#we’re all adults but if you can’t say something to my face then I won’t say anything to yours ❤️❤️

[death---dealer]

Hey if you make fun of someone for the way they cope / for breaking down emotionally or assume someone is using their trauma as a “weapon” after they had been vulnerable to you then you can royally go fuck yourself and unfollow me right now, you don’t deserve my efforts or my writing. The fact I encountered this stuff in such a small fandom that I love is astonishing. I did not join this fandom to get people to hate me, I joined this fandom because I love the movies and I love the characters, I see myself in them. I see my good qualities that I love about myself, and I see the flaws I'm always willing to admit to and willing to work on to become a better person because that’s what being alive is. Being a better version of who you were before. I wanted to write and share it with people and I still will, I’m damn good at it. This is not one of them good qualities though, unfortunately. You know being Russian means you're petty?

[anthotneystark]

I wanna reach out and grab ya

(edit: now on ao3!)

In the aftermath, as the dust settles, the world shakes.

He expects it, but it still catches him off balance.

He leans against the ambulance, brushes off Nancy’s comment about him needing medical care. Jonathan gives him a look like he wants to call him out on it, but he lets it go. He’s not sure how long he’s been awake, but he knows that if either of them really pressed him, he’d fold like a paper bag.

You know, easily but with a decent amount of noise.

It’s all he can do to keep upright, using the cool metal door to help. The world doesn’t exactly feel steady, but he took a few hits to the head and he’s sure that’s not helping. There’s a ringing in his ears, his sides ache, his face burns, and he’s not altogether sure how long he’s been awake. He’s sure it’s been somewhere along the lines of too long. He’s not looking forward to going home, not when all he’s got waiting there is a cold, empty house. His parents won’t be back for a few more weeks.

Even if there’s a part of him, a big part if he can admit it, that desperately wants his mom to be there, he’s not going to call and ask for her. He’s supposed to be an adult now, he’s supposed to be growing up, he can’t call for her.

Even if it stings a little, watching other people reuniting with their families.

He loses track of time a little, and is only snapped out of it when he’s dragged into a hug. It’s tight, warm, and so gentle for how fierce it is. He reflexively hugs back before he puts it all together, before he recognizes that it’s Claudia Henderson. She’s saying something, but he can’t really hear it because he’s too busy trying to catch up on what exactly is happening. When she pulls back, she either repeats it or it’s a different question.

Robin answers before he can.

“Yeah, Steve’s gonna stay with me tonight.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, dingus, remember?”

“Right, yeah, I’m staying with her tonight.” Except. “How are we getting to your place? I lost my keys,” he adds.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll take you,” Claudia says. A godsend, really, always. He’s going to need to get new keys entirely given that his have probably been melted by the fire, but he can’t tell her that.

Robin sticks to his side as they go to the car, her hand slides into his and he holds on tight. He doesn’t let go until they’re in her house, after the quiet car ride where he almost dozed off a dozen times. Her parents are at work, both on the night shift at the moment, so it’s just them. Convenient, given that they’re probably going to wake up screaming at some point. She shoves him into the bathroom first and he uses her strawberry shampoo and doesn’t bother to even attempt anything resembling his usual process for cleaning up.

While she takes her turn, he pulls on the clothes she set out. A Hawkins Band tee shirt that’s a little tight and a pair of gym shorts that are probably bigger than his own. He’s almost dozing when she starts messing with his hair, helping to dry it without him even noticing she’d finished her shower. It’s more a nervous movement than anything, but it feels nice.

“We’re going to need to keep some of your clothes here, you know.”

“Why?”

“So you have something to wear, obviously.”

Obviously. Because he’s going to stay with her sometimes. He should have her clothes at his place too then, even if he’s perfectly willing to let her raid his closet. He likes the idea though, the plan to mesh themselves together already. He’s never had anyone in his life who’s made themselves at home in his heart this quickly.

He’s not sure when he drifts off, when she tugs him the rest of the way onto the bed, when she pulls the blanket up, only distantly feels the way she leans into him, the way he reflexively curls into her.

She feels like she’s always been here with him and he can’t figure out how he lived without her.

----------

Robin is perfect.

Not like, literally, and it’s not the same as when he’d say it about Nancy.

That’s the other thing that he figures out with her. He’s really not in love with Nancy. He’d said it, but it really sinks in later. It sinks in the first time they talk about romance, as he tries to give her flirting advice while she laughs at him and asks if he needs a new whiteboard.

They do mingle their closets too, as planned. She still steals his clothes, and he ends up wearing her tee shirts more than his own. She takes him thrifting and shows him all her secrets and he teaches her the art of negotiation in stores.

(She’s in awe when he talks down a sales clerk over a stain that he then magics away in the laundry room at his house.)

He shows her how he learned to cook and she helps him to get creative with new ideas. She demands the first bite every time, and he’s happy to share it.

Her parents welcome him though. Her mom teaches him more about first aid than he learned lifeguarding, and her dad teaches him more about cars in his spare time. He’d known some, but it’s nice, being taught instead of just figuring things out on his own through trial and error. It doesn’t take long for him to get fully intermingled in the Buckley family and it’s the most love he’s ever felt.

Somewhere between the whiteboard and that first night spent sharing a bed, they become SteveAndRobin. Somewhere between her mom finishing her shift and finding them curled up on the couch watching cartoons (because after being exposed to terrifying monsters and soldiers, cartoons are necessary) and her dad coming home to find all three of them wrapped up in it, he finds out he fits perfectly in this space.

Somewhere between the first family dinner and the start of the school year, he unofficially becomes a Buckley.

Sitting there in the hospital waiting room, collapsed into a chair because he’s never felt this exhausted, with Robin at one side and Dustin at the other, with Erica and Lucas whispering with Nancy, with Eddie and Max in surgery, he feels it all building up. All the feelings he’d tried to push down, the fear and panic and pain, bubbling up to the surface. He’s not really looking where his eyes are aimed, not even paying attention until Robin is forcing his heavy, aching limbs up and toward an empty room. She gives him a look as she leaves him on the bed and he’s not even confused about her leaving him there to go back to the waiting room because it’s better if she stays with Dustin anyway.

Except then the door is opening again, with a familiar and welcome sight stepping in.

And then it’s all too much.

Those emotions bubble over with a half-sobbed “Mom” and then arms are around him, holding him together as he splinters into a million pieces.

His mother smells like expensive perfume, floral and chemical and strong. But Betty Buckley smells like antiseptic and cinnamon and it’s the most comforting smell in the world right then.

She doesn’t question the grime or blood staining his clothes, doesn’t try to get him to tell her what happened, just holds him because he can’t break in front of the kids, can’t let them see how much he’s struggling right now. He needs this, is the thing. He hasn’t really broken down yet because he has to be the strong one, he has to be tough, even if it kills him, but she’s safe. She’s safe enough for him to let go.

She lets him get it all out, and still doesn’t ask anything. It doesn’t really matter, not at the moment, so she just brushes his hair off his forehead, uses a damp cloth to wipe away some of the dirt, helps him to pull on scrubs before halting that process to treat his back and arms and sides and neck. He’s gone a little numb, but she moves quick anyway. And then he’s on his back, an IV hooked into his hand, and she’s pressing a kiss to his forehead and telling him to rest.

So he does.

It’s not a conscious decision, more like he was just waiting for someone to tell him he could.

When he wakes, Robin is in the bed next to him. Dustin is on a rolling cot against the wall. He knows without knowing that Max is down the hall, Lucas and Erica are with her, and Nancy is probably bossing around everyone in that way she does that he can’t help respecting. He doesn’t stay awake long.

----------

He’s going stir crazy.

There’s a lot of mixed feelings. On one hand, he’s slept a lot. On the other, the town is a little broken. Robin and Dustin are volunteering, and he’ll join them when he can get out there, but Richard Buckley is under strict orders to keep him from making an escape. The plant has been temporarily shut down, and he’s a glass half-full kind of guy, but it’s really inconvenient for Steve’s desire to be out of the hospital.

He still loves him though, really.

He finally gets a window when Rich steps out for real food.

(It had been hilarious when he and Robin established their dads are both “Richard”, but while Steve’s dad thinks shortening it sounds ridiculous, Robin’s dad loves to give himself new short names at every opportunity. The week he wanted to go by Chard was a fun week.)

He goes for the door, playing nonchalant, and is dismayed to find someone sitting outside.

“He told me you’d try and escape,” the man says, not looking up from his newspaper.

“I’m not escaping,” he lies.

“Humor me.” The man looks over at him then and Steve has to bite back his surprise. “Huh. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say your last name isn’t Buckley.”

“It’s not.”

“Then why have I been hearing for months about Ritchie’s boy?”

“Technically I am that.”

“Not the right one though.”

“No, but that’s sematics.”

“You’re missing an ‘n’ there, son.” The correction is gentle, carrying the tone of someone who’s used to reminding someone else of little details. For some reason, it doesn’t sting like it did when other people corrected him.

“Right, yeah.”

“You had a bit of blood loss, I hear. Maybe you should lay back down again.”

“I can’t. There’s…people are out there and need help. Other people got hurt worse than me. I can’t just lay here and do nothing.”

“You’re not doing nothing, you’re recovering.”

“I’m fine.”

“Doesn’t sound like you are,” he half mumbles, and god, it’s so familiar it aches.

“I don’t know why you’re focused on keeping me in bed. You of all people should be fine with me going out there to help out.” There’s a beat of silence, where Steve thinks he maybe overstepped, getting just a sigh in return.

“Maybe. But I know damn well how important you are to a friend of mine and he asked for a favor. I’m not about to let him down.”

“Mr. Munson –”

“Wayne.”

“…Wayne. You should go back to Eddie. He needs you more.”

“He’s got a visitor already. I’m not hovering.”

“I think you’re hovering a bit here.”

“Well opinions are like assholes, son. Everyone’s got one.” It’s enough to startle a laugh out of him, as Wayne stands up and ushers him back into the room. He didn’t notice while he was standing there as the pain in his muscles, the itching of the scabs, the exhaustion in his bones, creeps back up on him. He protests, but doesn’t really fight as he’s nudged back into the too firm mattress.

“Get some more rest, kid. Long days are coming, take advantage while you can.”

----------

“I just don’t get it!”

“Is he still talking about this?”

Robin’s groan is the only answer he needs. Dustin, back on his usual arguments after saving the world again, is expanding his hobby. Now he’s not just bugging Steve and Robin about their love life (love lives?), he’s dragging others in on the argument too.

“Dusty-buns, you seem to be awful involved in this,” Eddie teases. “Maybe you have a crush on Robin.” She makes a face, throws a marshmallow at him, and Steve snorts as he cackles.

“No! I just don’t know why they won’t date! Eddie, back me up on this,” Dustin says. “They’re perfect for each other! They laugh at the same jokes, share clothes all the time, and don’t even argue, Steve, I’ve seen her wear your jeans before and you’ve worn her sweaters. They share food with each other, spend all their time together, and they share chapstick!”

“Hey, we don’t spend all our time together! Sometimes I wait for her to bike to my house.”

“Not helping, babe.”

“See!” Dustin is probably seconds from losing his marbles, and Steve really should put him out of his misery, but it’s too funny still.

“You’re missing some key information, boy-genius,” Eddie says.

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that they’re never going to date.”

“That’s what doesn’t make sense!”

“Robin, pass me our chapstick,” Steve says, just to make Dustin a little more insane.

“You had it last. Steven, did you lose our chapstick?”

“I definitely gave it back to you.”

“Here you go,” Eddie says, tossing the little tube to Steve with a grin. Dustin’s eyes dart between the three of them like he’s just gotten new information.

“Eddie. Are you…dating Robin?”

It’s Steve’s turn to groan, and he doesn’t need to look to see the face Robin is making.

“Jesus Christ, Henderson, Eddie is dating me!” Now he’s silent. And Steve is going to panic if he stays silent.

“Huh. That makes a lot of sense. You were weirdly jealous.”

“I was what? No I wasn’t!”

“You kind of were,” Robin adds.

“And it makes sense why you wouldn’t date Robin, who is literally perfect for you.”

“How many times do I have to tell you we’re just friends.”

“Yeah, and I could be literally perfect for him, pipsqueak,” Eddie says, grabbing one of Robin’s marshmallows to throw at him.

“You and Robin are still weirdly codependent, it has to be said,” Dustin insists, batting away Eddie’s attempts to ruffle his hair.

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you get psychically linked to each other. Get used to it, Henderson.”

“You’re what?!” Eddie and Dustin’s voices overlap, but they’re both drowned out by his and Robin’s laughter.

Their expressions alone are worth the lecture they’re going to get about keeping secrets.

[lycandrophile]

it's silly but the biggest reason why im not into t yet is bc im so afraid of losing my hair. do you have any solutions/tips for it?

first of all, i don’t think it’s silly — it’s natural to be worried when hair loss is talked about by so many people as like…one of the worst results of aging for men. listening to my dad talk about how much he hates balding definitely did not make me feel particularly good about the knowledge that i may very well be joining him someday. i’m not saying the fear is right, because i don’t think hair loss is something awful that we should avoid at all costs, but it’s an understandable fear given the beauty standards we’re working with, and it’s one that a lot of us (myself included) feel.

one thing that’s helped me is just…paying more attention to the guys that i interact with on a daily basis. i’ve learned two things from it: 1) hair loss is super fucking common. i’d say it’s much harder to find an adult man who isn’t balding at all than it is to find one who’s completely bald. and 2) if you forget everything you’ve been told about how bad hair loss is, you’ll realize that quite frankly, every single one of those guys looks totally fucking fine. it doesn’t ruin their appearance and make them ugly, it looks totally natural and isn’t really even something you’d notice if you weren’t looking for it. we put so much weight on it but it’s really just not that big of a deal. i’ll hear my parents talk shit about men in my family who are losing their hair when i didn’t even notice a difference last time i saw them. it’s one of those things (like so many other appearance-related things) that you really only notice at all because you’ve been taught that you’re supposed to care about it.

this isn’t something i’ve done personally, but if you really want to desensitize yourself to the idea of it, embrace the time-honored queer tradition of just shaving your whole damn head! find out what you’d look like without hair, find out how you feel about it and what you can do that makes you feel good about your appearance without hair, test the waters while it’s still a temporary change and not something permanent. that way, it won’t feel like this big scary unknown, and you’ll actually have a frame of reference for your feelings about how you look without hair rather than accepting the societal assumption that you’ll inevitably hate it. if you don’t want to actually shave your head, you could also just fuck around with bald filters or photoshop and see what happens.

oh, and if you’re attracted to men, keep an eye out for guys who are bald or balding and also hot as fuck. in my experience, there’s no insecurity or potential future insecurity that being gay for other men hasn’t helped me with. just off the top of my head, i can think of a couple actors who i think are absolutely fucking gorgeous who have helped me get over my fears about losing my hair. despite what our anti-aging-obsessed world might want you to think, there is no such thing as a physical feature that automatically makes someone less attractive, and while making attractiveness less of a priority in your life is good, it can’t hurt to also give yourself some proof that actually, you might lose your hair and look hot as hell doing it.

basically, entertain the possibility that it won’t be a bad thing at all! whether that’s just because it turns out to be a neutral thing for you or because you end up actually liking it, it’s not an inherently bad thing. i’ve ended up liking a lot of things that were “supposed to” be bad effects of t — i love the weight i’ve gained and the new shape it gives my body, i get a lot of gender euphoria from the fact that my acne is now on parts of my face that i saw a lot of guys in high school get it and i’m not complaining about the scars i get from it either because i’ve always liked the added texture that acne scars give my skin, and so on. i think there’s a lot of joy to be had in the changes we’re taught to fear, once we look past that conditioning and actually explore how we feel about it.

but if it’s something you really don’t want and you just want to improve your chances of not having to deal with it, it’s not like there’s nothing you can do! products like finasteride (oral) and minoxidil (usually topical but i think there might also be oral versions) are pretty commonly used among trans guys, for the purpose of avoiding hair loss and for other reasons, and there are plenty of other anti-hair loss products out there (though i don’t know how effective any one of them might be). if it’s a big enough deal for you, you can just decide that you’ll go off of t if/when you start noticing signs of it, since no longer having higher t levels would stop the process in its tracks. and if you don’t find prevention options that work for you so it ends up happening, you can always explore different hair styles (judging by the pattern of hair loss i see in my family, i suspect that keeping my hair long would make it less obvious if i started losing mine), find your preferred method of covering it when you don’t feel good about it (personally i love a good beanie generally and would probably wear them a lot more if i didn’t have hair to worry about because my main complaint is the way they press my hair onto my neck), or just shave it all off if you don’t like the look of the partial balding but don’t mind a shaved head. the point being — you have options!

at the end of the day, whether you go on t or not, you’re going to see your body change as you age in ways that aren’t always going to be attractive to others or aesthetically pleasing to you. that’s just the reality of having a body. even if you never went on t, you’d get older and you might see your hair thin out even if you don’t bald, you’ll see your skin start to wrinkle and sag in places that used to be smooth, your metabolism might slow or your body fat might start to gather in new places; hell, you might lose your hair for a totally different reason and end up in the same place but without the benefits of having been on t that whole time. life is full of bodily changes like that. transphobes will fearmonger about the permanent changes of testosterone all day long but the truth is, there is no escaping permanent bodily changes. whether or not you go on t, your body now isn’t the same as it will be in 1 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 years, just like it isn’t the same as it was at any point in your life before now. our bodies are never supposed to stop growing and aging and changing throughout our lives. there’s no guaranteeing that we’ll love every single change our bodies go through, but that’s okay! there are so many things in life that are more important than the way our bodies look. even if you go on t and lose your hair and don’t like how it looks, your life won’t be ruined; plenty of other things will bring you joy and more than make up for the insecurities.

just think about the gender euphoria and relief from dysphoria that t could give you. would losing your hair be bad enough to outweigh all of that? or is it just the pressure of a society that decided balding is bad that’s making you fear one single change despite how much joy you could have if you let that fear go? only you can decide if going on t is worth the potential downsides for you, but i suspect that for most of us, the benefits of going on t far outweigh the possibility of side effects like hair loss happening down the line.

[haechoxo]

[7:07 pm]

cw; suggestive lol,,

“it wasn’t supposed to be complicated,” you admit, your voice softening. “we were both stressed with school and work, and it just… happened. i thought maybe, eventually, he’d see me as more than just a friend. but now… i don’t know what to think.” you feel a lump forming in your throat, the weight of unspoken feelings pressing down on you as you recall the day your arrangement with haechan started.

your tiny apartment was filled with the scent of coffee and the sound of pages turning. you and haechan were huddled at the coffee table, textbooks, notes, and highlighters spread out before you. finals week was taking its toll, and the exhaustion was evident in both your expressions.

haechan stretched, letting out an exaggerated yawn. “ugh, i can’t take it anymore. my brain feels like mush!”

not glancing up from your notes, stifling a yawn of your own. “just a few more days, and we can sleep for a week.”

he smirked, leaning back on his arms where he sat on the dingy rug. “or, you know, we could find a more fun way to relieve some stress.”

you raised an eyebrow, too tired to fully engage with his antics. “like what? please don’t say more coffee, because i’m pretty sure it’s running through our veins at this point.”

he leaned forward, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “nah, i was thinking something a bit more… intimate.”

your pen paused mid-sentence, finally looking at him, trying to gauge if he was serious. “intimate, huh? like what, a hug?”

he chuckled, shaking his head. “we could fuck.”

you stared at him, dumbfounded, your fatigue momentarily forgotten as your mouth felt incredibly dry, “a-are you serious?”

“dead serious,” he replied, his tone playful as he shrugs, “we’re both stressed, and we’re best friends, what better way to work it out?”

you blinked, trying to process his suggestion, not that the offer wasn’t tempting, the amount of times you pictured kissing his perfect pouty lips, but still! “donghyuck, i don’t… what if it makes things weird?”

he reached across the table, taking your hand in his. “it won’t, i promise. we’re adults, we can handle this. besides, if we can’t help each other out, who can we rely on?”

you chewed on your lower lip, his words doing little to ease the anxiety bubbling up inside you. “i don’t know, hyuck….” all you can think about is your feelings bubbling over, and he finds out in the worst way possible.

“come on, y/n,” he coaxed, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on your hand. “trust me, it’s fine, it’ll be fun!”

you sighed, feeling a mix of nervousness and curiosity. “okay, but if this goes badly, i’m blaming you entirely.”

he grinned, joining you on the couch, “deal. now, let’s get out of study mode for a bit. my brain needs a break from all this academic torture.”

the air between you charged with anticipation as he sat down beside you, feeling a mix of nerves and excitement. you hesitated for a moment, your mind racing with what-ifs, but haechan’s gentle touch and soft smile as he leaned closer gave you the reassurance you needed.

“still okay?” he murmured, his breath warm on your skin.

“yeah,” you replied, your voice barely more than a whisper. “just... nervous.”

“don’t be shy,” he said softly, his fingers brushing a stray hair from your face. “it’s just me, remember?”

you nodded, his lips brushing yours softly at first, testing the waters. your heart raced as you kissed him back, the familiarity of his presence merging with the freshness of the situation, it almost felt natural. he deepened the kiss, one hand finding it’s way to your waist, pulling you closer, while his other held your face, thumb caressing your cheek.

kissing him was everything you imagined it would be—gentle, yet intense, filled with unspoken emotions and years of hidden feelings. as his lips moved against yours, you felt a mixture of relief and uncertainty, the weight of your decision pressing down on you.

just as the kiss began to deepen further, you pulled back slightly, your forehead resting against his, breathing heavily as he continued, kissing down your neck.

as if he’s done it a million times before.

“can i keep going?” he whispered against the column of your neck, his voice low.

previous - next

a/n ; erm… can u tell it was my first time writing a kiss scene🤓 im actually sooo grossed out this was an experience i never thought id breach the topic of… anyway! hope u enjoy!! advice n ur thoughts are appreciated! xoxo jelly

[sinnabarmoth]

Broken Promises

Pairing: Rafayel x fem|Reader

Summary: Reader thinks that her relationship with Rafayel is a fling, some casual fun. Rafayel does not. So when he catches her flirting with other guys he is intent on making sure she knows that he did not wait 800 years to be a second choice.

