#u just reached into my brain and tickled it very nicely

[bunni-v1]

RIPPING MY HAIR OUT!!! Goldie childhood best friends to lovers Childe is the best flavor of Childe I won’t hear about anything else 🙏

Just imagine okay, for a moment, things are just the same as they were when you were so little. He’s still gentle and soft and kind, despite the fact that there’s something… off about him, he makes an effort to assure you with his actions nothing has changed. He’s still your sweet, overly affectionate Ajax you used to play in the snow until you both caught colds with.

Ofc there’s a hint of longing now that the two of you are back together again. You’d missed his natural warmth and the way he knew you better than anyone else in the world. He just missed you, plain and simple. Perhaps his affections for you started to border on… mmm… obsessive after his tumble into the abyss, but that isn’t readily apparent from one meeting.

Pretty much from the moment he arrives home to see you until you leave he is by your side. It’s clingy, of course, but you’re also feeling rather attached. Especially with how handsome he’s gotten, and with how important he is it’s hard to not want to be selfish of his time. The only hint you have that he’s not quite right is how aggressive he seems to get when others outside of your families talk to you.

The soft boy from your childhood would never use such sharp words against others, but Childe here would, and he does. A lot. He’s very possessive of your time and attention, especially since it’s pretty limited and he hasn’t had it in years. He feels the need to drink you in, every bit of you. And while I’m not saying anything happens I wouldn’t be surprised.

On a more genuine note, though, he’s very sweet still. I hate the idea that Childe is some kind of terrible partner. He’s possessive sure, and he’s always ready to beat the shit out of anyone who bothers you, but that’s as far as his aggression goes. He loves you, after all, he would never put you in harms way and shields you the same way he tries to shield his siblings from his misdeeds.

Childe needs you to love him the same way he loves you. He wants to preserve that memory of him as a sweet young boy in your mind as best as he can. He’s so very sweet and gentle and affectionate, always treating you like royalty and making you feel so loved. He sees you off at the port or wherever you leave from, promising to write you now that you’ve reconnected — and even promising to visit if he’s ever in your nation.

To his credit, you received a letter the week you arrived, attached to a small present. A friendship bracelet so that you could always have something on your person to think of him, he has a matching one he can’t wait to show you next time he can see you.

thinkin abt childe since im visiting my like entire family in poland bc yknow. big family vibes n snezhnaya being slavic-based (+its been snowing like crazy here the last couple days). like, childhood friends to lovers w him where u were absolute besties as kids but then u moved away from snezhnaya and he joined the fatui and ur visits never seemed to coincide with his and suddenly its been fifteen years and you haven't seen him once. he surprises his family when he's back early from a mission and walks in to find u at his kitchen table having coffee with his mother and sister (your families are friends, of course you always visit them when you're in the country), and it should be awkward but you're honestly both so happy to see each other, it's been so long that teucer wasn't even born yet last time you saw each other! and then they bring out the old albums and you're poring over photos of the two of you at age five playing in the snow and he invites you out for a drink to catch up properly and his parents are nudging each other and not-so-quietly whispering about how they "knew those two would get married one day". idk. is that anything?

[amazingmsme]

Hiiiii DND Oc anon once more !!!! Here to see if u have anything new to say about ur ocs!!! (Especially everyones favorite lizard boy)!!

OMG HIIII!!!! It’s so nice to see you again! If I ever actually start my campaign, then maybe I’ll get some actual “canon” stuff to talk about with cool & funny interactions! But for now I just have my blorbos in the mind to tide me over lmao

But I have so many ideas & stories about them & their friends/family & even future mystery party members!

But Yernad is still one of my favorite oc’s ever, I really but my whole dndussy into his backstory. & then the original campaign he was supposed to show up in fizzled out. I still miss it so much, it’s still my favorite campaign I’ve ever been in, & it was all text based online. I just know he would’ve had so much fun with everyone’s characters, & the campaign was with people from the community, so it was extra fun! If anyone would be interested in doing something like that again… 👀👀👀👀👀

Putting the rest under the cut cause I got carried away

Naomi was my very first dnd oc & Yernad was originally an npc from her backstory before he moved on to an offshoot campaign from the first one. But those two have a bond like no other, they’re besties to the end. He’s like her older brother & practically raised her, so they got in a lot of trouble back in the day

Since she’s a satyr, she loves to roughhouse & wrestle, so they had a lot of tickle fights to tire her out. He’s one of the oldest in his family, so he’s a pretty brutal ler, but he knows how to keep it goofy & playful. He’d let her win more than a few times so that she wouldn’t get discouraged & would act really impressed at how she was able to take him down, regardless of how much she teased him about it later & rubbed it in his face. After their reunion he casually brings it up, because he honestly thought she knew & she’s like “YOU FUCKIN’ THREW THOSE FIGHTS?” & he’s just like “you were a kid, I was being nice!” But she’s like “nuh uh, you’re gonna lose fair & square” & she just pounces. Yes she does this in front of the party

I can’t remember what all I’ve said about him, but since he’s a dragonborn, he has quite a few hoards that he insists are just collections. Everyone collects something, it’s totally normal! But his bed is literally just a massive pile of stuffed animals. He keeps it in a sack & when it’s time to sleep, he dumps it out & climbs on top. If you make fun of his bed he WILL bite you!

Kinda angsty, but he’s got this massive scar across his waist that almost wraps around him completely, but it stops on either side just before it can reach his back. He was almost severed in half by a death slaad he & Naomi were fighting & it’s what killed him. For those not caught up on The Lore™️ Naomi had a funeral for him at the edge of the woods & someone recognized him & took him to a necromancer. So he’s fine & dandy now & his death scar has completely healed. It’s a pretty deep scar & the scales are much softer there & yeah y’all already know where my trash brain is going with this. But the parallel of that being his “death spot�� is just too funny I’m sorry I had to do it to him

If anyone pointed this out he’d get so fucking flustered because he never thought about it like that before & now he won’t be able to stop thinking about it

& I feel like I probably mentioned this in my tickle monster post, but I’m not sure, but his character introduction in the campaign is literally in the middle of a fight with a tickle monster & her pups & it’s gonna be the goofiest shit ever. Except Yernad swoops in while it’s distracted & catches it for the party like the smug bastard he is just to make a grand entrance. But all that suave attitude flies out the door when you realize he knows how to catch it because he already got his ass handed to him by this thing

Alright, I’ve rambled on enough, please lmk if you wanna know about more of them! Or even more with Yernad, I have so many stories with him lmao. But I also love my other babies too! Especially my newer ones I’ve barely fleshed out like Magnolia, Tyldiane, & Sylviana

[mochikeiji]

Looking Like U Got Me

Request: "Prompt no. 56 and 55 for Gojo ＼(^o^)／"

55. "You look like my husband/wife"

56. "Keep doing that and I'll marry you faster"

↠ Pairing: Gojou Satoru x Reader

↠ Warning: none! Simply fluff

↬ Word Count: 1.7k

↠ a/n: i accidentally mixed up prompts 55 and 57 ;-; but still hoping this turns out good!!

↳ from Go! Go! Gogatsu Event!

All he wanted was to wake up in bed, next to you— who would cuddle deeper in his arms even in slumber so he'd smother you with his kisses and tighten his hold around you and drift back to sleep longer, finally free of responsibilities for once and enjoy quality time with his only favorite person. But instead he wakes up with a groan passing through his lips, supporting his back side with his hand while shuffling to his side in a different position as the light sun rays shun through the window blinds, softly fanning his eye and forehead.

Gojo chuckles a bit before wincing. His lower back so tensed that he feels himself get older by the day. Pouting at the empty space next to him, he palms the cold sheet in wonder of where you are. Up so early in the morning when you could've just stayed in for him. How annoying. His eyes shut for moment when the scent coming from outside the room intruded his senses. Ah, you must be cooking breakfast. How sweet of you.

Thank goodness it wasn't another batch of dried crackers or cup of noodles that'll enter his mouth. He was never one to cook meals when he was on solo or when you weren't around. The very thought of not only the meal was awaiting for him outside, but also you excites him that it made him feel tingly inside. Call it dramatic, yeah, but it's not every day someone gets to wake up and immediately feel this full of love in the morning. You were the only and last love he's ever wanted to have in this world. It was so surreal even to him.

Sighing before pushing himself up, Gojo yawns out the remains of drowsiness in his system and stands. He didn't bother wearing a shirt since last night, claiming that he misses how his body rubs off yours in both comforting and suggestive ways. Plus it was just you and him home, he'd rather walk naked than wear the usual long sleeved uniform on a warm day.

The scent of coffee got stronger as he closes in his journey towards the kitchen. There was faint sizzling coming from the pan as you stood there in attendance. Stuck in your own little world, swaying to the sound of the radio playing, U got Me by Yung Heazy. It was one of the few songs that reminded you of Gojo back when you were both high schoolers. The exact song you remembered playing when you both hung out on a small cafe in Tokyo. Where he was so flustered, attempted to hide his blushes with his round glasses. The little things that reminded you of that memory never fails to make your heart race.

Of course Gojo knows this one as well. Because it was on that date as well he had call you, "his" after masking his embarrassment and from obviously checking you out every minute. How could he contain himself? He was a young man who was having trouble in the arts of love. Nevertheless he was glad to have grown up from those years. If his younger self could see him now, he'd be gagging at the sight of a softer version of his older self.

Snaking his arms around your torso carefully to avoid surprising you, he places his chin above your shoulder. Salivating at the sight of thick bacon in deep frying, shamelessly letting you know he was hungry from the sound of his stomach growling. "This is a nice way to greet me." you smile at the man behind you, who had his eyes closed in delight while rubbing his cheek against yours like a cat in need of attention. "Good morning to you as well, sweet cheeks." he says after  pressing a kiss on your skin.

"You got up early." whining softly, his hair and nose tickling the side of your neck and shoulder, "I was hoping to stay longer y'know?" trailing his hands underneath the his shirt you were wearing, mapping out on all the skin he could squish and hold with his large palms. Noticeably pressing himself closer to your body, the much needed space gone but you weren't complaining. After all, this was Gojo, a man who knows no boundaries.

"I wanted to make breakfast for you. We haven't had one together since we're both busy." you say as you grabbed the nearby plate, turning off the stove as the now cooked meal sizzles softly from the pan before sliding down to the porcelain surface. In attempt to lick his lips at the now prepared food, his tongue grazes upon your skin, sending you to jolt a bit, hearing the joyous laughter from him as he places a kiss on the spot as an apology.

"W-why don't you go sit down, there's rice bowls and cooked eggs prepared already." stammering, you quickly excused yourself away from his embrace to clean out the mess from the counter. Gojo sighs out the adoration but obliges to your command. Not long after you had finally settled down in front of him. Seeing him in all smiles as he scarfs down on his food made you smile as well. Thank goodness his blindfold was off, they looked adorable twinkling in happiness.

This felt nice. To have an opportunity to be a normal couple once again. So many times you could only daydream of scenarios like this. He could say the same as now that you were present on the usual spot he'd come home to empty. Often dozing off during meetings thinking of where you were or how you were, the multiple times Megumi has fed up with his whining about how he never gets to see or have more time with you. Nobara even pointed out a fact saying, "You act as if you're both married." and Yuuji, being the happy child of the three had said something that always ponder in his mind, "Why don't you marry each other yet, sensei?"

It was a statement he's been considering for a long time. Marriage. Of course Gojo wanted to marry you after years of torment love. To have his precious students say that you both already looked as if you were married got him all heart racing, and very very happy. He's had vivid images of a life with you. Not far from what it is today, but imagine. Unlimited happiness after so long of fearing it. Perhaps maybe even tiny legs running around, giving him such big love as his grows for the family he's craved, watching you smile beside the doorway and calling them in for a meal.

If marrying you means he can have that every day, then the hell with it.

"You look like my wife."

The spoon drop echoes. Slowly his face erupted into a faint blush while staring back at your widened eyes and opened mouth. "What?" gulping down the stuck food in your throat, Gojo bites his lips watching you maintain your composure. So cute. "Y-you know you say funny stuff when you're out of it. Maybe some daifuku would help? Yeah! Wait a sec." quickly getting up from your seat and rummaging in your fridge, you breathed out the heavy puff of air from your lungs.

He did not just say that so directly towards you. Maybe you were dreaming? You wouldn't be if your heart wasn't practically being forced out. Gojo is always fun and games, right? He doesn't mean that.

Sad to think of it that way.

"Ow!" thumping your head above the fridge as you grabbed some of the take outs of Daifuku you got yesterday, closing the fridge back before returning shortly to Gojo, who seemed as out of it as you were. "You did say your brain functions best when you eat sweets. Luckily for you I bought these yesterday. That's why I cooked earlier now because I wanted to try it out with you!"

Gojo can't tell if he wants to be offended at the fact that you think he was joking or just now, cover his half of his face to hide his laughter and igniting squeals. God he wished he had his phone right now, the moment was just so priceless and precious as you were.

"...ter"

Muffles from behind his hand was heard. Tilting your head to the side, trying to process what he said but no avail. "What was that?" you moved a little closer next to him, tapping his hand away almost eagerly. When he does, you spot that knowing smile present on his lips and the uncharacteristic blush still painted on his cheeks.

"Keep doing that and I'll marry you faster, honey."

You've gotten more shy when his hand held yours in the most loving way while drawing patterns. Searching through his eyes if he was playing around, but you were met with ones you know of when they were full of sincerity. "I-i. You know, they were so cheap anyways and I figured you'd want them." he snorts before leaning his head on your arm and laughs hysterically. It was painfully obvious that you were in state of shock that you couldn't even process his words.

Up until now the effect he has on you was still there like before.

"Sweetie." he turns his body away from the table to face you, pulling you so that you were standing in between his legs looking down shyly on the floor. "I'm serious." his fingers reached for your chin to pull your head up to meet his features. His other hand still holding your smaller one; index finger tracing your ring finger in circular motions as if he was creating a make believe ring.

He should thank himself for falling in love and be trusting once again.

Because now, staring back at your eyes filled with the same amount of emotions as his. Reciprocating the exact thing he was feeling. Waking up just to start the day already wanting him to be there. Knowing all the littlest things he's shared. Hearing the erratic sound of both of your heart beats.

He knew he's made the right choice.

"You really do look like my wife. My future."

© all content belongs to mochikeiji. Please do not repost or copy, ありがとうございました!! (=^･^=)

[gaybananabread]

for tickletober could u do 24 with Amity and Lilith? I like to think that they had a somewhat wholesome relationship when they trained together so maybe a training session turned a little playful?

also hope ur doing good and thanks! :D

Sure! I thought of a fun way to do the number request, hope you enjoy!

Lee: Amity

Ler: Lilith

Summary: One of Amity's training sessions with Lilith gets a bit playful.

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don't like that, scroll away!

Amity and Lilith were training together outside. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence, for the two had formed a bond after the very first session. Amity was inside of a white circle in the dirt, Lilith a few feet away. Today's topic was self defense.

"I  know you're probably familiar with the subject, maybe had training on it. However, self-defense is one of the most important lessons to be taught, and you can never practice enough. Now, I'm going to send some spells your way. Nothing bad, just something to make you regret being hit. Your goal is to not move from your circle. There's five rounds."

Amity braced herself, readying for the spells that would be sent flying her way. "Ready, set, begin!" An onslaught of blue orb-like spells flew at her, whizzing by her head as she ducked out of the way. She cast her own, a purple abomination-ball soaring at Lilith. She easily doged it.

"Nice job. Time for round 2." Opaque blue bolts zoomed towards Amity, coming in from all sides. She had doged most, but one had hit her forearm. It hadn't hurt, but the area had begun to feel weird.

"Ah, that's too bad. Regret time." A fuzzy feeling crept onto her arm, slowing turning into something else. She tried to hide her smile, failing once it reached her elbows. A confused Glace at her teacher answered her questions.

"Like my new spells? Each one is a different form, but they all have the same outcome. I figured you could use some laughter, and it would be a great way to practice agility and strength. It'll fade, just not until we're done." Casting was harder now, her focus mostly on the tingly sensations spreading throughout her arm. She managed to summon a goopy fist, sending it at her teacher. Her aim was terrible.

The next round was ground waves. Floods of blue light spilled across the dirt. Amity formed a platform above them, looking down at the dodged magic. "Clever. I can cast two spells, though." Before she could react, a blue streak shot out. She tried blocking, but it hit her square in the chest. Her pedestal melted, knocking her out of the circle.

The feeling exploded on her torso, running up to her armpits, down to her belly, her shoulder blades, everywhere. All her walls crumbled, and loud cackles spewed into the air. She fell to the ground, hugging her midsection. "NAHAHAHAHO! IHIHIHIT- AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lilith shook her head, laughing a little at her student. "Three rounds left. You can do it, Amity!" The witch in question was writhing in ticklish agony, the fuzzy feeling overwhelming her senses. Her brain was mush. "NOHOHO I CAHAHAHAN'T!"

Lilith downgraded the intensity of her next spell, aiming for Amity's ears. Due to an unexpected thrash, she missed. "Okay then, round 4." Amity, who could barely take the current tickles, couldn't imagine handling more.

A blue spike shot straight at the girl's ear, hitting its target flawlessly. It didn't add much, but the extra feeling was enough to push her to the absolute limit. "LIHIHILIHIHITH! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Lilith saw Amity was at her limit, majorly dialing down her last spell's strength. "Quick, round 5!" A small ball of light flew over to the young witch, landing on her foot. It sent her over the edge. "NAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAHAP! AHAHAHAHA!"

Lilith snapped her fingers, and all the tickling immediately stopped. Amity curled in on herself, giggling like a maniac. "Nice work today. You didn't win, but you definitely learned about the importance of defense. Plus, I had fun watching you fight. It was quite cute."

Amity's signature tomatoe face blush was thriving, her entire face blood red. "That wahas ahahawful." Amity hid her face, saying goodbye to Lilith for the day. While she wouldn't admit it, the session was fun for her as well.

[bloomyagi]

bleed me dry (m)

summary: where Itadori is your bottom-loving boyfriend and Sukuna reluctantly learns this vessel is the real curse. or: where seduction is a dangerous game, and the King of Curses loses.

pairings: itadori x f!reader, sukuna x f!reader

warnings: subby itadori, sub sukuna (yeah you read that right), light bondage, blindfolds, sukuna’s havin a whole ‘reconsidering life’s meaning’ moment, lotta swear cause u know sukuna things, coming untouched, he faints (yeah you also read that right) and is actually unabashed about it, all things considered

length: 1,432

notes: what? me? obsessed with jjk? that doesn’t sound like me at all! 

.

.

.

His vessel is in love.

The word curdles in his mouth, tastes like ash. He has never known such a thing. It is part of his nature, he muses absently. Hardened from centuries of death and decay. Of destruction and war. He revels in it. Feels the most alive amongst the chaos.

But that’s the point. Curses can feel. They can have emotional attachment. Can’t you see? In so many ways, they’re not so different from us. He thinks you’re too loud. Your thoughts and beliefs are too loud. They’re also pointless and naïve, and he likes to pop by just to drive it home.

Hello, Sukuna. Where is the fear? Where is the resentment, the anger? The disgust? He enjoys it. But you—you just sit there and coax him into conversation like he’s another one of your classmates. Like he can’t crush your windpipe with a single flick of his hand. Like he isn’t the slow bleed of a death sentence for your lover. Like he isn’t anything at all. Like his titles and powers are stripped. What is he beyond it all? Who is he?

You ask about him sometimes. He rarely gives any indication he’s listening, but he does. Of course he does. There’s not much to do, bound and locked in this pink-haired boy. He lounges on this throne and watches his vessel pine and blush.

Sukuna watches his vessel fuck his fist and mewl your name every night.

It’s sad. “Brat,” he hisses. “Grow some balls. This is just pathetic.”

Itadori swallows. “Oh. Can you—?”

Sukuna shoves him off the ledge. A faint yelp travels, followed by a large splash. “Fuck her already. All this sitting and plotting is making my ass itch. If you won’t, I will.”

“You wouldn’t.” Sukuna tilts his head to peer down. Itadori’s eyes are narrowed, uncharacteristically solemn.

His lips bare into a slow grin. “Try me.”

Itadori blinks once. And then vanishes.

.

.

.

Fuck. It’s the only coherent thought his muddled mind can pierce together. He gazes down at his palm, opening and closing languidly. His vision is blurry, spine tingling. He raises the other hand, reaching for his palm.

Mmm. He shakes his head firmly. The sharp tinge of metallic and iron coating his tongue clears the fog a little. The pain fades quickly, muted from his years of conquest and ruin.

Every nerve is on fire. His skin, this flesh cage, burns, an unfamiliar heat curling in his lower stomach. Sukuna is no stranger to the pleasures of the flesh—is well-acquainted, spent much of the centuries indulging in his vast harems. In the haze of blood and carnage, there is the memory of writhing bodies, of soft thighs and breasts, of glazed eyes and cries of his name. Of women fucked into wanton abandon, bred and lost in the worship of his cock.

But this. This heat is foreign in every sense. In its strange intensity and all-encompassing hold. All his senses are heightened but laser focused on the other pair of hands mapping his body. On the addicting sensations they’re inducing.

Can you—? Yes. Yes, he fucking can. He can feel everything and he wants to wrap his hand around your throat and squeeze.

His eyes roll back. Ngh.

“Fucking wench,” he snarls. You’re a fuckin’ tease and if you edge him again, he is going to murder—

“Ah, ah. Watch your language, Sukuna. Ask nicely.”

He jolts. Finds his eyes cloaked in darkness, arms tied to his back and legs spread. Bare, save for a pair of briefs that’s slick and restricting. Kneeling. The sheets bunch beneath him. Every muscle in his body is tensed, body coated in a thin layer of sweat.

This position—!

“That brat—mmph!” Is that a fucking—gag? Did you just gag him? He struggles harder against the binds, but he feels your lips curl into a smile where you’re suckling against the column of his neck.

“You’re powerless here. The binds will restrict you for the next twenty-four hours … unless you can be good.” You trace the thick knots, smiling only growing at the way he lets out a muffled growl.

Every fucking sense is heightened tenfold. He’s on firefirefire. The flames consuming him inside out, like he’s being exorcised from within.  

It’s humiliating. It’s exhilarating. It feels—

“King of Curses. I want you to beg.” You’re a witch. You’re enthralling. Temptation incarnate. His head falls forward, chest heaving.

“Mmmmf!”

“What a dirty mouth,” you murmur, and his struggling is renewed when he feels your fingers dig into his thighs.

Oi, brat, he growls. What the hell is this?

His vessel is silent, but the back of his mind prickles. He’s watching. That freaky little shit.

“So stubborn. Let go. You’re good at that, aren’t you?” Fuckfuckfuck, you’re palming his cock over the thin fabric. Maybe it’s been a while, maybe there’s a little more truth lurking beneath it, but he vaguely notes he’s never been so hard before.

You—! You’re fuckin’ burning his briefs off. Ash tickles his nose. A small part of him thinks it’s hot. His cock throbs, and even without visual confirmation, he knows you’ve paused at the sheer size. His mouth curls into a lopsided smirk, dark pride making his chest swell. What was he so worked up for? You’ll just end being another one of his breeding bitches, fucked stupid by his thick, long cock.

But then you pinch his left nipple, twisting harshly. Electricity courses through him and a sound he’s never heard in his absurdly long life escape his lips, muffled by the gag. His back arcs, head hitting the mattress beneath him.

His mind blanks, eyes rolling back as white noise fills his ears.

.

.

.

He rouses slowly.

He blinks lethargically at the ceiling, gaze unfocused. Everything feels muted, limbs heavy like he’s swimming in a pool of ink. But he’s not restrained anymore. There’s a blur of movement in the corner of his eye.

He turns his head to peer at you, half-lidded.

“That’s a very nice expression,” you chuckle, moving to sit by his side. The mattress dips lightly. He lifts a hand to tug at the hem of your outfit, expression twisting at the staggering movement.

“That’s a very nice look on you,” he murmurs in response. You’re wearing one of his vessel’s dress shirts, the oversized fabric falling mid-thigh. It simultaneously swallows you and presses against your curves. Something inside him stirs. His throat feels shot, even though he knows he hasn’t had much of a chance to speak.

You help him sit up, propped against the headrest, before offering him a glass of water. His lips lift into a half-smirk and you sigh, shaking your head but acquiescing. You take a mouthful before kissing him. Water dribbles down his chin.

You wipe it away with a half-fond, half-exasperated expression. His chest tightens.

“How long—?” He tries to move, but you stop him with a firm hand. He’s conflicted at the way his body responds immediately to the touch. His temperature flares despite his obvious fatigue.

“A few hours. I asked if Yuuji would keep you out until you woke.”

There’s a pause, and the knowing look in your eye tells him you know he’s mulling it over.

And then—

He reaches for you, and you set the glass aside to climb on his lap.

He bares his fangs. “Then let’s make the most of it.”

As you press him into the bed, tongue stroking his in such a manner his brain is starting to haze over again quickly, he thinks, brat, we’re going to have a long talk after this.

Sukuna doesn’t expect an answer after his vessel’s continued vigil, so he starts when Itadori replies, she’s ours.

I don’t share, he slurs. He thinks he sees a flicker of Itadori’s grin.

You’re going to have to. Because you like her, too. And she’s the one in control, not either of us.

Dimly, Sukuna acknowledges he’s right. You might be the one bouncing on his cock, but he’s not the one fucking you, you’re the one fucking him.

Fine, he gasps as you run your nails down his abdomen. Deal.

Good, his vessel says. Because I’m next, and you better not get in the way.

He growls, eyebrows knitting.

Your smile only grows.

[kiridarling]

[a/n: is this a week late? yes. happy belated-valentine's day angels <3]

—ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴀɴ 𝟷𝟾+ ʙʟᴏɢ. ᴍɪɴᴏʀs ᴅɴɪ

𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮; 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥

→ Definitely went to work that day

→ Not a huge romantic but wake up to find a hot breakfast with a note left on the counter.

Happy Valentines Day, dumbass. Love you.

— k.b

→ When he returns from work, Katsuki buys you roses and shoves them into your chest with an eye roll. You thank him and he responds with a grunt before insisting you put on something nice because he’s taking you out on a dinner date whether you like it or not.

→ Katsuki takes you to the fanciest restaurant—so fancy you feel a little bad that he has to pay, even despite his Pro Hero status. But you’re his, and spoiling you might as well be his love language.

→ Halfway through dinner, Katsuki starts getting a little frisky. Sliding the rough leather of his oxfords up the inside of your thigh, winking and biting his lip. You tell him to stop but you only half-mean it, and the knowing grin on his face lets you know he knows.

"Careful, baby. You don't want the waitress to know how much of a dirty slut you are, do you?”

→ He’s condescending as fuck but you’re totally here for it, and the second he pays for the meal you two are speeding down the highway to a love hotel (per Katsuki’s plan, apparently). You barely make it to the bedroom before you’re all over each other, and if it weren’t for that family of four in the elevator, you definitely wouldn’t have.

→ He tells you to get on the bed and strip, and who are you to deny him of such a luxury? He pulls a plastic black bag out of a different bag—it’s clearly full. With what, you may ask?

→ Sex toys!

→ Katsuki’s endgame is simple—make you cum until you can’t anymore. Not that he’s told you explicitly, but he’s got a Hitachi pressed to your sex and two fingers slamming into you just the way you like it. With your wrists comfortably tied above your head, it doesn’t take him long to bring you to your climax, cheeks burning and thighs shaking.

→ Peering at you under the sweaty mess of ash-blond hair, the fire in Katsuki's eyes only adds fuel to the burning of your gut as the vibrator continues whirr. The realization settles in with a shiver. Oh. Oh fuck, he's not stopping.

“Again.”

→ So, you cum again. And again, and again, and by the time you’re on the fifth it gets a bit hard to feel your toes and you’re so sensitive your thighs burn. All you want is his cock, but for some reason, it’s fucking impossible for him to give it to you.

→ Upon voicing your concerns, Katsuki’s devilish smile only grows wider.

“You want this cock that bad, slut? Yeah? Fine then, fuckin’ choke on it.”

→ It’s basically cannon that one of Katsuki’s favorite things to do is watch you struggle to take all of him, but in this position, all you can do is lay back with bound hands as he fucks your face. It’s sloppy and your eyes and throat burn, but it's totally worth it to hear Katsuki fall apart in your mouth.

“S-So good—fuck—such a good whore, taking all of me, aren’t you?”

→ Katsuki pulls out before he cums in your throat in favor of flipping your limp body into downward dog and stuffing you full of cock in one swift move, the bastard.

→ Katsuki’s never been one to take things slow in bed—to him, it’s all hard and fast and now. You’re scrambling for purchase in the sheets as he pounds into that sweet spot he knows you love, and you feel your fully spent sex twitching back to life anyway. Fuck, fuck. Are you going to cum again?

