face my direction,’ Sasuke poked at the meat on his plate, not having much of an appetite. He was desperate to know what happened to her while she was kidnapped because he couldn’t try to mend their relationship without the details, but the few moments in her presence earlier were enough to confirm he wouldn’t be receiving anything. 

“Sakura has always been a quiet and sensitive girl. I’m sure she’ll be back to normal in a few days time,” Kizashi offered, his two children making short sounds of agreement. They obviously picked up on the serious aura of the room and were trying, and failing, to remedy it. 

Itachi tried to help their efforts, “She asked for her youngest sister, yes? Would a visit from Lady Hana cheer her up?” The Haruno family shared glances before Kizashi lowered his head, “I told Sakura that Hana has a fever, but the truth is that she chose not to come on her own.” Sasuke’s eyes lifted from his meal to the speaking man, who added, “She said she wishes not to see her eldest sister.” 

Hihara added when no one said anything, “Hana rarely asks for anything and is well-behaved, so we didn’t attempt to force her.” The green-eyed man locked gazes with Sasuke, and a highly amused glint arose that confused the prince. 

“Perhaps the stress of marrying into the royal family is too much for my big sister to bear,” Haruka said in an obviously faux-considerate tone. She batted her eyelashes at the prince, “Since I care so much for her, I’d be willing to take her place so she can properly rest and await a more leisurely proposal of marriage.” 

That’s when Sasuke realized what the bratty girl wanted. It was to steal her sister’s position as his fiance. Disgust met his tongue. 

Madara said, “Well, that’s definitely something we can-” “Absolutely not,” the second prince bit, eyes narrowing on a surprised Haruka. Everyone’s eyes turned onto him, but he didn’t falter. Frowning, he looked around to give each person a moment of eye contact before looking back down to his plate and speaking with finality, “I’ll hear nothing else of exchanging my fiance.” 

‘She’s not a sword that you send off to a blacksmith to be replaced with stronger metal. She’s a human being. A compassionate one that I don’t intend to leave in this traumatized state.’ He took a bite of the meat before the sound of the others returning to their meals met his ears. A tiny bit of his stoic facade slipped, his shoulders threatening to sag, ‘It’s my fault she’s hurting right now, so I have to be the one to make things better. After that, if she wishes to annul this engagement, then I’ll allow it.’ 

After the meal, Sasuke went for a walk around the estate, a bottle of whiskey in hand to help ease the tension in his mind. After some time alone, he heard someone approaching and turned to see Hihara, who raised a hand in greeting. 

The prince could’ve cursed, ‘This brat has to know I don’t like him, yet here he is, seeking me out in his free time.’ 

Hihara was breathless when he finally caught up, smiling sheepishly, “My Lord, you’re quite the fast walker.” 

“Hn,” Sasuke returned. 

For a while, they walked in silence before the Haruno man seemed to reach his threshold for tension. He gestured toward the bottle, “May I?” The prince handed it over, accepting it back once he’d taken a drink. Hihara sighed, looking around the grounds warmly, “This reminds me of my childhood. Sakura used to take me for walks when I was very young.” 

Sasuke spared him a glance while taking a sip of whiskey. 

He seemed to take that as encouragement because he continued, “Would you like to learn more about your fiance? I can tell you all her favorite things, the things she hates, and even-” “Can you tell me about your relationship with her?” 

Hihara’s face paled, making Sasuke want to punch him, “What?” 

“Better yet, tell me about any of your family’s relationship with her,” he couldn’t stop himself from half-drunkenly unloading on the nineteen-year-old, “Tell me where each of her scars came from. Tell me why she wasn’t introduced to the public at sixteen. Tell me why your younger sister thinks she deserves better treatment than Sakura.” 

“Well, that’s because she’s an illegitimate-” “Does a child being born out of wedlock mean that it’s acceptable to abuse and neglect them? At what point did she choose this life? Did she reach out from beyond this realm to create the means necessary for her conception?” 

Hihara stopped walking, so Sasuke did, too. The men stared one another down, the redhead finally dropping the friendly facade. Moments later, Sasuke handed over the bottle of whiskey but leaned in to threaten the Haruno man, “You and your family will not contact her outside of formalities after the wedding, understood?” 

The redhead looked stunned. 

After holding his glare for a minute, Sasuke rolled his eyes and returned to walking, though back in the direction they’d come. 

When he was further away, Hihara called after him, “You’re too late!” When the prince turned to figure out what he meant, he saw the man had turned and begun walking the other way. 

Groaning with irritation, he ran a hand through his hair, ‘If a hundred years pass before I see these Haruno animals again, it’ll be too soon.’ 

The next day, Sakura finally began to accept meals, though she took them in her bedroom. Two days later, she finally came out from her seclusion, if only to tell the prince that she no longer wished to be at the castle anymore. 

‘Even The Curse can’t get her to talk,’ Sasuke thought while eyeing his fiance. They were nearly back to the manor, and neither had said a word the entire carriage ride. 

Sasuke recalled how beautiful Sakura had looked the night of their engagement party. Her emerald-colored eyes had sparkled with emotion. Her hair had flowed beautifully with curls down her back and over her shoulders. If he were a weaker man, he’d have run his fingers through it at least once. 

‘She’d been so full of life,’ he frowned, remembering how confidently she’d helped him escape the ballroom so he could go through the shift without on-lookers. ‘Now she barely seems present.’ 

Sakura’s eyes were directed out the window, though they were dull and sad. Her lips were in a thin line as though she’d been pondering something very seriously for hours. It was dark under her eyes, and Sasuke realized that she hadn’t been sleeping well despite being locked in a bedroom for a week. 

The prince’s eyes left his fiance’s face to land on her hands, only to narrow. She wasn’t wearing the engagement ring. He didn’t dare ask her where it was because he felt one wrong word would send the woman spiraling further.

‘I just hope that coming back to the manor was the correct decision,’ Sasuke thought, averting his gaze out his own window, ‘I’m beginning to question if she still wants to proceed with the plan.’ As selfish as it was to think about such a thing, he couldn’t help it. That said, she hadn’t spoken a word about leaving, so he tried to convince himself not to dwell on the idea. 

Sasuke didn’t know what else he’d do if returning to the Winterlands didn’t comfort Sakura in some way. He was too awkward to approach her with the intention of talking things out and didn’t want to pressure her if the issue she was facing was indeed serious. He also didn’t want to just let her deal with it alone because she’d done so much to help him since they met. She deserved to have someone worry about her like she does him, and he’d unintentionally become that person. 

That night, Akuma did what he’d done the past few days, and that was to lay silently beside his sacrifice while she slept. He watched as she groaned and turned onto her side, facing him with a disturbed expression tugging at her brow. ‘She’s as restless as ever.’ For her sake, even though he wouldn’t admit it, the demon gave up trying to get her to talk. ‘It’s been days. I’ve grown tired of this confusion.’ 

As if on some sort of cue, Sakura’s eyes shot open, filled with fearful tears as she slowly comprehended that whatever horror she’d been experiencing was simply a dream. 

Akuma searched her pale face, leaning closer despite her obviously becoming skittish, “Pet, you’re plagued with nightmares.”

She tried to scoot away, but he grabbed her hands and held them tightly. His brow furrowed when real terror met her face because she’d never looked at him like that. He still didn’t let go, though. No, he wordlessly pondered what to say because he’d never tried to comfort a human before, nor had he wanted to. This game of waiting for her to return to her shy and blushing form had grown tedious, so he had no choice.

Soon, he said, “You reek of fear. Have you abandoned trust in your master?” 

Sakura’s chin quivered, and she averted her gaze to his chest. Finally, she spoke, though quietly, “I’m not…I-I’m just….” She closed her eyes, took a calming breath, and asked quickly as though worried she’d lose the courage to say the words, “You said you wanted to make me yours before.” 

‘Of all the things to bring up, that’s what she wants to talk about?’ Akuma made an affirming sound. 

She kept her eyes closed. She hesitated momentarily before asking in a much weaker voice, “I-I’ve recently discovered what you meant by that.” In this type of situation, the demon would expect at least a slight blush on her cheeks, but there was none. Green eyes slowly opened to search his face as Sakura asked, “Why would you want to do such a thing to me?” 

‘She seems genuine,’ Akuma was beyond confused. He thought that sex was something normal between those attracted to one another, and in his case, sometimes even when only one was interested. He was a demon, after all, and they don’t follow human rules most of the time. 

Akuma’s fingers loosened so he could interlace them with hers, and he smirked, deciding to answer honestly, “The way you tremble and blush. I wish to feel it happen instead of just see.” His eyes dropped to her lips, narrowing as he imagined their taste, “I want to make it so you can’t control your body or voice. I want a complete surrender so I can devour every piece of you.” 

Tears flooded Sakura’s eyes, dripping quickly down and taking the demon by surprise. He opened his mouth to ask why, only for the woman to tear her hands away, covering her face and scooting away, “You’re a monster.” 

For some reason, The Curse’s mouth went dry at those words. Anger arose at her disrespect, but it wasn’t alone. An unfamiliar emotion joined it, one that stopped Akuma from shouting or hitting the woman. ‘I thought…. I thought she saw me as a person all this time, didn’t I?’ He got out of bed, staring at the sobbing young lady with wide red eyes, ‘But I was wrong. She’s just like everyone else. All she sees when she looks at me is a demon.’ 

A fiery sensation flooded Akuma’s chest, and he left the room, slamming the door behind him. If he didn’t get far away from Sakura, he’d end up murdering her with his bare hands. 

[freckle-face-ace]

Portgas D Ace X CisFem Reader

5

Both of you were sent reeling. 

You were trying to figure out how someone here knew Ace. It shouldn't be possible, but you supposed you couldn't count anything out anymore.

Ace's mouth gaped, watching in disbelief as the brunette slowly approached. His hair was smoothed back into an impressive pompadour that shadowed his attractive face. Your eyes wandered to the crescent scar that hooked from his left temple to his cheekbone. Realization washed over you, he was exactly how Ace had described him.

"Thatch." Ace breathed shakily, tears beginning to sting his garnet eyes.

The cook stopped upon hearing his name. All the thoughts pooling in his mind confirmed with the sound of Ace's voice. This wasn't a hallucination, a dream or a really impressive doppelganger. It was really Ace.

You watched, heart clenching as the men gawked at each other, tears now streaming down both of their faces. Thatch finally willed himself to move forward almost frantically hugging the raven.

A beautiful strawberry blond walked up adjusting her black framed glasses. She had an authoritative posture that led you to believe she was in management.

"Thatch? Is everything alright?" Her alto voice was thick with concern.

You realized there weren't many people in the restaurant, but all of their eyes were on your table.

Thatch stepped back looking up at the woman with the most brilliant smile you'd ever seen, "This is my brother, Ace."

Her face fell briefly before she smiled warmly, "Why don't we move you to a more private space?"

Yes please!

You were so uncomfortable with all of the new attention. The yet to be named woman motioned for you to rise and follow her. Thatch stayed close to Ace as you were ushered to a small private dining room connected to the main room by a narrow hallway. Three tables swathed in white linens formed a triangle in the center of the room. The four of you took a seat at the nearest.

"I'm Grace." The woman smiled stretching her hand toward you, "I haven't seen you around."

"F/N," You responded mirroring her expression, "I live out near the bluffs...I don't come into town often."

"Ah you're Anabelle's granddaughter." She chimed, "She was a great lady."

"T-thank you." You nodded.

"I can't believe you're here." Thatch marveled at his brother making the rest of you frown.

Grace seemed to be somewhat clued in to how they'd arrived.

"Thatch..." She said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder.

He watched her expression change to something more somber. His eyes widened, tears once again breaching his lashes.

"W-wait...not you."

Your heart broke watching pain flicker across Thatch's sweet face. Grace wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He'd been so excited to see Ace that how he got here hadn't occurred to him.

"Was it Teach?" Thatch asked quietly regaining his composure.

Ace's jaw clenched at the mention of Teach's name.

"Marines." The raven finally replied.

Thatch deflated, "What about Pops? The crew?"

"I- I don't know. There was a pretty big battle. I wasn't around for the outcome."

You flinched at his flat response.

"F/N...why don't we give them a moment." Grace rose running her hand over Thatch's back.

You glanced at Ace.

"I'll come find you." He nodded.

Grace took you down a hallway opposite the way you'd come. You entered a small but cozy office. Grace moved around the wooden desk taking a seat in the office chair folding her arms over the marked-up desktop calendar. You claimed a small armchair directly in front of her still feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"How did you find him?" She asked resting her chin in her palm.

You were hesitant to respond. It was too ridiculous to say out loud and people around here already had their ideas about 'the recluse that lives on the hill'. Grace seemed to notice your discomfort.

"I found Thatch lying on the side of the road on my way to the restaurant one morning. Who knows how long he was there or just how many people had passed him by thinking he was some drunk knocked out." A warm smile played upon her full lips.

This was a pleasant memory for her it seemed.

"I'll admit his story took some convincing. I mean a pirate? Magic fruits and all that? Sounds like something you'd read in a comic book." She chuckled, "I feel bad, there was still a part of me that didn't believe him until I saw Ace."

"He uh-" You cleared your throat, "He fell from the sky."

She blinked at you, "How?"

"I'm not sure. But I saw it with my own eyes. Surrounded by flames, he just dropped right into the silt bank of my pond." You watched her waiting for a sign of disbelief.

She nodded, "Maybe that's how both of them got here."

"What do you think happens now?" You asked feeling a knot form in your stomach.

"Well, I'm not sure what they'll want to do." She started, "We could take him in at our place."

"Our?" You echoed, blushing embarrassed that your curiosity betrayed you.

"Mhm. We live together." She hummed, the look on her face telling you it was more than just that.

"Oh." Was all you could muster.

"It seems you're not keen on giving Ace up though." She used an upward inflection, but you knew it was meant to be a statement.

"I'll be fine with whatever he chooses." You shrugged the knots crawling through your gut away.

She only smiled.

The office door opened slightly as Ace entered the room alone.

"Thatch went to pack up our food." He chirped jabbing his thumb in the direction he'd just come, "Are you OK if I hang out with him tonight?"

You braved a fake smile, for whatever reason dreading being home alone, "Of course. Go spend time with your brother."

A grin broke out across the raven's face.

"We should exchange numbers then." Grace piped pulling out her phone.

After gathering your dinner, you parted ways. The drive home felt longer than usual. Once inside you tossed you untouched food in the fridge and slinked to your room flopping down on your bed. You weren't sure how many times you sighed or how long you stared at the ceiling fan before your eyes grew too heavy.

Something rattled against your night stand stirring you from the comfortable position you'd found in your sleep. You blindly slid your hand across the wooden surface, so you could snatch the device.

"Hullo?" You husked.

"F/N," Grace's flustered tone jarred you awake, "It's Ace. He's having some sort of panic attack."

You were already jamming your feet into your boots, "What's your address? I'll be right there."