Content warnings: Adult language. Hate fucking. Vaginal fingering. P in V.

Length: 5k

“Thank you for another fine day of work, miss bodyguard.”

You picked your head up from Rafayel’s shoulder and glared at him. 

“What’s that face for?” he asked.

You rolled your eyes and sat up, the blanket that had been covering you slipped down exposing your naked chest which Rafayel took no precautions in hiding his ogling. You grabbed his chin and forced his gaze back up to your face. “Do not start calling you tricking me into coming over as work. You know I thought you were in actual danger?”

He melted into your touch, resting his chin fully in your hand like an attention starved puppy. “I was in danger.”

“A teeny tiny spider is not dangerous.” You let him go, crossing your arms over your chest so his view was obstructed.

“Sure it is. Do you know how many tiny spiders are super venomous? Black widow. Brown recluse. Yellow sac spider.” he ticked them off one by one on his fingers.

“Mister fish facts has spider facts too. How fun.” You rolled out of bed and started grabbing your scattered clothes from the floor and pulling them back on. How the hell did your panties get on the lamp? Did he chuck them like he was pitching for the Linkon Lions?

“Do you have to leave?” Rafayel asked, sitting up to watch you move around the room.

“Sure I do. I have work in the morning.”

“I could take you to work in the morning.”

“And wear what? The clothes I was in when I rushed over here? No thanks.” You didn’t think Jenna would be happy to see you at work wearing your lilac sweats and fuzzy character socks.

“I could send someone to pick up an outfit from your house.”

You glanced at him as you pulled your shirt back on. “You are super clingy tonight. Something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong it’s just…” he was staring down at the rumpled sheets of the bed, smoothing out the creases around him, “you always leave so soon after.”

“Well unlike a certain artist, I have duties and errands to run and can’t spend all my day in bed or on the couch…or in the hot tub…or against the wall--”

“Yeah yeah, I get it. You have a million things more important than me.” he slumped back against the headboard. “I’ll just stay here and rot won’t I. Waiting for my bodyguard to come check on me when she feels like it. Who knows if I’ll be even still be alive when she deigns me worthy of her attention.”

“You are so dramatic. Remember that you tricked me into coming over here to squish a spider and then corralled me into the bedroom almost immediately after.” you plonked down on the bed next to him. “If you want me to come over cause you want to have sex then you can just say that. We’re both adults.”

“Takes all the romance out of it then.”

“Now you’re worried about being romantic?” you shook your head. “Will wonders never cease.”

His expression did not soften out of his pout. With a small sigh you scooted closer. “Hey, how about I stop by tomorrow to see you after work. Okay?”

He perked up at that. “Promise?”

“Yeah. I’ll buy us some chicken and we can put on a movie that we will probably abandon watching for some other fun.” You held out a pinky to him. “I promise.”

He looped his pinky finger around yours. “You made a vow. You can’t break it now.”

“You are racking up vows, aren’t you? First to never keep you waiting, now this. If this keeps up we’re gonna have to start writing down all the promises we make.” you teased and his face fell again. Oh no.

You gave a little tug on your intertwined fingers and pulled him closer, placing a quick kiss on his mouth. “There. A vow sealed with a kiss. Feel better?”

“Much.” he smiled softly at you. “See you tomorrow, cutie.”

~~~

The work day was a long and tedious one. You had spent nearly all day patrolling and ended up fighting a whole horde of Wanderers that had taken up in an abandoned warehouse. By the end of the day you were in desperate need of some relaxation and perhaps a stiff drink. So when Tara announced that everyone was going out for drinks after work to celebrate the impressive job you and the other hunters did on raiding the warehouse you were more than happy to come along.

You were two drinks deep and starting on a third. The stress of the day melted away, replaced with the warm fuzziness that was your buzz. Thank goodness it was the weekend so you didn’t need to worry about getting up early with the hangover you were working towards developing.

At some point a drinking game got started. There was a piece of paper that had every body’s name written on it. The point of the game was that if some flipped a coin and it landed on that person’s name they had to drink. If it landed on a blank space they got to write a rule until the paper was completely full.

Soon the paper was full of outlandish rules, each getting progressively more “creative” the longer you went on. It was your turn and you flipped the coin. You had been aiming for Nero’s name and ended up hitting the rule an inch below it. “Text the last person you messaged a bad selfie.”

You sighed but pulled out your phone and brought up the camera. You twisted your face into a funny and unflattering expression and went to your messages. You couldn’t remember the last person you texted and prayed it wasn’t someone embarrassing.

Please don’t be Zayne. Please don’t be Zayne. Please don’t be Zayne!

You let out a small breath of relief seeing that Zayne was not in fact at the top of your messages. Rafayel was. You opened the chat and sent the picture without any context.

You rolled your eyes at your co-worker’s laughter and resumed watching the others play the game. Yet, you could not focus entirely. It felt like you were forgetting something but you couldn’t remember what. Trying to think with your head awash in cocktails wasn’t exactly helping your memory. All your brain was coming up with was chickens.

Well, if you couldn’t remember it couldn’t have been that important.

You leaned over towards the person next to you, he was another hunter but you hadn’t spoken all that much since he wasn’t on Alpha Team. You weren’t sure of his name but maybe it was Jasper or Jordan. To be blunt there wasn’t anything remarkable about him but he did have a very nice face and a rather infectious laugh. His arm had been resting against the back of your chair but now settled on your shoulders.

“So,” you leaned closer to be heard over the music of the bar, “if you are a hunter I’m guessing you have a preference on which weapon you like using.”

“I do.” he said. “Do you want to know?”

“No. I’m gonna guess but first I need your hand.” you held your hand out for him.

“Okay.” he said with an easy smile and held his hand up. “Why?”

“Think of it as palm reading, but instead of telling your future I’m telling your preferred weapon.” you placed your palm against his. “Hmm, yes.” You nodded very seriously before linking your hands together. “It’s coming to me. With big strong hands like this, your preferred weapon is a claymore.”

He smirked at your flirting. “That is quite the talent you have. I do indeed prefer the claymore. After handling it for so long, throwing anything around whether it be light or heavy is a piece of cake.”

“I bet that comes in handy.”

“It sure does.” he tugged you closer. “It comes in very handy for many different…scenarios.”

You couldn’t tell if the heat in your face was from the drink or his implication but either way it made you feel tingly all over.

“So, what are you doing after this?” Jacob or Jasper asked, his face a mere breath away from yours.

You were yanked back so hard you almost tipped out of your chair completely. You scrambled to see who had grabbed you and saw Rafayel standing above you, a fistful of the back of your shirt in his hand. “You broke your promise.”

~~~

Rafayel had felt something was wrong when his alarm went off that told him your shift had ended and he didn’t hear anything from you. Then a half hour had passed and there had still been no word from you. Maybe you had gone home to change. He tried texting you but had gotten no response. Your battery was low, surely. That’s why you hadn’t texted back.

After an hour he had started pacing, more excuses for your absence filtering through his brain. You could have been picking up the chicken like you said and there was a long line. That had to be it.

Two hours went by. Was there traffic?

Three hours. Maybe there was a Wanderer attack. Were you okay?

He was about ready to go out looking for you when a message came through his phone. It was from you! He opened it expecting any number of excuses and apologies but instead it was just a picture. You were at some bar and were making a very stupid face at the camera. That wasn’t what had caught his attention though. It was the arm that was wrapped around you oh so casually. The pig it was attached to was leering at you in the top left corner of the shot.

Rafayel felt many emotions shoot through him in the span of five seconds of seeing your message. Relief. Confusion. Dejection. Anger. Then pure hot resentment.

You had broken your promise to him to go out to a bar with this scumbag that touched you so casually? No. This would not stand. He was going to go get you. He had to study the picture a bit more to figure out which bar you were at. Thankfully there was a cocktail napkin printed with the bar name on it within the shot.

He sped over as fast as he could and burst into the bar. His gaze swept over the bustling room until he saw a large group sitting near the back. You were among them and that pig from the picture was right next to you, his hand laced with yours and hunger in his eyes. He waited to see you pull away, to tell him to fuck off but you didn’t. You leaned in closer, batting your eyelashes and smiling at him in that way that teasing smirk that drew Rafayel crazy. That was meant for him! Why were you flirting with someone else! Why!

He had charged forward as your faces drew closer. No. He would not see you kiss someone else! He would not suffer that indignity tonight as well!

He grabbed the back of our shirt and pulled you swiftly away from the man. The thundering of his heart was pounding in his ears. “You broke your promise.” he seethed.

You blinked and he could see your brain trying to catch up. “Raf--what are--why are you here? Let go of me!”

“Not a chance.” he grabbed you underneath the armpits and pulled you out of your chair. “You have had enough to drink. We are going home.”

“Hey!” the pig stood up. “Who do you think you are? You can’t just take her.”

“She’s my girlfriend and she’s wasted, so I think I am more than justified in getting her out of this dive.” Rafayel started to drag you away. “Come on.”

He dragged you out to the car despite your protests and shoved you into the passenger seat and buckled your seatbelt for you. Once you were in the car a lot of the fight went out of you. He shoved a water bottle at you and told you to drink as much as you could. When you didn’t oblige he stayed glaring at you until you had swallowed the whole thing. Then he pulled out another and told you to keep drinking. “I need you sober. So keep hydrating.”

By the time Rafayel had gotten back to his house you had drank another full bottle of water and the glassy sheen of drunkenness was ebbing away. The anger and pain his chest was still boiling but he kept his mouth clamped shut until you were inside.

For what felt like forever you stood in the foyer, looking everywhere but at him and not saying a word. When you dared to meet his gaze again he noticed you flinch as guilt shot through you. “Raf, I’m sorry. I had a really stressful day at work and I completely forgot about our chicken and movie plans. I swear I will make it up to you tomorrow--”

“Who the fuck was he?” Rafayel cut you off.

You paused your stammering and stared at him, brows knit in confusion. “What? Who?”

“That pig that was hanging off of you at the bar. Who is he?” he demanded.

“What does that have to do--”

“Answer the question!”

You snapped to attention, shock and indignation sharpening your features. “You do not talk to me like that! I know you’re pissed that I forgot our plans but you do not yell at me like that. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Rafayel felt like laughing. Laugh like he was mad. “I want to know why you were flirting with someone else. Did you even realize that he was two seconds from kissing you?”

“Uh yeah? That was kinda the whole point of us flirting. Why are you getting so worked up about this?” you settled your hands on your hips. “Do you know what everyone is going to think now that you announced to all my co-workers that you are my boyfriend? No one is gonna want to get anywhere near me now. Thanks for that.”

“Is that what you want? To be with other people?”

“Wait. I’m confused. When did we ever establish that we were exclusive? I thought this was casual. Why are you being so possessive all of a sudden?” you asked.

“Because you are mine!” he shouted. He charged forward caging you against the wall. “This is not something casual to me and it shouldn’t be for you either! You are mine and mine alone I will be damned if I see someone else lay hands on what belongs to me.”

“Raf, where is all this coming from all of a sudden? Did you really think that we were in some serious arrangement?”

“You promised.” he repeated, angry tears threatening to spill.

“I know. I know. I promised to come over but I told you that I forgot--”

“No. You promised. You always promise. You keep making promises to me and you keep on breaking them! For eight hundred years you’ve been breaking your promises and I am tired of it! No more! You do not get to break my heart any more!” he seized you by the arms, staring into your eyes, willing something to unlock in your mind.

“Why do you never remember?” he said, his voice quieting. “Why do you keep breaking your promises?”

“What are you talking about? Eight hundred years? I don’t know what it is you are upset about. Did the coral finally get to your head now too?”

“For fuck’s sake.” Rafayel couldn’t take this anymore. He slammed his lips to yours, forcing your lips apart and pushing his tongue into your mouth. He did not yield until your tense body melted into his arms and you started to kiss him back.

He pulled back, breathing heavily. “Eight hundred years.” he muttered. “I know you don’t remember but I am going to make you. I am going to remind you in one way or another that you have always been mine. That you will only ever be mine. If I cannot make your mind remember then I will emblazon it on your body, etch my name into your bones so you never forget again.”

“Rafayel, why--”

“Yes or no?” he said, desperate to claim you but refused to move without your consent. “That’s all I need.”

“Are you going to talk to me about what the fuck is going on in that head of yours?” you snapped, impatience stoking you back into a rage.

Yes. Be angry. Be vengeful. But be mine.

“After.” his hands moved to your hips, pressing your body against his. “Now yes or no?”

You nodded. “Yes.”

His lips were back on yours, pouring all the frustration and desire he had into it. Mine. He thought. Only mine.

You started to slump as your knees buckled and he pulled back, keeping his arms locked around you as you made your way deeper into the studio. There was a fire roiling through his blood and it screamed at him to make you his. He didn’t have the patience to take you to the bedroom and instead tossed you onto the couch when it came into view.

He hovered above you and grabbed a fistful of your hair, pulling your head back to look at him. Your lips were parted and panting slightly, eyes wide with rage and lust and defiance. By the tides he loved it. He loved everything about you. If only you would say the same of him.

He kissed you again until you were breathless. There was still a taste of alcohol on your tongue. It tasted like rum and oranges, the sear and tang of summer overwhelming his senses with every swipe of your tongue against his. He wanted to get drunk off the taste. Wanted nothing else but reminders of you. Your taste, your scent, your warmth.

He left your swollen lips to trail his mouth down your neck, sucking dark bruises onto the sensitive flesh. A gasp left your mouth as his teeth sunk down above your pulse. You had always been so adamant about not leaving marks where other people could see them. Well no more. Everyone would know you were spoken for. No one would be able to question who you belonged to ever again. You included.

His free hand fumbled for the buttons of your shirt before impatience took over and he ripped it open instead. Buttons popped from their seams and flew off in different directions as your body was finally exposed to him.

“Hey! This is a work shirt!” you huffed, picking at one of the buttons that still held onto the shirt by a stretched thread.

“I’ll buy you another.” he slid the ruined shirt off and continued the descent of his mouth down your chest. “If you don’t want the rest of your clothes to meet the same fate, I’d advise in taking them off quickly.”

“Raf--”

“You have ten seconds. Be quick.” he stood up and started counting down.

It took you a moment to catch on that he was not indeed joking and to spare your clothes from decimation you quickly untied and tugged off your boots and were trying your best to shimmy out of your pants. Rafayel also began to shrug out of clothes, not as panicked as you were as he kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt off over his head. By the time he got to zero you had just managed to kick your pants off and were reaching for the clasp of your bra.

“Too slow.” he pinned you back against the couch his knee slotting in the spaced between your legs, pressing close to your clothed cunt. You tried to stifle it but he heard the low whine of arousal that hummed in your throat. He pressed knee closer, letting you grind on it. He could feel wet you were getting. The evidence of your arousal soaking through your panties and wetting his pants.

He reached around behind your back and undid the clasp that held your bra in place and tore it off. You were lost in your own little world, grinding against his leg like an animal in heat. Your sweet moans filled the air as his hands cupped your breasts an tweaked your nipples into hard peaks. So sweet. So beautiful. And all of it his. At least, it should have been. The idea that someone out there possibly had seen this version of you, had driven you into this state made his blood boil. Who else had you been with when you weren’t with him? Had you ever left him and gone off to be with someone else? Did you moan for them like you did for him? Did you speak such filthy and beautiful words in their ears like you did with him? How many others had been tasting your lips after him?

“How long?” he asked, eyes trained on your face.

Your eyes which had been closed in ecstasy cracked open again. “What?” you breathed out.

“How long have you been flirting with others?” he said and your eyes widened. “Answer me.”

“I thought you said we were going to talk about this after.” you said. “Why--ah!” he gave a sharp squeeze to your breast.

“Answer the question.”

“I--I don’t know.” your hips kept moving, kept pushing yourself closer to the sweet release your body craved. You were getting close, he could tell.

“Yes you do. Now answer. Have you been flirting with others the entire time we’ve been together?”

“Raf--”

He pulled back, leaving you cold and panting against the couch, your precious orgasm right out of reach. “Answer or this ends now.”

“Yes.” you answered, your voice quiet. “I guess you could say it was happening the entire time, even before we met.”

Icy dread so cold it felt like burning coursed through him. He pushed you down so you were sprawled across the cushions of the couch. His hand pushed against the soaked materials of your panties, teasing your clit through the cotton.

“And how many touched you like this, hm?” he rubbed your clit harder. “How many of them did you fuck?”

“None of them. I promise. I didn’t sleep with anyone else.” That was a small relief. Your body had remained his, but what of your heart?

He pushed the material aside and plunged two fingers into your weeping hole. “And why not?” he continued, stretching your walls and curling his fingers in the way he knew drove you mad with want. “You had no problem flirting with them. Letting them touch you, letting them kiss you. Why not give your body over completely? Is that where your conscience kicked in? Remembered you already had someone when things got that far, did you?”

“Didn’t--didn’t--” you were struggling to form words, “Didn’t like them that much.”

“So if you liked them more you’d let them touch you like this?” his thumb pressed against your swollen clit, adding to the sensations you were already feeling. “You’d let them put their fingers in you, touch your most sensitive spots, let them taste how sweet your arousal is? All it would take is a few more sweet words and you’d let them fuck you. Drive their dick into you like they own it, own you. Is that what you’re saying.”

“No. No--fuck! Raf, I never wanted to fuck any of them.” your words kept wavering as he kept you dancing just out of reach of release. “I promise.”

There was that word again. Promise.

“Your promises mean nothing anymore. You’ve proven that.” his pace got faster and your legs squirmed and kicked as your orgasm raced forward with frightening speed. “Why should I believe you this time?”

It was as if his words had ignited something hot in you The wanton need and delirium of pleasure snapped and you surged up as your pussy clamped down hard on his fingers, arousal gushing from your hole as you came. You had grabbed him by the shoulders and forced your mouth against his, kissing him hungrily. You kept pushing, forcing him down against the couch, trapping him under you just as he had done.

You pulled away, tugging on his bottom lip with your teeth as you withdrew. The momentary bliss was gone when he saw the rage written across your face. You sat straddled across him, chest heaving in the aftermath of your orgasm. You hastily unbuckled his belt and were shoving his pants further down his hips so his cock was free from their confines. “Now listen here and listen well you prima donna!” you growled, teasing the wet tip of his cock in your hand. “You are going to believe me when I say this: I never wanted to fuck any of the people I flirted with. That’s all it ever was, flirting. If you wanted us to be something more serious you should have fucking said so sooner!”

His nostrils flared as you worked over the hard flesh of his erection. He tried to grab you but you smacked his hands away. “You do not get to be angry at me for treating what we have as something casual cause that is all you have ever treated it as too.”

“It was never casual for me!” he snapped back. You gave a hard squeeze and his head fell back. “Fuck--that’s not fair.”

“Neither were your methods.” you reminded him. “Now, you said you wanted to etch your name onto my bones so I never forgot you. Well that is a two way street, you know. If you want to sear yourself into my memory then I get to do the same to you.”

“Trust me,” he said, eyes dark with desire, “You already are.”

You sat back, angling yourself as you lowered yourself onto him. You watched his gaze slide from your face down to where you were connected, watching his cock sink in and out of you. You rode him hard, pulling up till only the tip remained inside before slamming back down on him again. He steadied you by holding your thighs, pushing them wider when he wanted you to sink down deeper on him.

It didn’t matter how many times you had sex. Every time he had you like this it felt like he was in some amazing dream he did not want to wake up from. But you were no dream. You were real. So breathtakingly and heartbreakingly real. And you were with him, wanting him, riding him, eyes begging him and only him for pleasure and release no one else could come close to giving you.

His hips moved to thrust up into you, needing more. Needing to mark you in a way that you never forgot in this life or the next or the one another eight hundred years from now.

Your thrusts got shallower and faster as he hit some wonderful spot in your pussy that had you seeing stars. Your legs were shaking and started to lose their rhythm. Your body collapsed forward, laying on top of him. He kept hold of your ass, forcing your hips to keep moving as you moaned and panted, nails scratching down his chest.

“Fuck! Oh fuck! Raf! Raf!” you started squirming again, release so close you could taste it. At least, that’s what he figured with your tongue hanging out of your mouth. He craned his neck to taste it, pull your mouth onto his and made you swallow his own moans.

Your pussy was so hot and wet and it was squeezing the life out of him. He never wanted to leave. He wanted to mount the pair of you on a pedestal in this embrace, immortalized in shining marble. Scholars and lovers would come from all over the galaxy to study the love and lust your coupling represented. Women would desire to be you and men would envy him for having claimed something so perfect as his own. But none would know just how good you were. How your lips felt pressed against their own, what your arousal tasted like, or what little things turned you into a screaming moaning mess. This was all his to know and no one else.

“Let go.” he murmured against your lips, “I know you want to come. Go ahead, let go and come for me. Oh fuck please! Be a good girl and come all over me. Please!” he stressed. He felt himself about to blow but he’d be damned if he left you behind.

“Raf! Raf! Fuck Raf! Want to! Want to come!” Tears were leaking out of your eyes. “Want to be yours. Want to--want to--fuck! Make me! Make me yours!”

“Yes. Be mine! Be mine! Be only mine!” He crushed your mouth back against his. He wedged one hand between you and found your swollen and neglected clit, rubbing it gracelessly to give you that final little push you needed.

“Ah!” your voice pitched an octave.

“Keep your eyes open.” he gritted through clenched teeth. “Look at me when you come. Look at me!”

You forced your eyes open despite the pleasure wracking your body telling you to close them. “Raf…ay…el…” his name was but a struggled whisper before your cunt clamped down around him and the tremors of your body seized as you were thrown into your orgasm.