→ Katsuki seems to catch onto this as well, sweaty chest dropping against your back and the cool of his dog tag tickling your neck as his hand rubs between your legs, muttering dirty nothings in your ear.

“You gonna cum for me, baby? Yeah? Gonna make a fuckin’ mess all over yourself like the slut you are? Fuckin’ do it. Fuckin—fuck—”

→ You two cum at the same time, toes curling and ribcage shuddering, and then—

→ Darkness.

→ You wake up in a few hours, properly clean in fresh sheets. Turns out baby boy fucked you so hard you passed out, but it's okay because he’s found reruns of your favorite show on and is fully prepared with water and snacks.

→ (And he’ll never tell you, but he fully panicked and called Eijirou. Obviously, he knew you were alive, but…what if you passed out because of a problem? A concussion? Internal bleeding, maybe?)

→ (Eijirou ensures him that though this should NOT happen every time, it can happen from exhaustion. To say Katsuki relaxes after that is an understatement.)

(Stay safe angels <3)

And speaking of Eijirou...

𝐄𝐢𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐚; 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞

→ Definitely did not go to work that day.

→ Today, Eijirou plans to treat you like the princess you are. Cooks you breakfast in bed (after almost burning down the kitchen trying to make bacon but shhh we don’t talk about that) books you a full day spa and has Mina take you shopping for a new outfit for your "fancy date" that night.

→ The location? A surprise.

→ It’s dark by the time you and Mina pull up, but the moment you hop out the car she speeds away. Um. She could’ve at least said bye.

"[Y/N?]"

→ Looks like Eijirou brought you to a lake. You wonder who helped him bundle the fairy lights in the trees and set up the picnic because knowing your man and his coordination, it would’ve taken a forever for him to set this up.

→ But all those thoughts shatter the second you see that he’s on his knees, clutching a velvet box with a gorgeous diamond ring sat in the center. Not too flashy, but not too dull.

“U-Uh.”

→ Eijirou swallows then blinks, the only sign that he’s the least bit nervous for this.

“See…I swear I had planned something to say, but you look…holy shit, um—stunning, you look stunning.”

→ His compliment goes over your head though. Of course it does, he’s holding an engagement ring. He chuckles, averting his eyes to the ground.

“Listen, um, you can say no...B-But uh, I love you a lot—obviously—and I’ve been thinking about this a lot, kind of, because you’re like…the love of my life, ya know? I mean, I know everyone says that and everything but like, I really mean it? But if I’m going too fast o-or you just don’t wanna get married or something, I totally get it because obviously this is outta the blue and everything b-but um…yeah.”

→ You let him stutter through the whole thing because, well. It’s cute.

→ ...And then you tackle Eijirou to the ground with renewed passion and slam your lips onto his. His “babe! The ring!” is muffled but you snort anyway, blindly groping for it through the grass. The moment you find it, you shove it into his palm and stick your hand in his face, and with a (very sexy) chuckle, the redhead slides it onto your ring finger.

“I’ll take that as a yes then?”

→ No shit, Sherlock.

→ Either way, the picnic in the dark is abandoned in favor of yanking Eijirou's pants off and giving him the best head of his life. Because goddammit, you love this man so much and he needs to feel it.

→ Afterward, he insists on returning the favor. A wild Gentle Dom Kiri appears and as he eats you out, he mutters a deadly combination of the sweetest and dirtiest things you’ve ever heard.

“Fuck, you feel so good. So tight and wet. And it’s all for me, isn’t it, baby?"

“You’re gonna cum, angel? Do it. Cum all over Daddy’s face.”

→ Once you semi-recover from your orgasm, he flips you on your hands and knees and slowly pushes inside of you (though not without putting on a condom because safety first, angels). You tell him to speed up, but he denies your request. This time around, Eijirou's going to take the time to love you.

→ As he slowly fucks you under the stars, he dips his chin into your neck as his bigger hands encompass your own. As he starts to play with the ring on your finger, you watch something wet hit the picnic blanket, followed by a sniffle.

“Gosh, fuck—I love you so much. A-And I’m really happy you said yes. I…”

→ You cum first and Eijirou isn’t far behind, shuddering against your spine. Your fiancé unceremoniously rolls onto the picnic blanket next to you, his temple kissing the crest of your skull as the two of you use the comfortable silence to cool down, half-naked under the milky way.

→ In your comfortable silence, you lift your left hand to the stars, fingers splayed to reveal the twinkling diamond solidifying the bond between the two of you. Eijirou hums, hooking his chin on your shoulder.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐢 𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢; 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲

→ Both of you are painfully single and most importantly, strangers. Strangers who think alike and had the glorious forethought to drown your sorrows at a nightclub with a lot of alcohol.

→ Denki, as he does, accidentally knocks over his liquor-filled cup, completely drenching your bottoms. He apologizes and insists on helping you clean up though getting awfully close to your crotch, but both of you are too tipsy to notice.

→ After the liquor spill, you swap embarrassing love stories and lament over the “hardships of being single.” (Denki’s words.)

→ A few hours pass. You’re tired and ready to go home and Denki requests to walk you home to make sure you get back safely. Not that you live far, maybe ten minutes, but by the time you reach your door, you feel like you've known the electric blond your whole life. After saying goodbye and almost closing the door, Denki blurts out a half-drunken confession...or something like that:

“I—uh, y-you are—uhm, no…this is—“

→ You give him a look, a half-smile at best, and it seems to churn the gears in his brain again.

“This was uhm, really fun and uh, I think you’re really cool.”

→ So naturally, when you invite him inside, he squeals.

→ After a few more drinks and a few more spillages (Denki’s never been a deft drunk), you two finally get over your inner thoughts and start kissing on the couch. It’s hot and messy, and the alcohol in your veins makes it oh, so hot.

→ Denki doesn’t expect you to offer head but when you do he nearly cries, scrambling to pull his pants off while you make space for yourself between his thighs.  Due to the fact that there’s alcohol pumping in Denki’s veins and he hasn't been touched by someone else in at least a year, he’s extra-sensitive. And vocal. 

"F-Fuck gorgeous, you're so good at this...o-oh shit, do that again—yeah, yeah just like that."

→ His hips quiver, and he bucks into your mouth on accident. It earns him a glare and a light slap on the thigh, and you make a mental note to unpack the broken moan that interrupts his apology later. 

→ It doesn't take Denki a long time to cum—five minutes max. He plans to give you a warning but his orgasm runs up on the electric blond so quickly he doesn't even get a warning. When Denki orgasms in your mouth with a choked moan, it's only natural that you pull away in alarm, ribbons of semi-translucent cum flying just about everywhere.

→ To say you're pissed is an understatement (because your poor, poor carpet), but Denki feels terrible and is already reaching for the roll of paper towels you left on the coffee table from your cleaning spree this morning, apologies flying out of his mouth like an auctioneer.

→ Obviously, he's going to make it up to you. Not only for making an absolute mess in your living room (seriously, Denki doesn't know if he's ever come that much in his life) but for the bomb head, and he wants to make you feel just as good as you made him feel.

→ Both of you stumble to your room, the mood miraculously rekindled, and you're not sure what to make of Denki's desperation as he claws at your bottoms, pupils blown to the size of dinner plates. And though it's cheesy, you can't help but shiver when he finally gets eyes on your sex, wetting his bottom lip and the grip around your thigh tightening as he catcalls the apex between your thighs before diving in.

"Hello pretty~"

→ Like any pervert with a vivid imagination, Denki's got a mental warehouse of sex tips and tricks and burns to watch you squirm from his touch. He wants you red-faced and breathless and isn’t shy about it, actively paying attention to your reactions when he curls his fingers or uses his tongue just right.

"Oh, you taste so good sweet thing. So pretty and wet...did I do all this, gorgeous?”

→ Also, electro-stimulation? Yes please.

→ Denki's tentative about it at first because he’s not sure how you’ll react, but once you give him that pretty little moan you've been holding back all evening, you two are going nowhere but hell.

→ His dick hurts from being hard for so long and the second you cum, he’s practically begging to fuck you.

“Please? Please gorgeous? Shit, you felt so good in my mouth I just wanna—I need to—please?”

→ Like you needed any convincing in the first place.

→ You ride him per his request—and will definitely make you repeat things back to him, just because he likes how embarrassed and blushy you get. If you refuse? He’ll be an absolute tease about it. (But only for a bit, because we all know his patience isn’t that great.)

"Yeah? You like this cock? Tell me. Tell me how good my cock makes you feel, gorgeous."

→ There's no way Denki lasts very long (again)—definitely with you in his lap. When he cums, it’s cute and breathless, and his nose scrunches into his eyes. But if he came twice, you should too right?

→ The next morning, Denki's gone. But in his place, there’s a note with his number and an explanation:

had to go to work! lol i have the fattest hangover kill me now ty. either way, you should text me. i wasn't kidding when i said i thought you were cool lol.

(xxx)-xxx-xxxx

— kaminari

[a/n: gah XD my brain melted from writing that um-

also don’t worry about the family of four at the love hotel...they were...um...forced to stay there due to an emergency...lol :) see you soon, angels <3]

[tteokdoroki]

oblivious | k.takami

♡ pairing: keigo takami x gn!reader.

♡ word count: 1.8K

♡ rating: everyone.

♡ genre: pro hero!au, assistant!au, fluff.

♡ summary: usually, when it comes down to smooth talking and flirting, pro hero hawks has all the boxes checked right off. except for when it comes to his assistant, who doesn’t quite seem to get it. or the one in which miruko meddles with hawks’ love life on valentines day.

♡ warning(s): please read ! tooth-rotting fluff, cheesy pick-up lines, just keigo being a dorky boi! :D

♡ author’s note(s): goood evening my loves! here’s a little fluff fic for you on valentines ! it was requested a while ago by @mocha-focha​ but i figured today would be the perfect day!  i hope youu enjoy, sorry this is so last min! happy valentines day <3

♡ masterlist | requests

keigo couldn’t tell if he found it more adorable or more annoying.

your obliviousness that is.

on one had, your cluelessness to the number two’s attraction towards you was most certainly adorable. the way you grew flustered when he walked by or leaned down to your height to tease and compliment you. the way your gaze dropped shyly to your desk when he’d ask something minuscule of you. keigo knew he intimidated you; after all, who wouldn’t be in the shoes of japan’s second most beloved hero.

the winged hero had wanted you ever since he first laid his avian eyes on you, after he’d stumbled back into his agency to complete paper work for that day’s patrol. you had been unpacking boxes at the desk outside of keigo’s office, hired to be a temporary assistant while the last had quit due to said blonde ‘being too much to handle.’

keigo still remembers the way your eyes had flittered to the floor as soon as he came into view and the timid way your name had slipped from between your pretty lips when he’d asked for your name.

the blonde swears he could never get tired of the sweet taste of ‘yn’ on his tongue.

you were nice company and worked well with keigo, since you were resilient unlike his last assistant. he couldn’t fault you anywhere, not in your kind smile and precious gestures ( you always brought him a chicken sandwich when you came back from your lunch break ). you were a gem. the only ‘annoying’ thing was that you never quite understood his flirting.

sure; some of keigo’s methods like bringing you little gifts of shiny things and rocks were a little unconventional... but he couldn’t help it! he was a goddamned bird after all and it wasn’t his fault you mistook the dead rabbit on your desk as a cruel practical joke instead of a proclamation of love. and okay, maybe keigo giving you extra work so you could spend more time with him after office hours was a little over the top; but at least his pickup lines got through to you.

they were cringeworthy of course but at the very least; they made you grin even if you were a bit confused. one time you thought he had been practicing on you to test on endeavour on their patrol later that day. another story for another time.

so maybe the most annoying thing wasn’t your obliviousness to keigo’s advances but instead the reactions and teasing from his friends. just like now.

“so what’s it gonna be today keigo?” rumi asks from the winged hero’s left, her rabbit ears twitch and pick up on his light scoff— while he mentally prepares for the incoming barrage of teasing. “’are you the alphabet because i can c u and i together?’”

“no rumi, i’ve got better than that.” keigo barks out with a shift of his crimson wings, the number five smirks from beside him and keigo rolls his eyes with defeat, hating the way his wings often conveyed his underlying emotions.  the elevator they both travel in comes to a slow stop on the thirteenth floor of the hawks agency where the man himself hosts meetings in his office. the whole reason rumi was even here was to attend some dumb mission briefing the commission wanted to set them on but more than likely the bunny like hero would be here to tease keigo about his failed attempts at flirting with you. “just you wait!”

she enjoyed making his life a living hell. “i don’t know, nothing can quite beat that ‘i’m not a photographer but i can picture you and i together’ line you used last week!” rumi winks, swiftly exciting the elevator as the doors chime and open up, just narrowly avoiding the flurry of cursing and chirps from the bird-like hero.

said  blonde follows with a huff,  making a b-line for his sacred office as he sets his mind on getting the meeting done. the sooner it ends, the sooner rumi can get the hell out of his hair and stop bullying him for having a crush on his personal assistant. only, keigo is stopped in his tracks when he notices you innocently perched at your desk, tapping away at some document on your computer—  one that he probably could’ve and should’ve done himself. hawks almost hates how he catches himself blushing over how you complete such a mundane task,  the squint to your  eyes and the slight pinch to your brows in concentration ( which is adorable to him quite frankly ) make his heart flutter.

he finds himself coming to a stop just in front of your desk, causing rumi to slow up ahead and turn around to watch the chaos unfold.

your typing ceases quickly when you notice the shadow on your boss looming over you— his gold and piercing avian eyes staring right back down at you as soon as you look up. “oh! mr hawks, you’re back—!”

“yn, i seem to have lost my number, can i borrow yours?” hawks blurts out the cheesy line, almost instantly regretting it right after.

there’s a beat of silence between you both while your face morphs into one of confusion. why would he need to borrow your number when you could just locate it in the personal records you had access to? in the meantime, miruko has taken it upon herself to fill the awkward air with pockets of wheezy laughter. you blink up at your boss, once, twice, three times before reaching for your notebook with all of his important details written inside. “mr hawks, if you wanted me to read your number out loud for you again , you could have asked! i'm more than happy to!” you say your words slowly, just to make sure he understands— your boss can be a bit of an air head sometimes and it is your job to help him out.

“no—yn, no i—” keigo instantly shakes his head, the red tint of shame blaring across his cheeks in a shade that almost rivals the red of his wings. said appendages puff up and flutter with embarrassment and it doesn’t help that his fellow hero is laughing at him so hard that she’s bent over and struggling to breathe. “baby—i meant i was asking for your numb—“

you smile up at him with sweet innocent eyes that have his words dying in his throat. “i didn’t know you had a baby! congratulations mr hawks!” and then you return to typing.

keigo wants to die, physically deflating right in front of your desk where he stands.

rumi, who now seems to have recovered from her laughing fit passes by keigo with a pat to his back, he only pouts while she wipes the remainders of amused tears from her eyes before perching herself on your desk, practically leaning over you. you look up once again, feeling shy under the gaze of yet another esteemed pro hero but greet her politely with a bob of your head.

“yn, hun, can i ask you a question?” the number five asks you, warm grin helping you relax just a little.

“yes miss miruko?”

you find the woman shaking with laughter above you before she pets your hair endearingly, the gesture almost makes you pout and you have to remind yourself of where you are and who you work for. “firstly, love, you can call me rumi, i know you’re shy but i don’t bite…” you paw gently at your cheeks in oder to fight the growing heat that burns brightly under your skin, growing ever so flustered under miruko’s silky voice and knowing gaze. “secondly, hawks isn’t a father nor does he have a baby— he was addressing you, sweetheart. and finally,” rumi pauses, patting your head again as her bunny ears twitch with amusement and mischief. “how do you feel about the bird brains over there, do you like him?”

takami jolts up in his place, impossibly redder than he was before while he makes an attempt to shut rumi up with his ruffled feathers. the bunny simply catches the red feather between her hands, giving them a little tickle to distract her fellow hero , tilting her head down at you as if to ask ‘well?’ you gulp, feeling yourself become nervous as the two wait for your answer expectantly. of course you had nothing but positive feelings towards your boss; he was kind and made the time out of his busy day to talk to you— but why did they care so much as to ask you for your opinion? you were only his assistant and saying anything bad about the number two hero would surely get you fired.

hesitantly, your gaze flickers between the clearly entertained miruko and the highly embarrassed hawks— forcing you to take a deep breath before delivering your anticipated answer. “well—! he’s a great boss, i— i couldn’t ask for better, why wouldn’t i like a boss who gives me an hour and a half’s lunch break?” you sigh in relief at your answer, assuring yourself that it won’t have offended anyone but your heart rate is quick to spike when miruko squishes your cheeks and tilts your head to face your flustered boss.

“no sweetheart,” she corrects herself, pointing over at keigo who cowers into his wings. “i mean, do you like him as in... would you date him?”

you swear on all might’s life that you almost pass out from her words, mind swirling with a thousand thoughts. why would she ask that of you? sparing a glance at your boss once move, you realise what all of this is about. his hot blush, the way he avoids your stare, his flustered state to match your own. he likes you, just as you like him. rumi was only being a good wing woman, one that you were grateful for— as you’d never make a move on hawks on your own, no matter how many feelings you’d harboured for him in the time that you’d worked for him. You had been oblivious to his romantic gestures this whole time and now; the situation for you to confess had presented itself to you.

to hell with it.

“yes,” you breathe as best you can through squished cheeks, staring at keigo with eyes dreamy enough to make his heart soar. “why wouldn’t anyone? i-i mean, mr hawks is so sweet and kind to everyone he meets, fans or not! and…and he’s really pretty— i mean handsome… and his eyes—“ you cut yourself off upon realising the tangent you’ve gone on just to prove your attraction to your boss, looking away shyly and rumi let’s you go with a sweet chuckle.

but just as quickly as you look away, the softness of a little red feather tilts your focus back to him. “glad to know you think so yn,” he winks, making you giggle shyly. “i’ll pick you up tonight at seven for valentines, then.”

and who were you to say no to him.

[marvelous-harry]

Harry grinding on the readers thigh. I always see the reader grinding on his thigh, but this sounds so hot

+ Catching h using the readers toys on himself + Harry getting caught using readers toys or harry thigh grinding + U should do Harry riding readers thigh omg + harry getting caught using readers toys JSJJSJSBS Caught Red Handed Harry/Fem!Reader Words: 1.2k Warnings: Bottom!Harry, Top!Fem!Reader, Summary: Returning home early from a meeting, you catch Harry in an interesting situation.

Some days nothing was better than your last meeting of the day is canceled so you can go home early. Especially when I’d already spilled some pasta on my white blouse, ripped my tights, and wished several coworkers imminent death.

For every minute the taxi got closer to home, I could feel my headache and mood improving. Harry had a few days off and had barely been able to take his hands off me as I’d left this morning. Being very clingy and needy. It would be nice to surprise him with some extra time together.

As the taxi pulled up into the driveway and paid him, I smiled and wished him a good day as I dug through my purse for my keys. Unlocking the door, I stepped inside and was surprised by how quiet it was. Harry was notorious for always playing music, leaving the tv, or something on. Claiming he hated the silence as it made him feel lonely and alone.

Taking off my heels, I stretched out my toes and was about to call out for him when I heard the tiniest sound from our bedroom. Walking up the stairs very quietly, I heard it again. It was a moan. Harry’s moan. Interesting.

Sneaking down the hallway, I was glad to see the door to the bedroom was slightly open. Peeking inside, I felt slightly relieved that he was clearly alone even though I was quite certain he would never cheat on me.

It was quite the sight though. Harry was squirming on the bed, both hands holding a sex toy of some sort and there were several more lying around on the bed.

“You know if you wanted to borrow my toys, you could’ve asked,” I said nonchalantly as I pushed the door fully open and walked over to the bed. Harry looked quite startled and dropped both the toys he had been holding. I looked at them and nodded in approval. “The wand and the rabbit, excellent choices,” I sat down on the bed and took the buzzing rabbit in my grasp, pushing it in slowly.

Harry was just staring at me with wide eyes, and there was a strong blush all over his face.

“Cat got you tongue?” I teased, moving the rabbit vibrator in and out slowly. “Did you know these were my favorites it or did you just come to this conclusion after a lot of trying?” I said while looking at all the other sex toys around him. Some were our more shared toys but some that I just used.

“Fuck,” Harry groaned as he put his hands over his face. “Can you leave the room, give me long enough to clean everything, and then come back in and pretend this never happened?” he asked.

I turned off the vibrator but left it in and moved up on the bed so I could gently push Harry’s hands off his face. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. I’ve caught you playing with yourself before what’s so different this time?” I asked, stroking my hand over his cheek.

Harry licked his lips and huffed slightly. “I was just thinking about that night last week and I started missing you, got myself worked up so I decided to try and do something about it but it didn’t work, just made it worse cause you weren’t here,”

“Ahhh, I’m assuming the night you are speaking off is when I fucked you silly and not the night we ordered three pizzas and ate them all?” I teased with a grin before leaning down and giving him a kiss.

“I just wanted to feel like that again but none of the toys were really right but your toys were the best cause they were yours, and I wanted you inside me again,” Harry blushed even harder.

“You could’ve just asked and I would’ve gladly fucked you, baby,” I told him as I reached down and grasped his hard cock.

“I thought you wouldn’t be home till late, I couldn’t wait till then,” Harry moaned as he thrust into my hand.

Leaning down, I kissed him deeply as I slowly jerked him off. “Baby, I have something I want you to try,” I said as I pulled back, stood up, and started to take off my skirt.

Harry looked at me curiously.

“You know how I humped your leg till I cummed once? I want you to do that on me,” I explained as I laid down on the bed. “I want you to ride my thigh till you cum and make a mess on my tights,”

Harry’s eyes widened and it took him a few seconds before the words registered in his brain but when they did he quickly pushed the sex toys out of the way, the vibrator slipping out of him as he moved around. “Yeah, I want to try,” he ran a hand over my tights, feeling the fabric.

I spread my legs a little so Harry could comfortably straddle my leg. Watching him as he moved on over and put a hand on either side of my chest. He glanced up to me and gave me a kiss before he slowly lowered himself down. He bit his lip as he rolled his hips and rubbed his cock against me. “Ooh,” he breathed out.

“That feel good?” I asked, running my hands over his shoulders, looking up at his face.

“Y-yeah. It’s so soft and smooth,” Harry moaned as he thrust his hips harder down on my thigh. “Fuck, I feel like I’ve been on the edge for hours,” he whimpered, scrunching up his face as he moved his hips faster and faster.

I couldn’t help but bite my lip as I looked at him. He looked so good and so in the moment. The wetness between my thigh was getting wetter by the second. Stroking my hands over his back, I tangled my fingers into his hair and pulled him in for a deep kiss, while raising my thigh a bit to give him more leverage.

“Come on, baby. Want you to make a mess on me,” I whispered while tugging on his hair.

“Fuck,” Harry grunted as he grasped my hip with one hand, pushing his cock hard down on my thigh.

Moaning as I felt the warm wetness of his cum spilling over my tights, I kissed him desperately again, biting down on his bottom lip and pulling on it as we broke apart.

Harry collapsed down on me, breathing heavily as his hair tickled the side of my face. His hips were still doing a few small thrusts to ride out his orgasm. “We should buy more of these tights,” he mumbled, pressing a few kisses to my cheek.

I grinned and turned my head so we could kiss. “You get a few minutes to recover then I want you between my legs, tongue hard at work,” I told him as I shimmied out from under him so I could take off my blouse and bra. When I reached for the waistband of my tights, Harry stopped me. “Leave them on?” he asked. Smirking, I nodded. Oh yeah, we were definitely buying more tights.

[plant-flwrs]

lacquer // fred weasley

masterlist!

a/n: hey y’all..... hope u all still love me this is my peace offering <3 i take some pretty big exams tomorrow and my brain is kind of restless but also unproductive, so i cranked this out. i have no idea if its complete shit or not so lmk if i should jump into lava after u read it. also send good vibes for me and my exam tmr. love y’all. 

summary: Fred asks you to paint his nails

(1.5k)

----

The first time you noticed Fred staring, you were sitting on the floor in front of his bed, using his trunk as a desk as you worked on some Potions notes. Fred hung off the end of his bed, looking at you from upside down. The blood was rushing to his head, so his hair and face were just about the same color. He didn’t seem inclined to move, however, and his eyes were staring at the way your hands glided over the scroll you wrote on. You thought he might like your handwriting, or maybe he was just zoned out. 

The second time you noticed him staring, you were leaning against a thick oak tree by the Black Lake. Fred was laying between your legs, head propped up on your stomach. Your arms were wrapped around his shoulders, fingers tapping mindlessly on his chest. His head was tilted down, and you thought he had fallen asleep until his arms were moving. His larger hands grasped yours, twining your fingers together. His hands were pale and strong, like the rest of him, but slightly calloused from years of gripping his beaters bat. There were some freckles that crept down his wrist, like sparse constellations of stars, on his hand. He held your hands in front of his face, idly twisting and running them over his own hands.

The third and final time, he was very obvious. You were in his dorm again, waiting for him to be done with practice. You had long abandoned your homework, instead choosing to paint your nails to pass the time. You sat by the window, on the ledge, so the nail polish wouldn’t stink up the whole room. Fred and George bounded in, laughter on their lips. George shoved him to get to the bathroom first, slamming the door and locking it before Fred had even moved from the doorway. His eyes were locked on you, gaze flicking between your hands, the nail polish, and your face.

“Hey, Fred,” you said, carefully twisting the cap back onto the bottle. “Practice alright?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, dropping his things at the foot of his bed and coming to sit with you at the window. “Alright.”

You moved your hands in the air, letting the breeze harden your nail polish. Fred picked up the bottle you had put down, twisting it in his hands and reading the label.

“This a muggle thing?” he mumbled, holding it close to his face and squinting.

“Yeah, but they have magic kinds,” you said, holding your nails out and then bringing them closer to your face, cleaning around the edges. “There’s this one that I like, it’s black, and after it drys the galaxy and stars appear and move with your hands.”

“Hm,” Fred hummed absentmindedly, still playing with the bottle. 

You suppressed a smile as you gently took the bottle from Fred. His eyes moved to yours, abandoning the nail polish for the first time since he sat down. 

“Want me to?” you asked him quietly, smiling at him.

Fred’s brows furrowed, and his head turned to look out the window for a moment. You stared at him, not used to moments where Fred actually stopped to think about something. His face was serious, his jaw clenched a bit. He looked stern from the side, his hair damp and sweaty from practice and a slight red flush still on his cheeks and neck. His freckles were coming out as the sun did, and his hair was getting lighter, too. When he turned back to look at you, you felt your face soften. Fred could be so pretty sometimes. 

“Yeah,” he decided, holding his hands out to you, “If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” you took his hands gently, placing one on each of your knees.

Fred watched every move you made, when you shook the bottle, when you opened it, when you lifted the cap and when you rubbed off the excess nail polish on the side of the bottle. Fred watched with a small smirk as his nails were being painted, nice and slow so you wouldn’t mess them up. 

“I just realized,” you said slowly, leaning back to look at his nails before bending over again to continue, “we’re going to have matching nails.”

Fred laughed lightly, and the small action made hair fall into his eyes. He waited for you to be done with the nail he was painting before he shook his head back, his hands flailing in front of him slightly with the strained effort of not touching anything. 

“You willing to go ginger, too?” Fred joked, leaning forwards and haphazardly pushing your heads together. He pushed, and you leaned back some before you pushed back. You met in the middle, both hunched over Fred’s hands as you did the final coat.

“You already have a twin, Freddie,” you mumbled, fighting against Fred’s head to keep still and do a good job. 

“You’re much cuter than he is, though,” Fred sighed, leaning back and admiring his nails with a wide grin.

“Hey!” George scoffed, feigning offense as he entered the room and toweled off his shaggy hair.

“It’s true, mate,” Fred said, wiggling his fingers and resting them back on your knees, “easier on the eyes.”

You laughed and rolled your eyes, standing carefully so Fred’s wet nails didn’t get caught on you. 

“You can’t shower until those are dry,” you said, taking the nail polish and twisting the cap tight, “Which is a bummer, because you reek.”

George howled a laugh and Fred scowled at you. He stood, taking a playful step towards you before you held your hands out, “Ah! Can’t mess up your nails, Fred!”

George laughed again, slipping on a sweater over the shirt he had on.

“Where are you going?” Fred shifted his gaze from you to George, watching George gather his things into his school bag.

“Lee said he’d help me study for the Care of Magical Creatures Exam we have next week.”

“Interesting,” you drawled, looping your arm on the bedpost of George’s bed and swinging into his personal space, “because I can’t recall seeing Lee taking notes in Care of Magical Creatures this week. Or any other week, ever, for that matter.”

George blushed, playfully shoving your shoulder. You spun the other way, smiling at him as he gave you a rude gesture before he slammed the door shut.

Fred came up from behind you, wrapping his arms carefully around you and hovering his hands above your waist.

“Careful!” you yelped, taking his hands and inspecting the nails.