[consoledacup]

Thoughts on 6x01, part 2

Okay, first of all, Mac is my new favorite character. I cheered at his last line. Totally missed the sleepover scene at first because I was celebrating. I'm so excited for Jordan's football conflict this season. Welcome, Mac!

Jordan's telling himself he doesn't want the attention Spencer is getting partly because he doesn't think it'll happen to him. So how is he going to feel when he actually does get the attention?? Loved how he named his jealousy and immediately supported Spencer after. I'm looking forward to what their dynamic holds this season.

Layla's arc is not going to be so clear cut. That was evident in the premiere. She's in for a rough, rough time. So here's my take on what's happening and how that's affecting the people around her/their responses.

She's acting herself in that lil scene with Patience, Spencer, and Coop. And then when the news announcement comes on, she's triggered. And every scene with her following, we see how differently she acts, depending on the situation. All of her lounge scenes has her incredibly on edge. Incredibly. That's why Ryan takes notice. And if out of her mouth is bodyguards this and Patience that, then it's not a hard conclusion to draw. Patience and Coop don't notice this because Coop is also focused on Patience, and Patience is convincing herself she's fine.

Jordan told Spencer he was meeting up with Layla for wedding planning, and who knows how she acted with him if they did actually meet up. They weren't talking about Patience, so she could've acted more or like her normal self. And if anything felt amiss, maybe Jordan would've attributed it to nerves about the opening.

Then Jordan sees Layla chew Ryan out and is immediately concerned. And to his credit, Ryan fills him in and asks Jordan for any more insight. From that point, Jordan's on Layla watch. And from that moment, Layla's sidestepping him.

We have Layla completely freaked out by Olivia's arrival. She is not okay!! And the way she hugs her from sheer relief is just so sweet but also really heartbreaking. Olivia is someone that's always made her feel safe, and she just keeps saying "you're finally home."

In their conversation, she's acting normally and listening to Olivia and filling her in about what she's missed. But again, any time Patience is brought up, it's hard for Layla to get the words out. Olivia's just so jittery to be back and happy to be with Layla, she misses it.

So you have Jordan coming in and checking in on her. But Olivia's there, and Layla uses their reunion as an escape. And that catch-up conversation with the twins makes more sense because Jordan's convincing himself about Layla and about football and the whole time confirming to Liv that yes, he's happy and things are good.

And because the concern came from Ryan, Jordan doesn't want to admit it's true. That's what he tells Spencer later on. Like, Ryan has to be wrong. For a plethora of reasons, Jordan wants Ryan to be wrong. It would ruin her big night if he asked her about it. He also still hasn't had an opportunity to talk to her.

To me, I don't think Jordan missed anything. I think he was hesitant to confront her and really wanted to believe she was okay and wanted to feel secure that she'd tell him if something was wrong.

And she would. They tell each other everything. The problem is she was lying to herself. She told Jordan as much when they finally get a moment alone. She named what triggered her and shared exactly what she was feeling. She didn't lie to him or keep anything else from him.

She didn't let him hold her. While that probably hurt him, he didn't let it phase his support. She just wasn't in any sort of headspace to hear his words. So he takes another angle and fills Patience in on everything. And Layla's not mad at him for doing that because she knows how much he cares about and loves her.

And then we have this gorgeous 4x01 parallel, but instead of the Baker twins and Layla, it's the entire Vortex. It was such a lovely ending moment. And of course, jordayla is right at home in each others' arms.

Yes, things are unresolved. We are going to encounter quite a bit of beautiful angst probably. But their love for each other hasn't changed. And personally, that's all I need to know.

[emeraldsworld]

Buddy Daddies Ep 10 Speculation/ Predictions

the mood for this ep already looks so sombre I’m so unprepared..

I’m assuming from this shot that kyu does end up telling/ hinting to kazuki and rei that they’re in danger and that shigeki has asked for info.. which will obviously make them reflect on whether keeping miri with them is the safest thing for her moving forward

- or they’ve told kyu about misaki coming back and he gives them some advice they don’t want to hear… potentially something that contradicts his previous ‘don’t regret it’ advice now he knows they’re in danger but can’t betray the organisation …

which is obviously something both of them are gonna take really hard (from the looks of the trailer especially kazuki, though he wears his heart on his sleeve)

putting the rest of this under the cut bc its long

we also know that misaki makes a return in this ep. miri looked so happy to see her which really tugged on my heartstrings ahah

we know that she’s come to pick up miri and take her back from the episode synopsis

it seems that misaki is invited over for dinner from miri eating the hamburg steak and kazuki and rei sitting next to each other rather than opposite like they usually do (edit: its confirmed by the episode synopsis that she comes over to discuss)

I think this interaction with misaki, seeing miri happy in the presence of her mom for the first time AND potentially knowing that their family is in danger is gonna make kazurei reflect (spiral) on what the best course of action is… we know misaki is the one to intimate she wants miri back and they can’t really say no to her birth mother ..

I also think the reason misaki wants miri back is because she’s ‘made it big’ in her career and is moving out of japan- hence her posh new clothes and haircut and the ‘specific reason’ mentioned in the synopsis, this is also where the title ‘lost at sea’ could come into play

however I also have a theory that misaki is lying and has been paid off by the organisation to take miri back .. which would explain the fancy look and the sudden turn around in maternal feelings (though if she knows she’s gonna have a better life she may be able to offer miri a better childhood than before, since her life is no longer ‘ruined’ by her)

which brings me to these shots

we can see the family are shopping for miri again, and their bags and items are with them when they arrive at the funfair (you can tell by the rainbow lights and the final shots in the trailer with kazuki and rei)

this seems odd to me as buying miri a bunch of stuff and then having to lug it around the fair doesnt seem productive

which is why I think they might be giving her a final send off with lots of gifts and a fun day out 💔, they may not have a lot of time before the organisation closes in on them and they have to send her back to misaki..

you can tell they’re in the ferris wheel here which also makes me think they might be ambushed and the episode will end of a cliffhanger - thanks to the scenes from the op (though rei is dressed in his assassin wear in that)

(sorry for the low quality screenshot lmao)

I can’t fathom the anime making misaki come back without a genuine reason/ ploy considering the central themes of the show are about found family and how they set up that some people just don’t want to be parents … though I hope that if my organisation theory is true misaki isn’t doing something irredeemable bc they set her up as a victim and I would hate for them to do a 180° on that

and considering how many episodes are left and the focus on them truly being a family last ep, it seems too soon to definitively say that miri should live with her mom that is what’s best for her

edit: I also saw someone say that kyu may have been the one to send misaki as shigeki would just kill miri which I also think is a very likely scenario!

I’m excited for some angst though! lmk what you think this is a whole lot of waffle ngl

[ghostwritcr]

dominic froze at max's question . he always told his best friend everything , so he was never prepared to lie to him --- or to hold back information . ' i can't tell you right now . ' he opted to be sincere , and before they could argue back , he continued ' we're keeping it on the low , ' kay ? i'll tell you guys about it when she's fine with it . ' and knowing dom , max and riley knew he wouldn't bend on that , even if his best friends tried their best . but it didn't keep riley from showing her frustration , eyes rolling as she groaned out her breath . good thing they had other more urgent things to take care , or they probably would give dominic hell for being so mysterious . he shot max a bad look , warning him not to push it . coming from dom , it was enough of a big deal that he had someone over . ' alright ! now get the fuck out of here before she sees you guys ! and don't stress it , she probably just went to leah's and her phone died , i dunno ... she knows how to take care of herself --- we all know it , right ? ' he shrug , feeling bad about having his friends on edge when he knew not only where bella was , but also that she couldn't be better . scoffing at them , dom rolled his eyes before waving goodbye and closing his window and the curtains . finally , he could breathe in relief ... but not really , as he saw bella's smirk and knew something was coming his way --- but it was worth it , ' cause he loved the way she looked when smiling . ' what ? ' he asks grumpily , deep down already knowing the answer --- which she confirms quoting his friend and making him blush like a goddamn tomato . he wet his lips , parted as he tried to find words to defend himself but they didn't come out . ' c'mon , it's not my fault you were the only one who didn't see i liked you ! so , yeah , they like to give me shit for it , okay ? ' he tried to avoid her gaze , but his eyes always ended up peeking to catch a glance of her . and as embarrassed as he was , her taunt brought a smirk to his face . laughing in a bit of disbelief , he dropped his shoulders , grunting ' i told you it was --- now you know i wasn't lying about that . ' he was never this shy , and now bella had him at the palm of her hand ... but he too had her , as he reminded her ' don't you even think of making fun of me , alright ? 'cause in case you already forgot , you were the one hiding behind the wall of my room , young lady ... ' approaching and towering over her with a side smirk , he continued his teasing ' and sure the last thing they'd do would be teasing me , if only they found out you were the girl spending the night here , huh ? ' lowering his voice as he stands just inches apart , he taunts with a smirk ' besides ... you too liked to hear that , didn't you ? and don't even try lying , i can see it in your face that you did ... just like i saw you loved last night . ' now , his eyes were the ones darkening , as he tucked her hair away from her face , letting his touch linger on her jaw --- taking everything on him not to kiss her again , 'cause he knew they needed to hurry , and if they started it ... it'd be long until they caught another break .

her worries about them being there had faded and now she was amused. their friends wasn't giving dom a break and she would so tease him about it. but grin dropped a little at the ' love of your life bella ' — was it just them teasing him or was it something he had hinted at before? he calmed them by saying he had a girl over but the brunette pushed back further into the wall as riley turned nosey and looked through the window. but one thing caught her attention — had he never brought another girl here? it didn't mean anything though. he had his dad at home and didn't want things to get messy ... it had nothing to do with her. " then who is it? " max pushed on, trying to find out who was hiding to not be seen. the male sighed, " then get her out of here man! " voice was slightly hushed, not trying to be rude if the girl was close. " okay just — hurry! we're gonna go ask some people if they've seen her. shit, maybe theo and leah know something? " riley said, turning to max before she moved to walk away. " dude, you're telling me all the details later. " max said, leaning towards dom. " i'll call you in an hour. " isabella could finally exhale, with both of them gone. and she can't let him relax for even a second. " love of your life huh? " she reached out, nudging his arm. " then tonight must've been a dream come true huh? " she couldn't help it. the opportunity was right there and during the night she had grown fond of teasing him.

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love - Episode 47

Guys. It’s almost the end. We reached that point when there’s only about 12 episodes left. Can you believe it? It took me a lot of time for this series recaps, but I’m glad I kept pushing through, albeit kind of late. I’m ready, yet I’m not. I know I’m going to be balling my eyes out. Because Chinese dramas. There’s always so many reasons to cry towards the last few episodes.

The Emperor asks for Zheyan to save Yehua. He almost died again. I think it might be a hobby of his, getting close to dying. Anyways, Zheyan scolds Yehua for not caring about anything else than Bai Qian reviving her master. But he praises him for being a dad and a mom to Ali, as it must not be easy.

When Dieyong finally wakes up, he thinks Bai Qian’s in love with her. So when she discusses the matter with Diefeng, he says he’ll take care of his brother from now on to avoid any confusion. But not long after, he comes to find Bai Qian, because there’s something he noticed. She uses the spell to look for someone’s essence and Moyuan’s protected now by a very powerful spiritual energy. But it’s not Zheyan’s, she recognizes it as Yehua’s. Diefeng confirms that it’s is, not Zheyan’s. Knowing so, Bai Qian wonders why he did that. Diefeng suggests that he probably didn’t want to burden her. So she decides to leave right away, anyways she’s not really needed anymore.

When I said I was going to cry. Bai Qian rushed to see Yehua. Nainai tells her that he’s better now and already back to do some work. Bai Qian is like... that’s a little exaggerated, my dad was almost dead when he came back. But she keeps it to herself. When she sees Yehua, she notices right away that there’s something wrong with his hand. He won’t let her touch it and he rather worries about her hand, since she got a little injured while looking out for Moyuan’s essence. He keeps lying that he’s alright, so she won’t worry too much about him. But she’s older and smart, so she notices that he’s playing strong, for her. And that just makes me cry, because instead of confronting him for it, she pretends to believe him, so his efforts aren’t in vain. Since she notices that he won’t be able to hold on much longer, she takes her leave. And you know, it’s just beautiful, how they are trying to be considerate of each other’s feelings. That shows a big growth, especially from Bai Qian. Yehua still needs to learn to be a little bit more honest with his partner. Sometimes it’s best to share our burden, they are a little less heavy lifted by two people rather than one.

Bai Qian goes to Zheyan to get answers. He ends up telling her everything Yehua did to help her. She’s upset. Like, she didn’t want him to get hurt. Since she’s so worried about him, she decides to go take care of him. Zheyan tries to dissuade her, so she wouldn’t waste how hard he tried to protect her from being worried about him. She promises that she’ll pretend not to notice, but that she wants to take care of him. So Zheyan gives her some medicine to bring along.

So she says she came back because since he has an injured arm, it must be inconvenient to pour tea and some other stuff, so she wants to help. She says Dieyong is fine now. At first she wants to sleep in Ali’s room, but he holds her back and she asks if she could share his bed with him. Yehua is so precious. He’s barely escaped death, but he’s still able to be all quirky so she won’t worry about him. They end up sleeping on each of their side of the bed. During the night, when he wakes up coughing, he leaves the room so she won’t hear it, but she does and she pretends to be still asleep when he comes back, even though she’s crying. She pretends to turn around in her sleep to hug him. There’s something very beautiful and tragic about all of this. They make heart sink with heaviness.

Sujin is really unhappy to learn that Bai Qian came back, but so far, none of her plans ever worked. But she thinks Bai Qian likes Yehua, so that’s going to be her weakness. So once she gets the opportunity, she’ll talk to her about Susu. Don’t worry idiot. She’s also Susu, so there’s no problem there. Keep going and push the main couple closer to each other. I’m just waiting for your downfall.

Bai Qian misses Ali. He’s going to come back soon.

And that’s it. The rest doesn’t need much explanation.

[hanjizung]

♡ Engaged for Christmas ♡

Lee Minho x Reader

Word count:  10.3K

♡ Warnings ♡: Fake dating AU! Drama, jealousy, strong language (swearing), a lot of overthinking, O.C. (Y/N's mother.) & smut content; fingering, breeding kink, overstimulation, creampie, praising kink, slight possession kink.

A/n: Hellooooo! Happy belated Christmas and New Years Eve my loves. I am here to finally post this holiday themed fic that i had saved in the wips for some time ago, i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i liked writing it, if anyone has any comments about this id love to hear, my ask box is always open, and finally, i wish a merry 2022 to all of you. ♡

Oh, the holidays.

The dates when people spent a lot of time with their families and shared what they went through during the year; their ups and downs, their achievements and the challenges they had to face to get just where they were.

A lot of loving memories were created during these cold months of the year, and it was beautiful. A certain beauty that couldn’t really be explained, it was a time to indulge in the luxuries that life had to offer, also adding fancy parties, expensive clothes and delicious food to the mix. A perfect recipe to share happiness and good news with the rest of the family.

Yeah, you always reunited with your family for the holidays, but something clicked inside your mind making your brain explode that day back in November when your mother announced that she would, in fact, be visiting you to spend the holidays with you like every year.

