#we both wasted all our chocolate hearts just to throw at each other

[lukochi]

Me and that one player when “melting sweet hearts” event come

[kkxrmx]

sweet ✦ ･ ｡ﾟ

SYNOPSIS : when your game night with your boyfriend is interrupted by your desire for a sweet treat, he knows exactly how to satisfy your craving !! PLAYLIST : sweet - cigarettes after sex ; sweet tooth - ericdoa PAIRING(S) : boyfriend!beomgyu x gender neutral reader WARNING(S) : mention of fire

꒰ note : missed the other dates? read soobin's and yeonjun's day dates over on saku's blog and their night dates here !! and if you're back for todays dates, thanks for stopping by again and tuning into our summer !! make sure to check out beomgyu's day date on saku's blog <3 hope you enjoy !! ꒱

𖧷 "ugh, gyuuu! i need a sweet treat so bad, i feel like i'm dying," you groan as you sprawl out in his lap. the two of you were sitting beside each other on the couch, cozied up in your cute animal pajamas. he was in a penguin onesie, and you were in a kitty one. you both kept busy, playing a game on your nintendo switch connected to the living room tv.

"that sweet tooth's getting to you, isn't it? we have to have dinner first, sweetheart! you try to beat this level, and i'll go get groceries for dinner, deal?" he holds your face, and his heart melts as you pout over something so silly as waiting until after dinner to have the sweet treat you long for so badly. "as long as you bring something back for me, promise?"

he rolls his eyes and giggles at you, "you always get your way." groaning, he gets up, throwing on some different clothes. "i'll be back, okay? don't get too mad at the game."

𖧷 he heads on his way, and you become so focused on the practically impossible level. as you near the finish line, the sound of keys jingling in the lock shakes you out of your haze. he walks through the door, holding a paper grocery bag. you hop off of the couch and follow him to the kitchen, where he sets the bag down.

"oo, what'd you get?" you try to peek into the bag, but he blocks your view. he rustles around in the bag for a second before pulling out a box of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and a few chocolate bars. "s'mores! i was thinking about how it's summer, and we haven't even made s'mores yet! i kind of forgot that we don't have a fire pit, but there's the stove, right?"

you waste no time opening all the chocolate and graham crackers packages, letting beomgyu handle the marshmallow. he grips the top of the bag, ripping it open with full strength. as the bag rips open, marshmallows fly everywhere.

𖧷 you both stare at each other before hunching over in laughter. he looks down at the bag, still shocked, before joining you in your fit of laughter. your knees go weak as you try to catch your breath, but seeing his face fuels your laughter. "g-gyu, how did you even do that?" you can't keep yourself from laughing as you walk closer to him, looking into the bag of marshmallows that's now been ripped almost entirely in half. luckily, there are still more than half of the marshmallows left.

"don't make fun of me; let's just make the s'mores!" he leans on you, pouting. your laughter dies down as you giggle under your breath. you grab two metal skewers from the utensils drawer and a marshmallow from the bag, still in his hands. "come on, don't be a baby! i'll make yours for you!"

he perks up and quickly runs to put on his onesie again as you walk to the stove. the fire starts, and you toast the marshmallow perfectly before sliding it onto the graham cracker. the chocolate melts as you push the other graham cracker on top.

𖧷 you turn to him and hold the completed s'more up to his mouth. he takes a big bite, almost eating the entire thing in one bite. you pull it away, and a tiny bit of the melted marshmallow sticks to the corner of his mouth.

you kiss it off for him, and he gasps. you pull back and smile at him, and he leans back in for another. he smiles into the kiss and pulls back. his shy antics never fail to maker you fall deeper in love with him.

"you always find a way to give me butterflies," he says gently before he turns to make you your own s'more. he burns the marshmallow and angles it towards you when it catches on fire. he laughs when you yelp, blowing it out for him. he assembles the s’more for to, turning to present it when it’s done.

𖧷 you take a bite, and chocolate gathers in the corner of your mouth instead of marshmallow. he whips it away with his thumb and licks it off before giving you another bite. "i actually don't mind the burnt part; it's kind of good," you hum, enjoying the sweet taste. suddenly, you look back at the grocery bag.

"wait, where's dinner?"

taglist : @hyukassubi @lun4kazumii

[sukunasweetheart]

A better way to enjoy chocolate.

Pretty much just reader trying to give Sukuna some chocolates on Valentines. Highschool AU, gender-neutral reader, SFW content

Sukuna looks at the pile of boxed chocolates, seemingly unphased. Everyone peers to look. “Uwah! You got so much this year!” Yuuji exclaims. “Ridiculous.” He sighs, shoving all of them into a disposable plastic bag. “It’s actually pretty amazing how you went out of your way to bring your own plastic bag for this. You were expecting this, weren’t you? Pretentious bastard,” Nobara adds. “Well, it does happen every year,” Megumi says as he casually scrolls through his phone.

Megumi's the first one to leave for class and Nobara and Yuuji follow after him. You look at the daunting bag of chocolates Sukuna holds in his hand and gulps. “Do you like chocolate, Sukuna?” You ask him carefully. “...Not particularly. I don’t like sweet things. But if I throw these out, that idiot’ll never stop yapping about it. Something about going to hell if you waste food. So annoying,” he clicks his tongue. You offer a laugh at his brutal honesty, quietly regretting your own chocolates that you had made to give him today.

The two of you were dating anyway, so it wasn’t exactly necessary, right? Sukuna discreetly gives you a side glance, but you don’t notice it.

Morning classes passed by without much happening, and it soon became lunch. You watch as a classmate approaches Sukuna at his desk and holds her own homemade chocolate out towards him. “Hey. I just wanted to give you this. No feelings involved though, so don’t worry about it,” she tells him. This was obviously said for you to hear, since there was almost nobody in this school who didn’t know of his relationship with you (Sukuna is notorious for just as many reasons as Yuuji is...maybe a little more towards the sinister side of things). This apparently didn’t stop people from trying though, unfortunately. It would be a lie if you said you didn’t feel the least bothered by this. Sukuna looks at her lazily, and just gestures towards the bulging plastic bag that lay beside his desk. The class atmosphere freezes up a little as everyone looks over. S-So cold…! They all thought in unison.

However, the girl just gives a small chuckle as if she had been expecting such a reaction and just added hers onto the pile before going back to her own group of friends. “What a cruel guy,” Nobara gives Sukuna a look of distaste. He shrugs in response and proceeds to yawn. “Now, now…” You naturally take the role of the peacemaker, simultaneously thinking about what you should do with your chocolates. You had actually made four small bags, one for each of your friends. They were wrapped in clear plastic sleeves, tied up with a ribbon on top. Except, Sukuna’s one is...

Yuuji and Megumi both stroll in through the classroom door. “Yo~! We came to visit. Let’s eat lunch here today!” He says cheerfully. The two of them take the empty seats of the students who went to the cafeteria to eat. You couldn’t give the chocolates to Sukuna in front of them. Then you’d have to give him his as well - or else it'd feel like you were excluding him. Guess I'll just give it to them later on, privately.

“And? Where’s our choco, Y/N?” Nobara cheekily grins at you. You freeze up, mind giving you a throwback to the memories of last night when you had told her of your plans in advance. Silent panic echoes in your mind. “I-It’s,” You feel Sukuna’s gaze shift onto you, “...In my bag!” You hurriedly rummage your bag and pull out the three bags, making sure to avoid eye contact. “I made one for all three of you…” You say, avoiding eye contact with him. “Eh? You made one for us too?” Yuuji asks, wide-eyed. “Yeah. I thought I’d give it a try this year.” You hand them all over. “Thanks, Y/N!” Yuuji immediately opens it and plops one into his mouth. “It’s good!” Megumi also gives you a thanks but puts it to the side for now, wanting to finish his lunch first. Nobara gives you a questioning look. “What about Sukuna?” “Eh? Ah, I... kind of figured he didn’t like sweets so,” you turn to face him. “Sorry, Sukuna. Should I have made you some as well? I wasn’t sure if couples who were already dating gave chocolates on Valentines.” It’s a painful lie, but you manage to say it. “...No. I don't really care.” He looks entirely unaffected. It kind of hurt in its own way, but you ignore it and sigh out of relief for now. It was way too embarrassing to give it to him in front of the group. But now that you've said such a lie, you don't think you’ll be able to give it to him at all anymore. There was a bit of an awkward silence momentarily, but Yuuji being Yuuji - naturally carried the group's conversation elsewhere.

A few minutes later, Sukuna stands up to go to the toilet. Whilst Yuuji and Megumi are talking about something that you admittedly zoned out on, Nobara snatches up your bag and takes a peek inside. “H-Hey!” You shout-whispered. “...I knew it. You did make them! Why are you-” She stops and notices their shape. “That’s so...cute?” She gives out an amused laugh and quietly puts it back down. You fan at your face, cheeks aching with embarrassment. “Make sure you give them to him. Trust me. I’ll beat him up if he doesn’t appreciate it,” she tells you. “I’ll try…” you say meekly. Unbeknownst to you, Yuuji grins at Megumi upon hearing this and Megumi responds with his own subtle smile. 

- The bell rings for the end of school. Sukuna stands and leaves first, telling you that he had something he needed to do after school and that you should go home first. Before you can stop him, he's already left the classroom. “Go after him,” Nobara pushes you, so you hurriedly pack your things up before running out.

More than ten minutes have passed, and you can’t find him. You want to call or text him, but you’re worried that he was in the midst of doing something important. It’s rare of him to stay back at school, after all. You sigh, and tell yourself that you’ll just give up with this year’s one.

Walking out of the school’s entrance, you see Sukuna standing nearby with his usual bored expression, hands in his pockets. He catches sight of you and immediately approaches. “I thought you had something to do at school?” You start to say. “Obviously a lie. What took you so damn long?” He scratches the back of his head in annoyance. “I was looking for you inside! Also why did you lie?” You question him. “Nevermind that. You could have just called...No, that’s not the issue right now. Give.” He suddenly stretches his palm out in front of you. “Eh? Give what?” The thought of the chocolates go right over your head.

“You...the thing that you gave to everyone else except me. I know you have mine. Don’t keep me waiting,” He says, frowning. The realisation hits you like a truck and you give him a helpless smile. “How’d you know…?” You ask, quick to reach into your bag. “How long do you think I’ve known you for? The others probably knew too,” he says nonchalantly. “But I thought you wouldn’t want them...you've gotten so much. And you don’t even like sweets.” You place the bag gently on his palm. “Idiot. We’re dating. There’s no reason to not accept them if you've made some for me.” He gives them a look and grins.  “Oh…? Now I understand why you couldn’t give it to me in front of the others.”

Only Sukuna’s chocolates were heart-shaped, when the others' had been circular ones. He’d rather die than admit it, but he thrives on getting this kind of special attention from you. You get flustered and look at your feet. “It’s true that I don’t really like sweets.” He tells you suddenly. “You don’t have to force yourself to eat them-” “But there’s a way of eating them that would make it taste a bit better,” he cuts you off. You were confused as to what he was talking about, and you watched as he opened the bag and popped one of them into his mouth before pulling you in for a kiss.

Your eyes were widened in shock as you barely had the time to register all of this - he was already slipping his tongue into your mouth. One hand on your hip, and the other on the back of your neck, you're so close to his body, getting pulled into his warmth that threatens to melt you, the taste of the chocolate starting to spreading across your taste buds as he's making out with you passionately. Before you know it, you're reciprocating the gesture and kissing him back, your hands rising up, gripping tightly onto his uniform. Chocolate has never tasted any sweeter. You can feel your own body beginning to heat up and you're gradually running out of breath. As your tongue is intertwining with his, the chocolate is getting pushed back and forth, and your desire to get even closer to him is growing, growing, growing.

The last of the chocolate had melted away from the exhilarating temperature the two of you had built up and he finally breaks the kiss, leaving you breathless and gasping for air. You can't tell if this remaining aftertaste that lingered on your tongue was the taste of the chocolate, or the taste of him. Nonetheless, you adore it.

“Much better.” He licks his lips and smirks at you. Still in shock, you lack a response except for your flustered face and your eyes that are now reflecting a glint of lust within. Sukuna hums in satisfaction at this expression of yours and he gently drags his thumb across your lower lip.

“We should do this more often.”

[miyagihawk]

for hawk

lover of mine - 5sos

it's a selfship anthem, bby!

the lyrics make so much sense

i love 5sos!!!! ty for the request :)

lover of mine | eli “hawk” moskowitz x reader

warnings: cursing, i think that’s it?

summary: based on lover of mine by 5sos <3

Lover of mine

Maybe we'll take some time

Kaleidoscope mind

Gets in the way

Your relationship with Hawk was more complicated than most.

You had to be patient with him. His mind was like a kaleidoscope; his thoughts were in intricate patterns that you could never comprehend. It amazed you, but it also frustrated you when you couldn’t understand him.

And when it seemed like you finally did understand, he would shift into new colors and you’d have to start all over again.

“I just- I don’t get you, Hawk! Why are you always lying to me?” you said loudly, already feeling exhausted from the argument.

“I’m not! You just never believe me!” he turned it on you. Like always.

You looked at him with a hard stare and crossed your arms. “Did you or did you not break Demetri’s arm?” you asked in a calmer, but still threatening tone.

You already knew the answer; everyone was talking about what happened in the laser tag room. But here Hawk was, denying it. You just couldn’t grasp why he hid so much from you.

When he stayed silent with his gaze not meeting yours, you sat on your bed with an exasperated sigh.“We should take a break,” you interrupted the quiet atmosphere, looking up at where your boyfriend stood in front of you.

“What?” Hawk finally met your eyes with a hurt expression.

You patted the spot on the bed next to you, and he sat reluctantly. “I’m just tired. We need a break Hawk.”

“We don’t need a break,” he protested quietly, and the subtle sadness in his voice was enough to make your heart pang with hurt.

Hope and I pray

Darling, that you will stay

Butterfly lies

Chase them away

He was scared. Even through all the countless arguments and lies, you never left. Now you were suggesting a break, and Hawk knows from seeing other relationships that they always just end in an actual break up.

In a weird way, you did want to scare him. Because he would never change if you didn’t. You hated the idea of a break, but maybe Hawk would finally stop lying to you if you showed him you were serious.

“It’s not a breakup,” you assured, because you knew what he was thinking. For once. “We just need time apart for a little bit. To think.”

“About what?” he asked defensively, starting to raise his voice again.

“You and I. We’re quite toxic, you know?” you contrasted his volume in a lighter tone, making his face relax and his lips turn up a bit.

His small smile dropped suddenly, replaced by an anxious expression. “Don’t leave me Y/N.”

Your heart dropped at his words, and you wanted to wrap your arms around him. To tell him you’d never leave and that it was all okay. But it wasn’t all okay.

You grabbed his hand instead, “You’re my best friend. I love you. But I need this, okay? We both do. Just some time to figure out how we can fix... us.”

“I can fix it now, we don’t need to take a break. Please. I’ll never lie to you again. I just- I hate disappointing you,” he pleaded, tightening his hand around yours, and you wanted to give in.

But you knew that letting this go on, this never ending cycle, would only end with the both of you in a huge crash and burn.

“You said that last time,” you gave him a sad smile. “Let’s just figure our shit out, and then come back better for each other. We need this Hawk.”

-

6 months later

Things didn’t end so well after your break with Hawk. After spending some time apart, you two were just never close again.

None of you planned for it to happen; you just drifted away from each other. And neither of you exactly established when the “break” would be over.

So for the next few months, you passed each other in the halls without any acknowledgment of the other’s existence. Of course you missed him, but not being with him just became the new normal. And you accepted it and pushed your feelings aside.

“So you’ll meet us there? You sure you don’t want the limo to pick you up?” your friend Cara asked from across the lunch table.

“Yeah don’t worry about me, Jesse’s picking me up,” you replied, making the rest of your friends wiggle their eyebrows teasingly.

“What happened to prom with the girls, Y/N? I thought we established no boyfriends during prom season,” Cara pouted playfully, and you elbowed her in the ribs.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He just asked me to prom and that’s it,” you corrected.

Your other friend jumped in, “And why not? Jesse is so cute.”

As she asked, your eyes trailed away from your friends and towards a certain someone with loud red hair, sitting across the room with his karate posse.

Your group noticed your lack of attention and turned to see what you were looking at. They sighed in unison, making you bring your focus back to them.

“He’s why, isn’t he?” Cara gave you an understanding smile and rubbed your shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay. Just have fun tonight.”

You only nodded, giving your kind friends a soft smile of appreciation.

As much as you tried to convince yourself that you’ve moved on fully, the boy with a kaleidoscope mind would always have a place in your heart.

-

Where is he?

You paced around your living room anxiously, checking your phone for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

You scrolled through the numerous texts you’ve sent, contemplating if you should send another one. Calling him wasn’t even an option; it went straight to voicemail everytime.

After an hour and a half, you gave up waiting and hoping that your prom date would show up. You flopped down onto the couch despairingly, replying to worried texts from your friends.

‘I’m not going to make it, just don’t worry about me. Have fun my loves.’ you typed, throwing your phone onto the floor right after.

You didn’t want to ask them to pick you up and ruin their night, and you were honestly too drained from being stood up to call an Uber.

So prom night ended up with you spread out on the couch with your outfit that you’ve planned out months ago, eating out of a carton of rocky road ice cream.

Honestly, it could’ve been worse. You could’ve been spending the night with an absolute jerk named Jesse. (a/n: so sorry if ur name is jesse lmao)

In the middle of your rom com movie marathon, an abrupt knock at the front door made you sit up from your pathetic, ice cream eating position on the sofa.

Immediately, you turned off the TV and tiptoed towards the door. You silently grabbed the baseball bat next to it, while squinting to see through the peephole.

Your stomach immediately dropped when you saw him.

Clad in a black suit, with a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

Shifting on his feet and chewing on his lip nervously, as he waited for you to open the door.

The boy you didn’t know you needed to see until now.

What is he doing here?

You covered your mouth in shock as you ran to the mirror to check if you had chocolate stains around your mouth. You smoothed down your hair and straightened out your dress in a frenzy, before unlocking the door with a deep breath in.

“Hawk?” you tried to act surprised, which wasn’t hard because your heart was racing.

He took a second to look at you in your wasted prom attire, and he was locked in a trance for a second before he snapped out of it. “Oh... uh, these are for you,” he held out the flowers to you and you took them with a smile.

“Wow, I love them. Thank you,” you brought them up to your nose for a whiff of your favorite floral scent. “So, what are you doing here?” you asked awkwardly.

“Oh crap, sorry, do you want to come in?” you said before he would answer, and you opened the door wider so he could step inside.

Hawk looked around the room where he’s been countless times, and he frowned at the sight of 13 Going On 30 paused on the screen with half melted ice cream on the coffee table. That movie plus the sweet dessert was your absolute comfort pairing, and it made him sad that you needed it.

“Cara texted me, and I was worried,” he finally spoke, answering your earlier question. You suddenly felt embarrassed as you placed the bouquet in a vase. You didn’t want to be pitied. Especially by your ex-boyfriend.

“I’m fine,” you said bluntly, busying yourself with the flowers so that you wouldn’t have to face him. You hadn’t talked to him since the night you suggested the break, and you already felt too exhausted from tonight’s events to even talk about it with him. “It’s better that I didn’t go to prom with that dick.”

Hawk chuckled at your remark, and you felt more at ease. The tension between you was thicker than an iceberg, and you didn’t know if you could handle it.

“So did you leave? Or are you just dressed up like that for me?” you smiled, sitting down on the couch where he followed.

He laughed again, lightening the mood even more. “I was there, but you know, Cara told me about what happened and... I just felt like I needed to come. It was lame though. The whole thing is just dancing. And I don’t dance,” Hawk explained, and you found yourself smiling at the thought of him caring about you. “But I know how excited you were about prom, so I thought I’d bring it to you. Some romantic shit like that.”

Your eyebrows raised at “romantic shit”, but you decided not to say anything about it. Although, it did make your cheeks heat up and you hoped he didn’t notice. “That’s really sweet Hawk. Thank you. Really,” you placed your hand on top of his, but you recoiled awkwardly because it felt too intimate, given the circumstances.

You cleared your throat, “So... since you’re bringing prom to me, does that mean I get a dance?” you got up and stood in front of him with your arms playfully crossed.

Hawk squinted his blue eyes at you, crossing his arms as well, “I don’t dance, remember?”

“For me you will, right? Or I could just, you know, dance by myself. It’s already been such a great night for me,” you teased, walking away from him towards a clear space in the living room.

He groaned from behind you and got up to follow, making you cheer happily. “For you I will,” he stated under his breath, releasing dozens of butterflies in your stomach.

Dance around the living room

Lose me in the sight of you

I've seen the red, I've seen the blue

Take all of me

You turned on your Dad’s old record player, where a slow, jazzy, 60s vinyl was spinning. You almost wanted to change it because it felt too romantic, but Hawk was already waiting behind you and you were scared he would change his mind.

The rush his presence gave you made you boldly put your hands on his shoulders, and he stiffly placed his own on the curve of your waist. Your hands were locked at the nape of his neck; his hold on you was light as if you were fragile china.

You forgot how intoxicating it felt to be this close to him, and you wondered how you went so long without that feeling.

The both of you swayed to the smooth melodies of Nina Simone with interlocked eyes, and with every second his hands on your hips became more relaxed. You rested your head on his chest, pulling him closer.

For a song or two, none of you said anything; there was just an unspoken appreciation of each other’s presence. After 6 months without him, you needed this.

I'll never give you away

'Cause I've already made that mistake

If my name never fell off your lips again

I know it'd be such a shame

When I take a look at my life

And all of my crimes

You're the only thing that I think I got I right

“I should’ve never let you go,” Hawk whispered close to your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

“I was the one who wanted the break. It’s my fault,” you opposed, lifting your head up from his chest to look up at him.

He raised one of his hands to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, and it brought a warm smile to your face. “But I didn’t chase after you,” his lips turned down into a frown.

You put your hands on the sides of his face while you two continued to sway to the staticky vinyl. “Maybe it’s both of our faults,” you laughed lightly, touching his soft skin.

“It’s me Y/N. I’m the one who lied to you throughout the whole relationship. I’m so sorry,” Hawk looked down at you with glossy eyes. “I’ve done so much fucked up shit. But you’re the only thing I got right. I hate myself for ruining it too.”

Your felt yourself melt at his confession. “It’s not ruined,” you disputed. “You aren’t perfect and I’m not either. I shouldn’t have given up on us. I’m sorry.”

He closed his eyes in peace as your hands ran through his bright hair. It was down from its usual style, giving him a softer look.

“Maybe we both messed up. But I’m never giving you away again Y/N. I won’t make that mistake. I love you,” the boy you’ve missed for months admitted, saying everything you wanted to hear.

You kissed him in reply.

a/n: ah idk if i like this but i hope u do, i feel like my writings are getting repetitive im having bad writers block (as u can tell by how slow im doing requests)

[theglitterypages]

Secret Life of Gojo Satoru 2

Part 1

Pairings: Gojo Satoru x fem! Reader

Summary: What is the worst thing that could happen if you left the twins with their father?