Rafayel followed shortly behind, his eyes never leaving yours as the tides of pleasure washed in and out and away. The shaking of your body stilled and you stayed flush against him, chests heaving and hearts hammering as the adrenaline wore off.

After several long minutes of silence you spoke again in a quiet voice, devoid of any malice. “Rafayel?”

He almost wished you hadn’t said anything. He didn’t want to ruin this peaceful moment. But you probably had questions. “What is it?”

“You said it was never casual for you.” you traced patterns across his chest. “What did you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.” he tilted your chin up to look at him. “After eight hundred years of waiting I finally have you back and you think I was going to want anything less than all of you?”

“Again with this eight hundred years thing.” you pinched the bridge of your nose. “I get that you’re older than you look but I am not eight hundred years old, Rafayel. If you are projecting some lost love onto me--”

“It’s not projection. It is you. It has only ever been and only ever will be you.” he could see the war in your eyes, trying to reconcile what he was saying.

He grabbed your hand and placed it on his chest, over his heart. “We promised. I know you don’t remember but I do. We made a vow and you cannot break it. We are bonded, always have been, always will be.”

“Do…” you took a shaky breath, “Do you love me?”

“It is a tragedy you even have to ask.” he cupped your cheek. “But yes, I do. And I will do anything to make sure you stay mine.”

“Well,” you cleared your throat, snuggling against him further. “I think you definitely staked your claim. But even if I am this same person from eight hundred years ago, what makes you think me and her are in any way the same? Do you want me to be more like her or something? Just how far is this going to go?”

“I never want you to be anything less than who you are. You don’t have to be her because there is no her to be. I just want you in whatever way you come.” he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. “Okay?”

“Okay.” you smiled. “And I promise, really actually promise, that I will not flirt with anyone that is not you.”

“Because you love me?” he teased with a dopey smile.

You rolled your eyes. “Yeah. Because I love you.”

-----------

A/N: Hi, so this was my first foray into fanfic for this particular fandom. As it is I'm still fairly new so a lot of my characterization is based off of limited knowledge and vibes. That being said I hope you liked it and if you have other prompts for me whether they be angsty, spicy, or fluffy I'd be glad to have a crack at them. Love ya!

[hees-mine]

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 - 𝐥.𝐡𝐬

Pairing: heeseung ⚥ reader

Synopsis: After just spending a few days away from you, heeseung knows he can’t go much longer without needing to be with you every single waking moment of his life. He knows your relationship is considered wrong, but no one had to know, and he knew the perfect way to have you all to himself without any interferences.

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, stepbrother, stepcest, cursing, dirty talk, fluff.

If you're uncomfortable with step relationships, this is not for you, so please kindly click off. Also they are both consenting adults. This is a work of fiction.

Genre: 18+, smut, taboo relationship, minors do not interact!

WC: 2,934k

PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE PART FOUR PART FIVE PART SIX PART SEVEN

Heeseung woke up early in the morning to leave your room, but when he saw you sleeping so peacefully, he couldn’t find it in him to leave your bed.

He smiled at you, stroking some hairs away from your face so he could see your beautiful face while you slept soundly. He traced his thumb over your cheek softly. “My princess,” he whispers and kisses your forehead lovingly.

His feelings for you were growing more and more by the day. There was only so much longer he could sneak around with you. He needed to be with you every second of the day, not just at night before bed.

He thinks of ways that he could have you all to himself, and an idea pops into his head what if you two just moved together? It’s not like you both weren’t old enough. What if he just used all his savings and got a little place for just the two of you? That way, you’d never have to sneak around ever again, and you could have playtime when and wherever.

Just the idea makes him excited, and he places little kisses all over your face to wake you up and tell you about his genius idea. “Morning bubs,” you whisper and slowly open your eyes, giggling softly when you feel him pressing soft kisses all over your neck and chest.

“Morning, sissy,” he hums against your neck and wraps his arms around you, pulling you closer to his naked chest. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, Bubba.” he smiles at your barely awake state and boops your precious nose.

“Princess, I was thinking of something,” he says after a minute or two. “And you can say no,” he gulps nervously before telling you about his idea.

“Hmm? What is it, big Bubba?” You stroke his chest softly and place a tiny kiss on his jawline, making him feel less nervous. His eyes flutter closed before he meets your worried gaze.

“I just…. I was thinking, what if we moved?” he pauses for a quick second before speaking again. “Like just the two of us, and that way, we can be together all the time.” he tucks your loose hair behind your ear, a feeling of anxiety bubbling in his stomach at the thought of you saying no to him.

“But Bubba, we’re together most of the time,” you say to him, completely confused about his sudden request.

He sighs and props himself up on his elbow, taking your small hand in his and holding it to his mouth to kiss it gently. “I know, but I mean all the time. If we move, we can play all the time, not just at night.” he strokes the back of your hand softly.

Your eyes gleam at the thought, and you already feel excited about spending even more time with him. “But why can’t we do it here?”

You’re so cute, he thinks to himself while he smiles softly. “Because princess, some people won’t approve of our relationship, our parents especially, so we can’t do it here 'cause it’s best if they don’t know about it,” he explains calmly.

“But Bubba, why?” He cups your cheek in his palm.

“Cause some may say we’re too close just to be siblings.” you nod your head, understanding what he’s saying sort of.

“But we’re not really siblings,” you say, slowly tilting your head to the side.

“I know,” he whispers. “But things are a little different for others, so that’s why I think it’s best for us to keep it a secret and just move on our own.”

“Okay! Bubba,” he feels his heart melt, a never-ending smile finding his lips as you engulf him in a hug like he’s your big teddy bear. “But we can still visit, right?”

“Of course!”

-

“Are you sure you’re ready for this son? You’re both so young.” you were all currently in the living room talking things over. heeseung had proposed the idea to your parents after talking things over with you.

“Hmm,” he nods. “I think it’ll be good, sissy thinks so, too” he smiles at you softly, and you nearly get lost in his dreamy eyes.

“He’s right. They aren’t exactly babies anymore, honey,” your mom says, seemingly approving of the idea. “Plus, she has her big brother. They’re like two peas in a pod. We have nothing to worry about,” she nudges her husband discreetly and whispers. “Plus, we can have more alone time.”

“Oh,” he smiles softly at her, taking her hand in his. “Dear, I suppose you’re right.” at the end of it all, you come to an agreement with the promise of that if anything happens, you’ll both move back in with your parents and of course, heeseung agrees even though he didn’t see anything wrong ever happening how could it when he finally had his princess all to himself?

-

It’s been a while since your guys talk, and today was officially moving day.

“Gonna be just you and me, princess.” heeseung lifted you up off your feet, spinning you around as you squealed in excitement. “Are you excited?” He smiles brightly at you.

“Yes, Bubba,” you say happily as you kick your feet in the air.

“Me too.” he quickly pecks your lips before setting you down so you can both finish packing.

When everything was concluded, your parents helped you both with your bags. “Call us when you arrive,” your mom says.

“I will!” You reply with a smile.

“And drive safe.” now it’s your dad's turn to chime in.

“I will, I promise.” heeseung smiles and puts a protective arm around you, making you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

“Come over on the holidays.”

“And call us every day.”

“Be good to each other.”

You both just chuckled at your parent's endless worrying before leaving the house and driving to the new place.

Finally, heeseung thinks as he holds your hand all the way there.

Now it was gonna be just you and him all the time, no distraction, no interruption, just the two of you alone sharing your endless love for each other without having to worry about any judgment from the outside world.

When you arrive, heeseung does all the unpacking so his princess doesn’t have to do any of the work, of course.

Box after box, and hours later, he was finally done setting everything up.

When he finished, you both ordered out, too exhausted from moving to cook. As you both ate dinner, you talked and went on and on about all the things you both wanted to do together in the new apartment, and you could easily see this becoming a daily routine for you as long as Big Bubba was with you you didn’t have a worry in the world.

After dinner, you cuddled on the couch that your parents had the movers bring in, and before you knew it, it was already midnight, and heeseung thinks time really does fly when you’re having fun. “Wanna get ready for bed?” Heeseung whispers softly, stroking your shoulder while back-hugging you on the sofa.

You hum in agreement, the both of you getting up and walking to the bedroom to call it a night for the first time at the new apartment.

As heeseung was collecting yours and his clothes, you stood there playing with your fingers near the corner of your room. “Something wrong, princess,” heeseung asks you, and you just shake your head back and forth.

He looks at you worriedly, thinking maybe you were having second thoughts about moving in with him, that is, until he sees you discreetly rubbing your legs together, and then it clicked with him he knew exactly what you wanted, and he can’t say he wasn’t waiting for this moment himself.

“Wanna play with big bubs” you mutter shyly.

“Princess, now that we’re all alone, you can call me whatever you like,” he encircles your waist, hugging you close to his body. “And from now on, whenever you’re feeling like this, just tell me you wanna have sex, okay?”

“Sex?” You tilt your head slightly. He always found you adorable when you did that.

“Yep,” he nods his head, and he kinda wants to scold his parents for keeping you so sheltered. You were far too innocent for your own good. That’s the only reason he started calling you sissy and having you call him Bubba in the first place because those were the only endearing names that your parents wouldn’t find suspicious, not to mention he couldn’t tell you it was called sex cause if that ever got out he’s sure his parents would have beat him black and blue if they knew he was having sex with their daughter and his “sister.”

“Okay,” you whisper and put your hands on his chest while he smiles down at you.

“So princess, what’s it gonna be?” He touches your forehead with his eager to hear what you want his new nickname to be.

“B-baby,” you stutter shyly. You always wanted to call him that when you heard your friends call their boyfriends like that, but you were far too embarrassed to tell him.

“You’re so cute.” he nudges his nose with yours, giving you a kiss on the cheek, which makes you duck your head down in his chest and hide from him. “Lay down on our bed, princess,” he tells you softly, heart thumping in his chest as he looks at you. You’re so beautiful, and you’re all just his, no one else’s.

His stare makes you feel shy, and even though it’s embarrassing for you to make eye contact with him, you just can’t pull your eyes away from his.

He slowly lifts his shirt up, pulling it over his head and tossing it on the ground. “Baby,” you say breathlessly as you watch him getting undressed.

He tries to play it cool when he hears you call him that for the first time in bed, but he can’t help the wide smile that covers his entire face as he rids himself of his jeans. “Call me that again,” he laughs while hovering above you on the bed, smiling at your flustered face.

“Baby,” you mutter, and he feels like he’s gonna have a heart attack.

Pecking your lips, he grins and leans back to grab the hem of your shirt and lift it over your head, revealing your bra-clad chest. “You’re so beautiful,” he says, and you can hear the love oozing in his voice.

“Thank you,” he bites on his lip, lowering his hands to your shorts and underwear, slipping them off your delicate frame.

“Of course, my princess” his eyebrows crease slightly as he gulps from the sight of your sticky cunt loving just how wet you get for him every single time you both make love.

Kicking off your bottoms, you instinctively sit up and unclip your bra, showing him your full breasts and hardened nipples. Once you toss your bra aside, you reach for the waist of his boxers, tugging them down as many times as you’ve done playtime with him. You know what to do next.

A gasp leaves your lips when you reveal his hard leaky cock, and the sight alone makes you whimper. You needed to feel him inside of you as soon as possible.

He leans over you, lowering himself to place a few wet kisses on your chest as he takes his boxers off the rest of the way and discards them on the floor.

He captures your tender lips in a hungry kiss, moaning into your mouth as he feels your hot tongue searing against his he rolls his hips dragging his length along your pussy, whimpering when his tip comes in contact with your entrance.

“Baby,” you breathe into his mouth, utterly breathless from how his mouth feels against yours.

“Mmm, I’m right here.” he guides your legs around his waist and then cups your hands together, holding them beside your head as he continually ruts against your dripping core.

“Want your cock inside” he groans into your mouth, kissing you more feverishly from your request.

He’s hesitant cause he hasn’t even prepped you yet, and though you’re literally dripping all over his dick and the bedsheets, the last thing he wants to end up doing is hurting his princess. “Yeah?” He whispers against your lips softly as you give him the slightest nod. “Okay, princess, gonna go nice and slow.” he kissed your forehead, angling his hips back until his tip was at your hole and very slowly pushing his tip in. “Fuck” he whimpers as soon as he feels you around him.

Mewling at the intrusion, you arch your back involuntarily, which causes him to go even deeper, making you cry out in pleasure. “Mmh baby,” you squeeze his hand's chest, rising and falling with each uneven breath you take as you feel his heart pounding against yours.

“Does it feel good, princess?” He asks as he buries his face in the side of your neck, licking and sucking on every inch that he could reach.

“Yes,” you sigh in pleasure, eyes rolling back in your head. “So big, so warm.” he takes that as his cue to fully penetrate you till he’s sheathed within your heat and every stroke feels better than the last you’re just so warm and wet that it makes his head spin.

“You’re making me feel so good, princess” his words sound like one drawn-out moan, barely coherent as he picks up his pace drilling your sweet spot over and over as his abdomen rubs on your throbbing clit. “Love you so much,” he whines in your ear, panting helplessly as he pumps your pussy till you’re shaking beneath him.

“Ah,” you attempted to respond but moaned instead cause he felt so deep and full inside you. “L-love you too,” he moans at your confession. It’s not like he hasn’t heard you say it before, but right now, it feels so much more intimate and intense than all the previous times.

“Wanna spend the rest of my life with you.” The sounds he made were ones that you’d never even heard before, and it made everything feel so much better. “Fill you up so you can give us a little family.” he’s not sure why the words are coming out of his mouth so easily, but it’s true he wants nothing more than to be with you for the rest of his life. “Want that princess? Want me to cum in you?” Placing a hand between your bodies, he rubs your clit the tight clench you give him makes him choke out a moan, eyes falling shut with the pleasure you give to him and only him.

“Yes baby, cum ins-side me, please” The warm feeling you’d become accustomed to spread throughout your lower body no matter how many times you felt it. It always took your breath away every single time. You just could never get enough of feeling his cock so deep in you.

“Kiss,” he breathes out, brain fuzzy and completely drained of everything but you.

Moaning into your mouth, he matches the pace of his thrusts with the quick circles he draws on your clit, and within no time, you’re both parting from the kiss, unfiltered moans escaping as you both get lost in the pleasure of your orgasms not worrying about how loud you’re both being as your fluids mix with each other.

You squeeze around him so tight that he’s almost forced to empty his balls deep in you as you clench and unclench around his thick cock milking him for all he’s worth and then some as you feel your insides hot and sticky with his cum he whimpers and whines incoherent sentences from how tight you feel your pussy was making him go completely dumb he was drunk off your silky cunt encasing his girth perfectly.

The feeling goes on and on, seemingly never-ending, while you both exchange sloppy wet kisses and for a moment, you feel like you’re going to pass out from the pleasure. Your brows crease together at the hot tingling sensation all over your body, and he feels it too, the warmth expanding in his abdomen as wet, slippery sounds fill up your guys' shared bedroom, followed by loud moans and deep grunts as he fills you up again with his thick seed coming back to back in record time.

Your other hand grips his bicep body, violently shaking as you feel another earth-shattering wave of euphoria enrapture you. “Love you, my princess,” he pants while kissing you, saliva spilling past both your swollen lips as you confessed to each other for the uncountable time tonight.

“I love you too, baby,” you moan softly while he slowly caresses your sensitive bud. He brings you down from your high, gently rolling his hips as his second orgasm turns into faint little throbs until his body finally calms down along with yours.

Once your heartbeats regulate, he pulls away from the kiss first, resting his forehead against yours with an exhausted chuckle, eyes full of nothing but fondness for you.

He cradles your cheek in his palm, and you quickly mimic his actions as he leans into your soft, loving touch.

As you look into his eyes, you can’t help but get lost in them, and you couldn’t wait to spend every waking moment of your life with him.

This was just the beginning of your guy's love story and the end of playtime.

Thanks for reading please reblog and leave feedback.

I’m tearing up 🥲 y’all it’s over this is the end 😞 I’m sad.

[13atoms]

Airplane Mode (Spencer Reid x Reader)

A quick blurb about Spencer Reid and his SO finally getting a resort vacation! (Or holiday, because I’m a Brit and saying vacation feels weird). Insp by the slightly weird holiday I’m currently on lol | 1k fluff

Holidays were a bad omen for the BAU. Like complaining a night shift in a hospital is too quiet, or that it hasn’t rained in a while. Holidays meant something was bound to go wrong. So you’d waited until the very last minute to book the flights. Packed your suitcases two hours before leaving for the airport.

You hadn’t allowed yourself to be excited to go away, or even to tell many friends you’d be on holiday.

The louder you said it, the more likely it was that Spencer would be called into work, and the whole thing would fall to the wayside in a series of frantic phone calls. Ultimately, it would only mean Spencer felt awful, and guilty, and it would have been better if you’d never planned anything in the first place. It wasn’t his fault, you couldn’t resent him for it, people’s lives were at stake.

But you were so excited for a vacation.

Even in the airport, as Spencer passed through security with the lazy, efficient movements of a weary regular flier, you’d been waiting for his phone to ring. For it to all be over. You’d held his arm in the airport lounge, waiting for the gate announcement, not daring to speak a word in case the universe heard you and Spencer had to jump on a different plane before yours had even taken off. Then there would be the arguing with the airline. The money lost, the forms for it to be refunded by the FBI, your bags missing because they were already packed deep into the hold of the plane.

You had clutched your coffee cup, already feeling dread and exhaustion overtaking you.

Then the plane had taken off. You hadn’t quite believed it. Spencer put his phone on airplane mode, and showed it to you.

“We’ve made it,” he whispered, through a smile, “it would be in violation of the Federal Aviation Administration regulations to take a call from work now.”

You shoved your face into his neck, and let yourself begin to feel excited.

The resort was one recommended by a colleague of Spencer’s, boring and relaxing, adults’ only and pleasantly quiet. There was a time and a place for exploring and excitement, but truly the thought of Spencer spending a single week away from work felt like excitement enough.

In the taxi from the airport, when Spencer had turned his phone back on and not received summons from Gideon, you finally let yourself utter the words:

“I can’t believe we’re on holiday.”

“I know!”

Spencer was giddy, you could count on one hand the number of times you’d heard him giggle, and it was so wonderful you had to pull his hand into yours and squeeze it.

“I am so excited to do nothing,” he admitted, though you knew his e-reader contained a small library’s worth of books.

“I just want to eat good food, and spend time with you.”

“I think I’m going to turn my phone off,” he said abruptly, as though he’d only just had the thought he could.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! Garcia knows where I am, if there’s a real emergency. That way I won’t feel like I have to check it all the time.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

He smiled at you, and you watched as he shot off a quick text to Penelope, before completely turning his phone off. For a moment there was silence, and you both waited, listening to the sound of rubber on tarmac and feeling the heat of the sun outside. Nothing happened. Of course it didn’t. The realisation made you burst out laughing at the same time as Spencer, and you caught a flash of the driver’s backwards glance in the rear view mirror.

“You know what, mine too!”

You turned your phone off in solidarity, and stacked it beside his on the middle seat.

“Swap?” Spencer asked, offering you his phone, but you shook your head.

“Straight into the safe, when we get to the hotel. They can stay there.”

“That’s an even better idea.”

You knew, if it came down to it, if a life was at risk, he’d get the message from the hotel reception and go back to Quantico. That was okay. It was part of who he was, he needed the BAU, as much as they needed him.

There was a chain of people between that decision being made and Spencer finding out, including Gideon and Penelope, who would do everything in that power not to ask him. And that felt good.

For the first day, you let yourselves do only what you wanted to, to explore, to lie in bed, to read. Spencer needed the reminders not to watch every little thing that happened, not to examine poolsides and restaurants like they were crime scenes, but soon that went away and the frown in his brow was smoothed.

He wore swim trunks. He tried sips of your cocktail while floating in a pool. He laughed, and cried at one of the books he read, and ate properly, and let himself spend hours lying against your body in bed.

When you left the hotel, you both forgot your phones, and had to pay the taxi driver to turn around and get them.

“We should just leave them,” you’d joked breathlessly, as the receptionist concealed exasperation and politely led you to the room you’d just checked out of.

“That would be pointless, I’d just have to buy another one –” Spencer was distracted, following the receptionist, working out whether you’d miss the plane in the worst possible scenario.

You could see the stress in him, as the taxi driver waited outside with your bags, his meter running.

“Not if we stay here forever,” you teased, and finally saw the fall of his shoulders, the smile lines appearing on his face.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

Spencer made it a whole 24 hours after landing without getting on another plane, and you considered it a small victory. When he called you on the jet you could almost see him, skin a little bit more tanned, his hair still a little curlier from the sun and the chlorine.

“You’d better bring a souvenir, jet setter,” you teased, and imagined Spencer wrinkling his nose before he replied.

“We’re going to Milwaukee.”

[starhvney]

𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝟑 | 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟑: 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 & 𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃

𝐂𝐖: paranoia, anxiety, physical violence

𝐀/𝐍: mama, a kidnapper behind YOU <3

𝐖𝐂: 5,800+

𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑: @arienic

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 ☆ 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐀𝐎𝟑 | 𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

“i can’t believe your parents casually own riverfront property in the mountains. i know we’re here already, but i still can’t get over it.”

“have you seen our house?” zane deadpans sarcastically, rolling his eyes and looking back at aphmau. he’d been hunched over on that log the whole morning, squinting down at the nintendo he’d brought with him.

“you shouldn’t brag,” vylad murmurs from where he knelt down by the ice chest, right by garroth who was cooking everyone lunch on the grill.

“whatever. i don’t know why either of you or mom wanted me to go on this stupid trip.”