You panicked horribly when you remembered the lie you had told her and the way she misunderstood you, choking on your coffee during brunch with a few of your friends who looked at you alarmed. Quickly, one of them patted your back to help you while your mother asked you if something was wrong with her stay at your house from the other line.

"Sorry, mom, I've got to go, something happened at work but I promise I'll call you later" you said in a rush, hanging up without giving her a chance to say anything else, a little panic still running through your veins.

"Everything okay, Y/N?" your freckled friend asked, his face contorted with worry, eyes furrowed and sitting straight. Him and the other blond were waiting for you to say something that could explain why you just had spat out your favorite drink after hearing the confirmation of the annual visit.

"My mom is coming for the holidays…" you answered. They remained quiet, waiting for you to continue with what you seemed to have an issue with.

"I told her I had been dating someone and she believed me, she was so happy to know I had someone so I couldn't tell her that was fake… but that was like eight months ago! the last time we talked about it she mistook my breakup as a proposal so she… She thinks I'm engaged" you finished, face on your hands not wanting to look at the faces of your best friends.

You were done. You knew you had to tell her the truth since your initial plan of meeting someone and having something serious where they could help you out and pretend that your words were true had failed, and failed by far just seeing how close you were getting to the holiday season again, but more precisely, to your mother visiting you for 2 whole weeks.

To put it simply, you were fucked.

“But why don’t you tell her you broke up with Chan? Certainly, she wouldn’t mind if you told her that” Felix asked, taking a sip of his strawberry milkshake. You smiled at him, knowing he was trying hard to understand your frustration.

“My mom thinks I’m at the right moment to find someone I can be stable with, she just wants the best for me since my dad died. I don’t- I know that lying is bad, but I don’t have the heart to tell her the truth.” Both men in front of you nodded, looking at nowhere and staying silent again, probably thinking on what to tell you.

"Now I understand your frustration. That's a big problem, Y/N. If you want my opinion, I´d say that you're pretty much fucked… Unless…" Hyunjin said, getting your attention. You knew that tone, he had an idea, but knowing him it would probably end up badly.

"I mean, there could be a solution for that, right? You can hire someone to be your fake fiancé while your mom is here!" Felix said, hand holding his chin while he talked. He was improvising what he was saying, obviously, because that plan made no sense.

"I think I know…" Hyunjin started talking, but took his drink and stopped abruptly.

You shared a puzzled look with Felix, but Hyunjin's explanation died when a hand on your shoulder let you know that the last one of your friends had reunited with you.

"Hey, all of you arrived earlier. Luckily I haven't missed much, right?" That familiar voice came from behind you, making you roll your eyes and turn around to greet your beloved friend and favorite cat owner.

“Nah, Y/N was just telling us about a problem she had, involving her mother,” Felix explained, smiling and scooting on his seat to make space for Minho to sit down next to him. You ate a bite of your food, letting Felix explain what you had told him and Hyunjin just seconds before Minho walked in.

“Maybe you could help her...” Hyunjin suggested, shrugging when you threw him daggers with your eyes at him for saying that, like you needed Minho to pick up something from the highest shelves for you.

“What do you need me for, stinky?” Minho asked nonchalantly. Felix and Hyunjin’s attention focused on you to see if you would actually tell him to help you or not and intervene themselves to propose the crazy idea to their older friend.

“You to pretend that you’re my fiancé while my mom is visiting” you answered, voice low and looking at your plate already hearing in your head how he would laugh and tell you no, but the melodious sound of his laugh never came, and curiosity won over you and when you looked at him, he seemed to be actually thinking about it.

“What’s in it for me if I help you out?” he asked, relaxing in his seat and raising a brow.

“The satisfaction of helping a friend…?” This time, he did laugh at your answer, Hyunjin and Felix cracking a smile of their own at your silly answer. Minho rolled his eyes, jokingly annoyed at your response.

"Just that?" he asked, trying to convince you to pay him better for what you (encouraged by Felix and Hyunjin) had just asked him to do.

"I'll pay for your food today, is that better?" he made a face indicating that he was half pleased with what you said, making you stare at nowhere while you thought of something else. "Hmm, I guess that if you help me you can have dinner at my house on Christmas."

"That's already obvious, Y/N. If we're engaged I would have to be there anyway. Do you have anything else to offer? Your promises… aren't tempting for me to help you out," this time, you rolled your eyes while he called for a waitress and ordered what he usually ate during brunch with the three of you.

"Hyunjin, what would you ask for if you had to play pretend in a situation like this?" Felix asked, getting everyone's attention. The mentioned shrugged, placing his elbows on the table and humming while he thought of something to say, much like you who was still thinking on what to offer.

"I dunno, I think I would ask for a skin treatment. There's one that I really want and it's kind of expensive. What would you want to help someone like this, Lix?" the youngest shook his head, giving no answer right when the waitress brought the last order.

"Their prices aren't too high, Y/N. Why didn't you ask them for help? Do you really wanna kiss me that badly under the mistletoe in front of your mom?" Minho laughed, taking a bite of his food when he stopped smiling.

"Because she already knows them, Hyunjin from college and Felix… well, we've known each other since we were babies, almost," you paused, looking at Felix with a fond smile. He returned the gesture, and you continued. "She has asked me if I like Hyunjin before, but I made sure to tell her that I don't want anything with him, besides a friendship, and honestly I would never ask Felix to do this because he's like a brother to me. You're the only option I have left, with your attitude, I could kiss you and I just know that nothing would be awkward after," he hummed, agreeing along with Hyunjin who was silently nodding his head at your side, the chill music of the restaurant you were in danced through the silence that reigned your table.

“Watch my favorite movie with me and I'll help you," Minho broke the silence. You wanted to groan, tell him 'not that stupid cats movie' but you really had no choice, it was either pay that price by watching that awful movie (and paying for his food today, too), or interview a lot of strangers in a row to find a fake fiancé, which was a last resort and you didn't want to use that last resort.

Biting your lip and with your eyes closed tightly, you finally let out a sigh. "Fine, but we must make some rules, got it? I'm free this weekend, you can stop by my house and we can talk more about it," you spoke, everyone's eyes on you. "Felix, Hyunjin, the two of you are witnesses to the determinate payment, alright?" Both of them nodded, and that was the last point of this new agreement.

Brunch proceeded as normally, Felix excitedly told you about how the kids at his taekwondo were so skilled, and Hyunjin also shared pictures of the last paintings he had done.

Minho, on the other hand, was more quiet than usual. The blonds hadn't noticed, he still answered and joked around, but you knew there was something up with him, you only hoped that he wasn't thinking of stepping back and leaving you alone.

The rest of the week passed by almost as fast as that weekly brunch with them. It was almost dinner time when the bell rang and when you opened the door, a smiling Minho holding a pizza appeared. He greeted you like he always did, and then the two of you sat on the couch, like a normal movie night, except that your other friends weren't there.

"So," he started. You chewed your piece of pizza, waiting for him to continue. "Fiancé, huh? What does that title include?"

"See, this is why you were the best option! Going straight to the point," you laughed, pretending to be hurt when he playfully kicked you softly from across the couch.

"Well, first you're gonna have to move him temporarily, then we'll have to get a ring, and when you're with my mother I suppose that we could hug and kiss, you know? To sell the whole act, of course. Are you against anything?" you asked, waiting for him to say something. He shook his head from side to side, finishing the resting pizza on his hand.

"Nah, I'm cool with all of that. I'm sure your mother will love me, she'll tell you how happy she is that you're marrying me for sure," he smirked, making you roll your eyes. You wanted to believe that he was right about your mom loving him, and also wishing that she would buy the act.

"When does she arrive?" his voice brought you back to reality, brain suddenly stopping the countless possible scenarios that this 'engagement' could develop, blinking two times before finally focusing on him, who was looking a little concerned about you disassociating for a bit.

"On the 20th, she's leaving the 3rd. You aren't working during those days, right?"

"No, I'm free from the 18th until the 5th, I could bring some things during the day after work, just leave me a pair of keys in case you aren't here," he shrugged, returning his attention to whatever movie it was that you stopped the channels to watch. Something Christmassy, judging by the snowy and cold looking scenario the gorgeous blonde was situated in.

"I'll give them to you next brunch, I'd give them to you right now but I don't have a spare key, sorry," he hummed that it was okay, and the conversation about the topic died right there, talking instead of whatever wandered in your head. It was something you really liked about Minho's company, being able to talk about all and nothing at the same time.

His presence became normal to you after Tuesday, when you did give him the keys he had asked of you. Minho walked into your little house everyday after 7 pm carrying bags with his stuff inside them, he would stick around for a bit until he yawned and then you would tell him to go home and rest. "Save your energy so you can act better when my mom is here," you would tell him with a laugh.

Eventually, he stopped going to work, spending time in the comfort of his own home until the 20th, the day where it all would begin for the little act you had compromised to.

He arrived way earlier than usual, opening the door to find you in the middle of brushing your hair. When you asked him what he was doing there, he answered "I forgot what time you told me your mom was arriving," he said, sitting on the couch and turning on the TV like it was his own house.

Well, technically, it was his house too. Temporarily, but still, it counted. You had no right to complain.

Hours later, he was driving past a drive thru with three hot beverages, you arrived just in time for your mother's flight landing, looking at all the passengers passing by with their suitcases with Minho by your side; anxiety filled your body, making you fidget with your hands.

You guessed that your 'fiancé' got tired of you doing that, because he took your hand unexpectedly, looking you in the eyes with his relaxing ones. There was no need to speak more words, an exchange of unspoken thoughts between the two of you calming you down, and then he wrapped his arms around you, gently.

It was a quick, warm hug. Not too long, but enough for it to make you smile. He did as well, assuring you that everything would go alright, and the mere moment you separated from him, hand still on his, the figure of your mother appeared.

"Y/N! My darling, there you are," she called, announcing herself before you and Minho. She had a large suitcase behind her, next to her a strange man wearing the airport's uniform with an equally large suitcase in his hand, the same color as your mother's.

"Hi, mom. How was your flight?" you politely asked, hugging her while Minho took care of the suitcase the stranger was carrying.

"It was normal, all good, my love. I'm happy to see you," she smiled at you, the emotion clear in her eyes. Then, Minho stood next to you, and he seemed to grab your mother's attention.

"Oh, you must be Chan, right? I'm Y/N's mom, I'm so glad to finally meet you," she hugged him, squeezing Minho in her arms. His expression made you bite your lip to hold the giggles that her mistake caused.

"Mom, this is Minho. Bang Chan and I broke up… some time ago. He helped me through those dark times, along with Felix and Hyunjin, and well, he's my fiancé," you explained, showing her the (cheap) engagement ring you and he went looking for. It was surprisingly pretty, for how cheap it cost you.

Your mother's wrinkly hand took yours, examining the ring while she let out a surprised gasp. "Oh, at least you are engaged, my love. I'd love to see you get married some day, especially if your husband will be as handsome as him!"

At this point, you were a little embarrassed from standing at the same spot there in the airport, so you took her hand and started walking to the parking lot, Minho carrying both suitcases and walking behind you while you told your mom the story that both you and him had taken the time to make up from a tiny bit of truth.

"We've known each other from my first job some years ago, and we stayed in contact after I left it, then I started dating Chan and stayed distant from friends for a while until I broke up with him and suddenly, my happiness was being near Minho, he made everything better. My days became brighter after he confessed, and… Well, we trust and know each other, so we got engaged right away," you explained the whole story, holding Minho's arm for dramatic effect as you finally arrived at the parking lot. Your mother's expression was very… pintoresc, to call it something.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, then tried a second time but she only looked like a fish, blinking with her eyes wide open and simply murmuring a very honest wow, and Minho moved to kiss your cheek, leaving your side to put the luggage in the trunk.

"Oh, well, life… is complex. Congratulations, my darling, I have yet to give you my engagement gift," you heard her say, hugging you quickly and then hopping in the back seat.

"Come on mother, let's go home. You should rest a little after such a long flight," you said, getting in the co-pilot's seat and waiting for your fake fiancé to start the car.

The fright of the first day of your mother staying at your place –along with Minho, who had never stayed to sleep besides stating for very long– disappeared when she commented on how natural it felt for the two of you to be together. That went according to plan, and just like you had reasoned with him beforehand, 'we don't have to act differently, just some kisses and hugs, maybe even hand holding,' and he agreed to those terms with a quick nod. The whole act wasn't entirely a lie, it was true that you liked his company, and that he didn't mind yours at all. You almost felt bad that she believed you, but also happy because at least she thought that you were happy with Minho.

"Darling, I'm going to sleep. We can decorate the tree tomorrow, have a good night you two," she announced, standing up from the couch with the book she was reading in hand, making her way to the guest room, and finally, it was just you and him.

"Do you wanna go to bed too?" you shook a leg that was resting on Minho's lap to get his attention. His body visibly tensed for a second, but he was sure to play it cool for you to not say anything. You wondered what it was that made him anxious.

"It's pretty late, that would be a good idea," he answered, watching you remove the blanket from your legs and stand up, doing the same and following you to your room.

"Are we sharing a bed, or are you making me sleep on the floor?" he asked, observing the large bed in the middle of the room. You laughed in response.

"Don't be silly, Minho! You'll be sleeping on bedspreads, not the floor, I'm not a monster," you joked, finding his disgusted expression funny. "We're sharing the bed, stupid. Now, hurry and put on your pajamas and join me so I can turn the light off, or stay in the living room if you wanna be illuminated, I'm surprisingly tired."

He laughed, but he followed your first instructions and put on more comfortable clothes.

You usually slept right in the middle of the bed. It was more freeing, taking up as much space as you wanted because it was only you and no one else in your little cozy home, but now that you had to share, it wasn't uncomfortable at all. It was Minho who was at your side, and not some random man you met at a random bar at questionable hours, nor was it your ex, who had done unspeakable and such sinful things to you in this same bed. No, it was just Minho, and knowing that you would share one of your favorite places with him, it felt intimate.

Like when you're a teen and it's the first time you're sleeping with the one you love, or when you're a kid and having a first sleepover. It was a different kind of affection, a unique one.

The next morning Minho was the first one to wake up, weirded out from the surroundings his eye caught until he remembered his whole name, who you were and where he was. Your body rested next to his, hair everywhere as you breathed soundly, dreaming of God knows what and looking oh so peaceful. He spent some time looking at you like an idiot, heart shrinking when he realized that maybe he wouldn't be strong enough to drown the feelings he started developing for you a while ago.

The only thing out of the normal you had done yet was hold hands and sleep together and he was already falling extra harder for you. He was sure that the moment your lips touched his own he would be singing victory in his head for days.

'Get it together, man' was what he thought to himself before walking to the bathroom and washing his face to help as a reminder that it was all fake, and that you weren't a real couple.

He made his way to the kitchen, exploring the cabinets full of food he grew familiar with when he visited to drop his belongings after work, and pulled out everything to prepare breakfast, more than to gain points with your mother because he needed the distraction, turning on the stove and the TV to work as background noise and not pay attention to the voice in his head.