Word Count: 1000+

~~~~~~~

“I'll be back soon okay? Behave with Dada, understood?” the twins just nodded their head and kissed your cheeks, when you flicked your eyes upwards you met Gojo's blue ones. “You know that I would always find out if you'll be feeding them tons of chocolate. No chocolates, or else you'll be sleeping at your room in Jujutsu High.” Gojo felt like his heart stopped beating, he knew that you're not lying, if there is anything he has learned in this marriage it is the fact that you never spat empty threats.

The first time you threatened him like this, he ignored it and still bribed the kids with sweets and when you found out, he did slept at his room in Jujutsu High, Yaga was laughing his ass off when he found out and he even mocked him of how he was the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in the community but in the house you are the ruler, Gojo didn't mind it, he loves you so dearly and your toughness made him fall for you.

Gojo has a sweet tooth, it is because he has to keep on eating sweets because of his technique and even if you have a sweet tooth as well you wouldn't want your kids to have too much sugar and you have to remind Gojo over and over again that he shouldn't give them too much sweets, they have to learn to eat nutritious food and Gojo being Gojo, he uses the sweets to bribe the kids, that's why you were forced to teach him a lesson by letting him sleep in jujutsu high, much to Yaga's amusement.

With a pale face he picked up the twins and smiled at you sweetly, “No sweets for the kids today, got it Mama.” he told you and you laughed before kissing him on his cheeks, you heard him whine about how you missed his lips but you just stuck your tongue out. “You can have all the kisses later, Satoru but if you feed them sweets you should just kiss the wall.” Gojo dramatically looked at you and shook his head, “Then just give me one kiss right now, I need motivation baby.” the twins looked at their father with disgusted faces and when you were about to lean in to kiss Gojo, Akira cupped your face and kissed you instead.

Gojo never felt so betrayed in his whole life. He was about to lean in to kiss you but Akihiro pushed his face away before leaning towards you.

“Aww babies, I love you. Come here Hiro, let Mama kiss you.” Hiro giggled and gave you a kiss and you giggled at the two, “Better luck next time, Satoru.” you winked at your husband and went out of your house and you swear you could hear Gojo's whines about the kiss that he didn't get but you just laughed it off.

---

“Dada! We're hungry!” The twins told their father as they got tired of running around the house, so far Gojo is being able to manage to take care of the two and he felt relieved that they're not throwing tantrums as of now.

He pat their heads and stood up, “Alright, Dada will cook for you two. But you guys should behave. I'll turn on the TV, watch some cartoons and let Dada do the work is that okay?” the twins nodded their head in excitement and sat at the carpet on the living room while holding their toys, before Gojo left the living room to went to the kitchen he saw the twins held each other's hand as they watch. He couldn't help but smile at the sight, he decided to silently take a picture so he could show you later.

The twins are fond of fried chicken that's why Gojo decided to fry some but as he waits for the chicken to get cooked he heard a loud crash and he ran to see what happened and he was frozen at what he saw.

“Dada! Hiro broke the vase because he threw the ball!” Gojo's jaw dropped when he saw the vase, Hiro was pouting and glaring at his sister saying that she's not suppose to say what happened. Gojo immediately picked them up and made them sat at the couch as he clean the broken pieces of the vase, after making sure that it was all taken care of he looked at the twins.

Gojo is not that strict as a parent, he believes that his children should be guided in what they do not to be controlled on what to do and if they made a mistake they should learn from their own failures. But that's not the case with three year olds.

“Hiro, look at Dada.” he sat at the front of the two and gave them a smile to reassure them that he's not mad. “That vase is not really important because we can buy another but if something happened to you or to your sister, Mama and I would be upset because you two are our most valuable treasure. You were planning to clean your mess and hide it to Dada weren't you?” Gojo asked his son.

Akihiro looked at his tiny hands and sniffed, “Sorry Dada.” he whispered and Gojo cupped his face gently to make him look up at him, “Just promise you won't keep any secrets from Dada and Mama. Also, don't fight with Akira alright? You two should protect each other do you understand?” Hiro nodded his head and looked at his sister, he hugged her and kissed her cheeks. “Sorry, Kira.” Gojo smiled and ruffled their hair before standing up.

“Don't worry about the vase, I'll be the one to explain to Mama. Watch TV and wait for me to finish cooking.” he kissed their foreheads and went back to kitchen, thank goodness the chicken didn't get burned.

----

When Gojo finished cooking, he called the twins to the kitchen and made them sat on their designated chairs before he placed down their foods. “After eating, we'll take a bath. You two smell bad.” Gojo lied and the twins glared at him. “No! You are smelly Dada! Mama said we smell good!” he laughed as he saw the twins' noses turned red in annoyance, it's a thing that the two inherited from you, the only difference is that your whole face gets red every time you're annoyed.

It was cute and he loves that the twins got that trait from you, “Kira, don't be messy.” Hiro reached for a tissue and wiped his sister's mouth while Gojo watched them with a smile plastered on his lips, he can't believe these kids are his, he's thankful that he found a woman who was strong enough to stay with him and gave him two angels, he couldn't ask for more.

“Kids, look at here. Dada will send Mama a picture.”

The twins smiled at the camera and Gojo chuckled before sending them to you with a caption. “Our 12 rounds that night are worth it babe, look at our angels.” he knows he'll receive a smack for that caption but he'll cross the bridge when he get there.

As he had said, he have to give the twins a bath and they are both excited to take a bath so it wasn't a tough job for Gojo, “Dada you stink! Shower already!” Akira pinched her nose and frowned at Gojo, Hiro laughed and also started teasing his father. “That's why Mama didn't kiss Dada he smells bad!” Hiro splashed water to Gojo and Gojo gasped.

“Young man, you want a fight?”

“Kira help!”

The twins ended up giving their father a bath, Gojo was all wet and the kids are not yet done so he told them to settle down so he could finish and take a bath on his own.

After that, Gojo took them in their room and dressed them, he put some baby powder in their back and when they were all done he took the box of toys from the top of the cabinet so the twins could play in their room. “Stay here while I shower alright? Shout for Dada if you need something.” The twins are too busy playing to give him attention that's why they just gave him a thumbs up, Gojo shook his head with a chuckle before he ran to the bathroom and turn on the shower.

----

Akihiro got bored playing his toys and he poked his sister's arm. “This is not fun, let's play other things.” Akira frowned but agreed to her brother, “What are we gonna play though?” Akihiro looked around the room and his gaze landed at the pillow, he was planning on throwing it to Akira and have a pillow fight but whe he got closer to the pillows, he saw the big bottle of baby powder, Akihiro waste no time and turn the lid befor squeezing it.

Akira's face was so white because of the powder, she wiped away the powder on her face before glaring at her brother, Hiro giggled and run away, Akira looked around to search for the other bottle of baby powder since she knew they have so many of that and when she successfully saw one she climb on the chair and reach for the baby powder placed on the table. She climbed down the chair and removed the seal before squeezing it towards her brother's direction.

The floor became slippery because of the powder, the twins are falling around the room but they didn't mind it, instead they giggled every time they fall and as they keep on going, they ran out of baby powder.

“Mine's empty now, let me get another one.” Hiro told his sister before he climbed at the same chair where his sister climbed and took two bottles of baby powder giving the other one to Kira.

Their war resumed and at the exact moment, Gojo just got out of the shower, he could hear their giggles and he was about to smile but as he sense the trouble, he immediately ran and his knees almost gave in when he saw that the whole room is covered by powder.

“DADA!”

Gojo had to drop his infinity when the twins charged themselves towards him, the next thing he knew his face was now full of powder, the twins' giggles filled his ears and Gojo decided to laugh it off. “We're all so dead.” he wiped his face and looked at his children, being a mischievous dad that he is, he wiped his hands on their faces and the twin ran away from him.

The three of them ran inside the room, slipping from time to time, when Gojo finally caught the twins he carried them and shook them as an attempt to get rid of the powders, “Wow Dada is so strong!” Akihiro giggled while Kira held onto her Dad tightly, “Enough, enough, Dada too high, too high.” Gojo put them down in front of a full length mirror and he sat in between them, “Look at our faces. You think Mama will still love us?” the twins giggled and nodded their heads.

When you got inside the house the first thing you heard were giggles, as you follow the voices you stopped on the room of the twins and when you opened it you saw Gojo and the twins trying to get rid of the evidences of their mess.

Gojo's hair has never been whiter, he's not wearing any shirt and his whole body is full of baby powder. The twins? They're worse than that to the point that you couldn't even describe their apperances in words.

“Gojo Satoru.” you called your husband, your voice stern and your stare was blank.

And at that moment, Gojo knows that he fucked up.

[nerdzzone]

-More Hearts Than Mine-

Summary: Raising a child is hard. Raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is even harder. And raising a child with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars who you’re not actually in a relationship with is even harder still.

Especially when a global pandemic is sweeping the world.

With lockdowns and stay at home orders looming on the horizon, the uncertainty of their situation becomes almost too much for Whitney Taylor to handle. Chris suggests that they quarantine together to avoid any potential separations but, given what happened the last time they spent more than a few brief moments in each other’s company, that could cause more problems than it solves…

Chris Evans x OFC

Sequel to: Once Bitten - Twice Shy

Note: Again, just a reminder that all the information I have about covid restrictions in Massachusetts is from google, not first hand experience, so if something seems wrong please just go with it.

Part Three

______

Part Four

If avoiding difficult conversations was an Olympic sport then it's pretty safe to say that I would have earned myself a gold medal by the end of the following week. It wasn't all that hard to do though as the exhaustion from parenting during a pandemic was hitting us both. Especially because the weather for the first couple of weeks of April was abysmal. It was cold, stormy and raining almost every day and we were all getting quite stir crazy from being inside constantly - especially our lively and spirited child.

So, it was a massive relief when the sun finally came out.

It was also a relief that it lined up with Grayson's third birthday.

He was going to have a very different birthday than previous years - as most people would over the next few months - but we wanted him to have fun and he was quickly tiring of all the indoor activities that we could come up with.

We set the living room up the night before after he'd gone to bed, putting up a birthday banner with several clusters of balloons, and there was quite the mountain of presents in the corner as most of our family members had sent their gifts in advance. I had hoped to wake up before him, but when I woke up to excited cheers and Dodger barking from downstairs, I knew I was too late. A quick glance at my phone told me that it was only six thirty, but clearly the excitement had gotten him up earlier than normal.

"Whoa, Dodger, Grayson, shhhh," I heard Chris warn the pair of them, his voice still raspy from sleep. "You'll wake up the whole neighbourhood."

I smiled and quickly climbed out of bed. Chris wouldn't let him open any presents without me, I knew that, but I didn't want to keep him waiting for too long.

When I got downstairs, a very excited Grayson was bouncing on the couch as Chris sat next to him, watching him closely with a smile on his face.

"Happy birthday!" I cheered, catching his attention.

He sprang off the couch and bolted towards me.

"Thanks, Mama," He shouted, throwing his arms around my legs and looking up at me. "I'm three!"

"You are!" I smiled as I knelt down in front of him and pulled him into a hug. "You're such a big boy now."

He let me squeeze him for another moment or two before wiggling free.

"Can I open presents?"

Chris laughed at his clear priorities, shaking his head as I stood up.

"Let's just wait for Uncle Scott," he suggested before glancing up at me. "He's putting the coffee on."

"Very smart," I nodded. "I think we're all going to need plenty of that today."

Grayson proved my point by grabbing at his balloons and waving them frantically, setting Dodger off barking again.

"Dodge!" Chris scolded. "It's just a balloon, buddy. Chill."

The poor overwhelmed dog hung his head and came over to me for some sympathy. I happily obliged, cooing some comforting words and rubbing his back.

"Gray, leave the balloons, okay?" I requested. "I don't think Dodger likes them."

Grayson frowned, but instantly let go of the balloon in his hand.

"Sorry, Dodger."

"It sounds like we have quite the party in here already," Scott commented as he sauntered into the room. "Shall we see what's in some of these boxes?"

"Yes! Yes!" Grayson cheered, running over to the presents. "What first?"

"Whatever you want," I told him, smiling as I went to sit on the couch next to Chris. "Do you need some help?"

"No, I can do it!" He insisted, making a bee line for the biggest box and quickly ripping the paper off.

We watched as he opened gift after gift, an ear to ear grin on his face the whole time. Just as he was at Christmas, he was incredibly grateful for every present from the Paw Patrol Lookout Tower that was almost as tall as he was to the dinosaur books that were more educational than flashy and fun.

But there was one gift at the bottom of the pile that Chris wasn't particularly impressed by. The one that my brother had sent.

Grayson opened it, pulling out a t-shirt first.

"What does it say?" He asked, holding up the shirt towards us.

Chris' jaw dropped as I stifled my giggles and Scott burst out laughing.

"It says 'Team Iron Man'," I read. "Remember how Uncle Rob was in a movie with Daddy where they had a big fight? Iron Man was Uncle Rob's character and I think Uncle Jack wants you to be on that team."

"Oh," Grayson smiled. "Okay!"

"Okay?!" Chris protested. "You don't want to be on my team?"

Grayson shrugged as he pulled something else out of the box from my brother.

"Look!" He shouted, his excitement clear as he held up a very fancy electronic Iron Man helmet. "I love it!"

I wasn't even sure that he knew what it was as he hadn't seen any of the movies yet, but his enthusiasm compared to Chris' displeasure was killing Scott and I.

"Oh, it's such a shame that your brother wasted his money," Chris said, his words dripping with sarcasm as he had a forced look of pity on his face. "Those things are expensive and Grayson is never going to wear it."

"I'll wear it!"

Grayson's insistence was followed by him putting the helmet on his head and another howl of laughter came from Scott as a look of betrayal crossed Chris' face.

"Your brother is a jerk."

His words were quiet so Grayson wouldn't hear and I smiled.

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "We're an Iron Man family..."

Chris shot me a glare, but turned his attention back to Gray.

"Well, if you don't want to be on my team then I guess I'll just have to find someone else to have the last present that I got for you..."

Chris was teasing, but Grayson whipped off the helmet faster than we could blink. He looked around, a puzzled expression on his face when he couldn't see anymore boxes on the floor and I shared his confusion as I wasn't aware of anymore gifts either. But the Evans brothers exchanged a knowing glance and I knew they were up to something.

"Maybe Miles would like it," Scott suggested. "He loves Captain America."

"Me too!" Grayson insisted, tossing the helmet aside as if it hadn't been his new prized possession moments ago. "He's my favourite!"

"Oh, is he now?" Chris laughed. "Doesn't take much to make you change your mind, does it?"

Grayson shook his head, oblivious to the fact that he was being teased, but Chris didn't torture him for too long.

"Alright, do you want to see what it is?"

"Yes, I do!"

Grayson leapt up, bouncing up and down with excitement, making Chris laugh as he stood up from the couch.

"C'mon then," he told Grayson, nodding his head towards the door. "It's this way."

Grayson scurried after his dad and I followed, my own curiosity piqued as well.

"What is it?" I asked Scott, but he just shot me a smirk.

"You'll see in a second."

I narrowed my eyes at his secrets and paused at the front door where Chris was waiting for us, his hand on the door knob as Grayson practically vibrated with excitement.

"Okay, close your eyes," Chris instructed. "No peeking!"

"I won't, I won't!"

Grayson covered his eyes as an extra assurance and Chris' grin widened even more as he swung open the door. I put my hands on Grayson's shoulders and guided him through it, seeing a shiny blue bike with a big bow on the handlebars. I felt a flash of worry at all the potential ways for Grayson to get hurt riding it, but there was no time to dwell on that as Chris told him to open his eyes and he gasped with excitement.

"A bike!" He squealed with joy, leaping off the doorstep and running towards it.

He circled it for a moment as if he was really trying to take it all in while I looked up at Chris.

"There better be a helmet with this present," I warned him. "I'm already imagining broken bones and missing teeth."

"He'll be fine," Chris assured me with a chuckle. "It has training wheels, but of course I got him a helmet."

I opened my mouth, ready to share some more potential disasters that could come from this - because even with training wheels he could still fall off or lose control and crash into a tree - but Grayson cut me off.

"Help me, Daddy! Help me!"

He was trying to climb onto the seat, but as I took in the sight of him barefoot in his pyjamas standing in the driveway, I stopped Chris as he moved towards him.

"Wait, why don't we have breakfast first?" I suggested. "We have all day to play on your bike, but you're not dressed or even wearing shoes..."

Grayson's face fell and I felt bad being the mean parent, but Chris nodded in agreement.

"Your Ma's right, Gray," he told him. "Let's go get ready and then we can come right back outside, okay?"

Grayson looked sulky, but reluctantly agreed as he walked back over to us.

"Hey now," Scott said, catching his attention. "No pouting on your birthday! We've got some chocolate chip pancakes to make! Unless that sad face means you don't want them anymore?"

His previous smile slid instantly back onto his face at the promise of such a sugary breakfast and the pep returned to his step as he grabbed Scott's hand before dragging him into the house.

-

I had no evidence to prove my theory, but by the time breakfast was over, I was almost certain that it would have been more relaxing to be in the middle of a hurricane. There was pancake batter all over the room and we practically had to pin Grayson to his chair to stop him from sprinting around the room with food in his mouth. It was a miracle that he got through the meal without choking.

It was impossible to be mad though when he was having such a good time. He'd had so much to adjust to lately, seeing him happy on his birthday was all that I wanted and I was willing to put up with a little more chaos than normal if it made that happen. Within reason, of course. I did stop him when he suggested that we put the entire bag of chocolate chips in the pancake batter and I did make him help me clean them up when he dumped them on the floor in protest of my ridiculous restrictions.

Once the breakfast circus was over, Chris whisked him off to get him ready to play outside while I helped Scott clean up the kitchen before going upstairs to shower and get ready myself.

When I came back down almost an hour later, I felt considerably less frazzled, but the sound of excited squeals and giggles echoing from outside told me the energy levels hadn't died down much. It really was a relief that he was having such a nice day though so I braced myself for more chaos and headed out to find them.

The sight that greeted me melted my heart completely.

Chris was running backwards across the driveway as Grayson rode towards him. He shouted encouragement the entire time, reminding him to keep pedaling and to look where he was going and cheering as Grayson rode past him before turning around and circling back.

"Look, Mama!" He shouted to me as he spotted me by the door. "I'm doing it!"

"You are, baby!" I smiled. "Good job!"

I sat on the doorstep and watched him ride in circles, proud of how fast he'd figured it out, but after a few moments, my attention turned to Chris.

There were few times since I'd known him when I'd seen him look as happy as he did in that moment. When Grayson was born, when he took his first steps and when he first said 'Dada' were probably the only comparable moments I could think of. He looked absolutely gleeful as he chased after Grayson, laughing as he passed him before dodging a different way and waiting for Gray to catch up before bolting off again. The sound of their giggles and shouts filled my heart so much that it genuinely felt like it was about to burst out of my chest and a feeling of contentedness hit me so hard that it almost knocked over.

It was a feeling that told me that they were all I ever needed. Those two boys, making each other dizzy as they ran in circles. Their happiness and love was all I could ever hope to have and moments like these were all I ever wanted to see. I wanted us to spend every weekend soaking in this kind of joy. I didn't want to fight and argue and transport Grayson back and forth every other week. I wanted to give Grayson what he deserved, I wanted us to be a family.

But as fast as that clarity hit me, the knots in my stomach were there to remind me that it wasn't just about what I wanted. It wasn't about what would bring us the most moments of delight, it was about what would provide Grayson with the most stability and being a family might do more harm to that goal than good.

It was a constant battle between my heart and my head, but I was starting to realize that my head was losing. I was clinging to my resistance with all I had, but it was slipping away. I knew I needed to talk to Chris, to sort out the fog in my brain, but for the time being, I pushed it out of my mind. This was Grayson's day and we didn't have time for anymore heart-wrenching conversations.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Scott appeared from the side of the house on roller blades and the unexpected sight pulled a laugh from my lips as he sailed past Chris and Grayson and headed down the driveway.

"Gray, follow me!"

Gray nodded, frantically pedaling to catch up with his uncle as they sped off down the long drive. Chris watched them for a minute before jogging over to me.

"He got it so fast," he puffed as he fought to catch his breath. "He's a natural."

"The training wheels help," I pointed out, shielding my eyes from the sun as I looked up at him. "But it's fine because he'll be keeping those on until he's at least eighteen."

Chris barked out a laugh, shaking his head.

"No way," he smirked. "We'll have them off by next week."

"Not a chance. I need at least six months to get used to that idea."

"How about we meet in the middle and aim for three?"

"Hmm, maybe," I bit back a smile. "We'll have to see how many injuries he gets with the training wheels on first."

"He'll be fine. He's a champ," Chris grinned proudly. "We've got a pretty great kid."

"We do," I patted the step next to me as I made room for Chris to sit down. "I can't believe he's already three."

Chris accepted my silent invitation and sat down next to me.

"I know," he sighed. "It feels like just yesterday that he was born..."

"He was so tiny," I reminisced. "And you had those huge Captain America muscles."

Chris laughed as he nodded at the memory.

"I was so scared to hold him in case I accidentally crushed him."

"I was so scared of everything," I admitted. "It wasn't until he was actually born that it really hit me that we were completely responsible for his well-being and keeping him alive."

"We've done well with that though!"

"We have," I agreed with a smile. "He's alive and thriving."

"We make a good team."

He flashed me a warm smile that made my heart beat stutter and it almost stopped completely when he stretched out a hand and placed it on mine. His touch was gentle and the warmth of his skin flooded through me even more than the sun streaming down on us. It was a simple gesture, but it eased the heaviness that had been hovering between us lately and I was grateful. I carefully flipped my hand over so our palms pressed together and let our fingers interlace. His smile widened as he looked back out at the driveway, his eyes settling on Grayson in the distance who was laughing at something Scott said.

"Thank you," Chris sighed, his voice quiet and filled with genuine appreciation. "I don't think I've ever said it, but thank you for making me a dad."

His words almost brought tears to my eyes, but I shook my head.

"Chris, you don't need to than-"

"I do," he insisted, cutting me off. "He's the best thing that ever happened to me and he wouldn't be here without you."

"I could say the same," I pointed out, trying to ignore the way his thumb was stroking the back of my hand. "He gets most of his good traits from you too. His kind heart, his sensitive little soul, his loyalty."

"His infuriating stubbornness."

"He gets that from both of us," I smiled. "He didn't stand a chance with that one."

"Well, I hope he gets some of your selflessness," Chris informed me, glancing over and looking a tad sheepish. "Because, as much as I disagree with it and I wish you'd be a little selfish, I get that you're trying to look out for him."

I felt my palms start to sweat and I wondered if he could feel it. I resisted the urge to snatch my hand away from his, trying to play it cooler than I felt. He was watching me closely as I mulled over his words until I found the strength to speak.

"I'm not so sure that it's just him that I'm trying to look out for," I admitted, exhaling a breath that I didn't realize I was holding.  "I do think we have more to talk about, Chris, but I don't think this is the right time."

"You're right," he nodded. "I just felt like I owed you an apology after the other night. I let my feelings get the best of me and I came across a little harsh."

I was about to reassure him that he hadn't when the sound of honking interrupted our conversation. Our attention was pulled to the end of the driveway where two cars - belonging to Chris' mom and his sister - were pulling in as Scott moved Grayson and Dodger off to the side to let them past.

"Did you know they were coming?" I asked, surprised by the little motorcade.

"Nah, I had no idea," Chris shrugged. "We'll stay outside though, keep our distance."

I wasn't worried about that really, I knew all of Chris' family were staying very isolated and being smart about staying safe and we were technically allowed to have outdoor gatherings of up to ten people anyway with the current rules in place. I was surprised to see them though as we'd warned Grayson that he would only get to see most of his family over FaceTime. His excitement at that being untrue was clear as he frantically pedaled back up the driveway to greet his guests.

"Mama! Daddy! Look!"

I let Chris' hand fall away from mine as we stood, smiling at Grayson's excitement as everyone started getting out of their cars. They burst into a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday' making Gray's grin grow even more.

"Happy birthday, Grayson!" Lisa beamed as Grayson ran towards her full speed. He threw his arms around her legs before we could even remind him to keep his distance, but Lisa seemed unbothered by it. "Have you had a good day so far?"

"Yes!" Gray smiled up at her. "I got a bike!"

"I saw that!" Lisa matched his enthusiasm. "You're a lucky boy!"

Grayson shot her another smile before turning his attention to his cousins.

"Wanna try?"

His older cousins were probably too big, but Stella's hand shot up first and beat them to it anyway.

"That's really nice of you to share," I called over to Grayson. "But share your helmet too, okay?"

He nodded and struggled with the clip for a few minutes before Lisa helped him take it off and placed it on her granddaughter's head.

Once they were all happy, chasing Stella and Dodger around the drive way, the adults moved over towards us. Lisa was the first to speak, a guilty look on her face.

"I hope you don't mind us just showing up like this, but we couldn't stay away on his birthday..."

"It's great!" Chris assured her. "Don't worry about it."

"And Grayson seems thrilled," I added. "It's nice for him to have other kids to run around with for a bit."

We all turned to watch them as they played until Carly let out a laugh.

"Are Grayson's shoes on the wrong feet?"

I hadn't even noticed, but I laughed as well when I realized that she was right.

"Some days just getting him in shoes at all is a victory," Chris defended himself. "And today was one of those days."

"He's like the energizer bunny this morning," Scott joked. "I can't imagine what he'll be like after we get some cake into him."

"Just think how well he'll sleep tonight," Carly pointed out. "He has to crash eventually."

"I hope so," Chris smiled. "He had me up at six o'clock this morning, I need an early night."

That earned a laugh from the group as his siblings teased him about being such an old man, but I felt a pang of sympathy for him, knowing that he'd been up early with Grayson a lot lately. Maybe it was because we were at his house so it was what Gray was used to, but Chris was definitely the favourite for the early morning wake up call.

We stood in our little circle for a while, just catching up as we watched the kids, all of us enjoying conversation with someone other than the people we were locked up with twenty-four hours a day. It was nice for me to have some female company as well even though Lisa was very pleased to hear that her boys were pulling their weight around the house and not just treating me like some kind of live-in maid.

It didn't take long for the kids to get tired of sharing the bike, especially the older boys who were too big for it anyway, and soon they were swarming around us demanding that we all play a game. After being cooped up for so long, it didn't seem like a bad idea to get us all moving around a little so we agreed and set about the daunting task of finding something everyone was willing to play.

Eventually, we settled on capture the flag - girls against boys. Lisa decided she'd make a better referee than a player so the boys team had one extra member, but they had three children to our one so it hardly seemed like the extra person would cause any unbalance. 

The rules of the game were simple: each team had three flags in our 'end zone' at opposite ends of the large grassy part of Chris' yard and the other team had to try to steal those flags. We had to grab it and run it all the way back to our own end zone to score a point, but once it was safely 'captured' it couldn't be stolen back. If someone managed to snatch a flag, but was tagged on their way back to their end zone then they had to give the flag back.

Lisa was very firm in reminding her children that tackling was not allowed as the Evans siblings were fiercely competitive and it had apparently led to trouble over the years. Once the rules were all set, we took our places and started the game.

The teams were fairly evenly matched. The boys had more strength, but we had more agility and were much better at communicating and working together which led to us easily scoring the first point. While Stella distracted Scott, Carly snuck past him to snatch the flag and she tossed it to Shanna who faked a pass to Stella before throwing it to me to get it to the safe zone. It was a beautifully executed play that showed the boys we weren't messing around.

"Oh, it's on now," Chris called out as he sprinted past me.

Shanna bolted after him, but he managed to grab the flag and throw it to Ethan before she caught up. With all the other boys guarding him, he made it all the way back to their end zone without getting tagged.

"I think having a super soldier on your team is an unfair advantage ," Carly huffed, but Chris shook his head with a smirk.

"Nah, because we have Scott too so it balances out."

"Hey!" Scott protested. "I'll switch teams if you're going to be rude!"

Stella jumped for joy at that idea, pleading with him to come onto our side, but the rest of the boys voiced their protests and he decided that, as long as there was no more hurtful comments, he would stick to his team for now. I used their bickering as a distraction though as I snuck closer towards their unguarded flags. I managed to grab one before Scott noticed and called out a warning to the rest of his team, but when I took off running and Grayson charged towards me, I didn't have the heart to out run him on his special day. I slowed down enough that he wouldn't realize I was letting him win and groaned dramatically as he tagged me, making me give up the flag.

"I did it!" He cheered. "Daddy! Did you see? I did it!"

Stella had a disappointed scowl on her face, but everyone else was understanding as they watched Chris scoop him up onto his shoulders, chanting his name as if he'd just won the World Cup while he carried him back to replace the flag.

Their celebration was short-lived though as we managed to steal the flag again almost as soon as Chris and Grayson were far enough away from it. After another perfectly executed play, the score was sitting at 2-1 for us. The pressure was on after that as we only needed one more point to win, it ramped up the competitive spirit.

We were off to a great start in the next round. Shanna got the flag quickly, but Scott had her cornered almost immediately so she tossed it to me. I got about ten steps before Chris was on my heels and I was forced to throw it over to Carly. Chris turned and went to chase after her instead and without even thinking, I leapt on his back to stop him.

"Hey!" He protested, slowing to a stop despite how he was clearly unaffected by my weight. "Is anyone seeing this? This has got to be a foul! She tackled me!"

"I did not tackle you!" I insisted, clinging to his shoulders with my legs wrapped around his waist. "If it was a tackle, you'd be on the ground."

Chris wiggled around, trying to throw me off his back as Carly sauntered into our end zone with the flag.

"The only reason I'm not on the ground is because you're too weak," Chris argued before shouting to his mom. "That doesn't count!

"No, Mama," Grayson joined in, running over to us looking very disapproving. "No cheating!"

I laughed, but slid down from Chris' back.

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" I held my hands up as I apologized. "I can't outrun Captain America, I had no choice!"

"Well, now you lost the point," Chris teased me, shoving me playfully and making me stumble a step away from him. "So, lets keep it fair and stop trying to cheat."

I swatted back at him as I stuck out my tongue while Lisa made the official call that the point didn't count and Scott took the recently captured flag back to the boy's end zone.

Chris had a new twinkle in his eye as the next round started. He hadn't let me get very far away from him and I quickly realized that I'd made a mistake by antagonizing him. I would be useless to my team if he was on my tail the whole time, but he was a tank and incredibly fast so getting away from him was next to impossible. I watched helplessly as Scott and Miles easily took our flag and dashed it back to their end zone to tie the score.

"Chris!" I whined as I tried to get around him like I was a cornered puppy, trying not to get caught. "Get away from me, you big oaf!"

"Oh, wow," Chris chuckled. "Let's not start calling names and being mean."

I tried to dart past him again, but groaned as he blocked my path.

"You're infuriating!"

"It's all part of the game."

The smirk on Chris' face had my competitive side firing up as I could see behind him that Miles had snatched our last flag. Stella was hot on his heels though, so he had no choice, but to pass to Grayson who was coming our way. Was I going to stop my three year old son from scoring the game winning point on his birthday? Probably not. But I had to at least make my attempt genuine so I came up with a plan.

"Is that..." I squinted off into the distance on the other side of the yard. "Is that Dodger chasing a cat?"

My Oscar worthy performance had Chris spinning around to check out what I saw and it gave me enough time to bolt away towards Grayson who wasn't far away from winning the game for his team. I made it an impressive five steps before Chris figured out what I'd done and came after me. Grayson saw what was happening and dodged to the left so I followed, but my change of direction gave Chris an opportunity. The next thing I knew, I felt a crash against my hips before I was lifted from the ground and found myself dangling over Chris' shoulder.

I let out a squeal of surprise as I kicked my legs, trying to get down, but Chris had a tight grip on me and there was no getting away. The ease with which he threw me around wasn't at all distracting and there wasn't a single part of me that was revelling in his strength. Not at all.

"This is absolutely a tackle!" I protested, focusing my mind back onto my predicament. "Put me down!"

"If this was a tackle, you'd be on the ground," he mocked me. "This is payback."

