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selfishgiirl · 1 month

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Home With You; Cooper Adams

You have a hard time with your job. Not because Riley isn’t a good kid, but because her father is so goddamn hot—a DILF, if you will.

#sorry if this is ass

You’re a broke college student, so naturally, you take up babysitting for Mr. Adams’—who insists you call him Cooper—little girl.

Riley is a sweet girl, plus she’s easy to watch and get along with. At times it feels like you’re scamming Mr. Adams, Cooper, just because you actually really like and enjoy Riley, plus he pays you ridiculously.

Sometimes you try to refuse some of the money—not all, you’ve still got books to pay for—but he doesn’t let you.

He works weird hours as a firefighter, so it’s usually late when he comes home to Riley asleep and you either sleeping on the couch, watching TV, or doing homework, as you are now.

It’s about midnight when Cooper opens the door, finding you at the table typing away at your laptop. At the sound of the door, your head whips up and the miserable expression you’d had previously is replaced with a soft smile and Cooper hangs up his keys meticulously before making his way to you, “Hey.” He greets, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stands over you. “How was she?”

“Good, Miste…,uh, Cooper—,” You correct your mistake, and something akin to amusement flickers in his expression, “—like always. We worked on that math she was having trouble on, I think she’s almost got it down. How was work?”

“Ah, the usual. Mostly paperwork.” He answers, eyes not leaving yours, which makes you swallow and you wanna shy away, but you don’t. “What about you, how’s your homework? You didn’t look too happy when I walked in.”

You let out a breathy chuckle, embarrassed that he’d noticed your misery in working on a paper. “Right, yeah, I’m just not having a good time writing my paper. Just a little stressed s’all.” He nods at this, and then seems to be thinking about what he’s going to say next.

“It, uh, it isn’t that boy is it?” Cooper inquires and you immediately break eye contact at his words. Fuck, you totally forgot you mentioned him. “He’s not causing you any stress, is he?”

It’s so embarrassing for your hot boss to ask you about some boy you’d stupidly told him about when he’d asked what had been going in your life a week previously. Sheepishly, you pick at your sweater. “Not really.” You shrug, and at your vagueness, he waits for you to continue. “I stopped seeing him. He wasn’t—it didn’t work out.” By now your face is hot in humiliation at confiding in him about some guy you talked to in order to get over your attraction to Cooper, which hadn’t worked and instead made it worse.

“I see.” Cooper says, and he seems to tower over you even more in the moment. “What happened?” He puts a hand on your shoulder and your eyes linger on it. You can’t help but notice how large his hand is on your shoulder, and his fingers—“Sorry,” he apologizes sheepishly at your silence, assuming it was a sensitive subject. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

Your eyes widen at this, “Oh no, it’s fine, really!” You jumble out and his embarrassed look shifts to a relieved expression. “He was just kinda on a different page than I was, I guess.” You stumble a bit when he begins to rub his hand on your shoulder, “W-wanted more from me than…I was willing to give.” You mumble the last part sheepishly, and Cooper’s expression is unreadable at your words. His lips are pursed and his eyes seem darker than they usually are.

“Boys your age, they don’t know what they’re doing.” He finally speaks after a moment of eye contact you find to be a little too intimate with his hand on your shoulder, and instinctively you press your thighs together. “Not with girls like you.”

Your breath catches at that, and your brain stops functioning before you snort. “And guys your age do?” The moment those words tumble out your mouth, your eyes widen in realization of what you said, mouth parting to excuse yourself, but you can’t seem to find the words.

Cooper stops rubbing your shoulder, hand stilling. “Men my age do, yeah.” You’re looking at him through your lashes, dazed at this point as his eyes bore into you. His hand trails up your shoulder, brushing your neck, before he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. His eyes are searching your own for any signs of rejection as his hand gently cups your face.

Your own hands find solace in your lap as your thighs squeeze as hard as they can against each other, and you shift a bit uncomfortably at the pressure between them. “Mr. Adams…”

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Cooper?” He asks in a voice barely above a whisper before his hand picks up again, fingers lightly tracing your jawline before his thumb finds its place on your bottom lip, swiping it, before pushing gently against your mouth. Your lips part in compliance, and his thumb presses itself into your mouth, to which you suck lightly. His lips quirk up, “You’re always so eager to please, aren’t you?”

As if you’d just gained consciousness at his teasing, your eyes widen, and you release his thumb from your mouth before standing up abruptly. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry.” You refuse to look at him, face hot and tears beginning to form as you back yourself into the wall. “This is so unprofessional, please, Mr. Adams I—,”

“Come on, look at me—please, sweetheart?” You obediently look up at him to see him smiling gently as he steps closer. “Don’t be sorry.” Cooper whispers, towering over you before cupping your cheeks with both hands, then wiping away the runaway tears. “Say the word and I’ll stop.” He tells you before leaning in, lips meeting yours in a gentle, chaste kiss that you don’t immediately respond to as your brain processes what’s going on. Every sense of yours is on fire before you finally kiss back eagerly, hands gripping onto his—very broad—shoulders for support.

“Cooper,” you breathe out, eyes blown out as you search his own dilated eyes. His hands trail down your face, then lightly ghost over your chest, then find their place on your waist. Once again, you find yourself squeezing your thighs together to help relieve yourself of the pressure, which Cooper observes and finds endearingly pathetic. “Kiss me again.” A plead, at best.

He obliges you, but this time the kiss is more hungry as his body presses harder into your own, cornering you against the wall.

You pull away for a moment to breathe before he presses his lips to yours again, deepening the kiss when he tilts his head, and you desperately kiss back, moaning lightly when tongue gets added to the mix. Your hips buck up into his, meeting a certain hardness clothed by his jeans, earning another whine from you.

When he begins to pull away, you get bold this time, biting his lip lightly, before looking up through your lashes with those doe eyes of yours. His hands tighten on your hips, fingers digging in deliciously, sure to leave light marks and the thought makes you shiver.

As you ponder the bruises you’re sure you’ll find the next morning, he hoists you up, and you instinctively wrap your arms around his neck while your legs wrap around his waist. You knew he was strong, but Jesus, to experience it this way was..well…hot, to say the least.

He presses a teasing kiss to your lips before trailing his lips down, then pressing into your chin, then your neck. First, he kisses a spot on your neck, then he sinks his teeth in lightly, causing you to gasp and your hips to buck up unsuccessfully in his hold.

His lips suction over the spot he’d bit, then his tongue presses flat against the same spot, and he continues this all over the map of your neck. “I..you can’t..I’m gonna have marks all over me..” You barely get out, voice weak in protest—you and he both know you don’t actually care.

“Good.” He mutters against your skin, nipping briefly before pulling away. “I want that boy to see them—fuck, you don’t know—,” he pauses and sets you down before nudging your legs open with his knee, then presses his leg against your center, earning a strangled noise from you, “—how I felt when you told me about him.”

Your breath catches at this. He was jealous. He was jealous of that guy you briefly even mentioned to him the week before. His thigh nudges you, and you gasp before allowing yourself relief by grinding down in response, lightly moaning. “I was only trying to get over you.” You reveal to him, and Cooper looks pleased with what you said, eyes glinting. “He tried to fuck me, but he wasn’t y-you.” His leg presses harder into you. “When he kissed me, you were all I thought about.”

“I should have taken care of you sooner.” Cooper licks his lips, keeping one hand gripped on your hip and he guides it against his thigh, and the other finds its place on your neck, before gripping your face to force you to look at him when you begin to shy away, getting embarrassed at your own grinding. “So eager, getting off on my thigh like this.”

You shudder before nodding frantically, cheeks slightly mushed together in his grip. “Please, Cooper,” You beg, “please it’s not enough.” At this point you’re close to tears at the stimulation that’s just enough to relieve a bit of the throbbing between your legs, but not enough to actually get off.

“What do you want?” He’s cruel and he knows it, a sick smirk etching itself onto his face as he revels in your squirming. You can’t even get out a sentence, growing more flustered and desperate the more friction you get. “Come on, sweetheart. You can use your words can’t you?”

“Your fingers, anything, please!” You squeak out, tears almost brimming, “Please just touch me, sir.” It’s an accident that you say that, your brain’s too foggy to really think about what you’re saying, but nonetheless his breathing gets uneven and his fingers twitch against your face.

“Say it again.” He drawls in a voice just barely above a whisper as his hand trails from your face to the bottom of your sweater. His fingers lightly trace the waistband of your jeans, lightly brushing your bare hipbone before trailing up your stomach, then cupping your breast over the flowery bra you have on. He relishes in the light whine that you let out.

“Sir, please..” you supply before pushing your hips up, and he finally obliges you, a hand reaching down your pants at first, teasing you over your panties before he undoes the button of your jeans, pulling them just barely past your thighs. You look down, embarrassed that you have on some unsexy pair of panties. You really wish you’d worn your lace panties, not the pair that read out Thursday.

“It’s not Thursday.” He chuckles, amused at your choice of panties. You’re not as amused, just desperate as you whine at his teasing, hands gripping his shirt tightly.

“Just tou—!” Your complaint is cut off when he brushes his finger over your clit over the cotton of your panties. He’s still teasing, and as your about to whine again, he reaches his hand under the Thursday panties, his middle finger beginning to rub over your clit. You let out a slightly loud whine and his unoccupied hand covers your mouth.

“Can’t be too loud, sweetheart.” He mutters, eyes fixated onto your own as your eyebrows pinch together and your eyelids flutter. “So sensitive.”

You nod keenly, a silent beg. With one hand, he pulls down your panties before pushing the pointer finger of his hand covering your mouth against your lips in a shushing motion, then he kneels down, his face level with your lower region.