At some point, your mother walked into the kitchen greeting Minho, offering to help prepare coffee and hot chocolate, to which he had to agree because she insisted on doing something for the breakfast.

When you walked into the kitchen, messy hair and unfixed clothes, you got scared at first with the noise from a movie and the chattering between your mother and your friend, expression changing when you remembered what he was there for, thanks to your mother greeting you with her cheery voice.

"Good morning, honey. I made pancakes, serve yourself," Minho greeted you, the sudden pet name coming from him repeating itself in your head. It didn't make you uncomfortable, but it took you unprepared to hear him say it. You would never have expected him to be so… nice, to his partners.

"Thank you, Min," you answered, automatically grabbing a plate and sitting with your mom, the three of you enjoying a delicious breakfast while discussing the plans for the day, agreeing on showing your mother around the city. She was delighted to hear that.

The following day went the same; Minho woke up earlier than you, he regretted his life choices, proceeded to wash his face to try and give himself reasonable thoughts, deciding to keep the act because he would not break the deal you two agreed on, and then distract himself cooking. Then, your mother would walk into the kitchen and they would talk for a bit.

Minho discovered that she loved to talk about you, even running to her temporary room to take the family album to accompany the stories she retelled with pictures, it was very sweet, and to be honest Minho wa more than glad to listen to her, learning new details about you that he wouldn't be able to hear from you ever. Your mother's laugh along with Minho's was something you got used to hearing when you walked into the kitchen to see them having breakfast. Just like he had predicted, your mother was loving him.

"Love, I will be going out today, do we need something for tomorrow's dinner? I can bring it later," he said later that day, already dressed and almost fully ready to go out. You remembered that he had told you about visiting a few friends before Christmas, saying that it could help you and your mom have private time to talk.

"I don't think so, honey, but if I remember something I'll let you know. Mom and I will probably go out later as well, alright? I'll text you, have fun with your friends," you responded, walking up to him and kissing his cheek dangerously close to the lips.

"Okay, darling, I'll be leaving. Have fun you two, see you later," he rushiedly said, taking his coat and walking out like he was being chased,making your mother giggle and saying that the two of you looked like a married couple already, your cheeks heating up and stuttering trying to change the topic of conversation.

Hours laters you were sitting in a coffee shop with your mom, bags in your hands and smiles on your faces, you had already ordered and were enjoying the moment, when suddenly your mother got your attention.

"You know, sweetheart, Minho is a very nice guy, I can truly feel that he likes you, and that you have a healthy relationship. Back in my day, your father and I had to wait until we got married to live together, but I see you and him and it makes me happy that you're together, baby. I noticed the way he looks at you, and how when you move, he's waiting for you to do something. That's the definition of head over heels, if I've ever seen one," she laughed, taking a pause when your drinks were finally delivered.

"There's no doubt that your marriage will be successful, and even if I know that you don't need it, you have my blessing. I'm so happy for you, my love, that you found him," and with a sip to her coffee, she finished her train of thought about Minho.

You were at loss or words, completely oblivious to everything she had told you, after all, you and him were only friends, right?

You thanked her, as she seemed to be genuinely honest about her thoughts and observations. Maybe you would start being more precautious about his behavior around you, after all, maybe your mother had that innate instinct like all the other mothers have about their children's relationships.

That conversation left you thinking. What game exactly was he playing? Maybe faking this was like a free trial to see what a relationship with you was all about in the case that he actually liked you, and was in love with you. Maybe you were asking too much of him, maybe it would be good to try for a real relationship with him, after all, you chose him as fake fiance, so why not give it a chance, and start being more affectionate, give him a taste of what he wants, show him your true colors when you're in love.

When you arrived home, Minho was already there, apron on and preparing dinner to be served.

"Hey, honey, we're home! How did it go today, how is Jisung?" you greeted, throwing your bags onto the couch and hugging him, grabbing his face and kissing him sweetly in the noise, leaving a blushing Minho stuttering as he answered.

Your mother, still on the door, saw the whole scene and laughed, announcing that she was going to change to get more comfortable, taking some of the bags to her room with her.

"I had a nice day with him, he's alright. He asked how you were too, actually, and wanted to know how I was doing. We caught up with a lot of things. How was your evening today? Did something interesting happen?" he asked, shimmying away from your hold and occupying himself making food. You enjoyed seeing him so flustered.

"We can start decorating the tree after dinner, how does that sound?" you asked, taking a peak to whatever it was he was cooking. He agreed, and soon your mother joined you, asking you to get the family ornaments to have them ready to decorate.

Time flew and a couple hours later, the three of you were all staring at the big tree with tiny lights that danced when they turned on and off rhythmically, you sitting in the middle between your mom and fake lover. You looked at your mother with a fond smile, proud of what you had done in a few hours, and then placed a hand on Minho's thigh, excitedly grinning in content for the holiday spirit, him returning an honest smile as well.

"Alright, lovebirds, I will be leaving to sleep. I need to get up early to prepare the grand dinner. Have a good night you two, see you tomorrow," your mom announced, breaking the little moment between you and him, both turning to look at her a little embarrassed but telling her goodbye at the same time, being left alone after the sound of her door closing.

"We should be going to sleep too," you suggested, standing up and stretching a little bit. Minho nodded and copied you, allowing you to enter your own room before he picked up his pajamas and went to the bathroom, while you changed there.

While putting on your own comfy sweatpants, you wondered how different it would be when he left. The new routine the two of you invented made you feel closer to him, even if much time hadn't passed yet, you liked knowing that he was there for you, next to you in the large bed that no longer felt too empty for you.

Smiling tiredly at you from the bathroom door, Minho made his way to the other side and sat down, waiting for you to give him the signal to turn off the light, and when you did give it to him and he got comfy under the blankets, you shimmied closer to him, hugging his torso and rubbing your cold nose in his chest, a clueless Minho staying still and completely surprised. "W-what are you doing?"

"Shhh, I'm cold and you're warm. Good night," you replied, eyes closed but dangerously anxious to open and see how he was looking at you.

Much to your surprise, he sighed, but pushed the two of you to the middle of the bed and cuddled you properly, now making it your turn to get flustered and a little shy, but saying nothing and letting him move you as he preferred.

"Are you comfy like this?" he quietly asked after he stopped shifting in the bed. You hummed, not trusting yourself to speak a word. "Good night, wifey," he said in a yawn, then silence governed your dark room and in that moment everything felt right to you. Then, you fell deeply asleep with a sensation of fullness in your heart.

When the first sun rays entered through your curtains, the spot in the bed where Minho slept was unoccupied, like almost every morning. You sat in the bed, looking for him, and you did find him looking out the window, his back facing you, shoulders tense and with a focused face, like he was thinking too hard.

"Good morning, Min" you whispered, standing up and passing your arms around his waist, hugging him. He placed his hands above yours, corresponding to your gesture.

"Happy Christmas eve, Y/N," he finally said.

"Happy Christmas eve," you repeated, kissing a spot near his neck, then you let him go to walk out of the room, telling him that you would be helping your mom, who was listening to carols in the kitchen.

He saw you walk away from him, the mention of your mother waking him up from the little perfect fantasy he built in his head. "Right, you should help her," he said before you walked out. "After all, we're only doing this for her," he sighed in disappointment, bitter because none of the things you were doing were really true, and it was affecting him more than he would've liked to admit.

Eventually, he walked into the kitchen as well, ready to help prepare dinner. You started very early, getting ready to take pictures in the evening and finishing the night with a Christmas movie marathon, not paying too much attention to the movie and instead looking at your mother who was telling Minho every detail of your childhood whenever something showing on the screen reminded her of you; you apologized to him with a look, but he laughed it off saying that he was always happy to listen to your mom, even asking her more things in the middle of his stories, saying that he 'knew something like this would happen' and that 'the more I know about Y/N, the more I love her', making your mom smile with hearts in her eyes, his laugh getting louder the moment you punched his shoulder in annoyance of him encouraging your mother.

The bell rang at midnight, letting all of you know that Christmas had officially started, followed by the three of you standing up to share a big, tight hug and then your mother running to get the gifts she brought, Minho and you looking at each other in silence, sitting down with a shy smile on your faces while you waited for her to come back with said presents.

"This one is for Y/N, and Minho, you get the purple one," she announce, handing each of you a box; yours was small in size, wrapped in a red paper with Santa hats everywhere and Minho's was slightly bigger, reindeers decorating the purple background of the purple wrapping paper.

Deciding to open yours first (encouraged by both your mother and fake fiancé) inside the box there was a gold necklace, earring accompanied the delicate jewelry, blue gems shining in the middle of the box. You gasped in surprise, hugging your mom as Minho took a picture with your phone of the sweet moment.

Next, it was his turn to open the gift your mom got. You were genuinely curious to what it could be, as she had acquired it without you knowing or even having a clue to what she bought when you went shopping the other day, losing her when you went to the coffee shop to order your drinks.

Peeking curiously over Minho's shoulder, he tore the paper meticulously and then opened the box, looking at the content with a smile and a little laugh when he saw what his 'mother-in-law' had gotten him, and then, placing the box in his lap and showing it; they were three pair of socks with cats on them, each pair a different design and color, and judging by the amazed expression on his face, he loved the gesture.

"I don't really know you much, but from what we've talked you really like cats, and the moment I saw these I knew I had to buy them from you," your mother explained while Minho stood up next to her, looking at her with thankfulness in his eyes.

Something in your chest ignited when you saw the two of them hug, honest affection clear and evident in the way they quickly embraced each other. Minho wasn't like Felix, who had been your friend since childhood, or Hyunjin, who you met at college and had been in contact with after graduating, no. He was something else, making himself important in your life somehow and even getting to know your other friends… but the moment he agreed to help you with this whole act, and since your mom slept the first night in your house, making you share your bed with him suddenly the way you viewed him started to change.

Oddly enough, you hadn't noticed if he had changed anything about him to make your mother like him more, but when she mentioned the way he looked at you… the butterflies in your stomach that you thought were dead after Chan broke your heart came back to life, and your mind decided that maybe you should indulge yourself in the little lie you and him made up for your mother. You hoped that he wished it was all true as well.

The night continued after opening all the presents, your yawning at 2 am being the first warning that you all should go to bed, not leaving without the reminder that the Kim's party would take place at 7, so you could wake up later than usual and reheat the delicious food before starting to get ready for it.

"Who are the Kim's, anyway?" Minho asked you from the bathroom once you were putting on your sleepwear.

"They're, uhm… family friends, I guess? My mom and Mrs. Kim are friends, along with Felix's mom. That's how we know each other, and that's partly why mom flew back here after visiting my aunt. They have a son who is the same age as Felix, but he's kinda rude and I don't get along with him too much, he's a smartass," you giggled after you explained all that, taking your place in bed while the bathroom door closed and Minho sat on his side.

He hummed that it was interesting, and that he would let you pick his clothes for tomorrow (which you knew wouldn't be too hard, because he owned a black suit that was very elegant and white button up that he looked very handsome in when he wore it) and then, you cuddled with him, who didn't say anything this time and simply passed his arm around you, unexpectedly holding you even closer to him, and then the two of you drifted to sleep.

The following day went just like you thought it would; waking up, breakfast at almost noon, the tree of you spending time doing whatever until 5, when you left to take a shower and start getting ready.

As promised, Minho allowed you to look through everything he brought so you could pick his clothes, and you chose an elegant blue dress to go with his black suit, your mother coming out of her room with an emerald green one that made her look like royalty. All of you looked very beautiful, Minho, who was waiting for you and your mom sitting on the couch playing on his phone raising his eyes and getting breathless the mere moment you came out of your room all dressed and saying that you were all ready to go, then complimenting your mother as well when she walked out of her room, and at 6:30, you were in the car ready to assist the annual Christmas party.

The place was big since the Kim's liked renting a party saloon to host these parties since their they were very social and had many friends, tables located in the area near the food and pretty scenery, then the other half of the ballroom empty, huge speakers blasting music making the whole place vibrate with the music they were emitting.

"Come on, we should find Mrs. Kim," your mother said, a cheery tone showing how excited she was to actually be there.

Hugging Minho's arm and almost practically dragging him with you, the two of you walked behind her, him looking everywhere, probably looking for any familiar faces.

Your mom stopped walking when she reached the opposite spot of where the entrance was, but instead of finding a woman her age, a more familiar face greeted you.

"Ah, Y/N, good to see you, I thought your mom came alone. How are you, how have you been?" he asked, eyes totally not missing the way you tugged Minho's sleeve to get his attention, a grin on his face as if he could smell something was wrong.

"Hey, Seungmin, it's been a long time since we saw each other, like a year or so? I've been good," you faked a smile, then breathed in to continue talking. "This is Minho, my fiancé, by the way, and Minho, meet Seungmin, a childhood friend of Felix and I."

"Ah, so he's the asshole… makes sense," you heard Minho whisper under his breath. Luckily, Seungmin was too far to hear any word of the ones Minho just spoke.

"Congratulations on the engagement," he put his hands together, still analyzing how you were behaving together. You tried to distract him by asking something to your mom, but she was nowhere near to be seen, or to hear you, probably, so you were stuck with these men who had an awkward vibe going on between them.

"Nice to meet you, Minho," Seungmin greeted, trying to take his hand. Minho didn't move to take it, hostile eyes looking at your 'friend', then his arm moving around your waist to pull you closer to him protectively while his sharp gaze still rested on the younger.

"U-uhm, hey Minnie, do you know if Felix is here? He didn't tell me if he was attending," you changed topics, following Seungmin's eyes to a table near the corner of the ballroom where a blond head you knew too well was moving.

Thanking him quickly, you and Minho made your way to that table, curiosity taking the best of you and making you ask him what had just happened back there.

"I know that guy, we work together. We don't really get along, he's just… annoying. Something about him makes me want to piss him off, I'm sure he doesn't like me either," he explained, rolling his eyes after looking back to where the mentioned man was sitting. You couldn't ask anything else, because when he was done explaining you were too close to Felix's table.

"Felix! It's good to see you here, hello Mr. And Mrs. Lee, how have you been?" you cheerily asked, standing close to your friend and placing your hands on his shoulders while you looked at the people you considered and loved like close family.

"Hey, sweetheart, merry Christmas. Come sit with us, I'm sure your mother won't mind," Mrs. Lee said, you taking the invitation happily and Minho helping you sit down, him taking the space next to you.

"Oh, who might this handsome young man be?" Felix's mother asked, her attention completely focused on your fake husband-to-be.

"Good evening, ma'am. My name's Lee Minho, I'm Y/N's fiancé, and also one of Felix's friends, it's good to meet you," he politely introduced himself, a charming smile working its magic and making the lady in front of you start to blush, proving once again that he was perfect husband material.

You were about to ask something else when a familiar voice greeted you, Felix's older sister hugging you quickly and then telling you about how she was so happy to see you and that she invited her new boyfriend to the party, being completely excited to show her family the man that stole her heart recently, but he wasn't with her, no, because said man said he would be grabbing two drinks and let her find the table, but when she realized that she would have to go looking for him, she giggled and turned on her heels, looking for him everywhere.