I had a nice view, my head only inches above 'America's ass' so, swept up in the moment of playfulness between us, I reached down and gave it a smack. He yelped and jumped, shaking me as he did.

"Chris! Put me down!"

My demands were weakened by the giggles that I couldn't hold back, but thankfully Scott stepped in to help me regain some dignity.

"Alright, you two," he called over. "Can we get back to the game now or would you like us all to give you some time alone?"

A blush covered my cheeks as I remembered that his entire family was around us and was relieved when he lowered me to the ground.

"Games over," Chris called back. "Grayson scored!"

Grayson jumped up and down happily, but Stella had a scowl on her face.

"Nuh uh! When Whitney tackled you, it didn't count!" She pointed out. "Grayson's point doesn't count too!"

The joy on Grayson's face fell into a look of anger as he stomped his foot at his cousin’s claim.

"It does!" He insisted. "I did it!"

"Now look what you've done," I playfully scolded Chris quietly before shouting to the rest of the group. "I think we're going to have to let them have the point, ladies. I wouldn't have been able to catch up to Grayson even if Chris didn't cheat..."

Stella's jaw dropped in clear shock that I hadn't supported her protests, but to stop the war before it could start, Chris chimed in.

"Grayson didn't need my help to score that point, I shouldn't have interfered," he started. "But why don't we call it a game and go have some cake?!"

The promise of sugar seemed to quash any animosity between the teams as all the kids let out a shriek of approval at that suggestion and took off running back to the house.

"Oh, yes," Carly sighed. "Because what my children clearly need right now is more energy..."

"It's Gray's birthday," Chris shrugged with a smile as we all followed the children at a much more reasonable pace. "We have to have cake!"

"And if it wasn't his birthday then I wouldn't have let you win."

My taunting earned a bark of laughter from Chris.

"Let us win? Yeah, sure, okay. You just keep telling yourself that you're faster and stronger than me," he teased. "Whatever makes you feel better."

I shoved him, but he was braced for it and I ended up more affected by the impact than him which proved his point, putting a smirk on his face.

"Asshole," I muttered as I shook my head, but I couldn't hold back a smile at how nice our affectionate teasing felt.

-

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. It had been a fun and very special day for Grayson so we were thrilled for him, but exhausted nonetheless. Gray fought his bedtime with all the will power he had, eager for the day to go on just a little bit longer, but we won out in the end and he made it to bed on time. Scott had gone to his own room while we were fighting with him and Chris and I parted ways shortly after to get some much needed quiet time of our own.

I found myself distracted though, when I was finally alone, as the importance of the day had me feeling sentimental. Watching Grayson grow up and hit these milestones was a joy, but it left me feeling a bit reminiscent of the years gone by. Years when he was even smaller than he was now, just starting to figure out the world and how to speak, walk and be a part of it. The time was really flying by and as I began to scroll through old videos of his first year of life, the nostalgia was almost too much to bear.

Eventually, I stumbled on a video that had distinct parallels of today.

It was a video of Grayson's first birthday when we'd given him his own little cake and let him go to town on it. Of course, as many babies do, he'd stared at it for a moment before smashing his face directly into it. It was adorable and tugged on my heart strings considering how comparatively neat his cake consumption was earlier that day. He'd grown so much in such a short time and I felt compelled to share my discovery with Chris so I dragged myself out of bed and crept down to his room.

There was a fluttering of nerves in my stomach as I knocked on his bedroom door, the feeling only growing as he called out an invitation to come inside. I did as he'd asked and let myself in, finding him leaning back against the headboard of his bed - wearing nothing but his pajama pants - with his own phone in his hand.

"Hey," he smiled. "What's up?"

"I found a video," I told him, standing awkwardly near the foot of his bed. "I was feeling a little sad about how fast Gray is growing up so I was looking back, watching old videos and I found one that I thought you might like to see."

Chris’ smile widened and he eagerly patted the bed next to him, encouraging me to sit. I took him up on his offer and settled in as I unlocked my phone and started the video.

"He was so little..."

Chris' observation came as the camera settled on Gray where he sat in his high chair. Chris was right next to him, a grin on his face as he chatted happily to our son despite the nonsense babble that he got in response. I appeared on the screen after a few moments, carrying a tiny cake as everyone started to sing Happy Birthday. Grayson had a look of confusion on his face as he looked around at the crowd, but his eyes widened when the cake was placed in front of him.

"Go on, Gray," I prompted once the singing had stopped. "You can taste it."

He needed no more encouragement and simply face planted right into it, popping up a moment later with blue icing from the tops of his eyebrows to the bottom of his chin. He had a huge, cheeky grin on his face as he looked at us and, just as he did in the video, Chris laughed next to me.

"Oh, man, it kills you, doesn't it?" He questioned before clarifying. "How cute he is."

I hadn't realized that Chris' arm had found its way behind me when he leaned in to watch until I felt his breath on my hair as he spoke and I couldn't resist leaning back, tucking myself under his shoulder. The whole day, the knowledge that my baby was growing up, had me needing some comfort. It was exciting, to see him learn and shift from a baby to a little person, but at the same time, I felt the overwhelming urge for time to stop.

"It does," I agreed, letting my phone fall to the bed beside me. "I can't believe how much he's changed since then."

"In some ways," Chris agreed, looking down at me with a smirk. "In others, he's still that goofy, reckless baby."

"If he's anything like you, he'll probably never grow out of being goofy and reckless."

I felt Chris' shoulders shake as he chuckled at my teasing and I was reminded of the last time we'd been cuddled up, in a similar position to this, in his bed. I felt a flood of warmth run through my body at the memory as I was suddenly aware of how close we were, aware of how good he smelt and how strong his hard muscled arm felt as I leaned against it.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one," I assured him. "I like that you're goofy. Your recklessness used to give me anxiety sometimes, when you'd always insist that you just had to do your own stunts on Captain America as if you really thought you were a super soldier, but I like that you're willing to take risks."

"Awe, gee, Whitney," he teased, squeezing me closer against him. "It was nice of you to worry about me."

"Of course I worried," I rolled my eyes. "Your muscles are bigger than your brain sometimes."

"Not anymore..." Chris held up the arm that wasn't currently around me and flexed his muscles, showing off a bicep that was still much larger than most even if it wasn't quite up to the Avengers standard. "I'm out of shape."

Against my own best interest, I turned slightly, letting my hand drift up towards his arm as my head fell against his chest. I traced over the bulging muscle and watched as tiny goosebumps rose up on his skin at the sensation. Skin that felt so soft under my touch and I felt his breath shift as he clearly felt the mood between us change the same way that I did. I felt emboldened by how amorous our emotional day had left me as I let my head tip back to find him looking down at me with the same intensity he had a few months ago.

My breath caught in my throat and I couldn't help myself. Despite every alarm bell going off inside my brain, I stretched up just enough to press my lips against his. For a moment, he relaxed. His shoulders dropped as my fingers curled around the arm they were just stroking, but then suddenly his entire body tensed as if he'd been shocked by a bolt of electricity. He jerked away, sliding out from under me and off the bed before I could even realize what was happening.

"No," he said firmly, pointing his finger at me the same way he did to Dodger when he was being naughty. "No, no, we're not doing this again. Not until we talk about it what's going on here."

I felt the sting of rejection so harshly that it almost brought tears to my eyes, but I knew he was right.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked out, my cheeks burning. "You're right. I shouldn't have done that."

My voice was shaking as I scrambled to stand up, the stunned look on Chris' face only adding to my embarrassment. We stood there, staring at each other with the bed between us, but he didn't speak and after a few moments of silence, my shame was overwhelming, kicking my flight instincts into gear.

"I'll go," I mumbled. "Sorry again."

I didn't wait for a response before darting towards the door, but Chris' voice stopped me before I could make my escape.

"Whitney, stop." He didn't shout, but his tone was firm and demanding enough that I froze on the spot. "We need to talk about this. We can't keep going on with it hanging above our heads."

I turned to face him, discovering that he'd moved closer and was standing by the foot of the bed. He was still a few feet away from me, but close enough that it felt almost suffocating and I bit my lip as I stared at his feet, unable to look him in the eye.

"I don't know what to say..."

"I can take it," he insisted, a hint of resignation in voice as he continued. "You've had plenty of time to think it over since our last conversation and you said earlier today that we needed to talk. If you're gonna turn me down, put whatever this is to bed, just do it now and get it over with."

I furrowed my brow in confusion at his words, my heart beating in my chest so fast that I could hear the blood pumping through my ears.

"Turn you down?" I questioned. "Why do you think I'm going to turn you down? I just kissed you."

"That didn't mean much at Christmas."

He had a very valid point and I felt another pang of guilt at how badly I was treating him. I was hot and cold, affectionate and withdrawn, unwavering in my decision one minute and unsteady the next. I hadn't spared much thought to how cruel that was and now that I'd realized, I couldn't hold back the frustrated groan that fell from my lips.

"I don't know what to do, Chris! I think I know what the right decision is. It's what always felt like the safer choice, but then there are times when that's just..." I paused, taking in a deep breath to work up a dash of courage. "It's not what I want."

Chris watched me closely as if choosing his next words very carefully.

"If the safer choice isn't what you want then it sounds like maybe you need to take a risk. You can't live your life making decisions out of fear."

My eyes narrowed. He was over simplifying the situation. That way of thinking might work if it was just the two of us, but with Gray in the middle, things were more complicated.

"It's not that straight forward."

I shook my head as I spoke, but Chris countered with a nod.

"Sure, it is," he shrugged before asking a question that almost stopped my heart. "Do you love me?"

I stared at him, opening my mouth to speak and then closing it again when the words didn't come. I stood there, gaping at him like some kind of ridiculous puffer fish, until I finally got a word out.

"What?"

A smirk slid onto Chris' face at my floundering as he repeated the question.

"Do you love me?" He asked. "And don't say it doesn't matter or it's not important. Just yes or no."

I stared at him for a moment longer as a war between my head and heart raged inside me. Deny, deny, deny was what my head was screaming, but in the end the quiet reminder of now or never from my heart was what won out.

"Yes, I do," I admitted, proud of my voice for not breaking. "I always have."

There was a grin on Chris' face now, but my stomach churned because it didn't mean anything. As I said, I'd loved him all along and yet here we were, no better off.

"That's all that matters then," he insisted. "We can figure out the rest."

"But what if we can't figure it out?" I protested, crossing my arms as if I could somehow fold into myself and disappear completely. "What if it's nice for a while and then it all comes crashing down around us? What about Gray?"

He shrugged again. His whole demeanour miles away from my own. He seemed confident, hopeful, almost excited while I felt nauseous, terrified and paralyzed by fear.

"But what if it doesn't? What if it all works out nicely? Why are you so convinced that we wouldn't last?"

"Because you're you," I reminded him, my tone flat as I stated the obvious. "Hollywood super star, Chris Evans. And I'm me, a boring nobody. You could have pretty much any famous actress you want, the only person who wants to be with me is the creepy maintenance worker in our apartment building."

Chris looked taken aback as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What? I've never heard about this guy."

"He's just some weird guy who does the repairs," I shrugged. "He comments on my outfits and looks at me in this way that makes my skin crawl, but he's harmless."

"Doesn't sound harmless to me," Chris argued, crossing his arms as a thunderous look settled on his face. "Does he have access to your place?"

"No!" I assured him, but after my quick answer I realized that I wasn't so sure. "Well, I don't know. He might have a spare key, I guess. If most maintenance people do? They have to give me notice before they enter the apartment anyway."

"Unless he's sneaking in to perv on you."

"Chris! That's gross!" I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Why would you put that thought in my head?!"

"I told you that you should have let me buy you a house," Chris huffed. "You're moving when all this covid shit is over."

"Oh my god," I groaned having flashbacks to our conversation a few weeks ago about him buying me a car. "All of this is so beside the point! We're talking about how you'd get bored of me and leave me heartbroken for some flashy Hollywood babe, remember?"

"Right," Chris nodded, letting his arms fall to his side. "But that's such a ridiculous idea that I thought it was hardly worth acknowledging."

His dismissal of one of my biggest fears sent a flash of anger through me.

"How is it ridiculous?" I snapped. "It's true!"

"You know me, Whitney," Chris sighed. "You know that my team had to practically force me into doing Captain America because I had one foot out the door of the whole acting gig and I hated the way Hollywood made me feel. Do you really think that I would give up a chance at a having family with you, someone who I really care about, for some wild, short-lived fling?"

His tone conveyed his disbelief, but he hadn't quite accurately interpreted what I meant.

"I think you'd regret it," I clarified. "I think that once the initial excitement wore off, you'd see that I'm nothing special and that I don't fit in your world."

Chris was looking at me as if I'd grown an extra head and I crossed my arms a little tighter around myself.

"We were friends long before Grayson came around and I've always thought that you were something special. Where is all this insecurity coming from, Whitney? Because I just don't get it."

I swallowed hard as I bit my lip. I felt incredibly vulnerable and the urge to run away and continue ignoring all my feelings seemed much preferable to standing here and analyzing them all, but I stayed strong. We were both adults and this was the only way to move forward. Whether it ended how Chris wanted or not, he deserved to know how I felt.

"I spent a long time convincing myself that you didn't care about me as anything more than a friend. I told myself that it was an insane idea because we're in two very different leagues so there was no point getting my hopes up. Then that night happened and I thought that maybe I'd been wrong, that it could be the start of a really good thing, but then you were gone by the time I woke up and you never called."

I barely choked out the last few words as I fought back the tears that were swimming in my eyes. An unmistakable look of guilt flashed onto Chris' face and he opened his mouth to comment, perhaps to defend himself, but I held up a hand to stop him. I needed to get it out or I never would.

"Then three weeks later, I found out I was pregnant," I continued. "I assumed from your silence that you didn't want to be with me and I knew that we were good together as friends so I kept my feelings to myself and spent the last three and a half years beating myself up for thinking for even one second that you would want to be with me."

"I did want to be with you..."

Chris was looking at me with those puppy dog eyes that he'd mastered and I sniffled as a tear slipped down my cheek.

"I know that now, but I can't just turn those thoughts off."

Chris sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before holding out his arms.

"C'mere."

I shook my head, wiping my tears as I worried that I'd fall apart completely if I stepped into his arms, but when he persisted and gestured me over again, I couldn't resist. I took the few steps needed to close the space between us and let my arms slide around his waist. He hugged me close to his body, burying his face in my hair as pressed mine into his muscled chest. We stayed like that for a few moments until Chris broke the silence.

"I'm sorry. I was an idiot," he apologized, his words muffled by my hair. "I should have fought for you. At the very least, I should have stayed until you woke up and I should have called, but I was scared too."

I felt more tears fill my eyes as I choked out a soft "I know".

Another silence fell between us before Chris spoke again, his words making my heart almost stop completely.

"I was going to propose." I pulled back at that confession, my eyes wide as I looked up at him unable to process his words fast enough to speak before he continued. "I called my mom up as soon as you told me you were pregnant. I wanted her to help me pick out a ring, but she talked me out of it. Said you'd think I was doing it for all the wrong reasons."

My heart fluttered back to life at the sincerity in his admission, but I nodded my head.

"Your mom is a smart lady," I told him. "I absolutely would have thought you were only doing it because you felt you had to."

"It wasn't out of obligation though," he insisted. "Maybe I was getting a bit ahead of myself leaping straight to marriage, but I cared about you. It was an opportunity to make it official, make that commitment and be a family. That's what I wanted."

I stayed quiet, resting my head back against his chest as I tried to take in all this new information. It was a lot to process especially when it directly contradicted the belief I had clung to for so long - that Chris and I would never work and for Grayson's sake we were better off apart. That assumption was so deeply embedded in my brain that it was hard to find the courage to take such a risk.

As if Chris could sense my lingering indecision, he continued.

"It's still what I want," he said softly. "Being here these last few weeks with you and Grayson as a family has been a dream come true. I wouldn't give it up for anything or do anything to jeopardize it if you'd just give me a shot."

The word 'okay' was so close to the tip of my tongue that it shocked me.

That was all I had to do, just open my mouth and agree and he would be mine.

My heart was pleading with me to do it, to take that leap and ignore any of the arguments against it that were running through my mind - especially now that those arguments seemed much less sound than they had a few short weeks ago. I was so conflicted that it almost physically pained me to have to make a decision and I couldn't help, but wonder how he could be so certain.

So, I leaned back and tilted my head so my eyes could meet his.

"How can you be so sure?" I questioned. "After how things have been these last few years, how can you be so confident in your feelings?"

"Because I love you," he told me plainly and with unwavering surety. "If you tell me right now that it's not what you want, then I'll accept your decision. But if there's a hint of a chance, then I'll wait as long as I need to. I've been waiting for years, thinking that I didn't even have a shot, I think I can wait a little longer now that I know that I might."

It was another heart wrenchingly honest explanation, another vulnerable admission, and something in the openness with which he spoke made me realize that over the last three years he had done nothing to earn any distrust from me. Even after the fallout from Christmas, he'd put his hurt feelings and pride aside to make things easier for me. He'd been sincere during every discussion we'd had since then and hadn't been cruel or impatient about my indecision. I had no reason at all, other than my own fear and insecurities, to assume that he was going to break my heart and tear apart our family.

He deserved a little bit of trust from me as well and a clarity washed over me as I finally knew what I had to do.

There were words I could have said, probably should have said, but I didn't feel like there was anything that would accurately portray how I was feeling. I settled for a more direct approach as I pressed up onto my toes and let my lips fall against his.

He tensed at first and for a brief, heart stopping moment, I thought he might push me away again, but he didn't. He relaxed, pulling me closer as my hands slid to cup his neck.

It was a soft kiss. A gentle, loving kiss, that I hoped conveyed what I couldn't figure out how to say. But when our lips parted and he leaned down to rest his forehead on mine, there was a concern in his eyes that told me I wasn't going to get away with it that easily.

"What does that mean?"

I bit my lip, staring up past his long eyelashes into his eyes. There was still a tiny voice in my head telling me to run, to stop being so foolish and leave now before I made a mistake, but my heart had found its footing now and wasn't going to back down. Listening to my head all this time hadn't made things any easier, so it was time to try something else.

"It means," I started, taking in a shaky breath. "I don't want to keep you waiting anymore."

Chris let out a breath of relief as a tentative smile slid onto his face.

"Really? You're sure?"

I swallowed hard and nodded my head.

"Yes," I breathed out, my voice thick with all the emotions swirling through me.

He dipped his head a touch lower until our lips were reconnected. It was a deeper kiss, more desperate than the first as his tongue slid against mine and his grip tightened on my waist, my nails scraping against the fuzz of his recently cut hair. I caved into him, clinging to him like he was a lifeboat in a storm until he pulled back to take a breath.

My chest heaved against his, the adrenaline of his touch and what this finally meant, almost too much to handle. I settled back down, flat on my feet and nuzzled my face back into his chest as I fought to calm my racing mind and just enjoy the moment.

"You really mean it?" Chris asked again, the shakiness of his voice filling me with another pang of guilt. "You really want to give this a try?"

"I mean it," I nodded against him. "Doesn't mean my concerns have all vanished in the last five minutes, but I...I think I need to trust you."

"I won't let you down," he murmured into my hair as he pulled me even closer. Another silence fell between us until I broke it with an embarrassingly large yawn and Chris' chest shook as he chuckled. "Do you wanna sleep down here tonight?"

As soon as he'd asked the question, it suddenly hit me how exhausted I was. Even just the thought of walking upstairs seemed like an impossible task when there was such an inviting, comfortable bed only steps away from where I stood. But a thought popped into my head that I couldn't ignore and I turned my head slightly so I wasn't speaking directly into Chris' muscles.

"What about Gray?" I asked. "He always comes to you in the morning..."

"Would it matter?"

His tone wasn't accusing or annoyed, but genuinely curious as sharing a child did add a strange new element to all this. I didn't really know what the best way to handle it was since Grayson didn't really understand our relationship or know how a typical family was set up anyway, but it didn't seem like the best way to introduce him to the idea.

"I think we should talk to him about it instead of just letting him stumble on us in bed together," I suggested. "But I think maybe we should wait a while?"

Chris' face fell as the look of worry returned.

"You want to keep this a secret?"

"I didn't mean it like that," I shook my head. "You can tell whoever you want, but I think we should figure things out, make sure things are stable between us before we try to explain it to Gray."

"Alright, that's fair," Chris agreed before leaning down to place another soft kiss on my lips. "I'll wake you up before he comes down."

"Okay," I nodded as I let my thumb stroke his cheek.

We reluctantly slipped out of each other's arms, but it was a brief separation as we climbed into opposite sides of the bed. Once we'd turned the lights off, we met in the middle and he pulled me back against his chest, letting me hook my leg over his hip as we settled against each other.

Chris ran a hand up and down my spine as he nuzzled in my hair.

"This feels nice..."

"It does," I hummed. With the darkness around us, the quiet that had settled in, I felt encouraged to say something that I'd felt I should have said long ago. "I'm sorry, Chris."

I felt him tense.

"For what?"

"For messing you around so much," I admitted. "Especially at Christmas...that wasn't cool."

"If I had expectations, I should have laid them out before anything happened." His answer sounded rehearsed, as if he'd spent a long time convincing himself of that fact. I wasn't entirely sure it was a fair statement, but he continued before I could question it. "I can understand where you were coming from, but I promise I won't hurt you."

I felt a pang of uncertainty because that wasn't always a promise that could be kept, but the sincerity in his voice gave me hope. I placed a soft kiss against his chest as his hands slid up under the loose shorts I was wearing to cup my bum.

"I love you," I mumbled against his skin.

"I love you too," he replied, making a feeling of warmth flood through me. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

I sighed happily as my exhaustion had my eyes fluttering shut. I wanted to stay awake, to keep this moment before the brightness of the morning could bring any doubts or second guesses, but I was powerless to resist as sleep overtook me.

-

Part Five

Tags:  @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @zaylaugh @flowery-mess @flowerjewels @njrronaldo7 @hockeychick10

[supercorpkid]

Let’s talk about Kara.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 2150.

It’s been two weeks since you’ve been back home from your ‘nearly death’ experience and things are almost back to normal. Almost.

You realize now you look a lot like Kara, and you’re not thinking about looks, but how things affect you. After Lena’s assassination attempt you went days having panic attacks, nightmares, having to sleep with your moms because you were scared, and developing mechanisms to get through the night. When you were shot with kryptonite, on the other hand, that didn’t happen. And now, after you almost died, things got rough at first, but you’re back to your normal life. Sure, you have to use a cast on your leg to justify your limping, and your powers are making a slow return, but you’re back at school again.

Lena has also gone back to work by now. It was a long period of not stepping foot on L Corp and things have not completely fallen apart, but they were very close to it when she came back. But Kara, well, let’s talk about Kara. She faced a lot of near death experiences, but none have affected her like you almost dying.

“Hello, my child, light of my days, star of my nights.” Kara says when you walk in the living room in the afternoon.

“You’re such a weirdo.” You make your way to the couch to sit next to her, she wraps you in a hug and you laugh. “What’s up with the Shakespearean talk?”

“Oh, you know, just want to make sure you know you’re the reason I exist.”

“I really am not. Grandmother Alura and grandfather Zor-El are.” You say with a smile still dangling on your lips and Kara smiles too, tightening the embrace. “Momma, ouch. Still don’t have all the superpowers, remember?”

“Sorry.” Kara kisses the top of your head a few times. “What do you want to do today? Should we do a Harry Potter marathon?”

You look at her expectantly face, and you give her a soft smile. You have tests you haven’t studied for, you have to catch up in almost every single subject from school, and you certainly can’t waste time re-watching a movie you’ve seen a bunch of times already. But you just take one look at her face, and you change your mind.

“Sounds awesome.” She matches your smile and soon enough you’re both wrapped up in blankets, eating snacks and reciting some lines from the movies you both know so well.

You should talk to her. It’s been weeks. She can’t go on like this. She picks you up from school every day, so you never have to walk alone (she makes Lena drive you there in the morning before work). She spends all afternoon practically glued to you, and she hasn’t slept in her own bed ever since you were back from the DEO. It doesn’t matter how many times you assure her that you’re fine. It doesn’t matter how many times Lena bribes her with hugs and kisses and other stuff, she doesn’t leave your bed.

All of her other responsibilities were tossed aside. No more CatCo, no more Supergirl calls, no more going out to buy food, no more anything. Kara is either inside of the house in her sweatpants, or with you when you need to be out of the house.

You can see Lena’s worried about her, but you know she is also still worried about you, so she hasn’t said anything to Kara yet. You don’t know what to do. You love your momma, you love having her with you all the time, that’s really not the problem. The problem is that you know this isn’t healthy. You were once obsessed with keeping Lena safe and that did you no good.

But Kara looks unhappy and worried, and your heart squeezes in your chest every time you look at her and think about telling her this has to stop. You look at her gasping next to you when Cedric dies, four movies into the marathon, and you can’t bring yourself to do it.

But the feeling grows bigger. It stirs you inside. When she lays next to you on your bed, and you watch Lena leaving for another night of sleeping alone, it grows a little more. When you see her eating cereal with chocolate syrup, because there’s no more milk and she doesn’t want to go out to buy more, it grows a bit more. When you have to go to school half an hour earlier than your usual time, because Lena has a meeting and she can’t be late, it grows more. This can’t go on any longer. You have to say something.

“Hello, my fellow Hufflepuff companion, shall we remain doing our marathon?” Kara asks and you roll your eyes, before sitting in front of her on the couch.

“Maybe.” You hold her hands and she looks at you furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. “There’s something we need to talk about first.”

“Oooh. Am I in trouble?” She asks, making you laugh.

“Momma, I think it’s time for you to go back to work.” You say turning your face back to serious. “I’m fine.”

“I know you are.” Kara says, but her face says otherwise. “But we’re having so much fun here together, aren’t we?”

“We are. But you can’t stay home in your sweatpants and ugly socks for the rest of your life. Even I know that.”

“Uh.” She grunts. “But work is so boring and you’re so cool!” She pulls you in for a hug. “Besides, your mom’s a billionaire. She can pay for everything.”

“Yeah, but you’re an adult and you need to go back to functioning like one.” You hug her tight. “I’m not saying you have to get out there now, I just want you to know that I’m ok, and I’ll be fine when you do decide to go back.”

“Ok mommy, I got it.” She jokes and you roll your eyes while smiling. “You know what I’ve noticed? You only call me mommy when things are bad. Like when you’re scared or something.”

"That’s not true!” You try to defend yourself, but you know it is pretty much how it works.

“It is true.” Kara whispers and kisses your head again. “I like how you say mommy, I just don’t like that it’s always in scary situations.”

“Ok.” You let go of her and look in her eyes. “Can we make popcorn and watch Harry Potter, mommy?”

“YESSSSSS!” Kara cheers, clapping her hands and then raising them in a celebratory move. “I’ll make the popcorn and you put the movie. And I’ll be right back, my baby.”

Kara comes back with so much popcorn, you could feed an entire movie theater. You two get comfortable on the couch with lots of cushions and blankets and continue the marathon you started on the day before.

“Hi, my loves.” Lena walks in the living room after work and looks at you and Kara wrapped up in each other while sobbing. “Why are you two crying?”

“Dobby died.” Kara points at the TV and Lena chuckles a little. “It’s a real tragedy, ok?”

“I’m sure it is.” She says ironically. “Then I have something to make your days slightly better.”

“I doubt it, we had a pretty decent day.” You say and she shows you a box of donuts. You untangle yourself from Kara and stand up right away. “Oh wow, I stand incorrect. Thanks mommy!”

“Hey! I’m mommy! Stop throwing it around like it means nothing!” Kara complains pretending to be upset and you grab one donut from the box.

“Here mommy, have a donut.” You give Kara the donut, then grab another one from the box and offer it to Lena. “Here mommy, you can have one too.”

“Stop it!” Kara grabs you from behind making you sit back on the couch. She starts tickling you, making you laugh.

“Wait, why can’t I be mommy?” Lena asks sitting on your other side. She tickles you too. “I’m mommy!”

“You are not!” Kara replies, and her hands don’t stop. “You never once were mommy!”

“Exactly! I deserve more now.” Lena stops tickling you and she protects you from Kara’s hands making her stop. “Tell her, babygirl. Tell her I’m mommy and I’ll buy you more donuts.”

“You!” Kara hisses pointing at Lena. “Come on kid, tell her I’m mommy and I’ll buy you all the food your heart might desire.”

“What the hell?”

“Oh yeah, she’s being Shakespearean.” You look back at Lena. “Well? Aren’t you going to increase your payment?”

“You’re a mercenary.” She jokes and kisses your cheek. “I’ll go shower while you two finish the movie and then we can have dinner?”

“Sure, mommy.” You say making Lena chuckle and Kara complain.

“Hey! I promised you any food your heart desires!”

“Yeah, but you don’t have any money right now.” You point at your head. “Smart.”

“You know what? You just ruined mommy for me.” She pouts.

“Sorry, mommy.”

“God, you’re so freaking cute.” Kara’s pout is immediately gone and she grabs your face and smiles. “No, you didn’t. You can never ruin anything.”

On Monday morning when you walk in the kitchen you see Kara on her work clothes. You smile at her knowing what that means, and you can see Lena is also excited that she’s going back to work. She doesn’t seem excited herself, but you know she’s making an effort, so you’re really proud of her.

In the evening, you hear when she comes back from work, so you put the TV on mute and look back at the door. She throws her shoes to the side, along with her coat and purse, unties her hair and makes her way towards you while unbuttoning a couple of buttons on her shirt.

“Hey! How was your day?” You ask and she throws herself on the same couch you’re in, placing her head on your lap.

“I think half of my problem with today was putting on real pants.” She mutters and you give a soft giggle in response.

“Right. And the other half?”

“I didn’t get to hang out with you all afternoon.” She complains and you smile, playing with her hair.

“You’ll get used to it.” You tell her making her grunt.

“Why aren’t all people as nice as you are? Or fun? Or cool?”

“Or smart.” Lena adds, throwing herself on the chair in front of you and you turn to look at her, surprised you didn’t hear her coming. “God, I wish I could fire everyone in that building and hire you instead. Everyone was particularly stupid today.”

“As much as I am flattered, please don’t fire Aly. I like her.”

“Should we all just quit our jobs and stay home forever?” Kara says calling Lena with her hand. Lena goes to the couch you’re both in, and lays next to Kara, placing her head on your lap, too. You look down giving them a smile.

“I don’t have a job.” You’re still playing with Kara’s hair, and Lena grabs your other hand so you can do the same with her.

“You can quit school. Lena can teach you, and then you can teach me!”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Lena agrees, throwing her arms around Kara. “It can be just the three of us forever.”

“Please, don’t encourage this kind of nonsense.” You poke Lena’s cheek. “You know momma doesn’t need much to go completely nuts.”

“Hey!” Kara complains sticking her tongue out at you.

“I’m really proud of you, momma.” You stroke her cheek lightly and her face lights up when she hears that. “I know it wasn’t easy going back to work and wearing real pants. But the only way we can move on and forget all the nightmare we lived, is if we all make an effort to have our lives back.” You see Lena smiling, like you’re so smart she can’t believe it. “I get that it is easier hiding ourselves here in our little world, but the real world out there needs you. They need Supergirl saving them. They need Kara telling them the truth. I wouldn’t want to take that away from them.”

“Oh my God.” Kara wipes her tears and gets up from your lap to look at you. “What did I do to deserve such a great daughter?”

“I know, right?” Lena also wipes away some tears and you smile at her reaction.

“I love you mommy.” You kiss Kara’s forehead, and she kisses yours in return. “I love you mom.” You bend so you can also kiss Lena’s forehead.

“We love you kid. We really love you.” Kara says hugging you, and awkwardly Lena wraps her arms around both of your waists and smiles. “Rao, I love this family.”

You breathe relieved when you feel that finally things will go back to normal. It’s about time.

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

Update: Annabeth has not done what needs to be done. 

August moves over into September, hot and sweltering days giving way to the first few hints of the coming autumn chill. One unseasonably cold night, Annabeth had gone to bed wrapped in one of Percy’s old Paris Opera sweaters, waking up with it and wearing it home to ward off the chill of the morning drizzle, like some a normal girlfriend would. 