You’re looking down at him in shock before his mouth latches onto your cunt, sucking your clit into his mouth and his hands grip onto your thighs, spreading them further.

Your hand flies over your mouth and you close your eyes tightly as your hips begin to buck into his face. One hand stays on your hip, keeping you in place while the other trails lower, his thumb tracing the slit of your cunt before a finger enters you, stretching you deliciously.

“Jesus,” he mutters as his mouth detaches from you for a moment while his finger pumps, easily hitting that sweet spot in you, “so fuckin’ tight.”

His tongue laps over you as a second digit enters you, setting itself at a ruthless pace hitting that spongy spot inside of you. It’s almost too much and you attempt to squeeze your legs shut, but his hand tightly gripping your thigh prevents your legs from closing. It won’t be long before you cum and he knows that, slowing for a moment to hear you whine before picking it up again.

“Mr. Adams, please, sir—oh, God.” your voice comes out as quiet as you can make it, “Wanna cum.” You warble out and your legs begin to give, “Please, please..”

In response to your pleads, he curls his fingers against your g-spot, making you whine out into the palm of one of your hands while the other rakes through his hair and tugs. His mouth is still latched onto your cunt, tongue beginning to press flat against your clit.

You let out one last muffled moan before coming, legs once again attempting to shut as he works you through your orgasm, fingers moving at a faster pace and somehow reaching deeper than you believed to be possible.

His tongue also picks up, and you begin to twitch and whine at the overstimulation. “It’s too much,” you pant out between your fingers, but he doesn’t let up—even at the rough tugging of his hair. “I can’t, Cooper, please..!”

At this, he finally lets up, fingers slipping out of you and mouth detaching. You’re still panting and at this point you feel boneless, taking your hand from his hair and steadying yourself against the wall instead.

Cooper rises to your height and without warning sticks his sticky fingers into your mouth, making you taste yourself as your whimper around his fingers, obediently sucking. He wears that cruel smile again before stroking your head with his unoccupied hand. “You should stay the night. It’s too late to drive.”

#cooper adams x reader #cooper adams x you #cooper adams #josh hartnett #need that #he a munch ?#trap #trap 2024 #trap movie

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beansprean · 4 months

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colin robinson: truly the windows update of men <3

My Familiar’s Ghost part 75

Masterpost

See the latest pages on Patreon!

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1a. Close up on a small projector with light beaming out of its lens. 1b. Waist up of Colin standing in front of the fireplace in the fancy room, holding his laptop in one hand and gesturing behind him with the other, where a vinyl screen has been lowered. A color coded excel sheet with a list of vampires on the y axis and known familiars on the x axis is being projected on it. Each name is highlighted either red, green, or gray. Colin grins and says, 'For everyone's convenience, I've made a handy-dandy excel sheet cross-referencing known familiars with their current or former vampire masters. I would like to highlight the vampires G-man here killed in his recent rampage; no doubt they left some familiars out of work, haha!' 1c. Close up on the excel sheet as an error pops up that says 'this value doesn't match the data validation restrictions defined for this cell'. Offscreen, Colin continues: 'As you can see here, I-oh, darn. Hang on, I think I'm on the wrong cell. 1d. Repeat. Another error pops up over top of the original that says 'there's a problem with this formula'. Colin says, 'Whoopsie! Didn't mean to hit that, haha! Butterfingers over here!' 1e. Repeat. Another popup with the original error appears on top. On top of that, an error that says 'runtime error 7: out of memory'. On top of that, an error that says 'not enough resources to display correctly'. Colin mutters to himself offscreen: 'Let me see, uh...tab...function...nope. Control plus...s? Oh, I think I took a screen shot. Gotta remember that one, heh!' 1f. Repeat. Another error appears on top saying 'microsoft excel has stopped working. hang on while windows reports the problem to microsoft' with a loading bar. Colin says, 'Oh, dag nabbit. Excel, who approved this vacation time?'

2a. Close up on Laszlo slumped in the loveseat, head propped up on a fist with half-closed eyes blearily focusing on the screen. Behind him, Nadja is holding Dolly's body over her head like earmuffs to block the sound of Colin's voice, her mouth open in a frustrated groan. Dolly has her palms over her own ears. Offscreen, Colin chuckles in delight and says 'Don't worry, I can get her going again. Let me try to reset...' 2b. Close up of Guillermo leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, eyes closed as he nods off. 2c. Close up on Nandor leaning back in his chair, eyes closed and mouth slack as he resists sleep. Colin continues offscreen: 'Ope. That was restart. Oh, uh... 'configuring windows updates'... Well, hopefully that won't take too long. 2d. Reverse shot, wide, of Colin standing by the projector screen as Nandor suddenly sits straight up in the foreground, eyes squeezed shut and face turned away from Colin toward the viewer. He whips his left arm out toward the projector screen and shouts 'Enough!' The screen bursts into flame, startling Colin who had been tapping fruitlessly at his laptop. /end ID

#wwdits #my familiars ghost #colin robinson #nandor the relentless #laszlo cravensworth #nadja of antipaxos #nadja doll #guillermo de la cruz #vampire guillermo #nandermo #mlm #what we do in the shadows #what we do in the shadows fx #my art #fanart #fan comic #image described

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runningfrom2am · 1 year

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Okay! Ik ur not talking request rn but I’ve had this thought for a lil bit but rafe w hs Teacher!reader, who he likes to visit during her lunch time aka study hall time, and the students adore him and like since it’s hs the girls like find his so attractive( bc mf is) 🤭

okay this request is SO self-indulgent for me bc i'm like a year out from becoming a hs teacher myself like AH that's the dream so i love you so so much for this whoever you are i could give you the biggest hug rn thank you so so much for this idea!!

study hall - r.c.

pairing: husband!rafe x teacher!reader

wc: 1.6k

tags/warnings: fluff and almost nothing else. rafe is a perfect boyfriend bc,, duh? also not very canon of him honestly.

requests currently closed but feel free to send stuff in! it just might take me a while to get around to it :)

nav/masterlists

"Okay that's the lecture, we've got about a minute before the bell here... does anyone have any questions?" You finish up your slides, checking the time briefly as you close up the powerpoint from your laptop and turn off the projector.

A couple of hands shoot up and you gaze over the class waiting briefly for anymore. "Okay, we'll do Max, and then Lacy. Fire off." You point to the two of them in order.

"Can we get an extension on the essay?" Max asks quickly and you laugh. "It's not due for another week! How can you be behind already?" Judging by the reaction of the rest of the class chattering off their agreement, you nod. "Okay, okay. Fine. Yes, you can hand it in on the Monday instead of Friday, but that is giving you two extra days so I won't be giving any more extensions. Got it?"

Collectively the class sighs in relief, a chorus of thank you's and chatter following. "Okay, Lacy, you had a question?" You interrupt everyone to ask, thinking maybe someone else might have the same question and want to hear the answer.

"Is Mr. Cameron coming to study hall today?" She asks, round cheeks flushed as the other girls in the class whip their heads towards you to listen.

"Okay." You laugh, sitting down in your chair content that you won't need to pull up any slides to revisit anything. "Thank you for reminding me, I do have study hall today so if anybody does have any serious questions about the lecture or the essay please hang around after the bell." You say, avoiding most of the question.

You hear the voice of almost every girl in the class speak up at once, all resulting in more or less the same question about whether or not your boyfriend would be coming again to eat with you like he usually does on Fridays.

He was very popular among the girls you taught, which doesn't surprise you. You'd be lying if you said your boyfriend wasn't ridiculously handsome, but it was sometimes a point of contention with the other faculty you worked with. They thought it was extremely unprofessional that he would come in just for the girls to ogle at- but strangely it wasn't a problem when they had their partners come in for lunch at the same time. You knew it wasn't your fault and you weren't doing anything wrong, but just a result of upset from them designating study hall for students and many girls would spend time in your class instead during the lunch hour.

Just then the bell rang, and many students began packing up to leave either to go to other classes for study or to the cafeteria to grab something to eat.

"Alright! Don't forget the readings for next class, please, I may or may not be quizzing you on it just to make sure! Have a good day everyone!" You call out over the loud sounds of students filling the halls and talking.

You sigh with a smile and grab your water bottle, taking a sip to ease your dry throat after an hour of non-stop talking. You look up, humming in acknowledgement at the three girls leaning over your desk. "Question?" You ask, already knowing what they're after.

"Is Mr. Cameron coming?" Lacy's friend, Chloe asks and you smile, shrugging.

"Maybe, you'll have to stay for my study hall to find out."

"Come on just tell us!" Lacy groans, but before you can respond you're interrupted by a knock on your door frame.

"Ms. Y/L/N, I brought your lunch." You smile at your boyfriend standing at the door, lunch bag and coffee in hand.

"Hi." You chuckle, looking at the girls knowingly who already look like they're melting. You get up and greet him at the door, grabbing another chair to pull over to your desk for him to join you.

“Hi Mr. Cameron.” Lacy smiles, sitting down in the desk closest to yours and batting her lashes at him.

“Hi there.” Rafe says politely with an awkward smile, digging through the lunch bag he brought for you and handing you snacks out of it.

“Girls, go get your lunches, please.” You tell them, and they all somehow simultaneously roll their eyes.

“You just want us to leave so you can be alone with your boyfriend.” Chloe teases you and you laugh, shaking your head.

“No, I want you to go get your lunches so you can give your bodies the nutrients they need to learn. I’m not going to be held responsible for you girls missing meals.” You reply sincerely before taking a sip of your coffee. “And I promise, Mr. Cameron will still be here when you get back. Now, go.”