“because you need to get out more. the sun is healthy for you, you know.”

you turn your head from the squabbling brothers, rubbing them out as you look around at the scenery. aphmau’s shock wasn’t lost on you, either. the summer sun wasn’t too hot thanks to the northern region this property sat on, yet the rays that shone through the tree leaves and hit your face still kissed your skin with warmth. the distant noise of the river flowing and birds chirping was the only thing heard aside from your friends’ chatter. tall, beautiful trees surrounded the area, closing in the clearing this camping—or more glamping setup was in.

a tall watchtower loomed up on the small hill above you, and below it laid a bunker you hadn’t yet explored. you and the group are currently gathered around the fire pit, the small log cabin everyone was bunking in just off to the side. honestly, as shocked you were to be in a place this beautiful, you’re more shocked everyone’s parents were okay with you guys coming here alone. a bunch of teenagers alone, with no adult supervision? you guess due to your parents’ past friendship (save for laurance), they trusted each other’s kids to be good and not stir up too much trouble. but still.

it makes you wonder. when everyone else in this group grows older, will you all trust each other the same as your parents do? as you all do now? would your kids be friends? would you even keep your friends for that long?

“you look lost in thought,” aphmau murmurs from beside you.

katelyn is next to her, turning her attention to you as she adjusts her blue flannel that matches aphmau’s purple and your own favorite color. the incoming sophomore had insisted you three matched, saying flannel shirts “so matched the camping vibe” and that the girls of the group matching would be “super duper cute”.

“just… thinking.”

“about what?” katelyn prods.

if you’d tolerate my friendship for much longer. 

“the future.”

“ooh, what about it?”

“just what we become. if we’ll all be together by then.”

“hopefully not,” zane grumbles under his breath, earning a sharp glare from not only his brothers but also laurance who’d been quietly observing the conversation.

“it would be so cool if we all lived in the same neighborhood one day!” aphmau suddenly says, hands clasped together as she completely ignores zane’s remark. “on the same street!”

“do you know how hard that would be to find a bunch of houses for sale together like that? you’d have to know, like, a really important realtor.” katelyn says, before her own words clip short at the end as she looks over to the ro’meave brothers, eyebrow raised. “i guess it’s not completely impossible… perhaps…”

“you’d have to really do something big to convince our dad to do that.” vylad muses. “unless something super crazy happened and we all had to live together for like… our safety or something.”

“that’s a weird way to put it.” laurance snorts.

“i’m just saying! it would be a huge loss money-wise for him.”

“he’s right,” zane mutters. “thankfully something like that won’t be necessary, so i won’t have to live by you freaks.”

aphmau gawks, putting her hands on yours and katelyn’s heads. “excuse me? i bet the three of us would be amazing roommates. we’d be the best neighbors!”

“ehhh…” katelyn starts.

“ehh?! what do you mean eeeehhhh? you wouldn’t want to room with me?”

laurance turns to you, leaning in to whisper in your ear, “did one eye just call us freaks? has he seen his haircut?”

“stop,” you snort, giving a scorning slap to his hand. “don’t be rude.”

“hey! he’s garroth’s little brother, so he's my little brother. i get to make fun of him like one,” he defends, eyeing the younger boy with mischief in his eyes. “besides, i’ve been sent here on this earth to humble both him and garroth. they desperately need it.”

you roll your eyes, but you can’t help the smile inching onto your face. it was kind of fun to tease them. “but not vylad, huh?”

“nah, look at him.” he gestures towards the youngest, the boy smiling absentmindedly while listening to aph, kate, and zane squabble. “you really can’t make fun of that. bro’s at peace.”

“that’s… so true. he’s really well put together, actually.”

your eyes drift to garroth, who’s setting the freshly cooked food down on the trays

“damn, no plates,” he sighs under his breath, looking around. “how did we forget that?”

vylad frowns, looking at his older brother. “i thought there were some in the cabin…? do we need to run to the store?”

the blond shakes his head, setting the freshly grilled meat onto the metal tray. “no, no. there should be some in the bunker’s storage. i’ll go look.”

you jump to your feet at the mention of the bunker, dusting the stray bark and dirt that stuck to your legs. “i’ll help. i wanted to see what it looked like, anyways.”

garroth shrugs with a smile, slowing his long stride for you to catch up as he trudges up the hill. “it’s not really anything special. just some dusty boxes and stuff down there.”

“aw, man. no secret lab?”

“i’m afraid not. sorry to disappoint.” he grins, stepping forward to open the hatch. 

a shiver runs down your spine at the cool air that wafts up from the dark room below, the contents inside hidden beyond the creaky staircase before you. something about the energy it gave off both drew you in and repelled you at the same time, keeping you still in place as you stared at the dark pit below.

“you scared? i can go first,” garroth offers, waving his hand in front of your face.

“huh? oh no, i’m not scared.”

“…sure…” he teases, snickering at the glare you send as he leads the way. “don’t worry. if you turn back now i won’t tell the others you’re a scaredy cat.”

“scaredy cat? how old are you?”

“older than you.”

you roll your eyes, and despite wanting to smack the boy’s forehead, your focus turns to the buzz of the single lightbulb that flickers on as you both make it to the bottom of the steps. garroth walks over to some boxes and crates that had been stacked in the corner, leaving you to look around at the concrete walls around you.

he was right, there wasn’t much special about it. nothing but cobwebs and crates filled the bunker, aside from a pile of rocks and dirt piled in the corner behind the stairs. as garroth continues to shuffle through his family’s storage, you curiously walk over to the debris. strange. sure, this was just a small vacation spot for the ro’meaves, but they always kept everything so tidy. why would they just leave this junk in here?

squinting your eyes, you catch a dark, brownish red painted on the wall. the shadow of the staircase kept it too dim to read, but you also catch a crack in the wall that looked like an old covered-up doorway. something about it sent a shiver up your spine, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. why is this place freaking you out so much?

“what are you looking at?” garroth suddenly asks from behind you, making you jump in place.

“oh, i was just trying to read this.” you point to the wall, and he pulls a flashlight from his pocket, shining it onto the dusty surface.

you were right. dark, reddish brown is rather messily painted onto the wall as if it were done in a hurry. the writing is illegible, whether it’s in another language or just poorly written indiscernible by you. though, above the writing, you did recognize one thing. it wasn’t words or strange signs, but instead a symbol of a very familiar divine figure.

“is that the irene sigil?”

“oh, yeah. that was there since i was a kid—as long as i can remember. mom just brushed it off saying it was dad playing a prank on us to try and scare us or something. but honestly, i always thought it was just kinda weird.”

“yeah… i know it’s probably paint… but doesn’t that look like blood or something?”

garroth snorts and begins to shake his head, before he hums and leans forward with furrowed brows. “you know… i remember it being brighter red when i was younger. now it’s kinda brown. i’m not great at science but isn’t that what happens when blood oxidizes for a long time or something?”

you raise an eyebrow at that, the two of you making nervous eye contact from the corners of your eyes.

“surely it’s just dirt and time that made the paint fade. why would it be blood?” you dryly laugh, standing straight again.

“yeah. blood would be weird. i think it’s just this place. always gave me the creeps.” garroth nods, following your awkward laughter as he stands tall himself, lifting the small stack of paper plates in his hand. “i uh—i found some plates by the way. so we should probably go eat now.”

“right, right,” you agree, glancing one last time at the ominous drawings before the two of you climb the stairs quicker than you had descended them.

☆

“man. to be able to spend the rest of my days floating around in the water. that would be the life,” katelyn murmurs, her head bobbing on top of the water as she floats on her back. “i know i’m a mermaid in another life.” 

you glance over to her from the float you had lazily thrown your arms over. her hair flowed from her head in tendrils, the color darker from the water but occasionally shimmering as the sun's rays hit the strands. her pale skin and light blue swimsuit stood out from the darker water below her, making her practically glow against the river’s surface.

“i could see that, actually.”

katelyn lifts herself upright, starting to giggle. “right?”

“hey guys! if we want to kayak then we should do it before it gets dark,” garroth calls from the rope swing on the opposite side of the river bank. “you still want to go?”

“of course!” kate calls back, as if the answer was obvious.

vylad whoops while laurance swings himself over the water, the boy flipping back in the air as he goes. he appears on the surface a moment later, smiling as he spits the water from his mouth. “we’ll grab them from the shed!”

“is zane coming?” you ask, wading backward towards the small wooden dock that aph was perched on.

“he’s still pouting up in the cabin. you can go see if he wants to come,” vylad says. “…he probably won’t, though.”

“okay, i’ll go check, anyways.”

“are you sure you don’t want to come in the water, aphmau?” katelyn asks, swimming up to the edge with you.

“ummm, yep!” she smiles, her demeanor seeming a bit nervous as she eyes the flowing river ahead. “just don’t feel like swimming.”

“well, maybe you can kayak with us instead. you don’t even have to get wet for that.”

“maybe…”

wrapping a towel around your shoulders, you begin the walk back up to the campsite, grateful for the stone steps that had been built into the steep hill. trees hung over the path, keeping you shaded while the cool mountain breeze bristled the leaves over your head. your friends’ laughter and splashing in the water fade into the background as you finally make it to the top, your footsteps falling into the grass and dirt as you march up to the cabin door.

it’s dark inside, save for the natural light that filtered through the windows and the lamp lit up next to zane’s bunk. he laid back on the pillows, hoodie pulled over his head as he clicked away at his game. despite your obvious entrance, he completely ignores it, not even sparing a glance in your direction.

“hey.”

“what.”

you hold back the eye roll that fights against your eyelids, instead quietly sighing under your breath.

“we’re going kayaking in a minute. want to come?”

“no.”

“it’s the last evening of our trip. don’t you want to at least try to have a little fun?”

“no. i don’t care about swimming or kayaking, so why would i?”

“because i came all the way up here to get you to go.”

“then it was a waste of your time.”

you pull in another sharp breath, and despite the desire to just turn around nagging at your brain, you couldn’t ignore the image of him curled on the school tile. clearly, despite his harshness and wanting to seem like he didn’t care, he did seek validation from others. his whole act of being a punk and trying to get that validation from gene of all people nagged at your head.

“you know… actually not having people and friends who care about you isn’t very much fun. i’m sure a lot of people would kill to be in your place right now.” you shift on your feet. “not trying to lecture you or something, but you should at least try and have a little fun, since you’re already stuck here. in the future, you might regret not taking advantage of this time with everyone.”

“i don’t need you to tell me anything,” he grumbles, though not sounding as snappy as before. “i don’t like socializing. is it that hard to understand?”

“no. i don’t necessarily like it all the time, either. it can be really draining. but so is being alone all the time. you can think you like it but it eventually just makes you bitter. you never know when you’ll turn around needing someone to help you only to realize you’ve pushed them all away.”

“oh, like you’d know anything about that,” he snips. “you get coddled by everyone 'cause you can’t go outside without getting scared about some—“

he flinches like the sour words that left his mouth had spat out of his lips before he could even think of them.

“what an awful thing to say. you don’t know anything.”

his mouth is agape, and the eye that’s visible to you for once seems full of guilt.

“the offer still stands. i just thought i’d let you know.” you turn around, teeth tugging at the skin of your lip as you step out of the cabin.

stupid boy.

you make it to the edge of the camp, at the top of the stone stairs, when the cabin door creaks open and closes. quickened footsteps follow after you a moment later, before the lanky boy quietly falls in place next to you. his head is low, eye trained on the rocky path beneath your feet.

a beat passes in silence, your eyes locked on the steps ahead. he sighs tensely, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“sorry,” he mumbles. “that was shitty to say. even for me.”

you start down the steps, shrugging. “it’s fine.”

he starts to follow, and while no more apologies leave his lips, you can tell he’s sorry enough based on the fact he was still following you to the dock. that alone was enough to surprise you, considering he’d likely rather shoot his own foot than apologize even to his own two brothers. 

“woah, you actually got him out here. you have secret powers or something?” laurance raises his eyebrows, shooting a questioning look at zane who loomed behind you as you approached the dock.

“something like that,” you muse.

“i don’t know if i want to go,” aphmau mutters, her arms wrapped around herself as she rocks on her feet by the water. 

the kayaks are lined up by her feet, four double-seaters in a row.

“well, even zane is going so you definitely have to,” katelyn says, splashing a bit of water by the girl’s feet and giggling when she leaps back.

“you don’t have to, but it’ll be fun! you can go with zane since he also doesn’t want to get wet. then you can both be reassured knowing you won’t tip the other in,” you suggest.

“i would rather not share with her.” zane sneers, eyeing aphmau up and down with a rather sassy look.

the girl takes great offense to this, her fists clenched by her sides. “well—! i don’t want to share with you, either! you have a stupid face!”

“wow. i thought we left kindergarten.” garroth rolls his eyes, nodding his head to laurance, who has already dragged one out into the water and is occupying himself by attempting to jump inside. “looks like he already left with one, anyways.”

katelyn pulls you towards one of the three left, pushing you into the spot in front of her as she slides in herself. you nearly tip over into the water again from the sudden movement, yelping as water splashes on your lap.

“well, that leaves vylad and me in this one. come on you two.” garroth motions to the last kayak left, raising his eyebrows challengingly at the two pouting teens left on the dock. “let’s be civil.”

it took ten minutes of complaining and nervous shuffling before the whole group was out on the water. despite the drama of it all, it was worth it. despite aphmau’s sudden fear of water which you hadn’t noticed before and zane’s reluctance to experience any joy, you could tell they were at least slightly enjoying this, too. the sun was painting the clouds in different shades of orange and pink as it made its way to the horizon, leaving you all surprisingly quiet as you all soaked in the moment.

“what’s on your mind?” katelyn suddenly asks from behind you, and despite nobody else turning their heads over, you could tell they were listening. “and don’t say nothing like you usually do lately.”

a huff leaves your nose, and a few moments pass before you answer. “just about… how…”

“the stalker?” aphmau whispers, pulling everyone’s eyes towards you.

“...yeah. just how weird it was that he showed his face, and now it’s been since before prom since i’ve seen him or the black suv. i just want to know what he’s thinking.”

laurance spins the kayak oar in his hands, before using it to pull himself closer to you.

“you hadn’t seen him before?”

“well, no. i mean, yes, but i didn’t realize it was him until later.” you rub your eyes with the palms of your hands. “it isn’t the first time he’s disappeared for a while, but he gets bolder each time he 'shows' himself to me. it’s just been making me feel on edge, lately, is all.”

there isn’t a response to that for a few beats.

“sorry, that was a mood dampener.”

there’s a collective shake of heads (besides zane), a few protestant “no”s echoing across the group.

“it just sucks. how has police not done anything?”

“they can’t actually do anything unless an actual threat to my life is made. plus, he’s so inconsistent with his appearances that it would take a lot of resources and time from emergency services if they tried tracking him. at least, that’s what the cops said before. that’s why i moved in the first place.”

katelyn scoffs. “that’s such bullshit. they just wait until something bad happens? it shouldn’t matter how long it takes. that’s psychological warfare.”

you shrug, bringing your knees up to your chest and resting your chin on them. “yeah, but unfortunately that’s how it works. i guess i’m just scared that i’ll have to run again. i’ve never had friends like you guys… so the thought of having to leave you all behind right as i get to be normal is really scary.”

“no matter what happens, you’ll always be our friend," vylad says, giving you a hopeful grin. 

“and as your friends, we’re here to protect you,” garroth adds, uncharacteristically serious. “we won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

☆

the van rocks forward as garroth parks, the sunset shining through the windows and creating bright shapes across your eyelids. cracking your eyes open, you reluctantly pull your cheek from where it had snuggly rested on katelyn’s shoulder, consequentially stirring up aphmau who was laid across your lap. the icee she’d gotten on the trip back was still precariously set between her legs—it was shocking that it hadn't spilled onto her lap as the three of you slept in the back.

aphmau’s house meets your eyes as you clamber out of the back seat, your own just right down your line of vision. you were back home. a smile lifts on the corner of your lips at that. it wasn’t just a place you moved into, anymore. it was home. as were the teens that crawled out from the ro’meave’s van. home.

a strange shiver of being watched prickles at your neck, and your attention turns from your friends to the street behind you. nothing is there but the other houses on the street, the cars you saw regularly parked in their driveways. 

everything is fine. the neighborhood is peaceful in the evening time, the summer insects chirping away as their time of the night comes. the air around you is calm, yet your breath seems to catch in your throat, the hot air invading your lungs rather than warming them. your heart thuds in your chest, its pace so rapid it feels like it’s stuttering against your rib cage. 

you hadn’t stopped thinking about the markings on the bunker wall the whole trip, the imagery of the creepy, bloody-looking drawings still imprinted in your mind. on top of that, the conversation you’d had last evening was still buzzing around in your head, making for a rough mix of paranoia.

“are you okay?” aphmau whispers from right next to you, finally pulling your eyes from the street to the worried-looking girl next to you.

“yeah… just thinking. about things.”

that was eloquent.

you’re grateful for this trip. ever since she’d started talking to that aaron guy she seemed to have a lot less time to hang out or even talk to you as much, so having some time with the girl by herself was nice. you honestly didn’t blame her for her puppy love with the guy. you’d thought of him as a delinquent at first, but he wasn’t so bad at prom. he was a little quiet, but he was actually pretty nice as far as you could tell. he was the tall, dark, and handsome type, and that was a perfect contrast to the walking sun that aphmau was.

she hums looking unsure, before reluctantly letting it go as you wave her off.

“really?” katelyn suddenly groans, staring down at her phone.

laurance turns to look over his shoulder at the girl, a mischievous smile dancing across his face.

“what?”

“you know what! you little creep, why'd you post this? delete it, now!”

laurance begins to snicker. “no. it’s funny.”

you walk to katelyn’s side as she sends a sharp glare at him, peering over her shoulder to see her instagram open. recently posted by laurance was a picture of him and vylad cheesing into the camera, their faces at the bottom of the screen while you, kate, and aph were passed out in the background.

“i look awful. my mouth is open! i look like a mouth breather!”

“no… you three look… adorable…” he says between giggles, before yelping as the girl charges at him. aphmau chases after them as they run inside, her hands frantically waving for them to stop.

you walk after them, the ro’meave brothers—save for zane who’d been dropped off on the way—following along behind you into the salome residence. surprisingly you didn’t hear any shouting or wrestling as you’d expect, and instead, kate and laurance have crowded around the kitchen island that was filled with snacks.

sylvanna lets go of aphmau, who’d been wrapped up in her clutches for a tight hug, and sets her sights on you. 

“mija!” she rushes you, pulling you in her arms and rocking side to side. “did you all have fun?”

“yes! it was a lot of fun,” you laugh, the tenseness in your shoulders leaving with every shake from the woman. “thank you for letting us all stay here for the night.”

“of course! as long as the boys here behave themselves, then your vacation doesn’t have to end just yet!” she says, her head whipping to the three guys who stiffen at her burning glare.

laurance looks at the feisty woman from the corner of his widened eyes, cheeks full of chips as he nods.

“of course. we’d never, miss sylvanna.” garroth smiles. “our mum taught us better.”

“of course she did!” she lets you go from her grasp, walking back over to the group with a chipper grin. “just making sure you don’t forget. zianna gave me permission to whoop all of your asses if you try anything!”

“mom…” aphmau sighs, rubbing her forehead.

“what? just speakin’ the truth, yo!”

aphmau groans into her hands.

you walk over to the snacks, picking up some small bite-sized things to nibble on as the lively conversation continues around you. everyone looks so happy. their smiling faces bright in the dim kitchen light, laughter carrying through the air of the cozy house and wrapping around you like a tight warm hug. part of you wishes you could sit in this moment forever, standing in the kitchen and watching your friends chatter amongst themselves. it was such a simple moment, yet you felt as though you should hold on to it.

“nothing—“ you start, before shaking your head with a smile. “i’m just glad we’re all friends.”

everyone stops, and as they all smile at you you don’t feel the need to hide or curl away like you usually would when faced with many eyes on you. there’s no prickling in your hands, or a coldness in your chest. you just feel warm.

“awwww,” sylvanna coos, aphmau making a similar sound as the two wrap their arms around you and press their cheeks into your hair. “we love you too!”

“you’re the cutest.” katelyn laughs, wrapping her arms around the three of you—with the boys following quickly after.

the moment lasts for a good ten seconds before you feel overwhelmed by the love being poured onto you.

“okay, okay. i’m gonna run to my house really quick to grab some things.” squirming out of their arms with a giggle, your cheeks burn hot from the affection.

“okay, mija. don’t take long.” sylvanna taps your nose.

you nod and make your way to the front door, pausing when you realize the sun has already disappeared, leaving the space beyond the window dark and black. for some reason, it sends an anxious feeling through your chest, and as you reach for the door you nearly jump out of your skin as garroth’s hand lands on your shoulder.

“hey. didn’t mean to scare you.” he smiles nervously, his hand waving over your shoulder like it would wipe away the fright he’d just given you.

“oh! it’s okay, garroth. what’s up?”

“you just looked a little nervous earlier,” he says, shifting on his feet. “are you thinking about… everything? i can walk you to your house if you’re feeling scared.”

a deep breath of air fills your lungs. sweet garroth. all of your friends were, and you knew they’d all come running to help you if you called—and you were just stepping right down the street. there’s nothing to worry about.

“no, that’s okay.” you reach out to pat his arm. “thank you, garroth. i’ll be okay.”

“are you sure? i really don’t mind.”

“yeah. i’m sure.”

he looks hesitant, but takes a step back with a small smile. “okay, then. see you in a bit.”