It’s a problem, she knows, but she just cannot quit this man. 

And boy did she try, about a hundred different times. 

One time, she spent an entire Tuesday before seeing him googling around until she found a picture. It was three years old, and it showed Mittie--oh, sorry, Her Royal Highness Margherita--at a soccer game in Moscow. Next to her is the handsomest man in the world. Percy’s hair is shorter, and something about his windbreaker reminds her of some of the crew boys she knew at Harvard. They aren’t touching, but they are both smiling. This is the kind of girl Percy deserves. This is the kind of girl he should want. His type. She reminds herself of it for hours before meeting him at a show. But the smile he gives her is nothing like the one in the pictures with the princess. And when he whispers what he wants to do to her that evening, she just can’t do it. 

She even took him to his favorite pizza place once to soften the blow. But then she thought about how her dumping him would forever taint the magic of Antonio’s for the both of them, and she just couldn’t abide that.

So she kept putting it off. And putting it off. And putting it off.

And then he asked her to dinner with his parents again, on his one night off in three weeks.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to bring you something?” he asks for the fourth time, concern making his connection thin and tinny.

“It’s just a little stomach thing,” she lies, shaking out a ramen flavor packet. “I’ll be fine. You go have fun with your mom.”

“Okay. I’ll call later to check up on you.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m just going to be asleep.”

“Talk to you later.”

“Yeah.”

He clicks off. Her apartment is very quiet. For lack of anything else to do, she decides to check her mail.

Who even mails anything anymore, she thinks.

Rifling through the pile of wasted paper, she sighs at the banality of it all. Junk, junk, junk, NYCB brochure she needs to cancel, junk… Harvard?

She peers at it.

The red seal is unmistakable, as is her name, printed in neat, black ink. “Ms. Annabeth Chase.” Why are they contacting her? And more importantly, who the fuck gave them her address?

Hands shaking, she unfolds it. “Dear Ms. Chase,” it reads, “Thank you for your generous contribution to the Harvard Graduate School of Design. As one of our most promising graduates, we are so pleased and thrilled to receive your encouragement. With your gift, we were able to reach our fundraising goal of $2.5million, which will go to support the various operations of the school, so that we can continue to provide a top-notch education for your fellow students. You do make a difference for us, and we are immensely thankful for you!” And then it goes on. “As a thank you for your generous gift of $15,000, we would like to invite you to the Alistair Moore dinner for distinguished graduates and faculty. We would be delighted to receive you at...” 

She can’t finish, dyslexia scrambling the words in front of her. Or maybe that’s just her, trembling so hard she has to sit down. Fifteen thousand. The Alistair Moore dinner. She knows it well, yet another fancy networking event, like the Eta Industries party. Bile rises in her throat. Who would…

The answer hits her like a freight train. Only one person would be so bold. 

Crumpling the letter in her fist, she pulls out her phone, dialing the number she still stubbornly has memorized, despite deleting it off her contacts list. 

She isn’t sure if she’s upset that she gets his voicemail, or relieved. “Hey, dad. It’s me,” she says, grimacing as she starts off like he wouldn’t recognize her voice. Like it’s any other phone call. “I got your message. The Alistair Moore dinner? I’m not going. I told you, I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. What I need,” she sneers, “is for you to butt out and leave me the hell alone.”

Then she hangs up, before she can chicken out and delete it.

She shoves the letter into her recycling bin, down to the very bottom. Out of sight and out of mind. 

Well, her night is pretty much ruined. 

Ramen growing colder, she lies on her couch, her head hanging over the edge, studiously not looking at her phone. She shouldn’t have left that message. She shouldn’t have opened that letter. She shouldn’t have rebuffed Percy’s invitation. Or maybe she was right, in all those situations. Who the fuck knows. Who the fuck cares. Her leg bounces, frantic, stomach roiling.

Like a gunshot, her phone vibrates on her coffee table. Annabeth catapults herself up, reaching for it, nearly dropping it, even as her eyes begin to blur. Please let it be her dad. Please let it be anyone else but her dad. Please. Please. Please. 

checking in, writes Percy. feeling any better?

With a sob, she hits call. He picks up after the second ring.

“Hey,” he says, softly. “Everything okay?”

“Can,” she hiccups. God damn it. God damn her. “Can you please come over?”

She can feel his demeanor change over the phone. “I’ll be right there,” he says, calm and collected. “What’s your address?”

Her address is supposed to be a secret. No one is supposed to know where she lives. She doesn’t even like Luke knowing where she lives, and he might be the closest thing she has to family right now. But she tells Percy, and he promises to be there within thirty minutes. Throwing her arms over her face, she lies back down, breathing through her nose so she doesn’t vomit.

He makes it in twenty. here is the simple text, devoid of any hearts or emojis, and she buzzes him up. Less than a minute later, he knocks on her door. “It’s open,” she calls, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. 

Softly, the door clicks open, someone smoothly and quietly stepping inside. “Annabeth?” 

“Here,” she moans. She should get up to greet him. She can’t feel her legs. She can’t feel anything at all. 

The couch dips as someone sits next to her, a warm, large hand on her shoulder, and she can’t help but open her eyes. Percy is there in his blue sweater that she returned the last time she had slept over at Nico’s apartment, his brow furrowed in worry, but he’s smiling a little, too, just happy to see her, to see that she’s safe. In his other hand, he holds up a plastic bag. “I brought you a cookie,” he says, gently. “Chocolate chip.”

Annabeth blinks. “It’s… blue.”

He nods. “It is.”

Blue cookies. His mom’s special recipe, he had told her, for bad days of aching feet, harsh dance instructors, and school bullies.

The dam breaks. 

She launches herself into Percy’s embrace, sobbing. He tucks her head into his neck, his arms coming up around her. “It’s okay,” he murmurs. “It’s okay.”

“I’m--I’m so sorry,” she gets out, in between heaving breaths. “I just--I didn’t want to be alone and--”

He shakes his head against hers, his nose in her hair. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

They sit there for a long, long time, him holding her as she cries, pathetic. She can only imagine what it must be like from Percy’s end: here he was, having a lovely dinner with his mother uptown on his night off, only to get a frantic call from his hookup, demanding that he drop everything and rush to her side. And he did. He even fucking brought her one of his mom’s special cookies. 

She does not deserve this perfect, amazing man.

It’s that thought more than anything else that pulls her out of her spiral, her sobs abating somewhat. “There we go,” he says, sweetly. “I’m going to get you some water, okay? Be right back.”

Resisting the urge to hold onto his sleeve like some kind of child, she lets him pull away, stepping into her kitchen. Head aching and eyes puffy, she can’t even really register the fact that he is in her apartment right now. Her secret hideaway. Her sanctum sanctorum. He can see her tasteful couches and her expensive coffee maker and her giant TV screen. 

But honestly? She doesn’t care about any of that right now. All she cares about is the long, solid line of Percy’s body next to hers as he sits back down next to her, handing her a glass of water. She drinks it down, greedily, falling back against him, his hand automatically coming up to her shoulder, and she turns into his side, drinking him in, just as desperate.

They don’t speak, just holding onto each other. 

As she drifts off, there on her couch, her arm around Percy’s midsection, she only has one real thought in her head. 

Forget the apartment--this is her sanctum sanctorum. This is her safe space.

***

Annabeth wakes up in a bed that isn’t her own, in an apartment that isn’t her own. 

It reminds her, weirdly enough of her mom’s apartment, she thinks as she sits up in the soft, cream sheets, here in New York. She had only ever been a handful of times, whenever her mother deigned to claim her for their allotted family time. She doesn’t remember much about that place--mostly the skyline through the window, the low, uncomfortable furniture, the spotless, empty kitchen. 

Across from the bed is a mirror, squat and wide. Annabeth has her hair back, her face devoid of metal. She looks tired, she thinks, and maybe a little older, dark, heavy bags beneath her eyes. She’s wearing a real, actual set of pajamas, rather than a sweater or an oversized shirt, pale pink silk tight around her body. 

Shaking her head, she looks down, and spies a thin band of gold on her left hand, which rests on her stomach, sporting a slight, but noticeable curve. 

Only then does she realize it’s a dream. She lets out a grateful sigh. Just a dream.

It seems like a pretty boring one, too. She’s older, a little fatter, and has a nicer apartment. Somewhere in the distance is the indistinct sound of a person singing. And beyond that the even more indistinct sound of the city. 

Stumbling out of bed, her feet falling into a pair of soft, pink slippers, perfectly positioned next to her bed, she makes her way out into the apartment. The walls are cream, decorated with generic seaside landscapes, a nondescript sailboat in the background against an unchanging, cornflower blue sky. 

The kitchen is empty. Breakfast is cooked, laid out on a placemat at the kitchen island, but no one is there eating it. No one is there cleaning up, or making coffee. The food looks delicious, like a magazine spread: a perfectly made bowl of granola and yogurt, a lemon poppyseed muffin, a glass of orange juice on the side. Nutritious. Small. 

It’s weird. It’s really weird.

Moving on, she enters the living room. There’s a little girl on her knees, maybe three or four, she’s wearing a red pinafore over a white polo shirt and Mary Janes shined like the top of the Chrysler building. The preschool version of a prep-school uniform. She’s hunched over the glass coffee table, frizzy blonde curls bouncing as she moves her hand back and forth, scribbling with a colored pencil on a piece of paper. 

All of a sudden, she notices Annabeth standing there. 

“Mommy!” She jumps up, holding the pencil behind her back, her green eyes wide with apprehension. “I--I was--”

She hears whistling, and turns to see… well, it's Percy, but he looks nothing like her Percy. His hair is cropped shorter, parted and moussed perfectly flat. He’s in a three piece suit. He’s in trousers. Not a pair of sweatpants or a muscle tee in sight.

He stops when he sees her. “Sorry, didn’t know you were awake, wouldn’t have been singing.” Which makes no sense, Because Annabeth loves Percy’s ambient music. He looks around her, speaking to his--to the girl, “I told you you’d have to stop when mommy got up.” 

Annabeth glances at the little girl, who nods too solemnly. 

“Don’t worry,” this stranger wearing Percy’s face says, “She’s ready for school. She is ready for her Math qualification. I only said she could draw for a little, to calm herself down.” He glances at the girl again. “Put your things back in the art box, and we’ll go to school. I have an 8:30 meeting with the board.” 

The little girl runs off. Holding her paper and her pencils close to her chest, like she’s afraid someone is going to take them away from her. Maybe someone is. 

Percy turns to her. “I confirmed our reservations at 7 tonight at Sarabeth’s with your mother’s assistant this morning. And the nanny is going to stay late, so we don’t have to bring her.”

The her in question reappears just then. She’s so small. And she’s carrying a backpack. She looks like that breakfast, out of a magazine. But normally kids in magazines smile. 

“Are you ready?” Annabeth’s voice finally says.

A beat, then she nods again. “Yes, mommy.”

“Good,” she says. Outside, the sunlight through the windows isn’t so bright anymore, but dark and cold, like a solar eclipse. “Make me proud.”

And she turns to go back to bed, but the floor has disappeared, and she steps on nothing, tumbling down into the void.

With a start, she wakes up again in her bed, to the smell of breakfast in the air. Which is confusing, because she’s pretty sure she fell asleep on the couch, and she usually doesn’t wake up in time for breakfast, let alone actually make it herself: she has Percy for that, now. 

Right. Percy. 

It comes back to her in flashes: the donation, the voicemail, calling Percy out of desperation. Inviting him into her room, her bed. Falling asleep in his arms. 

She physically shakes her head, roughly scrubbing her face, forcing herself further into consciousness. The light coming through her window is grey and weak, doing absolutely nothing to help her out. The morning feels muted, for some reason, like it’s very far away. Maybe it was her nightmare.

She can’t hear Percy, Annabeth realizes. That’s what’s wrong. She can smell breakfast, but she can’t hear him puttering away. She doesn’t hear the clanking of pans as he tries to be quiet, or his off-key humming, or the dull thump of footfalls on her floor as he practices his steps. 

God, how late did she sleep? If he has to leave for a morning class he usually makes sure to wake her up, first. For a kiss if nothing else.

But when she pads out to her kitchen, she’s stunned to find Percy still there, sitting at her warped kitchen table. There are two plates in front of him, eggs and bacon untouched and cooling. He’s fully dressed, too, in his dark jeans and stupid dance pun t-shirt: “Girls Just Wanna Have Buns,” his sweater on the empty chair. Annabeth had been weirdly looking forward to wearing that this morning; he likes seeing her in his clothes, and she likes seeing him without them. It’s a system that works for them, typically leading to a lot of smiles, a couple giggles, and maybe another round or two before he has to leave.

He’s not smiling now. His gaze is fixed on his plate, hands in his lap. “Morning,” she croaks, softly.

Percy lifts his eyes to her, unfathomable like the sea. “Morning.”

Something in her stops her from sliding into the seat across from him. Standing gives her strength, gives her power that she doesn’t want to give up. She may not be able to tell what Percy is thinking right now, but she knows when someone is gearing up for a fight. “What is it?”

“What is what?”

“What’s the matter?”

He is uncharacteristically still. Annabeth has gotten so used to him expressing himself via his body, the stillness is unsettling. Percy holds her gaze for a moment, then sucks in a breath, sitting up a little bit straighter. “I kicked over your recycling by mistake, and when I was cleaning up, I…” He bites his lip, a little ashamed. “I accidentally read some of your mail.”

“Okay.” He can’t be that broken up about her junk mail, can he?

It’s only then that she sees it, laid out neatly next to the breakfast plate. The letter has been carefully uncrumpled, but the red Harvard seal is as obnoxiously bright as ever. “I don’t mean to pry, but…” Percy licks his lips, gathering his words together. “I thought you didn’t get into Harvard?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“It’s just--this is from the Graduate School of Design,” he continues, looking at the page as if to confirm it. “And the dean says you were one of their ‘most promising graduates,’ here, so. That means you have, what, a master’s degree? Right?”

Still, she doesn’t say anything.

Percy rubs a hand over his mouth, square jaw squaring further. “I guess I just don’t understand why you lied to me.”

“I never--” she blurts. 

“I mean, were you trying to spare my New Yorker sensibilities by telling me you didn’t get in? Did you think I would actually care?”

There’s nothing she can say in response. So she doesn’t. 

After a moment, he blows out a sharp breath. “So. Fifteen thousand dollars, huh.”

She sighs, looking away. It’s not like Annabeth doesn’t hate it, too. “I didn’t do that,” she says, crossing her arms. “My dad did it, he just put it under my name.”

“And, he did that… why? I mean,” he tilts his head, a little bewildered. “I thought you guys weren’t on speaking terms.”

“To try and get me to network again, probably.” She shrugs. “And I’m not on speaking terms with him. He just hasn’t gotten the memo yet.”

He hasn’t raised his voice at all. He hasn’t moved from his seat, or made any kind of threatening gesture, but like an approaching storm cloud, she can feel the anger rolling in, dense and crackling. “Does he do this a lot, your dad? Throw his money around for you?”

“It’s not like I asked him to.” 

But he’s shaking his head, rueful. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. You know, I thought it was weird that you could afford an apartment in the East Village with a bedroom on periodic architecture contracts, but I’m guessing he pays for that, too?”

He’s right, of course, but that doesn’t stop her from bristling. “It’s a trust fund,” she snaps. “It’s still my money.”

“A trust fund,” he says, softly. “Right.” 

Anger lances through her, cold and burning. Just because her dad had set it up for her didn’t mean that she wouldn’t use it. “Yeah, a trust fund. Is that a crime, now?” 

He opens his mouth as if to say something, then snaps it shut with an audible click. Pushing his chair out, he stands up, hands flat on the table. “I should go and get ready for my class. I’ll… I’ll text you later, okay?” Percy takes a step towards her, hands reaching for her on instinct, then pauses. “See you around.”

Percy leaves without so much as a look back, closing the door so quietly she can barely hear it over the roar of blood in her ears.

[fanmoose12]

Nifa Strikes Back

Levi hates St. Valentine’s Day with burning passion. The only thing that makes this holiday somewhat bearable to him is a little tradition he shares with his best friend Hange. But after hearing the news that Hange is going to skip the years-long ritual to go on a date with someone else, Levi is faced with conflicting and severely confusing feelings. 

thanks @innocent-ghost-demon for the idea! (i’m sorry it took me so long to actually write it lmao)

In Levi's personal opinion, St. Valentine's Day was the worst holiday of them all. It was meaningless and explorative and it served no other purpose than to fill the pockets of flowers and chocolate sellers. Levi hated it with burning passion, getting groceries in the weeks leading to the forsaken holiday was the cruelest torture, as he was immensely annoyed by big pink hearts and cute figurines with naked babies on display. It was almost impossible for him not to gag.

The only thing that quelled his hatred towards this day was a small tradition he shared with his best friend Hange. It had started years ago, when they were still in college. Hange's boyfriend had dumped her - she was heartbroken and upset, while Levi was furious and ready to go, find that bastard and beat the shit out of him for making Hange cry. Naturally, as college students, they knew only one way to deal with that kind of complicated feelings - get absolutely wasted at the local bar. Next morning they woke up with the worst hangovers of their lives and vowed to never repeat the same mistake.

But next year, Hange was rejected by a girl she wanted to ask on a date, and, like a good friend he was, Levi once again offered his shoulder for Hange to cry on. And once again they've found themselves clinging to each other as they shakily stumbled towards their dorm.

They got drunk that year again. And that's what they've been doing every year after that.

It was the only thing that got Levi through the awful holiday. Because of that, he was actually looking forward to it.

***

"Hey, four-eyes," Levi looked over the wall that separated their cubicles, throwing a small piece of paper to get Hange's attention. "Is your place as messy as usual? Or have you cleaned it for the occasion?"

"Huh?" Hange raised her eyes from a screen, pushing the glasses up her nose. "What do you mean?"

Another paper was thrown at Hange. This one landed on her lap.

"The shitty holiday, Hange. It's this weekend. So are we going to your place of mine?"

"Oh," Hange raised her hand, rubbing her neck. "About that..."

Levi frowned, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Did he hear a twinge of hesitation in Hange's voice? That was unusual. What could it mean?

"I can't go this year."

His frown turned into a scowl. "Why the fuck not?"

"I have a date."

Levi blinked. Hange's words... surprised him. And more than that, his own reaction surprised him. He felt displeased, but not just that. He was angry, he was disappointed. He was sad?

"You're going on a date?" he asked, cursing the weakness that colored his voice. What was going on with him?

"Yeah, sorry," Hange gave him an apologetic smile. "With all this work, I forgot to tell you about it."

"That's fine," he answered, even though it wasn't fine. Hange was going on a date, and Levi wasn't fine with it. Why wasn't he? Hange was his best friend, he was supposed to feel happy for her, right? Did it mean that he was a bad friend?

No, Levi decided. He wasn't a bad friend, he was a good one. He was worried about Hange, he had seen her get hurt by someone else, and he simply didn't wish to repeat the experience.

"Who is your date?"

Was it someone from the office, he wondered. If it was their co-worker, that'd be good, Levi could keep an eye on them then. But what if they start dating? Would Hange stop spending her lunch-breaks with him? Would she go and bother someone else if she's bored? Would she pay less attention to him?

Levi shot that train of thought as quickly as it appeared. He didn’t like thinking about it. It made him feel weird. It made him upset.

"It's Nifa's cousin, she set us up. I don't know the guy yet," Hange shrugged. "But if he's at least half as cute as Nifa, then it's worth a shot, eh?"

She looked at him then, tilting her head and smiling. It was Levi's cue to congratulate her and wish her luck. Or express his pity towards the guy. Instead there was an unpleasant, ugly feeling inside him. Hange broke their years-long tradition. To go on a date. With someone else.

And it pissed him off.

"Levi?" Hange reached out to him, grasping the sleeve of his jacket with her fingers. "Are you alright? You look a bit weird. Are you upset that we won't be hanging out this year? I'm sorry about that, I'll make it up to you."

"You don't have to," he grunted, shaking Hange's hand off. He turned around, feeling the acute need to leave. The concern on Hange’s face was annoying him. "Have fun on your date and don't worry about me. I wasn't looking forward to our get-together anyway."

*** It took Levi two days to admit his own weakness.

He promised to himself to ignore Hange. To forget about her stupid date and stupid feelings it had provoked in him.

But then he saw Nifa alone in the hallway and he just had to ask.

He approached the girl, stopping just behind her shoulder. "Your cousin," his rough, low voice made Nifa jump. She didn't hear him walk up to her. "Is he a good man?"

Despite a scare Levi just gave her, Nifa's lips lifted into a smug smirk. She looked at Levi, observing him closely. His face was as blank as always, but his shoulders were uncharacteristically tight and his eyes showed even more annoyance than usual.

Her plan was working.

"Cousin Greg?" Nifa twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "He's great! I think Hange would get along with him!"

Cousin Greg wasn't that great actually. In fact, he was quite boring and very annoying. But Nifa wanted to help her superiors admit their feelings for each other and Greg owed her a favor after that time when she had covered for him during the grannies' birthday. Hange didn't have to like him. In fact, if she starts liking him, it'd destroy all of Nifa's plans.

Hange didn't have to like Greg. And Levi didn't have to like the fact that Hange was going on a date with him.

Evidently, the most important part of her plan already proved to be a success.

"He won't hurt four-eyes, right?" Levi asked, a shadow of worry passing through his eyes.

"He won't," Nifa promised with a serious face. Inside, however, she could barely contain herself. Levi was so concerned! It was so cute! Nifa needed to share these news with someone, and quick.

"Alright," Levi pressed his lips together and nodded. "Thanks." He added before walking away, his head bowed and shoulders slumped.

As she watched him go, Nifa's heart constricted painfully. Levi looked so miserable, just like a kicked puppy. She actually felt bad for him.

It was for his own good, she had to remind herself. She was doing him a favor. Levi, no, Hange too - both of them - will later thank her for this. She was doing a right thing.

Nifa repeated these words a couple of times and then rushed over to the break room, where she knew she would most surely find Moblit. Her best friend would be thrilled to hear about her success. 

*** He wasn't brooding, he told himself as he threw another disgustingly sweet candy in his mouth.

He wasn't sulking, Levi thought, as he put the glass of wine to his lips. It was awful. He had been drinking this brand of wine for years, but he never noticed how mawkish it was. Hange’s taste in wine was as horrible as her taste in romantic partners.

He didn't care about Hange and her stupid date, Levi tried to convince himself, paying only half of his attention to the movie.

On his TV screen Harry ran away from Sally after their first night together, and Levi scoffed at his stupidity. It was obvious they're in love with each other, why couldn’t they just admit it? They were both idiots and this movie was stupid, Levi decided. Why Hange liked it so much was beyond him.

***

Harry and Sally started arguing at the wedding, when Levi's phone started ringing. He made no move to get up and pick it. It couldn't be Hange calling, because she was on a date. And if that was Erwin, informing him of some emergency at work, he could kindly go and fuck himself. It was Levi's day-off and he was allowed to be as miserable as he wanted in the coziness of his apartment.

After a few seconds his phone fell silent, but before Levi could sigh with relief and continue watching the movie, he heard a few pings that announced that he had received a couple of messages. Erwin wasn't one for texting, and that got Levi wondering who was trying to get into contact with him.

Was it Petra, inviting him to a bar with others from their office?

Or, maybe, that was Yeager or any of his friends, wishing him a happy holiday?

Either way, Levi decided to ignore the messages too. If it was Petra, she'd understand his desire to be left alone. And if the messages were from any of their interns, then Levi most certainly didn't want to deal with that. It was bad enough they'd given him chocolate at work. It made him feel like he was a high school teacher, not a partner of the law firm.

He shouldn’t support this kind of behavior, Levi decided and returned his attention to the movie. 

*** Levi was halfway through a bottle of wine and Harry was ready to confess to Sally.

Fucking finally, he thought, pouring himself more wine. What kind of idiots waste twelve years denying the feelings they have for each other? Just when Harry was going to say those three little words, someone knocked on Levi's front door. With glass of wine still lifted to his lips, Levi paused the movie and stared at the door, wondering who could be fearless enough to visit him at ten pm.

As he continued to sit and ponder on it, the initially soft knocks turned into vicious bangs.

Cursing at the impatient idiot, Levi put the glass down and got to his feet, marching to the door with a glare on his face.

He threw the door open and— froze, blinking in surprise.

Hange stood on a threshold, holding a bottle of wine in her hands and wearing a wide grin on her lips.

"Will you be my Valentine?"

Levi bit his cheek to keep himself from blurting out 'yes'.

"What happened to your other one?" he asked instead, putting on a mask of cold indifference.

"Ah," she ruffled her hair. "He was actually boring as hell. Not even half as cute as Nifa," she shrugged. "I guess she's the sole owner of all adorable genes in their family."

Levi scoffed, plucking his lips. He would not give Hange the satisfaction of laughing at her lame joke. "Your date turned out to be a moron, so what? You've decided to come and bother me?"

"Yeah? Would you let me in or not?"

Levi knew he could put up a fight. He could tell Hange how annoying and inconsiderate she was. But he also knew that it would result in absolutely nothing. Hange would still get what she wants. He would still let her get what she wants. Because in all the years of their friendship he hadn't learned how to say no to her.

So with an irritated tsk and a shake of his head, Levi took a step back, allowing Hange to come inside.

"Did you bring something, except wine?" he asked while Hange was busy taking off her shoes.

"Yes!" Hange passed him her handbag.

Levi opened, finding chocolate inside. Lots of chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

"Four-eyes. Did you rob the candy shop?" he inquired dryly.

"No!" Hange snickered. "These are gifts."

Levi had received chocolate too. His collection wasn't quite as vast as Hange's, though.

"Are all of these from brats?"

"Some are from my team. Where's your chocolate, by the way? If I received so many, I can't even imagine how much you got."

"It seems like this year you're more popular than me," Levi pointed at only a couple of box of chocolates on his coffee table.

Hange's face fell after his words. She even opened her mouth, probably with the intent to apologize or, god forbid, comfort him. Levi scowled, silently telling Hange the misplaced pity to herself. He didn't really care about such trivial matters.

And he was more than happy to find out how well-loved Hange was. She deserved nothing less than that after all.

"Don't just stand there," he snapped, when Hange continued to stare at him without saying anything or even moving.

Hange lifted the corners of her lips and hurried after Levi to the living room.

"Oh!" as soon as she saw what was on the TV screen, she clasped her hands in delight. "When Harry Meets Sally! I love this movie!"

I know, Levi almost said.

"And it's one of my favorite scenes!" Hange continued to gash. She plopped down on Levi's sofa with a wide grin.

However, as she took a closer look on a coffee table, her excitement diminished considerably.

"Two glasses?" she mumbled, frowning in confusion. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"No, it's just..."

A habit, Levi realized. He put two glasses simply out of habit. He was so used to drinking with Hange that he had taken two glasses without even thinking.

"It's nothing," he finished awkwardly. "Let's watch the movie."

Hange stared him for a second, her eyes wary. But then she snapped out of it and a smile returned to her lips. She waited until Levi took his place on a sofa and then put her head on his thigh.

"Must you always do it?" Levi complained without making a single move to change their position. "I'm not a piece of furniture, you know."

"Just put on a movie, Levi," Hange mumbled, too used to his constant bitching to have any kind of reaction to it.

"So bossy," he huffed, but took the remote in his hands and resumed the movie.

On a screen, Harry was confessing to Sally.

"It's kinda bizarre, don't you think?" Hange asked. "They knew each other for so long and yet they've realized their true feelings only years after."

"It's a movie, Hange."

"So you think it's unrealistic?" she lifted her head to stare at him. "That two people can be close friends for years and continue to be blind, refusing to see how much they need each other?"

"I think you have to be unbelievably dense to not realize that you're in love with your best friend."

Hange giggled, and the quiet sound was like music to Levi's ears. "Yeah, maybe, you're right. They're really dense."

"Idiots," Levi agreed, laying a hand on her shoulder and pulling her closer.

[felixfelicisfics]

More Than An After Thought (James X Reader)

Summary: James and the Reader have been friends for years. After years of the Reader silently pining, James asks the Reader on a date. However the Reader can’t get over the years James spent chasing after Lily. What changed? Why now?

Requested By: @msmb​

Word Count: 1,998

TW: None

A/N: Hi guys! This is my first fic on this account! Remember requests are always open! Thanks for reading! <3

---

The patchy noise of a playing record fills the room. You bob about while tidying up your hair and putting the final details on your outfit. You step in front of the mirror and take a look at yourself. You smear a bit of rouge on your cheeks and the tip of your nose and gingerly to your lips. You catch yourself humming along to the old jazz record James had gifted you. 

James had been your friend of many years. The two of you knew the very worst and best parts of each other and it was a rare sight to catch one of you walking about the halls of Hogwarts without the other. “Potter and L/N are entirely inseparable” your classmates would say “They practically share a mind”. And you did. That is, besides one thing. You had been pining over James since your second year. He, however, did not reciprocate those feelings until recently. For as long as you, and well everyone in your year, could remember James only had eyes for Lily Potter. Damn that Lily. She was nice enough but you couldn’t help but be jealous of her, and more particularly how James looked at her.

You shake the thought of Lily from your mind and continue touching up your final ensemble, for James was to be at your dorm any minute to pick you up. He had, rather surprisingly, asked you out to dinner last friday in Potions specifying that it was “a date kid of dinner”. You were completely overjoyed when first invited. However, with time to think you’ve become suspicious of James’s true intentions. Right as the clock hit seven o’clock a knock came at your dormitory door. A knock that was surely James. 

“One moment!”

You run to slip on your shoes and grab your bag. James’s slight chuckle can be heard on the other side of the door.

“C’mon Y/N! We said seven. You’re usually more punctual than this.” There's an air of teasing in his voice that your nerves mask.

You throw the door open and apologetically smile. James is dressed far more formal than usual in a button up tucked into a pair of plaid slacks. He holds a modest bouquet of delicate flowers. He stops and looks at you like a deer in the headlights. 

“You look great Y/N. Absolutely stunning.” He smiles nervously.

“Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself”

There’s a silence, which is uncommon between you two. Finally, James clears his throat and hands the bouquet to you. 

“Here, these are for you. I overheard you telling Remus you like the ones that grow outside the Quidditch field.”

You take the flowers and smile, your worries fleeing, and look back up to James.

“These are wonderful, thank you.”

You set the flowers inside your dorm before meeting James at the door once again.

“So where are we off to?” you ask.

“That’s a surprise.” James grins and holds out his hand for you to take.

Your heart pitter patters every so slightly as you take his. It’s warm and strong yet his grip is delicate and gentle. The two of you descend the dorm stairs and weave through the passages of Hogwarts until James opens a door and the sun pours over your face. There, on the grounds near the Black Lake sits an extravagant, candlelit picnic near the edge of the Black Lake. A gasp escapes you and you look excitedly at James. When your eyes meet his lit up face you see the wide smile plastered on his face. The joy and excitement practically drips from him when he notices how content you look. You both walk out towards the picnic blanket.

“James. This is so sweet. Did you do all this?”

“I had a little help. I bribed the house elfs to let me use the kitchen. It wasn’t easy but I finally promised them that Sirius and I would stop taking eggs from the kitchen to throw at Snape.”

“You really ought to stop that y’know. You’ll get expelled soon enough”.”

“Nah ol’ Sniffleous Snape wouldn't go to Slughorn and tell.”

“If you say so.” You roll your eyes at James’s mischievous nature. “So what all do we have here?” 

You gaze at the quilt topped with a half a dozen mini platters and small containers of delectable food. And lying in the middle, the crown jewel of it all, lyes a pitiful cake decorated with strawberries and sprinkles. The both of you sit opposite to each other and look at the feast James had put together. 

“Well let’s see we have apple tarts and some sandwiches here. A couple of boxes of chocolate frogs, and a couple of ciders. Oh! And then some chips. Yeah. Ah and the cake. You like strawberries, yeah?”

“Yeah. Strawberry cake is wonderful.”

“Well don’t wait on my account go ahead.” James chuckles and hands you a plate.

You take it and begin to fill your plate with the delectable foods before you. James serves himself as well and while doing so you catch each other’s glance on and off, which would make both of your cheeks ever so slightly hot. The slight breeze tickles your skin. The sun has nearly set and the floating candles illuminate your romantic picnic. You glance up to catch James eye. His skin and eyes glow in the firelight. Somehow he looked even more handsome in this light. His eyes travel over you, as if climbing your body to reach your eyes. You feel the steady, strong rhythm of your heart. He draws closer to you, leaning in. 

Your heart begins to race. You have waited so very long for this. It feels as though his lips are miles away and so very close all at the same time. Your mind races through all the times you’ve thought of how this would go. All the scenarios, the daydreams, the what ifs. How have you known your feelings for James this long and not have shown him. And then it hits you. 

Lily.

For years James has fancied Lily. You watched him flirt and gaze and fawn over her. You gave him advice, you listened to him go on and on about how ‘It’s finally it Y/N! I think I know how to win Lily over’. You watched him buy her flowers, and call her beautiful, and plan her picnics… just like this one.

You pull yourself away and pick at your cake, avoiding James’s confused look. There’s a moment of silence before you hear James clear his throat. 