You gesture to the door and the girls sigh, getting up and filing out the door.

“You’re the only reason I ever have anyone in my study hall.” You giggle quietly once they’re gone. “There are no girls in study hall on Monday or Wednesday.”

“No way, Ms. Y/L/N is their favourite teacher, obviously.”

“Or my class is the hardest and my very hot boyfriend comes to eat with me during Friday study hall.”

“Your class is easy!” Rafe laughs, reaching up to brush away some hair that stuck to your cheek as you’re eating.

“You’ve never taken it, how would you know?”

“Well, if you were my teacher when I was in school… I’d be in here every day. “The boys don’t come on Fridays because they’re jealous of me…” He says smugly, leaning in to kiss your cheek.

You blush as you playfully push him away, glancing towards the open door to make sure no students saw. “Yeah, you’d be in here because you’d need help with Shakespeare, and they do too.”

Rafe gasped in mock offense, then shakes his head. “That’s messed up. I’m offended.”

You shrug. “It’s tough stuff if you’ve never read it before.”

“We’re back!” You both look up at the door as Lacy and her friends make their way back in, lunches in hand this time. “Did you miss us?”

“Welcome back, ladies. Did you bring some homework with you?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at them.

“Duh, Ms. Y/L/N. Who do you think we are?”

“I just wanted to make sure. Study hall is for studying, not chatting.”

They all get comfy in their seats around the desk across from yours, phones immediately out with no work to be seen.

“Hey, Mr. Cameron?” Chloe asks, leaning on her upturned palm as she grabs his attention and he hums in acknowledgement. “What’s your first name?”

“Rafe.” He answers, not thinking for a second that maybe it’s not allowed.

“That’s a great name. Like, really cool.” Lacy sighs, smiling at him.

“Why, thank you.” Rafe grins, nudging your shoulder. He eats this attention up every time, and it’s fun to joke about when you’re at home- but sometimes you think it’s bad for his ego.

“Can we call you Rafe?”

“If you want.” He shrugs.

“No, nope. He’s Mr. Cameron to you, sorry to disappoint.” You chuckle.

“But he said we can call him that!” Chloe whines, looking at you pleadingly.

“Sure, but the school board says otherwise. As long as we’re on school grounds you don’t even know his name, got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” They agree, giggling to themselves. “It’ll be our secret. Scouts honour.”

“None of you are scouts!” You laugh.

The girls just look at each other and shrug.

By now other students have filtered in, and luckily with tests coming up in all your blocks, a lot of studying is actually happening and less harassing of your boyfriend.

“Hey,” Rafe whispers, leaning closer to you which draws the attention of the girls in the front row who are straining to listen. “Can we take the yacht out this weekend? Maybe go for dinner or something on the mainland?” He whispers, smiling at you hopefully.

“Yeah, that would be nice. We could make a weekend out of it, I don’t have much grading to do.” You agree quietly and he seems excited, smiling and patting your leg before returning to his book that he had just picked up off your desk to skim through while you ate.

Come Monday morning, you’re getting ready for the bell to ring to signal the start of the first block. Once your whiteboard is ready with the notes for the day, you smile to yourself in anticipation as you sip your coffee. The bell rings, and students are quick to make their way in and to their desks.

“Oh. My. God.” Lacy stops in her tracks at the door, holding her arms out in front of her friends on either side of her as she stares at the whiteboard, and then looks over to you. “You’re joking!” She almost screams, clapping excitedly and running up to your desk to examine your hand while all the other students look up to the board in confusion, hoping for some answers as to what Lacy and Chloe are squealing about.

On your board, you had changed your name in the corner to a short statement:

‘You can call me Mrs. Cameron’

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#obx fanfic #rafe cameron #rafe obx #outer banks #obx #rafe fic #rafe fanfiction #outerbanks rafe #rafe headcanons #rafe imagine #rafe x you #rafe cameron x reader #rafe x y/n #rafe x reader #rafe cameron fluff #rafe outer banks

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supertrxshwrites · 11 months

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Not really sure if you actually take request, but...

What about Damian x reader where they are on a date, and have been dating for a while, but his family doesn't know. They are at a cafe when Damian sees one of his brothers walking by. Obviously once the brother sees Damian and this girl, they put the pieces together. They call the rest of the family and sort of just stand nearby to spy on Damian, while he tries to act normal with his girlfriend who's back is turned to the rest of the family.

Basically when the reader is looking at damian, damian = :)

When reader looks elsewhere damian to his family = >:(

okay im sorry if this is really short anon. lemme know if i should write more i'd be happy to!! :D

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

You and Damian met at the pet store. It sounds silly but that day you saw him sitting in the kennel with all the puppies as you were buying your cat treats and your life was changed forever. You both clicked immediately, your friends would tell you that Damian was strange and mysterious but that’s why you liked him. After hanging out for about three months bonding over your love for animals he finally asked you to be his girlfriend it was hard for him he had never done anything like this before, but he did his best. Which was bringing you a puppy with a special collar that read “be mine?” You found it sweet and couldn’t say no.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𓆩♡𓆪

You and Damian decided to go to a nice little cafe for a date. The air was crisp, the leaves were falling and fall was finally starting in your eyes, you couldn’t wait to bust out the sweaters. Damian ordered coffee for you both as you sat at one of the cute study tables by the window. As Damian starts to walk back with his and your drinks, someone catches his eye through the window.

“..what the hell?” He says softly before realizing it’s no other than his older brother. Dick.

They spot each other at the same time through the glass. This causes Damian’s initial panic, he had been so peaceful living his life without any of his brothers finding out about his girlfriend and now the one who couldn’t keep a secret if it were beaten into him has a front-row seat to it all.

Dick starts waving as Damian walks to the table where you and him are sitting he’s a bit annoyed but tries to save face as he sits down.

“They didn’t have the pumpkin cold foam so I just got you whipped cream I hope that’s okay,” he says with a smile as he hands you your coffee and a muffin.

“Awe..that’s okay though, I’m happy with either,” you say with a big grin.

Almost on cue you set down your bag and lean to get out your laptop. Dick is standing outside of the window behind you, miming at Damian.

“Who is she?” He mouths through the glass pointing at you

Damian angrily waves his arms for Dick to go away.

“Get out!” He says in a slight whisper.

“You want me to get out?” She says a bit confused as she sits back up and Damian’s arms are waving around.

“Uuuh no no baby not you.” He says with a sweet smile

“I saw a fly and was trying to shoo it away” he laughs nervously before sitting down.

You boot up your laptop and start checking your emails a bit.

Dick holds his cell phone up to the glass showing the group chat.

“Shit,” he says under his breath before eagerly patting his pants and looking for his phone. Once he fishes it from his jeans it’s blowing up the group chat is blowing up.

“ GUYS DAMIAN HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!” Dick sends

“Pics or it’s not real” Tim sends

“Yeah right. There is not a girl on earth who would tolerate demon spawn” Jason sends

1 Attachment.

“Baby what’s wrong?” you ask as Damian’s face twists into a frown.

“Uh..it’s nothing,” he says clenching his jaw as he sets his phone on the table face down

“Just family stuff” he looks a bit annoyed

“Are you sure? If you have to go it’s okay” you say as you close your laptop

“No no it’s okay, my love” he smiles at you before giving you a peck on the lips.

He looks up behind you and his face turns pale as he realizes Dick, Jason, and Tim are standing outside cheering and doing chest bumps and fist-pumping.

“For fucksake” he says rolling his eyes

“Okay, what the hell is going on?! You’ve been giving me mixed emotions all day!” you stand up and angrily point at him.

Damian looks like a scared puppy seeing you upset which is a rare sight.

“From the second you sat down, you’ve been pouting and overall grumpy!” you tear him a new one before realizing the three guys behind you on the other side of the glass.

“What the hell- who are they?” you ask taken off guard. Laughing a bit at the three guys acting like complete fools outside of the cafe.

“My idiot older brothers,” he says pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Guess it’s time for you to meet the family,” he says waving them to come in.

𓆩♡𓆪

#Damian wayne x reader #Damian Wayne #dc comics #batfam #jason todd #dick grayson #Tim drake #anon #supes writes #anon ask

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kenmakodz · 7 months

Text

CANDID LOVE ˙✧˖📷

06. brain food ☆

writing in-between cuts!

a quiet knock on the door catches your attention, which was previously focused on scrolling through random shows on Netflix. a weird feeling, you get. an emotion that seems to be the love-child of excitement and nervousness. there's no time to run away from these feelings, though, so you get up and open the door for the poor boy who's been hauling 3 bags of food.

"my god" he sighs, setting the bags down on the coffee table. "i think my stomach has eyes. there's no way we're finishing all this in one night." you laugh, noticing how he's holding his arm out of pain. "i've definitely done the same, more times than i'd like to admit-- here, sit down for a bit." gesturing to the couch, you sit down and pat a spot relatively close to you. he takes this offer with open arms, considering he'd walked pretty far. "sorry i took a while, hopefully i didn't keep you waiting too long?" his hands fidget together as he takes in your room. it's the size of a triple, but you have it to yourself. it's quite surprising how nice the school treats transfer students, considering how main students are usually shoved into a tiny room with 2-3 other people. you place your hand upon his; a ballsy move, but you know how it feels to be anxious about things. you don't want him to be anxious with you. "it's fine, really. i don't mind waiting for you." you smile, moving your hand back to it's previous position. embarrassment clearly runs through his body, but to you he just looked starstruck. after a moment of pushing these feelings back, he returns your smile. "i'm glad, then. um, can we eat? i fear my stomach is going to wrinkle up if we don't." "yes yuuta, we can eat."