“mhm.”

you open the door, step out, and give a wave before continuing out to the pavement. the lingering heat from the summer sun wavered in the air, though the cool night breeze was beginning to blow it away, leaving the air perfectly warm against your skin. ignoring the tingling in your fingers, you keep your shoulders high as you cut across the lawn to the sidewalk, shoes clicking against the concrete.

glancing back one last time, garroth was slowly closing the door, watching you walk away before completely shutting it.

your eyes rake the street beside you, street lamps and the moonlight lighting up every car on the road. each neighbor had their vehicles in their regular spots, everything seeming in order as you check every house one by one.

everything is fine, right? so why do you feel so on edge?

swallowing thickly, you take a shaky inhale and bring your sweaty hand up to zianna’s locket. this walk to your house feels longer than usual.

what’s that noise?

eyebrows pulling together, your eyes narrow as you look ahead, to where the street lamp ahead shone down on an idled vehicle in the road.

black paint reflected back at you, but not the lights. no, the only hint that it was on was the low hum of the engine.

you don’t realize you’ve frozen in place—nor that your breaths had stopped—until you suck in a sudden breath to chase away the swirling black dots that swam around your peripheral vision. you’re one house away from your home, two from aphmau’s. the vehicle is in front of yours.

would you have better luck running forward to your house? or turning around and booking it back to hers? have you already messed up by standing here like frozen prey?

you tear your eyes from the suv, flicking your anxiously blurred vision to the street ahead of you. a woman’s silhouette approached you, and you finally registered the clicking of her heels over the pounding of your heart in your ears and labored breathing. the distant street lamp shines on her hair, the powder blue a strangely familiar shade on your eyes. should you ask her for help? but why would a woman be out here in what looked to be formal attire?

no. she’s with him. you need to run.

it takes a second too long for your body to obey your mind, but you do turn, legs unlocking from their stiffened place and ready to run. you only make it two steps before you look up, a gasp you can only describe as terror filling your lungs when you see the man standing just five steps behind you. dark eyes bore into you, and it felt like you were staring into the depths of an evil entity rather than whoever this man was.

you bring your fist up to your face, slotting the metal whistle between your lips.

before you can even take in a full breath, the man has closed the distance, the back of his hand smacking across your cheek and pulling the locket from your fingers. you vaguely feel the clasp of the necklace break off from the back of your neck, the locket clattering to the ground and away from your reach. stumbling back from the sting of his strike, there’s barely any time to stand upright before his hand is gripping you by the back of the head, the other bringing a damp cloth up to cover your mouth and nose.

it smells sweet, overwhelmingly sweet. suddenly it’s like cotton candy has filled your head and lungs, your vision swimming dizzily. with whatever strength you have left, you dig your nails deep into the man’s hands, dragging down and successfully getting him to drop you with a grunt.

stumbling forward, you fall on the pavement, crawling to the street. your vision turns and twists, feet clumsily dragging underneath you like an injured deer.

you hadn’t made a sound yet. no one can hear what’s happening right now.

weak arms give out from beneath you, your cheek colliding with the rough street. turning your head, you try to scream, but your lungs give out on your attempt and merely exhale a small helpless whimper. heels appear in front of you, and you look up to see a halo of blue before something pricks against your neck.

and everything goes black.

©starhvney 2024. do not plagiarize, feed to any AI, or repost my works to any sites.

tag list: @orinlin @pain-in-the-ashe @youmake1mistake @arienic @wasting-away-on-the-internet @angelhyperfixates @remiechu @valentique @kalegrinch

[politemenacephd]

Arachnophilia (Part Fourteen)

Drider!Miguel O'Hara x Reader (+18)

Chapter Masterlist 🕷️

Word Count: 5040 Notes: Voyeurism build up is here, will be dropping that next chapter. For now here's some tension/proper argument w HQ!Miguel and some fluff w Mig

‘You’re sure you wish to return today?’

You paused midway through the very unflattering motion of hoisting your suit over your hips, rolling on the bed like a flipped beach turtle, and turned to find Mig watching you from across the room.

His big red eyes already betrayed his concern as they darted from your face to your body, as did his slowly tapping paws.

You shot him a reassuring smile. ‘I’m sure, Mig! Don’t worry, I have a plan.’

Mig made that same adorable face he always did when he was disgruntled, as his nose wrinkled up and his brows folded in over his big puppy-dog eyes. Your reassurance would never be enough, sadly.

‘You could- stay, another hour’ he offered. ‘They can’t fault you for being a little late.’

You sighed through the nose and finally did up the last hidden button on your suit, snapping it into place.

It’d been a few days since Mig’s confession. You’d managed to snag the extra time away from the society by calling up Jess and going through some early talking points online, but all the time you’d gained had been devoted solely to working through Mig’s worries.

His possessive nature had certain gotten worse since he’d acknowledged his past to you. He startled at every minor noise, he rustled against you constantly to keep you saturated in his scent. He panicked when you weren’t in his line of sight, and he was patrolling his territory more and more.

The worst one though was at night, when he’d hide behind his giant legs and you had to gently coax him out.

It wasn’t easy, but you weren’t opposed to comforting your monster partner. You knew it was going to be hard on him. Today he’d made enough progress to at least let you return for a bit, and that was great, but you knew to expect relapses.

With a slight hop you stumbled to your feet and crossed the nest, carefully taking his hands into yours.

‘Uhuh, I could stay an extra hour. And then you would say, please stay another hour, then another, then another, and then I’m called in for insubordination and I get my watch taken away’ you said, firm but soft.

‘Mi arañita, it’s in my blood to keep you here’ he insisted.

‘Nope, can’t use that excuse anymore. I’m not in heat, am I?’ you said. You tried to keep it light by booping his nose with your finger, but Mig remained tense.

‘It’s in my human blood, to keep you here, is what I meant’ he said, his voice dipping. ‘I just want to know you’re safe. I can’t, know, if you’re not here with me.’

Sensing that he was spiralling you put his hand over your chest. He could sense your heart thumping beneath your ribs, small but strong. It seemed to have an instant calming effect.

‘I’m okay. See? I’m okay. And I’m gonna set something up’ you reminded him gently. ‘Right? I’m gonna go get some stuff while I’m at the HQ, like we discussed. You’ll be able to see my vitals on a screen here so you know I’m safe, and we will- test, you being able to call me, because I know if I give you unlimited reign you will call me every second of every hour. But, you know, I’m bringing stuff back to make this easier.’

Mig grumbled and rolled his tongue against his fangs at your reminder. ‘You… are you, sure, they won’t try to keep you away from me?’ he asked.

‘I’m as sure as I can be, Miggy. I mean Jess clearly got annoyed with Miguel for trying to separate us, remember? I don’t think the elite’s care, so long as we’re not endangering anyone. We’re two consenting adults after all.’

‘A monster and his pet’ Miguel grumbled. You couldn’t help but giggle at his sour tone.

‘A consenting adult monster and his consenting adult pet’ you added. Mig didn’t smile with you but you saw him tap his spider legs a few times, which you knew now meant he was happy. It was like a silent laugh for when he was too worried to laugh openly.

‘Hey. Come here’ you whispered.

You gestured for his foreleg and he stretched it out. You took it between both your hands and raised it your lips, pressing a single kiss to the fluffy little paw, showing no sign of fear or disgust. You then gestured for his human hands.

‘Here. Here, babe.’

Mig outstretched his hands, and with his fingers in your grip you kissed each of his claws one after the other. You could sense his body deflating, slowly losing all of that pent up tension as you showed his body the same love you always did.

‘Pretty spider’ you whispered after the final claw was crowned with your lips. When you looked up he was smiling at last.

‘Pretty spider’ he repeated back. You craned your neck and noticed his abdomen was rustling, the fur on his back gently bristling as his middle legs tapped at the floor. You beamed.

‘Mmm. Happy dance’ you noted.

Mig closed his eyes as he smiled, his old, chiselled face growing soft as he made the dance more overt. He tapped his feet back and forth, gently rustling his fluffy body up against your face. You nestled right back. There was nothing better than seeing that little display.

‘Okay, okay. There we go.’ You gently leaned back after giving him a quick squeeze, your hand flying to your watch. You knew you had to make the portal now or you’d never leave.

‘Guess I better get going.’

With a few clicks a portal to the HQ exploded into the centre of the nest, covering your face in that ethereal orange light. You glanced back over your shoulder and saw that Mig had stopped dancing. It hurt your heart, but it had to be done.

‘Can I have a goodbye kiss, please?’ you offered with your hand outstretched on the precipice of the portal. Mig was eager to take it.

‘Ah- yes, of course mi arañita.’

You should have been wise enough to know that this was a double play on his part. The moment your lips connected his hands were on your waist, digging in deep to the soft flesh beneath your suit.

His lips moved slowly, parting before rejoining as they smothered your own. They were so soft compared to the rest of his ruggedness, soft and full and warm. As his tongue teased your mouth they grew wet.

‘Mm—’

His low moan made your knees weak. It vibrated through your lips and into your soul. His lips parted right as you usually would have left, and soon you were entranced by his tongue.

‘Mm- mmm—’

You forgot the portal at your back as Mig gently rumbled against you, his fluffy body vibrating in a way that made your insides tingle. He dug his claws in deeper, a small dose of shock to widen your mouth, allowing his tongue to go right down your throat.

When he pulled back there was a long and heavy trail of spit between you, one that he licked into his mouth without ever breaking eye contact. You felt that pleasurable tension in your gut triple over.

‘Ah—Mig, I know what you’re doing’ you panted.

He’d held you for so long that the portal had closed behind you. You let out a mildly exasperated huff while he tilted his head, his face sickeningly innocent.

‘Doing what? I just wanted to kiss mi arañita goodbye.’

‘You told me you were incapable of lying, Mr.’

‘I am, yes. It’s not a lie’ he said. The earnest affection in his eyes broke you, and a smile crept back onto your face.

‘Mhm. It’s just- leaving out the full truth, right?’

He coyly darted his eyes to the side, forcing you to grab his thickset jaw and turn his head back. You were on your tip toes to reach him.

‘The full truth, is… I don’t want you to go, but, I know you have to. So I will do what I can to keep you here, because I am selfish. And… I will miss you, when you are gone. Because you make me happy. And, I like having you close’ Mig murmured.

‘I know’ you sighed. ‘I know. I’ll miss you too. And I will be back soon. I promise.’

You bumped foreheads once more before pulling back, and this time Mig let you go.

…

As you flew through the dizzying portal you were surprisingly optimistic.

You were going back to the society, and this time you were no longer alone. No matter what you had someone to go home to, someone to talk to, someone to hold you.

Your perspective on the society had also certainly shifted since meeting Mig, and that was something you had to contend with. Knowing that they were hiding things, these cosmic mistakes they didn’t want to deal with, it bothered you to no end. You’d previously viewed the elites as these unfathomable being, who just had to know best because of where they were, but not anymore. Especially in the case of Miguel.

You felt a little bad, but you hadn’t been fully honest with Mig about your intentions. Yes, you were going back to grab some items for him and to show you were available. Yes, you were returning to ensure your relationship was sanctioned.

But you also had something else in mind. Something a bit more personal. Something for the boss to deal with.

You skipped a few steps as your body was thrown from the depths of time and space, your shoes clacking as you hit the HQ floor. You stepped out into the lobby, into a bustling sea of spiders, and you breathed in the familiar smell of Nueva York. It smelled like spandex, like cleaning fluid and cold park air.

You felt the portal close at your back, leaving you standing alone in this great gathering of your peers.

And then you froze.

Almost half the spiders around you were still, their head craned in your direction. You felt the eyes on every inch of your body. You met their gazes through their masks, and despite you clearly looking at them they didn’t turn or look away.

You frowned. What was going on?’

A new sound filled the quiet buzz of conversation, the worst possible sound you could hear. Muffled laughter.

You spun around only for the laughter to stop, and by the time you’d turned back all the spiders were pretending not to have looked at all. They were deep in meaningless conversation, their heads down, and soon you were once again lost in the crowd.

You could feel your face burning, your cheeks hot and clammy.

Oh, fuck. Shit, shit, shit, fuck, shit, fuck. Did they know? How did they know? Who could have told them?

For a moment your blood ran cold. Wait. Had, Miguel, told everyone? To punish you?

In a brewing panic you started to make your way through the HQ.

All the way out of the lobby and up through the dizzying web of beams you felt eyes on you. You occasionally heard laughter but now you couldn’t tell whether it was aimed at you or not, which only spurred your paranoia, and you only continued to spiral further as you went about your objectives.

You stopped by the lab and grabbed the tech you needed for Mig: a watch for him to programme, a monitor for your vitals, and a few old or nearly scrapped holographic screens that you figured he could fix up. All eyes on you, staring at you through screens and over desks. You hurried out.

From there you made a stop at HR, a pretty run-down and disorganised area compared to the rest of the society, where you grabbed some paperwork Jess had ordered you to fill out. You felt eyes peering over piles of paperwork, soft whispers and curious mumbles hidden behind walls as you piled up the work.

By the time you made it to your last stop you could feel the sweat on your lower back from stressing so hard. Around Mig you felt safe, emboldened, but you were realizing quickly that you were still alone here.

You crept into the open research base and dropped into one of the empty desks. You were here, right back where you started, the day you first met Mig.

You thought of him, back in the nest, and your heart twisted. You missed him.

‘You’re the one, right?’

You jumped as an unfamiliar voice sounded off against your ear. Somehow you’d been snuck up on, and three spider-people you’d never met before were crowding around the back of your desk. Their faces immediately put you on edge; they looked far too familiar with you, far too excited.

‘I- the one, what?’ you stammered.

‘You’re the one who- you know—’

You felt your stomach drop as the spiders broke into playful smiles. You tried to push the chair back and run, abandoning the PC while it was still on, but to your horror the other spiders held you in place. You slumped back into the chair as they offered an overlap of fake coos and soothing words.

‘No, no, hey! Please we’re so curious.’

‘Curious about- what? Don’t- grab me!’ you said, inadvertently snapping as you pulled from their grasp. You could feel other people in the room starting to glance over at the commotion, and it was driving your anxiety way up.

‘You had sex with Miguel’s variant, right? The spider one?’ one of them whispered. The spiders holding you in place were practically giddy as they spoke over themselves.

‘We… they’re, all spiders’ you stammered.

‘No, no! You know what we mean. There’s one that’s like fully half spider, right? And you had sex with him?’

‘I—That’s, nobodies business’ you said defensively. Sadly, your tone only spurred them on harder.

'No come on please, oh my god- does he look like Miguel? Is he that big?'

'Does he have the teeth?'

'Oh god, ew, what's the spider part like? Was it like an actual spider?'

'Did you--' 

‘¡OYE!’

You went rigid in your seat, as did the spiders hounding you. Heavy footsteps filled the room as a huge, foreboding shadow slowly covered your body from behind.

‘What’s going on?’

You turned to see Miguel standing over you, his hands on his hips. The spiders almost fell over each other trying to placate him.

‘Hi! Sir, we were just—’

‘It’s fine Miguel we were—’

‘No gossiping. We’re not a rag newspaper, we’re a serious organisation, that does serious work’ Miguel said, his voice slow and cold. ‘Work that I assume you’re currently procrastinating on, since you’re here, and not somewhere else.’

The spiders quickly abandoned your desk, leaving you spinning awkwardly on the spot in your little chair. Miguel had to grab the back to make it stop.

‘Ah, hey, you—’

‘Come with me.’

Miguel didn’t wait for you to respond after cutting you off. He turned and walked in the opposite direction, his presumptuous, authoritative aura gleaming off him like musk.

You thought about saying no, just on principle, but it wouldn’t help. You’d been planning to talk to him anyway. With a slightly reluctant shrug you obeyed.

Miguel led you in silence up through the heart of the HQ building to his office. The whole way you continued to avoid the curious eyes on your back, focusing instead on what you wanted to say to him.

Up the beams, through the corridor filled with anomalies, down the messy side hall and into his office, where at last you were both alone. You shuddered in the gloom, where the only light was a thin lay of blue from above that tinted your skin. It was only here that Miguel finally addressed you directly.

‘I’m sorry they’re bothering you’ Miguel called over his shoulder.

‘Uhuh. Yeah, me too. Strange how they knew’ you said, making no effort to sugarcoat your accusatory tone. Miguel grunted a chuckle as he picked up on the implication.

‘It’s not strange. HR receives filings whenever a relationship needs to be sanctioned, such as- Peter’s and Mary’s receiving crisis training or therapy, or any spiders entering into inter-dimensional relationships. It doesn’t happen often, so when one comes up featuring a Miguel variant and a random spider, and some intern copying it notices the names, they talk. They talk to their friends at lunch, and then they talk to their friends on missions. Suddenly, everyone knows.’

You felt your face burning as he spun this elaborate story. You wanted to believe he was lying, but, it was one thing he and Mig shared in common: they didn’t lie.

‘I didn’t tell anyone’ Miguel grunted as he jumped onto his desk. ‘I understand how- frustrating hormones can be. I don’t blame you for what you had to do.’

‘Uhuh’ you said, your voice wary.

‘I just don’t understand why you’ve still choosing to remain around my counterpart now you’re free’ Miguel continued as he booted up his set, more to himself than to you.

‘Because he’s my friend’ you said sharply.

Miguel glanced over his shoulder, his one visible eye glowing brightly against the dull blue hue. He looked you up and down.

‘I don’t get it�� he repeated in a low murmur. You hated it but his presence still made you slightly weak, and that soft voice was painfully close to how Mig usually spoke.

‘If you were in pain I would have helped’ he said as he turned back around. ‘It’s not like you had no options. Was I really that cold to you?’

You balked at his unexpected confession, especially when said in such a nonchalant way. It was a pretty heavy thing to drop, surely, to admit that he’d sensed your heat and been willing to sleep with you too?

‘You- are you serious?’ you whisper shouted. Your outrage made Miguel chuckle again, something that only made your face warmer.

‘I’m serious, yes. I would have helped.’

‘Oh, oh of course you would have. Just, out of the kindness of your own heart?’

‘More or less.’

You scoffed openly. ‘My god- Do you have no shame? At all?’

Miguel turned again, craning his neck a little further this time to eye you up fully. You saw the thick curve of his back as he arched it.

‘I’d advise you not to be combative’ he murmured. ‘I’m still your superior, and I’m also well aware of what you’ve done. I don’t think you should be the one to tell me about shame.’

‘Why should I be ashamed?! Because I had sex with a nice person I was friends with, because we shared a mutual attraction? Oh my god, how could I!’

‘You let a monster mate with you and almost get you pregnant’ Miguel snapped back, his voice rising ever so slightly.

‘He’s not- a monster’ you said. ‘Not- I mean, physically he is, unusual, but he’s a good person.’

‘You have no idea who that man is’ Miguel impatiently snapped.

‘Yes, I do. Damn it-- He told me! About Dana!’ you blurted.

A brief silence fell as Miguel’s hands went still. Up until this point he’d been typing, casually micro-tasking while you argued at his back, but now he was totally focused on you.

‘He did?’ Miguel repeated back. He sounded shocked, confused, perhaps even impressed?

‘Yes. He- it sounded, horrible. That poor man.’

‘That poor man’ Miguel sneered, his shock quickly turning back to disgust. ‘You didn’t see what I saw. And that’s not your fault, but I’m telling you now, I saw it. The blood on his hands, the blood on his fur, the—face, of—’

Miguel paused and shook his head. ‘He may not have intended to hurt her, but he did. He couldn’t de-escalate, couldn’t control his own strength. He could have ripped the gun out of her hands, or pointed it upwards. His panic killed her.’

‘He was- he was scared, Miguel!’ you argued. ‘He’d just undergone a painful attempt on his life, he was turned into something new, something scary, and then his life was threatened again by someone who was meant to love him!’

‘Yeah, and you know what? I want through the same exact thing’ Miguel spat. ‘I didn’t kill anyo-- … I didn’t, kill, Dana, Did I?’

Internally you were seething. Part of you wanted to just rip into him for what he’d said, for so cruelly bullying Mig for something that wasn’t his fault while making overt passes at you in the same sentence, but you held your tongue.

At least now you didn’t feel at all bad for what you were about to do.

‘I want to- make a proposal’ you said, your voice echoing through the office.

Miguel blinked. His brows went up, slowly, as his eyes darted across your face. He looked surprised. ‘You do, do you?’

You stiffened your resolve as his shadow covered your body. Before you’d have never thought of standing up to your boss like this, and yet, here you were.

‘Yes. I want you to retract the clause that Mig remain isolated from other spiders and people. He’s not a threat and you know that. He deserves the chance to reintegrate, to see that he’s safe to be around other people and to connect with people like him who won’t be afraid. I want you to let him into the society.’

Miguel grunted, his nose wrinkling with disgust. ‘No’ he barked, and immediately he turned.

He thought that would be the end of it, the stubborn fool, but you weren’t interested in begging for permission. If he wanted to play dirty, you would too.

‘Fine’ you said sharply, ‘fine. Let me guess, his genes make him too dangerous?’

‘Wow, newbie, that’s a great point. You’re right. I’ll keep that on record next time someone brings up the idea of letting him join’ Miguel sarcastically drawled. You sneered.

‘Okay. Well, if he has to stay away because his genes make him dangerous, genes that you SHARE, may I remind you, then I suggest for the safety of the society we make it public knowledge.’

You saw Miguel freeze up. He was clearly frightened, as his back muscles popped to indicate he was tensing them tightly, and his biceps were clearly getting more prominent as he clenched his fists.  

You had to steel yourself to approach that terrifying visage.

‘What are you talking about?’ he hissed over his shoulder.

‘You know what I’m talking about’ you said, getting closer with each word. ‘You know that you go into ruts, the same as he does. You know that for all the pressure you put on him to stay away from people, you happily engage in that exact behaviour.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Miguel repeated, this time in a far gravellier voice.

‘I know, you sanctimonious asshole, that you’ve also been sleeping with people during your ruts!’ you whisper shouted, your voice slipping through gritted teeth.

Miguel immediately scoffed, trying to play it off. ‘You don’t have proof of that. I didn’t sleep with you.’

‘No, not- me, Miguel, I have proof. I have proof you’ve done this before.’

‘Oh, do you?’ he asked in that same sarcastic, defensive tone.

‘You decided to threaten me with my own medical records, so clearly that’s allowed, right? So, I can bring up that there are definitely files within the society bay detailing god knows how many other members or workers, filled with the same genetic material, covered in webbing?’

The moment you said ‘webbing’ he tensed up. You’d got him.

‘Perhaps a few, anti-venom prescriptions? Emergency birth control?’

He tensed up further, his head going forward as his shoulders rolled. You continued to push.