“Y/N? Is everything alright?” James asks.

Before you can begin to think to stop yourself you ask,”Why me?”

“What?” 

This time you look up to meet his eyes. Not missing a beat you ask once again,

“Why me, James?”

“I don’t understand what you-”

“What did Lily turn you down so you figured you might as well not waste the food?”

James furrows his brow and sets down his plate.

“What? Where is this coming from Y/N?”

“Why me James? What’s with the sudden interest? What, you need a rebound because I’m not here for that okay. So just tell me what’s actually going on.”

“Y/N I don’t-”

Tears well up ever so slightly. A weight in your chest sinks down to your stomach. You should’ve known. Why would he chase Lily so long and suddenly magically have an interest in you. It’s impossible, childish even to consider it true. You’re simply nothing more than a rebound, leftovers, a second choice. 

“I’m sorry. This was a mistake I gotta go.” you sniffle before standing up.

“Y/N wait! You don’t understand.”

James stands and grabs your hand, gently but firm. You face away from him so he can’t see the singular tear running down your hot face. You freeze in your spot. A chill of embarrassment washes over your body as you feel his eyes on you. 

“Now damn Y/N will you just wait a second!” He says.

You want so badly to be anywhere but here. With anyone but him. But a part of you clings to the pleading in his voice. 

“James just get it over with. Stop fucking with me.”

James takes a deep breath and takes a step closer to you. 

“What I was going to say, before you decided to run off, was that I don’t want to mess this up. You and I, we’ve always had this connection. And I know you feel it too. Everytime we’re together and our hands brush or you meet my gaze a little longer than usual my heart flutters. But I cast it aside because I didn’t want to ruin our relationship as well as I assumed you didn’t feel the same way. Y/N, you’re my best friend; but recently I’ve come to realise it’s always been a little more than that.”

“But James, what about Lily?”, you ask.

“Lily and I will never happen. She has no interest in me and quite honestly the more I chased the more I lost interest in her and… fell more in love with you.” 

You can feel James’s gaze grow stronger on you. You whip your head to face him, releasing your hand from his grasp in the process. 

“Oh I gotcha, so Lily’s off the table now so you’ll just have to have the leftovers. Is that what I am to you? An afterthought?”

“No, Y/N, of course not! You’re just there for me! I’ve been so stupid, flailing myself about at someone who doesn’t give a damn about me when right in front of me is you, Y/N. You make me smile and laugh so hard my throat hurts. You come to everyone of my Quidditch games and cheer with all your might. You call me out and keep me in check when I go too far. Your eyes make me feel like you can read me like an open book which terrifies me but in a strange sense makes me feel seen and loved. I love you Y/N. You’re not a second choice. There’s no bloody competition when it comes to you.”

It’s silent for a moment as James looks to you for a response. You’re stunned by his burst of eloquence. You take a step towards him and a fear grows in his eyes. As you finally reach him you wrap your hand to the back of his neck and pull him in for a passionate kiss.

He kisses you back immediately. The kiss felt desperate and yearning; as both of you run your hands tenderly to cup each other’s faces.  Everything in your body feels like static. Excitement flows throughout you. It’s exactly as you imagined, quite better actually. James’s lips are soft and his kiss is warm and smooth. You feel years of pining and frustration melt away in the kiss.

James pulls away softly, “Now, I believe there’s a very romantic and tasty picnic waiting for us. If you’d like to join me?”

You smile, your worries dead and gone, “Absolutely.”

James takes a step back and holds out his hand for you to take. You take it and the both of you step back onto the quilt and resume your date, now giggling and recalling all the times you wanted to tell one another about your hidden feelings. The stories flow back and forth til the sun sets right over the Black Lake. And with the sunset the both of you blew out the candles and lied on the quilt, full from the meal, and gazed at the stars in a comfortable silence. Completely content. And still utterly overjoyed by your first kiss. James intertwines your hand in his, drawing circles with his thumb on the back of your hand. 

“Y/N?”

“Yeah James?”

“This is so much better than being friends.”

“I think so too, James.”

[peeterparkr]

perennial;tom holland|eleven.

chapter eleven: snapdragons & sunflowers (Vol. 1) 

↳ flower meaning: snapdragons: deception. sunflowers: unconditional love.

chapter summary: to ask for a kiss. 

pairing: tom holland x y/n

warnings: fluff, angst, comedy, all in one, mentions or allusion to sex but not smut :), you’ll see, alcohol. 

You’ll hate me. 

word count: 11.2K

SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE THE CHAPTER:

masterlist & profiles  

ten (Instagram): in which they share set pictures

ten (tweets & texts:in which the groupchats are…loud

previous chapter next chapter   perennial masterlist.

perfidy  ( series masterlist)

wanna be tagged?

So, please help me out I think tags aren’t working. So yes, hope you enjoy this :)

Y/N was made of the people she loved or once loved. Everyone is, really, but y/n probably made sure it showed.

 Like her habit for photography had come from her very own best friend, of the way she started watching cooking videos because of her other best friend and always read the ingredients on any of the food she ate. Her clothing style had come from her very own first boyfriend who had introduced her to the magnificent world of the 80’s.

Her love for 80’s movies had come from Louis introducing her every night to a different one, a new story, a new song, and honestly it was good he showed her to it, y/n found her one true love. Louis, really, had shown y/n a lot of things, like how to lie to see him at indecent hours, and how  And how Louis taught her that love doesn’t have to last and that sometimes people aren’t what we expect.  

How she loved pancakes because that’s what her mother used to make them every Sunday, and how she’d learned from her father that sometimes sitting outside in the grass on a sunny day could bring back happiness to us. 

How her grandma had taught her how to have a perfect poker face, and how her grandfather had shown her how to peel an orange in a ‘correct way’. 

 How she had started to drink her tea with lemon and honey because James had once given her one like that and it brought nice memories. And how James had told her that it’s okay to love, even when people tell you not to, you have to fight for your love, you shall never be afraid of who you love. And James teaching her that she should love for herself, for her own, and not having to share her feelings if she didn’t want to. 

How y/n had started to watch subtitled films because Timmy had shown her some hidden gems. Or how she had learned from Tim to enjoy little moments, like the sunrise if she ever had to wake up early, or how she opened the windows to listen to the rain splattering. Tim had taught her too much about life, like enjoying wasting time. 

Y/N was made, the most, of the people she loved the most. Like how she made pasta the way James had taught her to once when their parents had gone out and James was left in charge. 

Or how when she was sad she’d watch that movie her childhood friend had introduced her to, and how they didn’t talk now. How y/n had learned that music was a way of healing because of that same friend. 

Or how to make a story sound great with Harry, and how Harry had shown her songs that probably were her favorite ones. How Harry and her knew that they didn’t like tequila because of that one time, and how they had learned that mixing cranberry, and grape juice and vodka tasted great thanks to Sam’s idea. 

The way that Emma had taught her to use certain hair products, and how Emma had taught her that sometimes we have to sing out our feelings, and scream and shout. How Emma had taught her the importance of a friendship and having someone’s shoulder to cry on. That she didn’t have to be lonely. 

How when she kissed she usually liked to place her hands behind their neck because she’d done that on her very first kiss with Tom, or how she usually ate some of the chocolate chips when she baked cookies because Tom and her used to do that. She had learned how to wrestle from a very young age and beat Tom, and she had learned how to play with his hair in a way to make him smile. She had learned the meaning of a rose, when all her life she had never understood about it, Tom had shown her how to approach a dog, and Tom had taught her how to cuff her jeans in a cool way. Or the habit she’d picked from him of undressing the beer bottle when they were talking or how he opened it with the table. How Tom had taught her how to kiss, from their very first one to the last one, different kisses each time, how he’d taught her each and every kiss is a journey, a mystery. How she’d learned how to deal with heartbreaks and to fall in love all over again. And how she had learned that he’d come back to her. But really, how a heartbreak feels when it’s real. 

That’s who y/n was. All the beautiful things of the people she loved. 

But she was also the bad ones, unfortunately, because people shape us. Y/N was also made of the ugly parts, very ugly parts. 

One that stood out the most, she’d learned from Tom, from James, from her family, was to avoid talking. 

Everybody wanted to talk, everybody except y/n. She knew she was being immature, but she’d learned that from everyone around her, not to care if you don’t have to. But she was too overwhelmed, everyone had something to say about, except her. How could she talk if she didn’t know what she wanted? 

Tom, Harry, Emma, Tim, James, Sam, Cherry, Aunt Eliza, even Josh and Clark.  

Everybody wanted to talk. She didn’t. 

She had caught on to what Tom was doing. She'd go along with it, he was the only one she wanted to talk to, honestly. 

And Emma, because she knew Emma didn’t judge her, Emma understood y/n, and Emma had been the only one who really didn’t tell her she was wrong. Even if Tim was her best friend, Ema understood that y/n’s heart belonged to Tom. 

“Clark is great, I may have fallen in love with him,” Emma had stated. 

Y/N nodded. “He’s great, I—“

“Why didn’t you know?” Emma asked. 

“I did know. But I didn’t—James was—you know how I’ve only dated three guys?” Y/n asked, she was putting on makeup, she had a date. 

“Yeah.” 

“James is exactly the opposite, he’s dated like half the gay population his age in London,” y/n scrunched her nose, as she was choosing between lipsticks.. “So I just—Never paid attention to any guy he dated because I never thought it was serious.” 

“Are you talking to him now?”

“I did today, only because of Clark,” y/n admitted, giving up on the lipsticks and instead choosing to work on her hair. “James is still angry I am in love.” 

“Not angry at that, you know that,” Emma pointed out. 

“Is it that wrong I am so in love with Tom?” Y/n left the brush on the table as she turned to look at Emma. 

“It’s completely bollocks y/n, but then again,” Emma sighed, “I wish I could be more like you and just love—I mean and I also wish Harry wasn’t so scared okay? He’s just so bloody scared, I wish he’d just say hey, Emma, d’ya fancy to go for a stroll? But no, we are both so… Gosh, I wish we were more like you and Tom, throwing everything down the drain.” 

“We are-” 

“You are, y/n,” Emma rolled her eyes. “He blows your mind and you basically want to yell it to the world, and he gets you all stupid, and you’re happy again, that’s alright, though-” 

Emma was laying down on y/n’s bed, her feet up against the wall, as she was nibbling on a popsicle. 

“Yes, I know, we have to talk,” she sighed. 

“Who says it has to be right now?” Emma had said. “Right now you barely have time to think, and I see you all happy and giggling, and besides, talking doesn’t have to be dramatic.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s just… I don’t get it why James wants it to be dramatic, it’s just hey, you guys love each other, what else is there to know?” 

Y/N nodded, turning back to the lipsticks. 

“You do have to tell him you know about Cherry, though, which-” 

“Yeah, n, no, but I get it,” y/n sighed.

“Which, I love you’re ignoring, just pretending like she doesn’t exist, ” Emma laughed. “She just arrived yesterday, didn’t she?” 

“She did,” Y/N sighed. “Ugh, I don’t want to see her and she wants to talk, what does she want to talk about? We’ve never cared about each other before, met her like three times growing up because my mum and hers didn’t get along, which by the way, I’m scared James and I are headed in that same direction.” 

“You won’t,” Emma said. “James loves you too much to ever leave you.” 

“You never know,” y/n said. “Besides that’s not my point, my point is why does she want to talk? We have nothing in common!” 

“Dunno, you’re blood related and you both rode the same dick, seems like you’ve got a lot in common.” 

Y/n closed her eyes as she forced a laugh, “Emma!” 

“I’m just saying, y/n, that’s why you and I became close, we’ve both kissed the same two guys.”

“It’s different,” Y/N scoffed. “I—just don’t want to see her okay? Because I know I’ll be reminded of every single insecurity I have,” she admitted. “Because I know that the moment I see her I’ll get just so anxious, you know? She’s so pretty, and she’s so perfect and from what-” 

“From what I’ve gathered from Eliza, she’s also a mess,” Emma added. 

“That’s an issue, that’s Tom’s type, just look at me,” y/n laughed as she stared at a bright red lipstick. 

Emma scoffed. “Oh, hadn’t thought about that, Tom’s into messy girls with your genes.” 

“It’s so fucked up, though,” y/n said, as she looked up at the wall, she needed to change the flowers, they were drying out. She hadn’t changed them in a while. 

Emma shrugged, “considering how small his brain is, he probably thought it would feel the same way if he closed his eyes.” 

“As if it would,” y/n replied cockily, finally choosing a light pink, changing it up a bit, she’d always used bright red lipsticks with Tom,  “I’ve known him his whole life, and now I’ve—“she cleared her throat. “ I know exactly how to work him up.” 

Emma let out a loud and long laugh. “I can tell, Jesus, what did you do to him to have him oh, so mesmerized? Are you a sex goddess or why are those two men so bloody entranced by you?”

Y/N blushed and shook her head laughing. “You’re an idiot.” 

“How do you really feel?” Emma wondered, getting the conversation back as serious as it was supposed to be. 

“I don’t know,” Y/N admitted, she was still on some pair of pjs. “I… I’ve been talking with Tom, or…” She rolled her eyes. “He’s found a way to talk, and I think it’s worked out for both of us.” 

“Oh, what is it?” Emma sighed. 

Y/n walked over to her closet, it felt so weird to choose something to wear, Tom had warned her to be casual, something her style, something very her. 

“We use the script so we can… I guess we’re projecting it all, and well, I think he’s been understanding about it, and I think I’m starting to understand his point of view, about Tim at least.” 

“Please, I don’t need to listen to him to know why he feels that way,” Emma pointed out. 

“Really?” Y/n turned back to Emma as she was choosing between them. 

“I like the red one,” Emma suggested. “But please, y/n,” Emma scoffed. “Timmy was the one who stole his chance, Timmy was the one who got the girl when he had fucked up and everyone around Tom said it, we’ve all said it at some point, Tim is perfect for you.” 

“But—“

“and besides, Timmy was the one-” 

“The one who opened the door when Tom came to apologize,” y/n finished Emma’s sentence as she sat down hugging the red dress Emma had suggested. 

Emma frowned. “What?” 

“Guess Timmy had secrets, too,” y/n said.

Emma seemed confused. 

“He never told me about it, how Tom had come a second time, and…” She sighed. “I mean I guess I’m thankful he didn’t but I’m… I’m only wondering—“

“Oh, back when you first started dating,” Emma recalled. “He did tell me about it, and I.. was the one to advise him not to  tell you.” 

Y/N gulped. 

“Would you have run back to Tom?” Emma wondered, embarrassed. “Honestly I told him not to because—Well, I had asked Harry about it, you know? Harry had said you hated each other and that you had been avoiding Tom for a while now. That you were enemies.” 

“We were.” 

“And I mean—Back then, you really hated him.”

Y/n nodded. “Yeah, I did.” 

“So I told Tim not to tell you about it, because I thought—I didn’t know the background but I thought Tom was going to—hurt you, you know? And I guess, we all did, and we all kept that mentality even when he wasn’t trying to.”

“Yeah.” 

“Wow, I’ve never thought about that,” Emma nodded. “Even when I knew you were dating back in New York, we were just waiting for it, for Tom to—“

“Yeah, for Tom to pull a Tom,” y/n ended the sentence. “And I mean—He kind of did, but it was my fault.” 

“Tom really sabotages himself, it seems.” 

Y/N reached out to hug her frog, she was thankful James had brought it, “he does, but because he’s expected to, you know? Maybe that’s why— I haven’t brought it up because I’m not—I’m not expecting the heartbreak this time, and I know bringing up the whole Cherry thing is looking for it,” y/n explained. “I trust him this time, and he really wants to make it work out.” 

“Would you have gone back to him? Had Tim told you he had showed up?” Emma questioned. 

Y/N breathed in heavily. “Dunno,” she said. “I was so heartbroken back then, I thought— and I had promised myself back then I would never fall back for him, and… I mean, I had even thought I would never love again because that’s how dramatic it was, I really didn’t want to see him, that heartbreak is what led to all this mess, you know?” She explained. “Now Tom knows that, I think he really understands it, and he feels guilty and I mean, I was angry when Tom told me about it, because… Tim, well he didn’t know back then, he just was too sure that Tom loved me but—After learning all of this? Tim should’ve told me, because just now, learning it, I guess it changed a lot of things, not that it erased anything, but I lived all this time thinking he hadn’t… He really hadn’t cared, and it took him a lot of time, still, but he had tried to apologize again, and Tim keeping it to himself knowing that what broke me the most was that Tom had never shown up? Tim keeping it to himself is just—so selfish.” 

Emma bit her lip. “He’s still in love with you.” 

Y/N remained quiet. 

“I mean, you can’t blame him,” Emma said. “You guys were… I mean before Tom, you really seemed to be hitting it off, I thought you’d end up dating again.” 

“I did, too, at some point,” y/n admitted. “But-” 

“But you love Tom, I know,” Emma shrugged. “No but… Y/N you also, have to acknowledge it, you can’t keep playing with Tim which-before you say anything, I mean it’s also on him, he knew it, but then again, I… I believed it at some point y/n, that you were going to get back together with him because… The way you looked at him just… and it was just—” 

“I know, I know and I thought… I don’t know, okay?” y/n admitted as she sat up. “I… It’s cause I never… I had closure with Tim, alright? I gave him the ring back because I thought, I know it, I want Tom, okay? It’s Tom, yes, it’s Tom.”

“But?” 

Y/n sighed, “Timmy—alright as I said before, I had said I would never love again after the whole Rome thing,” she cleared up. “And then Tim came along and just showed me this beautiful life and taught me how to love again, and I—He became a very special part of me.” 

“Yeah, and? That doesn’t explain your flirting.” 

“I didn’t—flirt.” 

“Well you answered to his flirting,” Emma pointed out. 

“We were—“

“You guys were flirting y/n!” Emma replied quickly, slightly stressed. “You guys don’t flirt like everyone else! Your flirting style with each other was by showing each other songs and him watering your plants, y/n! You were basically having sex with each other,” Emma rolled her eyes. 

Y/N stayed quiet. 

“But I know, Tom, Tom—“

Y/n gulped. “Yeah, Tom.” 

Emma watched y/n, confused. “Why are you acting like it’s the last time?” 

“What?” 

“Like it’s your last chance with Tom.” 

“I...don’t know, because what if it is, you know? It’s… stupid, we’ve had plenty of chances and… Last time, I just… Had I known it would lead to that. I know it’s my fault, and like we’ve both blown it up so it’s—“

“Neither one of you will fuck up.” 

“I know—But Tom… We are trying and I’m happy but I feel-” 

“Y/N you are pretending, I know, you won’t be happy until you talk about it with him.” 

She sighed. “I know, and we’ve been talking and I…” She coughed. “I really want to try it out.” 

“But…?”

“Am I allowed to forgive something like that? Am I even allowed to get angry about Cherry?”

Emma sat up as well. “Y/N, had he slept with anyone else I wouldn’t be so sure but that’s your cousin, that’s fucked up and-” 

“What if he finds out about Tim?” 

Y/N grabbed the pillow that had once been under her head and proceeded to get it in her face and scream into it. 

“Wait, I’m… I’m gonna try that,” Emma laughed, doing the same. 

Both of them were screaming into the pillows, pitying their sorrows and problems. 

Timmy had walked in. 

“What the hell?” He asked. 

Emma was the only one to peak her head out of it. “It’s therapeutic.” 

Timothee had only chuckled. “I bet.” 

Y/N had stopped screaming but kept the pillow over her face. She didn’t know how she felt about Tim, there was no point in being angry at something from the past, but it did change a lot of the way she saw him, maybe he had forgotten. But Tim was never one to forget, he was observant and he was quiet, and he was all about the stories. 

“Um, y/n?” Tim said. 

Emma watched Tim, and the small object he had in his hand. She shot him a warning glare, scared of the inside. 

“Yeah?” y/n answered from her pillow which now had a nice stain of makeup on it. 

“Can I talk to you?” He asked. 

Another person wanting to talk, what was it with everybody wanting to say words and listening and whatever? Y/N thought to herself. 

Though Timmy hadn’t asked for it yet, she knew it, but he hadn’t really said it, not the whole y/n we should talk. 

She wanted to say no, but she knew that she couldn’t keep doing that. Counting the days until it finally had to blow up, and then end up with bruises, no, she didn��t have to do that. 

She finally let the pillow down, “Yeah, sure,” she said before walking out of her room. 

“Sure, leave Emma behind,” Emma pointed out. 

“I… well,” Y/N looked at Tim. 

“It’ll be quick, darling, Emma dear,” Tim assured her. 

Emma rolled her eyes. “It never is with you both.” 

Tim rolled his eyes before leading the way outside of the apartment, y/n frowned, asking him to wait up so she could put on her sneakers, still wearing her pj’s. 

“So your birthday is tomorrow,” Tim had said as they had walked out, he had sat on the stairs. 

She chuckled as she sat beside him. “Yeah.” 

“You look really pretty,” Tim had said. 

“These pj’s really accentuate my features huh,” y/n joked. 

“Your makeup looks pretty and hair, idiot,” Tim chuckled. 

She only gave him a sad smile. 

“So, what are your plans?” He asked. 

“For… tonight? I’ve got a date,” she explained.

“No, tomorrow.” 

She shrugged. “Tom’s got some plans, apparently, he hasn’t told me anything about it, honestly I don’t… I don’t want to…” 

“What?” 

“Do anything you know? I will be too tired after filming, and I… I just feel like… Dunno, James and Clark will be there and I don’t want to talk to James still, and apparently Cherry invited herself, too so… And you’ll be there, and Harry and Emma… and Josh, and I just... ” She chuckled. “I’ve got a bad feeling.” 

“Why?” 

“Dunno, seems like a perfect combination for disaster.” 

“I met Cherry today,” he admitted. “Well, we’d met before but-Yeah, I thought you’d be at the flower shop. “And she was there, instead.” 

Y/N scrunched her nose. “Yeah I know she’s there, that’s why I haven’t gone there,” she explained chuckling shyly. 

“Why?” 

“Because then I’ll start feeling insignificant, because let’s face it and don’t you dare say no, but she’s really… Pretty, like she’s everything a girl would want to be and I’m jealous of her,” she admitted, truthfully. “I’ve never been the jealous kind but with her, I feel like—Of course anyone would choose her over me, and don’t—Say anything okay? I just feel that way. And if I see her I’ll be reminded of the elephant in the room waiting to be addressed, and I… If the conversation about you went wrong I don’t want to know how that-” 

“About me?” 

“Yeah,” she looked down. “Dunno.” 

Tim bit his lip. 

“How did he-?” 

“I don’t want to talk about that, Tim,” she quickly answered. “I can’t blame him for feeling the way he feels and that’s on me, too, I mean… I… really.” 

“What?” 

She looked down. “I— well, I don’t…know alright? If I feel anxious about Cherry I can only imagine how he feels about you, no, I can’t even imagine it, and look Tim, I—you know you’re very important to me but I’m… I’m dating… Or whatever is going on now, but It’s Tom right now, alright? And I know it’ll be for a long time.” 

“I know.” 

She looked at him, confused by his statement because it really didn’t feel like he knew it.. “And I don’t… want you to think there is an open door or-” 

“Y/N, I know,” he said. “Yeah, I know it’s Tom, now.” 

“But it’s not just—“

“I know,” Tim looked away. “I know.” 

She looked down. “I’m sorry.” 

“Just….” He took a deep breath. “I know it’s him, but that doesn’t… I mean, we’ve been friends, and I—I just ask you not to push me away, alright? I don’t know how I’d live without y/n in my world, and if having you around means having you with him, then I just have to deal with it, move on you know? And I know we are friends, so this is… This comes from your friend, Timmy.” 

She smiled, just slightly, very timidly. It hurt, hurting him but of course, keeping him around meant jeopardizing her relationship with Tom, and she really didn’t want to give it more excuses. 

“Timmy,” she sighed. 

He smiled. “I’m serious, it’s alright, no… no resentment, alright? We both know we… I don’t…you know it, I’ll always love you, but we—I mean you—you love someone else and it’s be stupid of me not letting you love him, that is just pathetically selfish. And don’t get me wrong, it hurts like a bitch…. Yeah, I know it, but… I don’t want to lose you, I am not stupid… but I also… I know that if I give this to you tomorrow, Tom will lose it and I… don’t want that, so I’m giving you this, today.” 

He pulled out a film canister. And it felt like one of those times when life likes to punch you with reality. She felt a fear deep inside her stomach. Last time he’d given her one of those an engagement ring was hidden in it. 

“It’s… It’s not what you think,” Tim rolled his eyes. “Oh, you really thought I’d propose again?” 

She let out a soft chuckle. “No--I… I mean,” I’m-I didn’t think you would-” 

“Your face,” He chuckled softly. “Yeah, no, I… I’m…” 

“Yeah, just last time you gave me one of those-” 

“Yeah, and look where it led us, I’m not… I wouldn’t… No,” Timmy laughed. “No, it’s not… and—do you really think I’m the type of guy to propose on a bad time—-Actually don’t answer that,” he chuckled. “Okay, open it.” 

She grinned, and took the film canister from him. “Man I hope it’s an iPad,” she joked, warning a laugh from Tim. “No, you—you shouldn’t have.” 

She shook it just slightly, listening to no sound coming out from it, before finally opening, carefully. “A…there’s nothing?” She asked. 

“Yeah,” Tim laughed. “I know.” 

She frowned, confused but then chuckled. “I love it… I hope I… can get to wear it soon,” she joked. 

“It couldn’t fit there, but I—Well, you know, we had that tradition, ,” he said before finally giving her the box that sat beside him. 

She took the box and smiled, opening it, an old vintage Polaroid camera stood there. 

“I know you’ve—I think it works, it’s—It’s an original, I've noticed you haven't really taken any Polaroids, and I know you love them,” he coughed. “So, yeah, happy birthday.” 

Y/N had only looked up, giving him a true smile. 

“Thank you, I love it!” 

But of course, the timing could not have gone any worse. Tom had arrived. Y/N had momentarily  forgotten she had agreed to spend the night with him, nothing too serious but Tom had insisted because he had a surprise for early in the morning and he’d come pick her up for dinner and then she’d stay with him. 

Maybe she should’ve seen the trouble coming. 

Tom cleared his throat loudly, “hello,” he said, standing with sunflowers. Yellow flowers with pretty meaning, y/n thought. 

Y/n looked up, calmly, knowing that if he saw any hint of her freaking out it would blow it up because his mind would go places.

“Oh hi!” She grinned. “sorry—I’m not—“

Tom clenched his jaw at Tim, but then turned to y/n and chuckled, “Darling,  when I said casual—I didn’t—“

She chuckled nervously standing up. “Sorry, I—“she squeezed her eyes shut. “I was discussing with Tim something about some pictures he’s planning on—yeah,” she lied, as she hid the film canister and box behind her back. 

“Yeah,” Tim said, clearing his throat, standing up as well. “Hello, Thomas.” 

“Tim.” Tom was nervous already, y/n could tell. 

“Are those for me?” Y/n questioned staring at the flowers  before they could say another word to each other. 

Tom chuckled between his teeth, “yeah, they’re most certainly not for Tim.” 

“Oh,” Tim said, “and here I was getting excited about them.” 

Tom faked a very quiet laugh and then turned to y/n. “So? Don’t get me wrong, you literally look so beautiful—but—“ He smiled looking down at her clothing. 

“Yeah—right!” She excused herself, not forgetting to kiss his cheek, before running back to her room, where Emma was waiting with the red dress and had pulled out some heels for her. 

Emma  walked out of the room, “hello, Tom, long time no see,” she said with sarcasm. 

“I know, these couple hours have been long,” Tom joked back, as he had walked in. 

Tim had followed after. It felt so tense, Emma could swear she could cut the tension with a knife. 

Emma hummed a fake laugh. “There are flower vases over there, you can guess which ones are y/n’s now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna steal Tim from you just a bit, I hope you don’t miss him as much.”

Emma had dragged Tim to her own room. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Emma snapped. 

“A lot of things,” Tim answered. “But let’s not go there, please.” 

“Oh don’t play that with me, I know exactly what you’re doing, and Tim—“

“I’m not—“

“Don’t fucking pull the whole I’m not doing anything bullshit with me,” she rolled her eyes. “I know exactly what you’re doing, and I’m sure you gave her the Polaroid today, really? Exactly when you know she’ll go on a date with Tom? And you take her to the stairs? So he can see it right?

Tim clenched his jaw. “I—Well.” 

“Sabotaging her relationship is not the way to go, Tim,” Emma warned him. “And I—I just told you—Best thing you could try is...move on, alright? I know you love her and that she was—She seemed perfect for you, and I still think you guys worked so well together but… She is so in love with him, and by doing this you’re only hurting her more—Besides, really Tim, you know her better than this,” she pushed. “I—“ Emma sighed. “I'm telling you this because I love you, I don’t want to sound harsh but—“She closed her eyes. “I know she is confused, and making her even more confused won’t help you, let her settle it, let her have it right now.” 

Tim didn’t say anything and just walked out of the room. He had gone to his room and unfortunately had left his door open to see y/n walking out on a red dress to run over excitedly to Tom, who had pulled her close to him to kiss her cheek and smell her perfume. 

Timmy knew Emma was right, y/n was in love with him. So, very deeply in love. And it hurt, seeing her. And Timmy asked for more patience, or for more time, or strength to move on. 

It felt weird, Tim felt lonely and broken hearted, and he just missed her, and it was stupidly incredible that she lived right there in the same apartment. He knew she loved Tom, that was it but it…. It still didn’t make any sense. Honestly, it felt like they were completely strangers. 

Especially y/n, she really felt like a stranger, even to Tom it seemed. She seemed too… distant to everyone.

Tom felt it, too. He felt that y/n was just off, even if she was happy or tried to be and even if she was kissing his cheek, she was being… different. And Tom only wanted to get over with it, the awkwardness. 

And he wondered if she wanted to get over with it, too. 

They went out for dinner, not in the place where she’d imagine Tom would take her, it was a nice dinner place with lightbulbs hanging around, a flower in a glass bottle, candles around, very… cozy, and romantic, and they were talking about barely anything, and maybe for a bit it felt like they were each other again. 

Y/N knew this, she felt weird with herself, as if even when she seemed to be saying what she wanted to say, she really wasn’t saying what her heart wanted, but as if her own heart was keeping secrets. It felt like Tom didn’t know her, though. And it had never felt that way before, but it felt like they were both trying to get to know each other again. Because neither of them were being themselves, not entirely. 

“So, you were clearly not talking about pictures with Tim,” Tom had mentioned. 

y/n looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t….”

“So?” Tom seemed anxious about it. 

“He gave me a birthday present, a…he gave me a polaroid,” she cleared up. “A vintage, original one.” 

“Oh, that’s cool,” Tom nodded, and gulped. “As long as he doesn’t give you a ring.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Tom.” 

Tom shrugged. 

“I… told him,” she cleared her throat. “That well… it’s you.” 

“It’s me?” Tom wondered, and a smile came to his face. “What am I?” 

She rolled her eyes, chuckling softly. “An idiot, that’s what you are.” 

Tom chuckled. “Uh-huh, I am, and what else?” 

She blushed. “Nothing.” 

Tom hadn’t pushed it any further. Their conversation kept flowing. Talking about them. What made them so… them. 

“I remember that everyone was in love with this one guy, ugh, what’s his name? The one that bullied you,” Y/N tried to recall. 

“Edward,” Tom remembered. “He was so big.” 

“Well, everyone had a crush except me, because well, I was the idiot, you know?” 

“You loved that scrawny guy who-” 

“Adorable guy,” she added. 

“Scrawny guy,” he continued. “Who did ballet and everyone crushed on Edward, who-” 

“I actually was… dating Louis back then,” she recalled. “But…” She chuckled. “But my point is… I was the one who… hid a rat in his car.” 

“No way!” Tom’s eyes popped as he leaned over. “You’re kidding.” 

“I… Look, nobody could be an asshole to you unless it was me, that was-” She was nervous. “I was so angry at everything he said at you, I…” She rolled her eyes. “And I… genuinely don’t know.” 

“Where in this bloody world did you get a rat from?” He wondered. “I mean thank you but I didn’t think you’d-” 

“Please I had experience from pranks for you so of course…” She gulped, hiding a laugh. “I...Well, there was a rat in Louis' house, and well they trapped it and instead of… you know killing it I… well told Louis to break into Ed’s car and I hid the rat there.” 

Tom was shocked. “And that was because of me?” 

“No, I hated Ed,” she looked away. “He was the biggest asshole.” 

Tom grinned. “Are you sure? Because I remember that rat incident being right after he had hit me in the hall.” 

“Really?” y/n coughed. “I wouldn’t remember,” she blushed looking away. 

“Which actually brought attention to me, they said it had been me!” He recalled. “I got into detention.”

Y/N grinned. “Yeah, killed two birds in one shot,” she smirked. 

“I’m serious did you-?” 

“Yeah, maybe I did it for you, okay? Whatever, yes, I had feelings for you and I was angry someone else was taking away my job, let’s remember we were enemies back then, alright?” She was nervous. 

Tom smirked. “You had a crush on me.” 

“Shut up,” she chuckled. “You had a crush on me, too.” 

Tom shrugged, smiling. “Yeah, I did. I’m not trying to hide it.

Y/N avoided his gaze, not believing he was actually making her feel butterflies, even after all this time, she was still nervous. In a good way. She wasn’t always nervous, most of the time, she didn’t, she felt so calm around him, but on the edge, as if she didn’t need to worry about being herself but expectant of each other’s attitude. 

Tom watched her, “Why do I always feel like there’s always something on your mind?” 

“Because there is,” she laughed. “Don’t you?” 

“No, I’m dumb, remember? I can actually blank up my mind,” he smirked. “Or well, not at all. There is a constant on my mind,” he had reached for her hand. 

“Oh?” her eyes had brightened up, a timid smile on her face. 

“Yeah, Spiderman,” he joked, earning a glare from y/n. 

It was so stupid. But they were… back being them. Probably because they were alone. As if someone was brushing y/n’s dream, and she couldn’t get enough of him, his laugh was her everything. She couldn’t help but sigh and run out of breath, and never stop blushing, there was no doubt about it. And she had once thought about it, ‘the day that Tom loves me, the world will party’. She had been wrong, the world wasn’t partying, and there were no flowers blooming and no fireworks. The world instead, stopped, as if it was them and only them. The stars were probably jealous of them seeing them shining even more brightly than them. 

“You know, from the moment we met,” he had said. 

“When we were kids, you mean?” She chuckled . 

“Truly met,” Tom gulped. “Rome, I mean.” 

She blinked. “Yeah.” 

“I… Why didn’t you kiss me?” He asked. 

“Hm? When?” 

“That one night, you know the one, lovely evening, I remember I asked for a kiss,” he recalled. “And… you said and I quote: ‘No, Thomas, don’t ask for a kiss’.” 

She looked away, remembering. “Because I didn’t want you to ask for it.” 

He frowned. 

“It’s silly but that’s the way I am, I didn’t want you to ask for it, I was clearly begging for one,” she explained. “I wanted you to… do it. One should never ask for a kiss, or not… verbally.” 

“How so?”

“I mean certain contexts,” y/n said. “But that night? I thought I had hinted it enough 

“So you did want me to kiss you,” He grinned. 

“Of course!” She beamed. “I—it’s not secret by now that I—“she cleared her throat. “Well, enjoy when our lips come together.” 

“Oh, so you enjoy that?” He mocked. 

“Very much so,” she answered shyly. “And—it had been the perfect evening! It would’ve cost you nothing,” she smiled. 

“Cost me nothing,” he laughed. 

“I think you’ll find that kissing me is quite cheap,” she pointed out.

He scrunched his nose. “That’s a lie.” 