“Dorm to ourselves,” Fred murmured, leaning down to press his lips to the spot beneath your ear, “What to do with all this space?”

“What to do indeed,” you twisted in his arms, looking up at him, “Except watch your nails dry.”

You quirked a teasing brow, sliding out from his grasp and falling onto George’s bed. Fred groaned in distaste, falling onto his own bed and waving his hands frantically in an attempt to get them to dry faster.

---

Fred liked to credit himself for the idea of you painting his nails. You liked to think it was your idea. The origin got lost in the details, but the end result was undoubtedly the best decision either of you had ever made. 

Fred had always loved the way your hands looked on him. When he held your hands, the elegance and perfection of your hands in his made his heart stutter. He could watch the way your fingers looked as they slid up his chest for hours. 

What Fred was starting to love even more, though, was the way his hands looked on your body. He had taken to new positions when you made out in his dorm, small changes that he didn’t think you’d notice.

Fred twisted from where he planted himself between your legs, facing you and crawling up your body. He reached down and grabbed your thighs in each hand, his eyes trailing the movement as he did it, and pulled you down the bed so you laid flat. Fred heard your breath hitch, so when he leaned down to kiss you again, he was smirking. 

When he finally pulled away for air, he lifted off of you. His hands slid down your sides, the polish on his nails long chipped, and worked back up your sides, lifting your shirt. 

His eyes glazed over and he felt like his arms might give out, so he fell back onto you and nuzzled his face into the side of your neck. You let out a laugh that sounded like a punch of breath and brought your hands to his hair. His breath was hot against your neck and his eyelashes tickled a little, but you didn’t mind.

You tore one of his hands away from your hips, holding it out to the side of you both.

“Need a manicure, Freddie,” you teased, making a tsking sound as you ran your fingers over his nails, “No respectable boyfriend allows their nails to chip like this.”

Fred chuckled, sending more hot air onto your neck, and retracted his hand from your grasp.

“Get on it, then,” he mumbled, squeezing you tighter and flipping you both so you sprawled on top of him.

[skullrock]

the campers, chapter five

chapter five - the disappearance 

series summary: Steve gets a job as a camp counselor at Camp Know Where, intending on using the summer to discover himself. When things start to go wrong at camp, the only people that can help him are the Party, Hopper, and his mortal enemy - you. [Enemies to lovers, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort]

chapter summary: You struggle with your feelings for Steve; something sinister lurks in the woods.

warnings: swearin’!

word count: 5.7k (I know this is ridiculous but I do not apologize...)

a/n: the is The Chapter folks! you can catch up on the series here! a big thx to the catsluts for beta reading this and instilling confidence into me when I thot this series was going to die by my blade I love u

===

The next day is a Monday, and you have a two hour break between lessons. You head to the lake with Steve, intending to learn how to play the coveted Kayak Ball.

“Do not splash me.”

Steve quirks a brow. “Or what?”

“I’ll flip your kayak.”

“You don’t have the muscles -”

You move quickly, splashing him with your paddle. Steve laughs, splashing you back.

“This isn’t what I was promised,” you say. “I was promised a game involving a ball.”

Steve twists and grabs the ball he’d brought - red, slightly smaller than a dodgeball - and holds it up with one hand. “This is the ball we use.”

“And you just… hit it with the face of the paddle?”

“Yep.”

“Doesn’t seem so hard.”

“We’ll see,” he beams. “Paddle back a bit.”

You do, creating a distance between you two. “C’mon, Harrington, let’s go.”

Steve throws the ball in the air and whacks it with the face of his paddle. It spins towards you, and you hit it with the paddle, almost like it’s a baseball bat. Steve drops his paddle and catches it.

“Jesus Christ, it’s not a bat.” He puts the ball down and lifts the paddles again. “You use the momentum it has to just tap it with the paddle.”

“I’m not good at this,” you frown, putting your paddle down.

“You tried once.”

“And I know my limits.”

“Here,” he says, paddling towards you quickly. He positions his kayak beside yours and reaches out for you. “Let me show you.” He leans far, balancing himself and the kayak while wrapping his arms around yours. When his hands come over yours to show you how to hold the paddle to tap the ball, your heart speeds up.

And you realize that Steve has really, really nice arms.

And nice hands.

And he smells really incredible.

Your stomach flips, a heat spreading from your chest up to your face, shading it pink. You stop breathing momentarily as Steve lifts your arms, showing you how to face the paddle towards the ball.

“Like this,” he says quietly. “And then you just - tap!”

“Oh.” You feel tense, because Steve’s breath is on your neck, and it tickles, and wow, hey, that feels good, actually,and oh, shit, it should not feel good.

Steve leans back into his space, brows furrowed. “Are you okay?”

You turn to look at him, but you’re caught up in the little freckles that move down his jaw and to his neck. Steve leans forward. “Y/N?”

You shake your head, relaxing. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.”

“About how cool Kayak Ball is?”

You think quickly. “About how it would sound better if it was called Paddle Ball.”

Steve scrunches his nose. “That’s already a thing.”

“Is it?”

Steve smiles and shakes his head. “Guess nerds can’t know everything.”

You splash him with your paddle again, head still reeling a bit from the odd realization you had when his arms wrapped around yours. You want him away from you - he’s too close right now, and you’re starting to notice the blonde highlights in his hair. “Let’s try again.”

“You sure? I’m probably going to beat you, anyway.”

“Let’s go, Steve!”

He flashes you a smile and paddles away, allowing you to swallow down the thoughts you just had.

You felt absentminded the rest of the game, continuously messing up, trying not to look at him. You were at war with yourself, trying to understand what the hell just happened. Maybe Steve was attractive - there’s no harm in that, right? It seems like basic knowledge to everyone else at camp, so why can’t it be basic knowledge for you? Admitting that he’s cute doesn’t mean anything, right? Or does it? Are you still in some odd competition with him? Would you have lost if you liked him? Oh, God, do you like him?

“Hey,” Steve calls. “Are you okay over there?”

Your eyes had focused on the water instead of on Steve. You look back to him. He’s frowning, looking at you with concern.

You shake your head. “I’m just thinking about stuff. I’m sorry.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot, too,” he admits, resting his paddles. “You don’t have to be sorry.”

“What have you been thinking about?”

Steve smiles and looks down to the water. “How happy I am here.” He looks up. “How happy I am that we’re friends.”

You can’t stop the blush that rises. “And why are you so happy that we’re friends?”

“I don’t know,” he says, shrugging. “I guess I just think we get along really well.” He pauses. “Well - now we do.”

You smile softly. “Yeah, I think we do, too.”

You both stare at each other for a while, just smiling, before you realize what you’re doing. You check your watch and sigh. “Shit, I’ve gotta go to my next lesson.”

Steve clears his throat and looks away. “Oh - yeah, me too. We’re taking a hike today.”

“You sure you can handle that?”

“Probably not.” He points to himself with his thumbs. “I’m definitely outta shape.”

“Shut up,” you hiss. “You’re in perfect shape.”

“You thi-”

“Have you talked to Mia yet?”

Steve tenses slightly. While he’s very interested, something just feels off about seeing someone at camp. It’s a bit convoluted, he thinks - what’s he going to do when camp ends? He doesn’t just want to make out and leave. He wants more than that. And he’s not super sure if he’s going to find that with someone here. Still, he had talked to Mia at breakfast, and they agreed to have dinner together. She was beautiful - dark skin, dark hair, charming eyes. So he doesn’t know what his apprehension was.

“We’re having dinner tonight,” he responds, voice a bit stiff.

“You mean sitting together in a crowded cafeteria?”

Steve huffs. “I’m not sure what else there is to do.”

“Take her for a walk,” you suggest. “At sunset. On the lakeshore. That’s romantic.”

He shrugs. “I guess.”

“When was the last time you talked to a girl?”

Steve’s chest twists. “It’s been a while.”

“Just give it some time. She thinks you’re cute. It’ll work out.”

You start to paddle back to the shore, and Steve calls out to you. “See you later?”

“Sure!” you call back. “As long as you don’t get lost in the woods!”

Steve wonders why you always say that, but he realizes it actually is quite on the nose.

===

You didn’t expect to have an identity crisis over Steve Harrington, but here you were.

You pace your dorm that same night before heading to dinner, talking to yourself out loud. “He’s just cute. He’s cute. That’s it! Thinking he’s cute doesn’t mean I’m attracted to him.” You take a deep breath. “He’s just cute.”

But it didn’t help that Steve had changed so much. You couldn’t even call back to the memories of him being an asshole, because they weren’t relevant anymore. Well, they were, but you can’t hate the present Steve for it. He’d obviously gotten better. He was a dork, he was funny, he was kind, he smelled like pine and berries and -

“Shit!” you sigh, falling onto your bed. You press the heels of your hands into your eyes, as if it would erase him from your memory.

You hear a knock on your door and another counselor, Brooke, pokes her head in. “You comin’ to dinner?”

You sigh and sit up. “I guess.”

“What’s your damage?” she asks. “You look hung up on something.”

“Nothing,” you say, standing and grabbing a jacket from the closet.

“You’ve been so upset this year. Is it because of Steve?”

You whip around to face her. “It’s not because of Steve!”

Brooke holds her hands up in defense. “Christ, okay. Then what’s it about?”

You pause, the fire in your eyes dimming. “Does - does thinking someone is conventionally attractive mean you like them?”

She scoffs. “What? No. You can say someone is cute but not like them.” She walks around you and sits on your bed. “But who is it?”

“Brooke -”

“You gotta tell me. It’s the rules.”

You sigh heavily. The cabin had made a pact that they’d tell anyone about their crushes - and all that got you was everyone talking about Steve. Now you’re thinking about Steve just like they are, and it gives you heartburn.

“They go to another school,” you say slowly.

“Cut the shit,” she says. “Is it Josh?”

You freeze - Josh! He’ll do. “How’d you know?”

Brooke beams. “I just know. You guys have this cute little love-hate relationship.”

Love-hate. It makes your stomach turn. “You got me.”

“C’mon,” she says, standing and taking your arm. “Let’s go to dinner and spy on him.”

In theory, it was a good plan - but you knew you’d be looking at Steve the whole night.

===

By the end of the week, you feel like the crisis has been averted. Mia and Steve were eating meals and spending their free time together, and the distance put between you two helped. You chalked it up to your brain going crazy over nothing, anxiety grasping at straws. You were starting to feel happy for him and Mia, who seemed to be having a good time together.

Steve sits with you instead of her Friday at lunch, though. Outwardly he passes it off like it’s not a big deal, but he knows he’s fucking up. He just needs some separation is all, and he hadn’t seen you in a while. He just wanted to catch up - that was it. Nothing wrong with that, right?

“How was your week?” he asks. “Do anything fun?”

“Not really,” you admit. “What about you?”

He shrugs. “Been okay.”

“Just okay?” you laugh. “You and Mia seem to be having fun.”

He stiffens just as he did on the lake. “Yeah, it’s been good.” He clears his throat. “So - I took the kids on a hike Monday.”

“Right, how’d that go?”

“Really great,” he says. “We found a really nice waterfall and the water’s deep enough to swim in.” His eyes light up. “We should go!”

You pause. “Yeah, sure. That sounds… fun. When?”

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“I am,” you say slowly. “Uh - should Mia come?”

“She’s got a project to do with her class. Is that okay?”

No, you think. You’re afraid of being alone with him again, afraid of the feelings coming back. “It’s cool.”

“What about two? It’ll give us time to sleep in.”

“Let’s meet at the fire pit,” you say, collecting your things. Your anxiety was creeping back in, face flushing. “Two o’clock.”

“I’ll see you then.”

As you walk away, Steve watches. He’s not sure what his deal is, but he really likes hanging out with you. He’s not sure if it’s relief from making amends with you, or something else. He just knows he enjoys your company - maybe even a bit more than he enjoys Mia’s.

He shakes that thought out of his head, though, and goes to gather his things. But the kids suddenly appear, slamming their trays down in an array around him. Suzie’s accompanied them, acclimating well with the group.

“Hey, lovebird,” Dustin says, smiling.

Steve’s stomach churns. “Don’t call me that.”

“It’s nice to see you with a girl that likes you back,” Max says. Steve glares at her, but he knows she’s just kidding.

“Can we talk about anything else,” Mike groans, and El swats his arm gently, shushing him.

“What’s her name again?” Will asks.

“It’s Y/N,” Lucas responds casually, beginning to go ham on a jell-o cup.

Dustin and Steve both freeze. Steve’s blood feels cold in his veins and his eyes widen. “What?” he asks hoarsely.

Lucas looks up, mouth full of jell-o. “That’s her name, right? The one you were just sitting with?”

Steve feels sick. “No, I’m seeing Mia.”

The table goes silent, and Max kicks Lucas under the table. He throws an arm out, apologizing to her with his eyes, and Mike almost cackles. He doesn’t for fear of retribution from El.

“Sorry,” Lucas says, turning to Steve. “You guys just hang out together a lot.”

“Yeah, we’re friends,” Steve says defensively.

“Had me fooled,” Lucas shrugs.

Max turns to him with wide eyes. “You are so tone deaf!”

“What? Am I wrong?”

Everyone’s quiet, because he isn’t. It seems very obvious from their outside perspective that Steve is into you, except he isn’t. Or maybe he is. He can’t really unpack that right now.

“Gotta go,” Steve mumbles, grabbing his tray and heading off. Dustin gets up, patting Suzie on the arm to tell her I’ll be right back.

Dustin catches Steve just outside. “Don’t listen to them.”

Steve runs his hand through his hair, the other resting on his hip. “I don’t - I don’t want people to think….” He can’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

But Dustin understands. “Do you?”

“What? No,” Steve says quickly. “We’re just friends, Dustin, honest.”

Dustin nods. “Then don’t worry about what they think.”

Steve runs his hand through his hair again. “I’ll try. ‘m gonna try to find Mia.”

“Good luck, my liege.”

Steve rolls his eyes, but smiles softly. He extends his arms for them to do their handshake, starting to giggle about halfway through. He gently punches Dustin’s shoulder when they’re finished. “You mean a lot to me, dude.”

Dustin grins toothily. “Go get your girl.”

Steve salutes and walks off, but his good mood falters. He considers cancelling your plans tomorrow, but pushes past that. You’re just friends. You’ll always be friends. A simple hike and swim tomorrow isn’t going to change that.

===

The next day is gloomy, but it’s good for hiking. The air is cool on your bare arms as you and Steve head off into the woods, small bags in tow.

“It’s about three miles in, so I hope you don’t mind a hike,” he says, rolling his shoulders to adjust the straps of his bag.

“That’s the point of this, isn’t it?”

He rolls his eyes and elbows you gently. “Don’t forget swimming.”

“Did you find it yourself?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure I’m not the first person to find it,” he explains. “We don’t have waterfalls in Hawkins, so it’s pretty neat.”

“You sound easy to please.”

“I am,” he grins. “Can’t you tell?”

“Do you live by the woods?”

“Oh, God, yeah,” he says. “My backyard is lined with them. It’s kind of all there is in Hawkins.”

“Do you like them?”

Steve goes quiet, remembering all the bad that’s happened in them.

“I’ll take that as a no,” you say.

“They can be… intimidating,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “These woods aren’t like those ones at all.”

“How so?”

“Well,” he starts. “These ones are brighter. More welcoming. The trees aren’t too thick, so the sun can come through. It’s easier to see through them.”

“Scared something’s hiding there, Stevie?”

He blushes at the nickname, but he frowns. He stares straight ahead and avoids the question. You glance at him and then back at the trail, the silence not bothering you so much. You just appreciate the company, even if it makes you anxious.

Eventually, you both come across a clearing, a waterfall and swimming hole centered in the middle, surrounded by trees and rocks and moss. It was beautiful, and you whisper, “Holy shit,” out loud.

“Pretty nice, huh?” Steve smiles.

“You’ve really outdone yourself.”

He smiles over at you and you head to it, putting your bags down. Steve takes his shirt off, rolling it up and shoving it into his bag, keeping his shorts on to swim in. You divert your eyes from him as you peel off your own shirt and shorts, leaving you in a bathing suit.

Steve stares, and you blush heavily. “What?”

He blinks. “I feel underdressed.”

You sigh in relief and fold your clothes. “That’s your fault.”

You both get in, gasping the entire time because the water is so god damn cold, and wade for a while to get used to it. The cold water brings you to your senses a bit, and you feel more comfortable with him. You smile cheekily at him and say, “It’s nice to be somewhere that we can actually splash each other.”

His eyes get wide. “Don’t splash my hair.”

“Why? Don’t want the product to run out of it?”

He whips his arm and splashes you with water, making you gasp and shout. You rear up to splash him back, but he lunges for you, pulling your arms down.

“Don’t,” he laughs, tugging on your arms before pulling away. “I’ll sue you.”

“Your dad has a good lawyer, huh?”

It’s a low blow, but it only slightly hurts. “Of course.”

You both talk and wade for hours, the water slowly starting to feel warm on your skin. The clouds hang heavy in the air, but the atmosphere is light around Steve. He does some stunts for you, like front flipping off of a peak, and you clap sarcastically for him. He stops after a while, resting in a shallow part of the water as you float in the deep end.

“Steve?” you ask.

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

He laughs, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Are you still having nightmares?”

He stills and frowns. “No, I haven’t had any.”

You’re silent for a moment. “Do you usually have them?”

“I do when I’m at home.”

You’re quiet again, the sound of the water taking up the silence. “It sounds like a lot of bad stuff happened at home.”

Steve can’t help but to laugh, as it’s the understatement of the century. You frown at him, and he shrugs. “You could say that.”

“Do you want to talk?”

“It’s okay.”

“Well, I’m here for you.”

“I just don’t get it,” he says after a moment, pulling himself out of the water.

You furrow your brows and laugh. “What don’t you get?”

“How you’re so nice to me.”

You laugh again, confusion etched on your face. “Am I always an asshole or something?”

“No,” he says quickly. “I just… after everything….”

You frown and swim to him, resting your forearms on the rock he’d climbed out onto. “Do you want me to be an asshole?”

“No. I just - I deserve… you shouldn’t be nice to me.”

You pull yourself out now, sitting beside him, frowning more. You look at him for a while, pulling your knees up to your chest. Finally, you whisper, “You said you don’t remember.”

“I don’t,” he says softly, staring at the moss that stretched up the cold stone. “I just... don’t remember.”

You feel anger bubbling in your gut. “How don’t you remember?”

“I remember some things.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I remember one time I tripped you and you fell on the gravel. I remember that your blood was so red. I remember feeling so bad, but I made my friends laugh, and that was more important to me.”

You turn to him, pointing to a long scar on your knee. “You did this that day.”

He stares at it for a long while before looking up at you, tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

You soften a bit. “What else do you remember?”

“I remember when Tommy stole your clothes from the pier. I remember telling him to stop, but he asked me if I was a pussy, and I didn’t want to be… so I just. Let him do it.”

“That sucked,” you say. “That really fucking sucked.”

“I can’t even imagine,” he says, so quietly that you can hardly hear him. He shakes his head slightly. “Everything else I remember doesn’t matter. I don’t know if it’s from concussions or what. I just… try so hard to forget who I was. But it doesn’t work.” He sniffles. “Because I know… I know that I did those things. And I’m sorry I can forget while you have to remember.”

It’s quiet for a while. You absentmindedly trace your scar with your index finger, brows furrowed hard. It’s odd to feel like this around him - like you’re mad, but you’re not. Because you have a memory that you kept, buried deep down, because you didn’t want to remember the good he did.

But he did good things.

“There was one time at night,” you start. “We were playing tag. And it was so pretty. The sky was pink and the fireflies just started to come out.” You look at him. “Do you remember?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“It was stupid,” you say, starting to smile. “The game, I mean. We all kept cheating because we didn’t want to lose. We’d say that we weren’t actually touched when we were. It made the game complicated.” You press your lips together for a moment. “And then Tommy… he just. Shoved me.” You mimic it, how hard he pushed at you. “And I fell right on my face in mud.”

Steve’s tense, his hands clenched into fists, holding the fabric of his wet shorts within them. You can almost see a vein popping out of his temple, his jaw clenched so tight, and you want to reach out and smooth it. But you continue.

“And I was so pissed. I could have murdered him, Steve. And I wanted to cry, because I had mud, like, everywhere. And I felt so dumb and stupid and - it hurt, you know? But then you came out of nowhere when Tommy ran away.” You pick at some grass, growing through a crack in the stone. “I thought you were there to finish me off. But you took off your shirt, and you cleaned me up. Best as you could, with a dry shirt.”

Steve turns to you quickly, his features softening. He furrows his brows and shakes his head slightly in disbelief.

“It’s true,” you say. “It happened. And I just stared at you, like, what the hell are you doing? But you kept cleaning me up. And you kept asking if I was okay, and you kept saying you were sorry. And I thought that was so weird, because you didn’t do it. You could apologize for Tommy, but not for yourself.” You smile sadly. “Maybe because it was Tommy and the others the whole time.”

“No,” Steve says. “It was me. I did those things.”

“You did,” you agree. “But you didn’t have… y’know, pure malicious intent. Because you’re good, Steve Harrington. Right to your core.”

Steve doesn’t understand why you’re saying this. Why you’re coddling him. Why you’re making excuses for him. He’s felt shitty for so long, about everything - about high school, about being a shitty boyfriend, about being a child bully.

“I don’t… you - I don’t deserve this,” he says weakly.

“Maybe not.” You smile slightly. “But I’ll still say it.”

He looks back at the moss, shoulders relaxing, and you can’t help but to reach out for him. You lace your fingers through his and squeeze, like you did at the bonfire and on the shore. You bring it close to you, resting it on your knee, your hand still locked in his.

“What matters is that you’ve changed,” you say. “And I know you have. Everyone knows you have. You’re not who you used to be. And, yeah, you’ll always carry that person with you. But they’re only a fraction of what you are now. And you’re good now. You’ve always been good… you were just… misguided.”

“I don’t deserve this,” he repeats, and you elbow him gently.

“You deserve every good thing. You’re sweet and kind and caring, and you’re funny, even if you’re dumb sometimes.”

He looks at you, giving you a tear filled smile. “Yeah, I’m pretty stupid sometimes, huh?”

You lean into his side, squeezing his hand once more. “Only sometimes. You’re smart in your own way.”

A silence stretches over you two again. You feel so comfortable here, in the silence with Steve - his warm hand in yours, soft and smooth and big, your side nuzzled into his. It should scare you, but it doesn’t. It just feels right.

Steve wants to tell you everything. He wants to tell you about the last three years - about having his ex girlfriend’s best friend die in his pool, so he can’t use it anymore; how he almost died because some dickhead tried to beat him to death for standing up for a kid; how his ex girlfriend called him bullshit and left him for someone he was told not to worry about; how he was drugged and trapped in a secret Russian base under his part-time job. He wants to spill it all; he wants to hear your words of encouragement, soothing his wounds like aloe. He wants to hear you call him brave, and strong. He wants to hear a lot of things from you - and it’s scary, but good. He knows he can’t, but he wants to, and it kills him.

Instead, he decides to share some things he does remember with you.

“I remember some other things,” he says. “Good things.”

“Like?”

He smiles. “You used to wear your hair in those pigtails with pink scrunchies.”

“God,” you laugh. “Don’t bring that up.”

“And you would laugh so loud.” He laughs with you. “You could hear it from the other side of camp.”

“It’s still loud,” you say.

“It’s nice,” he says. “You used to be so quiet except for your laugh. I always liked it.”

You pull away from him slightly, narrowing your eyes at him. “No way.”

“Yes, way,” he says. “I always wanted to -” And he stops, staring at you, smile faltering.

“Always wanted to what?”

“Y’know,” he whispers. “Be the one to - to make you laugh.” He quirks his brows and shakes his head, looking down. “I don’t mean it like that.”

You want to ask him “like what?” so desperately, more than anything - but you stay quiet, averting your eyes as well. Steve unravels his hand from yours, leaving you feeling cold, and he clears his throat.

“I told you, I remember a lot of insignificant things,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

You quirk your head. “Memories of me are insignificant?”

He looks at you, shocked. “No. Memories of you are some of the best I have.”

You feel like you’ve fallen through a trapdoor, the breath knocked out of you. It’s bizarre, how he remembers you so fondly, while you’ve remembered him as being the person who ruined your life. It almost makes you angry, but he looks so innocent sitting before you - his eyes soft, slightly frowning, brows knitted together. You have the urge to reach out for him again until your senses kick in - this is wrong, this is all wrong, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

You stand quickly. “It’s getting late, we should probably head back before it gets dark.”

Steve frowns, unsure if he upset you or not, but he pulls himself up. He’s pretty sure he didn’t mean anything by it, at least. It’s true - the few good memories he has of you always make him smile, make him feel warm and good. He’s never unpacked that, and he has no intentions to. It’s just memories. You’re not that little girl anymore, and he’s not that little boy. It doesn’t matter.

You gather your things, throwing your dry clothes back on over your wet ones, and take off. It’s only about six, but the clouds in the sky make it seem darker, almost more sinister. You don’t think much of it, but Steve notices, putting him on high alert.

About a mile into the walk, a deer approaches the two of you, getting incredibly close. You gasp with glee, looking at Steve to see if he’s seeing this.

“Look how close it is!”

But Steve’s filled with dread. Something’s not right. He claps to see if it runs off, but it doesn’t.

“What the hell?” you ask him. “It’s just a deer. We’re like princesses right now.”

Steve’s hardly listening, surveying the land, and then he realizes - the woods are dead quiet.

“What’re you -”

“Shh!” He holds his hand out to beckon you to be quiet, and you shut up quickly. Steve’s typical goofy behavior is gone, replaced with a hard face and a tense body. You’d never seen him like this, even when he’s obviously remembering something that’s upset him. It makes you scared, and you take a step closer to him. “Steve?”

“Listen,” he whispers, frozen in place.

You strain your ears. “I don’t hear anything.”

He looks over at you, eyes wide. “Exactly.”

At this point, the deer has gone away, leaving the two of you alone. You feel a bit eerie, but try to brush it off. “Steve, it’s alright.”

Steve scans the woods again, thankful for the space between the trees, before relaxing. He wraps an arm around you, walking you down the path. “Let’s go.”

You shrug him off of you, because you like the weight of his arm on you too much. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he says. He doesn’t want to admit that he has a bad feeling - like maybe if he shoves it down, it won’t amount to anything. “It’s just weird, that’s all.”

You start to wonder if maybe this is what his nightmares are about, the woods. You want to ask, but you know he won’t open up about it. So you continue to walk beside him, your mind wandering off to him. The spikes of anxiety do nothing to keep the thoughts of Steve out, as much as you wish they would. You wish you could forget him like he forgot you. You wish you could forget his dumb, long hair, with highlights, and how his lips always look glossy, and how strong his arms and hands are. You wish so desperately to forget, and by the time you return to camp, you feel sick.

Steve’s relaxed by then, thankful that everything at camp seems fine. His smile is back, and he’s walking a little slower. “You going to dinner?”

“I think I should go to bed,” you say, voice hoarse. “I feel a little sick.”

He frowns. “Was it something I did?”

“No,” you explain quickly. “Just the excitement, I think.”

“Do you want me to grab you something and bring it to you? Or maybe Mia could -”

Your stomach twists painfully. “I’m okay, Steve. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You march off to your cabin quickly, forcing tears back until you can collapse on your bed. Your roommate is luckily out, so you shut the door, fling yourself on your bed, and start crying.

Every horrible emotion runs through you - sadness, anger, guilt, fear, remorse. It hits you like a tidal wave, leaving you shaking. So many thoughts go through your head. Thoughts that you never thought that you’d ever have.

It’s official - you’re into him. You like him. It’s a new feeling, foreign for you. You never once had a lick of attraction towards Steve until this summer, and it’s hit you so quickly that you hardly have time to recover. It should be a happy thought. It should be good, and freeing. But it’s everything but that. It’s scary, and horrific, and anxiety inducing.

You could have been friends. You could have gotten along. You both could have been lifelong friends, ones that turned to lovers. You could have sent each other letters when you weren’t at camp, ones that were riddled with confessions and feelings. You could have been there for each other, even if it didn’t turn to romance. You could have had a friend. The memories Steve had shared with you hurt, because he was never bad, and yet he was. It confuses you. It makes you mourn for what you could have had.

If you ever see Tommy Hagan again, you’ll hit him on sight.

On the other hand, you’re longing for something with Steve now. The new Steve, the one who’s dorky and funny and charming. Caring, kind, sweet. You want it so desperately that it rips you up inside, makes your chest feel empty. And you know, without a doubt, nothing will ever happen. Nothing can ever happen. He’s your childhood bully and new friend. Nothing could happen between you two. Your pride is too big, and Steve’s with someone else. Someone youhad set him up with.

You feel like an idiot. For liking him now and hating him then. For ever hating him. For ever liking him.

You cry heavily, burying your face into your pillow, and contemplate your next steps, when the door bursts open.