Felix, Minho and you were in a conversation about where to go eating the upcoming year for brunch, also asking if anyone knew anything about Hyunjin and how they would all spend their new years eve, but the familiar voice (and accent) of a man talking to your friend's sister made you freeze, your almost cousin sat down next to Minho and the mysterious man took the seat next to her, stopping mid laugh when he saw you sitting there as well, no one else noticing the tension between you and him.

"Mom, dad, this is Bang Chan, we have been dating for a few months," the girl dreamily sighed, taking his hand and playing with it in his lap.

At the mere mention of his name, you felt Minho tense up, shoulders stiff and then a comforting hand rested on your thigh, squeezing you once as a silent way to demonstrate he was there for you. You placed yours on top of his, thankful that he didn't say anything, Minho instead exchanging a look with Felix almost like they were communicating through telepathy.

"Nice to meet you, and you too, Felix, your sister has told me a lot about you, I hope we can be friends," your ex awkwardly laughed, trying to look everywhere but in your direction.

"Hmm, yeah. I don't think we'll get along too much," your friend responded, making his mother gasp, incredulous of what her polite and correct son had just said and expecting him to apologize, to which he said nothing. You cleared your throat, everyone's attention focusing on you after that.

"It's good to see you again, Chan. I see that you've been good?" you bitterly spoke, everyone but Minho and Felix looked at you in surprise.

"You know him?" Chan's new girlfriend asked.

"Yeah, we used to date. He kisses really well, doesn't he?" you said, slowly pushing your chair backwards and starting to get up, ready to walk away from him before something worse happened.

It was exactly what you did at the end, a voice you couldn't quite distinguish said something that you didn't quite hear, anger warming up your body and red blurring your vision, so you did what you thought would be a good option, and you walked out the place, someone grabbed your arm to stop you when you were almost at the parking lot. You didn't know who it was, but when your face was against his body and his arms were around yours trying to comfort you, that was all you knew. It helped you relax a little, inhaling in his cologne and letting yourself relax in the warmth of his arms.

"Hey, you have me. I'm your fake fiancé, no need to think about him anymore," he sweetly whispered in your ear, making you smile.

"Thank you, for coming after me, Minho. You're the best fiancé I could ever–"

"Fiancé?"

Minho and you froze, separating from each other and turning your head to look at the source of the question, a curious Chan standing there with his eyes wide open.

"Yes, you heard it right. Fiancé. We'll be getting married someday next year, because even if you and I dated for a while, he was the one petting my hair and cleaning my tears, cooking for and looking after me after you broke my heart, Bang Chan, and maybe I was too stupid to realize at first but now I know that he's the best option for me and I love him, maybe more than what I got to feel for you. So thank you for breaking up with me, because if you hadn't left me feeling worthless after I called you crying and begging to come back, I wouldn't know how it feels to have your love correctly corresponded" you spat, Minho's hand holding yours while you walked closer to the cause of your discomfort.

"I just wanted to apolog–"

"Don't. I don't need your pity, I am happy with him, and even if it pissed me off to see you tonight, I hope you can be happy with her. Just don't break her heart like you broke mine. Felix knows taekwondo and even if I hate to admit it, your face is too pretty to get desconfigurated," and after saying that, you walked away to your original destination; your car.

You sat on the driving seat, Minho hurries to open the co pilot's door and put on his security belt, and right then when he was about to ask you a question, you grabbed his face and finally kissed him, an explosion of happiness going off inside you like fireworks, the butterflies in your stomach dancing as well when he corresponded your kiss until the moment you separated, gasping for air.

"I wanted to ask where you were going to drive us, but after that I'm sure we're going to heaven," he smirked, making you blush and start the car, finally going to the comfort of your home.

"What about your mom?" The question broke the comfortable silence that the two of you were in, but you didn't hesitate to answer.

"I'm sure she and Mrs. Kim have a lot to catch up with, she told me earlier that wasn't coming home with us, don't worry about her" you reassured him, smiling gently because he was worried about her. They had taken a liking to each other.

"That means… we have the house all to ourselves…" he whispered again after a while, shifting in his seat when you were parking the car. You thought that maybe, finally he had picked up the obvious clues you left every now and then through the days after realizing the true feelings you tried to ignore before.

"Yes, we'll be able to make all the noise we want," you winked at him, opening your door and walking inside your familiar living room.

Sitting on the couch, still in your beautiful fancy dress you indicated for him to sit next to you, hands holding his and eyes attentive to his reactions.

"I hope that you know I really mean everything I said before, to Chan. I… regret not realizing sooner that I like– that I love you, and I'm very thankful that you decided to help me," you paused, licking your lips and smiling gently at him.

"You don't have to tell me that you like me back, hell, you don't have to say anything but I understand if you want to go back to your life after my mom leaves," and he was simply looking at you, expressionless as if he thought you were lecturing him or something, but in reality the gears inside his head were running trying to comprehend and repeat every single word that came out of your lips.

You meant what you said? Wow. You liked him back? Double wow. You weren't sure if he liked you back? Oh, holy shit…

"Y/N," he called your name in the sweetest of ways, "I've been dying to kiss you. These days we've spent together have been really amazing, but you telling me that you don't know how I feel about yourself makes me feel like I'm the best actor in the world. I'm crazy for you, I love you too, I've loved you for a while act–"

You interrupted his babbling, pressing your lips to his once again, moving yourself to sit on his lap and throw your arms around his neck, him placing his hands on your thighs and waist to hold you while you allowed him to explore your mouth in an obvious heated and fiery kiss that had the capability of turning you on.

The hands on his neck tried to push him impossibly closer to you while you kissed, until the moment that he broke the kiss to take a breath, your lips attaching to his neck and him moving his head to allow you more access to himself, a low groan involuntarily leaving his throat and he decided to suggest to move things to the bedroom, to which you nodded and stood up from him, eager to go there and start undressing yourself for him.

He saw you struggling with the zipper in your back, that same zipper that you asked him is he could help you with earlier, allowing him to see that you wore nothing underneath the beautiful beaded and decorated fabric, and he quietly took your hands, whispering a "please, allow me to undress you" with a tone so seductive that you thought that you would melt if he said something like that again. He truly was like a gentleman.

Minho silently undid your zipper, his hands helped you get out of the clothing and admiring how it fell to the ground to then pay proper attention to your almost completely naked body, his eyes shined and his formal pants grew tighter at the crotch. You turned, taking the navy blue tie and pulling him towards the bed, pushing him so he would sit down and sitting on top of him, hands roaming around his still clothed figure and lips leaving a wet trail everywhere they touched meanwhile he started undressing himself, helping you take off his buttoned shirt. You pulled it to unstuck it, your hands leaving his chest to undo his belt, quickly paling his growing erection with your hand.

"Shit, you're so hard," you groaned, looking at him through your lashes, continuing to squeeze him, then getting off of him and standing up so he could take off the remaining clothes while you did the same, telling you 'that's just the effect you have on me, honey.'

When you and him were completely naked, he sat down on his side of the bed like he did every night and you took the chance to admire the hidden beauty that he was under his normal clothes; beautiful wide shoulders and a strong, firm chest accompanied by a six pack that could have any woman drooling for him if they saw him shirtless, then his strong, thick thighs were opened to make space for you, and leaving the best for the last, his hard cock resting on his stomach as he waited for you to get in place. It was a sight that you were sure to never forget, the first time you looked at your naked lover felt like a divine encounter. He seemed like a God, so angelic and perfect, yet inciting you to commit these sinful acts…

Pulling you by the arm to sit where he wanted you, Minho accommodated you to sit between his legs, your back against his chest, his cock hitting your lower back and his legs helping him to spread yours, and the feeling of strange hands on your body sending delicious shivers down your spine. One of his arms snaked through your stomach and held one of your breasts, the other traveling down and feeling the wetness he caused on you.

Touching you gently, he felt you shake when his fingertips teased your clit, your hole throbbing when he collected your essence before he finally started properly playing with you, touching you like you used to do when you were alone and needed to de-stress, his name coming from your lips as a whimper multiple times and letting him know that you were enjoying this.

He inserted two fingers inside you, making you gasp, one of your hands squeezing his thigh and the other still resting above the one that was playing with your nipple, the pace of his fingers increasing when your breathing started becoming irregular, and soon you were trying to close your legs to stop the overwhelming sensation of an orgasm approaching. Your hand that was resting on his had to move to take the wrist of the one wrist that was fingerling you, and his that was playing with your nipple tried to hold you in place until you finally came, chanting his name and closing your eyes tightly, stars appearing when you allowed your body to hug the pleasure that your climax brought you.

"Fuck, I'm so ready to take you, I need you inside me," you demanded, turning your neck to look at him, who was licking his fingers, you moved your body so you could be facing him and you decided to ride him. He looked so relaxed like that, with his back against the head of the bed, too comfortable and sexy…

Stroking his length, you aligned him with your entrance and started lowering yourself on him, his hands on your hips and yours on his chest. The comparison between having his fingers and his cock was no joke, moaning once you had him entirely inside you, your face going forward and kissing his chest trying to leave little marks while he helped you move up and down on himself.

"Baby, you feel so tight… Fuck, you're unreal," Minho growled, his grip too strong in your skin but your mind too far gone to care if he left his fingers printed on you or not. You had already came on his fingers, but you still desired to make him cum as well.

"Y–you feel so fucking good, too" you manages to say, continuing your job of bouncing on him until your legs started to give up. Minho decided to help you, stopping your attempts to continue moving on him and holding you by hugging you with his arm, switching the positions in a swift movement and having you under him, cock still inside you.

With one hand, he guided your leg to rest on his shoulder, letting the other hug his waist and your hands traveling his chest and flat stomach. He buried his face between your boobs, playfully biting you and then continuing to thrust into you, restarting with a slow pace that had you whining, except that in this new position he was able to go deeper making your eyes go blank from the pleasure you felt every time he was inside you.

"Are you enjoying this, honey? Tell me who's making you feel so good, let me hear you" he ordered between each thrust, making you babble something that sounded like his name. "Can you repeat that? I can't quite hear you, darling."

"You, Minho, you're making me feel so good! Fuck, you're so big, youre fucking me so well," you cried out, trying to make him go harder. It was after you answered that his thumb passed over your clit and made you moan louder, and you discovered that maybe praising him could get you to achieve your second climax sooner, so you showered him with compliments, you didn't limit your moans, you became so vocal that, if you still cared, maybe you'd feel ashamed that your neighbors could hear you, but you didn't, you were freely screaming the name of the man that you had just recently discovered that you loved, and then without thinking too much about it, you were gasping for air again, a consequence of your second climax hitting you, warming your body like a wildfire.

"Shit, I'm about to cum, where do–"

"Do it inside, you know I'm on the pill," you responded, the clenching of your walls becoming too much for him to keep his cool and second layer after you finally recovered, he came inside you, filling you up with his warm fluid, body crushing hours when he couldn't support his weight any longer, both of you trying to regulate your fast beating hearts.

He pulled out, rolling to your side of the bed and pulling you towards him to cuddle like you did first some nights ago, the familiarity of the act making you smile tiredly.

"That was amazing," you breathed out, now able to make coherent phrases again. "Can you kiss me?" you shyly asked, looking at him. He didn't nod, but moved his face towards you and pressed a sweet kiss to your sweaty forehead. "I meant a kiss on the lips, but that's okay too," you sighed, defeated.

"You didn't specify," he responded.

"Well, we're a couple now, since now we know we like each other, and aren't couples supposed to kiss each other's lips?" you elaborated now, hearing how he hummed before answering you.

"A couple, couple? Like, a real couple?"

"Yeah, unless you don't want to, but I think you do."

"Okay, you're right. You have my permission to kiss me, then," he said, placing a hand on your cheek and lowering his head to capture your lips in a sweet kiss. The two of you stayed in silence after that, enjoying the company of the other and the comfort of your arms around each other.

"Hey," he quietly said, "are we… hmm, ofi–officially engaged now?" he asked, and you were left thinking. He didn't complain about being officially yours, but did he love you to the extremes of marrying you?

"I don't know. Is that a marriage proposition?" you laughed, separating from him to look at his gorgeous eyes. "I mean, we already chose a ring, but it was for a fake wedding that would never happen. What if we give it more time, and you ask me again when you know that you wanna marry me? We can tell my mom that we are finding it hard to choose a date later on if she asks, I don't think we'll have to worry much about her,"you explained, a hand caressing his cheek tenderly while you spoke.

"Alright, I'm on board with all of that. You're such a genius, did you know that?" he took your hand and kissed the back of it, making you blush as if he hadn't just fucked you to the point of screaming.

"Of course I know, but you can say it again, I never get tired of hearing that," you teased, making him roll his eyes.

"You heard me the first time, what I want to remind you as well as thank you for making this Christmas the best one so far. You have no idea how memorable this Christmas is going to be, I love you, stinky," he smiled, reaching to kiss the tip of your nose.

"Merry Christmas, Min, honey. I love you too."

[deceitfuldevil]

Truth Serum

Pietro Maximoff X Reader

Summary: While working with Tony and Bruce in the lab you accidentally drink some very experimental truth serum, leading to some unwanted confessions with your coworkers.

Warnings: use of y/n, swearing, lots of dialogue, barely proofread, etc.

Word Count: 1.7K

—

You were busy working with Tony and Bruce in the lab and jokingly Tony placed his latest concoction next to your drink but you didn’t realize until it was too late and you drank Bruce’s experimental truth serum.

“Jesus Tony can you turn down that obnoxious music? I’m so sick of that stupid 70s rock music you’re always playing.”

Tony stopped what he was doing are looked over at you in shock.

“L/n, what the hell are you talking about? You told me you loved my music.”

“Well I lied, I lie to you a lot actually.” You looked up eyes blown wide with dear as you covered your mouth after saying that.

“I did NOT mean to say that.”

“Y/n… did you just take a sip of that beaker Tony so stupidly placed right next to your drink?” Bruce asked pinching the small space in between his eyebrows

You looked down as remorse filled your gut, noticing a small dribble of blue liquid slowly falling down the side of the beaker you obviously just took a drink from. Your eyes life to meet Bruce’s as you slowly nodded a small yes.

“Well, no thanks to Tony now we get to find out if my very experimental truth serum actually works.”

“TRUTH SERUM?!” You shouted, the last thing you wanted was for your team to have unrestricted access to your secrets.

“No thanks to me? Are you kidding Banner? This might be the most fun we have with Y/n all year!” Tony said with a cheeky grin

Your groaned and let your head fall onto the desk you were sitting at. “How long will this last?” You asked muffled

“Best case scenario for you? It could wear off within the next 30 minutes. Worst case scenario? You could be highly responsive and overly truthful for the two days.”

Tony broke out with a loud cackle as he got up from his desk and exited the lab “Good luck kid!”