“No, no, I was the one who could lose there,” she sighed.

 “No, y/n. Because kissing you costs a lifetime.” 

She scoffed. “How so?” 

“I kissed you once when I was 13 and never stopped thinking about it,” he said. “And after that evening.” 

“Would I have been so bad?” She questioned, “if we had realized it back then.”

“Think we did,” he said, “but you didn’t kiss me either.” 

“No, but—because you had asked for it.” 

“You’re right… I should’ve, but there’s a lot of things I should’ve done...still can’t believe it, how stupid I was,” he said. 

“It didn’t click you know,” she nodded. “When you broke my heart,” she continued. “I mean, the excuses you gave me… They didn’t make any sense.” 

Tom looked down. 

“And…” She sighed. 

“Would you’ve forgiven me? If I had come earlier?” He asked. 

She stared at him. “Maybe,” she admitted. “Probably, if I’m honest… I did wait for you to come again with yellow flowers, and I’d have my hand right in my heart, and I would wait for you to come and apologize and I would see it, you know, wait for you to stand up in the rain and said you didn’t mean it, and I… I was angry, alright? It was stupid letting my life pass by waiting for it besides the whole scenario...but then again, it wa shot and it’s still you and I’m—it’s silly.” 

“It’s not silly,” Tom said. “It’s you,” he took a deep breath, “and I knew you’d like that… kind of stuff, but when I finally realized it, it was too late.” 

“But it’s not late now,” she admitted. “We’re finally on time. And I’m glad I’ve always been so stubborn when it comes to you because otherwise we wouldn’t be here.” 

The evening had continued to flow, as both of them had become quieter, in a way that they didn’t need to talk to communicate, between whispers and giggles and hand brushing, it was all they needed. 

The ticking had stopped, y/n had noticed. It’d come, she knew but… God, when she was with him, she didn’t have to worry about anything. Because it seemed that it was made for them, all her doubts disappeared because he was the answer she needed. It was them against the world. 

They hadn’t talked about Valerie and William, not that night. It was Tom and y/n,.

They hadn’t kissed. Tom had ceased the kissing when James had arrived, which y/n hated, she missed his lips so much her own were begging for them. She wouldn’t ask for it. Never ask for a kiss, not out loud. 

She was wearing his jacket back on their way, he had said: ‘I wasn’t cold but I knew you’d be so that’s why I brought it’. Her hand was on his hair as he drove, listening to music, windows down as they hummed the lyrics, and as y/n stared down at the lights the city was giving her, her hair flying. 

She was sad, though, Tom hadn’t even tried to lean over and kiss her, not even seeing a hint of him trying to do so. 

They had walked in, the guys seemed to be all too invested in a video game, all except for Clark who was rather interested in playing with James’ hair as y/n’s brother yelled at the screen. He looked up when seeing them walk in, he smiled at the sight of y/n’s shoulders being covered by Tom’s jacket. 

“Hello, you two,” Clark had greeted them. 

Tom peeked to see the screen, not letting go of y/n’s hand. 

“Hi,” y/n said, knowing she’d most likely lose Tom’s attention to the screen. 

“How did it go?” Clark asked.

“Bloody hell, Samuel!” James yelled. 

“Piss off,” Harry yelled, too. 

y/n chuckled. “It went well,” she said. 

“Well?” Tom lost focus of the screen, as he turned to her. “Well?” 

She ignored him and kept staring at Clark. “Can you believe the evening has gone by so splendidly but he still hasn’t kissed me?” 

Tom immediately blushed. 

“Good,” said James. “Kissing is gross.” 

“Is it?” Clark asked before kissing his cheek. 

James coughed. “Straight kissing is gross,” he corrected himself. 

Harry laughed. 

Sam scrunched his nose. “Why haven’t you kissed her? you usually bloody eat each other’s faces.” 

Harry scoffed. 

“Don’t you dare eat my sister’s face,” James warned. “Or anything for that matter.” 

“James,” y/n closed her eyes. 

Tom laughed. “We’re gonna…” 

“No, why don’t you guys stay? We were about to play Mario Kart” Offered James. “So why don’t you both play with all of us, you know you can sit over there with your brother and y/n can sit over here, everyone’s happy.” 

“Jamey, love, don’t be a dick,” warned Clark. 

Y/N chuckled. “Fine, I want to play,” she admitted. 

“Great, mario kart is the real deal breaker between couples.” 

Of course, they hadn’t followed James’ instruction for their sitting arrangement, y/n had sat on the couch, and Tom had sat on the floor, resting his back against her. Y/N was still bothered by the fact she hadn’t yet been kissed that night, but she soon forgot it as it felt like one of those nights when they were younger, all of them playing and yelling at each other. 

Tom had left the room without any explanation at some point, but she was too busy trying to beat her brother at rainbow road to even notice. 

Time went by, and before she knew it, the lights had gone off, and they all had turned with a smirk as Tom had walked in with a cake with candles. 

‘Happy Birthday’ they all sang as she stared at the cake, pretty cake, sunflowers again. Tom kissing her cheek. 

It felt… like years ago, the Holland’s, James, and now Clark, too, of course it was Tom holding the cake now, not Harry, and now she didn’t have a wish, usually she’d plan ahead her birthday wishes, because that’s something James had taught her to. Instead, she wished for everything to keep flowing as easy as it could with Tom. Funny, how many birthday wishes had not involved him already. 

They had sat and ate cake like old times, y/n smearing some frosting to Tom’s cheek and then kissing it off, making the boy blush and getting James to glare at her. Laughing at each other, telling old jokes as y/n was laying against Tom, his arms around her and his lips brushing against her head. 

How many years had they not wasted by being enemies. 

Eventually, they had all gone to bed knowing the next day would expect them, except for Clark and James who had stayed in the kitchen. 

Tom and y/n had stayed on the couch. 

“So, I’m gonna be honest,” Tom had said as he had sat with her, he had left yet again to get something 

She only stared into his eyes, begging her with her sight to kiss her already. She should’ve probably wished for that, instead. 

“I—this wasn’t going to be your birthday present.” 

“You didn’t need to get me anything,” she said. 

He had sat up and pulled out a small box, he seemed nervous, but excited. The box… gave her shivers. But it couldn’t be. 

Y/n only smiled watching him, resenting her head against her palm. 

“I—back when,” he gulped, “back when I was still in London debating whether or not to direct dos-a-dos,” he continued. “I—well.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you because—Well,” he grinned. “I am so stupidly in love with you.” 

She only blushed. 

“So—one day,” he gulped. “I went—Well, you know, to the mall and whatsoever, and—I saw this shop.” 

“Right.” 

“And so I bought a pair of boots for me,” he said, leaning against the couch, trying to recall. “They were very—nice, you know?” 

“Uh—huh,” she rolled her eyes. “And did you bring those boots to LA?”

“No, I didn’t,” he side eyed her, “should’ve, you would have loved them.” 

Y/n rolled her eyes giggling. “I bet.” 

“But anyway, after I bought the boots—I passed by that shop you like.” 

Y/n blinked. “Care to be more specific?” 

“The one with the vinyls, and vintage stuff,” he reminded her, but she looked down at the tiny box he was holding, it definitely wasn’t anything from that shop. 

“Oh, yeah, love that place,” she smiled. 

“Yeah, and I—went in,” he admitted. “And I couldn’t stop thinking about you, everything they had… so I—“

She just waited for him to continue. 

“I bought a fee vinyls for me, too,” he nodded seriously.

 Y/n bit her lip, holding back a laugh, “amazing, which ones did you buy?” 

“I bought a Beatles one… uh, Queen.” 

“Great choices,” she grinned. “I’m proud.” 

“And of course Rolling Stones, because I thought of you,” he said. 

Y/n scooted closer to him to gently run her hands through his hair, he couldn’t hide his smile. 

“And then—One day, I went out again,” he grinned. 

“Hm-hm?” 

He coughed, “yeah, and I walked again to that one other shop you like, the one with the clothes.” 

“With the clothes,” she laughed. 

��Yeah, you know the one,” he chuckled, avoiding her gaze. 

“And did you get in?” She asked. 

“No,” he grinned. “I went for an ice cream, you know, I was really craving one.” 

She stared at him, so mesmerized by him, even when he was being the silliest. “God, I love you,” she blurted out, without really thinking of it. That’s how it should be, realy. Nothing wrong with that. 

He finally locked his eyes with her and smiled, he took her hand in his and kissed it. “Yeah, so—“he grinned, “none of that has to do with your birthday present.” 

Y/n chuckled. “Really? I thought the birthday present would be seeing you with those boots and dancing with you to the music on those vinyls and eating ice cream.” 

“Ah, that would’ve been great huh,” he grinned staring into her eyes. 

“Would’ve loved that.”

“I actually did bring the vinyls,” he admitted. 

She kissed his temple. “Great, let’s play them—“

“Yeah, but—I haven’t finished,” he admitted. “I… Well, I've had a lot of time, you know? To reflect on—on the script, on us. But especially the script.” 

Y/n stared at the features on his face, fixating on the freckles on his nose as he kept talking. 

“So, I kept avoiding the script, even if I wanted to direct it because—Well, it was your dream, I remember and I think I’ll never forget how in Rome you told me your biggest dream was making a film of a ballerina,” he said. “I—well, and I wanted to read it, but I couldn’t because I thought—well, dunno, having something yet to read was something I still had to look forward to, you know? And so I kept listening to the vinyls because they reminded me of you, and I kept—trying to find you everywhere, alright?” He confessed. “On every single face and—The days just went by and I—eventually read it.” 

Y/n silently watched him. 

“And I fell in love with it, because—it’s you. The script is so—you, it was like reading an open book about you, and I don’t mean it in the way that it’s our story, like I genuinely—you really poured heart and soul in it, the songs you put in, the setting—and, well, it was really you, you know? I know you’ve always loved 80’s movies because they seem so ridiculous but so magical.“

Y/n chuckled nervously. “Where are you going with this?”

“I know it’s your biggest dream,” he sentenced. “And well—I’m sorry I didn’t get you a pair of boots like mine.” 

She laughed rolling her eyes. 

“And I didn’t get a vinyl.” 

“Tommy,” she nudged him. 

He only handed it to her, the small box. A very stupid and scary suspicion in her head had completely been erased as she picked the small box.

As she opened it, it revealed a necklace with a small pendant of a ballerina hanging from it. The brightest beam had appeared on y/n’s face. 

“I know you’ve—never liked the idea of someone giving you jewelry, especially bracelets or necklace because they don’t hold any meaning, but—I think—I know you’re not a dancer but, I think Valerie is your own special project, and—“Tom grinned. “I was saving it to give it to you on the premier but—“

“I love it, I...No, really this… This is perfect,” she whispered looking at it. Tom had once taught her that roses weren’t always basic. And Tom had now proven to her that this didn’t have to be either, because it was them, and it held such a special meaning to her. 

She leaned over to kiss his cheek, and he only smiled. 

“I was gonna give you a T—“

“As in Troy?” She mocked. 

“That’s exactly why I didn’t.”

She laughed. “I love it.” 

He looked deep into her eyes and she just waited for it… But he didn’t kiss her. 

“Yeah, so, let’s go to sleep,” he quickly stood up, letting her fall flat on the couch. 

“Thomas,” she hissed playfully. He had already left, and she could feel his smirk from afar, so she followed after him. 

“So, you can have my bed, I’m gonna leave to sleep on the couch because that was my agreement with James,” he explained, picking up his stuff as soon as she got to the room. 

She frowned. “No?” 

“Yes,” he replied cockily. 

“I’m not letting you leave until you bloody kiss me,” she replied. 

He paused and then turned with a proud smug smirk, “Then that gives me even more reasons not to kiss you.” 

She opened her mouth to complain, but really she was in such a state of shock that not a single word came out. 

“Goodnight love,” he grinned as he headed to the door. 

“Why are you like this?” She rolled her eyes, giggling. 

Tom took a deep breath before staring her down. 

“For the love of god, kiss me.” 

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“One shall never ask for a kiss,” he replied smugly. 

“Are you kidding me?” She closed her eyes, not believing it. 

“No, you said it yourself,” he grinned. “Not verbally.” 

“Just shut up and come here, idiot,” she laughed before pulling him close to her, finally placing her lips on him. It felt like just the very first time, Tom and her had that magic, of making each and every kiss feel like they’ve never kissed before, so unique and so perfectly synchronized with each other. 

“Don’t you guys fucking dare to do anything,” James was just walking by with a glass of water. “People need to sleep.” 

Clark had mouthed an apology before following after. 

Y/n had pulled away and then smirked. “Want to prank him?” 

Tom had only given her a weird face. 

Y/N knew James was staying right on the next room, and that she definitely was not going to be able to do anything without him hearing, that of course, meant she could piss him off, to get back at him for being a dick. 

Y/N explained her idea to Tom, and he immediately accepted, with the sole condition to leave the door open so his life could actually be spared. 

Both Tom and y/n had settled in their places, sitting right on top of the bed, right against the headboard which was conveniently against James’ wall. 

And so they started.

Both of them repeatedly, and in perfect sync started, Tom hitting his elbows against the headboard, making sure the noise it made was perfectly identifiable as something else as y/n was jumping on the bed. 

A faint “no, no, no, no, fucking hell, no,”  had been yelled from the other room. 

Tom and y/n tried to hide in their laughter, but proceeded to make it even worse, adding dramatic moans and “oh yes!” “Y/n!” “Right there!” “Tommy!” In between. 

“NO FUCKING WAY!” Now it had been louder. 

“Jamey, love—“ 

Tom and y/n smirked and went in even louder, “yes!” “So tight!” “Harder!” “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” 

“No! No! No! No! Bloody hell y/n I’m in the bloody next room!” James yelled. “I’m gonna kill you, Thomas!” 

And then they heard the loud and quick stumping as James’ door was open as he ran to knock on y/n’s and Tom’s door, but instead, the door was wide open and he could see what actually was happening, Tom and y/n, fully clothed and not even an inch close. 

That’s when both y/n and Tom lost it, bursting into laughter. 

“YOU GUYS FUCKING SUCK!” James yelled at them before joining in their laughter, red from embarrassment. 

Clark had followed right after, laughing with them. “So that—“

Y/n couldn’t stop her laughter, even tears had come down her cheek as she stared at her brother so embarrassed, watching them. 

“I can’t believe you fell for that!” Y/N had laughed. 

Clark couldn’t stop giggling either. 

“And by the way, thanks Clark,” Tom laughed, “you’re a real one.” 

“I fucking hate you all,” James rolled his eyes. 

“Now let’s go for the real one,” Tom had joked, probably with a death wish, but he quickly regretted it, “no, no, no, I’m joking! I’m joking!” 

“You bet your ass you’re joking,” James warned before laughing again, defeated, “I hate you both.” 

He had left with Clark laughing behind him, leaving y/n and Tom still laughing at their prank. 

Laughing and laughing until they ran out of breath and laughed again. 

“Shit, I love you so much,” Tom had said with one last breath after laughing. 

“I love you, too,” she had said, “that was the best fake sex I’ve had in my life.” 

“Hm, I’m pretty sure I’ve given you the best non fake one, too,” he had said cockily. 

“Non fake,” she scoffed. 

But then they’ve gone back to laughing, eventually somehow it transformed into kissing, and they had spent the night kissing, and giggling and nothing more, probably because they were aware that it was a very risky situation having James right beside and honestly, they were decent but mostly because they didn’t need more. Just the two of them laying down, and merging their lips together, becoming one with the other, was all they needed. 

The next day was rather perfect, filming had gone as smoothly as it could go, and though they kept their distance because they were professionals, y/n could tell there was something different about her and Tom. Not sure what but it felt like things could work out. A ray of hope, if one must say. 

There had been more cake, more people congratulating her for her birthday and just—Flowers. Sunflowers here and there, Along with blue hydrangeas. Pretty combination. Tom had made sure to fill up the place. She did love the sunflowers. Her mother calling her, auntie Eliza sending her pink carnations, it was—good. Especially after they told everyone about their prank, that made it even better. 

“You do have that fake sex aftermath glow,” Emma had joked. 

Perfect day, a perfect day until the sun was yawning down, she had put on her best clothes, and she was nervous. Not sure why though.

Tom had invited the cast as well. Nothing could go wrong, and it definitely wasn’t going to, right? Y/N had thought maybe it was a good day after all. 

The place had been packed and the first song playing had been Ironic by Alanis Morissette, James had been the first one to point it out, he really liked that song. And though the combination of friends seemed like the perfect recipe for disaster, y/n thought it had gone calmly. At least at the beginning. 

The club seemed to be picked out of y/n’s dreams, an 80’s and 70’s paradise playing the songs she loved to sing along to. There was a karaoke, too, in the background, separate from the dance floor. Honestly, the place was perfect. Fun. 

And y/n had ignored Cherry’s presence as long as she could, she hadn’t been rude, but of course she’d been avoiding her, because the moment she saw her, y/n did feel insecure. She had shown up with a tight dress that gave nothing to the imagination, and her hair perfectly falling down her shoulders, her whole body shimmered. She was beautiful, beyond compare, perfect. 

“Y/N!” She had greeted her. “I’m so glad I see you, I love your dress, hun, happy birthday!” 

Her high pitched tone had only made y/n even more insecure. And y/n had seen her dancing, she’d caught Josh’s attention, it had seemed. Even Asa’s and Gregg’s attention. Because of course she would, the girl was perfect. 

“Is Tim your boyfriend?” Cherry had asked y/n. 

“What?” Y/N didn’t know if she’d heard right. “No… No, he’s not.” 

“Oh, I thought he was!” 

“Happy birthday!” Someone had yelled as they popped off a bottle. 

Y/N could take care of Cherry later, who was actually picking out mostly everyone’s attention. 

“Who is she?” Josh had asked her. “If it weren’t for Emma, I’d say she’s the prettiest girl in the world.” 

There was a lot to unpack from Josh’ statement. 

“That’s my cousin,” she explained. “She’s single, so why don’t you give it a go?” Y/N had suggested, knowing perfectly that if he did, she’d take away another problem. Because she’d seen Harry anxious the moment Josh had showed up.  

Y/N didn’t know why she felt like Harry did know about Josh, she wasn’t sure but the same face Harry was giving Josh was the face Y/N gave to Cherry. 

Initially, she had seen Cherry approach Tom, she had whispered  something in his ear, and he had only gulped before walking off to one of his brothers. It made y/n anxious. 

“You know what? You should go and sing Jolene,” Emma suggested, y/n could tell that Emma probably was slightly dizzy, as she had dragged her, Clark and Auli’i to the dance floor, a...very strange combination. Y/N was just a bit bothered by this, since she wanted to be with Tom, or rather, she wanted to pull him away from where Cherry was. 

“Jolene?” Auli’i laughed. Felt rather weird for y/n hanging out with celebrities. Tom didn’t count… Not in that way, at least. 

“Yes, Jolene,” Emma said. “I’m begging you please don’t take my man!” 

“Your man?” Auli’i had asked. “As in Tom?” 

Y/N chuckled. “Uh...Well….er.” 

“Please, you’re dating, right?” She laughed. 

Y/N didn’t answer. 

“Please, it’s kind of obvious,” Auli’i explained. “You guys have tried to be subtle but we all know it.” 

Well, there goes their attempt at trying to be professional. It didn’t matter, honestly. But it did bother her knowing that Cherry was the only girl in there, but thankfully, her own brother had kept Cherry occupied, thank god.  

Y/N was also bothered by the fact Tom wasn’t by her side,  just slightly bothered. She guessed, however, that he was having fun with his brothers. She wondered where Timmy was, because all she could see was the guys, and Cherry, at the table getting their asses drunk. 

Especially Timmy. 

Emma had dragged them back to the place, y/n had  tried to get close to Tom, who had also tried to pull her close to him, but somehow she had been dragged away again. It was annoying, and the night kept going like that. She hadn’t had one single minute with Tom, and it was bothering her. Tom, too, it seemed. 

Tom was very bothered by the fact that y/n kept being pulled by her friends, not that they were doing it to specifically bother him, but it was… annoying. Also, having Cherry around, was not a perfect situation, especially because she was insisting on talking to him. What in this world was she trying to do? 

He didn’t want to deal with that, he only wanted to have fun. Besides, a club with loud music was definitely not the place to talk. Not on his… girlfriend’s? Birthday celebration. 

The night was getting blurry, to him, to everyone. Half past twelve, it was getting darker, and the drinks had come and gone, drink after drink.  Everyone seemed to be having a very good time, and he wasn’t sure but the lights on the club had probably lowered, flashes green and yellow were blinding him. The group was constantly divided, and he had had only a small chance to dance with y/n. The music was buzzing too loud, as he escaped through the crowds, trying to find y/n, and he saw her, dancing with everyone and then, Timmy had dragged her close to him, she didn’t even notice as she danced and sang along to the… 70’s, yeah 70’s song playing. Tom feared it, because it’s not difficult to know when someone wants to kiss the person you’re in love with. Tim was drunk, Tom knew this, and the look in his eyes was saying everything. And though he didn’t see that look on y/n, he feared it. 

Tom quickly had pulled her by the hand and finally wrapped his arms around her so they could dance. 

Tim had only rolled his eyes but kept dancing with Emma. 

“Hi!” y/n had cheered as soon as she saw Tom. 

“Hey!” 

“Where have you been?” She asked, leaning to his ear.  

“Here and there,” he admitted, she only giggled to lean over to kiss him. 

Everything was going too quickly, the lights and music were not helping. They had barely danced before Emma had dragged y/n. 

“I’m sorry, Tom, but it’s y/n’s and I turn to go to the karaoke!” Emma had said before getting her away. 

“You were getting too comfortable,” Tom had barked at Tim. 

“Pff,” Tim had scoffed. “You’re scared it’ll happen again?” 

“What?” Tom frowned. “I’m-- she’s with me.” 

“Yet she slept with me just before you arrived,” Tim had blurted. 

Tom had felt the music getting louder, and louder, just as Tim had left and Tom was sunk into the dancing crowd. 

He didn’t have to believe him… right? 

In the state of shock, he only tried to follow after where Emma and y/n were heading.The karaoke music was playing, Emma had chosen ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man after midnight!)’ for her and y/n to sing, and they had started, happily singing as she was so unaware of what Tom was feeling right now. Not sure if it was anger, disappointment, jealousy, or all at once. 

The group had followed after them, too, as they were expectant to see the birthday girl, first receiving a very flattering shot of… Tom thought it was probably vodka as soon as she got to the stage. Emma and her sang and yelled, and the group danced and danced. Emma being such a crowd pleaser, yelling and making them cheer. 

Tom couldn't. 

Is there a man out there? Someone to hear my prayers…

There was no sight of Tim, that was alright, he guessed. But then it… Tom’s mind went to every single time he’d seen her around Tim. It was so fucking obvious, of course they had slept together, and y/n probably still had feelings for him. 

Tom was the only one who wasn’t dancing. 

Emma had jumped off the stage to land on Josh, and then without even thinking about it, she had kissed him, right in front of Harry. 

Sam and Clark had joined y/n on the stage, everyone was just too bloody drunk, and the song seemed to be never ending. Or maybe Tom hadn’t noticed when it had changed, it sounded like another ABBA song. And it was… ‘Voulez-Vous’. Now it was Y/N, Sam and Clark. 

Tom didn’t even realize when Cherry was around him, and it probably was the alcohol working out but he danced with her. Not sure why. 

Y/N saw it, right from the stage, but luckily Clark had been kind enough to dance with her as someone else had hopped to the stage to sing with them, now that y/n was definitely not able to sing. 

And just as the song was ending, and as the next group of girls had popped on the stage,  she saw it, perfectly happening, Cherry’s lips were on Tom’s. 

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[hoebii]

Like me better

Pairing : Park Jimin x Reader

Genre : Fluff, Highschool!Au, e2l, rivals

Rating : PG13

Warning : ‘Curse’ words are mentioned (is ‘shit’ even a curse word fhgjv), OC wanting to choke Jimin and not in the kinky way, brief mention of Jimin being a playboy thot, hating on mint chocolate because it’s the worst flavour to exist you can fight me on this

Wc : 4k

A/N : Alright, this was originally supposed to be a birthday drabble but it got a little out of hand as you can see. We had a whole lot planned for this fic but it got too long oops- so we decided to cut it short and keep the ending open huhu. Happiest birthday to our precious maknae @heejinnien​ from @xiaokoo​ (who also made this AMAZING banner btw) and I. Hope you like your present baby! We love you so so so much~<3 Also this isn’t as edited as I’d like it to be but I got impatient okay don’t @ me :<

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

The bustling crowd of students bumped into you repeatedly as you weaved through them to get to class. You kept a strong grip on your books so as to not drop them. People squeezed passed as you tried not to trip and fall flat on your face. You had slept through your alarms and were currently rushing to your class, cursing at yourself for this blunder in your head. 

“Sorry, excuse me, oh shit!” You catch yourself as you tumbled to the ground. Your books splay across the floor as you winced at the sore feeling. Hopefully, no one would step on you or your books - you had paid good money for them!-. As for tripping over, you looked over your shoulder, glaring when you caught sight of a group of boys laughing. 

“Aw is little princess hurt?~” You heard one of them call out, the others snickering in the background. You ignored them and started gathering all your books, telling yourself they weren’t worth the trouble. You were almost done picking up all the books on the ground when one was suddenly snatched from your grasp. Looking up at the culprit you see Park Jimin, the bane of your existence, holding it up.

“Are you sure you even need books?” He snickers, flicking through it. “You’re not even smart, why bother studying if it doesn’t do you any good?” 

You feel your blood boil. How dare he?! You were smarter than him in every possible way. He had no right to mock you, sure he was smart but you always placed second. If there was one thing you hated, it was being second best to Park Jimin. 

“You’ll just come second like always.” 

That comment hit you hard. You tried to keep your cool, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. Sure, Jimin was annoying but there was no way you were going to create a scene because of it. Not again. Instead, you rolled your eyes, choosing to ignore him and walked away. There would be no reason to argue with a dumbass. Why waste your time?

Jimin watched as you walked away. He smirked to himself. Despite acting calm, he’d known you long enough to know that you were fuming inside. There were buttons he knew how to push to get the reaction he wanted and he thoroughly enjoyed provoking you. 

--------

You stumbled into the classroom, panting from the light jog. “Damn I need to get back in shape, Jesus Christ.” you whispered to yourself. 

“Miss Y/L/N, care to explain why you’re five minutes late to the class?” Your professor’s voice boomed in the small classroom. You look at him, giving him a sheepish smile as you rub your neck. 

“I… got lost…?” 

What was that?! You wanted to smack yourself at your own words. So much for your perfect attendance. 

“You got lost?”

“Y...es…”

Your professor took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Just, just go to your seat.”

You scurried to your seat, setting down your books and sitting down. You heard snickering from beside you and you turned your head slightly towards the sound to see none other than Park Jimin laughing at you. Feeling your face flush in embarrassment, you turned towards your professor and started jotting down notes. You were not going to get riled up by Jimin during a class. 

-----------

It’s official. Life hates you. You must have been some sort of a witch in your last life who thrived by torturing others. That had to be it. Why else would you ever get partnered with Park freaking Jimin for your science project?! Apparently, the professor had said it was because you two were ‘top students that will compliment each other well’. But you’re certain it was actually because she hated you and you must have tortured her or something in your past life and this was her way of getting revenge. You’re pretty sure you came up with at least 7 ways to end Park Jimin in the time he took to move his seat closer to you for ‘discussing details about the project.’ 

“So you’re gonna draw the diagram and write everything,” Jimin started as soon as he sat down. He dumped his bags to one corner taking out the necessities. “I will be supervising you as I’m clearly the better one here.”

Oh how much you craved to just lean forward and wrap your fingers around his neck and choke him. How can a person be this insufferable? You could just shove a damn pen up his- 

“Alright class dismissed! Remember, the deadline is on Monday next week! Have a nice weekend.” Your professor announced, snapping you out of your thoughts.  

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, don’t screw up the project.” 

With that Jimin left you sitting there fuming at him. You let out a tired sigh and begin packing up to leave too, mind running wild. Why couldn’t Jimin just be a good person for once?

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

The weekend seemed to go by in a flash, just you working on the project with Jimin, who had surprisingly been quite helpful. Just when you thought he had a heart, he had said it was ‘so you don’t ruin my grades.’ Yeah nevermind he still sucks.

What you didn’t know was Jimin being nice - well as nice as a jerk can get anyway - was because he had a bet to win. One of the boys had proposed a bet after class when he caught Jimin bickering with you yet again. The bet was simple really, ask you out and date you for a while before leaving you. Jimin had refused at first but then everyone started taunting him. Who liked getting mocked? No one. It was plain simple anyways, no one would actually get hurt, wasn’t like you liked him. So he accepted.

It wasn’t easy to catch your attention, given the fact the both of you were mortal enemies, it was near impossible. He did everything in his power so you would look at him but all tactics had somehow managed to flop. There was only one other way of actually getting you to notice him and that was annoying you. However, that would ruin the whole point of the bet. 

“Y/n, Y/n, Y/n.” Jimin chanted as he poked you on the cheek incessantly. “Y/n pay attention to meeee.” He continued to whine. 

You felt your right eye twitch. Why was this dumbass bothering you?! There was no reason for him to even be five feet close to you. 

“What is it Jimin?” You turn to him, a sickly sweet smile on your face. “What is so important that you’re trying to talk to me?”

Jimin grinned, his eyes turning into crescents as he poked his cheek and gave a wink. “Hi~ How are you doing?”  

Is he for real right now? Did he think he was cute? You felt like throwing up. “Park what are you up to? You never act,” you started, eyes squinting in suspicion, “like whatever you’re doing right now.” 

Jimin gasped and placed a hand on his chest as if in pain before exclaiming, “What?! Me? Up to something? Impossible, I’m as innocent as an angel.” 

An angel? More like a devil. There was no way he was telling the truth. You’d known him long enough and not once in your life had he treated you with such...whatever that emotion was.

“Right. An angel. Okay.” You nodded.

“Do you not believe me? You can ask anyone on this campus and they would tell you how amazing I am.” He gestured his hands wildly. 

You scoffed at that, of course they would, he had slept with the majority and had the remaining wrapped around his tiny fingers. Plus, no one wanted to cross Park Jimin. He ruled the campus and everyone knew it. 

“Listen, just get to the point. I don’t have time for this nonsense.” You said, rolling your eyes and huffing. You had to get to your next class in about five minutes. There was no way you were going to be late because some idiot was bothering you. 

“Go on a date with me.”

You choked on air at that, did you hear that right? “E-excuse me what?!”

Jimin shrugged and crossed his hands, flexing slightly, “You heard me, go on a date with me this weekend. Heard there's a new ice cream shop here, we could go there.” 

“You want to take me on a date?” You look at him skeptically. Was this a test? Were you being filmed? “You’re joking.”

“No.” He fixed you with a stare. “I’m serious. One date, if you don’t enjoy that one date, I promise I won't bother you ever again.”

You stood there staring at him, alarm bells ringing in your head. This can’t be real. He’s lying. “You? Never bothering me ever again? That’s like saying you don’t sleep with everyone you meet.”

“I didn’t sleep with you.”

“That’s different!” You exclaimed, face flushing. “You hate me!”

Jimin tilted his head, his nose scrunching up. “I never said I hate you.” You open your mouth ready to retaliate. “You simply assumed I did, my actions don’t mean anything unless I say something.”

You stood speechless. There had to be one occasion where he had stated he hated you. One. You searched your brain. Sure enough there was no such memory. 

Not wanting to lose to Jimin nonetheless you stomped your feet and said, “Yeah well that makes no sense! Haven’t you heard ‘actions speak louder than words’? I thought you were smart” You tsked, shaking your head as if you were disappointed.

“But I’m standing here asking you out, I’m sure that counters all the things I’ve done to you.” He gives you a sly smirk, one you’re all too familiar with. “There’s really two options Y/n. One’s yes and the other is...yes. Which one do you choose?”

If you could you would have burned him to a crisp with your glare. Unfortunately, you hadn’t been gifted with laser vision like superman. It would have been quite a gift if you had. Imagine how peaceful life would be without Park Jimin judging your every move. Then again, you would miss him. Wait what?! You shook your head to clear your mind before looking at Jimin.

“No.”

Jimin’s eyes widened as he spluttered. “W-what do you mean no?!”

“N-O. No. Don’t tell me you forgot basic english.”

Jimin clicked his tongue in annoyance, glaring at you. No one had ever turned him down. Whatever Park Jimin wants he gets. Right now he wants you. 

“Why not?” 

You gave him a look. “Well, it isn’t exactly a secret that you sleep with anything that has two legs. I don't even know why you’re asking me out, you never go on dates.”

“That's because you’re different.”

You scoff. “Listen Park, this isn’t some shitty rom com that you can charm your way to my heart, this is reality and I’m smart enough to realise how much of a jerk you actually are.”

Words seemed to die in Jimin’s throat. A jerk?! Sure, he annoyed you but he didn't think he deserved the title of a jerk. If it wasn’t for that stupid bet he wouldn’t even be asking you out. There was no reason why you couldn’t go on just one date with him. It wasn’t as if he was asking you to juggle swords and then swallow them. Besides, Jimin was a very attractive person and he knew it too. What’s so bad about going out with him? You should feel blessed he was even asking you out in the first place!

“Just say yes already woman. One date won’t kill you,” Jimin groaned out, throwing his head back in frustration.

“One date with you will.”

You stared at each other, no one making a single move. The silence stretched on for a moment before Jimin sighed loudly and ran a hand through this hair. 

“Come on!”

“No”

“...Please?” Jimin couldn’t believe he had to beg. He never begs! The things he does for a stupid bet.

Rolling your eyes at Jimin, you sigh, “Fine. We can go there this Saturday.”

“I begged, why won’t you just accep--” Jimin started before cutting himself off, “Oh you said yes. Um, well, yeah ok.” He mumbled, trying to fix his composure. “Yeah see you there or something. Bye,” and with that he walked away, leaving you both amused and confused… and also late for class! Damn Park Jimin.

-----------

You stood in front of the ice cream shop waiting for Jimin to show up. He was late, but then again what were you expecting anyway? You rolled your eyes as you looked around, “If he doesn’t show up in the next minute, I’m leaving.” you mumbled to yourself, checking your watch for what felt like the umpteenth time. 

“Y/n!” A voice shouted from behind causing you to turn around. Jimin ran towards you, panting slightly. “Sorry, I had to run all the way here.”

“Did you forget about the date or were you just being a jerk and were late intentionally?”

His face flushed pink, avoiding your gaze. “I might have forgotten but that wasn’t completely my fault, I just lost track of time.”

“Yeah whatever.” 