You flip over, annoyed that your feelings were interrupted. Your roommate Jen is in the doorway, her eyes wide and face flushed, panting heavily. Your protests die on your lips and you jump up. “What happened?”

“One of the campers,” she pants. “They’re missing.”

===

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[rvmmm21]

. you’re gonna spaghet it .

summary : a home-cooked meal and a baking show is too much to ask for. but only when the person asking is seungwan.

small note : i'm tentatively back. and here's the worse news. you get this pile of 'what-the-fic-is-this?!' before i start clonking you over the head with my leg of yandere ham.

think of it as your pre-christmas coal in your stocking.

(this sat in my drafts for so long its not even funny. if i had a cent for every second i spent thinking about whether i wanted this out here, i'd have accumulated enough for the plane ticket, the lawyers and the hospital fees to fly over to SM to clonk them myself.)

just for tumblr. if you want to read this but in pretty, it’s here.

tw : tickling, probably many grammar errors because i do not know how to write anymore, and my cretinous knowledge of how tv recordings work.

[irene x white-winged dove!wendy]

. . .

[6:15pm] A mischievous smile tugs at her lips when she sees how Seungwan struggles.

. . .

Bae Joohyun blithely watches her girlfriend titter around the kitchen preparing vegetables for the chopping board. When the sound of water beginning to boil reaches attentive ears, she secretly smiles at the melodious hum of a happy tune.

Everything is going as planned!

However.

Pangs of guilt are beginning to tweak at Joohyun’s conscience. Because what she really wants to do is not to be a good girlfriend and offer a hand at stirring the pot. She doesn’t even want to sit patiently and wait to hear Seungwan sing out for her when dinner’s ready.

No. Joohyun wants to play. And she knows who she wants to play with. Even though it’s going to be a complete setback to the lovely night she’s sure her Wannie has planned out for them.

It was Seungwan’s idea to cook tonight, then eat together while they watch their favourite TV program. Pfft, ‘their favourite’. What Joohyun really means is she’ll happily watch the season finale of the unorthodox cooking show her girlfriend is currently obsessed with.

. . .

“It gives me ideas, unnie,” Seungwan had explained when, about a week ago, Joohyun had walked in on a very experimental game of muffin-making.

The latest episode of “Baking for the Seoul” flashed through Joohyun’s memory.

“Don’t the ingredients have to be… in the bowl, though?” she asked incredulously, eyes searching for any part of their countertop that was actually visible.

“Hm?” Seungwan looked up, wiping the frosting off her nose… with the wrong hand.

Joohyun raised an eyebrow. “And which one are we putting in the oven, your sludge mix or you?” She inquired, now searching for any part of her girlfriend’s face – that was actually visible.

When the girl in question stayed concentrated, apprehension bubbled in her gut at the state of that exceptionally thick bowl of frosting. She surreptitiously strained to peer behind a thoroughly battered Seungwan, trying her hardest to not actually step foot into the kitchen.

Her girlfriend has this… ‘thing’ about work space. Especially the kitchen.

“Wan-ah,” Joohyun’s tone was equal parts warning and concern. “You didn’t get any on your wings, did you… that frosting looks too thick and last time you got yourself all mucky, remember we had to – ”

“It’s fine it’s fine, look! I’m being careful!” Seungwan quipped cheerfully, pirouetting round to give a worried Joohyun a glimpse of her wings which were nicely folded through each designated slit in the back of her sky-blue jumper.

The latter breathed a sigh of relief when she saw them; all white, fluffy and – most importantly – clean. She inwardly shuddered at how much of a nightmare that bath was. Thank god she’s behaving this time, she thought.

Although momentary relief didn’t stop her from contemplating an alternative method of keeping her mind at ease.

But the thought of having Seungwan wear her wing guards in their own home tugged at her unpleasantly. It was bad enough she had to have them on when they were out in potentially stressful situations. So she wouldn’t accidentally hurt herself or anyone around her… which had unfortunately happened once or twice before. It was clearly a burden to go about so obviously restricted, and despite Seungwan’s insistence on having grown used to them, Joohyun could always feel how upset she’d get whenever she was helping to do the clasps up behind her.

Definitely no wing guards then. And if that meant Joohyun would be bruising her knees for hours on end trying to keep dense baking mix and her messy baby bird two separate entities, then she’d happily do it.

Whatever kept Seungwan chirping.

Plus, her little chef looked damned determined, so she thought it appropriate to slip in one last passing remark before plucking a banana from the rack. “Yah, Wannie! Let me know if I’m gonna have to pick out birdie feathers from my cupcakes, okay?”

Seungwan grumbled something along the lines of a ‘hm, yeah whatever unnie’ in response.

Joohyun just laughed, heading back to their room and leaving the mastermind to her latest trial.

> > > > > 

[7:00 p.m] Seungwan doesn't know which she finds more horrifying: what Joohyun intends to do to her or the fact that they're going to have to have take-away two nights in a row.

. . .

It should’ve been a simple mission.

Retrieve a fresh packet of spaghetti from the topmost shelf.

Her attempts are… laughable. She’s clearly doing her best.

Though she doesn't realise it yet, she’s still being watched. From the living room, Joohyun is watching. And she isn’t laughing. Hands ball into unconscious fists as a tight wave of numbness washes over her at how adorable Seungwan looks.

Just… like that: both wings tucked against her back, beautiful and neat as their owner. Strained muscles from reaching for something Joohyun already knows she’s going to have to help out with. And the tiny grunts when fingertips barely graze the edges of the packet.

Seungwan looks so soft, so frustrated. So vulnerable.

A small spike of inexplicable adrenaline leads Joohyun to head over to the huffing, moon-hopping girl.

She really needs to teach her little dove that being this cute comes with a price.

. . . 

When a lithe body slides up behind her and presses against her back, Seungwan’s wings give a gentle flutter to mimic the stutter in her heart. She sighs affectionately at the pair of hands resting low on her hips.

The task is almost forgotten. Almost.

Unnie’s here to help, Seungwan thinks… ever so mistakenly.

“Hyun – ahh,” she’s interrupted by a slight shiver when the tip of her right wing is stroked between a finger and a thumb, delicately running across pure, downy feathers. A tried and tested (Bae Joohyun-certified) method of getting the girl absolutely weak.

Judging by the sound of strained breaths filling the space between them, it’s working.

Alas, dinner hasn’t been cooked, the sun’s setting and Seungwan’s time-management brain is screaming at her to get a move on. She points to the shelf, trying her hardest to block out the dangerously wonderful feeling. “Could you – could you please get that for me?”

Instead of complying, Joohyun chuckles, moving her hands from her back to glide them lightly up and down her sides. She isn’t surprised that Seungwan is already shivering, terribly overwhelmed from that alone.

Her smirk twitches when she feels the smaller girl squirm.

Seungwan has always been like this… so responsive, so susceptible to touch. Her touch. She’s jelly in her clutches, and even Joohyun has to admit that sometimes she really doesn’t deserve to be.

Sneaky hands grow bolder, finding their way under the hem of Seungwan’s fleecy jumper to continue tracing teasing lines against soft, sensitive skin.

“But it’s so cute to watch you struggle, baby,” Joohyun coos, beginning to rest more of her weight into Seungwan’s hips, keeping her trapped against the kitchen counter.

“U-unnie,” Seungwan tries, half-heartedly writhing against Joohyun’s hold, torn between wanting to cook dinner and wanting to be dinner. “Not – ah… not right now… it’s already late, we have to – ”

“And you smell so nice. Is this new shampoo?” Joohyun presses her nose into her nape, cutting her short, nuzzling into that pleasant fruity shampoo scent. She then pauses to nudge Seungwan’s legs suggestively ajar with her knee before leaning in to whisper into a ruby-tipped ear. “ Should I give you a reason to shower again later, hm?”

The younger’s eyes widen at the sinful implication.

Gosh, really? Right now? In the kitchen?

The kitchen. The place she cooks and handles food? (Sure, Joohyun will – once in a blue moon – dice the odd carrot or something, but that certainly does not give her the right to be making any unauthorised, hormonal messes for her to clean up). She must be off her rocker if she thinks Seungwan’s going to allow her precious workstation to be tainted by what she can already foresee to be copious amounts of bodily fluid just because someone can’t keep it in their pants.

It snaps something inside her. And – with all the strength neither of them knew she possessed – Seungwan wrenches out from under Joohyun’s weight with a firm “YAH! Stop fooling around!”, sending the older woman stumbling a few steps back.

For a second, they’re just as stunned and disbelieving as each other; Seungwan at her own apprently dormant Herculean strength –

– and Joohyun at the sheer audacity.

Then again, could this be any more timely?

God, Joohyun could kiss herself.

She straightens her blouse, putting on her best ‘I-can’t-believe-you’ve-done-this’ expression, and turning to lock the now slightly (and rightfully so) terrified-looking Seungwan with a stare. This is the best part. The part where she just glares, secretly gleeful as the other girl absolutely crumbles with apprehension.

The part where Seungwan thinks it’s her fault.

“Uh oh,” she tuts, sporting a grin to match that mischievous glint in her eyes, “someone’s in trouble, aren’t they?”

Seungwan is, of course, at a total loss for words, but she fumbles around anyway, desperate to justify whatever the hell she’s just done. It’s almost too much for Joohyun to handle, watching her dig her own grave like this.

Finally, Seungwan tries to back up, only to let out a sharp gasp when she trips over her own feet in her haste. She’s on the floor in seconds with Joohyun immediately following. There’s hardly a chance for her to get her bearings before she’s stuck on her back with a weight straddling her hips.

Seungwan goes wide-eyed. She might as well kiss the prospect of a candlelit dinner bye-bye… for tonight, at least.

“My clumsy, clumsy Wannie,” Joohyun mocks, holding herself above the smaller girl on her hands and purposely tangling their legs together. “Tonight was very thoughtful of you, baby, but I’m postponing our dinner plans to tomorrow night. I think we should order in, don’t you?”

“Ah unnie...” Seungwan groans, failing to ignore the way Joohyun’s predatory expression crayons her cheeks a soft pink, “we had take-away last night! I don’t wanna eat chicken aga – ”

“Then let’s get pizza,” Joohyun offers unhelpfully. She’s clearly got her own agenda that she’s determined to follow through with. “Okay? Hm, let’s see… you have to the count of five to agree with me or…”

She pauses to savour the panic in those deep brown eyes. “I’m going to have a very tired little birdie to take care of.”

That satisfied smirk leaves nothing to the imagination. Seungwan can practically read her fate on her girlfriend's rosy lips before they delve into hers, causing her eyes to roll back as they melt hotly into each other.

Seungwan hardly notices Joohyun lacing their fingers together until her eyes flutter open and she finds herself held down, arms stretched securely above her head. Joohyun adjusts her grip so she has both wrists pinned under one hand and the other free.

Ah, fuck, not again. Seungwan laughs emptily, fidgeting with high-strung premonition. When her one final struggle proves useless, she resorts to asserting herself with her voice. “Yah, unnie, I’m cooking tonight. Stop being annoying or you’re not getting fed.”

Ah, too easy.

Joohyun contemplates elaborating further. But she’s said enough. Besides, Seungwan doesn’t even deserve a response to that. That was a threat, wasn’t it? The prospect of starvation is a serious threat that should be promptly dealt with. And what do you do when you’re faced with a threat? Be that a burglar, a murderer or a very flustered Son Seungwan.

Tickle them. Obviously.

Joohyun leers over her, wiggling her fingers in anticipation. “Five…”

Seungwan’s eyes blow wide, and – with miserable luck – she renews her efforts at breaking free once again. “Hyun! Seriously?! You – I can’t believe you’re d – ”

“Four.”

“HYUN!”

“Three.”

“Okay! Okay! Let’s get pizza tonight! There, happy?! You can even choose the flav – ”

Seungwan hears a scoff above her. “Nope. Sorry Wannie. I made that decision. You’ve changed nothing.”

“YAH, YOU TRICKED ME YOU BIRDBRAIN! LET ME UP. YOU’RE SO DEAD!!”

One click of a tongue and Seungwan has never retracted any statement faster in her life.

“Okayokayokay! Sorry that was super mean! Please I – ”

“Two…”

Too late. She’s dead. She’s one hundred percent about to be on the list of the unfairly deceased.

Seungwan whines hopelessly. “Unnieeeee, you’re not being fair!”

It’s a ditch attempt, but one Seungwan doesn’t intend to miss. “OKAY SERIOUSLY I MEAN IT, GET OFF!”

Joohyun snickers. “One.”

With five fingers and wicked intent, she dives in.

. . .

A pair of pretty wings and an even prettier face make for an impossible choosing.

Even now, as she has Seungwan flat on her back with her eyes screwed shut and tears streaming down her face, she wants to flip her over so she can be blinded by white insulation. So those feathers can brush against her as she drives their owner to the brink of sanity.

She wants to feel her dove respond to what she does to her.

“Hyu – Hyun, p-please!”

Joohyun smirks down at her victim, who’s weakly pawing at the front of her blouse in what she can only assume is an attempt to get her to stop.

Pathetic.

Seungwan never fails to struggle. But then again, she never fails to forget that Joohyun, too, is much, much stronger than she looks.

All that tiresome squirming is easily dealt with. Only a fraction more pressure from Joohyun’s fingertips, and Seungwan’s arms fall to either side, limp and useless just like the rest of her. The only indication she’s even conscious is the violent trembling and – when she’s able to muster up the lung space – the occasional plea for mercy.

Even the laughter is silent.

Joohyun loves it this way. She loves having Seungwan all sweaty and flustered beyond belief; whenever and wherever she pleases, the younger girl is reduced to a quivering mess, trapped beneath her cruel dexterity.

So instead of getting the pasta boiling for a romantic dinner, Seungwan is graciously letting Joohyun have her one-sided fun while she’s forced to cough, splutter and laugh so hard her insides hurt. The reflex to try to buck Joohyun off or twist out of her clutches nips at her incessantly.

Although she really shouldn’t worm around like that, because it’s only making Joohyun’s job easier with how her jumper rides further and further up with every inch she wriggles away.

It almost makes Joohyun think her little songbird wants to be tickled.

“Aw,” she coos, playfully tweaking unintentionally exposed ribs. “So cute, Wannie. You want it here, too?”

Seungwan is breathless from the tickles before she’s even processed what Joohyun’s said. Those tantalising touches never linger on any part of her long enough for her to develop a resistance to them. Not that she could even if she tried. She’s as sensitive as Joohyun is skilled. And Joohyun strikes with dreadful precision, switching between light skittering and then deftly kneading her fingers into every spot that wrings Seungwan’s lungs for all they’re worth.

The smooth tile is cooling against her feathers, even if her wings are twitching beyond her control, trying their hardest to flip her over to give her some shot at escaping. She barely manages to crawl a few inches away before there’s a firm grip on her ankle, all but dragging her back because Joohyun sure as hell isn’t done with her that quickly.

Trying to get away? She cocks an eyebrow, scooting up to sit on Seungwan’s butt, pinning her hips to the floor.

“Oh no, my poor birdie’s flipped herself over,” she feigns concern, gently resting her palms on Seungwan’s wings, stilling their fluttering and holding them steady. The sight of them unfolded, outstretched from the struggle and completely exposed has Joohyun catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “Did you hurt yourself here, Wannie? You need unnie to kiss it better?”

Seungwan shrieks at a pitch that’d have every dog in the neighbourhood cowering when she feels a pair of pillowy lips settle on that excruciating spot right where the arch of her wings meet her back, where she absolutely cannot stand to be touched.

Even under normal circumstances, Seungwan had made her swear to never spring upon her like that. And of course, by virtue of that alone, it quickly became one of Joohyun’s favourite places to touch her.

Luckily she’s too distracted now to protest.

The ‘kisses’ aren’t any less torturous than ten fingers going all at once.

Poor, tired Seungwan hardly has the energy to writhe as Joohyun continues to press her hellish butterfly kisses all along the length of those oversensitive appendages, nosing into her feathers and ruffling them gently with her breath. The younger’s expression contorts into silent agony when she feels the fingers return, this time digging into her armpits. 

Fresh tears well up in the corners of her eyes as she lays there, flailing like a fish out of water, face down with zero leverage to combat her girlfriend’s merciless onslaught.

She’s as defenceless as a turtle on its back (or rather, a dove on its tummy). Her squirms are getting weaker, the laughter more strained, but it’s all so rewarding to her loving tormentor.

Seungwan is kept laughing till the hollow ring of the doorbell sounds through their apartment.

. . .

[An hour post stuffed crust pepperoni pizza with extra cheese]

 Joohyun enters their room just as her girlfriend is getting dressed for bed, freshly showered… again. She lets out a low chuckle when Seungwan catches sight of her in her peripheral vision and hastily pulls the loose necked pajama t-shirt over her head.

“How was dinner?” she asks, arms folded and leaning against the door.

Seungwan rolls her eyes and releases her hair from its bun. “Too much cheese. We need to drink lots of water tonight or we’ll be pufferfish in the morning.”

“Aw, is someone grumpy?” Joohyun gives an uncharacteristically exaggerated pout and the latter hides a shiver.

Good god, please someone save her.

“Unnie, of course I am. We’re going to eat reheated carbonara sauce tomorrow no thanks to you,” Seungwan bluntly retaliates. “You’ve had your fun, now can you stop talking to me like I’m five, please?”

Naturally, her request falls on selectively deafened ears.

“Yah, seriously,” she punctuates the severity by manually unfolding her trembling left wing and pointing at it. “Look. I’m still shaking because of you. Now you're done, I really – ”

That’s all the grumpy talk she’s allowed before Joohyun jump-tackles her onto their bed, pinning her to it and watching sheer panic etch into deep cinnamon irises.

“When did I say I was done?” she asks, suggestiveness tracing the edges of her tone. She hovers above her, bringing a hand up to cup her face.

Seungwan hisses a laugh. “Unnie, I have a limit too, you know. You can’t just keep finding excuses to tickle the crap out of – ”

She chokes on a gasp when she feels a hand – the one she’d been as good as tortured under not two hours ago – trailing down her stomach… slipping past the elastic of her panties and –

– it just reminds her why she’ll always let Joohyun have her fun.

Because no matter how much she laughs, screams, cries or begs, there’s always a reward. Much sweeter than anything Seungwan thinks she could ever bake. Their sex life is anything but stagnant, however this is, more often than not, Joohyun’s way of making it up to her afterwards (much to her approval).

Or maybe she just wants to drive Seungwan to the brink of losing her voice so she won't have to hear the nagging about the next episode of Baking For the Seoul.

Which, by the way, came out tonight. And Joohyun made them miss it. She had better be praying they’d be able to find a copy online somewhere.

Either way, it’s so much more gratifying after an eternity spent howling your lungs out on the floor. Seungwan’s full attention is lasered down to where Joohyun is now softly caressing her under the thin cotton barrier. The warm ache beginning to settle in between her thighs prompts her to try to squeeze them together, but Joohyun catches on and wedges her knees in between them, spreading her even further.

“Ah,” she raises a smug brow as she leans in to press her lips to the base of her ear. Her own eyes darken with lust in response to her little dove writhing helplessly below her. “Be a good girl for me, okay, baby?”

It’s late. Seungwan can barely keep her eyes open. Oh, but she aches so badly.

“Still grumpy, hm?” Joohyun murmurs questioningly, hot breath fanning over Seungwan’s neck and echoing goosebumps over her skin. She glances down at the bulge of her hand stretching the fabric, fingers already coated in slick. Her index finger rubs against Seungwan’s clit. “Feel good, Wannie?”

Hopelessly turned on, it’s all the other girl can do to whimper in agreement.

The pleasing sound of those soft whines escaping right into her ear turns Joohyun’s grin into something downright wolfish. She gives the swollen bud a few more leisurely strokes before retracting her hand completely, leaving Seungwan squirming in anticipation with whatever energy she has left.

Joohyun tastes the arousal on her fingertips. “Mm, I love how small you look right now, in my hands. So small and needy.”

Seungwan pants out a quiet “please, unnie”, clasping a shuddering hand over Joohyun’s and guiding it back down to the heat in her panties. She rolls her hips up into her palm, silently begging for her reward for being such a ‘willing’ participant in the one-sided games they played today.

After letting her gaze linger for a second, Joohyun shifts so she’s lying next to Seungwan. She slips her hand back in and squeezes firmly, revelling in the hoarseness of the girl’s voice. Velvety lips delicately map out her shoulder, and Seungwan has to fight to keep her eyes open to drink in the image of Joohyun pressed up against her, right hand cradled under her neck, propping her head up so they can both see the other one teasing her down her underwear.

It’s when Seungwan turns away to frustratedly pout at the suspense that Joohyun smiles and gives her a quick peck on the nose.

“I’ll continue if you promise not to pass out this time, okay baby bird?”

She bites back a snort watching Seungwan nod like she’s ever been able to stay awake after.

Then she has to bite back another because since when has she ever not continued even after being fed these empty promises, time and time again.

Anything to keep her precious Seungwan happy.

[maybeimamuppet]

city of love

hello friends! happy wednesday! this is a request fill for NoaAvrahami6 on Wattpad, who requested the art freaks going on a long vacation/ road trip, and there's a scene to fill a request from aster-alpine on Wattpad (@deadbreadrunning here) who requested them swimming with dolphins :)

also, quick note, I have done absolutely nothing they do in this story, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. I have definitely learned the lesson that is 'write what you know'. I did as much research as my brain could handle and now I know more than I ever wanted to about the Venus de milo.

quick tw for panic attacks, but otherwise, enjoy.

-

Janis is scheming.

Cady is a week away from completing her PhD in mathematics. All she has left to do is defend her dissertation and publish her work, and then she’ll find out if the last four years of work have been worth it. She deserves presents.

Janis has two ideas. The first, is a dog. They have a cat, which Cady had agreed to adopting as a get-well present when Janis had broken her arm several years ago. Elvira is well-loved and very spoiled, but Cady has been begging for a dog. No time like the present. Janis found a reliable rescue breeder who recently had a litter of golden retriever puppies, and would be taking Cady to pick one soon.

Her second idea is a trip. Cady loves to travel, but has been so busy for the last several years that they haven’t gotten an opportunity to go any further than their trips back home to Illinois since their honeymoon in Kenya. Janis has family on her father’s side in France, that she also hasn’t been able to see in several years.

So, she’s booking a flight, also deciding to let Damian come as a surprise. He had recently landed the lead role in a revival of Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway, so he deserves a present too. He doesn’t start rehearsals for another few months, which gives Janis the perfect window of opportunity.

She finds a flight with a few seats available for the evening Cady will (hopefully) receive her degree; a miraculously non-stop flight to Marseille, where her family lives. Janis figures they’ll stop there for a few days, and then travel to Paris to see some of the more iconic sights.

Janis books the tickets, figuring it’ll either be a happy surprise or a consolation trip, and knowing it’s very likely to be the former. She clears her browser history after, in case Cady gets an urge to snoop. Then, she figures she should probably let Damian know to prepare for an international trip in a week.

danis: hey u wanna go to france??

jamian: What did you do

danis: booked us a trip to france

jamian: Janis

jamian: Why

danis: bc my wife becomes a doctor in a week and deserves a gift, and i want you to come. and also bc you got seymour and deserve a gift too

jamian: Oh

jamian: That’s actually really sweet, Jan

danis: it’s my yearly act of goodwill

jamian: I figured lmao

jamian: When are we leaving?

danis: flights on friday at 7, i’ll pick u up. i wanna surprise caddy at her school and then we’ll go right to the airport

jamian: Aww how cute

jamian: Do you need Aaron to watch Ellie?

danis: oh shit yeah i forgot about that

danis: tell him i’ll bring him back whatever he wants as a thank you and a sorry i can’t bring you with us

jamian: U really forgot your whole cat

danis: no!!! i just forgot we can’t bring her!!! i’m a good cat mom!!!!!

jamian: You give her potato chips

jamian: Like on the reg

danis: because she likes them

danis: and i don’t give her enough to hurt her

jamian: Press x to doubt

jamian: Aaron said he’ll cat sit for some chocolates from France and lots of photos

danis: tits i can do that

danis: oh shit caddy’s home i gtg love u

jamian: Love you too tell her I say hi

danis: 📷

“Hey, Peanut, how was your day?” Janis asks gently. Cady lets her exhausted glare answer. “That good, huh? Do you want snuggles?” Cady nods, but signs that she wants to take a shower first. Her day must have been rough if she won’t speak. “Of course, baby, go ahead. I’ll wait for you in the bedroom.”

Cady signs a thank you in return, pecking her gently in greeting and scratching Elvira before heading into the bathroom. Janis decides to go the extra mile today and lights a nice candle in the bedroom, and pulls out a book to read to her. Cady loves the sound of Janis’ voice, so whenever her day has been especially tough they have story time, squeezing in as much of Janis’ voice and good snuggles as they can.

Cady doesn’t return until nearly 45 minutes later, in a set of Janis’ pajamas and with her hair neatly braided over her shoulder. Janis reaches for her, pulling her into a tight cuddle and squeezing gently in case she’s also having a sensory overload.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” She murmurs softly, scratching Cady’s scalp gently in the way that always makes her practically melt in Janis’ lap.

Cady sighs, burying her face in Janis’ chest further. “Just... a lot, today. I have a lot to do, and a lot is riding on this week. I’m gonna be stressed until Friday. And maybe after that, if I don’t make it.”

“You’re gonna make it, baby. You’re a genius, you did two degrees in the time most people do one. And you’ve been working so hard and carefully, I know you’re going to do it. And if you don’t, everybody at that school is catching these hands,” Janis replies.

Cady chuckles at that, finally poking her face out. She grunts slightly as Elvira suddenly jumps onto her back, joining their cuddle puddle happily. “Thanks, Bluejay. You’re... you’ve been the best partner I could’ve asked for, through all of this. I wouldn’t have even made it this far without you.”

“Yes, you would have,” Janis says. “But I’m glad I could be here for you. I love you.”

Cady inches her way up to Janis’ face so as not to disturb the cat snoozing on her back, but makes it and leans in for a kiss. “I love you too. Are you gonna read to me?”

“Yeah, if you want,” Janis replies. “Figured it might cheer you up a bit.”

Cady nods happily, cuddling into her and resting her head on her shoulder. She’s sound asleep before Janis even reaches the third chapter, so Janis sets an alarm and joins her in an impromptu nap.

————-

Cady barely speaks for the next few days, frantically studying, rehearsing, and proofreading everything. Janis is worried, but knows there’s not a lot she can do. She stays out of her way and brings her caffeinated teas and snacks from time to time.

The day before D-Day, Janis makes waffles for dinner, Cady’s favorite. Cady is still at the desk in their bedroom, where she’s been for nearly six days straight.

“Hey,” Janis says gently as she comes to drop off her plate. She usually eats her own dinner on the bed, spending time with Cady as she studies. But this time, Cady snatches her wrist once she sets the plate down and won’t let her leave. “You okay?”

Cady hasn’t looked at her yet, but doesn’t let go of her arm. She just stares at her massive book, clutching Janis’ wrist like a lifeline, like it’s the only thing holding her to Earth. Suddenly, she lets out a choked sob.

“Baby, hey,” Janis says softly. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t do this, Janis,” Cady cries desperately. “I-I dont-I can’t-“

“Hey, shh,” Janis hushes. “Come here, get away from this for now.” She picks Cady up from her chair and carries her to the bed, letting Cady lock tight around her and sob into her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t do it,” Cady wails. “It’s not good enough, and I’m- and I’m out of time, I can’t- I can’t do it!” She suddenly starts crying much harder, and is practically gasping for breath in between sobs.

“Baby, hey, look at me,” Janis insists, cupping her cheeks to look into her eyes. They’re wide and frantic, she looks terrified. She’s having an anxiety attack. Janis quickly tries to remember what she does for her own. The countdown strategy pops into her head, and she decides it’s worth a try. “Focus on me, okay? Tell me five things you can see.”

Cady chokes another sob and clings to her desperately, but manages to splutter out a reply. “Um-um... you-your face, and um-and... um... cat, and... the-and your p-painting, and the cl-the clock, and your tattoos.”

“Good, Butterfly,” Janis says gently. She holds Cady’s face again gently when she tries to look back to the desk. “No, hey, don’t look over there. Tell me four things you can hear.”

“There’s a-there’s a siren, outside,” Cady sobs. “And... and a bird, and... um... you talk-talking, and the-the cat. Chat-chattering.”

“You’re doing good, angel, breathe,” Janis says. “Three things you can feel.”

“Hold-holding me, you-you holding m-me,” Cady chokes. “And the-the bed. ‘S soft. And-and your hair. Tickles.”

“Another breath, baby. Two things you can smell,” Janis coaxes gently.

“Dinner,” Cady whimpers. “And you-your shampoo. Apples.”

“Almost done, baby, what’s something you can taste?” Janis asks, holding her tighter.

“Tea. From earlier,” Cady sniffles.