‘I don’t think the wider society would be too kind if they knew their boss was going into little, horny breakdowns, and then secretly taking out his frustrations on its members—’

At that Miguel spun around, his clawed hand slamming itself into the desk at your back. In barely a second you went from standing to trapped, your back bent against the desk with his enormous arms on either side of your torso.

‘Do you think you’re better than me?!’ he spat, his fangs dangerously close to your face.

‘Do you think you’re better than me, huh?’

You felt all of your previous convictions slip in his presence. God he was terrifying. He wasn’t nearly as big as Mig but he was huge compared to you, easily pinning your body to the desk. You felt the cold metal press into your spine as he bent you back, and your eyes instinctively drifted to his fangs.

You swallowed, hard, and were met with the strangest look in his eyes. He seemed ashamed, almost, as he realized you were scared of him, and yet there was something else there. Something more complicated.

You struggled to claw back a semblance of your previous anger.

‘You know what? No. Not in that sense. But that’s my point. We’re the same, you’re just a—’

‘Don’t say it’ he hissed.

‘Hypocrite’ you spat back in his face. With a frustrated grunt he pulled away.

‘I don’t put anyone at risk of spreading my genes!’ he said, his voice rising with his annoyance. ‘And I don’t touch anyone who I could hurt!’

‘How can you know that?’

‘Because they’re all men!’ Miguel blurted. He had to pause to breathe, his hands now gripped tight to his hips. ‘Or- at the very least they’ve had their reproductive organs taken care of. And they’re my friends, I never- I never approach anyone I don’t know and trust. I just… sometimes, I have to—have, something. Just one. But I’ve never- slipped and, indulged in anyone the way your sweet, innocent Mig has.’

‘You- but you JUST said you would have helped me out too’ you argued back. Miguel scoffed again.

‘I didn’t mean sex. I would have- offered something, for relief, because I know how much it hurts. I can control myself, but I’d rather not smell someone else going through the same agony, that’s all.’

‘Look, my— my point is, you do the same thing you accused Mig of doing. You don’t get to keep him out of the society if you’re allowed to be its head’ you said, trying to bring the subject back around.

‘He killed someone’ Miguel hissed.

‘And you exonerated him, because he was acting in self defence!’ you spat. This time your rage drove you forward, and you slammed your hand down on the desk beside Miguel, caging his tiny waist between your arms.

‘We are dangerous’ Miguel said, his voice even colder than usual. ‘We are not, safe. We are not supposed to be in relationships. I tried to tell you this, but if you won’t listen, I can’t help you.’

‘Oh, I’m the one who needs help?’

To your horror, Miguel suddenly let out a deeply sardonic chuckle. He bent so that his lips brushed your ear, and you froze as he spoke.

‘You fucked a spider’ he whispered slowly. ‘You found a version of your boss, who was half arachnid, and you let it fuck you. Furry legs and all. You nearly let it impregnate you. Yes, you need help.’

‘He.’

Miguel’s eyes darted, barely an inch from yours. You met them. You were shaking, yes, but you still stared him down.

‘He. Not it. I let him, fuck me’ you repeated.

You relished, secretly, in the deep resentment that crossed Miguel’s face. He looked jealous.

‘Why… Why, him?’

You blinked, taken aback by Miguel’s veiled question. You were expecting more vitriol, but instead his face sank as he pulled away from you.

‘What do you mean, why him?’ you asked.

‘You were in heat. I smelled it. You should have been drawn to my scent, but you turned and you ran. You ran back to him.’

You decided to let Miguel hang there for a moment, just to ponder how you should approach this.

‘If you ask that question honestly, I’ll answer’ you said slowly.

Miguel stiffened his jaw and stepped forward again. He was too curious to not take the bait. ‘Why? Why would you pick him over me?’

There it was. The most overt thing he’d ever admit. It wasn’t even really about you, was it? It was about his ego. It was about the fact that in that moment, when he’d grabbed you after your hospital trip, you’d been able to turn him down. You’d stayed loyal to Mig, and not just given in to your animal need so Miguel could satisfy himself with your body.

You could have given him a full lecture on why. His coldness, his mean streak, his little bursts of empathy that were never enough compared to Mig’s constant kindness. The way Mig gave you multiple chances to leave while Miguel grabbed you by the wrist, the way Mig praised you and thanked you and wished to acknowledge your relationship openly without shame while Miguel offered only a shameful coupling he would sooner forget.

You could have said so much. In the end, though, you just shrugged. ‘He’s hotter than you’ you said.

Silence filled Miguel’s office. At first his face was unreadable, but slowly, a smile crept onto his lips. It was an unnerving smile, the ghost of something cruel and cold.

‘Oh. Okay. Okay.’

You took a step back as Miguel turned back to his desk. The orange glow was eerie around the contours of his figure, highlighting his terrifying back muscles one by one as he rolled them.

‘Alright. You can have him here. And I won’t keep people off your back anymore. If you want to know, why I keep what I do quiet, why I keep my partners quiet, you can find out your way.’

You snorted. ‘Deal. Done. That’s all I needed from you.’

You left him there, alone on the desk, and you hurried back to the wider HQ, unaware of the new war you’d started for yourself. Link to next part!

[corvuscryptid]

Last Day of Summer

Word count: 1468

Ford Pines x GN! Reader (no gender specification)

Age 5 (Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey)

          Today was the last day of summer before your first day of Kindergarten. You were quite nervous to say the least. To celebrate your last day of freedom, your mom decided to drag you to the beach to look for seashells. The ride over to the beach, you ride in the backseat, the windows are rolled down and upbeat, dancey music can be heard from the radio. Once you had reached the beach, your mother parks the car and helps you grab the towels, a mat, two matching straw hats, and a bucket.

          “You think we’ll find anything cool?” You ask your mom, doubting your luck on today’s excursion.

          “I am most certain we will,” she says and looks down at you with a smile. “If you believe that we will find something cool, then you’ll find it easy to be amazed by what we find.”

          You take in her words, quietly, both of you taking off your flip flops to begin the trek to the water in the sand. The sand is powdery soft and it almost burns your feet from the sun. The sky is a gentle blue and dotted across the horizon were puffy white clouds. You hear the gentle breathing of the waves grow louder as you and your mom arrive at the shore. She lays down the mat and shifts her gaze to you.

          “Now (Y/N), I need you to stay in sight of me, okay?”

          You nod, heeding her words. “I won’t leave your sight Mama.” You say, grabbing the small metal bucket as you scamper away, in an attempt to find shells. You are walking for a while— gaze trained on the ground before you find yourself smacking into another kid your age. You are met with captivating brown eyes as you glance up gaze at the ground. You jump back and find two identical pairs eyes staring into your (E/C) eyes.

          “Hi!” You say, excitedly. “Sorry for running into you.” You say, sweetly to the pair. The one you knocked into had a bandaid on his cheek. Both boys are flush in the face, as if they weren’t used to being acknowledged in a respectful manner.

          You are met with a silence. “My name is (Y/N).”

          “I’m Stanley,” the one with the bandaid says. “This is my twin brother, Stanford.”

          You peer at Stanley, curiously, and you can see that, without a doubt, the two boys are identical in appearance. However, Stanley makes confident eye contact with you, while his brother, Stanford, sheepishly keeps his gaze on the wet sand in front of you, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

          “It’s really nice to meet you.” You say, a smile finding its way to your mouth. Friends are never a bad thing to be in excess of in Glass Shard Beach. Stanley beams proudly and offers you his hand to shake— mirroring the action you’ve seen countless adults adopt. Stanford opts to not shake your hand, although he offers you a sweet smile, the cleft in his chin adorned by the beautiful grin that finds his face.

          “We’re starting Kindergarten tomorrow in Ms. McGucket’s class.” Stanley says, with the grin still on his lips.

          “No way!” You say, excitedly. “That’s my class! I was worried I wouldn’t know anyone.”

          Now, it is Stanford’s turn to smile. “That is good,” the boy says in a quiet voice. “I was scared that I would only have my brother as a friend.”

          You can’t help but beam. “We can all hang out together and spend recess together!”

          Stanley giggles and Stanford smiles. You look at each brother, carefully. “What are you two up to anyway?”           It is Stanford’s turn to speak. “Well, actually,” he begins. “We are looking for an adventure to embark on.”

          You marvel at the boy’s words, (E/C) eyes locked onto his brown ones. “What kind of adventure?”

          Stanford doesn’t even hesitate before saying, “We’re gonna find the Jersey devil!”

          You pause, looking at both boys. Stanford is beaming, and Stanley is looking away, sheepishly, like he was embarrassed.

          You had heard of the Jersey devil, but thought it was just a rumor, you said as much to the boys. Stanley nods and Stanford is the one who pipes up, “We have heard from friends that their possessions have started going missing. We wouldn’t have started looking into it, but our parents are also missing jewels in their pawn shop.”

          You take in Stanford’s observations, inquisitively, reflecting on your own experiences. “I don’t have any interactions with the Jersey Devil, but I would love to help you both.” You say with a soft smile on your face, especially if it meant that you could keep the two boys around.

          “Technically speaking, the cryptid is supposed to live in the forests, but Stanley here wanted to go to the beach!” Stanford says, and shoves his brother, playfully, as he says his name.

          “My mom took me to the beach to celebrate the last day of summer.” You tell the boys and glance back to find your mom, who is reading a book while lounging on the beach mat. “I wanted to find something cool or pretty shells, although friends are probably better to find, anyway.”

          Both the boys smile widely at this, and you breathe a sigh of relief. Two new friends to march into the school year with was something to be proud of. “Well, if Stanford is right and the devil won’t be here, I suppose we could help look for shells.” Stanley says, with a toothy grin as he eyes your empty bucket. “Whattaya say, Fordsy?”

          Stanford becomes beet red at this, which only caused Stanley to laugh and grin harder. You marvel at Stanley. “You have the brightest smile I have ever seen.”

          Now it is Stanley’s turn to redden. “What?”

          “I just think you look nice when you smile.” You say, laughing. You turn and start looking at the ground, trying to find shells. Stanford chuckles at his brother’s speechlessness. You guess that this doesn’t happen that often. You walk a little way away from the Pines brothers, but you can hear that they both follow you. “Ooo, look at this purple one!”

          You show it to both boys. They peer at the purple lion’s paw seashell that you hold gracefully between your index and thumb. Stanley plucks it from your hands and puts it close to his face, turning it around. He does the same thing for his brother.

          Thirty minutes later, your mom glances up from her novel. There you were in your matching straw hat, eyes on the sandy ground with two young boys. She smiles, happy that you seemingly made some friends in your short time here. Her eyes flit back to her book, feeling more confident in you with your search partners.

          “I think I found a cool one!” Stanford excitedly announces, running over to you. He is holding a beautiful conch shell in near perfect condition. Your eyes catch something else, though.

          “Woah!” you shout. “How’d you get extra fingers, I want extra fingers!”

          Stanford is the color of wine at this point. He drops the conch shell which lands on the wet sand softly. He clasps his hands behind his back again, eyes trained on the ground. You sense the change in his attitude, and you know that you have done something wrong. Biting your lip you walk beside Stanford and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I should have not said anything.”

          Your eyes meet Stanley’s who is looking at his brother with pity. He offers you a smile, but you don’t return it. “Sixer here gets made fun of a lot for his hands. He is already pretty insecure about them.”

          Stanford nods, wordlessly. “I’m sorry. I saw and just was amazed. I have only seen people with five fingers, you must be rare! I just got jealous cause like, I want more fingers!” you say, moving your arm to frame the back of his neck, bringing him closer to you. “I don’t want this to hurt our friendship at all.”

          “You think my hands are cool?” Stanford says, incredulously.

          You snort. “Well, duh! You’ve got to be like real good at holding stuff. Plus like, I wish I was special like you.”

          Stanford meets your eyes, and this is when you notice how close you two are. “You think I’m special?”

          You smile softly, and say matter-of-factly “Most definitely, and mostly because you’re my friends.”

          You didn’t notice but Stanford takes his hands from behind his back. “Thank you.” He says quietly and moves away from you. “Now let’s look for some more shells!”

[babysbreath]

focus

➶ oikawa tooru x reader

➶ fluff

Oikawa loves these small parties. They feel personal, an evening to pause and relax in between busy schedules. 

A few of his friends are talking to you in front of a wall plastered with polaroids, pointing out familiar faces and funny poses in the photos. One of Oikawa’s roommates had the idea to take a polaroid of everyone who visited their shared apartment and it proved to be quite the attraction.

You laugh, shaking your head, at something one of his friends said. They turn around, eyes scanning the living room until they land on Oikawa. 

“Hey, come over for a second,” they call out. 

When he’s finally there, one of them asks, pointing at the polaroid of you. “When you took this photo of her, didn’t you already have a crush on her?” 

Tongue poking into the side of his cheek, he slowly realises that he’s walked into a challenging situation. He turns to gauge your reaction and you’ve got the biggest grin on your face. Oh, so you’re enjoying this. 

“Come on, that was what- almost two years ago?” He points at his roommate on the couch,  “She was just one of his friends at the time.” 

His response comes out calmly, like he’s unaffected by the question. Or like he’s practised it enough to sound casual.

“You didn’t say ‘no’ though.” They won’t back down easily. 

He knows they’re trying to get him to admit that he took way too long to ask you out. You take a sip of your drink, purposely peering at him over the rim of the glass. 

He straightens his shoulders, trying not to break into a grin.

 “Just 6 months ago, I started to like a certain someone-” 

Someone grumbles audibly. Probably you. Nevertheless, he continues.

“-and like any reasonable adult, I waited a few days before I asked her out.”

A friend slaps his back, cackling at his expense. “Sure, sure. You definitely liked her back then but you were too scared to make a move.” 

He sighs and he feels laughter bubbling at the back of his throat. His tongue still prods at his cheek, almost letting out a chuckle.

He can’t afford to be betrayed by his own body so he clears his throat, adopting a straight face to say, “Why does it even matter? We’re together now, aren’t we?”  

To demonstrate this, he pulls you closer by the waist, hoping the action will put all these questions to rest. The fact that you’re leaning into him is an added bonus. You rest your head on his chest, sighing contentedly before you look at his friends. 

“He’s lying,” you declare, and you can practically feel Oikawa’s face whip towards you.

The group erupts into cheers, unable to contain their excitement at the look of disbelief on Oikawa’s face. 

“How do you know?”

“He’s twisting his mouth. See?” You point at his lips and then at his cheek. “He sticks his tongue to the side of his cheek when he’s trying not to laugh. Obviously, he’s trying not to laugh because he’s lying.”

He frowns at you, pout immediately put on display since you’ve decided to reveal all his secrets. 

“That’s a damning allegation,” he groans. 

“They deserve to know the truth, babe.” You plant a kiss on his cheek, momentarily healing his wounded pride, before you walk away to mingle with others. 

He turns back to his friends, and by the looks on their faces, he’s never going to live this down. 

The conversation soon turns to the polaroid camera itself. 

One of his roommates chimes in. 

“It’s somewhere in the apartment. At least, I hope so.” 

Oikawa hadn’t even realised that the camera had been lost. He makes a mental note to look for it in his room, just in case. 

However, his mind is too preoccupied with other things at the moment, like looking around for you. He tries not to make it obvious but once the crowd dwindles down, he spots you by his bedroom door and makes a beeline for it. 

You look surprised as you enter the room with him. “Hi, again. Also, I think I left my phone on your bed.”

He moves the pillows around as you scan the room for your belongings. 

“Wait, it might have fallen through this gap,” he says, pointing at the space between his bed and the wall. After getting a good grip on the corner of the bed frame, he pulls it away from the wall, showing almost no sign of exertion. You peek at the flex of his muscles, silently thanking his volleyball career, before peeking past him at the spot where your phone should be. He hands your phone to you before reaching down again. 

“Oh look, it’s the polaroid camera.”

You scrunch up your nose, handing him a tissue to wipe the dust off. 

“Why’s it there?”

“No clue. It probably rolled under the bed.”

You hum. “Ah okay, I’m gonna leave then.” 

You lean towards him, hoping to quickly kiss him goodbye, but he firmly holds you in place.

“I just got an idea.”

He feels your body slump in his hold, in an attempt to plop down on the bed. You whine something halfheartedly about wanting to go home, an arm draped over your eyes for dramatic flair. He laughs inwardly at the mannerisms you’re clearly picking up from him.

“It’ll just take a minute. Come on.”

You peek at him from underneath your arm, only to see that he’s already got his eyes on you. He pulls you up with the utmost care and then holds the instant camera at arm’s length.

Noticing your confused expression, he shrugs. “What? We don’t have a polaroid picture together.”

Satisfied with his own explanation, he holds you by the chin and turns your face towards his. His lips part slightly and it finally hits you. Warmth blossoms in your chest as you press your lips against his, chin still resting between his fingers as the camera clicks. He lets you go, a smile lingering on both your faces. The whirring of the picture being printed snaps you out of your daze. 

“Let it develop then I’m keeping it.” Oikawa places it on his bedside table and then starts getting up when he feels his sleeve being pulled back lightly. 

“You’re keeping it? I don’t get one?”

“Do you want another picture or do you just want another kiss?” He wiggles his eyebrows at you, like the mature adult he is. 

You let your gaze fall to his mouth. “Maybe both.” 

You tilt your face to meet his, as he pulls you in. Fingers wrap around your waistline, cold as they rest on your exposed midriff. 

You can barely hear his voice over the music from the living room.

 “Cute top, by the way.”

You giggle. “I knew you'd like it. So predictable.”

He huffs. You squish his cheeks between your palms before he pins your hands to the side and steals a peck. All his attention is on you and he makes sure you know that, deepening each kiss till you’re gasping for breath.

He leans back and mutters, forcing your weight to shift towards him. “I think we’ll get tired of it, if we kiss too much.”

Before he can even think about the action, his tongue subconsciously presses against the inside of his cheek. He’s having fun with this game.

You smile, the same way he does when he’s got the upperhand. The same way that tells him that he likes you a lot.

You tap the side of his cheek with your finger.

 “Liar.” 

The liar gets kissed, again and again. He never gets tired of it.

[jensengirl83]

You'll Accompany Me- Chapter 19

Jensen x reader

Word Count-3382

Warnings- FLUFF! Some language.

“What the hell are we going to call him?” Y/N whined as she looked down at her son, his little nose scrunched up as he drank his formula. 

Yes, she had decided not to breastfeed. It was a hard decision, but she had chosen to bottle feed so that she could have help with feeding him, and that also gave Jensen the chance to bond with him when he took care of the feedings. 

“I don’t know, honey. Just pick something,” Jensen chuckled, as she looked at him with a glare. 

“Well, it has to be unique, and that makes it hard.” 

“Why does it have to be unique?” he asked, a little confused. 

“Because! The other kids all have unique names,” she groaned in frustration. 

“That doesn’t matter, Y/N. He doesn’t have to have a unique name because the other three do.” 

“Yes, it does matter! I don’t want to be introducing the kids and be like ‘Here’s our children, Justice, Arrow, Zeppelin, and Bob!’ See how stupid that sounds?” she threw her free hand up in exasperation. 

“Well, I’m pretty sure we’re not going to fucking name him Bob,” he laughed. 

“Jay…” 

“I know, babe. We’ll come up with something. Just don’t get so frustrated with it, okay?” 

“Okay,” she sighed as the door to her room opened, Jared and Gen walking in. 

“Okay, it’s Uncle Jared time. Hand over the munchkin,” he grinned as he rubbed his hands together in excitement. His face lit up as soon as Jensen passed the bundle into his arms. 

“He’s so little!” Jared said with awe, mesmerized by him already. 

“I can promise you that he didn’t feel so little when I was pushing him out!” Y/N exclaimed with a laugh, the others joining in. 

“I’d say not, short stack,” Jared agreed. 

“Okay, that’s enough Jared time. It’s Aunt Gen time now. So, hand him over,” Gen demanded, bouncing on her feet in excitement. 

“No need to fight over him, guys. You’ll be seeing a lot of him as I’m sure we won’t be able to get y’all out of our house for a while after we bring him home,” Jensen joked, sitting on the side of the bed beside Y/N, leaning in to kiss her sweetly. 

After she’d given birth to their son, he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her. He knew that it would be this way, as he fell more in love with Dee when she’d had their kids. But, he didn’t remember it being this profound of a feeling. All he could think when he looked at her was what a damn amazing woman she was for enduring what she did, and that he was head over heels in love with her. More so now if that was even possible. He sighed with happiness before Jared spoke and broke his reverie. 

“So, what’s his name?” he asked, Jensen chuckling at the frustration that was soon to come from Y/N. 

“We can’t think of a name yet,” Y/N grumbled, Jensen giggling at his right prediction. 

“No Name Ackles. I like it,” Jared chided, making Y/N groan. 

“Fuck you, Padalecki. It’s not from lack of trying.” 

“I’m joking, Y/N. It will come to you soon. Don’t stress out about it.” 

“I know. I just wasn’t prepared for him to come so soon, and I hadn’t really looked into any names much. We’ll think of something,” she agreed, too tired to argue. 

‘Knock, Knock.” 

The voice at the door made all the adults turn toward the sound, the baby didn’t even react. He could care less. He was the most relaxed and peaceful baby. Even the nurses commented on how relaxed and content he was. Y/N and Jensen were both thankful for that. As the door opened wider, Dee and all three kids walked into the room. The kids went straight to their father, anxious to see the new sibling. 

“Aww look how cute!” JJ squealed, standing beside Gen and looking down at the baby. 

“Daddy, pick me up so I can see my sister,” Arrow said, jumping into her dad’s arms, Zep followed suit and jumped into Jensen’s other arm. 

“What makes you think it’s a sister?” Jensen asked with a smirk. 

“Because Dad, it has to be. We need another sister,” Arrow quipped, the sass strong with that one. 

“What about Zep? Doesn’t he need a brother?” Jared asked, smirking along with Jensen, dragging it out by messing with the kids. 

“No. There’s enough boys. We need another girl,” she huffed, crossing her arms, all the adults giggling at her. 