“And theres no antidote?” You pleaded

“Sorry, but we were barely in the trial phases of creating this and we don’t try to make an antidote unless we know for sure that it works.”

“So how the hell am I supposed to deal with this in the meantime?”

“My best advice? Lock yourself away in your quarters for the next day or so to avoid saying anything unsavory to the rest of the team. Because I don’t have a doubt in my mind Tony left to go and tell the whole team about your little predicament.”

But before you could reply Sam, Rhodey, and Bucky all came running into the lab practically running over each other.

“Okay, I’ve wanted wanted to know. How do you feel really about Redwing?” Sam asked pushing Rhodey and Bucky aside.

“I think you should find a girlfriend so you stop obsessing over a high tech piece of metal.” You said with an unholy amount of sass, already sick of this treatment. Bucky burst out laughing but you sent a pissed off glare his way.

“Don’t think you’re safe either beefcake. You’re 106 years old and still can’t take a joke, not to mention that you’re forgetful as fuck. I mean who the hell just forgets that they have a vibrium arm? I’m not even going to get started on that staring problem you have that you think is so intimidating.” You snapped, shutting everyone in the room up. Before leaving you locked eyes with Rhodey.

“Oh hi Ego Machine! Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you. I mean who could when you tell that story of how you dropped a tank at the generals feet every single party? I mean, BOOM were you looking to be interesting?”

After shutting every one in that room down you stormed out and locked yourself in your room. You really could tell if you had taken truth serum or just a liquid curse. You never left your room for the rest of the night, not wanting to risk dinner with the team. But you woke up around 5:30 in the morning to. Very strong feeling of hunger, and prayed no one else would be up this early as you snaked down into the kitchen. You walked past Wanda sleeping quietly on the couch as Vision floated peacefully in the corner.

“Creepy motherfucker…” you whispered as you stepped into the kitchen

“What was that you said about my husband?” Wanda said, suddenly on the other side of the counter looking at you with a tilted head. You jumped almost spilling your cereal

“Jesus Christ Wanda! A warning!” You said clutching your head with one hand and the cereal box with the other. But she only looked at you and smiled mischievously

“You can ask anything you want but you’re not allowed to be upset by the answer” you stated plaining, pouring some milk into your bowl.

“Are you talking about the truth serum you took yesterday?” Wanda asked, tilting her head at you.

“Yeah, it might not wear off for another 24 hours. Everyones been dying to find how I ‘really’ feel about them since Tony ran his big mouth and told everyone about this stupid serum I drank.”

“You do remember I can read minds, right? I always know when someone’s telling the truth or lying, I just don’t always call them on it.”

“Right.” You said quietly as you stuffed your face with cereal so you could go back to your quarters as soon as possible.

You sat alone in your room unbothered for the next few hours, until you heard a rock at your door.

“Don’t come in! Go away!” You shouted turning the page of your book assuming whoever was on the other side of your door would kindly fuck off. But as a tall man with a mop of silver hair entered your room you sighed dramatically and threw your book at him, missing spectacularly.

“I could’ve sworn I said to NOT come in.” you said as you crossed your arms over your chest, looking at the ever so muscular man making his way over to your bed.

“And when’s the last time I took orders from you?” Pietro said with a smile.

“You never take orders from anyone, I’m surprised you haven’t been kicked off the team yet honestly.” You spat, bitter that he wasn’t respecting your wishes to be left alone. A pit of nerves also started to grow in your stomach the closer he came to you knowing how you really felt about him, and that if he asked there’d be nothing stopping you from telling him the truth.

“Ah, you wound me dragâ.” Pietro says as he mockingly clasps his hands over his heart as if you’d shot him. You just rolled your eyes in response.

“The team tells me you’ve become somewhat of a bitch since yesterday, is that true?” He asked, sitting down at the foot of your bed.

“I’m not a bitch, Tony just tricked me into drinking some of Banner’s experimental truth serum. But you already knew that didn’t you? Either way, spoiler alert. The stupid serum works and probably won’t wear off for another 12 hours. Besides, I’m only a bitch to the team members I don’t like.” Your eyes widened realizing what you just admitted to Pietro

“I suppose that’s true, Wanda did tell me you weren’t too bad when she ran into you this morning.” Pietro said scooting up next to you in bed, normally you’d tell him to fuck off before he got too close so he would know how much you loved being in his arms but when he asked

“Is this okay?” As he stretched his arms over your shoulders pulling you into his chest

“Yeah, I love it when you hold me. Or just touch me in general, always makes me feel like I’m on cloud nine.” The confession just spilled right out of your mouth, causing you to once again to clasp a hand over your lips to prevent you from saying anything else.

Pietro looked down at you with a shocked eyes but a smug smile, deciding to push his luck he asked “Then why do you always push me away and tell me to fuck off anytime I hug you?”

“Becwagh wi dwomt vhmnf to nmfh…” you said, keeping your hand over your mouth to muffle your answer. Pietro shook his head light at you as he took your hand off your lips and held it, gently caressing your knuckles with his thumb

“What was that darling?” He said as he cobalt blue eyes poured into yours. It’s like he already knew how you felt but just needed to hear you say it to confirm his suspicions. Months of pinning after you, and now here was his chance. He had no other choice but to act on it. You swallowed the last bit of pride and fear held in your chest and said

“Because I don’t want you to know how I really feel about you.” The last of your walls came crashing down as you smiled gently at the handsome man before you, he gently tucked a strand of hair behind your ear as his faced inched closer to yours.

“And how do you feel about me dragosté?”

“Like you’re the only person in the world I could ever fall in love with.” That was all Pietro needed to push aside his ego hearing how you really felt about him as he leaned down and closed the gap in between the two of you pressing his soft lips to yours. Moving gently with you as his lips slotted perfectly over yours, you breathe in his musky scent as you ran your hand across his chest pulling him closer to you. Sadly it wasn’t long before you both ran out of air and had to pull away

“So how do you feel now?” Pietro asked with a cheeky grin plastered on his lovestruck face

“Like I could kiss your stupid face all day.” You said grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him back in for a much more heated kiss.

The rest of your afternoon and week into the evening was spent in Pietros arms sharing soft kisses and fleeting touches. Although admittedly he was sad when the truth serum wore off and he couldn’t ask you any and everything under the sun about how you felt about him.

But you’d end up showing him how you felt in other ways later on ;)

—

A/N

Ahhh here’s my 4th post that will be published while I’m away at camp! Found this little bit in my notes as well and just fleshed it out enough to post! Hope this was enjoyable!

Much Love,

—Skyler

[overnightheartbeats]

"Now I'm confusing you?" He playfully scoffed at her words, "sounds more like you're pining it on me. Maybe you're always confused." He didn't push his luck tonight. It had already been a big win to event tell her, to put those words out there in the universe. Well, he was doomed. Tessa had begun rubbing off on him with the universe and the ghosts. Diego had told her their dynamic wouldn't change, but he wasn't as certain as he claimed. Part of him worried that there was too much between them, that she was too ingrained in his life to let things go back to normal. It was something that was pushed too deep down to cause trouble right now though, Diego made sure of that. He had already fucked up once by retracting his words. He did wonder why not? They felt the same way, what was the hesitation? Perhaps it was something he could change, something he could to to help ease any hesitation. Diego would like to know if that was the case.

Brows raised at her reaction, half-scared him just how certain she was. How fiercely she denied his conclusion that he was too much. Any doubt he had about regarding his lack of dating went out the window, Tessa scared it all off. “Okay okay, I believe you. I was almost scared you were about to yell at me some more.” He noted her change in tone, speaking a bit quieter and trying to save her reaction. It only worked if he pretended not to notice.

"Shush because it's true? Right," he added with a shake of his head. Her laughter was one of his favorites, the kind that motivated anyone to say more...say anything to hear it once more. Lucky for him too, it was an indicator that things between them were okay. And they could remain that way, as long as he held it all together. There was a moment where things went silent between them, but it didn't feel awkward. At least Diego didn't sense any awkwardness. It was more those silent moments where Tessa's mind was elsewhere. That had been something big for him to adjust to. Diego let the silence reign between them, just taking the time to appreciate the night sky. He knew Tessa would leave her daydreaming eventually. Though, curiosity was piqued. What was running through her mind? Her response was definitely not one he was considering. He only hummed in response, trying to prevent the first thing in his mind to fly out. Probably another comment baiting her. A bad method? Sure. Effective? Probably. And he'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't want to kiss her because Diego wanted to. Really badly. "Hm, well which is it now? Wanting to or falling for the bait?"

He nodded, confirming that he was sure. 100% sure that processing was the lie he was going with. "Yup, completely sure." Little lies don't hurt now and then, at least he thought so. Diego had matured a bit, enough to handle this situation calmly - but not mature enough to be that honest all the time. Besides, that wouldn't be helpful right now. "I guess that's true. I don't know my own time frame yet, I hadn't considered it. Fair thought. My only thing there is..I'd like you to tell me rather than letting time run out and be my answer. Whichever way this goes, if we're leaving it on some imaginary timer to do the work for us....I don't know. But either way, we have a deal."

If Tessa kept a secret list of items she wanted in someone, Diego hoped he was acing the test. At least to a certain extent. He knew it was impossible to check off all the boxes, for anyone. Unless you changed things about yourself to make it fit. And that just wasn't him. He would be willing to open up more about himself, and let their experiences open him up to new things. If change came from that, so be it. He just didn't see himself changing things to fit a perfect list. "I can see that, you sound...very shocked." In a good way or bad way? If Diego knew anything about Tessa, he'd guess 'in a good way.' She was the true romantic between the two, he was a sourball in comparison. Still, he had bits to offer. "Maybe there's a lot you still need to learn about me. It's not secret, well..not really. It is reserved for other occasions though. I don't think you've ever met one of my girlfriends, and my past relationships. We were never serious enough to let me showcase my skills. And with you, well kind of hard to be romantic when you're tossing me in every haunted house that creaks." Diego shrugged, completely amused by the comment. Damn these imaginary squirrels stealing imaginary chocolates. "Honestly, a crime that I hid them, the squirrels definitely took advantage of it."

The suggestion was not his favorite. Frankly, he would've happily stayed here with her until morning, but that wouldn't be responsible. That, and he did half-worry that if he stuck around right now, he'd end up saying something that would make her uncomfortable with everything that was discussed tonight. She needed time, and he needed to provide that with no interruptions. Besides, Diego had his work cut out for him. A lot to consider, a lot to think about. He said so many things, some promises more doable than others. It required a plan. "At the risk of sounding like an old man, it is the smart thing to do. It's been a great night, believe me. If I could guarantee we won't be tired tomorrow, I'd stay here. But, I dumped a lot on you, and you need to rest. I'll drive you home though?"

"I don't know if expectations is the right word. Maybe? Maybe not?" Tessa said, unsure. What was she even talking about now? Was it just Diego getting her all flustered - not for the first time that night? "I don't know. You're getting me all confused," she said with a light laugh, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Was it sheer, pure luck that everything seemed to have gone well, even if she hadn't given him a proper answer as of yet? He seemed to be taking it all on the chin so perfectly... It made her more hopeful, that no matter how things played out between them, he was right; nothing would have to change too much.

There were so many different ways his confession could have gone. At least, she hoped she handled it in a diplomatic manner, or at the very least, to the best of her ability. It went in the complete opposite direction as before; when he sort of half backtracked on his words... There he was, adamant, certain and their dynamic hadn't changed in the slightest, not really. The teasing banter between the two, that she always loved so much; it was a miracle how easy this all seemed. It made her wonder even more what she was worrying so much about. Obviously, she had feelings there. Why not just act upon them? It made her more frustrated with herself, and yet there she was, still taking her time. Waiting for...something. The right time? Moment? An epiphany? Hearing Diego speak took her out of all thoughts entirely, snapping her head up straight to look at him incredulously. "What?" Tess immediately said out of shock. He's too much of...himself? That simply wasn't true. "Get out of here. Absolutely not! There could never be too much of you!" She shook her head furiously, a stern look on her features, softening seconds later as she realised what she said, the fierceness that had just rippled through her. Even she was surprised at herself. Where did that come from? "I mean..." she quietened then, looking down sheepishly, a nervous laugh escaping her. "Don't say things like that, silly." It may have been said in a joking manner but regardless, she wouldn't have any of it. The last sentence did make her laugh, genuinely laugh. Her eyes focused on the ground still but she couldn't help but steal a glance at him. The way his eyebrows had rose. A subtle challenge, perhaps? A hint? Or maybe that was just his face. Still. "Maybe they should," she remarked, tilting her head slightly. Maybe she should. Maybe she will. One day. Again with the waiting. Ugh.

His retaliation to her response earned another laugh from Tessa. How could they be doing this? Knowing the full gravity of their current predicament, Tessa holding the keys to their future, essentially with her decision still hanging over them. And sure, she may have been caught off guard when he joked about it but only because she still couldn't stop thinking about it... about him. And what it would be like to - and oops, there she goes, daydreaming again. "Haaaaaaa. Very funny. Now shush," she shot back, rolling her eyes playfully. It was amazing how incredibly normal this felt. Their bantering back and forth was always an aspect of their relationship she loved but she was surprised how easily they could just carry on like this. How natural it all was. She considered his next words, her next response to said words. A little back and forth between her head and her heart and before she knew it the words slipped out without realising she'd spoken out loud. "Maybe I can want to and be baited all at the same time." Did that even make sense? She didn't know. Didn't even mean to speak at that point. Didn't want to make things awkward. Her eyes widened at her own remark and she quickly looked away from him, at something, anything in the distance ahead of them.

"Good." Diego was processing? Processing what? She wasn't entirely convinced, nor was she completely unconvinced. Debated between two minds whether to continue to question him on it, whether she'd even like the answer. "Are you sure?" She queried gently, not wanting to push if it really was just a case of processing - after all, he poured his heart out to her with such clarity and certainty, answered every question with honestly. Why would that suddenly change now? And why should she continue to press on? "Yeahhh, that would be fucked up. Hopefully it shouldn't take that long. I mean - if it takes longer than... I don't know your mental time frame but if it feels too long then it probably is. And I guess in that way, you'll have your answer." Was she even making sense? Probably not. "But I promise to try and not let it take that long." and yes, he was a catch but she knew he'd tease her endlessly if she agreed with him on that one. She probably would've normally joked about his head getting potentially too big there but missed the opportunity really. Focused on the more important aspects of the conversation taking place between them. She admired the way he was so... chilled out about everything. Honestly, Tessa thought he was pretty brave for doing so. How much courage it took to confess his feelings, and not be seemingly worried about her reply, about how she felt - regardless of whether she returned his feelings or not. "That sounds fair. Deal."