“Good job, Butterfly. Are you feeling any better?” Janis asks quietly, laying them down and squishing Cady on top of her. Cady nods slightly against her shoulder.

“A little,” she says quietly. She’s still crying, but sounds much less frantic. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, angel, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Janis says as she kisses her forehead. “Can you tell me what’s happening now?”

Cady takes a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts. “I’m scared. I’ve had years to get this right, get it perfect. It’s not. I don’t... I’m scared to defend it, what if I mess up, or... stutter or stim too much and I don’t pass?”

“If you don’t pass for stuttering or stimming during your speech then everyone grading you is fucking ableist and I will fight all of them,” Janis growls protectively. “But we can figure something out later if it worries you. And I’m positive your dissertation and thesis are wonderful. You’ve been working so hard, non-stop, for years. It may not be perfect, but if you’ve been doing anything but your best work all these years I’ll be stunned. You’re going to pass, and you’ll be Doctor Heron, and then I have a surprise for you to celebrate.”

“A surprise?” Cady asks quietly with a sniffle. “What did you get?”

“It’s a surprise, Peanut,” Janis chuckles. “You’ll find out tomorrow. But I think you’ll like it.”

“Okay,” Cady says so sadly that Janis wants to spoil everything now. But she manages to resist, knowing her reaction tomorrow will be better. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby. Eat with me, you need a break,” Janis says as she grabs Cady’s plate from the desk. “Bed picnic.”

Cady reaches for her just barely warm waffles. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Janis says as she leans over for a kiss.

“Can I try to guess what you got?” Cady asks with a bit more energy.

“Sure,” Janis chuckles. “But even if you guess it I’m not gonna tell you.”

Cady groans. “I wanna knoooooow.”

“And you will know tomorrow,” Janis giggles. “Guess away, Butterfly.”

“A puppy?” Cady asks.

Yes, Janis thinks. “No.” She says.

Cady pouts. “Um... did you paint me something?”

“Nope,” Janis chuckles as she takes another bite of her waffles.

“Hm... a... can you give me a hint?” Cady pleads. Janis tries her hardest to resist the puppy eyes.

“Fine, one hint,” Janis groans. The puppy eyes still haven’t lost their magic. “Think bigger.”

“Bigger... um... two puppies?”

“No,” Janis laughs. “Just eat. You’ll find out in less than a day, you can live with not knowing for that long.”

“Fine,” Cady grumbles. She finishes her waffles quietly and cuddles back into Janis. “Can you stay? I need to proofread it again but I don’t want to be alone.”

“Sure, Kitkat. Let me wash the dishes and I’ll be right back,” Janis replies. She rushes through scrubbing their plates and everything clean, then grabs her easel and joins Cady in the bedroom. She paints away while Cady reads, both of them working in comfortable silence. Janis has always loved these moments, where the silence doesn’t need to be filled, and they’re both content to just be with each other.

Cady finishes several hours later, closing her book with a deep sigh. “Jay?”

“Mm?” Janis hums in reply.

“You said we could figure something out. To stop me stimming,” Cady says as she turns to face her.

“I never said I’d stop you stimming,” Janis says, stepping around her easel. “I just meant that we’d find a way to make it less obvious, if you’re so worried about it.”

“Oh.”

Janis reaches for her. “Why are you so worried about it?”

Cady comes to nuzzle into her embrace quietly. “I dunno. It’s... it can be embarrassing, sometimes. I’ve done all this stuff, I’m hopefully about to get my PhD, but I still have to... curl my toes a certain way or flick my hands or fold myself up like a pretzel to get my brain to work like everyone else’s. And people stare, you can tell they think I’m childish.”

Janis hums sadly. “I get it, but it shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of. It doesn’t make you any less professional, or brilliant, it just helps you regulate, right?” Cady nods against her chest. “Yeah. You have all this knowledge in your brain now, it makes sense it needs a little wiggle to help kick it in gear and sort it all out.”

Cady chuckles. “Thanks, Jayjay.”

“And it feels good, remember when I tried all your favorites?” Janis says. “Satisfying.”

“Oh, yeah, it feels so good,” Cady laughs. “But what plan do you have?”

“Pick what you’re gonna wear tomorrow and make sure it has pockets,” Janis replies. “Big ones.”

“Where are you going?” Cady calls as she roots through her closet.

“Nowhere, hang on!” Janis calls back from the living room. She comes back with a necklace, a small cube, and a few other small stim toys she had ordered. Cady looks at them curiously as she pulls out a formal blue jumpsuit and blazer from the closet.

“What are those?” She asks as she rests it on their bed.

“Stim stuff. I made this one,” Janis says as she holds up the cube. “Julie sent me some of her old Legos, and then there’s a spring inside so it’s a little button. And it doesn’t make any noise or anything.”

Cady takes it curiously, pushing the button in the center a few times. “You made this? For me?”

“Yeah, of course. I made this too,” Janis says as she hands over the necklace. “I ordered the charm, it’s a chewy one, and then put the beads on so it’s not, like, obvious it’s a chewy necklace. I figured you could have it on if you wanted, it might help.”

Cady takes the necklace too, gnawing on the charm gently to test it out. Janis thought ahead, the chain is one she can handle. “Thank you, mpenzi.”

“And then I bought these. You can have them in your pocket and use them there, nobody would know if you didn’t want them to. They’d just think you were holding your hands in your pockets,” Janis says rapidly. “Oh, and you can borrow some of my shoes so you have room to move your feet inside, that won’t be noticeable either.”

Cady throws herself at Janis, knocking her backwards onto the bed and kissing her hard. “I love you so much. You’re perfect. Thank you.”

Janis kisses her back just as hard, tangling her hand in her hair and resting the other just above her bum. “You’re welcome, Butterfly. I love you too.”

Cady kisses her again gently, brushing their lips together a few times. “I’m sorry, by the way. I know I’ve been ignoring you this week, you don’t deserve that.”

“Babe, you’ve barely slept this week, and you only eat when I bring you food, I’m more worried about that,” Janis chuckles. “I get the rest of my life with you, wifey. I can handle a week for you to work every now and again. After tomorrow we get to spend more time together again anyway.”

Cady smiles at her. “We’ll do something special. I’m gonna shower, but I wanna cuddle you all night tonight. You’re right, I need more sleep anyway.”

“Okay, Kitkat. Have fun,” Janis says as she pushes her wife towards the en-suite. “I’ll be here.”

-

Janis remembers she forgot to feed Elvira her own dinner when she comes to plop onto her lap.

“Sorry, Ellie, I forgot to feed you,” Janis chuckles as she scratches her ear. “Let’s go.”

Elvira trots off to the kitchen, Janis following quickly behind her. Ellie meows at her when they finally reach the fridge, stretching up to peek in as Janis opens it.

“Hold on, you get a new can tonight,” Janis says in response to Elvira’s questioning chirp. She heads to the closet to grab one, noticing the air mattress on the top shelf they had bought for a camping trip. “Hm.”

Janis scoops out some of her food into her bowl and puts the can in the fridge, then grabs the air mattress from the shelf along with the pump for it.

“God, why is this thing so loud? Some of us have mattresses to blow up in secret,” Janis hisses. Once it’s done, she realizes she probably should have done it outside as she tries to shove it through the door. She grabs some sheets from the closet and the blankets from their bed, making a lovely little nest on their balcony.

Cady comes out of the shower as she’s fluffing the pillows, calling for her as she brushes her hair out.

“Jay? Are you okay? I heard noises,” she says as she comes out wrapped in her bathrobe. “What happened to our bed?”

“I’m fine, put on something warm and come here,” Janis calls from the other room.

“Okay,” Cady says nervously. “What are you up to?”

“God, you set a bunch of chickens loose in a school one time and suddenly you can’t surprise anyone anymore,” Janis jokes. “Just come here, you’re gonna like it.”

“I like your surprises, but you can be a little extra sometimes,” Cady teases. “Oh my god.”

“You like it?” Janis says. “We haven’t been able to do this for a whi-ack!” She grunts slightly as Cady leaps into her embrace, smooching all over her face.

“I love it, and I love you,” Cady says. “So much.”

“I love you more,” Janis teases as she carries her outside.

“No, I love you more,” Cady responds as she’s laid down gently. “I love you most.”

“Mm, you can’t win this fight, Peanut,” Janis hums, getting cut off as Cady pulls her down to kiss her hungrily.

“Then let me show you.”

————-

The next morning, Janis wakes up with Cady (very early) and makes a special breakfast with lots of fruit and protein. Cady eats happily but silently, once again giving a last proofread of all her materials.

Janis gives her a big hug and sweet kiss before she sends her out the door, Cady dressed in her fancy outfit, Janis’ shoes, and with her pockets full of stim toys.

Janis has to pack quickly once she’s gone, carefully but hastily packing their suitcase and carry on bags based on a list she’s incredibly thankful she had the foresight to make.

-

In the late afternoon, Janis picks Damian up in their Uber to Cady’s school to surprise her. He puts his suitcase in the trunk along with what looks to be a poster.

He shakes with excitement as he climbs in next to her, and they both chat excitedly about their plans for France. Before they know it, they’re at Cady’s university and ready to surprise her.

“Aww, you made her a sign?” Janis asks as she finally hugs him.

“Yeah, duh,” Damian says, showing off his ‘Congrats Doctor Heron!’ poster. “And it’s reversible in case of disaster.” He flips it around and shows it says ‘Good job anyway!’ on the other side.

“She’ll love it,” Janis says as she starts bouncing anxiously. “She’ll be happy to see you, too, she doesn’t even know we’re here.”

“Aww. I’m excited to see her reaction, do you remember when you threw that picnic before we graduated high school? That was nothing compared to this and she was so fucking excited,” Damian says.

“Yeah. She’s so cute,” Janis says. Her phone starts ringing suddenly. “Oh, it’s her, this is it.”

Damian squeals as she picks up and switches to speakerphone.

“Jay, I did it!” Cady calls loudly through the speakers. “I did it! I got it, I’m a doctor!”

Janis and Damian both start jumping up at down at the same time. “Congratulations, baby! I’m so proud of you!” Janis says. Damian stays quiet but is visibly trying to hold back his own comments. They see her come bursting out the doors then, running down the steps. “Hey, look to your right. No, other right.”

Cady looks to see her wife and best friend waiting for her and bouncing to get her attention. She runs towards them, laughing happily. “What are you doing here?! Oh my god, you made a sign and everything!”

“This is your surprise!” Janis laughs as her wife jumps into her arms. She spins her around a few times before Cady reaches out for Damian, so he pulls her into another tight hug to congratulate her.

“My best friend is a doctor!” Damian calls loudly as he also spins her around before wrapping her up protectively.

“Why do you guys have suitcases?” Cady asks confusedly, slightly muffled as her face is squished against Damian.

“Because we’re going on a trip!” Janis answers. “I told you to think bigger yesterday, this is it! Our flight is in a few hours, we have to go to the airport.”

“A trip?” Cady squeals happily. “Where are we going?!”

“France,” Janis tries to answer, barely getting the word out before she’s cut off by the most adorable squeal she’s ever heard and her wife leaping into her arms again. “Are you excited?”

“Yes! Of course I’m excited, oh my god!” Cady shrieks. “This is the best day ever!”

“Good! I packed a comfy outfit in your carry on, you can change at the airport,” Janis laughs happily as Cady kisses her over and over.

“Okay, come on! Let’s go, let’s go let’s go! I wanna go to France!” Cady calls, lugging them both towards the parking lot.

Janis and Damian both laugh as they’re dragged away. “Peanut, slow down, we have time.”

“Oh. Oops,” Cady says sheepishly. “But come on, I’m excited, let’s go!”

“We can tell, Cads, just slow down,” Damian pants. “Be excited at a reasonable speed.”

Cady’s bouncing now that they’ve stopped walking, having to get her excitement out somehow. “Janis, carry me, I can’t slow down.”

“Okay, come here,” Janis laughs, carrying Cady piggyback to their next Uber.

————-

Cady heads into the bathroom once they’ve passed security to change out of her formal outfit, but she leaves the necklace on and has the stim toy Janis made for her in her hand. She’s trying to gently stuff her poster in her bag as she walks back. She insisted on keeping it, even though Damian said she didn’t have to. Miraculously, she manages to make it fit without too much damage.

She tugs her carry on backpack back on as she approaches Janis and Damian again. “Where are we going in France?” She asks once they’re back together. Damian also looks at Janis curiously, she hasn’t told him either.

“Marseille, first. My family said we can stay with them for a few days, they have a huge house with tons of rooms. Then we’ll go to Paris and look around there,” Janis says. Cady gives yet another excited squeal and hugs her again. “Do you want Cinnabon’s? They’re right over there.”

“Oh, can we? I haven’t eaten since breakfast, I’m starving,” Cady says. She’s still bouncing and her hands are flapping happily, but she’s calmed down just a touch.

“How-wha-how do you have that much energy on just breakfast?” Damian asks with something akin to awe.

“I’m excited!” Cady almost yells, prompting several glares from those around them. She shrinks into herself slightly in embarrassment. “Oops.”

Damian chuckles. “Let’s go, my treat.” Cady perks up a bit and tugs her wife after them. She happily scarfs down her cinnamon roll and chatters excitedly about France.

They head to their gate to wait for their flight for a while, when Cady suddenly realizes something and scrambles for her phone. “I forgot to tell my parents! What time is it?”

“Almost exactly six,” Janis says. “So five for them.”

“Okay, they should both be home by now,” Cady says with relief. She dials her dad’s number, and he picks up on the first ring. “Hi Dad! Is Mom with you?”

“Hi Cady, she’s in the other room. What’s up?” Her dad replies.

“Get Mom, I wanna tell you together,” Cady insists.

“Okay,” her dad says, slightly confused. “Honey, it’s Cady, she says she has something to tell us.”

“Hello Cady,” her mom calls loudly through the speaker. “How are you, dear?”

“I’m good Mom! How are you?” Cady chuckles. For tech savvy people, they never quite got the hang of speakerphone.

“Good, hon. What’s this news you have?” Her mom replies.

“I got my PhD today! I’m officially a doctor!” Cady says, and quickly has to block the phone speaker with her arm to muffle the volume of their cheers and congratulations. Once it stops vibrating quite so much, she pulls it back to continue talking. “Thanks! Oh, and I won’t be able to call you for a little while. Janis surprised me with a trip to France, we’re going to see her family. And Paris.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely,” her mom sighs. “Take lots of photos for us.”

“I will. I love you guys, bye!” Cady calls, and hangs up before either of them can get off on a tangent and keep her there for an hour. “There.”

“Everything handled?” Damian jokes.

“Yep. Oh, that reminds me, Janis, can you... give me a rundown of your family again? I haven’t quite gotten everyone down,” Cady says shyly. To be fair, Janis has a lot of relatives and their names sound quite similar in a lot of cases.

“Yeah,” Janis chuckles. She knows Damian probably needs a refresher too, the last time he got to come visit everyone was in high school. “My homophobic great-grandma finally died when I was in college so we don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“Jay! Be nice,” Cady scolds. She’d heard bad stories about the woman, but speaking ill of the dead still doesn’t sit right with her.

“I’m just saying. Anyway, Nana Annette is her daughter, my grandma. She’s, like, eighty-five, but she’s chill. She might say some offensive stuff because she’s either senile or just old, but she means well most of the time. Her husband died when I was a baby, I barely remember him, so hopefully he won’t be around. Then there’s the aunts and uncles.”

Cady pulls out her phone to take notes, this is where things get dicey.

“Jean-Luc is the oldest, he’s the funny one. His wife is Béatrice, she’s... tense, but nice. The next one is Charlotte, she’s the single one who I’m convinced is a closet lesbian, you remember? She’s hella rich and just shows up sometimes with presents. Anyway. Next is Gabrielle, and her husband Charles, he’s the English guy. My dad was next, then Phillipe is the youngest, and his wife is Jeanne.”

Cady blinks, already terrified. “And your cousins?”

“They’ll understand if you don’t remember them all, don’t worry,” Janis chuckles. “Jean-Luc and Béatrice have Josephine and Jacques, they’re twins. Then they had Annalise, and then Luca, they named him after my dad. Gabrielle and Charles have Bella, Celeste, and Clara, Celeste is a bitch but the other two are nice. Jeanne and Phillipe have Emile and Sylvie.”

“Jesus Christ,” Cady groans, trying to keep everyone under wraps.

“Some of my cousins have babies too now, do you want their names?” Janis teases. “Don’t worry about it, guys. They’ll understand and I’ll make sure you learn everyone’s names. And we probably won’t see all of them, either.”

“Oh, babies? Yay,” Cady says. “I might as well learn them too.”

“Yeah, there’s a few that are still actual babies. Josephine and her husband just had Hugo a few months ago, and then she has Anabelle and Charlise, they’re like... four,” Janis says. “And then Bella has Benjamin, he’s a year old or so.”

“Aww. Okay. I’ll have to study on the plane,” Cady says, sending her list to Damian and shutting her phone off.

“Little Slice, no, I’ll study for us and fill you in,” Damian says. “You’ve studied too much in your life. Doctor.”

Cady smiles at the reminder of her new title. “Fine. Oh, is that us?”

Janis listens to the voice ringing out over the PA system. “Yeah. They’re not boarding us quite yet, but we should be ready.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady says happily.

—————

Once they finally board, Cady begs to have the window seat. Janis and Damian are both afraid of heights and let her have it willingly.

Cady wiggles happily as the light comes on to fasten their belts, looking happily out the window as they prepare to take off. Janis pops some gum in her mouth, and offers a piece to both her travel buddies. Cady takes hers and then takes Janis’ hand, squeezing it to comfort her. Janis squeezes back thankfully.

Cady offers her one ear of the headphones she has so they can watch a movie together. Janis takes it and rests her head on Cady’s shoulder, flipping up the arm rest and cuddling into her wife. Damian flips up his own and lies down over both of them, his head ending up in Cady’s lap as he does his own thing on his phone. Cady just laughs and plays with his curly hair.

After three movies, Cady falls asleep with her head on Janis’ shoulder. They’re about four and a half hours into their seven hour flight, and it is now around Cady’s bedtime. Janis finds Damian also asleep on their legs, and decides to let him stay even though hers are going a bit numb.

She turns her head slightly to kiss Cady’s hair, thinking about the events of the day. Twenty-four hours ago she had fallen asleep on an air mattress on their balcony after a wild night, held securely in the arms of her favorite redhead. Now, she’s several thousand feet in the air, cuddled up with two of her favorite people on their way to another country. Life is a hell of a thing.

—————

Janis is startled awake by the announcement that they’re about to land, and wakes Damian and Cady so they can fasten their seatbelts again. It’s about two in the morning according to their body clocks, so they all blink groggily and rub at their eyes.

“Janis?” Cady asks suddenly as they start to descend.

“Hmm?” Janis hums exhaustedly.

“Who’s watching Elvira?”

“Aaron,” Janis yawns. “He just wants chocolate as payment.”

“Mmkay,” Cady hums. The plane finally touches down and she gives an exhausted “Yay.”

Janis chuckles. “Come on, my cousin is picking us up and then we can sleep in a real bed for a while.”

“Which one?” Damian yawns.

“Annalise,” Janis replies. “She’s a morning person, she’s the only one they trusted to come get us.”

They trudge through baggage claim and out of the airport, down a long line of cars waiting to pick people up. Suddenly, a clear “Janis!” rings out with a brisk French accent.

Janis greets her cousin, who laughs at their exhausted faces. “Bonjour, Anna.”

They have a quick catch up in French as they load all their bags into the car, and Damian’s eyes suddenly go wide.

“What happened?” Cady asks in concern.

“Nothing,” Damian says hastily. “I... forgot they’d actually speak, like, French here. I thought I was just too tired to understand them for a second.”

They both laugh as they climb in, Cady squished in the middle since she’s the smallest. She’s not complaining, this way her head will land on someone’s shoulder when she inevitably falls asleep again.

—————

She wakes up several hours later in a soft bed in a room she doesn’t recognize, spooning Janis. She checks the adjusted time on her phone and finds it to be about one in the afternoon, which isn’t terrible. They have a few hours left in the day to get things settled.

She leans down to kiss behind Janis’ ear as lightly as she can, murmuring a quiet “J’taime tellement,” into her ear before cuddling back into her wife. Apparently she wasn’t quite gentle enough, because Janis stirs and turns to face her with a grin.

“J’taime aussi, mon papillon,” Janis hums as she leans in for a kiss. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty well, I don’t even remember getting here,” Cady replies.

“I carried you in, you looked exhausted,” Janis says. “What time is it?”

“Just after one,” Cady says as she strokes through Janis’ short hair. “I still love this haircut.”

“I can tell,” Janis chuckles as she cuddles in closer. “You don’t miss the blonde, though?”

“I do,” Cady hums thoughtfully. “But this length is so satisfying to play with. And your shave is in an easier place to reach now.”

Janis had continued sporting the side shave, and stretched it to an undercut at the back of her head as well when she cut the blonde off. Cady loves running her fingers over the buzzed areas, and Janis certainly doesn’t complain.

“Guess I’ll keep it like this then. Should we go get Damian?” Janis says as she leans in for another sweet kiss. “Can’t let him sleep too much longer.”

“Yeah. Are we doing anything today?” Cady asks as she follows Janis out of bed.

“I don’t really have anything planned from this point, I just figured we’d walk around and if you find something you want to do, we’ll do it. But maybe we should start tomorrow,” Janis replies. “Nana’s definitely gonna throw some family reunion type thing tonight and make a shit ton of food, we should save our energy for that.”

“Aww. That sounds fun,” Cady says. “But also tiring, you’re right.”

“They are usually pretty fun,” Janis hums. “And Charlotte is coming, she tells good stories, you’ll like those.”

“Is she the one who told that story about the time you fell into that lake and came back to a picnic totally drenched and told me to watch you around water at our wedding?” Cady asks.

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles sheepishly. “I can show you that lake, if you want. It’s nearby.”

Cady nods excitedly. “Of course. Oh, and hey, guess what?”

Janis turns from the door she’s approaching to leave their little room. “What?”

“I love you,” Cady says, pulling her down for a kiss. Janis has to fight a squeal.

“I love you too,” she replies after a second. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady whispers against her lips. “I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you too. I want this trip to celebrate all of us. Not just me and Damian. You deserve this too.”

“Okay,” Janis whispers back. “Thanks.”

Cady chuckles. “You promise you’ll tell me if you see something you want to do, too?”

Janis kisses her soundly one more time. “I promise.”

“Good. Let’s go get D,” Cady says with a final peck.

“Okay.”

—————

“Damian!” Janis calls as she leaps onto his bed.

“Cheese and crackers!” Damian yelps, throwing himself to the ground. “Janis!”

“Jay, I swear to god,” Cady groans from the doorway. “That is not what I meant by ‘wake him up’.”

“It worked though,” Janis says as she helps him up. “Morning!”

Damian glares at her. “Hello, Jan. Is it actually morning?”

“No, it’s almost two in the afternoon,” Cady replies. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Damian says as he brushes himself off.

“Good. Janis says there’s gonna be some sort of big dinner thing, can you help me study everyone?” Cady asks.

“Yeah,” Damian answers.

“Oh, hold on a second,” Janis says, running from the room. She returns with a framed photo of her whole family from a few years ago. “Here. It’s old, but everyone looks pretty much the same.”

Janis sits in between them and points everyone out so they can match names to faces. Cady looks a bit overwhelmed, but eventually can point everyone out.

“I’m gonna go shower, if you stay here nobody will bother you guys,” she says once her part is done. “Have fun.”

-

By the time Janis is put together enough for a family gathering, Cady and Damian know all her relatives by name and how they relate to one another. Janis is kind of touched that they both put so much effort into learning everyone in her family.

She hadn’t quite been expecting every member of her family to show up, but they all make an appearance at some point. Cady isn’t big on crowds and Damian hasn’t spoken French since high school, so they both stick around her throughout the meal.

Her aunt Charlotte shows up fashionably late as always, with gifts for the three of them. She greets Janis with a hug and hands her a set of incredibly expensive oil paints, and then looks around for Cady.

“Where is the doctor one?” She asks in fluent but heavily accented English. Cady peeks up from where she’s crowded by all of the younger cousins, coming over to say hello.

“Bonjour,” she says shyly. Charlotte greets her and hands over her gift, which looks to be a tasteful diamond bracelet. Cady frantically leans in to whisper to Janis. “I can’t take this, this had to have cost at least a thousand euro.”

Charlotte, evidently, hears her whispers and laughs. “Nonsense, Cady darling. You are smarter than anyone here, you deserve my money even more than my dear Janis. I am glad she is spoiling you.”

Cady blinks a few times, before begrudgingly accepting her beautiful gift. “Thank you, it really is beautiful.”

“But of course. Now where is darling Damian?” Charlotte responds. Damian comes over from the kitchen to say hello as well, and gets a very soft cashmere sweater.

-

Janis struggles to guide her wife and friend through a family dinner, and Cady collapses on their bed by the time they’re excused.

“Did your dad actually punch your great-aunt in the stomach?” She asks with a slight chuckle. “Just, like, no warning, full force?”

“I’ve heard that story from a minimum of five relatives, so I think it’s probably true,” Janis responds. “But he was only about five. And I think the stories explain a lot.”

“Do you miss him?” Cady asks quietly. “Your dad?”

“Yeah,” Janis says. “But I don’t think I miss him in the same way you miss your brother. Like, I wish I had gotten to know my dad, and I wish I had grown up with a decent father figure. But I didn’t really get to know him well enough to miss him as a person.”

Cady hums empathetically. “From what I’ve heard, you’re a lot like him anyway. But I wish those things too.”

“Thanks,” Janis mumbles. “I’ll take you around town tomorrow, we can see all the places from the stories.”

“Okay,” Cady grins. “J’taime.”

Janis smiles back as she cuddles into her wife. “J’taime aussi. Bonsoir.”

————-

The next morning, they both wake around eleven, starting to adjust to the time difference. Janis takes both Cady and Damian on a walk around the nearby area.

Cady laughs happily as Janis explains stories and where they happened, pointing out the shop where her mother met her father, the lake she had fallen into as a child, the tree her aunt had carved every family member’s initials into.

Cady stays behind for just a second at the shop, brushing a hand over the wall to thank it for sparking the events that gave her her beloved. She can almost feel the history inside.

For the time of year, it’s a remarkably cool day, and once they’ve stopped for a quick break Cady and Damian both ask to keep going. They go a bit farther than they had anticipated, into a larger area of the city.

Damian wanders off for a second, having spotted a sign on a building nearby. “Cads, come here, you read French better than me.”

Cady approaches, leaving Janis behind for a moment to join him. “Swim with... I don’t remember this word.”

“Dolphins,” Janis says suddenly from behind them, making them both jump.

“Swim with dolphins?” Cady asks. “Oh, that sounds fun! Can we, Jayjay? Pleeeeease please please?”

“Of course, Butterfly,” Janis says with a grin. “I’ll see what they have for tomorrow.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady squeals, hugging Janis tightly. Damian just cocks an eyebrow at them and joins the hug.

—————

Janis has to pin Cady to the bed to get her to sleep that night. But somehow by morning, their positions are reversed. Janis wakes up to her wife happily straddling her back, drumming her hands against her cheeks to wake her up.

“Caddy. What are you doing?” Janis groans sleepily.

“It’s dolphin day! I’m waking you up,” Cady responds far too brightly for eight in the morning. Janis grabs and pulls her back to cuddle.

“Go back to sleep,” Janis grumbles. “G’night.”

“Fine,” Cady chuckles. She should’ve known better, Janis never would’ve woken up this early anyway. She’s too excited to go back to sleep herself, so she rolls onto her side and watches Janis sleep. It’s rare that she’s awake when Janis isn’t, so she tries to memorize the way Janis looks while she sleeps whenever she gets the chance.

-

Janis finally stirs about two hours later, smiling as she sees her wife looking at her. She kisses her gently before she stretches. “Did you go back to sleep?”

“No,” Cady says. “I’m too excited.”

“You’re too cute,” Janis says, voice still rough with sleep. “It’s not ‘til three, babe.”

“Ugh,” Cady groans. She rolls on top of Janis again, straddling her front this time. She leans down to squish her face against Janis’ neck. Janis feels more than hears the words, “I wanna see them. Dolphins are so cute.”

Damian comes in then to get them up for breakfast. “Y’all-whoa! Okay bye.”

“Dame, come back! We’re not doing anything,” Janis calls. “I’m not that stupid.”

“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Damian grumbles. “Breakfast is ready, your grandma made crepes.”

“Ooh!” Cady squeals, flying out of bed to get ready. Janis follows quickly, pushing Damian out the door so they can get dressed.

-

Cady eats more happily this time, now that she’s not surrounded by quite so many people. But now Janis has to keep her occupied until they get to go to the dolphins.

Cady is chattering excitedly, and poor Damian still looks exhausted. Janis knows he’s excited too, dolphins are his favorite animal, but he’s very much not a morning person. Janis isn’t quite awake herself. Time for some drastic measures.