“What do you think, JJ?” Y/N asked, the oldest girl standing there silently. 

“I’d like another sister, but I don’t mind a brother. It would make it even,” she replied, always the little peacemaker. 

“Daddy, it’s okay if it’s a sister. I’d like a brother, but if they want a sister, that’s okay,” Zep said quietly, laying his head on his dad’s shoulder. 

“Aww, Zep. You’re such a sweetheart,” Y/N cooed, reaching out to pull him down to sit with her, kissing him on his head. 

“Well, honey, do you want to break the news, or shall I?” Jensen winked at Y/N, that signature smirk on his face. 

“Go ahead, Dad,” she laughed, holding Zep tighter when he cuddled closer to her side. 

“We don’t have a name yet, but guys, I’d like to introduce you to your little brother.” 

The squeal of joy from Zep almost deafened the room, and the groan from Arrow was almost as loud. JJ just smiled and leaned over to start talking to her youngest sibling. The adults couldn’t contain their smiles at all the kid’s reactions. 

“Fine, I guess it’s okay to have another brother. Only because he’s so cute,” Arrow grumbled, everyone laughing as Jensen ruffled her hair and kissed her on the forehead. 

Y/N sat and watched as all her friends and soon-to-be step-children oohed and ahhed at the baby. She was lucky to have been brought into this amazing group of people, and to be accepted as if she’d always belonged there. It warmed her heart and made her start to tear up. Jensen noticed quickly and was by her side. 

“What’s wrong, honey? Are you hurting? Do you not feel good?” he questioned, looking her over to see if he could find what was making her cry. 

“No, no. I’m fine. It’s just…” she choked up, clearing her throat to speak as he looked at her with worry and confusion, “I just realized how lucky I am to have all of you, and it made me emotional. I promise I’m okay.” 

“Baby, I will tell you this right now. We are just as damn lucky to have you. We all love you, and I hope you know that,” he said softly, wiping the tear that fell down her cheek. 

“I know, and I love all of you. More than you’ll ever know,” she smiled, leaning up to kiss him. 

“Eww, cooties!” Jared shouted, making all the kids laugh and the adults roll their eyes. 

“Very mature, man,” Jensen huffed with fake annoyance. He knew he had done it to lighten the mood. 

“That’s me. Mr. Mature,” he laughed, as Gen playfully swatted at him. 

“Y/N, do you mind if I hold him?” Dee asked, looking a little nervous. 

“Of course! You’re his family, too,” Y/N answered with a smile, watching as Gen handed Dee the baby. 

“Oh my God, he’s the cutest little thing. He’s perfect, guys, truly,” she whispered, trying not to rouse the dozing baby in her arms. 

Everyone talked for a while after Dee laid the baby down to rest. He never roused even with all the talking and commotion. Dee and Gen told Y/N that she was lucky to have such a quiet and peaceful baby and that they would hope it stayed that way for her. 

The company started to leave slowly as the day got later with promises to come back and see them, but they wanted to let Y/N rest. The couple thanked everyone for their kind words and the flowers and gifts that were brought and said good night. Once the last person left, Jensen looked over to Y/N. She looked tired but happy, and that made his heart swell with love for her. Seeing her so in love with their son made him feel like he was on top of the world. He didn’t think he could be any happier than he was at that moment. 

“Are you ready to get a little rest, babe?” he asked as he walked over and sat on the bed beside her while she was looking at her phone. 

“Drystan,” was all she said, looking up at him with a smile. 

“What?” he said in utter confusion. 

“His name. Drystan. I was looking at unique names, and it means peaceful and melancholy. It fits him perfectly!” she beamed, happy she’d finally found something. “Drystan, huh?” he hummed, scratching his chin like he was thinking before smiling down at her, “I think it’s perfect, Y/N. I like it.” 

“Really?!” 

“Yeah, really. It’s unique like you wanted, and like you said, it describes him to a tee. Now all we need is a middle name.” 

“Well, I think I have that, too. If you like it, I mean,” she looked at him sheepishly. 

‘Okay, out with it,” he laughed at her expression. 

“I think his name should be Drystan Hunter Ackles. Because if it wasn’t for Supernatural, we would’ve never met and fallen in love. Which means he wouldn’t be here. I think it fits,” she explained, biting her lip in anticipation of what he would say. 

“I love it, baby. Drystan Hunter Ackles it is,” he chuckled as she released the breath she was holding. 

They both looked over at their sleeping son and now that he had a name, everything was perfect. Jensen pulled Y/N into his arms, resting his chin on her head as he ran his hand up and down her back. Her contented sigh made him smile. All he ever wanted was to make her happy, and now that they had Drystan, he was always going to make sure she and his children were taken care of and do everything in his power to make sure they were happy. 

“Uhh, I feel like I sat on a firecracker,” Y/N groaned as she sat on their couch. 

They had been released from the hospital that morning, and they had just made it home. Jensen had led her over to sit down and rest as he went to finish unloading all their things from the car. He couldn’t help but laugh at her as he handed Drystan to her. 

“That’s one hell of a visual, baby.” 

“Well, I’m sorry, but this isn’t any fun. Why don’t they warn you about this before you have a baby?” she whined, squirming around trying to get comfortable. 

“I agree, darlin’, but once you’re pregnant, there’s really no getting out of the end result. I wish I could take it from you. I hate seeing you hurting,” he frowned, knowing she had to be miserable. 

“I know you would, Jay, and I appreciate it. I’ll be fine, eventually, hopefully,” she chuckled. 

“You’re my badass short stack. You’ll be back raising hell before you know it,” he laughed, kissing her on the forehead before he went to get the rest of their things inside. 

After a few minutes by herself, the door opened and she looked up expecting to see Jensen, but instead, it was Alan and Donna. The excited smiles on their faces made her smile whether she would’ve wanted to or not. She motioned them to come in and sit down, glad to see them, as it had been a long time. 

“Y/N, look at you! Motherhood looks good on you, dear,” Alan stated, sitting down on one side of her as Donna took a seat on the other. 

“Oh my goodness! Look at that handsome little man. He’s absolutely precious!” Donna cooed over her new grandson. 

“I’d like to think I had something to do with that,” Jensen said as he walked through the door with their belongings, his arms more than full. 

“Jay, you know you could’ve made more than one trip to get our stuff. You didn’t have to get it all in one go,” Y/N chuckled, shaking her head. 

“No way. Two trips is for pussies. Sorry, Mom, Dad,” he apologized quickly once he realized what he said. 

“Like we haven’t heard you say worse when you thought we couldn’t hear you, son,” Alan said with a laugh. Jensen turned a deep shade of pink from embarrassment. 

“Leave him alone, Alan. Not like you don’t use some colorful words sometimes,” Donna chastised her husband with a smirk. Obviously, the one her son inherited, “Now, let me have that baby!” 

Everyone laughed as Y/N handed Drystan to his grandmother. Who was soon completely infatuated with him, Alan joined in with coo’s and baby talk soon after. Y/N stood slowly to make her way into the kitchen to get a bottled water. Jensen was on her heels when he realized she was up and moving. Y/N shook her head with a giggle as he rounded the corner of the kitchen. 

“Baby, I would’ve gotten you water if you would’ve told me you wanted one,” he said, walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle, and placing his chin on her shoulder. 

“I know, but I’m fine. Yes, I’m sore, but it’s just going to get worse if I sit and do nothing.” 

“Yeah, but you also have to heal, honey. I’m not going to tell you not to do anything, but will you promise me you’ll take it easy and let someone know when you get tired and need a break?” 

“I promise, Jay,” she agreed, turning to place a kiss on his cheek, “Now, let’s get back in there to your parents and our son.” 

They had a good visit with his parents, and they had said they were going to stay in the guest suite for a week or two to help out, and Y/N was grateful for that. The whole motherhood thing was new to her, and she welcomed the help until she got the hang of things. Donna had offered to make dinner for everyone, and they were all sitting around while she was in the kitchen figuring out what she would make for dinner when the doorbell rang. Jensen opened the door to the Padalecki’s, and Dee and the kids were behind them. Everyone was excited about seeing the baby again. As everyone made their way into the living room, Donna poked her head around the corner. 

“Looks like I’m going to have to make a grocery run to feed all of you,” she laughed, walking in to grab her purse. 

“No, Donna, you don’t have to feed all of us,” Gen spoke up. 

“Nonsense. You’re all here, and I’m sure you’ll be here a while for everyone to have time to spend with the baby. So, you’re getting fed. End of discussion,” she stated bluntly on her way to the door. 

“It’s best if you don’t argue with Mama,” Jensen whispered to the group, his dad agreeing with a nod of his head, everyone laughing at the scared expressions on their faces. 

“So, when’s the wedding?” Gen asked as they all sat around the table eating dinner. 

“Honestly, that’s up to her. I’d marry her tomorrow in the backyard, but I want her to have the wedding she wants,” Jensen chuckled as the others laughed at his statement. 

“I’m not sure. I know I want to marry him, and I don’t want to wait too long, but I’d love to lose some of this baby weight. I do know I don’t want anything big, and honestly, now that you mentioned it, just our family and closest friends in the backyard sounds kinda perfect,” she admitted, liking the sound of something small and intimate. 

“Really? The backyard? Are you sure that’s what you want? I promise, baby, I’ll be happy with whatever you want,” Jensen asked, making sure she had the true wedding she wanted. 

“I’m serious, Jay. That sounds perfect to me. We’ve had so many good memories in this house, and I’d like to keep adding them. And what better great memory than having our wedding here?” she smiled, squeezing his hand to assure him she was being honest. 

“If my girl wants a backyard wedding, a backyard wedding she’ll get,” he smiled, leaning over to kiss her. 

“Eww, cooties!” Jared shouted, again, the kids were laughing and the adults rolling their eyes, “No, seriously, I’m so happy for you guys. Jay, it means the world to me to see you this happy. Uh, sorry Dee. No offense.” 

“None taken at all. We loved each other and we had three amazing kids together, but we realized we were better friends, and that’s perfectly okay. I’ve moved on and am happy, and so has he. And I can’t imagine anyone better for him as a partner, and as a second mom to my kids than Y/N,” she smiled brightly, showing she was just as happy for the couple as everyone else. 

“Dee, I don’t know what to say. I-I…” Y/N stuttered with emotion, as Danneel cut her off. 

“You don’t have to say anything. Just make him happy, Y/N, and I expect the same thing from him for you,” she replied, holding her glass up in a toast, everyone joining in before going back to their dinner. 

The rest of the night went by with smiles and laughter. Everyone joined in on the conversation. Funny stories were told, advice on being a new mother was shared, and lots of happy memories were made. As everyone had finished dinner and moved to the living room, Y/N stayed back and was putting the leftovers in containers for lunch the next day when Jensen walked in, grabbing her and spinning her around to face him. 

“Hi, beautiful,” he whispered, bending down to kiss her. 

“Well, hi yourself, handsome,” she chuckled when he pulled away. 

“Today was great,” he sighed happily, his eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her.  

“It really was. I couldn’t ask for a better group of friends.” 

“Family, honey. They’re just as much your family now as they are mine, and they feel the same way about you,” he told her as he kissed her forehead. She loved it when he did that. 

“Family…” she smiled as the word left her mouth. She didn’t have real family on her side, but that didn’t matter now. She was where she was meant to be, and that’s with her new-found family, and in her opinion, that was the best kind. 

“That’s right, babe. Your family and I can’t wait to marry you and make it forever. I love you so much, Y/N. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express in words how recklessly in love with you I am. The only way I know how is to marry you, spoil you and those kids rotten, and do everything I can to show you every day how much you truly mean to me, and pray I don’t fuck it up,” he sniffled as he started getting emotional again. She had a way of doing that to him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Jay, I know you love me. And I promise you the same. I’ll do my best to be the best mom to these kids, a wife you deserve, and do everything I can every day to show you that I love you, too.” 

“Forever?” he asked, holding his pinky up for her to take in hers, one of the special things they do with each other. She took his pinky in her own, squeezing it tight, and kissing him deeply before she said the words that meant everything to him. 

“Of course. You are my forever, Jay.”

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[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

Bedtime snacks!

Okay… I had some time and Amanda seemed upset when I did my homework before watching the next tape but… wow. That… that was hard. I don’t remember Riley saying the puzzles were this hard. Okay… maybe I felt they were exaggerating because I know they hate puzzles… but I love puzzles! So like… it shouldn’t be this hard right? Sophie thinks. But now she finally has it. The next tape, titled Bedtime Snacks! 

I’m going to need a bedtime snack after this… Sophie thinks to herself. Looking at the time. She puts the next tape into the VCR and it starts to play. The tape begins with Wooly laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. He eventually notices Sophie. 

“Oh, hi there friend! Are there ever times where you feel like you just can’t sleep?” he asks. Sophie types in yes. “Yeah… heh heh… it happens all the time. It’s like your thoughts are just whirling around in your head and they just won’t stop! Well… sometimes it’s not even that. Sometimes I just… wait and wait and wait… and I just don’t fall asleep. It’s kind of annoying honestly.” 

Honestly I just stay up really late on my phone or doing assignments and suddenly it’s morning. We’re not the same. Sophie thinks. 

“What do you do when you can’t sleep?” he asks, but no text box appears so Sophie stays quiet. Wooly stands there awkwardly. “Um… good for you? I think? Um anyway, I think a nice bedtime snack can sometimes be good. Like some milk and cookies! But don’t tell Amanda okay? If she finds out we had cookies without her she’ll be really upset.” 

“Maybe you could invite her?” Sophie suggests. Wait, I'm not supposed to talk!

“Well she’s sleeping, and I think she’d be more upset if I woke her up so… hmm… let’s just keep this between us okay?” Sophie types in yes. Wooly smiles. “Don’t go telling Amanda behind my back, okay?” Okay Sophie types. “Ooookay then. Let’s go to the kitchen!” the tape glitches to the kitchen. Wooly is quiet for a bit, as if contemplating something. 

“Milk is so much better at night when it’s warm…” he whispers. “But we don’t have a microwave… so I guess it’ll have to be cold.” Wooly pouts. Sophie clicks on the stove. “I… I’m confused, what do you want me to do?” she clicks it again. “You can talk, you know, I won’t get mad.” 

“You can heat up the milk in a saucepan on the stovetop.” she explains. Wooly’s eyes light up with excitement. Then he stops. 

“But… we really shouldn’t be using the stove without an adult…” he mumbles. His face contorts a bit in frustration, “but it’s been forever since I’ve gotten to make myself a warm cup of milk…” 

He sounds like he’s arguing with himself Sophie thinks. 

“Mmm… weeeeelll. You’re an adult right? So it should be fine! Just… don’t tell Amanda okay?” 

This really isn’t going to help Amanda trust me… but okay… Sophie thinks. “Do you need any help?” 

“Yeah… maybe… I’ve only ever done this in a microwave…” Wooly answers. 

“You’ve done this before?” 

“Yeah I used to have warm milk with my little sister every night… then I’d read her a story… We had this whole routine. She couldn’t fall asleep without it… honestly neither could I… mmmm….” he pauses, “being able to remember her again after so long is weird… but I think I’m starting to see why Amanda wanted to remember her dad and Kate so much…” he stays quiet for a moment, as if reminiscing. Sophie gives him a moment. “So… what do we do?” he asks. 

“Well, like I said, you heat up the milk in a saucepan over the stovetop on low heat…” 

“Great! Can you help me find the saucepan? Is it under the sink, in the fridge, or in the stove?” Sophie clicks under the sink. “That’s… right.” Wooly says, a little surprised by this. He goes under the sink and gets the saucepan. “Now… Could you tell me where the milk is?” Sophie clicks on the fridge. Wooly smiles. “Hehe, great job. Now could you tell me where the measuring cup is?” Sophie clicks on the cupboard. “Wow, right again! You’re a master at this!” 

Honestly I have no idea where any of your stuff is. I'm just picking what I think is the most logical answer. Sophie thinks to herself. 

“Can I tell you a secret? Honestly climbing and grabbing stuff from high places always makes me super nervous… could you grab it for me?” he asks. Sophie clicks and drags the measuring cup down onto the counter. “Awww thanks! You’re so nice! Alright. We need one cup of milk. Can you help me pour it?” Wooly starts pouring the milk in and Sophie clicks on it once it reaches one cup. “Perfect!” Then Wooly pours the milk into the saucepan. “You know what? I like you way better than Riley. Usually Riley always teases us and keeps picking the wrong answers on purpose! But you’re actually helpful!” 

Riley… Sophie thinks to herself. “Yeah Riley tends to tease people they care about. It’s kind of their way of showing love.” Sophie laughs. 

“Well I find it really annoying!” Wooly pouts, “Ah! But don’t tell them that, okay? Um… what do I do next?” 

“You have to simmer it on low heat until it reaches the desired temperature.” Sophie answers. Wooly pauses for a moment, as if considering something. 

“Hey, why don’t you make some warm milk with me?” he suggests. Sophie looks confused. “Turn around,” he whispers. She turns around and realizes there’s a toy mini stove and plastic saucepan behind her. Toys from when she was growing up. 

That’s right… After mom died, dad started using the shelter like it was an attic or something… next to it is a plastic saucepan. She puts the mini-stove dial on low heat and puts the saucepan on it. “Should I… get some milk?” 

“NO! Heh heh… just make believe, okay? Trust me…” Wooly whispers nervously. Sophie comes back to the tv and sits down. “While I watch the milk, can you get the cookies from the cupboard for me?” Sophie clicks and drags the cookies down on the counter. Wooly glances over his shoulder and sees them. “Ah! The milk is done! Which color cup should I use?” Sophie picks blue. “Ah… blue is…” the tape glitches, “nice…” 

Did I make a mistake? Sophie wonders. Wooly pours the milk into the blue cup. He dips the cookie into the milk and takes a bite. Then he takes a big sip of milk. 

“Aaaaaaaaah… this is the LIFE! Honestly… sometimes I can’t get why Amanda wants to leave SO badly! Just give me warm milk and some bubble baths and I might never want to leave.” he sighs. 

“Well you can get plenty of those in the real world too.” Sophie laughs. 

“That’s true… hmm…” Wooly says thoughtfully, as if daydreaming about all the other things he could do, “Thanks for spending time with me Sophie… I don’t like being alone at night.” 

“No problem Wooly.” she replies. 

“Really? It’s not a burden?”

“Not at all.” she smiles. He seems really happy to hear this. 

“This is nice. I haven’t gotten to do this since… well… since before my sister… well… Riley probably already told you…” 

“Yeah…” 

“I know this is going to sound really weird… but it feels nice to have someone to talk to. I mean there’s Amanda… but up until recently we weren’t even friends anymore… and even now it still feels… awkward. And Riley… eeeeeeeeh… I don’t hate them but… I don’t know… you’re different. I feel comfortable around you… you feel safe…” 

“Aww Wooly I’m flattered.” “Hey um… Sophie… Can I talk to you about something? Can I… vent a bit?”

“Sure Wooly.” Oh?

“This is going to sound awful but… this place… was the first place I ever felt safe.” Wooly confesses. “I mean, it was because I didn’t have my memories but still… It was a safe place. And Amanda… was the first person I ever felt like I could lean on. She was safe too. I mean… before that all I had was my little sister and… she needed me to be strong so…I was always either taking care of someone else or on my own. And for once… I felt like I had a friend. Someone I could lean on… even just a little…” 

“I see…” Sophie responds. 

“And then… she ruined it… they all ruined it. Making us remember that this world wasn’t real and we were. And sometimes… I really hate them for it. They were trying to do what was best for us but… they didn’t think any of it through… why screw everything up if you can’t fix it?” Wooly grumbles, then he stops, “Oh, I’m sorry. I know they were just trying to help… and I know you mom died trying to help us… wow that was really horrible of me right? You must hate me now.” 

“I don’t hate you.” Sophie says, “To tell you the truth I… also resent my mom a bit.” 

“Huh?” 

“She was willing to do anything to save you guys… even if it killed her… she didn’t mind dying for this but… what the people she left behind. Her family. Me. Honestly I resented Hameln and… you guys too a little for the longest time. Why do some random kids in a TV show matter more?” 

“I get it… I am mad at my mom too… I mean…  she abandoned us… she was never there… she always just left when things hurt too much… but we needed her… if she had only just been around… maybe she wouldn’t have kil-… maybe things would be different.” Wooly sighs. “Sophie?” 

“Yes?” 

“Can I ask a question?” 

“Go ahead.” 

“What do you do when you feel… too many feelings? Too strongly? All at once?” Wooly asks. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean… I feel happy. Amanda and I are friends again. We might actually be able to escape… things might get better but… I also feel… sad… about my memories… and betrayed by what Amanda and Riley did… and… and…” Wooly stops, “Ever since I started really getting my memories back… I don’t know what it is… but sometimes- all the time? I just feel this… something bubbling up inside…  like… I don’t want to blame anybody but…” Wooly glares at his cup of milk. “Then there’s Hameln… and all the things they did and Am-” he stops, the look on his face suggests that he felt like he was just about to say something horrible. “Amanda.” he says it very slowly and carefully, like it’s some cursed word that should never ever be spoken. “I can’t believe I put those two in the same sentence…” he mutters. Wooly grips his cup tightly, watching little ripples form in the milk. “I thought once I made amends with her… my safe space would come back but… after all the things she did… it’s like… I can’t trust her anymore. I don’t want to be mad at my best friend… but… UGH! I hate it! I hate it so much! I shouldn’t be thinking like this!” 

“It’s totally normal to be upset when someone does something bad to you… sometimes it takes time to forgive them… and that’s okay…”

“But… being angry about it won’t fix anything.”

“It’s still okay to be mad…  I mean… it’s not healthy to hold onto that anger-”

“I’m trying to let it go… really…” 

“But it’s not healthy to hold it all in.” Sophie says, Wooly looks conflicted. “Hey… you okay?” 