"okay, okay. this seems good for now, i think?" he sits back from the laptop you two have been sharing, taking a second to re-read the outline. your eyes scan the page as well; it's a very.. rough outline. you start laughing at the last few lines, where he'd begun to give up on being professional. after all, only you two will see this draft. "why are you laughing?" he pouts, thinking you're making fun of the ideas laid out. "oh relax," you lean back with him, realizing he's gotten much closer than before. "i can just tell that you were rushing writing the final scene." his head whips to you and a hand clutches his chest, feigning shock; a sarcastic gasp falls from his lips. "how could you! we worked very hard on this!" your hand pushes his away from his chest, the both of them landing on his lap. "oh, shut up. i'm just teasing." he huffs anyways, a facade you've become accustomed to. after all, one of your best friends is nobara kugisaki.

reaching to a stuffed dog to your side, you hand it to him. "here, will an emotional support dog help?" he sighs, wrapping it in his arms. "i suppose." laughing again, you sit up and grab the laptop once more. "you're so dumb." he grips the toy more, you don't realize it, but he likes the way it smells of lavender just like you do. "what are you doing now, don't you think its enough for tonight?" you stop to think, after sending the draft to your phone. "well, we'll need to send casting calls to the neighboring schools sometime soon.. but i guess we can be done for now." he closes the laptop for you and places it on the table once again, looking back. "good, we can do that another time-" his sentence is cut off due to his phone practically blowing up in the room over. "sorry," he starts, getting up and handing the stuffed dog back to you. "let me go check on that."

"hey, sorry again. my friends were blowing up my phone for some reason." he comes back into the room where you two were sitting before, unsure if he should sit back down. he can't read your face, and you can't read his either, despite you both feeling the same way. "it's okay. you can sit back down if you want to stay a bit longer..?" you look down for a split second, anticipating the rejection he was about to give you. "i was looking for shows before you got here, but i couldn't find a good one." you try to convey what you say as a question, but it almost comes out as a plea. he doesn't say anything immediately, and you almost get upset? looking back up, you realize he's already getting ready to sit back down with you. "i'd love to stay. i also have an amazing suggestion for a show." your eyes light up, and it feels like the room filled with more air the way you both sighed with relief. "oh really?" you tease him, as he takes back the toy he'd left with you. "lay it on me then."

fun facts -> TWO PEOPLE PINING FOR EACHOTHER BUT NEITHER KNOW IT!!!! a classic trope. chefs kiss. yuuta offered to go get snacks not only because he was starving, but he also needed time to calm himself down before going to y/n's dorm. he was scared. scared that he'd say something stupid, give her the ick, embarrass himself. you know, the works. once he got there though, it felt like he never wanted to go home again.

-> GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCh. screams. kicking my feet like a little girl writing this chapter.

previous, masterlist, next [07. i hate men (except you two)]

taglist is open! @just-a-girlblogger @moryymor @swissy23 @hvnyacoded @sereniteav @k4romis @jayathelostdragon @h3rmess @olivandeee @lysaray @ari3000dontcare @raechu11 @marifujioka @nyxlai @sonicsolos @saltypuffin1040 @r0ckst4rjk @h8ani @lmaolmaolmao @maya-maya-56 @mittensdun @adrenova @pnkblueberry @morgyyyyyyy @chososwh0r3 @lunecqm @r4veeen @arivsx @levlucs-kiru @mellozhi

if you are in bold, i am unable to tag you :( and if i forgot to add you, PLEASE YELL AT ME

⤷ © kenmakodz

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angelkissiies · 1 year

Text

brute

abby anderson x reader

cw : hockey!abby , cheerleader!reader , modern!au , m*n , bigotry , usage of slurs ( fag ) , incel , alluded frat tactics ( roof*es ) , violence .

wc : 2.4K

a / n : if you see any grammatical issues , SQUINT , ive never proofread a single thing in my entire life

You shuffled into your seat, letting your bag drop onto the floor next to your feet. It was pretty quiet in the rink, the soft sound of chattering coming from the locker rooms as you settled in– fishing around in your stuff for your laptop. It was a slow day for you, only a couple classes worth of homework to complete, so you’d decided to tag along with Abby to practice for a show while you fought your calculus assignments. Since it was the start of the season, new kids had been brought onto the team which made a ton of sense as a gaggle of 19 year olds raced down the aisles toward the ice– just barely missing your water bottle. “Jeez.” You huffed, pulling your stuff further from the walkway, not willing to risk the ridiculously expensive tumbler Abby had gotten you.

It wasn’t unusual for you to accompany her, seeing as the rink was like a second home to you, the team not minding for the most part– Abby had joked before that the judgment of a pretty girl whipped them more into shape, their plays being better when you were around compared to when you werent.

Abby was beyond annoyed already, following behind the newbies with a scowl. This was the worst part of a new season, given that these kids didn’t know the ways of the team, not that she fully blamed them. She just hated the prospect of dealing with multiple egotistical freshmen in such a small place, their voices managing to carry throughout the entire rink. She held her skates close to her side, nudging the rink door open with the tip of her toes, settling onto one of the benches to finish gearing up for practice. Her nerves were already shot, having the captain of the men's team call up to the rink saying that he’d managed to get sick– meaning she’d be taking on both teams for drills. She’d debated calling the whole thing off, not wanting a repeat of the fiasco last year.

“You gonna make it?” A voice called from behind her, making her crane her neck as she shoved her feet into the skates, the owner of said voice making her roll her eyes. Nora and Mel were walking together just a ways behind her, sliding into the box before the door shut, their helmets and skates hitting the floor as they sat on either side of the girl. “How much do you wanna bet she bites one of their heads off before practice ends?” The two girls had a habit of betting on her downfall and whilst she knew it was all in good fun, seeing as they held some responsibility as co-captains, it still made her heart jump.

The blonde clicked her tongue against her teeth, shaking her head. “Don’t start this again.”

Mel laughed, glancing down to mess with the strap on her gloves. “I got fifty on it being that guy,” She began, using her head to nod towards a dark haired guy on the ice. He was laughing loud enough to fill the entire rink, the sound piercing her ears as she shook her head slightly. “That might end up being me though, super annoying.”

Abby chuckled, easing the helmet over her braid, making sure to tuck the end into the back of her jersey. “He is really annoying, I think that’s the same guy that transferred from UW.” She added, “I heard he made a big deal out of practicing co-ed.” She slid her gloves over her chilly fingers, eying the boy for a second before bringing her gaze up to the benches around the rink– like she always did, searching for you. It didn’t take long, seeing as you always sat in the same place, her heart squeezing slightly at the sight. You were cross-legged on the bench, her massive varsity jacket swallowing you whole as you tapped away on your computer– a frown etched into your sweet face. She knew how much you hated math, so it didn’t take her long to figure out what you were doing, a smile tugging at her lips as she tore her eyes from you.

“Let's hope he behaves, hm?” Nora sighed, pulling open the second door to step out onto the ice– holding it open for the other two. “If not, god, I don’t even wanna know.”

The girl nodded, standing up as she double checked her mouth guard. It was especially cold, as she made her way onto the ice, a chill biting at her exposed cheeks. Her time away from the sport had reflected on her temperature gauge more than anything, making her shudder slightly. “Is everyone here?” She spoke up, coming to a stop in the middle of the rink, tapping her skate slightly on the ice. It was a habit she’d managed to pick up from you, seeing as you prefaced all of your jumps with the tinestest of taps, she carried it like a piece of you on every rink she played on.

One of the boys shrugged, looking to the group behind him before nodding out of the rink, trading her attention for another. Their conversations were low and muffled, only a stray chortle echoing as they found a way to quiet down. She was equally grateful and annoyed.

Abby brushed it off, doing a quick headcount as she tried to figure out how many they’d be down, her patience wearing even thinner as she tried to focus over the bickering from the group in front of her. They had a nasty habit of not coexisting on the best terms, their compliance contractual. She dropped her attention from the teams as she saw Nora waving from the side, her feet propelling her forward to meet the girl in the middle– fingers still toying with the thick mouthguard in her hand. “What’s up?” It was unlike Nora to look so nervous, setting her brow into a downturn as she bent slightly to level with the girl. “Nora, what is it?”

“We might have a problem, I'm not sure, but it definitely sounds like a problem.”

You groaned as you snapped the computer shut, moving your now free hand to rub your temple, there was nothing less enthusing than math. The worksheets you’d been assigned were incomplete, and you only figured that out once you were pretty much done, so all of your work was for nothing– seeing as when you checked your email an entirely new set had been assigned. It was enough to make you want to drop out, the prospect of doing anymore work sending a pang into your head. You shoved the laptop back into its sleeve before tucking it back into your bag, leaning back to rest against the row of seats just above you. You pulled your wrist up to hover above you, eyes locking onto the time. You made a small noise of confusion, sitting up on your elbows to look into the rink– they all were just standing around, Abby and Nora tucked away near the middle with their backs turned to you. They should’ve already started by now.

“Weird.” You muttered, to no one but yourself, as you picked yourself up off of the bench. You grabbed your phone from your stuff and tucked it into your oversized pocket, stepping down the rows until you were right in front of the plexi-glass– breath creating a thick haze on the chilled material. You settled into one of the rink-side seats, just simply glazing over the players before your attention was caught by a couple freshmen. They were standing just outside of a group, their conversation too far for you to hear, but their stares were hard to miss. It made your stomach churn, prompting you to sink lower into your seat as you pulled your phone out to distract yourself. You weren’t not used to men staring, it was just something that came with being a girl, though you could seem to shake the feeling of dread that had lit in your stomach as you scrolled mindlessly through your feed.