“Peanut, do you want to look at some old pictures? I know Nana has some around here somewhere,” she says, griping internally.

“Like baby pictures?” Cady says excitedly. “Lemme at ‘em.”

“Stay here. I’ll be back,” Janis grumbles. She returns a few minutes later with a photo album. “This is from just before we moved to America, I think.”

Cady makes grabby hands for the book and flips excitedly to the first page. Damian perks up a little and sits on her other side. Cady coos when baby Janis makes an appearance.

“Your little cheeks! Oh my god,” Cady squeals.

“Have you not seen any old pictures of Janis before?” Damian asks in confusion.

“Not this little, the only ones she’s let me see are from five and up,” Cady says as she turns to the next page. This one features baby Janis chewing on one of her feet. “Oh my god, look at you.”

“I’ve seen them, Cads, I’m good,” Janis chuckles. Cady flips the page again to one of her dad holding her.

“Is this your dad?” Cady asks quietly. Janis nods with a grin.

“Yeah,” she says. Cady looks back and forth between the photo and her wife.

“You look like him,” Cady says after a moment. “Dame, look at their jawlines. And-oh, Jay, smile. See? Exactly the same.”

“Shit, yeah,” Damian says, looking back and forth. “And the... is it their noses?”

“Yes! That’s what it is,” Cady says. Janis is confused, but happy that there’s such a strong resemblance. “My god, you were so cute!”

“Were?” Janis jokes.

“Oh, shush. You’re always on my case for calling you cute,” Cady says, gently flicking her ear.

“Yeah, yeah. I need to go shower, y’all can keep looking if you want,” Janis says, gesturing to Damian behind Cady’s back to keep her busy. He nods.

—————

By the time they’re outside the dolphin place, Cady and Damian are holding hands and bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Come on, dorks, let’s see some dolphins,” Janis says as she leads them into the massive building. It spans the area of several blocks, and a vast majority of it are large tanks and pools.

A lady welcomes them at the main desk and introduces herself as Bernadette, handing over their life jackets and taking them on a short tour. Upon seeing the slight confusion on Damian’s face, she switches to English and explains how they take care of the dolphins.

Cady looks relieved when she explains that the only dolphins here are ones that wouldn’t survive in the wild, and that they do rescues to help injured ones to eventually release back into the ocean. The tanks are absolutely massive with plenty of room to swim, and the water is kept at the perfect temperature.

Finally, they’re lead outside to one of the massive pools, and Cady gives a quiet squeal when she sees the dolphins swimming around happily. Damian follows Bernadette into the water first, yelping at the cold temperature.

“Ooh, it’s cold!” Cady squeals, walking around on her tippy toes until she gets used to it. The three dolphins suddenly swim over, sort of circling around her curiously. “Oh, hello.”

Janis follows after Cady, but the dolphins won’t leave her wife to greet anyone else.

“They seem to like you,” Bernadette chuckles. She swims over to introduce them. “This is Poséidon, and Daphné, and this here is Corail.”

She gives a command and one by one, the dolphins pop up on their tails and wave to them. Cady squeals when she gets splashed as they go back down, but claps for them at their impressive trick.

Bernadette guides them over to Damian with a bit of effort, and gives another command for Corail to pop up and kiss his cheek. He gasps in surprise since the command was in French, but chuckles at the sensation. “Aww! Bonjour, Corail!”

“Is that the first girl you’ve kissed, D?” Janis jokes.

“Actually, yeah,” Damian says. “Except you.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?” Cady insists. “When did that happen?”

“We were like, eleven, and trying to work out if we were actually gay so we kissed one time,” Janis explains quietly. “And we agreed not to talk about it again, Damian.”

Cady is laughing so hard she’s only held up by the life jacket, forgetting to tread water to keep herself afloat. “That’s so cute. Oh, bonjour!” She says when the dolphins return to her side.

“You may pet them if you like,” Bernadette says, pretending she didn’t hear the story. “All of you can.”

Cady happily reaches out to brush a hand over their smooth backs, in awe at the sensation. “Ooh! They’re so smooth! That’s so cool. Guys, come feel them!”

Janis and Damian swim over to pet them too, and Janis yelps a little when she first makes contact. “Oh, that’s weird!”

“They’re so cute,” Damian coos. “It’s a really nice feeling.”

“Their skin regenerates almost every two hours to help maintain the texture,” Bernadette explains. “Much faster than humans, to say the least.”

“They feel like wet rubber,” Janis says. “They are cute though.”

“Many people say that, that is a good way to describe it,” Bernadette laughs. She gives another command and Poséidon pops up and kisses Janis on the cheek. Janis yelps slightly and jumps back, but swims close again when Cady reaches for her. “Oh, I should have warned you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Janis chuckles. “Bonjour, Poséidon.”

He pops up again, seemingly waiting for something. Bernadette laughs. “He wants you to kiss him back.”

“Little man-whore,” Janis grumbles, but leans in to smooch his beak. Cady leans in on the other side too, prompting an excited chirp as he swims a happy lap around the pool.

Corail and Daphné seem jealous and also pop up for kisses from Cady, who obliges with a delighted laugh. They chirp happily and kiss Cady’s cheek in return.

“Aww, you have competition, Jay,” Cady coos.

“You’re gonna leave me for a fish?” Janis calls.

Cady gasps indignantly. “They are mammals.”

“Whatever, they live in water and don’t have legs, they’re close enough. You’re gonna leave me for a water-dwelling mammal?” Janis pouts.

“Of course not,” Cady says. “Come back, they’re sorry.”

Janis swims her way back over for a kiss from her wife. “You taste like dolphin.”

Cady laughs. “So do you, fish face. What happens now?”

“They can tow you around the pool by their fins, if you’re interested,” Bernadette offers.

“Does it hurt them?” Cady asks worriedly.

“Not at all, they actually seem to rather enjoy it,” Bernadette responds. “You only add a touch more pressure to the fin, if you don’t grab it too hard.”

“Oh. Yeah, that sounds fun!” Cady cheers. Bernadette shows them all how to gently hold the fins, each of them getting their own dolphin. Damian gets Poséidon, Cady gets Corail, and Janis gets Daphné. Once they’re all securely but carefully holding on, Bernadette gives a cue and the three of them set off. They go slower than Janis had thought they would, but she’s grateful that she’s not getting splashed or lugged underwater.

“Ooh. This is nice,” Damian says, cuddling into Poséidon a little closer. “Relaxing.”

Janis paid a fair sum for this experience, but she thinks it’s worth it for the tow. It is quite relaxing, and Cady is laughing brightly the whole way.

“That was so fun!” Cady calls when they’re done.

“I’m glad! If you would bid the dolphins a quick adieu, we can now move on to the shore activities,” Bernadette replies. She leads them out of the tank and offers them each a towel, and they return their life jackets as they dry off.

Once they’re not dripping anymore they follow Bernadette inside to a kitchen area, and are immediately confronted with the smell of fish. Damian has to tap out and waits for the girls outside. Bernadette greets and has a quick chat with her co-worker in French before grabbing a couple buckets of prepared fish and heading back out of the room.

“My apologies for the smell, but you get used to it after a while,” Bernadette says to Damian. He nods shakily and follows them back to the dolphins. They all rush up when they spy the buckets, almost begging like little dogs for a treat.

“Aww,” Cady coos. “Water puppies.”

Janis links their fingers together and leads them to the edge. Bernadette explains that she’ll have them do tricks, and then if they want to, the three of them will get to feed them the fish as a reward. Damian sits far away from the smelly buckets, opting to just watch.

Bernadette gives the first command and the three of them all hop up and wave their fins, and they wave back happily. Cady and Janis toss each of them a few of the small fish. She gives another cue and they turn away, facing lengthwise down. They pick some speed up and suddenly leap into the air, diving a couple times.

“Holy shit!” Janis yelps at the height they can get. “That’s impressive.” Cady and Janis toss them more fish.

Bernadette continues giving cues, prompting the dolphins to dance, come up for pets, shake hands, give more kisses, and even hop up next to them on the shore for a split second. Cady even gets to play fetch with Poséidon for a while with a small ball.

Once they’re down to about a quarter of the last bucket of fish, Bernadette stops giving the dolphins commands. They swim around the area contently, calming down after the exercise.

“Now, I understand you are an artist, Janis?” Bernadette asks, heading to a nearby cart.

“Um... yeah,” Janis says anxiously. “Kind of.”

“Nonsense,” Bernadette chuckles. “Your wife tells me you are very good.”

Janis looks at Cady in confusion. “Does she?”

“You are! You teach art to kids, for the love of god,” Cady says. “Just wait, this is awesome. You’re gonna love it.”

Bernadette chuckles and heads to a nearby cart of supplies, returning with several pieces of paper, brushes, and a few colors of non-toxic paint.

“Our friends here enjoy art as well, you all get to help them create their next masterpiece,” Bernadette says. Janis looks very excited. She got to paint with elephants in Kenya, so she’s excited to do art with another animal.

Bernadette places the brushes into a sort of hoop shaped thing, and instructs them to pick what colors they want for the paintings. Janis picks purple, blue, and grey; Cady picks yellow, pink, and green; and Damian picks black, pink, and orange.

The colors are squeezed into pallets, and they dip the brushes into the paint. Then, the hoop attachments are slipped gently over the beak of the dolphins, and they’re instructed to hold the canvas over the dolphins’ heads. All three wag the brushes back and forth, making bright streaks on the canvas.

The process is continued until all three colors are used up and the canvases are mostly covered, then they turn to see the beautiful works of art the creatures have made for them. It’s rather abstract, obviously, but they are very beautiful.

Unfortunately they now have to say goodbye to the dolphins. They kiss and pet each one before they have to go, waving goodbye sadly. Janis buys all of the photos taken of their experience, and also buys each of them a commemorative shirt and a stuffed dolphin from the gift shop.

Cady and Damian are both still shaking with adrenaline as they head home, chatting excitedly about their favorite parts. Once they get there, though, they start to crash. Cady’s almost totally asleep by the time they make it through the door.

Janis carries her up the stairs, Damian following closely behind them. He slugs his way to his own room, all of them deciding to take a nap before dinner. Janis has to wake Cady to get her out of her swimsuit, and Cady just tugs on Janis’ dolphin t-shirt and flops into bed, crawling under the covers and cuddling her stuffed dolphin.

Janis changes into other comfortable clothes since her shirt was stolen and crawls in after her, spooning her wife gently. She’s not quite tired enough to sleep, so she contents herself with holding her girl and remembering all the fun they had.

——————

A few days later, they head to Paris. Janis’ grandmother threw yet another dinner for them to celebrate, and insisted they come back for another visit soon. Cady promises they will, and Janis agrees.

Janis’ cousin takes them to the train station to see them off that afternoon. It’s about a six hour trip, so they’ll be at their hotel at around seven in the evening. Cady looks out the window the whole way, and Damian looks a bit green. He’s never been great with motion.

“So what do you want to see in Paris, Bluejay?” Cady asks, munching happily on the croissant she had gotten off the cart.

“The Louvre,” Janis replies instantly. “More than anything. And the Eiffel tower, I guess.”

“Oh, I would love to go to the Louvre,” Cady says happily. She’s interested in the art there, of course, but she loves seeing Janis in her element. “I’m excited to eat.”

“You’ll get plenty of opportunities,” Janis chuckles. “What about you, what do you want to see, Peanut?”

“I want to see the historical stuff. Like the Palace of Versailles and the Arc de Triomphe and stuff,” Cady replies. “Dame? You okay?”

“Mmhmm,” Damian hums. He’s looking better now that he’s eaten. “I just want to go to Disneyland.” Cady suddenly looks very excited.

“I forgot about Disneyland! That would be so fun,” she squeals. They’ve managed to get Cady caught up on Disney movies and shows, but haven’t had a chance to take her to any of the parks yet. Now they have to go.

Finally, a lady’s voice announces their stop, so they all hop up and grab their bags. Once they’re above ground again, Janis barely manages to get them a cab to their hotel. Cady gets stuck in the middle again, but keeps leaning over them so she can see out the windows.

“It’s so pretty,” she sighs happily. She spins around as they’re dropped outside their hotel, staring up at the sky. It is rather beautiful, with the city bathed in the light from the setting sun.

Janis leads them in and checks them in to their rooms. She’d booked Damian one on a different floor, for his own sake. They are in the city of love, after all. Janis plans to make full use of it.

Cady enters the room first, immediately rushing over to the window. “Jay, come here.”

Janis comes up behind her, kissing her cheek and hugging her from behind. “It’s beautiful. That’s the top of the Eiffel tower over there.”

Cady turns in her embrace. “It is beautiful. But not as beautiful as you.” She giggles as Janis blushes. “I love you so much. Thank you for bringing us here.”

“I love you too, Butterfly. I’m glad I could. What did you think of Marseille?” Janis asks, pulling Cady next to her on the large bed.

“It was beautiful,” Cady replies. “And your family is... so lovely. I loved hearing all the stories and seeing the places that are important to your family. It was wonderful.”

“Good,” Janis grins as Cady leans up to kiss her. “Should we get D and find somewhere for dinner?”

“Oh, yes! Can we walk? It’s so nice out,” Cady replies, dragging Janis up by the hand and towards the door.

“We should change first, but sure, baby,” Janis says. “Come on.” They put on fancier clothes and Janis switches their positions, running down the long hallway towards the elevator and hauling her laughing wife behind her. The doors close behind them as they both try to catch their breath. Janis brushes her hands through Cady’s curls to smooth them back down. “Have you ever had escargot?”

Cady pulls a slightly concerned face. “No. Those are snails, right?”

“Yeah. They’re not bad, though, I think you’ll like them,” Janis replies. The doors open when they reach Damian’s floor. Janis leads them to his door and knocks. “D, we’re gonna go get dinner, do you want to come?”

He answers the door already wearing the hotel robe and with a sheet mask on. “Can I have a second?”

Both girls laugh and nod. Janis sighs when the door closes again. “We’ve been here for ten minutes.”

“It’s Damian,” Cady giggles in reply. “And skincare is important.” Damian comes back fully dressed and sans mask. Cady grabs his hand as well and leads them both back to the elevator.

Janis finds a restaurant within walking distance that has very highly rated escargot. She knows Damian hasn’t had it either, and wants to know what they’ll think of it.

-

They get to the place right as dinner service is beginning, and are led over to a table.

“They’re all so close together,” Cady says, having to wiggle her way in.

“They have a lot of people to fit in,” Janis replies. “Just how it happens here.”

“I’m glad we changed. Everyone here is so fancy,” Damian mumbles.

They continue making light conversation as they wait for the food Janis ordered to arrive. Finally it arrives, and Cady and Damian look more than a little concerned.

Janis pops some of the snails out of their shells, eating one herself and offering the others to Damian and Cady. They take them, looking to each other for confidence and eating them.

“Oh!” Cady says. “Thats way better than I thought, that’s so good! Way better than snake meat.”

“I told you,” Janis laughs.

“It’s like ravioli,” Damian says as he reaches for another. “But... snails.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it,” Cady giggles. “How do you get them out?” Janis shows her how to use the fork to pop them out, and Cady follows suit once she knows how.

-

Many hours later, Cady cuddles up to Janis in bed, finally ready for sleep. “How long are we here, Jay?”

“We’re in Paris for a week,” Janis replies.

“A week?!” Cady says in shock.

“I wanted to make sure we had time to see everything you both wanted to,” Janis says. “And I have another surprise when we get home. But that’s kind of for both of us.”

“Jay, you’re spoiling me,” Cady whines. “Can I know the other surprise?”

“Nope,” Janis hums. “But I’ll tell you right once we’re back in America. And you deserve to be spoiled, Peanut. You’re a doctor, you’ve worked so hard.”

Cady grins at her. “Fine. Will you tell me what we’re doing tomorrow?”

“I don’t have anything planned,” Janis says. “What do you want to do?”

“The Louvre,” Cady replies with a smile. “I want you to tell me all about everything. I won’t even need a tour guide.”

Janis smiles back, leaning down for a kiss. “Sounds like a plan.”

Cady cuddles in close, nuzzling into her chest. “I love you, darling.”

“I love you too, Butterfly. Sweet dreams,” Janis replies, holding her closer.

————-

Janis wound up being the one with trouble sleeping that night, struggling to fall asleep and waking up early. She decides to return the favor Cady pulled on the dolphin day.

Cady, as always, is asleep on her belly, so Janis rolls to straddle her back at her waist and drums on her shoulders. Cady gives a sleepy groan and pops an eye open to look at her.

“Jay.” She grumbles crankily. “Wha’ you doin’.” Janis leans down to kiss her cheek and around her ear.

“Good morniiiiiing,” she hums. “It’s Louvre day, I’m waking you up!”

Cady groans into her pillow. “Go back ‘sleep.”

“No, I’m too excited!” Janis says. “Come on, don’t you at least want breakfast?”

“Wan’ sleep more,” Cady moans. She shifts and Janis falls off her with a yelp, thudding to the ground.

“Hmph. I see how it is,” Janis grumbles. “Fine, you can sleep in, cranky pants.”

“Thank youuuu,” Cady calls into her pillow, and is snoring gently again within minutes.  Janis giggles and slides back into bed, stroking a curl away from Cady’s face and watching her sleep. She is actually too excited to go back to sleep, so she decides to make slightly better use of her time.

She heads to her carry on bag and pulls out the sketchbook and pencils she had brought along, before opening the window to sketch their view. She flips past the ones she did of Marseille to a blank page. The rooftops seem to stretch for miles, and she can just spy the top of the famous tower a ways away.

Cady groans sleepily behind her as she’s finishing shading in the skyline, rolling over onto her back and throwing her arms over her head. Janis decides she needs to work on sketching people more. She perches herself on top of the wardrobe and sketches her life, smiling lovingly at the little snuffling noises she makes every now and again.

“G’morning,” Cady groans as she finally wakes up, stretching and yawning before rubbing her eyes.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Janis chuckles, hopping down as Cady reaches for her. “How did you sleep?”

“Good, until someone sat on me,” Cady says, glaring at Janis.

“Just returning the favor,” Janis chuckles. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

“No way. You haven’t kissed or cuddled me yet, you’re not going anywhere,” Cady demands, pulling her back.

Janis laughs and cups her face, leaning in to press their lips together. “Can that hold you over until we eat?” Cady leans in for one more sweet kiss.

“I suppose.”

—————-

Janis takes Cady and Damian to a nearby bakery for some breakfast croissants. All of them eat outside, enjoying the way the whole street seems to smell like fresh bread and baking sweets.

Cady asks to walk again, wanting to see as much of the city as she can. Surprisingly, Damian agrees, even though he’s never been one for much physical activity. The Louvre isn’t particularly close by, but Janis also agrees to a walk. Saves having to pay for a cab.

“Shit,” Janis murmurs in awe when they finally reach their destination. “It’s big.”

“It says here it’s seventy-three thousand square meters,” Cady says, holding up her phone. “So yes, it is very big.”

“Very astute observation there, Janjan,” Damian teases. “Let’s go in, come on.”

“They have tours, should we do that?” Janis asks, pointing to a sign.

“We don’t need to,” Cady says, lacing their fingers together. “We have you.”

-

Once they’re past the impossibly long line to get in, Janis instantly heads off, hauling Cady and Damian behind her. She follows the signs to the area with the Mona Lisa first, knowing there’s going to be a large crowd for them to work through to see it up close.

“Wow,” Damian says when they make it in. There is a massive crowd in front of it, but they can still just barely see. Except Cady.

“Hang on,” Cady grumbles, grabbing their hands and somehow weaseling her way through all the people until they’re at the front. “There. Short people tricks.”

“Nice, babe,” Janis says, staring in awe at the famous painting in front of her. She rattles off all the facts about it she can remember from her years of study, before they move on to look at other things.

“Oh, that’s in Animal Crossing!” Cady says happily, pointing to a painting nearby. “What is this, lovey?”

Janis laughs at her excitement over finding the real versions of something from her favorite game. “That’s called The Summer. This guy did a few like that, with the faces made out of fruit and stuff.”

“It’s... nice,” Damian says confusedly. “Why did he do that?”

“Hell if I know. Most of the people who did these paintings were probably on some drug or another,” Janis says in reply. “Neat though.”

Janis leads them from area to area, explaining and listing facts about whatever Damian or Cady point to. It works well enough for all of them. They get to see all the famous works, Janis gets to see everything she wants, and Damian and Cady get explanations and extra facts from Janis.

“Wow,” Cady says when she spies the Vénus de Milo. She breaks away from them and wanders over to get a closer look. Janis follows her and leads Damian after them, since Cady is small and easy to lose.

“That’s the Vénus de Milo,” she hums in Cady’s ear. “She’s supposed to be one of the Greek goddesses.”

“Which one?” Damian asks.

"Nobody really knows,” Janis replies. “Most people think Aphrodite. Venus was her Roman counterpart, so that’s where the name came from.”

“Her dress is falling off,” Cady mumbles distractedly, making Damian and Janis laugh. “What happened to her arms?”

“Fell off,” Janis shrugs. “There’s a lot of theories about that too. They probably were just too heavy and broke away at some point. Some people think it was a shipwreck or something, I can’t remember specifically.”

“Hm. That’s interesting,” Cady says. “Oh, her foot is gone too.”

“Yeah, she’s lost a lot of stuff over the years. She had jewelry and stuff originally,” Janis replies. “Just lost to time one way or another.”

Cady leans back against her and turns her head to kiss at Janis’ jaw. “You’re so smart. I love you, art freak.”

Janis grins. “I love you too, math nerd.”

“Okay, time to move on! Chop chop,” Damian insists, wanting to get as far away from their sappiness as he can.

—————

“That was... really fun, Bluejay,” Cady yawns once they’re finally back in their hotel room, freshly showered and ready to sleep. “I love seeing you with art.”

“I’m glad you had fun,” Janis replies as her wife spoons her. “Go to sleep, Butterfly, we have to be up early tomorrow.”

“Why?” Cady yawns again.

“I’m not gonna tell you, or you’ll never sleep,” Janis says. “It’s nothing terribly exciting, but they open early. We should be there pretty soon after it does.”

“Oh. Mmkay. G’night, love.” Cady mumbles, seeming content with Janis’ surprises for once. Janis had toned it down slightly, they were going to Disneyland Paris tomorrow. She’d talked it over with Damian, and agreed that he got to pick what they do tomorrow.

“Goodnight, Princess,” Janis says, secretly giving a little hint.

——————-

She kisses Cady awake the next morning around eight. “Good morning, Butterfly.”

“Good morning,” Cady yawns. “Where are we going today?”

“I’ll tell you in a bit,” Janis replies. “I made sure we had cuddle time today.”

“Good,” Cady replies, pulling Janis down on top of her. “How did you sleep?”

“Good, actually,” Janis replies. “I think I’ve finally actually adjusted to the time shift. How did you sleep?”

“Good,” Cady says. “Nobody sat on me to wake me up today, I much prefer kisses.”

“Noted,” Janis chuckles. “For the record, so do I.” Cady gives a chuckle that says she already knows but has chosen to ignore that information.

“When do we get breakfast?” Cady asks after a long, peaceful moment.

“On the train,” Janis replies. “My cuddles not enough for you?”

Cady flicks her nose gently. “Yes, they are, but unfortunately I can’t live on cuddles alone. The train. That means somewhere pretty far away.”

Janis checks the time, it’s been about a half hour since they woke up. They should probably get ready now. She sits up, and rolls off of Cady so she isn’t thrown to the ground again.

“Dame and I decided we’re going to Disneyland today,” she says gently. As she expected, Cady flies out of bed with a delighted squeal and starts dancing around the room. Janis just watches her with a smile, until Cady leaps on her from above and kisses everywhere she can reach.

“Disneyland! Let’s go, come on, we have to get ready!” Cady calls, lugging Janis out of bed to shower and get dressed. She’s almost as excited as she was when she found out they were coming to France in the first place.

“Baby,” Janis says lovingly. “Breathe. You have an hour long train ride to get through first, we can’t have you leaping out the window when we’re going several hundred miles per hour.”

Cady comes back down to Earth a bit then. “Oh.”

“Come on, let’s get ready, Peanut,” Janis coaxes, turning the shower on.

-

Half an hour later, both ladies are showered and dressed in loose clothing and good shoes, before they head down to meet Damian. Cady leaps on him before he can even open the door all the way.

“We’re going to Disneyland!” She squeals when he yelps in surprise as a small redheaded rocket suddenly barrels into him.

“Good morning, Caddy,” he chuckles affectionately. Janis grabs her wife back, picking her up to carry her to the elevator.

“Come on, Peanut, let’s go,” she tuts lovingly as Cady clings to her with a delighted giggle. “Gonna have to get a leash for you.”

“Kinky,” Cady teases. “I’ll calm down.”

“No you won’t,” Janis retaliates. She doesn’t really want Cady to calm down, anyway. “I know you, wifey.”

“Fine, you’re right,” Cady agrees. “But I won’t run away. I need you guys to show me around anyway.”

“Happily,” Janis says as she finally sets her down.

—————-

Cady is already spinning around in awe when they’re finally outside the gates. Janis links their fingers together as she buys their tickets, and Damian grabs Cady’s other hand before Cady tugs them forward.

Janis buys their way into the park and squeezes Cady’s hand. “Where first, babe?”

“Oh, I don’t know! There’s so much,” Cady says happily. “Oh, can we get ears?”

“Sure,” Janis says. “Well, you can.”

“You don’t want ears?” Cady pouts. “They have a bunch.”

“Under no circumstances am I wearing Mickey ears,” Janis replies. “But you pick some, they’ll be cute on you.”

Ten minutes later, Janis is wearing ears. Cady has some on that look like Simba’s, Damian has a pair designed to look like Mulan’s costume, and Janis has been coaxed by her wife into a Maleficent themed pair. Cady takes a selfie of all of them with their ears, making kissy faces at the camera, and one with their normal smiles.

“Yay! Okay, I wanna see the castle,” Cady cheers as she puts her phone away.

“There’s a dragon too,” Janis says.

“A dragon?” Cady asks. “In the castle?”

“No, underneath,” Janis says. “This way, come on.”

Sure enough, the shortcut Janis takes leads them to a very large animatronic dragon deep in the belly of the castle.

“That’s so cool,” Cady says as she watches it move. “Look, you can see it breathe.”

“The wings move too,” Damian says, pointing to one. “And its feet.”

“Wow,” Cady says. “Can we go in the castle?”

“I think so,” Janis replies. “Line might be a bit long, but we can if you want.”

“It’s so pretty,” Cady sighs happily. “The waterfalls.”

Damian leads them inside and up to the second floor, where there’s a series of large and beautiful stained glass windows depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. Cady leads them around to peer through each.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful up here,” Cady says. “But let’s go ride stuff, we can come back here later.”

“I wanna go on the Ratatouille ride,” Damian says quickly. Cady nods rapidly, and Janis is also intrigued, so Damian takes their hands and leads them that way. “It’s super cool, they’re not on a track. It’s all computers.”

Cady looks more than a little apprehensive at that. “And they don’t crash into each other?”

“No, they all have programmed routes, every car is different. Don’t worry,” Damian replies.

“Oh. That sounds fun,” Cady cheers. The lines are usually decorated with some sort of theme to match, and Cady looks around excitedly. Janis contents herself with watching her wife until they’re led onto the ride.

Janis has to admit that it is more fun than she had anticipated, it actually makes you feel like a little rat running around. But the best part is still Cady and Damian’s laughter throughout the whole thing.

“Where do you want to go, Jayjay?” Cady asks once they finish, still giggling slightly.

“Hyperspace Mountain,” Janis says immediately. “I don’t know if you guys would like it though, it goes pretty fast.”

“I’ll try it,” Cady says.

Damian says, “Hard pass,” at the same time. “You guys go, I’ll just look around.” He holds their ears and bags as they go to wait in line.

“Cads, are you sure you want to come? It’s a roller coaster, you didn’t like them last time,” Janis asks once they’re in line.

“That was almost ten years ago, love. Maybe I’ll like this one,” Cady says. “I’ll try anything once. And anything for you.”

Janis grins and leans in for a chaste kiss. “If you’re sure. I love you.”

“I love you more,” Cady retaliates.

“No, we’ve been through this!” Janis insists.

“And we’ve never reached a conclusion, so what’s your point?” Cady says with a chuckle. “This could continue until the end of time.”

Janis kind of hopes it does. They continue bickering until they’re fastened in. Cady goes quiet when she realizes where she is. She’s excited, but still nervous. She doesn’t have a great track record with roller coasters so far. Janis takes her hand and kisses her knuckles to help calm her down just before they shoot forward.

Cady’s hair is entirely poofed out by the time they get off, and she’s shaking slightly.

“Did you like it?” Janis asks as they head back to Damian.

“Uhhuh,” Cady says shakily.

“Are you lying?” Janis asks, knowing her wife.