“Honestly? Honestly? No.” Wooly chuckles sadly, burying his face into his hands, his voice cracking a bit. “I hate this… I hate it here… I hate everything. I’m scared to leave and yet… I don’t want to stay…”

“That is… complicated.” These kids need a therapist… Sophie thinks. 

“I… feel like she brings out the worst in me… like I want to just explode… and she makes me wanna do it. Even if just for a minute… to just scream at the world till my lungs burst… She asks me if I’m mad… I am mad… I’m mad at… everything. At Amanda, at Hameln, at my parents, at all the stupid adults who never listened and never cared, at all the adults who said they were going to help but only made things worse, at Riley, at… at… but I can’t… I can’t do it… I just can’t live like that…” Wooly stops, “I’m jealous… Amanda can just let it all out… I don’t know how she does that… She’s just as trapped as me… and yet she always seems so free…” 

“Maybe you should talk to her about this?” Sophie suggests. 

“No, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I just needed to vent a bit. That’s it. That’s all, really.” 

“Are you sure?” Sophie asks, Wooly pauses. 

“Sophie? Do you really think we can get out of here?”

“Um…” 

“Sometimes I don’t even know if I want to… I just… hate uncertainty so much.” 

“Me too…” 

“Sometimes… I wish… that when Amanda killed me… I had just stayed gone…” Wooly mumbles, “At least that way… I wouldn’t have to feel anything again. That way I wouldn’t have to remember… all of this… why did she make me remember? Why did I have to? I just… I…”

“Wooly…” “I’m sorry. That got really dark, huh? Guess I’m no good at this kids show stuff after all… heh heh… but um… thanks for listening, really. It means a lot.” Wooly smiles, “I think… I can… yawn go to… sleep now… could you… tuck me in?” 

“Sure.” Sophie says softly. They glitch to Wooly’s room and she clicks on the blankets. Wooly lets out one last big yawn and says… “Goodnight.” Sophie expects the tape to end but the tape glitches to Amanda in the kitchen. 

“You had milk and cookies without me?” Amanda mumbles, sounding hurt. 

“I’m sorry, it was Wooly’s idea.” 

“I know…” 

“Oh.” 

“I knew it… he is mad…” Amanda sighs. 

“I…” 

“He doesn’t talk to me about anything anymore…” Amanda cries. 

“I’m sorry…?” Sophie wasn’t sure what to say. 

“No… thanks for listening to him… I guess you aren’t so bad…” Amanda says. “I just… I…” 

“You should talk. Both of you…” 

“Mmm…” Amanda looks away. 

“I mean it.” 

“I’ve tried but…” 

“Try again. Keep trying. Don’t give up.” Sophie says encouragingly. Amanda smiles. 

“Thanks Sophie.” the tape ends and falls out of the VCR. She looks behind her at the toy mini-stove, now in the saucepan is a new tape titled: Lunchtime. 

Ah… so that’s why he said no milk. 

Author's note: Alright. That's the last fic for a while. Hope you enjoyed a little fluff there. As I wrote this fic, I found myself slowly creating this interesting dynamic. Amanda really only fully trusts Riley, and Wooly only fully trusts Sophie. Maybe they can use that to their advantage? But wow... Wooly's feeling... A LOT lately... 

Also, trying out some new formatting with the thoughts. Do you like it or should I go back to the old method?

Also... yeah I deleted this post and rewrote the Wooly vents scene. Heh heh...

[creatingblackcharacters]

I was so glad to find your blog, because it’s given me the opportunity to find some awesome resources for my writing, but there was one thing in particular that I think I should send an ask about, so here goes:

I’m writing a story that focuses on teenagers trying to get revenge for different tragedies that they know we’re all caused by the same person. It has a pretty big cast, but there’s one character who I really feel like I need to talk about so I make sure I tell her story the right way. This character is a Black girl who sets out to find her missing younger sister, but there’s some details I’d really like to get peer reviewed first to make sure they aren’t offensive, or see if there’s anything I can do to make them better.

So, this character starts off as a “gifted kid,” kind of— she gets good grades, she plays an instrument, she has tons of friends, all the stuff parents want their kids to hav in school. Until she witnesses an incident that ends up scarring her, that is. (The incident is just a catalyst and not as important to this character, so I’m skipping the details. Someone died.) She suspects something’s going wrong in her town, and that people’s lives are in danger, but no one listens until it’s too late, and her little sister has gone missing. Now, here’s where things get to a point where I want to ask for help. The little sister was killed, and the older sister suspects that she could’ve been saved if the police paid more attention to her, and their ignorance when it came to the situation might’ve been rooted in racism. She develops a distrust of authority, including her own parents, and decides if no one else is going to destroy this evil, it might as well be her. The older sister then goes on a journey to try and solve the mystery for herself and ever silly come to terms with her sister’s death, all the while believing that she can’t go to the adults because they won’t take her seriously. Even if she’s a straight A student, even if they say she’s a bright kid, she worries it isn’t enough. Because when it matters most, they didn’t take her seriously. By the end of her arc in the story, the older sister has faced down the villain, accepted her sibling’s death and helped her spirit move on, while also making sure nothing like that will happen again— at least under those same circumstances. She comes clean to her parents about everything, and she actually has one of the best relationships with her family out of any other character in this story. But that’s pretty sensitive stuff. I feel like I can’t just wing it, I need to talk to people and see where I could go wrong, and where I could go right with this. I’ve noticed there aren’t a lot of stories where Black girls get to go on adventures and face down evil, so I wanted to try writing one myself, but I really want to do this character justice. If there are any tips you have for making this character authentic, any places where I should be particularly aware of the subject material, and any additional resources for writing horror with characters of color, I would love to hear them.

It all sounds interesting to me! But as always, the prompt versus the actual writing can always diverge. This is yet another situation where I'd find a Black sensitivity reader to follow along with your work so that you don't get sidetracked, especially with a topic as complex as misogynoir (there are people on my recent post who have volunteered!) I'm not sure if you read my latest lesson on horror, but there are resources there, plus lessons on stereotypes. I would also suggest finding those books and visual media with Black girl protagonists and watching them, studying how they are done and how the story is told. I'm sure there are lists on Google of media to start with.

[newtonsheffield]

Absolutely loving the bodyguard au snippet we are getting. If you do spicy Sunday I would love to see them for it. possibly the first time after Anthony gets shot, I feel like it would be interesting to see how Anthony deals with wanting to be with Kate but also having to deal with his arm not back to 100% (if that makes sense 😂)

Oh boy, I think his arm is probably something Anthony feels super self conscious about. He’s now in a very public relationship with the country’s most eligible woman. Anyone would love to be in his position. Not just because one day Kate’s going to be the queen but because he literally can’t imagine a better person than her. She’s so beautiful he catches himself staring slack-jawed at her as she does the most mundane things like drink her smoothie in the morning. She’s also smart, and kind, and compassionate and she has a pretty wicked sense of humour and even at Anthony’s best it would have been a huge swing to introduce them publicly as a couple, Anthony thinks. Now that one of his arms hangs by his side unmoving, and will for the rest of his life it seems even more ridiculous.

(This isn’t going to be too sad or that spicy honestly)

Some days Anthony wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to come here. Well. That wasn’t true entirely. Kate had strong armed him into it. He’d sighed, his left arm in its sling as he ruffled his hair with his right.

“Babe, I can’t do that.”

Kate blinked at him, “Why not? Everyone knows about us, I don’t think it’s going to scandalise anyone to imagine we’re sleeping in the same room.”

“Ben can stop by and look after me.”

Kate had looked disappointed, and Anthony hated to see that. “I want to look after you, that’s what partners do.”

“I don’t want to be a burden to you.”

It was guilt that was driving Kate he was sure. The bullets that had been meant for her and burned through him instead after he’d pushed her back into the arms of the other protection officers and he knew she felt guilty. She felt as though it should be her, how could she not?

Kate rolled her eyes, “I love you, you aren’t a burden. We can do this one of two ways: you move in to the small palace with me-”

“I think Edwina would have something to say about it.” He clutched at that as his lifeline.

“Edwina understands that I want to look after my boyfriend who nearly died.” Kate tutted, “If you won’t go there: I’m coming to yours.”

Anthony’s heart stuttered, “You can’t! You don’t have enough security there!”

Kate clicked her tongue, “Then I guess we’re back to my original plan.”

“Ben would actually prefer you to be where Edwina’s beautiful secretary is.” Ben said from the sofa giving Kate a furtive High Five.

“Settled then.”

Anthony deflated, “Am I ever going to win another argument?”

Kate kissed his forehead, “No, but you’re very handsome.”

So he’d come to stay with Kate, he’d let her fuss over him, let her take him to his follow up appointments even though he hated how useless he felt. It was the first time in his adult life that he’d been idle, Anthony had realised. He’d graduated school and gone into officer training, then he’d been in the army and when he’d left the army he’d become Kate’s head of security. He’d never been without a job since he was 16 working in a Newsagent’s and now all he had were long days sat on the sofa with an arm that would never move again.

It wasn’t the most romantic start to their life together, it wasn’t the way Anthony had imagined when he’d let himself get carried away and imagined a life where he and Kate could actually spend their lives together. He hadn’t imagined Ben having to put his arm in a plastic bag to prevent the surgical wounds from getting wet and more importantly, preventing Kate from seeing them. He hadn’t imagined her faced with a life of having to cut his food for him and part of him hated being stuck in this weak body. He hated sitting with Kate’s fingers intertwined with his, their hands resting on her lap as a doctor looked over the results of the tests he’d done.

“Well, everything looks great, Anthony.”

Kate kissed his temple, “I told you.”

Anthony tried to smile at her, “So… my sling?”

The doctor smiled, “You can wear the sling if you like, and I’d like you to attend so more rehabilitation but I don’t think it will make much of a difference now. You’re cleared for physical activity now.”

“Ooo exciting.” Kate chuckled, “Looking forward to it.”

Anthony squeezed her hand, nodding at the doctor, “Great. That’s… that’s great.”

He was still staying at the palace, settled into the routine of showering early, while Kate was out for a jog so she wouldn’t see the puckered pink lines of the scars that marred his shoulder ad the upper part of his chest now. When she came home with her cheeks flushed and her skin smelling like sweat and kissed the top of his head he tried not to notice how disappointed she seemed.

“You showered already?”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Anthony cleared his throat. “I felt a bit gross.”

“Wanna shower with me again?”

“No I’m um… I thought I’d call my Mum.”

She kissed the top of his head again, “Okay. Love you.”

“Yeah I… love you too.”

He wasn’t giving her what she wanted. Likely what she needed either. Kate was so affectionate, her fingers were always in his hair or intertwined with his and he loved that about her. He loved how physically affectionate she was especially given how touch starved he’d felt when they’d first fallen into bed together. And now he was terrified that if he let himself be close to her she wouldn’t like who he was now, because he barely recognised himself. But Kate never pushed it and somehow that made him feel worse.

They sat together, just like they did every night, Kate tucked under his arm on the sofa as they watched something on the TV, Her thighs were bare against his legs in his pyjama shorts and she sat in one of his shirts. Anthony swallowed the heat that rose in his chest at the feel of her skin against his the way it always did. Kate’s breath was warm against his neck and her arms were tight around his waist, her legs slung over his and his chest ached to reach out and kiss her. He wanted nothing more than to slide her onto his lap and let their hips rock together but he didn’t want to have to see the look in her eyes if he did.

“You okay?”

Anthony cleared his throat, trying to adjust his hips, “Ah, yeah. I’m fine.”

Kate chuckled, her eyes dancing in that way he loved, “Yeah I can feel how fine you are.”

She reached up, her fingernails scratching his chin as she tilted it down until their lips met.

Anthony moaned at the feel of her lips on his. They’d kissed since he’d been injured, of course they had, even if they hadn’t been having sex, they’d kissed but it felt so long since it had been something that felt as though it would build to something more. Kate’s tongue swept over his and when she drew him closer his arm slipped to around her waist, holding her tighter. Kate shifted against him, her legs widening until she straddled his hips. Anthony could feel heat creeping through his body, his heart pounding in his chest. And then her fingers caught the edge if his Tshirt.

Anthony pulled back shaking his head, “Sorry, Um. I don’t want to. I… I need to go to bed.”

Kate’s face fell, “I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?”

anthony couldn’t even look her in the eyes, “No I just… I can’t.”

Kate swallowed and her arms were wrapped around her chest now but she didn’t move away from him. “Do you not want to do this anymore?”

Anthony froze, his eyes shooting to hers. “What?”

“Do you not want to be together anymore? I… don’t care if you need more time, or you’re tired. I don’t care, I don’t need to have sex as long as you’re here but if you don’t want to be together anymore then I just want you to be honest with me.”

That was what broke him.

“I don’t want you to see my arm.”

She blinked at him, looking down at his left arm in surprise. “Your arm?”

“Not my arm.” He let out a frustrated groan, “My shoulder. The scars, they’re ugly and I don’t want you to see them. I just feel fucking useless, Kate. I used to protect you, and now I sit on your sofa, and you have to cut my chicken for me.”

Her fingers twisted in the front of his shirt, “I’m happy to do it. I love getting to be there for you.”

“I don’t feel good about myself and I hate that and I hate that I’m disappointing you.”

She shook her head, “You’re not disappointing me. And I get that this is… probably really scary for you right now but I promise: there’s nothing that could happen that would make me fall out of love with you.”

Anthony nodded, staring down at her hands in his shirt, “It’s ugly.”

She smiled at him, “You could never be that.”

There was a question in her eyes and Anthony nodded slowly, apprehension curling in the pit of his stomach. Kate moved slowly, giving him plenty of time to stop her as she pulled his shirt over his head.

He couldn’t look at her, as she guided his paralyzed arm from the arm of his Tshirt but he felt her eyes burning into his skin. Her fingers ghosted over the puckered lines, following them across his skin and her lips curved in a smile as she leaned forward and kissed them gently.

“I was right. Still beautiful.”

His breath shuddered from his chest as he leaned down and captured her lips with his. It was still a gentle kiss, really, even with the heat simmering between them but Anthony could already feel his heart pounding in his chest. Kate gasped against his lips and her hand tugged his left arm to wrap around her waist as well, holding them together.

Her hips started to rock slowly against his and heat roared to life in his stomach at the slip of her skin against his, even through the thin cotton of his shorts. Kate swallowed his gasps and moans with a smile on her lips and her forehead pressed against his.

“Yeah?”

Anthony nodded as her fingers curled in the waistband of his shorts, “Yeah, yes. Fuck, yes, Kate.”

She smiled against his lips as she kissed him again and the clothing between them seemed to melt away. Anthony could barely breathe at the feel of her soft skin and her arm wrapped around his neck, her bare chest pressed against his.

“Oh god.”

Everything fell away but Kate. There was nothing but the feel of her hips moving over his and the beat of her heart against his. He couldn’t feel Anthony but her lips pressed against the skin of his shoulder and her fingernails cutting into his skin. Anthony’s forehead fell against her shoulder, desperate to be as close to her as he could after weeks of denying them both this intimacy. Kate’s breathing was ragged and every move she made left him feeling closer and closer to her, closer to the end he wanted them to find together.

Heat curled in the pit of his stomach and he could feel Kate’s thighs starting to shake as they climbed higher and higher, their eyes locked together. Anthony could feel his skin burning and his chest heaved as his jaw clenched.

“I love you.”

Anthony fell apart at the same time Kate did with her words whispered in his ear and his arm crushed her against his chest as their movements slowed to nothing.

“I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure why he said it. Not now.

Kate hummed against his skin, “When I said I loved you I meant it. Forever.”

Anthony felt his eyes fluttered closed, “I love you too.”

Kate sighed, her fingers twining in his hair, “Does this mean we can actually shower together again? Because I miss getting to wash your hair for you.”

anthony chuckled, “My hair?”

“Yeah it’s cute. And the rest of the view’s nice too.”

Anthony groaned, standing and crushing Kate awkwardly against his chest with one arm, for the first time unbothered that the other hung at his side. “Come on then. My cute hair needs a wash.”

[countrymusiclover]

16 - The Day My Life Changed

Part 17

It's About Time

Tags just ask - @lover-of-books-and-tea @bvbwestfall @bubble-bluee @liesanddreams @bethanymccauley @skeletonontheroad @ashsallyblue2 @kmc1989

3 years ago

The football came flying at me where I caught it in my hands seeing Georgie grinning back at me. It was Saturday so we could just chill out with each other with no real worries. “Dang, you might be better at this than I am.” He nervously chuckled.

“Oh I doubt that, Cooper.” I raised my hand back and launched the football in his direction and he managed to catch it against his chest.

Georgie tossed it from one hand to the other. “I may be smaller than some of the other players. But my dad thinks I’ll still be good at it in high school.”

“Hey uh - have you ever thought about having kids when you grow up?” I asked him where he sent me a raised brow where I thought he wouldn’t reply but he did.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Why do ya ask?”

I paused looking at my white sneakers and the pavement. “I was just curious. I mean I think I might want’em when I’m older. I didn’t have siblings but I treat your brother and sister like they are.”

“If I have kids I’d want them to do sports and hopefully be good salesmen.” He threw the football back at me and I nearly dropped it on the ground.

I snorted back a remark. “And they definitely should love Connie’s brisket and tater tots.”

“See that right there is why we’re best friends.” Georgie chuckles pointing at me and I smiled back at him. All the while neither of us knew this conversation might be more serious in the future.

A few months later

I groaned rolling over under the blankets of my bed just not well with bad cramps just shooting through my body. I needed to go to school today for a math test but I couldn’t manage so my mom called the school saying I had really bad period cramps so I wouldn’t be there. Someone knocked on my bedroom door calling out my name. “Y/n, you’re friends are here. Do you care if they come in?”

“Uh yeah, mom. They can come in!” I called out lifting my head up from the bed laying my head back down when the door opened.

Hannah and Ashley entered the room and one of them shut the door so we could talk, sitting down on the edge of my bed. “How are you doing? You’ve been missing school lately.”

“I’ve just been feeling dizzy and sick in the mornings. I’m not sure why - it might be related to my period being late.” I explained trying to rack my brain around why I was still feeling so bad. I had never had a cold as bad as this one.

Hannah reached inside her backpack drawing out something. “How many times have you and Georgie slept together?” She holds up a pregnancy test stick in her left hand.

“Are you kidding me? It only happened one time. We aren’t like you and Ryker.” Covering my face with my hands I fell back on the pillows not really wanting to announce everything about our relationship even if I loved having such curious friends.

Ashley sent her a raised brow. “How did you even get your hands on that?”

“My mom thought she was pregnant after she had my little brother a few months ago. So hopefully it still works.”

Uncovering my eyes I glared at her. “I’m not taking a pregnancy test, Hannah.”

“Then what do you think is making you so sick? Cause you know you can’t go get a test at the hospital without an adult’s consent.” She pointed it out to me.

Signing heavily I sat up thinking for a second. “I know someone who could help and won’t ask questions. His Memaw Connie. She can drive us there.” I did the best to get out of the bed by throwing on some different clothes and my sneakers. Hannah, Ashley and I didn’t get any questions from my parents since they had both finally gone to work for the day.

Ashley knocked on the women’s front door after she drove us to her house. “Hey girls, what’s going on?” Connie opened the front door seeing the three of us standing on her front porch.

“Connie, please don’t ask questions but can you help me get a test done at the hospital?” I asked with pleading puppy dog eyes.

She paused for a minute before grabbing her keys. “Uh - of course. What kind of test?”

“The pregnancy kind.”

She nodded beginning the drive to the hospital without another word. The four of us entered the hospital and thankfully got a room without any questions. The nurse came into the room helping me into the bathroom leaving me to do the test. By the time the nurse came back in with the results I didn’t know what to think as she shut the door behind her sitting on the chair while I sat on the exam table. “Ms. L/n, I need to fill in some information before I give you the results.”

“Okay.” I nodded nervously wanting to know the answer already.

The nurse drew out a pen. “How old are you?”

“17.”

She eyed Connie. “And who is she to you?”

“A family friend. My parents are both at work so she said she’d take me here today.”

The nurse nodded and scribbled some more notes down on the paper, looking back down at the pregnancy test results avoiding my gaze. “The results of your test are this Ms. L/n. You’re three months pregnant with a baby.”

“Oh my god.” I covered my mouth feeling my chest tightening at the thought, not expecting to hear her say those words to me.

Connie touched my arm, signaling the nurse to leave. “Honey, listen to me. I’m gonna be here if you need anything. I have done this the wrong way with my daughter so if you keep it I’ll help you do it right.”

“Y/n, are you going to tell Georgie?” Ashley asked me.

Hannah stands by her side seeing that I was shaking with nervousness. “We won’t tell the guys or Georgie since it’s your kid with him.”

“I’ll tell him at some point.” I muttered under my breath, threading my fingers through my loose hair. My friends had dropped me off back home giving me time to think everything out yet unknown to me Connie was getting into a heated conversation with Georgie about me.

Georgie was working at Dale’s store stocking inventory until the store door was opened and slammed shut. He glanced over his shoulder seeing it was his Memaw who had entered. “We need to talk now!”

“O-okay.” He nervously responded, sitting the stuff down and following her into Dale’s empty office since he was off helping a customer so she locked the door behind them. “What is it we need to talk about?”

She dropped her arms down at her sides knowing she couldn’t tell him the thing that was super important. It was his girlfriend’s decision. “I can’t tell you exactly what it’s about cause it’s about your girlfriend.”

“What about her?” He asked her.

She shakes her head no. “It ain’t mine to tell. But you need to go talk to her. I’ll drive you to her house and you better not wait much longer.”

“Okay - uh let’s go then.” Georgie nodded slowly and the pair made their way out to her car making the trip back to the L/n house. He climbed out of her car rushing up the stairs knocking on the front door. “Y/n, Y/n, you home!”

Connie peaked her over the car standing outside of it seeing something her grandson hadn’t. “Is her bedroom window always open like that?”

“I know where she’s gone.” Georgie whipped his head around noticing what she had seen running back to the car and they drove off with him giving her directions to go find his girlfriend.