Tessa grinned at Diego when he self-proclaimed himself as a romantic. If only he knew all the boxes he was ticking in the back of her mind right now. Not that she had boxes to be ticked but generally speaking... "I'm...surprised? This is a new side to you I wasn't expecting to hear about. You think you know someone..." she said in jest. "I'm not gonna lie; I really did never think you were the romantic type. Why so secret, though? I think it's absolutely something to be used accordingly." What else had she yet to discover about him? That very question made her feel more intrigued. More determined to hopefully be able to bring this side out of him. That would be one way of stealing her heart for sure. Though, let's be honest - he already had. Tessa just needed to give herself time to be surely sure. As stupid as that sounded. "Huh. Can't believe you've been hiding chocolates from me. Disgraceful," she scoffed, though the smile on her face betrayed her feigned annoyance. "Definitely out of luck now. The squirrels have probably run off with them by now."

She knew he was right when he suggested they leave soon. Deep down, she didn't want to. Everything about this, them, tonight - it all felt picture perfect. And she didn't want it to end, it felt too premature. But she couldn't deny that there was a part of her starting to feel a bit tired. It had all been a lot to digest. But she wouldn't change it. It had been lovely. Whether it was the setting, the company, or a combo of both. "I know, you're probably right. It's a shame, though. It's been such a nice night...sad it must end at some point or another."

[kpostedsum]

only you

draco malfoy x reader, harry potter x reader

summary: when harry asks you to get closer to a specific someone, what happens if you get too close?

based off this tiktok

song: dark red - steve lacy

a/n: there is infidelity in this fic whomppp and not edited

masterlist | taglist

Something bad is 'bout to happen to me

I don't know it but I feel it comin'

Might be so sad, might leave my nose running

the sky was gloomy on your way to hogwarts, everyone was on edge with the return of voldemort. you stayed with harry, ron and hermione all throughout the summer at the burrow preparing for your sixth year.

“he has to be a deatheater, his father is in azkaban so it makes sense if voldemort would have made him a deatheater in his fathers place” your boyfriend harry tried to explain to ron and hermione. you have to admit, he could have a point— however, no matter how bad draco is you didn’t want to think that of a sixteen year old boy. “well how do you suppose we find out?” asked ron as he awaited an answer from everyone.

“i have a plan but i don’t suppose harry would be too fond of it” hermione said with a waver in her voice. “since y/n comes from a respectable pureblood family, perhaps she can get closer to draco and confirm our suspicions for us—”

“absolutely not. i don’t want y/n any where near malfoy, who knows how dangerous he is” harry said defensively. you have to admit, hermiones plan is smart and is probably the most realistic one there is.

“it’s okay harry” you soothed him. “i’ll be fine, hermiones plan makes the most sense” you said.

“so what’s the plan?”

I just hope she don't wanna leave me

Don't you give me up, please don't give up

Honey, I belong with you, and only you, baby

“love, i still don’t think this is a good idea, what if you get hurt?” harry said as you two were cuddled on his bed together in the boys dorm, basking in each others warmth and security.

“he won’t hurt me harry, he’s a boy just like you— i’m sure if he is a deatheater he isn’t handling it as well as you think. i’ll be okay” you said. a soft silence stilled between the two of you as you enjoyed being wrapped up in your boyfriends arms, occasionally rubbing your nose against his just to hear his giggle that you love so much.

“i’ve just lost a lot of people, i don’t want you to be one of them. if something were to happen to you i’d light the world on fire and never let a flame touch you, just to keep you safe.” he said with a certain look of truth, loyalty and despair swimming in his eyes as he looked at you.

“i’m not going anywhere harry, i promise. i love you, only you” was the last thing you said before the both of you fell asleep, body parts tangled with eachother.

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you, babe

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you

it’s been 3 days since that night with harry, and since then you’ve been trying to get closer to draco, but every time you tried he seemed to disappear. tonight you decided you’d wander outside of the slytherin common room in hopes of him showing up.

“what are you doing here, don’t you belong with the other gryffindors and saint potter?”

there he was. the voice you’ve been waiting to hear all week.

“i’ve grown quite bored of them right now, i figured i need a little excitement in my life. which is exactly why i am here, wandering outside the slytherin common room hoping there’s someone here to cure my boredom.” you said trying to sound as convincing as possible.

“get to the point y/n” he said walking closer to you. “what do you really want? is potter not fulfilling your needs anymore?” he smirked as he backed you against the wall, caging your frame beneath his.

“harry and i are fine, thank you very much” you rolled your eyes. “he’s just too busy right now”

“so you think i’m the cure to your boredom” draco said raising his brows, curious as to where this conversation is leading too.

“i know you’re the cure to my boredom.”

Something bad is 'bout to happen to me

Why I feel this way I don't know maybe

I think of her so much it drives me crazy

I just don't want her to leave me

you and draco have been hanging out every night since that day. some days he’d be there and you’d both talk until the sun rise, and others he wouldn’t show.

you knew you had to ask him about it soon for harry’s sake but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so, atleast not tonight.

“what do you mean you haven’t found out yet? you’ve been spending almost every night with him— which you could be spending with me by the way, and you still found out nothing about him. what do you even do then?” harry exclaimed, clearly frustrated over the lack of information and the fact that his girlfriend has been hanging out with the enemy.

“i can’t just straight up ask him harry!” you say a bit louder than intended. “he has to trust me first, and how can i build that trust with him if we don’t hang out. all we do is talk, i promise.” you said, your voice softening as you weren’t in the mood to argue with your boyfriend right now.

“can we just go to sleep please, i miss you” you pleaded.

“yeah, yeah we can” he said pulling you towards him in his bed, allowing your head to rest in the crook of his neck inhaling his scent. a scent that used to be so familiar but you can feel being replaced.

“it’s only me right?” he asked staring towards his ceiling.

“yes harry, it’s only you. i love you.” you said reassuring him, but also reassuring yourself.

Don't you give me up, please don't give up

Honey, I belong with you and only you, baby

“draco, can i ask you something” you asked looking towards him as he sat on the other side of you looking at the stars on from the astronomy tower.

“what is it?” he responded.

“how come sometimes you don’t show up, some days i’ll sit here waiting for you to show up and you never do. i miss you” you said softly, hoping you can get some information out of him.

“it’s cute that you miss me, i’d be lying if i said sometimes i didn’t miss your presence as well.” he said turning towards you and sending you a smirk. crawling over to him and resting your head on his shoulder, you relaxed against him.

“you know i don’t think you’re as bad as harry makes you out to be” you admitted. it’s true though, harry makes him out to be someone vain, however you find his presence comforting. you look forward to the nights you spend with him, more than you’d like to admit. “you’re quite nice when you want to be and are really good company” you explained.

“oh yeah?” he turned to you.

“yeah” you nodded. “i think harry is blinded by hate, he doesn’t know i’ve been hanging out with you and i’m sure if he were to find out he’d think you’re hurting me.” you partly lied.

“but i don’t think you could hurt me even if you tried” you said peering up at him with a soft smile and big genuine eyes. he adored the sight but he’d never admit it.

“i dont think your boyfriend would appreciate you talking about him like this to his enemy, now would he love?” draco said with a smirk. he knew over the past few weeks you’ve been hanging out your love for harry has been fading, even if you haven’t seen it yourself.

“draco” you said breaking the soft silence. “i have something to confess”

“well what is it?” he said, turning towards you giving you his full attention.

“do you think it’s wrong for someone to feel something for someone they’re not supposed to feel for” you asked, staring into his stormy grey eyes.

“i feel like i should feel guilty, but i don’t. if anything i feel safe.” you continued.

“what do you mean by that?” draco asked, taking his hand and slowly caressing your cheek encouraging you to continue.

when he touched you it felt as if the stars were dancing across your skin. you haven’t felt that way with harry in a while. it felt as if you could be anything in the world, and for some reason, you wanted to be his.

“is it wrong that when i’m with you, i get the same feeling i used to feel with him” you asked. “i mean, for some reason i can’t seem to stay away from you, and i don’t think i want too. i feel safe with you”. you said softly, hoping he understood what you meant.

“i used to think i was crazy meeting up with you every night, but i think it’s the best decision i’ve ever made.” he expressed. “you’ve become something i look forward too everyday, someone i seek out in crowds without even realizing it. i don’t think i want to stay away from you either” he finished.

the air stilled between you two, the only sounds heard were the soft winds of the night.

“draco… can i kiss you?” you asked.

“if you do, i don’t think i’d be able to stop” he confessed.

“and what if i don’t want you to stop” you said leaning closer and pressing your lips against his.

his lips were soft. slightly cold but it was addictive. kissing him felt so good, you might have even forgot how to breathe, but breathing wasn’t important in that moment.

“i’ve waited— i’ve waited so long for this, but i didn’t want to ruin what you and saint potter had” he said as he pulled you to straddle his lap and you pressed harsh kisses against his neck, craving to feel him.

“you didn’t ruin a thing” you said in between kisses. “i ruined it the day i decided to seek you out outside your common room” you continued breaking the kiss.

“i’m glad you did” he said resting his forehead against yours.

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you, babe

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you

whatever you had going on with draco continues for months, hidden kisses between classes and tangled limbs in his bed at night.

the only problem was harry.

“as much as i’d love to brag about stealing potters girlfriend to everyone, i don’t think i can do that” draco said as you both laid in bed together in each others embrace.

“i know, but i can’t leave him yet. it’s just not the right time” you said turning to face him.

“i know” he said turning towards you. “if anything, i enjoy sneaking around with you” he says as he presses light kisses to your neck.

“what are you thinking about” he asks as he notices you’re not paying attention to him.

“harry’s probably wondering where i am, i should probably go to him” you said sadly.

“just be back tomorrow, alright?”

“i’ll always come back to you draco, i promise” you said pressing a kiss to his lips and heading to the gryffindor common room.

What if she's fine

It's my mind that's wrong

And I just let bad thoughts

Linger for far too long

“you’ve been out quite a bit haven’t you” ron said as you entered the common room. his eyes, hermione’s and harry’s eyes all on you.

“i’ve just been trying to get the information you wanted from him” you lied as you took a seat next to hermione.

“we’ll have you gotten anything?” she asked

“no, i haven’t. i don’t think hes a deatheater, i mean it’s been months since i’ve been hanging with him— he would have told me by now” you explained.

“what do you mean he doesn’t trust you, all you do is be with him and stare at each other in class. i wouldn’t be surprised if he had a bloody crush on you by now” harry said quite aggressively.

“we only talk, i’ve told you that already” you said sternly even though it was a lie.

“how about we all go to sleep and discuss this in the morning, it’s quite late” ron said trying to diffuse the tension.

“i agree, it’s too late and none of us are thinking straight” hermione added on to ron’s statement and going straight to the girls dorm, ron going to the boys dorm.

Don't you give me up, please don't give up

Honey, I belong, with you, only you, baby

you and harry were left in the common room alone, the sound of fire crackling becoming more evident and loud as you tried to avoid his gaze.

“i’m sorry for lashing out like that” he said breaking the silence. “i know you and malfoy have nothing going on, i guess i’ve just missed you.”

“i missed you too harry” you said looking over to him.

“c’mere” he said tugging you towards him so you sit on his lap. “i love you, y’know. i don’t think i’d be able to do any of this without you” he continued looking into your eyes with a look of desperation of love.

a look you couldn’t return.

“i love you too harry, only you.” the lies came out your mouth before you could even stop them.

“only you, i promise.”

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you, babe

Only you, my girl, only you, babe

Only you, darling, only you

-

taglist: @mauvea @teenwolfbitches28 @ilygw @nic0lodean @s1ater @henqtic @justreadingficsdontmindme @i-love-scott-mccall @harmqnia @gwlvr @alishahpotter

[thesolferino]

True Calling

⤷ dream x f!reader.

⤷ word count: 3.9k

⤷ requested: yes, by this lovely anon!

— summary: dream meets his favorite singer on an among us livestream.

“Dude, what could go wrong? Just do it.”

“What could go wrong?! Literally so many things, you ass.” 

Dream heard Sapnap sigh through the mic right into his headphones, the dim grey of his Discord background doing barely anything to illuminate his features as he stared at his open messages blankly.

“First of all, don’t.. speak to me like that, I am doing you a favour by sitting here and listening to you panic about stupid shit. Second of all, nothing big could go wrong. What, you’re a little awkward in the beginning, maybe, and that’s it.” Dream adjusted his headphones a little bit, Sapnap’s rant flowing into his ears but dissipating somewhere halfway to his brain, because, yes, things could go wrong and he can’t be proven otherwise.

“Did you forget that I’m a public figure? And that my fans are insane? I say one wrong thing and it’ll be memed and haunt me in my dreams. Did you forget that SHE’s a public figure? And that this is live? God…” he retorts back, listening to Sapnap helplessly sigh once again in response. He anxiously switches from his Discord to Twitter, then to YouTube, to Twitch and then back to Discord, frantically clicking around. In reality, he knows Sapnap is right, and it’s anxiety whispering into his ear that he’s gonna somehow fuck up, but maybe it’s simply easier to stay and argue with him into the night instead of actually responding to that message.

The stream is still going. Quackity’s voice speaks over Sapnap’s quiet breathing. “Damn, he’s still not responding. Um, let me try Tubbo, maybe?” 

Before he knows it, the opportunity to join the stream is slipping out of his fingers, and Dream isn’t sure if he’s happy about that or not. On one hand, he gets to meet one of his favorite artists whose album he’s played way too many times to count, and on the other, the chances of him embarrassing himself in front of that same artist and a hundred thousand other people are extremely high, and he’s not sure if he likes the odds of that.

“Man, I don’t know. You won’t listen to me, anyway. Don’t join if you don’t want to.” Dream hears the annoyed tinge in Sapnap’s voice, and that’s what pours the last bit of courage into his veins because the best way to do anything in life is to follow Sapnap’s advice after you’ve already irritated him to the point of defeat, and he murmurs a quick “bye” and hangs up before the other can even respond, typing a rapid “Sure, send me the VC link” back to Quackity. 

He hears a delighted exhale coming from his Twitch tab just as Quackity forwards him the link. “Okay, nevermind, we’ve got Dream! He’ll join in a second.” 

With that, he swiftly closes the Twitch tab and with an encouraging sip of water, he finally joins the Discord voice chat with the rest of the players. Your Discord image sticks out like a sore thumb to him despite being a super basic, Googleable picture of you that he’s probably seen a million times by now, and upon seeing it, reality slaps him right over the face and he realises that, oh shit, he actually joined.

“Hey everyone.” Dream speaks into the mic and a mix of excited voices greets him at the same time as he loads up the game. Your icon is missing the green halo. He stares at it, as if you’ll magically speak up if he stares long and hard enough. That, apparently, works.

Pokimane’s “Dream, hi!” seems to set something off in your brain, and you speak again.

“Oh, Dream?” the green halo appears, and Dream resists the urge to say something stupid or bite his hand or anything of the sort when you say his name. “Aren’t you the guy who listens to my music all the time?” you giggle.

Quackity laughs loudly in his usual fashion, and Dream feels his hands go cold as the Among Us loading page pops up. “Wh-huh?” 

“Yeah, you-you listen to my music a lot! Your fans always tag me under that… ‘Dream’s Spotify’ Twitter account, I remember you.” Dream swears his heart is about to jump out of his chest and start bouncing around on the floor because his ribs are way too restrictive for that type of movement, but he tries his best to play it cool and laughs lightheartedly.