“Uhhuh,” Cady says again. Janis laughs, but hugs her gently once they’re out of the way.

“You don’t have to come with me on anything else, it’s okay,” Janis chuckles as her wife clings to her. She seems better this time, she’s not shaking quite so hard and doesn’t look near tears. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Cady replies. “Just... maybe shouldn’t go on anything for a little while. I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“That’s fine, baby,” Janis says. “I’m hungry anyway, let’s find something to eat.”

“Oh, yay!” Cady cheers, always excited to eat. “Oh, Damian has something.”

“Hey guys!” Damian says as they finally reach him. “I found crepes.” He hands each of them a Nutella crepe he had gotten off a cart. “Nice hair, Cads.”

“Thanks,” Cady says, knowing she resembles a lion. She grabs her Lion King ears back to complete the look, before she ties her hair back in a ponytail to make it more manageable. “Ooh, this is good!”

“Yeah, for Disney it’s not bad,” Janis agrees around a mouthful. “Where d’you want to go now?”

“There’s a little Alice in Wonderland maze thingy over that way, it looks cute,” Damian says as he finishes his own snack. “And would be a good way to recover from the coaster.”

“Yes, please, let’s go there,” Cady says, already setting off. Janis and Damian hurry after her towards the maze.

They decide to split up and see who makes it out first. Cady winds up winning, jumping up and down as her wife and friend come out after her. “I win!”

“Nice, Cads. Must be some Kenya left in you,” Damian congratulates, ruffling her hair. “Where now?”

“There’s a pirate thing over that way, I can’t remember if it’s Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean,” Janis replies. “That’s pretty chill.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Cady says. Janis leads them over to it and hugs Cady tight as they wait in line.

“Are you having fun?” She asks quietly as Damian sings along to the music playing.

“Yeah, I really am,” Cady grins. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” Janis says back. “I am. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady replies.

-

By the time the sun is starting to go down, they’ve gone on everything they wanted to, eaten almost every food offered around the premises, and taken pictures with just about every character they could find.

They have enough time to stay and watch the fireworks before they have to catch the train back. Cady has exerted all of her energy, so Damian and Janis switch off carrying her piggyback around as they finish doing what they want to.

Janis has her as they watch the fireworks, bundled cozily in the matching Mickey Mouse hoodies they had bought when Cady got cold. Cady squishes their cheeks together as they both look up, their Mickey ears clacking together gently.

“I love you so much, Janis,” Cady says quietly as the last firework pops off in the sky. If Cady wasn’t so close Janis wouldn’t have heard. “More than words can say.”

“I love you too, Cady. More than any language can say,” Janis replies. Cady nuzzles into her neck and drifts off to sleep, so Janis just adjusts her grip and chats with Damian as they head out towards the gates.

—————

A couple days later, they head out to see the Palace of Versailles. They’d taken a day to recover from Disneyland, just staying in their hotel and spending quiet time together.

Cady has read up on the history of the palace, and is rattling off facts about each area they visit. Janis is very interested in the beautiful murals on some of the walls and the gorgeous statues scattered about. Damian is more interested in hearing about the royals who built and used to live in the palace. Cady tells them about everything they want to know.

“What if we had a garden like this at home, Jay?” Cady asks as they stroll around the sprawling grounds. Damian had wandered off and got stuck on a tour, so they’re waiting for him to be released.

“We would be very tired trying to maintain it,” Janis responds. “It’s so big, I’m tired just looking at it.”

“True,” Cady giggles. “But I think if we were rich enough to have something this big we’d be able to pay someone else to take care of it. Just think of how much hide and seek we could play here. I’d never run out of hiding spots.”

Janis laughs. “That’s why you want such a massive place? Just to play hide and seek?”

“Why not? What else are you supposed to do with it?” Cady asks. “Just walking around it must get boring after a while.”

“I don’t know that it would, it’s so beautiful,” Janis hums. “You could take a different path every day.”

“You could paint a different part every day, too,” Cady says. “And it must look different in every season, you could do four for each part!”

“You want four paintings for each bit of this place?” Janis chuckles.

“I always want your paintings,” Cady says quietly. “They’re part of you.”

Janis is almost stunned silent. “Thanks, baby. That’s why I love everything you make.”

“Even that shitty plate I tried to make you?” Cady giggles.

“It works! It’s a plate,” Janis insists. “I can still use it. The lumps are good for holding salsa and stuff.”

“And you say you’re not cute,” Cady responds. “I wonder how much this has changed since people lived here. Like, someone from two or three hundred years ago could have walked this same path.”

“I don’t think it’s changed much,” Janis says. “Maybe we walked it before. Past life, or something.”

“Could be,” Cady hums pensively. “You think we were together in a past life?”

“I don’t see why we couldn’t have been,” Janis says. “I definitely feel like I’ve known you a lot longer than I actually have.”

“I feel that way too, I just thought it was a cheesy ‘our souls are connected’ thing,” Cady giggles. “Oh, there’s Damian. Poor thing, he looks so confused.”

“I don’t think that tour he got stuck on was in English,” Janis laughs as they wave him over. “I told him he should keep studying French, but no.”

“How was it, Dame?” Cady asks as Damian finally makes his way to them.

“The bits I could understand were quite interesting,” Damian replies. “Lot of walking though, this place is big.”

“It’s massive! And everything is so detailed, I think I could walk around here every day for ten years and still miss something,” Cady says happily.

“Right? I almost plowed some people down because I kept staring at the ceilings,” Damian chuckles. “Anyway, have you ladies seen what you want to see? I’m hungry.”

“When are you not?” Janis jokes, earning her a whack from her wife. “Ow!”

“Be nice,” Cady scolds. “I’m ready to go, I’m hungry too.”

“I’m nice! This is just how we treat each other,” Janis insists. “You’ve known us for ten years, come on!”

“Yes, and I’ve been constantly exasperated with you two ever since,” Cady sighs lovingly. “Now come on.”

—————

They head to a chocolate shop on their second-to-last day in Paris, so Aaron can get the freshest sweets possible. Janis is slightly worried that they won’t be able to bring them on the plane, but she decides to cross that bridge once they get there.

“So what kinds of chocolate does your boy toy like, Dame?” Janis asks, looking at a small bag of truffles that she’s very interested in for herself.

“Anything, really, he loves candy,” Damian says. “Where did Caddy go?”

“I dunno, she said she wanted to see something,” Janis replies. “She went that way.”

“Hm. Okay,” Damian says suspiciously. “God, everything smells so good.”

“Fresh chocolate,” Janis responds. Familiar arms suddenly wrap around her waist from behind. “Hi, Peanut. What have you been up to?”

“Nothing,” Cady hums in a tone that says she’s definitely been up to something. “Did you pick something?”

“Damn, why is this so expensive?” Damian asks suddenly, holding a case of chocolates of varying flavors. “All of the stuff here is.”

“Because it’s handmade,” Janis says. “They make new stuff every day.”

“Jesus,” Damian sighs. “He’d like this, though.”

“Done,” Janis says as she takes it, working her way over to buy them with her wife still clinging to her. “Now, what did you really get up to, Butterfly?”

“I might have signed us up for an eclair making class,” Cady mumbles. “They said we get to eat the rejects, I couldn’t resist!”

Janis laughs. “That sounds fun, babe, it’s okay. When is it?”

“Now,” Cady says shyly as a man suddenly emerges from the back and greets them. They’re led to wash their hands and put on gloves and hairnets.

The chef gives the instructions in French, so Janis translates as quickly as she can. “Oh, shit.”

“What? We haven’t even done anything yet, what could’ve happened already?” Damian asks frantically.

“He says if ours are good enough they’ll sell them in the shop,” Janis explains. “Or at least use them as a display.”

“Ooh,” Cady says excitedly, paying even closer attention.

“Why is a little bread thing so complicated?” Janis asks in slight fear, as the chef adds flour to a milk mixture and cooks it out.

“But they’re so good,” Cady says, restraining herself from eating all the caramel ingredients and tasty chocolate within her reach. “It’s worth it!”

The chef instructs them through the process of making a sort of caramel custard while the eclairs bake. Damian has started taking notes on his phone.

They’re set loose then, to replicate what the chef has taught them from scratch. Cady starts what she remembers from making the pastry, adding milk and a few other things to a pan. “This already doesn’t look right.”

“Shh, no, it’s fine,” Janis says quickly. “Just keep going, it’ll be fine.” Miraculously, she’s half-right, by the time everything else has been added and combined it almost looks like the one done by a professional.

Damian helps Janis load the dough into the piping bag, Cady watching anxiously off to the side. Janis gets to pipe them out on the bakeware, trying to remember how the chef did it.

She butchers the first one. It turns out sort of lumpy and misshapen, but for her first try it’s not terrible. Unfortunately, the improvement for the others is rather minimal.

“What are you doing? The fuck is that?” Damian calls as she pipes one and twists the end the wrong way.

“My best! I’m doing my best,” Janis calls back. “Look, we can fix it, it’s fine!”

“It’s not fine, oh my god,” Damian says. Janis suddenly hits an air bubble, making one of the eclairs much shorter than it was supposed to be.

“And you’re not helping!” Janis says, piping a little more out. Cady is bent over double laughing at their interaction. “Get the egg wash ready, dork.”

Damian helps Cady get the wash ready, brushing it over the piped pastry and shaping them back to something approaching decent.

“There,” Cady says as she brushes tears of laughter from her eyes. “Good job, guys.”

Janis huffs as she rests the piping bag down and glares at Damian. “Thank you. I tried very hard.”

“I never said they were bad,” Damian defends as the chef helps them clean up to prepare to make the filling. He’s also laughing, apparently having understood most of the recent conversation. “I just criticized your every move.”

“And I appreciate that so much,” Janis says sarcastically. “You fixed them, they’ll be fine.”

Cady gets to make most of the filling, with the chef watching protectively nearby in case of disaster. For her first time making caramel, she does remarkably well. She yelps a little when it puffs up as they add the cream to make it a custard, but recovers quickly and keeps going.

“There, see? Much easier,” Cady says, looking meaningfully at her wife and friend. The caramel is only slightly burnt, but the chef tasted it and said she could get away with it. That was her goal all along.

The eclairs come out of the oven looking remarkably good, and Cady helps Janis prepare the piping bag for the filling. The chef watches them in amusement, and Cady suddenly realizes they’ve made a terrible error.

“Jay?” She asks as Janis fills the bag, blissfully unaware.

“What?” Janis asks.

“We’ve made a mistake,” Cady mumbles, trying to hold back laughter.

“What? What did we do wrong?” Janis asks sadly.

Cady giggles hysterically. “When is the tip supposed to go in?”

Janis’ eyes go wide, and Damian bursts out laughing.

“Shit. Um... how do... what do we do?” Janis asks.

“Take the filling back out so we can put it in?” Cady suggests. Janis takes the bag and scrapes the caramel custard back into the bowl frantically while Cady hunts for the piping tip. “There, problem solved.”

“How are we so bad at this?” Janis mumbles as Cady puts the tip in and holds it for Janis to refill.

“We’re American,” Damian answers. “And eclairs are, like, famously tough to make.”

Once the filling bag is properly constructed, Cady hands the bag to Damian so he can pipe the eclairs full.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Janis teases to get him back. “Look, you have to fill them more! What are you doing?”

“Okay, point proven,” Damian grumbles as he pipes in more on the other side. Cady covers them with the same custard once they’re all full, and then a piece of chocolate is rested on as decoration.

“Yay, we didn’t do that bad!” Cady cheers. “They don’t look that different from his.”

“Yeah, but how do they taste?” Janis asks. She grabs what is clearly the worst looking one and takes a bite, and her eyes go wide when it’s actually quite good. “Oh, shit. Guys, try it.” Cady takes a bite too, and she dances happily at the taste. Damian goes next, giving a surprised hum.

The chef tries one of his own, hiding his surprise well. He informs them that they’re not quite good enough to sell, but they look good enough that they can pick one to put in the window. They pick the best looking one, and get to take the rest home.

“Well that was certainly an experience,” Damian chuckles. “Nice pick, Cads.”

“Thanks! That was fun,” Cady says happily. “And we get eclairs!”

Janis chuckles at how cute her wife is. “Let’s go eat them all.”

—————

On their last full day in Paris, they finally get to go up the Eiffel tower. Damian and Janis are more than a little anxious, since it’s so high, but Cady promises to keep them both safe.

The sun went down a few hours ago, and the stars are out in full force. Cady leans up against the railing and looks out over the rooftops of Paris, thinking back on all the experiences she’s gotten to have over the last week and a half or so.

Janis comes up to hug her from behind as she spies Notre Dame, making her jump. They were warned about pickpockets, so they gave everything important to Janis to keep in her inner jacket pockets. Cady still gets startled.

“Sorry,” Janis says quietly. “Just me.”

Cady leans back against her and turns to smile up at her. “Just my favorite person in the world.”

Janis chuckles. “You’re pretty high on my list, too.”

“Good, nice to know,” Cady giggles in reply.

“Was this a good trip?” Janis asks, kissing her cheek and looking out. She can see the candy shop they got Aaron’s thank you present from the day before, and their hotel. It’s all lit up, and very beautiful.

“A great trip. I loved every minute,” Cady replies. “I don’t want to go home.”

“I don’t either,” Janis says. “We’ll come back soon.”

“We better. We can actually go places now that I’m not in school anymore,” Cady replies. “Thanks for bringing us here.”

“Of course. Dame, come here,” Janis says, reaching for him. He comes to join the cuddle, forming a group hug.

“I love you guys,” he says quietly. “Thanks for the trip, Janjan.”

Janis sniffs, crying slightly. “Both of you stop it, this is too mushy.”

“Aww, Jellybean,” Cady coos. “Come here.” She pulls Janis and Damian in tighter, both of them bending down slightly to cuddle into her shoulders. “I love both of you so much.”

“I said stop,” Janis whines. “God, I love you guys so much.”

“We are in the city of love, Jan, you can’t stop it,” Damian chuckles. “I don’t even want to think about what you two did in that room.”

“Damian Hubbard!” Cady scolds. “Behave.”

“Sorry,” Damian says sheepishly. “I’ll give you guys a moment.” He heads to the other side then, looking out over a different part of the city.

Janis pulls back from her wife and wipes her eyes gently, Cady cupping her face and running her thumbs over her cheeks.

“J’taime tellement,” Cady whispers, leaning up to press their lips together. Another thing to check off their bucket lists, making out on top of the Eiffel tower.

“J’taime aussi,” Janis replies between kisses. “Tellement.”

“We’ll come back someday,” Cady murmurs gently, ghosting the words against Janis’ lips. “We do have to go home.”

“Do you want to know your other surprise?” Janis asks. “Make going home a little easier?”

“Yeah,” Cady says excitedly. Janis grins.

“Remember how when you were trying to guess what I got you in the first place, you asked if we were getting a puppy? And I said no?” Janis asks. Cady nods. “I lied.”

“Really?” Cady squeals. “You’re serious?”

“I don’t kid around about puppies. I found a breeder who just had a litter of golden retrievers a while ago, once we get settled back home we’ll go choose one,” Janis replies, giggling as Cady kisses her passionately again.

“Oh, golden retriever puppies are so cute, yay,” Cady says, bouncing happily. “Elvira gets a sibling.”

“Oh, she’s gonna hate that,” Janis chuckles.

“She’s still young, she’ll learn to like them,” Cady says. “She’s only two.”

“Yeah, that’s, like, a lot of cat years,” Janis says. “She’s a moody teenager.”

“God, yeah,” Cady chuckles. “Sleeps all day too. Oh well, we’ll pick a puppy with a similar personality.”

“I think you’re right, though. They’ll get used to each other eventually,” Janis says.

“We’ll work on it,” Cady replies. “Good job, love, now I almost want to go home.”

“Good,” Janis laughs. “But for now, kiss me again.”

“Gladly,” Cady purrs, popping up on her tippy toes again.

————-

A week later, they’re back in New York and almost adjusted once again to the time change. Time for a puppy.

They’d gotten all the supplies they would need the day before and set up the living room, deciding to keep Elvira in the bedroom until they were ready to be introduced face to face.

Cady shakes with excitement almost the whole way, frantically fiddling with a few of the stim toys she’s recently added to her collection.

When they enter the shelter, they’re immediately swarmed by a flock of puppies, wagging their tails happily and sniffing their shoes. One hops up on its hind legs to sniff Cady better.

“Oh my god,” Cady squeals, in a higher pitch than Janis has ever heard from her. “Oh, you’re all so cute, how am I supposed to pick?”

Janis sits down and laughs as several clamber onto her lap, trying to kiss her face. Cady follows suit, shrieking in surprise as about seven suddenly swarm in and knock her onto her back. One makes it to her face first, sniffing curiously at her nose before settling in on her chest for a nap.

“Oh. Who’s this one?” Cady asks, waving the others away from her face and cradling the one resting.

“That’s Salt. You can change her name if you want,” the breeder replies. “She’s the smallest, and pretty lazy, but she’s very gentle.”

Janis comes over carrying three others in her arms, trying to keep them off her lap. She extends a hand for Salt to sniff and chuckles when she chomps gently on her fingers.

“What do you think, baby?” Janis asks, looking at her wife.

“I love her,” Cady says happily. “Look at that face! We have to go now or I’ll take all of them, get me out of here. I want this one.”

“Sounds good, Butterfly,” Janis laughs. “Come on, let’s go get everything sorted.”

“Okay,” Cady says, scooping up her puppy and following them. “Bye guys! Oh, god, all of you are so sweet.”

“Okay, Salt here is already spayed and microchipped, mostly housebroken, but she’s not trained in any other way. She’s also had all her vaccinations to date, and here’s a recommendation for a vet,” the breeder says. “We notify on our social media whenever one gets adopted, so if you’d ever like to meet up with any of her siblings you can get in touch with their families that way.”

“Aww, that’s great, you’ll get to see your brothers and sisters again,” Cady coos. “Now we get to take you home!”

Janis manages to wiggle the puppy into her new harness and clip the leash on, leading her wife and new addition out once the puppy has said her goodbyes.

“What should we name her, Cads?” Janis asks as the puppy sniffs at a tree.

“What was the name of that shop? From Marseille, where your parents met?” Cady asks.

“La Jonquille,” Janis replies.

“What does that mean? I forgot,” Cady says with a chuckle as Salt runs out of leash and falls down.

“The Daffodil,” Janis says.

“Aww! What about Daffodil? That’s cute,” Cady squeals. “And we could call her Daffy.”

“I like it,” Janis replies. “Come here, Daffy! Come here!” Daffodil comes running over and bumps into Cady’s legs. “Aww, she likes it too, she responded to it.”

“Yay,” Cady says, picking her up and laughing as Daffy licks her face happily. “Oh, goodness, we love you too.”

“Okay, you ready to go home?” Janis asks, scratching behind Daffodil’s little ears.

“Yeah,” Cady grins, taking the leash and holding hands with her wife with her other hand.

But I’m always home with you.

-

does one of the characters in this have my real name because I am just that lazy? yes. this work was a challenge for me, but so much fun to write. hope you enjoyed!

our status for requests is the same as it was in the previous work. I am still taking them, but be aware that it will be July until your work is released.

thanks for reading!

lots of love,

ezzy

[fairy-serigala]

Erza x Gray x Natsu + In The Sweet, In The Bitter

Rating: General Warnings: Very brief description of an injury Relationships: Erza Scarlet x Gray Fullbuster x Natsu Dragneel Characters: Erza Scarlet, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel Additional Tags: Established relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort Beta? Not yet AO3 Link: Not yet

Dedication: @jinx13gxa​; for providing the ship | @lgbtqfairiesarereal​ and @pamayapaya​; I’ve been meaning to write some GraTsuZa for you for a while now.

Opening and closing the front door with more force than was necessary, Erza paused in the doorway. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, trying to re-centre herself in the present.

The sense of foreboding that had been haunting her all day had yet to be relieved. But she was just about done giving it the time of day after several hours of pondering had left her no wiser to where it had come from.

For now, she just breathed, just existed, trying to let the feeling pass her by.

Pondering the sensation’s origin had proven to be just as tiring as it had been fruitless and it took all of her willpower not to go down for a nap.

The house was silent. That, in and of itself was a rarity. Maybe the quiet was nice every once in a while. Then again, maybe there was a reason it wasn’t quiet very often. It sucked that even after all these years, the knowledge that she was alone still left her itching to hear someone’s voice. Anyone’s.

“Tea, Erza?”

An undignified squeak fell out of her as she was ripped from her train of thoughts.

She stared up at Gray, uncomprehendingly.

“Gray?” She gasped, placing a hand on her chest as her heart thundered embarrassingly fast. “Wh-what are you- u-umm… yes? Yes, tea would be nice.”

For the briefest of moments fond amusement lit up his expression, but it fell away just as quickly as he picked his way down the stairs towards her.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He muttered.

Erza watched as he wormed around her like a snake threatening to strike as her brain finally caught up.

“Wait... you’re home?!”

Gray paused his venture to the kitchen to glance back at her with another brief spark of amusement.

“Impeccable observation skills there, Erza.” He chuckled.

The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” As far as Erza knew, Gray wasn’t meant to be home until next week.

“No, nothing’s happened.” He lifted an eyebrow like she was the baffling one. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” It was clear that what he was saying was meant to lighten the mood, but there was a numbing quality in his eyes where humour couldn’t survive.

She frowned a little deeper.

“Of course I’m happy to see you,” Gray resumed his journey so suddenly that it took Erza a moment to think to catch up and follow him. “It’s just that you weren’t meant to be home until Thursday.”

Gray waved a hand dismissively in the air.

“Have more faith in me, Erza!” He grinned.

Somehow he looked even less happy now.

“I have faith in you, it’s just-”

“Honestly, I’ve done so many missions, taking down dark guilds that I’m fairly sure I could do it with my eyes closed,” Gray continued on, as he filled the kettle and set it to boil. “And at this point, I don’t think anything a dark guild pulled could surprise me.”

Letting out a quiet breath, Erza realised that whatever was bothering Gray wouldn’t be coming out under any amount of pressure. Maybe she should be used to how Gray handled being upset, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been doing this since they met. But, nevertheless, it still made her sad that he felt the need to hide it from her and Natsu.

“It’s kind of sad that dark mages are so wide spread that you’re used to fighting them now.”

“I suppose, but there will always be bad people in the world.” Gray shrugged, the movement would’ve almost looked casual if he didn’t look so… tired.

“Good thing that we’re there to set them on a better track, then.”

Gray hummed in agreement. As he fetched the mugs, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. 

...Maybe she was just as bad as Gray. Given that such a simple gesture could still send her heart reeling after so long of being together.

They lapsed into a methodical silence as Gray busied himself with making their drinks. With only the occasional question asked, Erza settled down at the dining table and continued studying him, trying to pinpoint what was wrong.

It was almost painful to watch as Gray kept smiling and joking and laughing like Erza couldn’t see the torment in his eyes.

She wanted so badly to reach out to him and hold him until he just told her, but the tension radiating off of him was begging her not to ask. So she didn’t. 

Erza couldn’t sink into their usual rapport anymore than he could, she wouldn’t ask, but she couldn’t pretend the pain in his eyes wasn’t there, either.

“When’s Flamebrain due ho-” As if on a timer, the sound of keys rustled from the other side of the door. “... speak of the devil.”

“Don’t call your boyfriend a devil.” Erza reprimanded, brows furrowing.

“I’m not,” Gray assured, bemused. “It’s just an expression.”

“Still, you shouldn’t call him that.” She pressed on, anyway.

Amusement filled Gray’s expression as he nodded and held his hands up in surrender.

“Alright, alright.”

The tense concern in Erza’s chest relaxed a little. She knew that he would try to keep smiling for the rest of the evening and there wasn’t much she could do about that. But if she could at least help them be real, that would be enough for her.

Familiar warmth tickled Erza’s back and Gray’s eyes flicked up to meet Natsu’s.

“Hey, how’d the mission go?” Gray asked, resting his chin on his fist.

Maybe it couldn’t be enough. The fondness in Gray’s eyes was real, but the smile definitely wasn’t. And it was becoming excruciating to not do something about it.

“Boring.” Natsu replied, monotonously.

It was perhaps the only thing that could tear Erza away from her scrutiny of Gray, as she looked up and over at the dragon slayer. Was something wrong with him, too? Or was he really that bored?

There was tension in Natsu, just like there was in Gray.

The difference was that this was a tension Erza recognised.

Her partner wasn’t stupid despite what the world thought sometimes. He had a tendency to zone out and he could be annoyingly childish, but he wasn’t stupid. He could be just as observant and clever as anyone else, especially when it came to those he loved. So, of course he knew that something was wrong with Gray just as well as Erza did. Natsu wouldn’t miss something like this.

“So…”

It seemed that Gray had realised this, too. As he took another sip from his coffee, Erza watched as something vulnerable flickered over his face. Her heart lifted in regretful hope, at the possibility that Natsu might be able to help Gray in a way that Erza couldn’t.

“What’s wrong with your hand?”

Erza blinked once, twice, before immediately snapping her gaze back to Gray who was suddenly much paler.

He stared down at his coffee, and Erza could feel his defenses rising.

Natsu was watching them, grim and serious.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Gray tried. No one was fooled.

“Uh-huh…” Natsu replied as he approached the table, painfully slow. “So you, someone who wears booty shorts in the snow, are cold enough to wear gloves in May?”

It was only then that Erza realised that the ice mage had, in fact, been wearing anything at all, aside from underwear. It was such a pale and thin piece of fabric that it essentially blended into Gray’s snow skin.

Natsu stopped just short of Gray and for a long, painful moment, it looked like the ice mage was going to continue bluffing. 

But Gray was smart enough - or tired enough - to know when he had been caught.

Hanging his head and his face slipped behind his fringe, but he didn’t put up any resistance as Erza reached across the table.

As gently as she could, she unwrapped the fingers from the mug. The digits twitched involuntarily and the tension in Gray increased tenfold, though he remained silent.

A deeply concerned look passed between Natsu and Erza as the dragon slayer reached out and pulled their third into a loose hug. Gray let out a slow, controlled breath as Erza held the hand in question. Only when he settled, did she begin to work the fabric off. Her quiet apologies filled up the silence as she worked.

The ice mage let out a stuttered breath that went straight through Erza’s heart as the glove’s wool began to stretch. 

It went to Natsu’s too, it seemed, as the dragon slayer began to comb his fingers through Gray’s hair, just as tender as Erza.

Once the widest part of Gray’s hand was uncovered, the glove slipped off without much more resistance. A wordless, emotive whine escaped Erza as she held the broken and bloodied appendage.

Gray was shaking now.

Erza stared at the hand, trying not to start shaking, herself. What an awful injury... one that impaired his beloved magic, too... 

The initial horror was slow to wear off, but a minute later, Natsu took a deep breath and dropped a gentle kiss to Gray’s head.

“Did you put the glove on?” The dragon slayer asked into the dark locks. 

The question might’ve been accusatory in Natsu hadn’t whispered it with nothing but unadulterated love in his tone. The breath that Gray let out was halfway to a sob as he nodded.

“Were you trying to hide it from us?”

Erza could see him hesitating, hovering, but ultimately, he nodded a second time.

“Because you wanted to handle it on your own?”

This time, Gray shook his head and Erza felt herself beginning to cry. Not because Gray hid it… no, no that wasn’t it.

Just like it wasn’t why Natsu was asking these questions.

“Did you think we’d be mad?”

Gray nodded and Erza’s heart threatened to crack. 

Sweet Mavis, they weren’t angry at him. How could they be? He was in pain. But Gray nodded, anyway.

“Do you still think we’re mad?”

Gray’s breathing hitched and he curled closer into Natsu, hiding the tears that Erza knew were on his cheeks.

He shook his head and everything began to unravel. Natsu crouched down so he could pull Gray into a proper, tighter hug.

“Good…” Natsu whispered. “... because we’re not.”

A heart-wrenching sound was ripped from Gray as the ice mage just about fell off the chair. Finally, he began to sob in earnest, no longer hiding.

“You’ll be okay, Sweetheart.” Natsu assured. 

Erza followed Gray and joined the hug. Kissing Gray’s shoulder, she leaned her head against Natsu’s and helped him hold their precious boyfriend.

“Will you let us take care of you?” Natsu breathed.

Clinging to Natsu, Gray hiccupped and pressed himself closer to them both.

Gray trembled in their embrace and it hurt. It hurt that Gray was in pain and Erza could feel her heart breaking for it.

There was a long way for each of them to go. Alone, and together. There was no way that this would be the last time Gray hid away from them. But Erza had known him long enough to know that it wasn’t the physical pain that was making him cry.

She knew he struggled. 

Would continue to struggle.

But even so, Erza swore she had never been more in love as she held her beautiful, beautiful family.