Abby’s heart was pounding in her chest, mouth set into a harsh line as she followed Nora’s hushed whispers. Internally, there were alot of things she’d considered doing. Externally, she kept her feet steady on the ice. She had to give him a chance, right? There was some underlying theme of second chances at play, there had to be– but from the grim expression on Nora’s face, she doubted it. The blood had begun to rush to her head, a loud beating in her ears pulling her from the conversation at hand, hand coming up to stop the girl in front of her. “Let me handle this–,” She began, being cut off promptly.

“You can’t hit him, Abby.” The girl sighed, crossing her arms over her stomach as she glanced warily between the boy and Abby. “He’s just a freshman, just go– I dunno, knock him down a peg.”

She nodded, pulling her helmet off and handing it over to Nora. “I won’t hit him, promise.” She toyed with the straps on her gloves for a moment before, also, pulling them off and tucking them into her now empty helmet. While, yes, she had no real plans to hit him– she wasn’t ruling it out. Her feet dug into the ice, pushing off into his direction, a thousand different approaches coming to mind. She couldn’t deny the anger she felt, some of the comments Nora repeated making her nauseous, though in some fucked way– that’s just the way the wold had come to be. Boys said things about you more often than not, they always had innocent intent though– something these seemed to be lacking in their grotesque banter. Abby wasn’t one to let things like this slide, everyone knew that.

Everyone but them, as they missed her overwhelming presence behind them– still snickering behind locked arms. “The things I'd do to get her, I mean come on! Look at her.” The blonde spoke, nudging the brunette with his elbow.

“I know, I know. Imagine finding her at a frat party, I’d like to get her a drink– if you catch my drift.”

Abby’s jaw tensed, a heavy hand coming to lock onto the boy's shoulder. With ease, she spun him around on his skates, his lanky frame wobbling from the sudden change in motion. “Don’t speak. I don’t care what you’re getting at or what your excuse is. That girl you’re talking about isn’t available, nor would she be interested, not that it seems you’d care. Keep your rapist comments to yourself or find the door.” Her voice was low, fingers now digging into the clothed flesh of his shoulder, face a couple shades paler from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She wanted to hit him, god so bad, but she resisted– her resolve holding for the moment being. There was nothing she hated more than the audacity of men, her spine straightening as she stood to her full height– peering down at him, hoping that he would catch her drift and fuck off.

The brunette snorted, shrugging her hold off with a cocky smile, other boy suddenly uninterested in ‘locker room’ talk. He shook his head, throwing up his hands in a mock gesture. “You feminists and calling all men ‘rapists’, you’re the real problem with society.” He jeered, looking around as if someone else would agree with him. “That girl isn’t even your problem, so why do you care?”

An incredulous smile graced her lips as she let her arms come to rest intertwined against her tense stomach, nodding slowly. “‘That girl’ as you call her, is my business. You see that jacket she’s wearing?” She asked, taking a tiny step forward. “It’s mine. She’s mine.” It was clear, to anyone who had begun to tune into the conversation, that the last piece of self-control she had was breaking. She was pretty good about keeping her cool, usually, seeing as she wasn’t banned from the rink yet– but the look on his face made her rage double, making violence seem like the better option than just letting him go with a warning.

“Oh, I get it. You’re a fag–,”

You’d come out of your seat, phone angled towards the rink with the intention to snap a couple of pictures of Abby. It was something you’d taken to doing during games, a folder now dedicated in your phone to the candids. You clicked the button to snap the picture, instead hovering too long and starting up a video, making you groan slightly before peering into the screen for a moment– seeing the moment Abby’s fist collided with the boy's nose, a sickening crack filling the rink. ”Oh my god.” You breathed, glancing around to the observing parties– seeing them do next to nothing to stop the brawl.

The boy managed to hit her once before becoming subdued by the girl, subdued meaning crumpled onto the ice in the fetal position, his hands now clasping the crooked bone protruding from the flesh. His friends had knelt down around him, hands poking around at his face in attempts to help. “You fucking bitch!” He groaned, blood leaking down his hands and seeping into the fabric of his uniform.

“Yeah, I’m the bitch.” Abby sneered, tongue gliding over her teeth before she spat a mouth full of blood onto the ice beside him. “You’re off the team. Don’t bother coming back.” She hummed, turning on her heel to glide towards the door closest to her– your petrified face coming into view as she did so. “Practice is canceled. Go home.” She said finally, pulling the door open.

You stared up at her, mouth opening and closing for a second before you settled on a question. “What happened?”

The blonde glanced back behind her, the eyes of the team lingering on her, before she dipped down to press a gentle kiss to your lips. The contrast between her bloody lips and the soft cushion of her hand coming to rest on the back of your head was dizzying– but you didn’t complain, the metallic taste seeping into your mouth as you chased her lips. When she finally managed to pull away, there was a smear of blood on the flesh of your bottom lip– making her chuckle.

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.”

#hockey!abby #hockey!au #hockey!abby x reader #abby anderson x you #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson x female reader #abby anderson #abby the last of us #abbyanderson #tlou #tlou2 #the last of us fanfic #the last of us #tlou hbo #hockey abby my beloved

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photmath · 9 months

Text

Goin' Home | Dominik Szoboszlai

Pairing: Dominik Szoboszlai x OC

Summary: Left with no other options, a reluctant Nori drives home with Dominik and Dominik accepts being her date to a wedding.

Word Count: 11k (I got carried away)

Warnings: FLUFF, SLOW BURN, shy Domi, angst, kinda miscommunication trope, lots of dialogue, kissing, mentions of feeling less desired, brief vomit spell, cursing, brief alcohol mention, typos

Note: Nori is only mentioned as having longish hair and that's all, no other PHYSICAL characteristics of her. She/her pronouns.

Nori has a dilemma. With her car deciding to break down on the street and her having to call Trent to come rescue her at a petrol station, she still has no clue how she is getting home. Winter break was just around the corner and they were all set to be back home within a week. Taking the train wasn’t a bad idea, except the most straight shot seemed to be the night train but no one trusts the night train. And don’t even get Nori started with the suggestion of flying.

Now, Wanda, Nori’s best mate, is trying to convince her to let Dominik drive her home.

“Just ask Dominik,” Wanda hisses. Nori grabs Wanda’s arm to stop her from opening their reserved study room. Dominik and Camila are already inside going over their last units for their biology exam.

Nori purses her lips, shaking her head, “No, I think I’ll just wait until the train leaves.”

Nori and Dominik were not exactly the closest of friends despite being a part of the same friend group. When they were first introduced to each other on Halloween, they hit it off. But then hours later, Dominik slammed a plate full of whip cream into Nori’s face and things haven’t been the same since.

Wanda rolls her eyes, “You know that’s not a good idea, Nori.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Trent trots up to the two girls, a grin on his face as he opens his arms wide to hug them both, “How’s it going?”

“I’m trying to get Nori to see if Domi can take her home on Friday but she’s not budging,” Wanda sighs. Trent turns towards Nori, his nose bumping into her ear, not realizing how close he is to her.

He chuckles, letting go of them, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Nori grumbles, adjusting the part of her jacket sleeve that Trent crumbled.

“You still haven’t forgiven him?”

“I have, it’s just…” she quiets, not daring to admit her problem with Dominik to Trent, one of Dominik’s best friends.

Trent shrugs, “His family moved to your hometown this year, and he’s driving back so it wouldn’t be out of his way.”

Wanda eyes narrow as she faces Nori, “Are you still upset? He’s apologized so much since then, and I mean, he’s shown that he’s a good guy.”

“We aren’t close guys,” Nori mutters, finding a different excuse. “And that’s an almost five hour drive.”

“Tryin’ to save you money,” Trent says, gripping Nori’s shoulder assuringly. “If you don’t want to ride with him, then okay, but I can ask him and I’m sure he’ll say yes. Or you can ask him. Either way, he’ll probably say yes.”

“Okay fine,” Nori relents, shrugging off Trent’s arm and opening the door to the study room herself. Dominik’s standing near the white board, clasping the dry-erase marker he has in his hand closed, eyes darting up at the three of them. His eyes linger on Nori’s, a barely-there smile teetering onto his lips.

“Oi,” Trent nods to Dominik, “can you take Nori home on Friday? She lives in your neighborhood.”

Dominik raises his eyebrows in surprise, “What? She does? You do?” Nori’s cheeks grow with heat as she takes a seat next to Camila, giving her a side hug.

“Yeah,” she says casually, looking up at him. “My car is in the shop, but I can just ride the night train—but they wanted me to ask.”

Trent and Wanda roll their eyes while Dominik taps the marker against his hand in a nervous fidget. He lets out a small cough, “Oh…uh, yeah I can give you a ride.”

“Great!” Wanda chimes with exaggeration, Nori ignores it as she pulls out her laptop. Dominik glances at Trent and he gives him a cheeky grin, making Dominik’s cheeks burn red but it’s not like Nori sees it. She hasn’t looked up at him since telling him about her car. And she most likely wasn’t going to look at him again for the rest of the session.

Trent waits until the girls leave—well more like gives them a head start to meet them at the ground level of the library because there is no way he was letting them walk in the dark to the car park—to talk to Dominik.

“You should tell her,” Trent says to Dominik.

Dominik blows a raspberry, “She won’t even look at me.”

“Would you after that Halloween party?”

Dominik shoves his laptop into his bag harshly, not even caring if it slips out of its protective sleeve. He tried to get Nori’s attention all session, tried to ask her questions about her studying and help her out, but she wasn’t having it. She never did. It was getting useless to keep trying when she clearly wasn’t interested.