Jimin went to hold open the door for you but you beat him to it, opening it for yourself and slamming it in his face. He held back the urge to leave right there. A bet needed to be completed. He followed you inside trying to strike a conversation with you, trying to get just a crack of a smile.

“So Y/n, how’s your day?” Jimin asked, giving you a sweet smile that would have anyone swooning but it had no effect on you. 

“It would be good if the one who asked me out on a date came on time.” You didn’t look at him, instead you were staring intently at the menu. 

Jimin bit his tongue to stop himself from saying something he would regret, giving you a tight lipped smile. “I’m sure your date regrets being late.” ‘And asking you out in the first place’ Jimin thought the last part but didn’t say out loud.

“Doubt it.” You shrugged. 

Jimin knew what you were doing. You were specifically trying to provoke him, there was no way that he would ask you out on a date voluntarily. You were trying to gouge out any secrets he was hiding. His job, obviously, was to try and not let you find out those secrets. There was no way you were going to cooperate if he told you about the bet. 

The two of you knew each other since you were both babies, your mothers knew each other and would always coo at ‘how cute these two will look together.’ Unfortunately for them though, since you were both young the two of you had some sort of competition going on. Didn't matter if it was who was smarter, who was faster or who could fit the most grapes in their mouth, the both of you were always competing. 

As you both grew older the bickering turned into bullying on his part. In truth, you actually didn't know what started this long feud, all you remembered was one day when you were five an annoying boy yanked your hair so hard that a few strands had come out. Annoying boy turned out to be Park Jimin and the two of you haven’t stopped arguing since. 

“What flavour are you getting?” Jimin peered over your shoulder. He looked at you expectedly. “I’ve already chosen mine, so it’s just up to you and I’ll pay.” He holds his wallet out. 

“Vanilla.” You said plainly.

“What?!” 

You turn to face Jimin, frowning. “What’s wrong with vanilla?”

He makes a face. “Y/n, it’s so boring, like you no doubt.” The last part had slipped out accidentally and he regretted it as soon as it left his mouth. That was it. You were going to scream at him and he would lose the bet.

Instead, you ignored his comment fixing your gaze back onto the menu. “What do you think I should get then? I’ll give you the choice, assuming you don’t pick a disgusting flavour like mint chocolate chip, I’ll be fine.” 

Sure, it was a stupid decision giving Jimin the power to pick what you were going to eat, but what could go wrong? Worst case scenario, you didn't like the flavour and he would be forced to go get a new one, which would cost him more money. It’s a win win. 

“You’re giving me the freedom to pick what flavour you’re having?” Jimin asked, making sure he didn't misunderstand your statement. You simply nodded, shrugging nonchalantly. 

“Yep” you replied when he stared at you for a while longer, popping the p.

Jimin smirked. “I’ll get you the best flavour to ever exist then.”

You raised an eyebrow at his statement, “Oh?”

“Yeah, mint chocolate~” 

You stared at him in disgust, scowling as you said, “Dude I just said that flavour is disgusting. Made by the devil himself.”

Jimin tapped his chin, as if he had no clue about you were saying, “Did you really? Can’t recall anything like that. Hmm.”

“Park Jimin, I swear to god if you get me that flavour I will rip your eyeballs out and shove them up your ass.”

“So you wanna touch my ass now?” He grinned smugly. You felt your cheeks heat up as you spluttered, desperately searching for a comeback.

“Just- just get me whatever you’re having. Unless it’s chocolate mint, then get out of my sight right now.” 

“Don't worry, I hate the flavour as much as you do. So, two birthday cakes coming right up.” You try to find ‘birthday cake’ on the menu. 

“Dude, the thing looks like a unicorn just threw up on it.” 

Jimin shoots you a glare. “Don’t disrespect the superior flavour bestowed upon us by the ice cream Gods.” You gape at him open-mouthed. Ice cream Gods?! The guy was insane. You were on a date with a guy who was insane. Rest in pepperoni to you.

“You’re insane,” You shake your head. “I’ll be waiting over there. Be quick.” You point to a table in the corner. 

“Yes ma’am” Jimin saluted before going to order at the counter. You shake your head. You’d known Jimin of most of your life and he’d always been silly and annoying. 

Some reason you knew a lot about him. You blamed it on your parents making you spend too much time with each other when you were younger. Also you needed to know every little thing about your mortal enemy, wasn’t that what mortal enemies did? You had to be prepared for anything and keep track of them at all times!

“Got your ice cream.” Jimin placed the cup in front of you as you stared at it with distaste. You’d never really had ice cream often but when you did you always went for the plain vanilla. It was simple, no need for toppings or colourful flavours. You weren’t one to take risks. 

“What monstrosity did you get for me, Park?” 

“Oh stop being a baby, it’s just strawberry with some syrup on it.” Jimin answered while he rolled his eyes, lips tugged up into a small smile. Eyes twinkling with adoration as he looked at you. 

“I’m not eating it.”

“Oh yes you are. Here comes the airplane!” Jimin started, taking a spoonful of the ice cream and moving it towards your face as if talking to a child. 

“I’m not a kid. I’m not ha-” Jimin shoves the spoon inside your mouth when you open it to retaliate, his lips lifted into a sly smile. You snatch the spoon off him while glaring at him and start feeding yourself. “Don’t patronise me, you jerk.” You grumbled.

Jimin almost cooed out loud at your pout but he barely controlled himself. Since when were you this cute? He watched as you ate.

“Is it good?” 

“...yes” You reluctantly answered, still pouting.

Jimin smiled, leaning back on his chair as he pat himself on his shoulder. “Another job done well by yours truly.”

You rolled your eyes. Then you noticed that Jimin’s ice cream looked slightly different to yours. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for a bite. Would it?

“What’s on yours?” Jimin looked up, the tiny spoon still in his mouth. “What’s on your ice cream?”

“Just extra sprinkles and chocolate sauce, nothing too special.” He shrugged, continuing to devour his dessert. You stare at your cup and then at his. Something must have been possessing you because before you knew it you were leaning over and digging your spoon into his cup.

“Hey, you can’t just do that!”

“Pretty sure I just did.” You popped the spoon into your mouth, savouring the taste. “You know you really weren’t kidding when you said this was good. For once, you did something right, congrats dude.” 

Jimin would have made a snarky comment but the look of pure ecstasy on your face stopped him. Even though he knew you for most of his life, there were parts you kept hidden. He knew you didn’t get out much, constantly studying was the only thing you seemed to do. A nice feeling bubbled inside of him. It was nice to know you were enjoying yourself, made him feel happy for some reason. 

You giggled, shoving more of the sweet dessert into your mouth. Too busy to notice that Jimin was staring at you. When you did, you gave him a look of confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“You got a little something here.” He pointed to the left side of his face, holding in the urge to laugh at your cute expression. “No here, no.” He leaned over brushing his thumb over the corner of your lips. He stared at you, had your eyes always been so pretty? You felt yourself grow red at the close proximity between you two, not knowing what to do. Jimin leaned away, - why did your heart sink at that? - and licked his thumb. “Love this flavour.”

You avert your eyes quickly, blush getting brighter. You should not have found that as hot as you did. Get yourself together Y/N! Park Jimin, enemy number one! Nothing he does is mildly attractive. Nothing. He is the devil reincarnated!

Suddenly your phone started ringing, shattering whatever moment you two had going on. You picked up the device and checked the caller ID. Why was Jungkook calling now? You gave Jimin a sheepish look.

“Hello? I’m out. No. What? How did you- Alright alright.” Jimin watched as you spoke on your phone. 

You sighed in annoyance, hanging up after a while and giving Jimin a sheepish smile, “I need to go. Jungkook somehow made the microwave catch on fire.” 

Jimin raised his eyebrows in shock, looking at you as if you had grown two more heads. “What? How is that even possible?”

“Not a clue but I gotta dip. Thank you for inviting me here today. I still think you’re up to something though but whatever.” You spoke, getting up from your seat and grabbing your small messenger bag that you brought along. 

Jimin stood up alongside you, the both of you walking out of the shop and stopping on the sidewalk. “Yeah… Thank you for coming here with me.”

You two stood there staring at each other, not wanting to leave just yet. 

“Well then! I’ll see you on Monday. Bye Jimin,” You announced after a while, quickly pressing a small kiss on his cheek before dashing away. 

Jimin stood there in shock, hands raising to touch where you kissed him. Why was his heart racing so fast and why did he feel so warm inside? 

“Huh.. maybe you’re not so bad Y/L/N” Jimin spoke up to himself before he too started his walk back home, mind filled with thoughts of you.

[cuquitalocita]

a secret valentine- percabeth

AN: hi! yes, hello, i haven’t written in a HOT MINUTE but today i put on a timer for half an hour and forced myself to write so here are the results! happy valentine’s day everyone and i hope you enjoy this little bit of percabeth fluff! also! a shoutout to the people who are also single but more importantly shout out to my favorite human being in the ENTIRE WORLD @alaenawrites​ i HIGHLY?? recommend following her?? thanks for beta reading it and... yeah... i love you so please enjoy!

Part Two

~~

“Gods, isn’t that enough?” Annabeth shot a venomous look at the boy next to her who now held a massive pile of books for her. She had just stacked on another one and he glared at it in disgust as Annabeth ran her fingers along the spines of the remaining books on the shelf.

“If you have an issue Jackson, feel free to leave,” she snapped, knowing he wouldn’t because of their group of friends who were wandering around them through the book store. Jason had convinced Percy to hold her books for her as she shopped, saying something about getting on her good side and Annabeth had merely snorted, muttering something about the chances of that happening. It had been an hour of annoying comments and him following her around the store while Annabeth picked specifically heavier books to shove into his arms one by one.

“A man can dream,” he muttered and Annabeth rolled her eyes as Piper watched them. Piper opened her mouth to say something when both her and Percy looked up at her, their matching glares directed for each other but instead being projected onto their innocent immediately had her snapping her mouth shut.

“You know what? Never mind. Jase!” she called to her boyfriend who was sitting in one of the comfortable looking chairs at the front of the store. He pushed his glasses back up his well shaped nose as he looked up at his girlfriend, a charming smile beginning to bloom on his face. He stood up and Annabeth swore his massive frame cast a shadow over her books. 

“Ready to go ladies?” he asked and the girls nodded, heading over to the register, Percy trailing behind them. 

“Got enough books Chase? Or have you not gone broke just yet?” Annabeth stiffened and rolled her eyes although he couldn’t see her and spun around with a glare, gray eyes flashing. He padded up next to her and dropped her books unceremoniously onto the counter for her to pay.  

“Got enough brain cells Jackson? Or have you wasted too many of them making stupid comments?” Percy Jackson only smirked back at her, a cold thing unlike what he gave most of their other friends. She hated admitting how attractive he was. Percy was easily handsome, with pretty golden skin and disheveled black hair. He opened his mouth, clearly ready to snap something back at her when another voice interrupted them.

“Chicos, chicos!” Leo came up behind Annabeth, throwing his arm around her shoulders with an easy grin. “Let’s not fight guys! It is almost Valentine’s day after all.” Annabeth resisted rolling her eyes at the mention of the ridiculous holiday and turned back to the register, ignoring the burning gaze of the blue-green eyes she knew were following her every move. 

“Speaking of,” Percy said, clearly no longer addressing her. “I better head back home. We’re finishing moving Mom’s stuff out of the apartment by tomorrow.” 

The group smiled at the mention of Sally Blofis, the newly married mother of their group and even Annabeth couldn’t hold back a twinge of her lips. She absolutely adored the woman. Annabeth guessed her adorable four year old daughter didn’t hurt either. Her son was a different story. 

“See you tomorrow though?” he asked to the group. Piper snorted.

“Nice try, Percy,” she laughed. “But tomorrow’s Valentine’s day so I’ll be stealing your boyfriend for the entire day.” Annabeth turned around in time for Percy to fake a pout and ignored what it made the butterflies in her stomach do. “So he’s off limits.” 

“I’ll be your valentine, Jackson. As long as you’re okay buying the chocolate,” Leo called over from where he was leaning on Annabeth. Percy rolled his eyes.

“Please. The only person stupid enough to be your valentine is you.” Annabeth laughed a little and Leo frowned, pushing himself off of her.

“I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you, Beth. Last I checked, you’re flying solo too.” Annabeth rolled her eyes and smacked Leo over the back of his head with a book.

“See if you can find where I care, Valdez,” she snapped back.

Piper snickered from across from them. “You and Percy should be valentine’s Annabeth, since you’re both single anyway.” If Annabeth had been drinking water, she would have spit it out all over her friends in shock. Piper could clearly tell and was doubled over laughing, clutching at her stomach where Jason held her by the waist, rolling his eyes fondly. 

“As if,” Percy cut her off from responding with a roll of his eyes. “She couldn’t take her nose out of a book long enough to give me the time of day.”

“And he couldn’t get his head out of his ass long enough to listen to a thing I say,” Annabeth added on, shooting the boy a glare that he gladly returned. 

“Don’t flatter yourself into thinking you’d say anything worth listening to Chase,” he sneered and Annabeth shoved one of her books back into her bag. 

“Don’t you have some movers to go annoy? I’m sure they’d appreciate your company much more than we do,” Annabeth snapped back. They held fiery eye contact for the next couple of seconds before Leo cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“On that note,” he laughed nervously. “We should probably go meet Frank and Hazel at the cafe.” Percy muttered something about no longer wanting to be in a room with ‘that know-it-all blonde’ and exited the book store, not looking back. 

Annabeth glared at her boots as Piper came to stand next to her.

“You could try to get along with him you know. It’s been years of this, and it’s seriously starting to get bad.” Annabeth straightened her shoulders and looked her friend in the face, her eyes blazing with determination. 

“The day I get along with Percy Jackson is the day I die.”

~~

Annabeth had just finished pinning her hair up with the owl pendant she had been gifted for her birthday last year when she heard a knock at her door. The cheap apartment she had rented for her stay during college was sketchy to say the least, and she could hear the knock all the way from her room. She didn’t know who would be coming to her house on Valentine’s day. Wasn’t everyone with their person? Glancing at the bathroom light that was still on she walked to the living room, smoothing her hands over her white jeans as she walked. 

She swung the door open to see none other than her best friend, flowers and pints of ice cream in tow.

“Piper?” Annabeth asked incredulity. “What are you doing here?” Piper rolled her eyes and let herself in.

“Please, Annabeth. You’re much too smart not to know what I’m doing here.” She stopped at her couch and sat down, her eyed twinkling with mischief. “Jason and I decided that we could push our dinner back to next week, considering he’s busy studying for midterms right now anyway, and you said you were gonna be alone this Valentine’s day, so I figured we’d make it Galentine’s day.” 

She smiled and something inside of her warmed at the gesture her friend had made for her. Another part of her blared red flashing lights. 

“Pipes, thank you so much but you really didn’t have to do that,” she reasoned, hoping the nice words would convince her friend to get her ass off of the couch and leave. “I’m not feeling too good anyway and I think I might be coming down with something. You should go before you catch it,” she smiled. “Maybe there’s still time to find Jase and go to dinner.” 

Piper shook her head, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. “Come on Annabeth, I think your pride can take this one. You’ve been alone on Valentine’s day before and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. So what do you think? The Notebook or Message in a Bottle? You should change too,” she added, glancing at Annabeth’s fancy jeans and pretty gray top. She hoped Piper hadn’t noticed the extra makeup she had on that she usually forgoes.

Her heart pounded in her ears and Annabeth tried once more what she knew was impossible.

“Pipes, I really think that-”

“Hey Wise Girl? What time is our reserva...” Annabeth’s eyes slammed shut in defeat as the voice carried out from her bedroom and her shirtless boyfriend walked out to the living room, his sentence trailing off as he took in the girl on the couch. His green eyes widened in shock and his mouth formed a perfectly shocked ‘o’ shape. Annabeth mirrored the sentiment. They were screwed.

Piper was off of the couch in a flash her eyes wider than she had ever seen them and Annabeth pondered exactly what was going through her best friend’s head. She clearly decided to say the first thing that came to her mind.

“Bullshit.” 

Percy burst out a laugh and Annabeth glared at him, effectively shutting him up for the time being. He ran out of the room and came back seconds later, now wearing a shirt.

“Before you say anything,” Annabeth started. “Let us explain.”

“Explain what exactly?” Piper cut her off. “How you’ve been dating the boy you’ve been claiming to hate for the past seven years? Or how you’re a much better actress than we give you credit for?” Annabeth winced at the statement but Percy was there in an instant, his arm wrapping itself around her waist in a comforting hold.

“Easy Pipes,” his voice was a warning and Annabeth squeezed the hand that rested on her waist, shooting the boy next to her a thankful look. He only pressed his lips to her temple in response and Annabeth melted a little bit.

Piper caught the act, her eyes widening even more somehow. “Damn. So this is real?” The two nodded and Percy’s hand squeezed her waist a little bit. Annabeth gazed at her friend warily, her nerves dissipating when Piper’s face broke into a massive grin. 

“You know what this means?” Percy had dropped his head to Annabeth’s shoulder and was playing with one of her curls.

“I can finally stop pretending to hate my girlfriend?” he asked into Annabeth’s neck and she laughed as his wild hair tickled her. She kissed his cheek and turned back to Piper, who’s grin was now positively victorious. 

“No,” she replied, reaching for her phone and dialing a number, her smile never leaving her face. “It means Valdez owes me fifty bucks.”

~~

“Person A doesn’t know Person B and Person C are together until Person C walks into Person B’s room on Valentine’s Day without knocking.”

~~

that’s it. also can someone please give me prompts cause i wanna try to write more :)

[oingo233]

Rapture is a Boy (2)

Summary: Remus and you have always had a playful, loving relationship but his behavior around the full moon leads you to assume the worst. A huge fight ends with the two of you heartbroken. Will Remus reveal the truth behind his behavior?  And will you still love him afterwards or has he truly lost you forever?

Young Remus Lupin x Reader

Warning: brief talk of weight (as someone who is overweight I would never write anything or imply that being overweight is a bad thing, I know society deems it as less beautiful but the truth is that we are so beautiful, every single one of us despite our weight/size or appearance, we just have a different journey to self-love than those who are conventionally pretty, a much harder path to confidence no doubt, but let me remind you that you are breath taking because most to all of beauty is the uniqueness that one has), some angst sprinkled into this one, get ready for loads of it later, bitches like em’ sad, it’s me, I’m bitches.  Also, there are some cuss words, nothing too bad though. Self-doubt, cheating is mentioned.

Authors note: I try to keep my writing(self inserts) gender, body type, ethnicity and house neutral/not specified.  If I ever slip up please let me know so that I can change it. Remus’s/3rd POV is italicized, it switches back and forth briefly to better show the relationship and luv. Shit will go down in the next chapter, enjoy the little amounts of fluff and joy in this one while it lasts mwhahaha!

Word Count: 2k

Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight

                                                      Part Two

                                      **** Chocolate Pudding ****

I was distracted in class for the second time this month, all because of Remus Lupin.  He plagued my mind, and now Lucy accompanies him even in my thoughts. I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions, and I almost never do.  But Lily saying I should talk to him, and Lucy running off to comfort Remus when it should have been me, pushed me into a full spring leap. And the conclusion I leapt to was a heartbreaking one, but with all the confidence of the world I believed it.  It’s the only thing that makes sense with what I know now.  He’s cheating on me.

He told me earlier today, he will be studying in the library with the rest of the marauders before dinner. I will meet and talk to him there, I decided, wringing my fingers and then wiping the sweat off on my robes. Because although yes, I do think he could be cheating on me, I know Remus is a great person.  Great people don’t cheat, right?

“Lily, you don’t think he’s cheating do you?” I blurted out, whispering it softly to her through her blockade of dark red hair.  She turned to me flabbergasted, her mouth agape to me.

“No,” She says definitely.  “Remus is not that person...” There is a silence as I nod blankly at her, I know she is being truthful but she wants to say more. I tug on her robe sleeves, I need to hear what she wants to say but can’t bring myself to ask aloud.  What if I don’t like the answer?

“But I think, that ya should talk to him about it.  He seems off, no?  Maybe it isn’t Lucy at all.  You’re jumping to conclusions.” She gives me a pointed look and I nod now in both acceptance and thanks.

“You’re right.  I’m being a git.”  We both laugh, my mind now eased slightly. We continue to talk amongst ourselves here n there throughout the class. I mentioned James once and she glares at me, but I smile and say,

“Gee Lily, your hair looks awfully bright with that complimentary blush of yours.” She nearly shoves me off my stool. Spending alone time with Lily (despite the large group of students around us) was refreshing, I felt a lot lighter.  But the thought of this up coming confrontation with the love of my life once again settled above me like a dark cloud.

It was the last period and it ended minutes ago, I am now making my way up to the library. To Remus. The doors were heavy but glided over the floor as I opened them, the room smelt of old books and dusty pages. I inhaled deeply and smiled to myself, it smells slightly like Remus. Speaking of, his laughter rings out and without a second to waste, Peter, Remus, Sirius and James are shushed aggressively.  

I turn around the corner to finally meet them and they’re huddled over some large piece of parchment. Giggling and whispering to themselves, heads nearly clinking together.  I clear my throat as so not to intrude. Remus quickly turns to me, his eyes wide in surprise before he stands and hugs me, enclosing my head in his chest.

“(y/n), what a lovely surprise. How was class?” I muffled a hello into his sweater, and can hear shuffling around, from the boys and only when the sound ceased did Remus let go of me.  He rubbed his hands down my arms, and smiled warmly down at me.  Before I could answer James leans his head in his hand, breathing heavy, he turns to me. 

“How’s Lils?  Ya have that class with her, right?”  I roll my eyes and sit down beside them, Remus stands behind me. The paper is gone but I pay it no mind.

“Yes,” I chuckle to myself, remembering her blush at just the mention of his name.  “She’s doing quite well actually.  And you boys?  Any mischievous plans stuffed up your sleeves?  20, maybe?” They all look at one another and shrug, Peter shook his head yes. Sirius hit his arm and shook his head no, dramatically until Peter followed along. Then the two turn to me and I laugh, not pushing the obvious truth of a scheme from them. They’re sly when they want to be, so this was a definite bashful action. Cheeky.

“Hey love, we’ll meet you down at dinner yeah?” My heart sank for the 2nd, no 3rd time that day.  When did Remus get so dismissive? The boys stared up at him a little, mouths agape before they turned to me with soft smiles.  

“We’ll miss you dearly until then,” Sirius adds, once again in high spirits.

“Yes, and don’t eat all the pudding in spite.” Peter makes sure to add after last time I did such a thing.  It was Peters favorite and he once said I looked bigger when I returned at the train station for the beginning of the year, after the summer of puberty, when really he was just awkwardly talking about how I grew taller and more into myself, good bigger, he thought.  But, like anyone with ears I assumed he was calling me fat (fat and all shapes and sizes is beautiful and worthy of love and appreciation, but when someone, such as Peter, implies such a thing to another, in such a way, they could only mean it harmfully so of course I was not going to let that shite slide), so that night I shoveled in all the chocolate pudding before he could get even one bite.  

Remus was laughing hysterically with the other boys, as I smirked a blob of pudding fell out between my lips, and Peter looked like he was going to cry.  I remember Remus pulled me aside that night to clear up the misunderstanding.  He awkwardly confessed it was about my surprising change in appearance, and that I actually look very beautiful.  We snogged later that year and the rest is history. (Though the romantic build up was a lot more romantic than just snogging, Remus can be a romantic kind of guy, now was not once of those moments.)

I turn to him.

“Okay. See you then!” I fake the cheeriness in my voice and hope my breath isn’t too shaky as I go and kiss Remus’s cheek.  He kisses the very edge of my lips distractedly as I pull away, far from our usual goodbye kisses. I make my way out of the library before stopping in my tracks to yell something over my shoulder.

“The pudding is yours Peter, though it’ll look more appetizing each time you bring that night up,” I expected laughter, or for Peter to say something, anything in response but instead there is silence. I turn around to see the large parchment out again, and the boys huddled over it animatedly.  

Thoroughly aggravated, I huff my way down to the dorm and rant to Lily about it all. Then she suggests both the best and the worst idea we, as intellectual, well-put together (well we like to think so) people, have had all day.

“Well, maybe we could throw a little party?  Lift your spirits a wee bit, huh love?” Lily suggest, after the fifth time I explain the library scene and how rejected it made me feel.  Remus did not want my company, he sat behind my chair and waited until he could ‘politely’ tell me to go, after ignoring me half the day since the incident with Snape.

“And,” she continues, twiddling her thumbs anxiously. “it can be like an impromptu date for Remus and you, if he comes, because of course we’ll invite him-”

“And James,” I smirk, she glares at the way I rudely cut her off but I think she did it more so because of the blush that arose to her cheeks.

“er, sure.  But as I was saying, it could be good for you too. I know he hasn’t been spending much time with you lately and everything.”  She glances over at a giggling Lucy adorned in red and gold. I scoff bitterly.

“Yeah we haven’t.  But ya know what, it’s nothing new innit.  He always gets like this.” I stab my dinner with a fork and hear a chuckle coming up from behind me. Peter glances over my shoulder at the chocolate pudding bowl in front of me, seeing as it is still very much full he bows to me and kisses my cheek.

“Thank you, O’ so gracious one,” I can’t fight the laugh, though Remus may upset me, his friends are good blokes that always cheer me up, or at least try too.

The boys all pile in next to us, though it’s been a while since dinner started, they’re a bit late because of whatever they were doing in the library.

Remus saw you and his heart stopped you were, as always breath taking but tonight you looked off, you were stabbing your food with frustration, something must be wrong?  You always happily eat your meals, and your laughter is always the first he hears when he walks into the great hall. He watches as Peter makes you laugh, he feels a little off seeing you act this way with Peter. You, lately haven’t been as light hearted around him.  

He sits down next to you and is eager to apologize for his behavior earlier. He wanted to take the words back right after his comment.  As if he wasn’t feeling bad enough James and the boys ripped into him.

“Bloody hell mate, you might as well demanded she left.” The room was silent as all 4 of them nodded in agreement, Remus included.  He sat down and grumbled to himself as they pulled out the marauders map. The very reason he was eager for you to leave, he didn’t want you to see the latest secret of his. Another one of his reasons to be riddled with guilt, he felt so dishonest with you. And he’s been more and more moody with the full moon coming out tonight.

Tonight, as they made their way to the shrieking shack they were going to map it on the marauders map.  They were so close to finishing and Remus was eager to, between the map and his soon to be shift he’s had less time to spend with you.  Which means less time with your smile, and kisses, and hugs and laughter and bloody hell did he feel like we was going through withdrawal.  

But he feels, though the boys disagree, that he should keep his distance from you before full moons.  He gets too quite, and angry, and annoyed, he’d hate for you to see this side of him, and all his flaws, and leave him.  He wouldn’t survive the pain, he wanted to marry you one day.

“ello’ darling,” Remus whispers into my ear, kissing my cheek. James stares at us before looking lovingly at Lily, who is looking back with raised brows  As if to say ‘what now, potter’.

“ello’ darling,” James copies, leaning down to give Lily a kiss on her cheek but she pushes his shoulders back, nonetheless he pulls back with a smile.  

“Worth a shot, you’ll miss it one day Evans, once my heart has had enough and I become a reclusive slug,” He says matter-of-factly as he begins to pile food onto his plate.  

“I’d act quick Lily, he’s already beginning to look like one.” Sirius leans into to say, though his hair dangles in the pudding making Peter yelp.  Remus removes the pudding and adds some to Peters plate.

“You should thank him, grease adds flavor to everything.” Sirius gasps and turns to Remus with slitted eyes. The whole rest of us are laughing, and trying desperately to keep the volume at a minimum as Sirius runs his hand through his hair and tries to rub “the grease” over Remus face.

“If only grease could erase that smirk off your face, mate.  I’ll find a way,” Sirius grits as he wrestles Remus who is bumping slightly into me fighting him off.  He turns his head during the battle of a lifetime, and apologizes to me for the rough housing, though the look in his eyes seemed like he was sorry for much more. I was taken aback slightly, so I shrug with a loving smile.

Eventually we all finish our dinner and Lily invites the table to our party, all of Gryffindor table actually.  Many cheered and said they’d come and bring friends, some even declared to bring butterbeer by the jugfull.  But the Marauders just stared at us with a frown.

“We, uh, we can’t make it tonight.  Haven’t done enough studying for the exam. I can’t fail this one (y/n), you know that...” Peter trails off and I almost feel bad, maybe the party was a bad idea. The boys all nod along and Lily and I swallow our pride and doubts before telling them it was fine.

Lily holds my arm as we walk back.

“They’re just studying, nothing else to it.”  But we both saw the way Lucy stuck behind as well.

Taglist:

@crazylokonugget​     @beyondprincess​

[kiribaku-queen]

Secret Hero [9/10]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader

Angst, Drama, AU

Word Count: 3.4K

A/N: Yikes! My bad for the silent 2 weeks! It’s been forever hasn’t it? Well I’m getting back into the groove of things and hopefully I can balance everything I’m already doing on top of Christmas gifts and whatnot. If you need a refresher, please go back and read the chapters again. But other than that, please let me know what you think and I can’t wait for the last chapter of the series next week!!! <3 Happy reading my loves! And don’t forget to let me know if you want to be tagged!

Summary:  After becoming the number 2 hero, Bakugou accomplished everything he ever wanted. He beat Deku in a few matches, even if he wasn’t the number 1 hero. He got all the fame, beat countless villains, was acknowledged by all his friends and family. But he wasn’t satisfied. He wasn’t happy. Bakugou realized that this wasn’t the life he wanted. So he left the life of a hero and decided to hide to live the rest of his life as a normal person.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

You could finally say that you found your person. Bakugou was already back with you, you didn’t even need to persuade him. After your rather surprise kiss from Bakugou in the train station, you were already ready to persuade him to stay. You didn’t have to say anything because he was already taking your hand in his and led you out of the station and back to your apartment.

Speaking of your apartment, Ushijima no longer lived there. He respected your decision and although he was still trying to talk you into marrying him one last time, the moment he saw Bakugou’s face and the look you gave each other, he knew he lost. What could he say? What could he do? Be the asshole of the story? Please, he didn’t have the energy to keep that up. But your mother wasn’t very happy about the news.

When you told her that the engagement was off, she was livid. She was telling you how much better off you’d be marrying Ushijima. You’d be happier. Richer. You’d be with a handsome man who is successful and therefore, you would be successful. He has a stable job and can take care of you for the rest of your life. All that was certainly true. Except you weren’t happy. Yet, even knowing that fact, your mother refused to believe you wouldn’t be happy in the future. It was like you were throwing your whole life away. So, your mother kept insisting the wedding to continue. Even with Ushijima interfering and saying that the wedding was off, she didn’t want that.

You and Bakugou were pretty persistent though. It took lots of convincing to get your mother on your side. And that may or may not include Bakugou sending your mother gifts every single day. What kinds of gifts? The one that will always capture the heart of a women. Flowers, chocolates, fruit bouquets, luxury items in a gift basket. Need you say more? Eventually she approved, but it took her a while.

So now, you actually moved out of your apartment and into Bakugou’s. Well, not necessarily moved out? You still have your apartment, but you’re over at his so much that you basically live there now. Surprisingly, his apartment is very nice and spacious. Almost to the level of your apartment. You wonder how he could afford that with his construction job, but you weren’t one to pry… just yet.

You were cooking dinner for the both of you in Bakugou’s apartment. Of course, you had a spare key thanks to Bakugou gifting it to you for your one month together. Bakugou had yet to come home yet so you were taking your sweet time cooking up that delicious recipe of yours. It was getting a little quiet in the apartment so you turned your phone on to fill the space.

Music? Oh no. The news. That’s what happens when you get older: you watch the news while cooking. Nothing too important came on. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. You zoned out a few times since the news was just backgrounds noise. But you started to tune in when the news reporter talked about a story on the local, mysterious hero and who was this man? You heart did a little leap in your chest thinking about the hero. He’s saved you a few times, which is unreal first of all. Second of all, he was dreamy! You could never talk to him because he would always leave in a hurry. The only time you did have a talk was when he first came to town. But that was ages ago! Sure, you remember the encounter but you knew nothing of what he looked like, what he sounded like or what you guys even talked about. Even these pictures the media takes don’t do him justice. They are always blurry or too dark to see anything.

The news reporters were in the middle of their story when Bakugou came back from his shift. You immediately stopped what you were doing: turned off the stove and everything to jump in his arms to greet him.

“Welcome home!” you squealed, wrapping your legs around his waist while he digs his nose in the crook of your neck.

“I missed you,” he confessed, taking in a whiff of your scent. It wasn’t long until he started smelling something else, something more delicious and mouth-watering. “And I miss food. What you cooking?” he lets you down and heads towards the kitchen.