[somedew-fictions]

ok so for the apology thing, can i have 1 w/ sebastian and a s/o who’s apologizing to him bc they keep avoiding him after being friends for like a whole year and it’s bc they’re terrified of losing him bc surprise they’re in love and that’s Scary As Shit for them preferably ends in something nice but angst for the most of it, and just. gn s/o pls n thank u 🥺

This kind of took a life of its own, so I’m sorry for that, personally. I tried to make it short so the imagery isn’t fully developed but I found this a lot of fun to write and I may just revisit this one day to make it more coherent. Please enjoy :D

#1: "I'm Sorry."

Sebastian always smells like smoke. The farmer used to hate it, but now? Now the scent has meaning, symbolizing something that was greater than themselves that they desperately wanted to smolder.

He was sitting directly beside them, their thighs touching as the two of them gaze across the ocean's vastness, their legs hanging over the edge of the pier. The farmer could feel their blood rushing through their veins, hear their heart beating in their ears, see the silent shroud around them, taste the dryness of their mouths, and smell the smoke on Sebastian's clothes. Yet their nose didn't wrinkle up the way it always did when they focused on his scent, but instead it seemed to lower the intensity of all their other senses, calming their nerves and bringing a strange sense of comfort to them.

What was going on?

"Hey," Sebastian's head turns to face the farmer, his smile faint. "I was thinking."

The farmer's eyes flutter closed, listening to his words but unable to turn their gaze towards him. If they couldn't see him, maybe his words wouldn't be real.

"You've been living here for quite some time now and..." the farmer can barely hear his clothes rustle as he lifts his arm and reaches out his hand towards the farmer's face. One of his knuckles brushes the farmer's cheek, but they can barely feel it. They feel desensitized, trying not to focus on him, but with every breath they take all they can smell is smoke. It smells so intense, wafting from his clothes and invading their nostrils, refusing to go away as all their other senses fade away.

"I think we have grown a lot closer..." Sebastian is practically talking in their ear but the farmer can barely hear him. They try to block him out, their mouth falling slightly agape, trying to focus on breathing through their mouth instead of there nose, but his scent perseveres, ingrained into their memory and wrapping around their wrists to sink into their skin and tickle their brain.

"And I..." Sebastian's voice fully fades away and the farmer forces their eyes open. Everything appears blurry, the colors smeared together into incomprehensible reminisces of the real world. The farmer swallows hard, turning their face towards Sebastian. Everything looks so much darker now- scarier as everything melts away into chaos yet the smell of smoke refuses to dissipate. It remains, tangling around them and forcing them to appear calm-

The farmer opens their eyes, bright sunlight filtering in as they remember where they are. They are currently kneeling in the fields of their farm West of their house, fertilizing their seeds to ensure a good harvest later in the season.

They take a deep breath to steady their shaking hands, the scent of smoke missing from their environment. The farmer hasn't seen Sebastian in over a week after that night on the pier, and they can't stop thinking about it- how they wanted to panic but they couldn't. How the harder they tried to shut him out and pull away from what was happening, the more they were thrown into it.

The farmer shakes their head and stands back up, deciding it was time to change their point of focus to keep their mind from wandering.

The farmer spends the rest of the day on simple tasks, changing their focus whenever their mind began to lose focus. They were panicking, trying their very best to take what kept arising in their thoughts and bury it. They didn't want to acknowledge what they were feeling, and they certainly didn't want to let anyone else figure it out.

By nightfall the farmer assumes it is safe to leave their property and head into town. Being inside their house wasn't ideal, and being in town during the day time wasn’t either. People ask questions, and certain objects carry memories, so the farmer wanted to do their best to avoid both settings. 

The farmer stops in the middle of the dirt road, spotting the bus stop in the distance. Something wasn’t right- but it isn’t until a certain scent wafts into their nostrils do they realize what it is.

“I was worried about you,” Sebastian’s voice calls out from the darkness, his silhouette coming out from the bus stop’s general direction as he steps into the road. “Is the farm work holding you up?”

The farmer feels through throat tighten, watching as Sebastian casually wanders over to them. He is wearing the same black hoodie he always wears and they spot him shoving a carton of cigarettes in his hands into his pocket, hiding them away out of sight.

The farmer wished everything was that easy; to simply take something and hide it away like it wasn’t there. They were trying to take Sebastian and hide him away in the depths of their brain but he just kept forcing his way to the front, his smile radiating in their mind and his scent torturing them even when he wasn’t around.

“We left on a strange note last week on the pier...” Sebastian admits, his voice fading away from the farmer’s ears despite him drawing closer, stopping in front of them. “When you didn’t reply to my texts that night I just thought you needed space but I...”

The farmer can no longer hear the words he is saying, their eyes meeting his but his face washes away like diffusing water colors. They try to act like they are paying attention, their fists clenched together at their sides as they try to wring out their emotions from their body without him noticing.

Sebastian was being so sweet, couldn’t the farmer see that? He was taking the leap the farmer was too scared to take, but didn’t he understand how hard the fall could be if he doesn’t make it? How there is no possible recovery from such a fall like that? Couldn’t he just sit back in his room as if the farmer had never existed and continue with his life- was risking their friendship worth it?

The smell of smoke swirled around the farmer’s feet before inching upward towards their face. Sweat began to form on the farmer’s face as they tried to ignore it, but the scent just poured into their pores, forcing them to acknowledge what was right in front of them. 

The farmer lets out a heavy breath and their eyes flutter closed. They then slowly inhale through their nose, allowing the smell of cigarette smoke send a shiver through their body. Their fists fall open into a more relaxed state, the sound of Sebastian’s voice slowly tuning back in. They lean forward towards him, their arms opening up wide. They would have fallen forward if Sebastian didn’t step forward to close the gap between them, engulfing them into a hug before they can tip over.

The farmer nuzzles their face into his hoodie, the scent it is stained with soothing their thoughts. They could only think of one thing, and a soft smile covers their face against his hoodie that falters into a deep frown, a soft sob escaping their lips.

“I’m sorry,” they whisper against his chest, returning his hug with a tight squeeze. “I thought I could close you out and I just...”

“It’s okay,” Sebastian assures them, the smile being heard in his voice. “I just missed you.”

“I missed you too,” the farmer nods and Sebastian hugs them tighter, letting the silence sink comfortably in.

The farmer couldn’t deny their feelings anymore, and maybe that leap Sebastian made wasn’t so scary after all if the person on the other side is willing to pull you up if you fall short.

[iworshipkeanureeves]

There Are No Rules (2/3)

Keanu Reeves x Reader (The Devil Wears Prada AU)

A/N: We are getting closer to @toomanystoriessolittletime​ birthday, so I’m updating the story dedicated to her birthday challenge. This one is a little dramatic with a lot of mixed feelings and some angst, but I hope you’ll enjoy it :)

Summary: Reader applies for a job in a fashion magazine where Keanu is editor-in-chief.

Warnings: angst, brief mentions of alcohol

Words: 3.2K

-Part 1-

“Keanu Reeve’s office, how can I help you?”

These words got carved into Y/N’s brain over the past couple of weeks. She had been repeating them at least fifty times a day, usually through her gritted teeth, and most of these calls would eventually leave her on the verge of tears.

No matter how much she hated this job, every day seemed easier than the previous one. Y/N felt like she was finally getting the hang of it all, and it was a little glimpse of hope that perhaps she was going to survive this madness. Maybe she was stronger than she thought she was.

Was Reeves as terrifying as everyone had told he would be? Yes, but in a strangely different way.

He had never really shouted or insulted her directly, yet Keanu had his way with words to make Y/N understand how immensely she had failed assigned tasks. Sometimes just his presence was fearsome, as his nit-picking gaze would land directly on Y/N’s desk, making her guts squeeze. Even if Y/N knew she was doing everything correctly, she felt like it wasn’t enough, it was impossible to live up to his standards.

When not in meetings, Keanu would sit in his office swiveling in his chair, enjoying the spectacular view of the New York skyline. Honestly, it didn’t appear like he was doing much, but Y/N could tell from his focused eyes that his mind was constantly at work.

Creatively Reeves had no rules, but when it came to his office, he preferred having everything structured. Every morning Y/N would receive a text stating Reeve’s breakfast order, and she had to get it before he came to work. A cup of plain black coffee, ready on his desk on time, was essential in order to make the day better for the whole office. Y/N was responsible for that, and whenever she failed, every co-worker would be badgering her for the remaining day.

The worst of them was Emily, who wouldn’t shut up about her upcoming Fashion Week in Paris and all expensive garments she was going to be able to wear. Y/N was neither bored nor jealous, but it was very hard to concentrate hearing Emily babbling for the whole day. Eventually, it would leave Y/N making more mistakes, which led to even more disapproval received from Reeves.

---

It was one of those calm days when Keanu didn’t have much on his hands. “Y/N, come over,” he called, and based on his frigid tone, Y/N immediately knew something was wrong. “Where are the Valentino samples I asked for the run-throughs?”

Y/N could already feel her hands sweating and her heart beating through her chest. “What?” her brows furrowed with tears threatening her eyes, she was simply too tired. “But you never mentioned those…”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Reeves sighed expressing his disappointment, which at this point was so familiar to her. “Will you ever do anything right here?”

Anything right…?

His words left Y/N helpless. For the past couple of weeks she had been working hard like never before, giving all her energy to keep the office organized and satisfy every single one of Reeves’ whims. Yes, she had made a few mistakes, but they were nothing compared to how much right she had done.

It was the moment Y/N realized she had had enough, she wasn’t even an assistant anymore, she was Reeves’ maid and it was time to save the last bits of her dignity.

“Oh come on,” her eyes were beginning to fill with anger, tears evaporating in the feverish air. Y/N didn’t even notice her clenched fists with nails digging into her damp skin. “Most of the things I do here are right, they are freaking perfect,” she breathed out, nearing to his desk. It looked like she was ready to fight him.

“It’s nice that you think so, but…”

“You never even notice, do you?” Y/N cut him off with a slight rise in her tone. “All you do is sit in your office, drinking coffee and flipping through the same couple of pages for the whole day,” she knew she was exaggerating, but Y/N was furious, she wanted to make Reeves feel bad, just like he had been making her this whole time. “You know, you couldn’t even manage to tell me to go get those samples, maybe you should start doing things right yourself?”

“Oh sweetheart,“ Reeves exhaled fixing his expensive scarf and stood up in need of reestablishing his dominance over Y/N, his wide shoulders were blocking the sun and casting shadow over her enraged face. He confidently walked around his table, and as Y/N saw him getting closer, she got scared not knowing what he was about to do next. Luckily, Reeves stopped crossing his arms and was ready to say something, but Y/N interrupted him again.

“Don’t sweetheart me,” Y/N knew she had crossed the line and there was no way back, disrespectful words had already escaped her throat, so she decided to go even further. “I am the only one here working my ass off, while Emily is barely functioning on her messed up diet. And yet somehow she’s still taking all the credit for my work. I-I just can’t deal with you and your crazy people anymore. You’re all delusional here,” she was practically shouting at this point.

It all felt like a dream to Y/N, she could barely understand what was happening, and her hammering heart was leaving her lightheaded. Y/N was gasping for air, all trembling and looking a little disoriented, Keanu could see that she physically wasn’t doing well.

Y/N felt his presence closer than before, his warm breath tickling her forehead. “Go on, I’m listening,” Reeves said, raising his hands up to her shoulders for better support. His words were unbelievably calm again, but this time it seemed like Keanu had no intention to intimidate, he genuinely wanted for Y/N to slow down a little and breath. She was questioning though, whether Keanu truly cared for her, or he just didn’t want to deal with the problem of Y/N passing out in front of him.

“I’m done,” she grunted escaping his grip. “I’m so. Fucking. Done.” Her words were quiet but convincing.

For a moment they stood still, Y/N was breathing deeply, debating whether it was time she should turn around and go, but Keanu’s sly smirk managed to catch her eye. “What’s so funny?” she asked, still annoyed, but slowly realizing she had been acting a little crazy, Y/N was beginning to regret her words.

“I’m proud of you, Y/N,” Keanu grinned, leaving her extremely confused.

“What?” She expected Reeves to be angry with her, maybe even come back with more hurtful words. But he didn’t.

“You’re done walking around with those sad puppy eyes, and I can finally see that you’ve got something in you. I saw that fire burning inside, keep it up.” He was about to come closer again, but tucked his hands back in the last second, keeping a polite distance.

“U-uh, okay..?” Y/N was still in shock, trying to understand how he could be so nice to her all of a sudden, especially after this little tantrum she had just thrown.

“Now I can be sure you’ll keep things in place here when I and Emily leave for the Fashion Week,” he tried to locate her sight, checking if she was fine. “Unless you really meant it when you said about being done, but I don’t think you did,” he gave her one last encouraging grin and returned to his usual state, solid and untroubled.

Indeed she wished she could take her words back, Y/N needed this job more than anything, she wasn’t going to find another one soon that would pay enough, and she couldn’t afford to be unemployed. She had secretly applied to a couple of other magazines, but since no one had reached back to her yet, she had to settle for what Reeves was offering her.

Still, it left Y/N wondering whether Keanu had been playing her all along, pulling strings one by one in order to see how far she can go before lashing out. She felt like his little toy, maybe one of his creative projects, something for him to have fun with. But Y/N was having no fun at all.

“I’ll go call Valentino about the samples,” Y/N exhaled turning around and rushed to the phone. Her heart was still racing with adrenaline flowing in her veins, and honestly, she was proud of herself too.

---

At 1:00 AM Y/N’s phone rang and she really thought about not answering it. Just in case, she decided to open her eyes and check the caller’s ID, unfortunately, it said Keanu Reeves.

In an hour, Y/N was standing on his doorstep holding a custom Tom Ford suit tailored just for Reeves. Of course, Keanu made them work on it until the very last night before leaving for Paris, and Y/N had to be the one bringing it to him.

“What took you so long?” He reproached opening his front door. Y/N was expecting to find him all pampered in some chic robe, but he was wearing simple jeans paired with a grey t-shirt, and his hair was messily falling over his face. To Y/N’s surprise, he looked like a normal human being, completely different from what she was used to see.

“Sorry, I was trying to be as quick as possible,” she smiled apologetically, hoping he wouldn’t be too mad.

Keanu just sighed opening his door wider, implying Y/N should come inside. She was immediately looking around for something to hang the suit on, so that she could quickly turn around and go home.

“Yet, here you are, wearing a full face of make-up,” he spoke locking the door, and Y/N took this as a sign that he wasn’t going to let her easily leave. “You know, showing up twenty minutes earlier would have impressed me much more.”

“Come,” he invited her up the stairs, waiting for Y/N to make up her mind. She was quite reluctant at first, lagging in the hallway, but she was also very intrigued, and ultimately, curiosity took over her.

Y/N was following Reeves mesmerized by the penthouse he was living in. High ceiling and tall white walls decorated with colorful artwork, it seemed like he was living in an art gallery. Every painting was more eccentric than the previous one, but it wasn’t happy kind of art. In fact, Y/N felt surrounded by a somber ambience, and the quietness of his home only added to it.

“So, you live here all alone?” Y/N realized she knew nothing about his personal life, no one had even gossiped about him in the office.

“Mhm,” Keanu hummed, showing the way to his living room, where his luggage was set ready, together with the rack curving from numerous expensive suits, which all looked the same to Y/N. “Hang it here,” he commanded turning to the console table to pour himself a drink.

Y/N was very careful, afraid the rack wouldn’t hold any more weight. Fortunately, everything went fine, and she was about to leave the room, when Reeves stretched his arm handing the bottle to her. “Help yourself,” he offered, leaving Y/N unsure whether she should accept it or not.

“U-uh, I think I should go,” Y/N kind of wanted to agree, she was interested to learn more about him, but at the same time she thought it would be wise to keep a professional distance between them.

“Do you have someone waiting for you?” He was unexpectedly persistent to make Y/N stay, and she didn’t really know what to think of it. 

“No, I just don’t want to disturb you,” she was trying to turn him down, but her words didn’t sound too convincing. Maybe it was his tacit loneliness bringing sympathy to Y/N’s heart, which was forcing her to stay for a little longer.

“Be my guest.” His arm was getting tired, so he pushed the bottle further, practically sticking it in Y/N’s hands. Instead of waiting for another rejection, he went past her and got himself comfortable on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

For a minute Y/N still hesitated, she wasn’t afraid to tell him no, but there was something mysteriously captivating about Reeves and she wanted to explore it further. Y/N poured herself a modest glass and went to join him for a conversation.

“Did you force me to go get you Tom Ford in the middle of the night just because you wanted company?“ she asked jokingly, but then immediately realized it was probably true and the question might have sounded a little offensive.

“Don’t you already know the answer?” Keanu mumbled looking down, and Y/N couldn’t believe it was the same man that she had been terrified of before. Now he seemed vulnerable and exposed, without that mask putting a stone cold expression on his face.

“Can I ask you something else then?” Y/N was much softer now, sipping her drink and thinking if the alcohol was going to start working soon.

“Go ahead,” he smiled.

“Why did you hire me?” It was the question bothering Y/N from the very beginning. She had been feeling so out of place at Vogue that even she wouldn’t have hired herself there.

“I needed some fresh air, I was getting tired of seeing the same kind of people.” Y/N was looking at him hypnotized, his husky melodic voice was like music to her ears. When at Vogue, Y/N would pray for Reeves to just shut up and go away, but now she felt like she could sit for hours just listening to him. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Vogue girls, I really fancy them. They live on caffeine, nicotine and five hundred calories a day, yet they’re still always perfect and on top of their game, it’s impressive… But honestly, they can be depressing sometimes, and I thought I just needed someone like…” Keanu stalled, thinking about his next words. “Like you,” he silently said.

“What am I like?”

“I don’t know, you’re just different. You seem like you don’t care at all.” Keanu put an empty glass down, shifting his core towards her.

Every little move was bringing them closer, and Y/N knew she was walking a very thin line here. “And that’s good?” Y/N asked getting a little bolder, she was curious to know more of his opinion on her.

“It’s definitely not bad,” Keanu murmured, gazing into Y/N’s eyes. They both had their elbows leaning on the backrest and Y/N felt Keanu’s hand gently landing onto hers. She was trying to think of possible questions to keep the conversation going, but his touch was too distracting, and Keanu got the chance to speak first.

“What would you do if I kissed you now?” He asked, locking his eyes on Y/N.

Her mind went blank and she didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. Briefly she thought that maybe the words were all in her head, just her imagination disclosing her deepest desires, but very soon she realized this was a real question.

Maybe Keanu was playing her feelings again, provoking and expecting a reaction, but fuck, she really wanted him to kiss her. Part of her hoped it was the alcohol speaking, but Keanu only had so little of it that it was an impossible case. It was all him, loud and clear, asking Y/N what she would do if he kissed her…

“A-are you going to?” Y/N stuttered, feeling the weight of his sturdy palm pressing on her.

A long silent pause followed after her words, or maybe time just felt different as Y/N was anxiously waiting for Keanu’s actions, she was desperately holding herself back from falling into his lips.

“No,” Keanu suddenly came back to his senses sliding his hand away. It was obvious he felt uneasy too, getting all flustered and trying his best to stay composed. “That would be highly inappropriate. I am your boss.” He exhaled with disappointment in his voice.

“Y-yes,” Y/N gulped, downing the remaining of her drink.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, that would be inappropriate.” Y/N stretched her arm trying to grasp the handbag lying next to her on the sofa. “And I should get going, it’s late,” she blurted standing up and heading towards the exit. Y/N completely understood that running away was not very mature, but she thought it was better this way than staying to talk this through and saying something much more stupid.

Meanwhile, Keanu was rushing after, following her to the front door looking all worried. Y/N was relieved remembering she would not have to see him for another week and she foolishly hoped that everything would be forgotten once he came back. Keanu, on the other hand, had something else in mind.

“Wait” he grabbed Y/N by the wrist, turning her away from the door. “Come to the Fashion Week with me.”

Keanu struck Y/N with his words for the second time this night. She knew they had to leave in the morning and Emily was probably sitting at home with her bags full, getting ready for the event she had been dreaming about for so long.

“What?” Y/N knew that agreeing would make her a terrible person. “No, I can’t, Emily would never forgive me,” she was eagerly shaking her head, failing to understand what the hell was happening. She didn’t want to reject Keanu, but betraying Emily like that was not an option too. What would that make her? No different than any other person from Vogue.

“Why do you care?” he asked moving closer, and all Y/N could focus on was his lips, the ones she almost got to taste tonight. “Just please don’t tell me she’s your friend, because trust me, there are no friends in this business.”

“No, we’re not friends, but still… Don’t you understand how mean it would be to do so?” Y/N was trying to uphold her values, but Keanu was ripping them away from her.

“Has she ever been nice to you?”

“Well not really, but…”

“Great, I’ll call her to tell the news,” Keanu said with his chest almost pressing Y/N to the door, while he was working behind her to undo the lock. For a moment Y/N felt like Keanu was kidnapping her, but at the same time, she knew that a simple ‘no’ coming from her could resolve everything. She just didn’t want to say it. “I’ll pick you up at eight, good night,” Keanu smiled letting her go.

“Good night…” Deep down Y/N knew how wrong it all was, she didn’t feel like she deserved it, not to mention how devastated Emily was going to be, and on top of everything, there was that awkward kiss moment, which Y/N still couldn’t fully comprehend.

Nonetheless, it was Y/N’s chance, her big opportunity to put herself out there, make connections, and maybe soon she was going to be the journalist she had always dreamt being of.

-Part 3-

Tag-list: @keandrews @rdjloverxxx @jadore30-deactivated20200603​ @danceoftwowolves

>Masterlist<

[jjuzoir]

haiiii (idk if im doing this right-) but can u do a mc x eugene (from dangerous fellows) fanfic?thank u uwu💜

Request:

A/N: hi! you are doing absolutely amazingly don’t worry! this was actually very damn fun to write,,, but i’m gonna do a short bullet point fic and a small drabble that takes place after the end of the fic!

————🌷————

Realism | Eugene

- So! You met during the apocalypse and that’s not very… you know, romantic.

- But somehow, you two kind of fell for each other.

- It’s kind of silly when you think about it, in a life or death and in such a survive or die situation you still managed to fall in love with Eugene.

- At first, he kind of pushed you away with his pessimistic almost depressing point of view.

- That and his edgy comments and rude remarks made your grumble in annoyance.

- His constant dark remarks anguished you a lot, especially since he seemed to constantly want to remind the group after you tried to cheer things up.

- But still... he was kinda cute when he kept his mouth shut.

- “Being realistic and pessimistic are two different things, Eugene,” you whispered harshly at him during one particular night shift.

- “And being optimistic and stupid are also two very different things, [Name],” he responded annoyed at you.

- After that you argued a little bit and then you two kind… started understanding where the other came from.

- And that’s how a very unexpected friendship formed.

- On one hand there was you trying your best to look at the positive side of things and then there was Eugene who did not like the situation and constantly reminded everyone that he did not like the situation.

- You two balanced each other out a lot, neutralising the negativity and the positivity into a very nice balance of realism.

- Slowly, his remarks started to be softer and it was like he actually felt bad when he hurt you and you stopped calling him as many names as you used to.

- Zion describes you two as the group’s emotional brain-cells.

- And when you two were caught kissing by a flustered Harry and Lawrence no one was surprised.

- Dating Eugene during the literal apocalypse was probably one of the few things that kept you from going insane.

- And so you two started sharing a classroom, duh.

- During patrols you two were always paired together and were often found around the music room where Eugene would show you the songs he planned on recording once things were over.

- And when he told you that same exact quote you broke down crying and at first he didn’t understand why until you pointed it out while hugging him.

- “You said ‘once things were over’, dummy,” you whispered into his shirt.

- “O-Of course we’re gonna survive,” he looked around the room blushing red, “I ain’t letting you die on me.”

- It meant so much because it was a sign from him that he had now started to see things in a more positive light.

- And you were proud of him, because you both knew how scary it was to not know if you’d survive.

- After that, you two became even closer and Zion grew more and more uncomfortable with you two and your affection.

- “Dude please stop we’re in the apocalypse stop being all romantic and shit.”

- But that changed once you both found out about the safe zone, a heaven on earth.

- And that’s how you two tried and failed to convince Lawrence to take the whole group to the safe zone, accidentally triggering him to attempt to kill everyone.

- At the end, from what you knew, only you and Eugene made it out alive that night.

- You both ran until your legs gave out in front of a huge stadium, the only chance of survival you had left.

- You two were rushed in and checked out for any sign of injury or infection.

- Surprisingly, the safe zone was quite empty.

- Only a couple hundred people, shocking considering the size of the town you lived in.

- Police officers filled you both in; Many people were infected and it was too late to save them and not everyone had successfully reached confinement.

- Once you were left alone, you both hugged each other.

- A hug way longer than any hug he’d let you two share before.

- Worried about your friends you informed the police officers about the school and fear of them not making it.

- They assured you both they’d look into it as soon as they got more supplies and orders from the government.

- Eugene and you shared a tent you would now call home until news from the government came.

- It was awkward at first, especially not knowing if your friends were still alive but at least you had each other.

- You two stayed there for three weeks until you two were allowed to move into a hospital that hadn’t been touched in the mountain side, Eugene, you, and a couple of other survivors were taken from the stadium to the new location.

- Much to your horror; what about the group? Had they made it? Your thoughts almost mimicked the ones you had gotten the first day of the outbreak; except now, they were possibly worse. You wouldn’t know about them...

- The brown-haired boy took you into his arms and hugged you tightly; “Being optimistic and realistic are two different things, [Name], stop being a crybaby...”

- You sniffled into his worn down gray sweatshirt and nodded. He smelled like shit, really, but even then you still felt comfortable in his arms.

- “Let’s hope Lawrence got his shit together and that we’ll meet them again.”

- And that’s the day you two shared your firsts “I love you”.

- “I love you, Eugene.”

- “I love you too, idiot.”

——

It had been 2 weeks since you had arrived at the hospital, a hospital that had been turned into a shelter of sorts.

It was hidden in the mountains but it was near enough that the government could bring you food and utilities. It had a water source nearby allowing you all to bathe and drink water with no worries, you always had three meals a day and a warm bed. It surprised you that it was only five weeks ago that you were in a rundown high school sleeping on a cold bedroom floor.

Now you shared a bed and room with your boyfriend, Eugene. A sanitized room with a nice warm bed and a window to the mountain sides, you had filled it rather quickly with Eugene with trinkets and plants you had found; all in hopes of salvaging any sort of normality in the situation. The government had outdid itself really, it managed to build hundreds of small shelters for the survivors while actively looking for a cure and from what the news had said, after a particular breakthrough they estimated they’d finish their first prototype in a month's time.

However, no matter the amount of good news that came your way you were still plagued by the nightmares of the night Lawrence lost his mind and went berserk on you. You could still hear the sound of glass shattering from the force the living dead used to break into what once was a safe haven for you. You could only wish and pray the remainder of the group got out on time.

Probably sensing your worries, you felt your boyfriend’s arms circle your waist in a hug. His breath on your shoulders a reminder that he was here and that, at the very least, you weren’t alone.

“They’re gonna be fine,” Eugene whispered, his soft hair (which he had finally washed for the first time in weeks) tickles your cheek.

“How do we know? We barely could make it out and we were close to the exit as it was,” you looked at him in worry, his dark eyes looked back at yours filled with affection. Such gentle affection you wondered if he was the same Eugene you had met weeks earlier.

“We don’t, but as you said once, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of hope,” he painfully squeezed your cheek until it turned red before kissing you.

You leaned against his chest and gently caressed his hands as they drummed a soft pattern against your chest, a warm and carefree moment painted in oranges by the setting sun.

“When did you get so sensitive and smart?” You laughed as you both watched the sun set from your room, an odd sense of peace washing over you.

“I’ve always been a genius, [Name],” Eugene responded in fake offense, his tone way too annoying, “Who do ya’ think I am?”

“You know I love you to bits, right?” You turned your head gently to the side to admire his profile; sharp nose, long lashes; he looked out of a painting. As cheesy as it sounded you felt the need to remind him, you knew he felt guilty as well, you could still remember his face when you two first heard the music blasting from the speakers, and you hoped your words didn’t cut into any open-wounds.

“Yes I do,” he looked at you as he leaned to rest his head against your shoulder, “Bug ya’ know I love you more, right?”

“Tch, this ain’t a competition,” You snorted, “and impossible, I love you to death, asshole.”

“Nah, I love you more,” Eugen challenged you before picking you up and throwing you against the bed, you bounced up and down shrinking in horror as he wrapped his hands against you sides.

“No you don’t-! Eugene stop!” You gasped as he tickled your sides harshly, “Stop!”

“Nope, not until you admit I love you more,” he continued being merciless. This was off enough in his character for you to know he was doing his best to keep your mind off any negativity and you appreciated his efforts.

“N-no-! Gah, fine! Fine y-you win, you love me the most, Eugene stop-! Just let me breathe, oh my god!” You gasped for air tears trickled against your cheeks.

“Good,” he smirked as he looked down at you and you could see the worry in his eyes, “I love you, [Name].”

“I love you too.”