He sighs, “I already apologized, I didn’t know it was her in that costume. I would have never done that if I knew it was her.” He tugs at his hair, swiping through the dried gel. “Ambushing me by asking if I could take her home, seriously?”

“I did it that way you two could talk. It’s starting to become obvious that you two don’t like each other,” Trent retorts. “I rather not have to listen to another study session with you pathetically attempting to talk to her.”

“She doesn’t like me.”

“Just give her time.”

Dominik shakes his head as he opens the room’s door, holding it open for Trent. “No, she doesn’t like me and I want to stop embarrassing myself. Maybe she had a little crush on me, but it’s gone now. Or maybe she never did.” He rubs the sleepiness out of his eyes with the heel of his hand. He told Trent that Nori was cute, and Trent was reluctant at the beginning, but now he seemed to be serious about playing matchmaker.

“I mean, you hit her kinda hard,” Trent recounts.

Dominik lets out a loud groan, “Stop bringing it up, I’m already mortified as is. Can we drop it? Because I’m done with whatever this is.”

“No, no, c’mon, Dom,” Trent says, latching onto his shoulder. “One more try.”

“It’s been a month!” Dominik shrieks. “And now this car ride is just going to be awkward—”

“No it won’t.”

Dominik shrugs Trent off of him while entering the lift. Dominik drives his fingers through his hair again, trying to shrug off the humiliation and unease coursing through his body. The night wasn’t done of course, they were going to have a movie night at the girl’s apartment and if it wasn’t for Trent, he knew he wouldn’t have been invited.

Dominik still couldn’t forget the tightness of his chest when he heard Nori crying in his bathroom. Or how hard it was to swallow because his throat had felt as if it was swelling. Trent hadn’t even glanced at him after he struck the paper plate filled with whip cream onto Nori’s face, he was immediately shoving him in order to get to her. The chorus of ooo’s that rang through the room made Dominik chuckle. And that’s all he had thought about it, that he smashed the plate perfectly onto their face. It wasn’t until he went up to his bedroom did he see that they were all crowded in his restroom trying to clean a bloody nose, and that it was Nori sobbing on his sink. Trent didn’t even let Dominik into his own restroom, shutting the door on him, but Dominik could hear the sobs through the door.

Dominik had met her earlier that day, absolutely awestruck with the way she carried herself throughout the day of the pumpkin patch she organized for the local little kids. He had only known what Trent told him about her, and said that she would come to his “ugly costume” party that night, but he hadn’t seen her that night. At least he thought he didn’t. He didn’t realize she went all out and dressed up as an old, bald man from some reality TV show.

There was a competition that night, in which anyone could pie the ugliest costume. Dominik had gone first—and last—having already picked out Nori’s costume when she walked into the apartment as the one he would pie. He had commented about it being so ugly but also one of the best, and then when Nori least expected it, he pied her.

Trent pulls Dominik out of his trance, “Are you still coming to movie night?” They exit the lift, spotting the girls waiting for them at the exit with coffees in their hands.

Dominik glances down, “Yeah.”

Trent bumps into his shoulder, “She’ll forgive you, bro.”

He nods absentmindedly, watching Trent meet up with the girls while he lags behind.

She shouldn’t, is all Dominik can think of in response. If it was something that still bothered her almost a month and a half later, maybe it was for the best to give her the distance she sought out for. Everyone knew it was Nori underneath the costume, except him, and to do something like that to someone like her, it was criminal. She was sunny, full of energy, and kind. Only cried during sports matches and sad movies.

Jude’s tall frame jogs towards Dominik, a sloppy grin plastered on his dimpled cheeks, “Hey.”

“Did you finish your assignment?” Dominik asks. In Jude’s hand is his crumpled up writing assignment.

“Yeah, just in time,” Jude swings his bag around to place the papers inside. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing.” Jude gives him a hard look and Dominik groans, “I’m taking Nori home on Friday.”

Jude gasps, his dark brown eyes widening, “What—really? And she’s okay with that?”

“I’m not sure. Feel like I was her only option.”

Jude chuckles and shakes his head, “One thing about her is that she’ll find a way, so maybe you were the second to last.”

Dominik rolls his eyes, “That’s exactly what I was.”

The two of them don’t catch up to the rest of the group as they walk. Jude lets out another laugh, “It’s funny because you’re usually so cocky and confident, but when I see you with her, it’s like you’re someone else. A kicked puppy that just got thrown out in the rain.”

Dominik glances at him, scoffing, “That’s not true. I just know I make her uncomfortable and I rather her not keep on feeling that way.”

“You don’t make her uncomfort—”

“Yes I do,” Dominik interrupts. “And you and Trent keep saying I don’t, but it’s the truth. You don’t have to make me feel better. I messed up, and I don’t know what would necessarily make her ‘trust’ me again because that was fucked up.”

Jude sighs, slinging his arm across Dominik’s shoulders, “If you made her uncomfortable, you wouldn’t still be here. We would have kicked you out of the group, swear on it. She knows you didn’t know, she’s just still a little hurt. She hadn’t known you for long and that kinda made an impression on her.”

Great, he wanted to mumble to himself. He eyed Nori from the back, her walking freely and at ease with Camila and Wanda. She didn’t care who heard her loud laugh in response to something Wanda said. He knew if he were to join her, she’d become much more reserved and not say a word.

He shakes his head, exhausted from feeling like shit. He nearly trips over a rock as Jude jogs up to them. Jude’s words helped but didn’t do much to ease the ache in his shoulders.

Movie night goes without any hiccups, the girls cuddling up on one sofa while Trent and Jude are in the other. Dominik resorts to sitting on the floor, sandwiched between Trent and Jude’s knees but his mind is far from the movie. Nori can’t help but to glance at Dominik every couple of scenes, his eyes always staring blankly ahead at the coffee table and never the telly.

Nori doesn’t know how much more she can stomach the idea of him just staring off into space. He doesn’t seem well and her first instinct is to ask him if he is okay.

After the movie finishes, the two of them get left in the kitchen alone. Dominik washes the dishes while Nori dries them with a towel. Camila and Wanda went to Camila’s bedroom because she needed help with an outfit; Trent and Jude went outside to take the rubbish out.

Nori can make out Dominik’s tensed shoulders, he hasn’t looked at her the entire night. Not that she was taking count, but, still it was never this tense.

She sets down the dry plate, gathering another wet dish, blurting, “Are you okay with driving me home?”

His dubious eyes bore into hers immediately, making her look down at her hands. She sees the nod of his head in her peripheral vision. “Yeah, I am okay. Are you okay with it?”

She forces out a smile as she peeks up at him, his gaze already on her mouth. “Mm-hmm, I’m okay with it. I will probably have to pee in the third hour though.”

He lets out a small snort, heart quickening with each response, “We can stop.”

Silence falls between them as he rinses the last bowl of popcorn. She catches herself staring at his hands one too many times, mindlessly watching them as soap suds form around them. He lets out a small chuckle as he catches her, but she plays it off as just waiting for him to finish rinsing the bowl.

“So, why did your family move all the way over there?” she questions.

He shrugs, “Work. My dad works out in the docks, not really sure what he does though, fishing maybe?”

Nori laughs, “Who really knows anyway?”

Dominik cheeses and this time Nori blushes. She can’t remember the last time she’s ever felt this nervous talking to someone. She can’t tell if it’s just from him or the way his eyes seem to soften every time he looks at her. But that’s crazy right?

Dominik hands her the last dish and gives her a gentle smile when her hand accidentally lands on top of his wet hand.

“Sorry,” he nervously chuckles. The dimple hidden in his beard catches Nori’s attention, taking her another selfish second to peer at it as it deepens the more she looks at him.

Dominik is suddenly grateful that he skipped shaving this morning or else Nori would’ve seen the ruby-red blush spilling onto his cheeks. But Nori’s suddenly blinking rapidly, grabbing the dish from him, drying it off, and then placing it into its spot in the cabinet. Whatever spell she seemed to be in was gone the second Trent and Jude returned from outside, and it had taken Dominik aback at just how quick she flipped.

By the time Dominik turned back to look back at where she was standing by the sink, the space was empty and the sound of her door softly closing seemed to resonate like cymbals crashing in his head.

She was always so fast when the opportunity to avoid him arose. How stupid of him to think a small conversation in the kitchen would change anything; she was just being nice.

Her palms are grimy with sweat as she waits for Dominik to make his way to the girls’ apartment. Her coat unzipped despite the freezing weather because of how anxious she became once he texted he was on the way. They hadn’t spoken much after movie night, only exchanging waves in class and in the study room.

And her mother deciding to text her midway doesn’t help ease the shakiness of her hands:

Accidentally wrote down that you’d bring a date for your aunt’s wedding. I tried to change it but the reservations were strict so please try to find someone so they don’t ask about the empty seat beside you. K, I’ll see you when you get here, love you.

Nori wants to scream, no she actually does scream without realizing Dominik had walked up behind her.

“You okay?” His voice is fairly calm.

Turning around to see him, his eyebrows are jutted up in concern. What she doesn’t expect to see is his ungelled hair and trimmed beard. He had been growing a bit of a scruff the past few days but usually he shaved it off completely, never trimmed. And his hair, it was always gelled, always. She didn’t even know his hair was curly when it wasn’t done.

“Uh—yeah, I’m good. My mom texted me.”

He raises his eyebrows again, his mouth opening but then flattening into a smile, “Hah…I understand.” The chilled air makes him tug onto his brown coat tighter as he grabs Nori’s suitcase and holds out his hand for Nori’s backpack. “I got it, you can get it in.”

“Thank you,” she purses her lips into a tight line while giving him her bag. She hops into his very expensive black Range Rover that makes her feel a little out of place.