All eyes were now on your almost finished food. You quickly turned back on the stove to give it the finishing touches before serving it. You wanted to finish cooking so that you could finally eat, but Bakugou had other plans. He wrapped his arms around your waist from behind and took a good whiff of your food.

“Mm, smells good,” he says.

“I’m almost done,” you giggle when his nose touches the back of your neck.

“Smells so good, I might have to take a bite now,” Bakugou teased, opening his mouth to lightly bite the sensitive area on your neck.

“Bakugou Katsuki!” you scream and try to get away from him. But the more you try to get out of his embrace, the tighter his arms become around you, making it nearly impossible for you to escape. Nearly. You managed to escape his embrace but soon found yourself trapped between the counter and your hungry boyfriend.

“You can get dessert later,” you scolded him, hitting him playfully on the chest.

“Baby, I want some now,” he lowers his voice that makes him sound oh so seductive. His eyes were looking you up and down. He bites his lower lip in the way that makes your legs melt. Oh he meant business now. You were mesmerized and put in a trance the closer his body came. You mind was telling you to wait, at least until after dinner and you could have all the fun you want. Plus, if you did it now, your dinner would get cold and then it would all be to waste because of your needs. But your body was falling for his charms so badly. And you almost gave in, if it wasn’t for a noticeable bruise on his cheek and that cut on his lip. That’s when you completely snapped out of it and held his face to get a closer inspection.

“Woah, I like it when you take charge,” Bakugou continued to flirt, not knowing that you can found marks on his face and change attitudes in a split second.

“What happened?” you asked with a concerned frown on your face. Oh, that’s what you were talking about? Bakugou cleared his throat and slowly turned away from you, like he was completely disregarding the topic.

“Bakugou,” you whined, making him turn to face you.

“I just- got a few marks from working, that’s all,” he reassured you, but you were suspicious. What was he doing that he got cuts on his face? Sure, maybe his hands or his legs. But the face?

“What were you doing at work that made your face like this?” you asked. No matter what kind of situations you put yourself in, it made no sense to get that beat up as a construction worker.

“Work is so fast paced. Sometimes I don’t even know I got hurt until hours later. I feel fine. See? Doesn’t hurt,” he poked his face and he wasn’t flinching one bit. Maybe you were overreacting a little bit. Bakugou could tell on your face that you wanted to continue to talk about it until you got a satisfying answer, so he changed the subject real fast. He couldn’t have you knowing how he really got those bruises.

“What ya watching?” he asked, turning your attention away from his face and back to the news on your phone. They took a commercial break and were now continuing on with the story of who Ground Zero really is.

“Don’t you want to know who this hero is?” you started the conversation, your eyes glued to the screen.

“Not really. Why, do you?”

“Yes! You’re not curious?” you looked at him with wide eyes, like he was crazy for not wanting to know what the whole city wants to know.

“Why do you care so much anyway?” he asks like he doesn’t care and is uninterested when really, his ears are all open.

“He’s just so cool! He appears out of nowhere and saves this town from crime? Not even our police does that good of a job. It’s refreshing to see a hero, a real hero, here. Did you know he saved me a few times? Don’t be jealous, babe. But he was something. It’s just weird that he only appears at night, you know? Crime happens at all times of the day, but he only shows up at night where you can’t see his face that well. He also wears a mask, too. So I guess that’s another reason why we can’t figure out who he is. But isn’t that weird, babe? Makes me want to know who he is,” you went on a rant, talking about everything and anything you knew about him. Bakugou’s eyes softened when you talked about him. He didn’t know you were so passionate about his secret hero life. The way you were talking about the hero makes it seem like you have a crush on him. How cute. You were dating him in real life and you have a crush on him as a hero? You really couldn’t get enough of him.

Ever since that news story came out about him, the whole town was buzzing about who could this mysterious hero be? Who is he? Where did he come from? And why is he here, saving this city? So many questions were left unanswered. Of course, there were some conspiracy theories but none of them could be proven. There were some so determined to find out who this guy was that they were hunting him down.

Every time Bakugou found himself in a villain fight, best believe that there would be paparazzi or civilians with their bright phones out, trying to get a good picture of his face in. Annoying as it was, he was also determined to keep his identity a secret. That meant hiding his face from the phones as he was fighting. Not only did he have to try to hide away from paparazzi, but he also had to hide his scratches from you.

He was a good hero. Good fighter and can capture any villain coming his way. Now, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t land a punch or two on him. Sometimes he wasn’t trying his hardest and would land a lucky punch. Or he could underestimate his opponent and they would surprise him with a few punches.

He had to be careful because you were observant. Like very observant. If anything was off, you would notice it right away. And Bakugou was getting these wounds more often than you would like. Bakugou would lie and insist that they were from work, but he knew that you weren’t buying it. For some reason, you didn’t press on about it. And that made him nervous. Did you know? Or did you not care?

Word got out fast in this town. And it just so happens that three certain heroes were passing by and overheard this news.

“Bingo.”

 It was rare that both of you had days off. Today was one of those days. What other way to spend together than run some errands, go home to cook some amazing food, and chill on the couch watching TV?

You were browsing the aisle while Bakugou was following behind with a cart full of groceries. Instead of one of you just cooking, it was decided that both of you were going to make a collaboration dish. It included a lot of ingredients, but you were sure it was going to turn out amazing like always.

At the same time, Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka Ochako, and Kirishima Eijirou entered the same store. Kirishima and Uraraka were complaining that their stomachs were literally eating itself and they had to get snacks or else they’d turn into puddy. So to the nearest supermarket they went. Who would have thought, after weeks of searching, they’d find the one they’ve been looking for.

“Oi, is that..?” Kirishima started and Uraraka could only nod slowly.

“Yeah…” It was Bakugou Katsuki in the flesh. He hasn’t seen them yet. No. He was too focused wrapping his arms around his girlfriend and pecking her with kisses as she tries pushing him away, laughing. The sight was definitely… something. Was this really Bakugou Katsuki? The Bakugou they knew was loud, aggressive, mean. He wasn’t the type to fall in love. He never even looked in a woman’s direction.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Izuku marched towards the blonde and his significant other, the other two heroes following closely behind. They only took a few steps when a elderly woman stopped them from approaching their long lost friend.

“Wha-” Izuku was startled by the small lady’s presence. If he didn’t stop in time, he was sure to run over her like a bug. By accident, of course.

“I’d leave them alone, if I were you,” she stated. That confused the trio. “Those two have been through so much and they are finally able to be together with no obstacles in their way. Don’t bother the lovely couple.” The old lady shooed the trio away from you two. Izuku looked back at this friend. Bakugou was looking down at you with the sweetest smile. He looked happy for once. He looked like he was genuinely happy. Izuku saw the love in Bakugou’s eyes and he felt immediate guilt. Bakugou was happy, but the world needed him. Shit, what was he going to do now?

 You were in the middle of prepping your ingredients for tonight’s dinner. Bakugou was supposed to help you, but he’s been stuck in the bathroom for 30 minutes, so you started without him. When you were about finished, a knock at the door scared you. You never got visitors, so who could possibly be at the door? You wiped your hands on your pants and went to open the door. Three strangers, whom you’ve never seen before in your life, were standing in front of you.

“Hi. Can I help you?” you asked.

“Hi, is Kacchan there?” The one in the middle with green curly hair spoke. You tilted your heard upon hearing that name.

“Kacchan? You must have gotten the wrong place. No one by ‘Kacchan’ lives here,” you informed them. The one in the middle shook his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I meant, is Bakugou Katsuki there?” Mm? They were looking for your boyfriend? Now you were confused even more. Bakugou never mentioned people were coming over. Actually, he never mentioned having friends ever. Nonetheless, they knew your boyfriend so it would be rude to have them stand outside like that. You invited them in, allowing them to sit on the sofa. You prepped some tea and set it down for them to help themselves. Then, you were freaking out, going to find your boyfriend because who the hell were these built yet very attractive people doing here?

“Katsuki?” you called for your boyfriend. Thank god he got out of the bathroom on time. You ran up to him, clenching onto his arm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, defense up.

“Three people were asking for you so I let them in and they are on your couch right now. They were kind of intimidating. They were all so built and muscular, kind of like you. I don’t know what they want though. The one with the green, curly hair talked the most and they asked for a ‘Kacchan’ at first but I didn’t know who that was and then-” you started rambling on because of how nervous you were. But the moment he heard about a green haired boy and ‘Kacchan’, his stomach dropped.

“Okay, okay. Babe, calm down. Let me handle this,” Bakugou grabbed onto your shoulders in a comforting matter and headed out to the living room. You were curious about who these people were so of course, you also joined him.

The three strangers helped themselves to a cup of tea and talked among themselves before Bakugou came out to greet them. The moment the former blonde hero comes into view, all three of them shot up.

“Kacchan,” Deku was the first to speak but Kirishima was the first to come up to him and give him a manly hug.

“We missed you, bro,” Kirishima almost sobbed. Bakugou hugged him back, the feeling of nostalgia coming back to him.

“Missed you, too,” Bakugou confessed. He gave Uraraka a smile and nod, her returning the favor. Bakugou went up to his old friend who was already in tears and patted him on the shoulder.

“Kacchan!” Deku lifted his arm and cried in his sleeve, masking his crying face. Bakugou’s gaze softened. Letting his guard down for this one time, he pulled Izuku in for a hug. A shock to all, but Izuku wasn’t going to pass this opportunity up and hugged him back.

“Aren’t you a little too old to be crying like a baby,” Bakugou teased. While Bakugou was have a small reunion with his old friends, you watched the whole event unfold. It was like you were seeing a different side to Bakugou. And you thought you knew him pretty well.

Bakugou’s three friends sat on the couch while you and Bakugou pulled up two chairs and sat right across from them. It was silent, neither side knowing where or how to start. You got a good look at all of them. They had scars all over, the men especially. When you looked over at the girl, you couldn’t help but feel insecure. She was gorgeous. Perfect body, cute face. She was looking at Bakugou. When you side glanced at your boyfriend, he was looking down, avoiding everyone’s stares. You looked back at her and couldn’t help but think, did they use to have a thing? While you were deep in your insecure thoughts, Uraraka cleared her throat to fill the awkward silence. If no one was going to speak, she will.

“I’m Uraraka. This is Deku, and that one over there is Kirishima. We’re Bakugou’s old classmates,” she explained. You nodded your head. This was the first time you were hearing about Bakugou’s past. Every time you brought it up, he would avoid it or change topics. So this conversation was intriguing you. “And what’s your name?”

“Ah, I’m (y/n),” you introduced yourself.

“My girlfriend,” Bakugou added, confidently. You looked at him embarrassed, but he wasn’t afraid to show you off.

“Who could have thought grumpy Bakugou here could get a girl? How’d you do it, bro? Show off your cool explosions? Save her from those horrible villains?” Kirishima’s blabber mouth went on and on. But you had no idea what he was talking about. Grumpy? Your Bakugou wasn’t grumpy or angry. Explosions? Beating villains? How could your Bakugou do that? He was quirkless, just like you. You looked at Bakugou to help give you answers but he was avoiding your stare and trying to get Kirishima to shut up.

“There’s no way he’d flirt with his explosions. That’d scare her away. He probably showed her tricks with his quirk,” Uraraka chimed in. Bakugou by now was sweating. Everything was going downhill.

“You have a quirk?” you asked in disbelief at Bakugou. Shit, shit shit. Bakugou wanted to explain but nothing was coming out of his mouth.

“You didn’t know?” Uraraka asked innocently. “You’d have to know that he was a hero… right?” wrong. Dead silence. Your mouth was slightly ajar and Bakugou hung his head low. He had a headache now. The trio sensed that something was wrong but Kirishima had to go on a say more.

“Wait till she finds out that the top 4 heroes are sitting right in front of her,” Kirishima whispered not so quietly.

“The… top 4 heroes?” you emphasized, not believing that you were hearing correctly.

“Well, cat’s out of the bag. I’m the number 4 hero: Red Riot. Uraraka is number 3: Uravity. Izuku is the number 1 hero: Deku. And our man here is the number 2 hero: Ground Zero.” You felt like your ears were deceiving you. That, or you swear you were dreaming. You weren’t even mad, just in complete shock. You slowly faced your boyfriend, who you thought you knew so well. Now he was like a stranger because what did you know about him? What was the truth?

“You’re Ground Zero?”

A/N: Okay, I know Bakugou’s official hero name is Dynamight, but I’m going to keep it Ground Zero for this series. In later stories, I will be correcting it to Dynamight!

Tagged:@superblyspeedydragon @simpforeveryone @sam-i-am-1025​ @daddy-daichis​ @bonbonthedragon​ @bakasbitch18 @misssugarless-blog @romansecrets​ @oneseharuxo​ @introvertatitsfinest​ @the2ndl​ @waffleareniceandfluffy​

[honeypirate]

Chocolate Jinx

Tendou x f!reader

So I know time skip he’s a chocolatier in paris. But in this fic he’s in Sendai. It’s how I wrote it before I even remembered he’s in Paris and I don’t feel like changing the whole story now.

Your breaths came out in puffs, each inhale and exhale lasting four of your steps as you ran down the sidewalk, counting as you ran so you could focus on your stamina, inhale one two exhale one two. Towards the chocolate shop that you had an appointment at, an appointment that you are currently late for. "shit shit shit" ran through your head like a prayer that would somehow make you run faster. You knew that you would be late, your mom had asked you to help her with her grocery shopping since your father wouldn't be able to do it for her today, you couldn't say no, you couldn't tell her about this appointment because it was a secret, a surprise for her that will be special goddam it!

You open the door and step into the air conditioned shop, the scent of chocolate hitting your nose making you smile "y/n?" a voice asks, when you finally make eye contact with the man behind the counter you smile "Tendou?" you ask with a breathless chuckle "I’m so sorry I’m late I know it‘s not very professional and I can explain" he chuckles and cocks his head "but? you're not late? Our lesson isn’t for another twenty minutes” "what?!" you exclaim and then laugh, still breathless, as you place your hands on your knees and bending over a little to catch your breath. "This whole time I thought Iwas ten minutes late. I have it written down that it’s 3 but now that you said that I remember" he laughs and walks around the counter holding out a bottle of water "no worries, we can start early if you would like, water?" you nod and take the bottle from him "thank you! I’m glad I’m not late but don't let me bother you if you have other things to do before our lesson." you take a drink and your throat thanks you for the relief.

Tendou turns the shop sign to closed, then locks the door. "it's no issue. when you’ve caught your breath from your run" he chuckles "we can start. Come with me and I will show you where to put your things and give you an apron. did you bring a hat?" you nod and pull one out of your back pocket as you walk behind him, following him into the kitchen. its an old black Yankies baseball cap, you hold the bottle under your arm as you pull your (h/c) back into a low pony before putting the hat on.

"You can put your jacket and things in the office here, there’s a bathroom in the back to the right, aaand.." he reaches up on a shelf and gets down a white apron "here is this, i'll wait for you in the kitchen whenever you're ready" you take off your hoodie, leaving you in a black blouse with flowy long sleeves that you roll up along with your black skinny jeans with the ankles tightly rolled and a pair of checkered vans, you leave your things on the seat of the chair in the office before making your way out to the kitchen again.

You put the apron around your neck with a smile, tying it around your back as you stood next to him at a counter top. In front of you were a few ingredients, cocoa, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, sugar, as well as a few others and multiple tools. “Ready?” He asks with a smile and you nod “ready!”

“So since you booked the premium one on one lesson, instead of just teaching you to be a chocolatier and just making things out of chocolate, I will also show you how to make the chocolate, so mixing the ingredients, heating, and tempering. I’ve laid out all of the ingredients so we’re ready to go. We will both be doing the same things together so you can see what it’s supposed to look like.” You nod and bounce a little excitedly in your toes “let’s do this!” He gets you set up in your station across from his and goes through the tools with you and after that he talks about how you get from cocoa nuts to chocolate.

He starts his speech that you can tell he’s said hundreds of times “Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting coca, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding.” You’re watching him as he speaks, how he moves his hands while he talks, you’re trying to pay attention to the history of your favorite candy that fascinated you as well as admire the handsome man in front of you. His long fingers and expressive eyes, the way he obviously loved his job, he was beautiful. You realize you weren’t paying attention and zone back into his speech and hope he didn’t notice you zone out.

“needs to be harvested manually in the forest. The seed pods of coca are first be collected; they will be selected and placed in piles. These cocoa beans will then be ready to be shipped to the manufacturer for mass production.” You raise your hand a little and he chuckles before nodding at you “Why picked by hand?” he smiles brightly at you, like you’re the first to actually care about the history and ask questions, “good question! The answer is that machines could damage the tree or the clusters of flowers and pods that grow from the trunk, so workers must harvest the pods by hand, using short, hooked blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit.” You smile “what comes next?” He looks so much more passionate about this now that you asked a question, now that you’ve truly shown your interest, before he was going through the motions of the many classes he has taught before to the same people who don’t ask anything just zone out until the cooking starts.

“Well after the cocoa pods are collected into baskets, they are taken to a processing house. Here they are split open and the cocoa beans are removed. Pods can contain upwards of 50 cocoa beans each!” He’s gets more animated as he goes along, you found him to be the most adorable man you’ve ever met. “then the beans undergo the fermentation processes. They are either placed in large, shallow, heated trays or covered with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented.” “How long does that usually take?” You notice him get ever more excited with another question asked “usually 5-8 days” his smile is so gorgeous it makes your stomach flip.

"Chocolate factories take these cocoa beans and use machinery to break down the cocoa beans into cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and cocoa powder. All which we will be using today.” You match his energy now, excited to be able to learn this today. “Amazing!” Your smile mirroring his. He tells you how much of the ingredients to add to the bowl to double boil and you’re whisking it together as it melts, talking with him was easy as you followed his directions. “So why have you wanted to learn about chocolate?” His eyes are on his bowl as he asks and you flick your eyes up to his face, studying his handsome features as you whisk in the same pace as he is, you’re admiring his fingers as he holds his whisk, his other hand resting the counter, when you look back to his eyes you find him looking at you with a smirk, you blush a little embarrassed as you respond “My grandpa used to be a chocolatier but since he’s in America and unable to make it now, I can’t have him teach me. My mom's birthday is coming up and I thought it would be a nice gift, to give her some handmade chocolate” he smiles wide “that’s so nice of you! I’m sure your mom will really love that” he says “Now we should be ready to temper it so grab your pot and follow me over to the marble counter”

“So to temper, you need to cool it by spreading it out and then folding it into itself to build the right kind of proteins, after it gets thicker we will warm it back up and it should be ready to mold” you nod and reach up to turn your hat backwards so you can see better before taking a spatula from him. “Follow my lead” he begins to pour two thirds of his chocolate out on one side of the marble countertop which was about six feet in length giving you both enough space to work side by side. You pour yours like he does and begin to work it back and forth, copying him. “That’s good!” He points out and you blush “thank you!” You chuckle “I have an amazing teacher” you wink at him, the blush rising to his cheeks makes your heart race so you turn your attention back to spreading the chocolate.

You finish tempering the chocolate and adding it back to the pot, using the still hot water underneath with the third of still warm chocolate to raise the temperature to the right consistency. “I thiiink” you stretch out the word, a little embarrassed to admit what you’re about to admit, “Tendou I think I screwed something up” your eyebrows are furrowed looking into your mixture that has now began to look grainy. He comes closer and looks over your shoulder “hmmm” he says and you look up into his eyes, your expression a little anxious “it’s seized a bit, but don’t worry we can probably fix it and if we can’t we can start over!” He smiles and you and you feel some tension drain from you, for some reason you felt like this would be easy and now that you’re having a hard time, you felt tense. if you ruin this you will just buy some chocolate from here but it wouldn't be the same.

He grabs some of the cocoa butter from the other counter and brings it over to you, "lets add a little more cocoa butter and mix it together, it should come back-" you stir and it incorporates but it doesn't get better "ahh I guess not." he laughs "must have been too hot still and too much steam, no worries, let's start over!" his cheery attitude made you smile. It’s like he doesn’t really mind that you just wasted these ingredients. That he’s just happy to be teaching you and helping you. "If I fail again, I don't want to waste anymore of your ingredients, okay?" he quirks his eyebrows as he throws away your ruined chcolate " I think I should be the one to decide what to do with the ingredients y/n" he cocks his head and smiles brightly "we will make it until it's perfect! for your dear mom!" your heart beats quickly in your chest, this sweet man, you felt butterflies flood your stomach "thank you Tendou" you smile with your eyes closed and he about dies with how cute you are.

After four more tries you sigh and throw your arms in the air "Tendou I think I'm a chocoalte makers jinx! You are a superb teacher and you make amazing choclate, even with your help at the end it still siezes" your voice is frustrated and overwhelmed as you place your hands on your hips and stare at the, once again, siezed chcocolate. "lets go through it one more time, I'm sure you can get it this time!" he says with the same amount of energy he had in the beginning. you look at him with wide eyes for a second before they soften and you smile at him "you are the sweetest guy, do you know that? okay. one more time, but if I dont get it then I’m paying you for all these ingredients" he laughs, his cheeks blushing, as he cleans out your bowl for the fifth time "ya know what they say y/n! a sixth time is a charm!" you chuckle and shake your head before finding yourself back next to him by the stove.

"you have the ingredients and steps memorized now huh?" he laughs as you add the right ingredients to the bowl of the double boiler."I will most likely always remember these ingredients and this experience" you laugh with him and slowly whisk the mixture together as it melts. "wait" he says just now noticing how youre whisking "try it like this" he walks around you and places his hand on yours, holding the whisk and your hand, slowing down your stirring so it was more gentle and smooth, your heart racing as you feel his strong hand on the back of yours "o-okay. thanks Tendou'' your voice is quiet since he's so close. "yes, this is perfect now, lets temper it" his voice was soft and right by your ear, your cheeks get warm and your voice stutters again when you respond "o-okay"

He lets go of your hand and you go over to the marble slab again, pouring out two thirds again, and using a spatula to smooth it out, again. "is.. is this right? I'm doing this right?" you’re secretly hoping he grabs your hand again to help you but you don't think he'll take the bait, how wrong you were. When his hand covers yours once more you gasp softly and smile as he guides your hand back and forth through the chocolate "like this, it’s close. usually people use a thermometer but since I've done this so long it's by feel for me" you're looking at him from the side of your eye with a smile on your lips, his eyes are hooded as he smiles wistfully at the chocolate, his cheeks are dusted pink and his hand on yours is slightly clammy like he's nervous.

To be honest he was nervous, here’s this beautiful woman who he's been teaching for the last two almost three hours now, who's flirting with him and who is kind and funny, and who is so incredibly bad at making chocolate. If this fails he’ll never let you pay for ingredients. He will just offer you another class and hope you accept. "it’s perfect, now" he lets go of your hand and studies your sweet face as you scrape the tempered chocolate into your bowl, you hope your face wasn't as red as it felt.

You go to stir it all together slowly before pausing and looking up at him with a shy smile, "maybe.. you could.. help me with this too?" his eyes widen and his cheeks flush "of course" he moves to stand behind you, looking down at the bowl over your shoulder, his left hand over yours holding the whisk and his right arm around you, his hand holding the bowl halfway over yours, he whisks slow and smooth, his breath hitting above your ear, your voice quiet with his proximity "have you always been good at this?" his chuckles quietly "no I actually struggled a lot in culinary school. I fell in love with chocolate though so I never gave up." your cheeks are so warm you're sure you looked like a tomato "I like that determination, plus you ended up with the most popular and delicious chocolate shop so you're definitely in the right line of work." he blushes with your praise "thank you." he goes quiet as the chocolate finally looks correct "look!" you exclaim "look Tendou! it's perfect! it's shiny and amazing! I did it! I’m a chocolatier!" you’re bouncing on your toes and in his arms as you dance in excitement "time for the molds!" he exclaims and lets you go, moving away so you could go pour your batch into the already set up molds, the only empty ones on the row, the ones he used for his batches already set up.

You pour the chocolate slowly into the heart shaped molds that already have macadamia nuts in each one, after they are full you scrape the top like he showed you when he made his last four batches and put the excess back in the bowl. "these should be set in about an hour if we put them in the fridge but that will be pretty late, you could come back tomorrow to pick them up if you would rather that" he says and takes your bowl, putting the excess in a random mold and then putting the bow and utensils in the sink.

You pull your phone from your back pocket and gasp at the missed texts “oh no. yeah that would be better. I'm supposed to walk home with my brother from his volleyball practise but I lost track of time here with you. shit. i'm sorry i really wanted to stay and help clean up and talk but i have to go" you frown until you meet his eye, they're looking at you inquisitively with a huge smile, "volleyball? what school does he go to?" he asks not even caring about cleaning up alone "oh! he goes to Shiritorizowa. he’s a second year middle blocker! hes quite good although I’m not very knowledgeable about it" you chuckle and then full laugh when he gets extremely excited "that was my school and my position! whats his number?" you raise your eyebrows and get as excited as him, steping towards each other at the same time "hes number 5" "NO WAY!" he shouts and laughs "that was my number! what a small world!" you gaze into his eyes and smile softly "this is so cool. you have no idea how much i want to continue this conversaton but i really have to go" you frown and look back to your phone "how long will you be here tonight?" you look back up into his eyes and he’s cocked his head "probably a while, have to make tomorrow's candies. why?" you grin "can I come back? I’ll walk my brother home and then would you mind if I came back? I could help you and I could get my chocolates for my mom" he grins "that would be great. I would love that" he says, your butterflies return to your stomach "perfect!" you take off your apron and hand it to him "i really had an amazing time here. you’re a great teacher even if i was a jinx five times. i'll see you in like forty minutes max!" you exclaim before running out of the kitchen, unlocking the front door, and running down towards the school, your phone already ringing calling your brother. Tendou walked up front and locked the door again, chuckling softly and thinking about how cute you are. he cant wait to see you again when you return.

when you and your brother get home you stop at the door "do you mind if i bring a friend to your next game?" he shrugs "yeah sure I don't care. wait. do you mean a friend or a boyfriend?” you laugh at his accusatory look "it's a boy but he's not my boyfriend. He used to play the same position and team when he was in high school. I thought it would be nice" your brother lights up "yeah that's so cool! bring him so I can ask him tips! are you coming in?" he has the door open halfway and you shake your head "i have to go finish mom's birthday project" he nods "okay i'll cover for you" you thank him and make your way back to the handsome redhead.

You take off your hat and run your fingers through your hair, shoving the hat in your back pocket again before you knock softly.

A soft knock to the door catches his attention and his heart races "finally" he says softly before walking out to the front, surely enough there you stand, with a smile on your lips and your arms around your body hugging yourself in the cold he smiles bigger when you wave at him, you were sooo cute. he unlocked the door and let you in, locking it again behind you "welcome back y/n" "glad to be back" he chuckles as he gazes down at you, your cheeks flushed and nose red from the cold. "i forgot my hoodie" you shiver and he reaches out, placing his hands on your arms and rubbing them up and down to create friction "do you want some hot chocolate?" you nod excitedly and he chuckles again, your cuteness will be the death of him, "come, sit, i'll make us some" he leads you to a table by the counter and begins to prepare two cups of cocoa.

Now that you have more time since you’re not focused on seizing chocolate, you study his face as he works. he had sharp features that made him so beautiful, beautiful red eyes, he had his hat off now, his red hair disheveled and all over the place but you loved it, you wanted to play with it. His uniform jacket was off, leaving him in a black t-shirt, he had long arms that were lithe and strong. "Do you want to come to my brother's volleyball game with me?" your eyes widen, a little shocked that it just came flying out, you didn’t mean to ask him now. He chuckles at your expression, he's been able to read you so well, you keep everything on the surface and he really likes that. "like a date?" he asks as he returns his attention to pouring the hot chocolate mixture in the cups. you laugh "I don't know if it qualifies as a date, just meaning like, it's not very romantic. maybe we can have a real date after that" you say and his smile widens "you have no idea how much I’d love that" he makes his way over to sit by you, placing a saucer with a cup of hot chocalte and a biscotti in front of you "i'm glad! I was really hoping you would say yes" you chuckle and then hum in delight as you bring the cup to your lips, the smell enveloping you even more than it does just being inside the shop.

You take a sip and find the chocolate to be perfectly sweetened with a touch of cinnamon and chilli, it was perfect, not too hot not too cold. "this is so amazing Tendou. thank you so much" you take another sip, feeling it warm you from the inside out, he smiles warmly "you're welcome. i'm glad you like it!” He wiggles his eyebrows at you “so about this date you're taking me on'' he takes a sip of his own while maintaining eye contact over the rim of the glass "when is it happening?" he smiles as he watches your cheeks blush "oh! his game is in a week. the preliminaries for nationals" the look of excitment in his eyes makes you laugh, makes your heart race and your stomach feel the familiar butterflies that seem to be constantly around when you’re with him. "the prelims! I am so there!" his excitement causes his leg to bump into yours, causing you to spill some of your hot chcolate "oh my god I’m so sorry! I get a little excited and don’t realize sometimes. i've been told its annoying" you shake your head and reach out, grabbing his hand from the air "no. it's not annoying. I like it. you're like a breath of fresh air to me" you smile warmly looking into his eyes. his heartbeat is rapid and his breath hitches. "you’re so sweet, do you know that?" his voice is a whisper and you blush, recognizing your words you used earlier. "I do know that. Doesn't it make sense then that someone as sweet as me would date a chocolatier?" you cock your head as you tease him, smiling warmly watching his cheeks flush, your hand is still in his and he brings it gently to the table, brushing his thumb over your knuckles, your breath hitches and you feel your cheeks flush “saturday, their game is at 1 but i'll be there from the beginning in the morning. do you wanna meet me there for just his game or..?" he finishes off his drink "I’ll be there in the morning! if you dont mind! We can spend the whole day together and after that we can get dinner together at this new italian place downtown. I think you’ll love it.” He stands and takes your empty cup from you "that sounds amazing, Tendou. I know my brother will want to ask you questions and ask for tips so it's perfect. Plus pasta is my favorite” you chuckle and stand from the table to follow him over to the sink “what can I help you with tonight?" he smiles at you and shakes his head "I actually finished everything quickly, considering I did make five batches of chocolate earlier” he chuckles ”other than these dishes I am done for the night. maybe I could walk you home?" he’s turned to put the cups and saucers away, his back is to you when he asks and you're grateful he cant see the crazed happy smile on your lips "yes please!" you get a little embarrassed with your excitment and feel your cheeks flush even more "let me just go grab your hoodie and chocolate from the back and we can head out" he says and dissapears in the back again.

You pull out your phone and send a quick text to your best friends that consisted of many exclamations. When he returned you beamed up at him "ready?" he asks "ready" you put on the hoodie he hands you and exit the shop with him, he locks the door and then turns to you "uhh where do you live?" he chuckles and scratches the back of his neck "I live in the new apartments that are down near the school" he laughs "no way. That's where I live too! this is so.. cool" his voice is soft, completely blown away by how perfect everything has been. how completely meant to be it seems. a feeling he would have many times as he gets to know you, many times as your relationship grows. a feeling that warms his bones and makes him realize what he's been missing for so long. He'd give your brother all the tips he has and train with him whenever he needed. he’d make you chocolate surprises every day, ultimately finding your all time favorite, white chocolate raspberry bonbons. he’d make them for you for every special occasion and make your mom anything she ever wants. It’s like in this moment he could see every possibility with you, he couldn’t wait to get to know every part of you.

But for tonight, he’ll wait for the right moment to hold your hand on this walk, he’ll ask you questions about your family and your job, he’ll get your number and kiss your cheek at your door, and he’ll think about you every second until he gets to see you again.