“I do! I’m, like, your biggest fan.” he grins, as if you can see him, and you laugh in return.

“Yeah, man, you pay my rent. Thanks.” you say and a couple of people laugh while Dream inputs the code and his character finally pops up, immediately running around like the rest of the group. He runs around your purple character and hears you chuckle as you run around him too, but not for long, because the game starts and everyone mutes themselves. He audibly sighs, because he can afford to, considering he’s not streaming and nobody can hear the amount of courage this whole thing is taking him. 

A notification pops up on his screen - the Dream Team group chat seems to be talking. Must’ve already found some way to make fun of me, he thinks to himself as he huffs out a large breath and runs through cafeteria and weapons to do his tasks in navigation. Corpse is hot on his tail the whole time, and not to say he’s an untrustworthy guy, but Dream isn’t really looking forward to getting killed before even speaking to you properly, so he runs around, trying to find somebody to stick with so Corpse doesn’t shove a knife in his back while he’s doing a task. 

Thankfully, Karl emerges somewhere from the direction of storage right into communications where Dream was going, too. Just as Dream starts finishing download and Corpse and Karl line up behind him, his screen flashes bright red and white and the bold letters “Dead body reported” pop up. Everyone unmutes themselves and his eyes bore into your character, immediately.

“Alright, the body was in top left of the… uh, upper engine. I need everyone’s positions.” Rae immediately spoke.

“I was in electrical, I-I went through cafeteria to the upper engine with Poki, there was nobody there, we did our tasks, went down to lower engine, then Poki left with Toast, and I went to electrical and the body was reported.” Sykkuno said, and Pokimane confirmed with a hum of agreement.

“Dream?” Rae asked, and he spoke up.

“I never even went that way, I went through weapons to nav, and then to communications, and then the body was found. Corpse can vouch for me because he was following me the entire time and I kinda thought he was gonna kill me. And Karl saw me in communications, us three were all together when you… reported the body.” He rambled, trying to defend himself.

“Yeah, it’s true, he was with me the whole time.” Corpse supported.

“Karl, which way did you get to communications?” Toast asked.

“Uh, through storage.” Karl replied quickly.

“That’s funny, ‘cause I was in security, and I could swear I saw you walk past.” Toast said, and a couple of “ooh”s echo through the call.

“That makes no sense because even if I did go that way, I wouldn’t have time to get to communications and start doing my task with Dream and Corpse if I killed Ethan! And Rae, you-you saw me do my task in storage!” Karl loudly defended himself.

“...that… that’s true, yeah.” she said.

“If you ask me, Toast, you’re being real sus for lying about that.” Karl threw it back at Toast, who protested.

“Listen, I didn’t say you killed anybody, I just said I saw someone run past!” he claimed.

“Bretman and Y/N are being real quiet, though.” Corpse points out, and the green halo around your icon lights up once again.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realise I was muted. Sorry, guys.” you laughed. “Um, I was with… Quackity, in… what’s that shit on the right called?”

“O2.” Quackity quickly jumped in.

“Right, O2. I went to… top left, first, and I did my tasks there, and then to weapons and then to O2, and then the body was reported.”

“You were in top left?” Rae repeated.

“Yeah.”

“And was there anyone with you?”

“Um… no? I was alone, and then I saw Quackity in top right, and then we went to, uh, O2 together.” you said and Corpse sighed loudly.

“That means she could’ve had the time to kill Ethan and run.” Toast points out.

“Hey! I didn’t kill anyone! I don’t even know how this game works…” you whined into the mic and Quackity laughed.

“Yeah, I dunno Y/N, you were dancing real suspiciously around me…” he said, causing you to defend yourself louder.

“Why would I kill anyone?! I don’t even know how to do that, I’m a nice person!”

“I don’t think she did it, guys.” Dream pipes up, tugging at the wire of his headphones absentmindedly.

“Shut up, you simp.” Quackity fires back instantly, making everyone in the call laugh, including Dream.

“Damn right, I’m a Y/N simp. She can do no wrong. I mean, look at that innocent face! She did nothing, I’m-I’m sure.” He argued, making you cover your mouth and giggle.

“Their face is literally the same as everyone’s! We’re all astronauts!” Rae protested, but Dream kept shaking his head.

“No, hers is more innocent.” he said. “Toast, why are you so set on accusing everyone, anyway?”

“Oh, you’re so not attacking Toast right now-”

“Guys, I think we should skip.” Sykkuno pipes up to calm the conversation, and everyone agrees, even though most of them mumble “sus” under their breath as soon as they mute their mics.

Dream’s tiny green astronaut stomps his way over to the left side immediately, changing paths this time and making his way into the Upper Engine, trying to finish his tasks in time and possibly find someone to accompany him so he at least doesn’t have to argue over his alibi. He had four tasks left, two of them in Upper Engine, so after that he was free to roam around wherever his heart desired. Just as he started doing one of them, he watched your purple character step in and run circles around him, earning you a quiet laugh that he didn’t know he uttered until he heard himself do it and silently scolded himself for getting that flustered at something so simple.

The two of you did your tasks together before going down to reactor. Just as Dream started doing one of his tasks, a dead body was reported again and he unmuted himself as Toast immediately started borderline yelling into his headphones. 

“Bretman just killed Sykkuno RIGHT in front of me. I literally watched him do it. He killed Sykkuno in COLD BLOOD.” he confidently claimed and Dream, quite uninterested, grabbed his bottle of water and lightly sipped on it, wiping beads of sweat resting right above his eyebrows with his forearm, blindly looking around the darkness, trying to get his eyes to adjust looking away from the computer screen. His eyes searched for the window - it was open, just enough to let a fresh breeze inside, but it never seemed to do that, letting humid air in with open arms like a welcome guest. Florida is fucking hell, he thinks, gulping down some more water.

“No, I didn’t! I seriously did not, he’s the one who killed him and is trying to frame me now. I swear to God, Toast…” Bretman shouted into his worn mic, trying to argue back. 

“Yeah, to be honest, Bretman, you were silent the whole time when Ethan died.” Rae reasoned, earning quite a lot of “ooh”s and causing little “voted” signs to appear next to Poki, Toast and Karl’s names as Bretman tried his best to fight back.

“I didn’t know I was muted the whole time! You know I’m bad at this! Why would I... you know what, nevermind! Vote me! Vote me! You’ll see when Toast kills you all, I don’t care anymore. I literally saw-”

Dream slumps further into his chair, sure that the foam would have a dent of his body shape imprinted even when he’s long gone from it, and unlocks his phone with a quiet sigh. He opens Discord, and wishes he hadn’t, because Sapnap and George are always on the front lines and ready to make fun of him at any chance possible. He types back a stupid joke, calling them losers, but before he can press send, a Twitter notification pops up on his phone that almost makes his painfully sweaty hands lose grip of the phone. 

“this is so boring” your message reads, from your official Twitter account. Dream blinks a few times, and looks up from his phone to observe his murky, empty room, eyes flashing from the window to the ripped chocolate bar wrapper that somehow made its way onto the floor to a cup of coffee from this afternoon. Did the humid air finally get to him? Hallucinations?

He clicks on the notification - it proves to not be a product of his imagination, after all. Three dots dance around on his screen cheerfully, but they suddenly stop. His ears tune in. Bretman is still defending his honor. Something else must’ve interrupted you. His shaky hands barely hit the right letters.

He takes a handful of screenshots amidst his euphoria, and forwards them to the group chat with no caption besides an emoji sticking its tongue out - he wants to tell them to suck his dick, or something along those lines, but your message remains a priority as he rushes back to the Twitter app to reply.

“Right” he manages to write without a typo. “They’re annoying”

Three dots immediately return to his screen like a happy memory, and he almost can’t believe you’re texting back so fast. George would probably humble him by saying it’s because you have nothing better to do, but what George doesn’t know can’t hurt him, Dream supposes, and clicks on your profile instinctively as he adjusts his headphones on one ear. By the time you finish typing your message, the group decided to vote out Bretman, who ended up not being an imposter.

The three dots disappear as quick as they came, and so does the anticipation that bubbled up in Dream’s throat as he sourly leaves to finish the rest of his tasks. The rest of the game stays as boring as it started, save for the giggles and hushed laughter that came from you at every few jokes he made - of which he made quite a lot, in a desperate attempt to make you laugh, at least a little bit. Of course, Quackity was there every step of the way to accidentally mention how Dream sounded a lot more hype and alive during this game than he does ever, but you win some, you lose some, eh?

In the next game you actually decided to set up proximity chat, so of course Dream followed you around everywhere, hot on your tail at all times - what else is he supposed to do, when the chance presented itself, really?

“Are you imposter?” His character obnoxiously ran circles around you as you did your wires task slowly and unsurely since this stream was your first time playing.

“No, but I wouldn’t tell you even if I was, dummy.” You replied, running around his own character briefly before running up to do the rest of your tasks, watching the green astronaut follow you close behind. 

“Why not?” Dream questioned, eyes following all your movements since he didn’t have anything better to do considering he finished all his tasks. 

“Do you not know how this game works?”

“Yeah, but you’d tell me, right? I wouldn’t… rat you out.” He heard a sigh coming through his headphones in response, and his grin widened just a little, watching your character walk away from him.

“I know you wouldn’t.” you replied. “I’ll tell you if I’m imposter, I guess.”

“You wouldn’t kill me, would you?” Dream spoke into his mic, reaching to fix it and realising the way his hand trembled a little, fully aware he was walking the line between flirty and obnoxious more than usual. He lowered his gaze just to see his keyboard reflect the light of the computer back to him - the sweat from his palms seemed to seep onto the keyboard. He refused to think about the mocking things his best friends would say if they found out how nervous he was just to talk to you. 

“No, of course not! I wouldn’t be able to kill you.” You chirped just as a dead body was discovered and the two of you were torn from the conversation. 

In the next one, his screen flashed an ominous black and red with the word “Impostor” and your purple character stood proudly next to his green one, and he snickered to himself, adjusting his headphones one more time (the more he did it, the more he was convinced it was one of those anxious habits of his).

Shifting in his chair, he started moving and couldn’t believe his eyes when he realised the two of you managed to lock yourselves in a room with Corpse and Sykkuno, accomplishing a double kill in barely the first two minutes of the game. The two of you vented while Dream muttered curses under his breath, breaking out in a sweat wondering if you’re going to get caught or not as you casually hummed to a random tune while faking tasks, hitting the notes in such an effortless way that it made Dream relax and get even more nervous at the same time. It didn’t take too long before the body was found, and you seemed to adapt to the game very quickly, as Dream just sat back most of the time and watched you stretch out a whole essay on why you and Dream could NOT have been imposters. 

“Why would they stick together the whole time? Couldn’t they get at least someone else to vouch for them?” Toast complained. 

“Girl, Dream wants some… alone time with Y/N, obviously.” Bretman said, despite being the one most sus of you in the first place, forcing laughter out of the whole lobby, Dream’s sticking out the most as his mood constantly swayed from finding the whole thing funny to being worried sick if you actually find him weird.

“Exactly! And we’re gonna have our alone time if we want to, thank you very much.” 

Well, Dream thinks, taking a stressed gulp of water from his bottle, at least we cleared that one up.

“I don’t think that sounded the way you wanted it to, Y/N.” Karl pipes up, making Quackity burst into another fit of loud laughter, and you immediately protested.

“It sounded exactly the way I wanted it to! Now, vote Rae or else.” 

When the meeting was over, he ran after you through cafeteria, grin splitting out on his face before he even spoke.

“You’re pretty…” his silence extended as he watched your character stare at his. “...pretty smart.”

You snorted. “Right. You’re pretty…” you extended your silence in return, mocking him. “...too.”

His heart jumps. “You forgot a word there.” he says as you stomp out to storage.

“I said what I said, Dreamy.” 

He swears this can’t be healthy for his blood pressure. In the corner of his eye, Discord notifications pop up like crazy. The boys must be watching your stream. His heart swells with both pride and dread, knowing he’s about to be called something along the lines of pretty Dreamy for the next two months.

“How do you know I’m pretty? You’ve never even seen my face.” Dream replies as heat creeps up like a spirit rising from soil, from the back of his neck, seeping into his ears and cheeks somewhat equally. His eyes dart to the window again. Of course it’s the stupid Florida weather that has him burning up, flustered. Maybe he should open another window.

“Is this an invitation to see it?” you say, a teasing tone clinging off your voice and he can practically hear you smiling. 

“No, I’m just saying! If you want to see it, though, that… that can be arranged.” he bites his lip as a physical attempt of holding back the smile that breaks out as he waits for your response, chest puffing in both nervousness and odd confidence.

“Can it? I mean, I don’t need to see it, I just know already, you have those… pretty boy vibes. But I wouldn’t…” you chuckle. “...be opposed to seeing it, for sure. Don’t count on me not to leak the pictures, though. I want the clout.”

“What do you MEAN you want the clout, you’re Y/N! You don’t need clout from a Minecraft YouTuber!” He argues back, a small wheeze escaping him mid sentence as you giggle and run around, with him following your every move.

“You keep my fucking lights on, man! Whenever your Spotify Twitter account thingy tweets that you’re listening to my stuff, the streams go up! I need your clout.” you say as you run into admin and snap Toast’s neck and run back out casually, as if nothing happened. 

“Yeah, that’s how me listening to your songs on repeat works.” he says and you let out some sort of irritated groan.

“Shut up, smartass.” Just as you say that, somebody seems to find the body and you’re pulled into a meeting, where Rae susses both of you immediately.

“No, because both of you are always together! And someone always spots you walking by the place where the bodies are found! At some point that can’t be a coincidence, right?” she accuses, practically yelling into the mic.

“Of course they’re always together, check- check fuckin’ Twitter! They’re trending on like three different spots already!” Quackity jumps in, loud as always, and the lobby gives off mixed reactions.

“What? We are?” Dream asks, and Quackity confirms with a “yeah, man! Check!” and so he complies, quickly pulling out his phone to check the trending tabs. Sure enough, among the politics and sports, “DREAM Y/N”, “PRETTY BOY” and “DREAM FACE” are crammed, sat at 7th, 14th and 18th place, respectfully. A satisfied grin breaks out on his face. At least they see it, too.

“This has to be the first time Dream has trended for something heterosexual.” Karl points out, earning loud laughter from Quackity and Bretman, less loud on your part.

“Exactly! We’re a power couple! Stay mad!” You shouted, with Dream supporting you in the background, although still shyly adjusting his headphones every few seconds, unable to comprehend that oh, this is actually happening.

Both of you get voted out during the next few minutes, but that really means nothing to Dream - they actually do him quite a favor, because the two of you get to excuse yourselves and he sees those three familiar dots dance on his screen again as he leans back into his chair with a dopey grin, playing with the strings of his sweatpants, waiting for your next and next and next message. 

He opens Discord on his computer to type one last message into the groupchat before turning it off for the night:

Dream (03:14): maybe Minecraft wasn’t my calling after all

Dream (03:14): can’t believe I just met my soulmate on Among Us