Dominik loads up her suitcase without much strain and then rounds to the driver seat. After adjusting the controls of the car, he starts the drive, glancing towards Nori every couple of seconds.

“If you want to change the air, go ahead, just click that,” he points to a button. Nori doesn’t even pay attention, distracted with the ring on his finger. Seriously, who was he right now? Has he always worn a ring? Rings?!

“Um, okay.”

He lets out a snort, “You don’t have to be so tense. I’m a safe driver.”

“Sorry, I don't think you’re a bad driver if you get that impression,” she murmurs, furrowing her eyebrows slightly but then gaining her voice, “I’ve never been in a car with you driving anyway. I have no idea.”

He nods his head, “I will be extra careful.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that,” she ends the awkward exchange with just that, slightly scooting away from him.

Her mother’s text still rang through her head, knowing she had no one to bring along. Most of her close friends at home were going to be either out of town or with family and she didn’t want to rope them into her own family affairs.

She lets out a low scoff as her phone vibrates in her hand. Dominik chooses to ignore it instead of commenting. Meanwhile, another text from her mom:

Bring a boy this time? I’d love to see you with one of those boys from your school.

She couldn’t hold in the dramatic eye roll and locking of her phone as she rested her head against the headrest. They hadn’t even been driving for two minutes and she was already stressed.

“Did you forget something?”

“No.”

“Something is wrong?”

“No.”

Dominik glances at her and then shakes his head briefly, opting out of asking her another question that would go unanswered. Shuffling through his cup holder, he grabs a wooden toothpick and sticks it in between his teeth, hastily turning up the music.

This was useless, he reminded himself.

About an hour into the drive, Dominik can’t take the silence anymore. It was tense and way too awkward for two ‘friends.’ Every song seemed to be wrong that he kept skipping them, and it was starting to annoy Nori. She wasn't going to say anything but at that moment she wished she had her headphones.

Dominik cuts the music, “Can we talk?”

Nori looks at him, her face full of apprehension, “Yeah.”

“I know you said you forgive me for what happened on Halloween, and I really am sorry, but I don’t think you have actually…forgiven me.” He takes his chance to look at her and almost winces at her shocked expression. He licks his lips, “I’m sorry about that night. I didn’t—I didn’t think it was you—”

“Dominik,” she interrupts. “I know. I do forgive you.”

He rests his hand on the bottom of the wheel as he sinks further into his seat, “But you ignore me like…like you hate me or don’t ever want to see me again.”

Nori bites onto her tongue before she spits out anything rash. She lets out a shaky breath, “I’m sorry I acted that way around you. I have been hesitant to forgive you because that was kinda humiliating. Camila had to dig whip cream out of nose with a cotton swab and I bled all over Trent’s costume.”

He throws his head back with a muffled groan, “I’m sorry.”

A spurted laugh erupts out of Nori as she slaps her hand over her jaw. Dominik’s shocked face only makes her turn away, trying to stifle her laugh.

“Nori?”

“I’m sorry,” she quiets and then bursts into another fit of laughter. “It’s okay to laugh, it was disgusting but it hurt so much. My nose was in so much pain that we went to the doctor’s just to make sure it wasn’t broken.”

Dominik frowns again, not knowing that they took her to the doctor’s office. Even though this was probably the first time Dominik has made her laugh, he still felt guilty. But what really causes his heart to lurch is the brush of Nori’s hand on his arm while she attempts to stop her giggling. He has to grip the steering wheel tighter.

“Okay, okay,” she stops and turns towards him. Her hand is still touching the fabric of his sweater, making him swallow.

“Okay?”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed you with your hair not done. Who are you trying to impress?” Nori nudges and Dominik stares at her in bewilderment. He can’t believe who was in the car with him right now. She wasn’t at all the Nori he had been around with, but she was the kind around Camila and Wanda. He only recognized it because he had seen her like this when he would be standing behind them in line waiting for class but they hadn’t noticed him yet.

He suppresses a smile, proud to finally get on what seems to be her good side. A nervous feeling erupts through his stomach as he turns back to the road, “Um, no one. I’ve had it like this before, but you didn’t notice it.”

“I would have noticed.”

“Would you though?” he looks at her with a sly smirk, one that makes her cheeks grow warm immediately. He chuckles, “Didn’t think so.”

A wistful smile forms on his face after she removes her hand from him, her warmth leaving the spot feeling cold.

“So, we are good?” he questions.

Nori nods, “Yes, Domi, we’re good. You know, you should style your hair like that more often, I like it.”

He has to look out of his mirror to play off the smile that creeps onto his face, but Nori notices it.

During the third hour, Dominik pulls over to a petrol station so that Nori could relieve herself while he fills his tank. But judging by the dingy white exterior of the building, he advises her to wait for him.

“It’s fine, I can go by myself.”

“Just wait,” he calls out, shutting the door. Nori huffs while opening her door and hopping out, stretching out her limbs and walking towards where Dominik was. His dark brows furrow at her, his tongue peeking out between his lips, “You’re gonna freeze.”

“So I should go pee now then.”

“Or get back in the car.”

She groans, “I’m going to go pee.”

“Nori,” he warns, his voice laced with finality. His gaze is hard, jaw clenched, and maybe that look would’ve worked on someone else but Nori is too stubborn. The second Dominik turns his back to her, she’s off trotting into the store. Him too oblivious to notice.

Nori beelines to the restrooms while Dominik frantically hurries up, cursing at himself because the pump decided to take forever. Ultimately, he leaves it running and jogs inside. He figures she is still using the restroom because he couldn’t have been that long but then he hears a yelp. At some point while Nori was grabbing a coffee, a man with a bearded braid appeared behind her and grabbed ahold of her elbow. When she went to pull her arm back, his grip only tightened.

She doesn’t even have time to say something because he’s pried off of her and then shoved into the coffee machine seconds later.

“Holy—” she gasps at Dominik’s demeanor. She can only make out a glimpse of his hooded dark eyes because he steps in front of her. His hand scrambles for hers and clasps tightly with her fingers, not even slotting his hand correctly into hers. He wasn’t going to let her slip out of his grasp this time.

But Nori can’t see the lunge the man made towards Dominik, only Dominik’s free arm suddenly swinging across his body. Then one of the workers yells at the two of them and they quickly scatter outside.

“Did you just punch him?” She yells as they go flying through the doors.

“I said wait for me!”

“He was like 50 years-old!”

“Does that matter?” he shrieks, his grip on Nori’s wrist is tight even though he can feel her tugging away. Nori can tell by his pinched eyebrows that he’s ticked off, and despite Nori trying to play it off, she flinched when he raised his voice. Dominik sighs, loosening his grip and rubbing her wrist with his thumb. “Did you use the restroom?”

She nods, “Yeah, and your lip, it’s bleeding.”

Dominik touches his bottom lip with his hand, feeling the warmth spread onto his fingertips. He curses and ushers the two of them back into his car. He quickly undoes the petrol pump and gets inside. Nori is uncrumpling a wad of napkins from her jacket, making him chuckle.

“Really?”

“Here,” her eyes widen as the blood seems to be oozing out. There was even some blood coating the bottom row of his teeth. She doesn’t give him the napkins, instead leans over the console and presses the napkins to his lips.

Dominik’s cheeks flush at her being close, but also at the look she’s giving him. She’s worried but focused on the task. The corner of her bottom lip is tucked into her mouth as she concentrates on dabbing the cut.

“He hit you?”

“Scratched me,” he draws out. His voice is hoarse and throaty, Nori looks up at him. His eyelids flutter as she makes eye contact; it isn’t very noticeable, but Nori wasn’t going to miss something like that. Especially not when his brown eyes seemed to be gleaming with the reflection of the light on his dashboard.

His Adam’s apple bobs, “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” she assures. “I’m sorry for not listening to you. I should’ve waited.”

“It is okay.” He attempts to give her a smile but half of it is covered from the napkin. She draws the napkin away and for the most part the bleeding has stopped.

Nori notices his bright pink knuckles and bends down to give them a better look. They didn’t look too swollen but the skin was cracking with tiny red dots.

“I’m fine,” he says, noticing the way her eyes squint.

“I have lotion.”

“What?”

She shuffles around in her purse, “It’s moisturizer, won’t take the pain away but perhaps some of the crackiness.”

He lets her trace her fingers over his knuckles, his lips tugging into a smile at her gentle touch. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you,” she looks up at him. She hadn’t realized how close she was to him, their faces only inches apart. She drops her gaze to his lips—to his cut—and he shamelessly looks down at hers. He wants to lean in and kiss her, imagining himself slotting his hand on her neck. She isn’t sure what she is focusing on: his lips or his cut.

Either way, he was handsome this close up that she chokes on her own spit as the realization dawns on her. The sound of a car honking behind them also sends her flying back into her seat.

By the time they arrive at her house, they go through Dominik’s entire playlist. It’s entirely in Hungarian but she doesn’t mind. They chat some more along the way about their plans for the break; Dominik most likely helping out his dad on the docks and Nori getting through this wedding.

Noticing her mom’s car parked in front of her house, she silently prays that her mom doesn’t come trodding out of the house to meet them. She has always done it before so Nori shouldn’t have expected anything different when her mom comes out waving with an identical smile as Nori’s.

“Sorry,” Nori whispers to Dominik as he hauls her luggage from the boot of his car. Before Nori can respond, she is pulled into a bone-crushing hug from her mother.

“Nori-baby, I’ve missed ya’,” she cheeses. “OH! You brought a boy! Is this the boy?”

Dominik’s facial expression lights up with a smile as he introduces himself. Nori doesn’t even have time to clarify her relation to him before her mother gives him a hug. Dominik gives Nori a confused but cheery grin as he bends down to rest his head on her shoulder briefly.

“Call me Nat. Oh come on, it must be cold,” she beckons. “Come come, so I can show you the right shade of blue for the wedding. I already bought your dress but I’m sure he’ll need a matching tie.”

Her mother grabs Nori’s hand and Nori peeks back at Dominik while getting dragged inside. He laughs, a gust of wind blowing through his curls as his head falls back. Her luggage is tucked in his hand, backpack swung across his shoulders, jogging up to catch up to them. He wasn’t in a rush to get home anyway, after all, he realized his home was just two streets over.

Her house is taller than it is wide, much different than his, but it’s a traditional home with her neighbors at arm’s length apart. Brown furniture with holiday decorations cluttering the living spaces but it feels cozy. There’s a skinny staircase tucked into the corner that he assumed led to Nori’s bedroom.

Nori pries her hand away from her mom as she says, “How about you go get the dress while I help Dom with my stuff?”

Her mother nods and Nori finds Dominik in the living room looking around. His eyes linger on a photo of her younger self, his head snapping in her direction when he hears her shoe scape against the floor.

“Hey,” he smiles.

“Sorry about this. If you need to leave, go ahead.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s okay. She’s kinda like you,” he says and she smiles. “And I’m not in a rush or anything.”

Although Nori wishes he was. She nods, “Hmm, okay, well let’s just take this to my room.” She pats the suitcase and then stretches her arm out for her backpack. He hands it towards her and follows her upstairs, careful to not let the suitcase hit the picture frames that are plastered on the wall.

“Cute house,” he chuckles.

“Shut up.”

“It is cute. A lot of pictures of you.”

“Please stop looking.”

“You were cute,” he says but she knows he isn't finished. “I wonder what happened.”

She turns towards immediately, making him clutch onto the rail as he peers up at her, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I’m going to push you down the stairs if you say something again.”

“You wouldn’t,” he taunts.

“Dominik.”

“Nori.” That stupid smirk sandwiched between his dimples only grows as each second of silence ticks by. She rolls her eyes, turning around and going to her bedroom.

Dominik speaks again, “I know you said something about the wedding, but your mom—”

“She thinks you’re my date.”

“Your date?” He raises his eyebrows, leaning against her bookshelf. His tall frame next to the column of romance and erotica books make her cheeks warm. No boy had ever stepped into her room and she could only pray that he wouldn’t get curious and start looking at the book titles.

She sighs, “During the car ride, she told me to bring a date for the wedding and I got upset because she told me at the last minute, especially when everyone already has plans to be with their family. And then she texted again to bring a boy this time. I usually rope in Trent during these situations but I know he’s busy.”

Dominik nods, crossing his arms, “So she thinks it’s me?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Okay,” he shrugs. “When is the wedding?”

“Wait, you can’t be serious. I was just going to tell her the day of that I couldn’t find a date—”

“I can do it,” he repeats as if it were no big deal. “I have a gray suit at home, probably do need a blue tie though.”

“Dominik—”

“When is the wedding?” Nori’s jaw juts open when he walks towards her with a smirk. He stops when he’s only two steps away.

“Um, in three days.”

“Okay. I’ll be here then.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

He shrugs again, “It’s just a wedding, they are fun.”

They are fun.

That’s what Dominik said about the wedding but Nori wants to vomit. Her hair hadn’t come out the way she envisioned, and her makeup seemed to be wanting to torment her every step. It didn’t want to blend correctly, didn’t want to shine, didn’t want to give her a spark. It was all a mess. Her dress zipper now getting stuck was going to be her final straw. Really. It was.

She lets out a shaky breath as the rapping of a knock comes from her bedroom door. She doesn’t have the energy to reply ‘one second,’ just wanting to bask in the silence.

But it doesn’t last long because Dominik’s heavy books come trodding in. Looking up at the mirror, Nori watches his confused eyes search the entirety of her bedroom, concern growing through his facial expression, before he finally lands on her figure through the gap of the restroom door. His relief is short-lived because he notices the way she’s hunched over the sink, knuckles taut as she grips the other edges of it.

“Don’t,” she warns as a wave of nausea hits her. His blue tie slides off one shoulder as he rushes to her side.

“We have to leave in ten minutes.”

“I need a minute.”

The entirety of her dress is unzipped from the back, making him gulp. The top of what seemed to be lacy underwear caught his attention that he—

“Dominik.”

“Sorry,” he looks up at her, his cheeks flushing red. “Sorry. Uh—do you need help?”

“I’m about to throw up.”

“What?”

“Go away,” she groans. “This is going to be gross.”

“You’re sick?”

“Will you just listen to me?” she pleads and Dominik stops at the desperation of her voice.

He looks at her through the mirror, her eyes beady and only then did he realize how exasperated she looked. “What?”

“Get me a glass of water, please. Downstairs.”

He nods, tossing his tie onto her bed as he rushes out. He has no idea where the cups are stored and opens nearly all of the cabinets until he finds them. Grabbing some ice, and then pouring water into it before heading back upstairs.

The sink is running by the time he returns to her bedroom. He sets the glass down next to her and gawks at her hair pulled up with a clip.

“Did you…?” he asks, voice full of concern.

She nods, grabbing the glass and gulping it down immediately. “Thank you.” Fanning herself with her hand, she explains, “I’m stressed out. I don’t ever throw up because I’m stressed unless it’s really bad and this morning has just not been a good morning.”

“How can I help?”

Nori’s vision clears, finally being able to take in his look. His hair is gelled and combed, beard trimmed, and—is that a slit in his eyebrow? She furrows her eyebrows and turns away, feeling bile rise in her throat.

“God, that is disgusting.”

“What?” He steps towards her but she holds out her hand. Her hand slips underneath his suit jacket and lands on his stomach.

“That line in your eyebrow.”

“It’s not that bad,” he mumbles. She couldn’t be serious, he had worked on the eyebrow slit for half an hour.

“Dom.”

He erupts into a laugh, “Did that—did that make you gag?”

She looks up at him again and on cue, gags.

He laughs loudly, “I know I should be offended but I’m not.”

“Stop looking at me.”

“Well don’t look at me then if you’re going to keep gagging.”

“Why would you do that to your pretty face?”

He blushes, stuttering, “You think I’m pretty?”

“Everyone does.”

“Yeah, but…not pretty. Hot, maybe.”

“God, don’t get full of yourself.”

He lets out a giddy laugh, “You called me pretty. C’mere.” Dominik slips the hand on his abdomen to his waist and wraps his arms across her shoulders.

“I’m going to puke!”

“No, you aren’t,” he chuckles, his laugh vibrating in her ear.

Nori pulls her head away from Dominik’s chest so that her makeup doesn’t transfer onto him. She gets a glance of her still unzipped dress from the mirror and groans.

Once she pulls away, she turns around, “Can you help?”

Dominik’s easiness and cockiness immediately diminishes. He isn’t sure where he can pinch her dress that isn’t below her bum, but he was going to have to. He gulps as his fingers brush her zipper, trying to ignore the white thin material of her underwear.

Nori isn’t in a better state, having held her breath since she turned around. The feeling of his fingers brushing the back of her thigh riddled her body with goosebumps and an unfamiliar feeling pooled in her stomach.

And god did he take his time zipping up the dress. He goes painfully slow as he inches the zipper higher and higher. By the time he’s finished, Nori fans herself again and Dominik, without thinking, blows air onto the nape of her neck to cool her down. He watches as the goosebumps ghost her skin and smiles. His eyes meet hers and the way she looks in the dress makes him choke.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she spins around, trying to forget the feeling of his cool breath on her neck. It makes her feel tingly inside and after the hectic morning and vomit, she doesn’t need that feeling. “I’m going to brush my teeth and then we can leave. You, uh, you look good too, despite that.” She points up to his eyebrow with a teasing smile, he snorts.

It was intrusive to cut his eyebrow again. He hadn’t done it in a couple of years but after seeing a couple of old photos back at home he decided to give it another shot this morning. After Nori’s reaction, he was never going to do it again.

“I’ll wait in your room,” he whispers. Nori quickly meets him after she’s done and takes the tie that he fiddles around with. He grumbles, “I don’t think I’m doing it right.”

“You aren’t,” she responds and a lazy smile falls onto his face as she stands in front of him. Her hair is down and styled in a way she had rarely done it. He had seen it once before at a banquet, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her that entire night.

Nori tugs him closer with his tie, making him tumble towards her, “Woah.” His comment goes ignored as she slots the tie into the knot she created, pushing it up towards his neck, he places his hand over hers to take over.

“I’m not sure how tight you want it.”

“Thank you,” he smiles. He looks down at her and a giddy but nervous laugh escapes out of him. He watches the way her eyebrow twitches with amusement. “Okay, are you ready?”

The two of them race out the house in order to make it to the venue on time. He opens his car door for her while she gives him instructions. The more she thought about it, she wasn’t sure what to introduce Dominik as. They still hadn’t discussed what the plan was except him already being labeled as her ‘date’ by her mother.

But she doesn’t have much time to ponder because they arrive with two minutes to spare before the doors of the church close. Dominik takes her hand and jogs while Nori tries her hardest not to break her ankles in the heels she wore. Dominik’s roaring laugh ring through her ears as he leads her down the corridor.

They sit down in the back but Dominik won’t stop laughing despite slapping his hand over his mouth. Nori hit him on his arm to shush him, but it only made him lean closer to her as he stretched his arm around behind her. Nori’s hand settles more on his thigh than hers but she’s too nervous to move it, not like Dominik minds her touch anyway.

After the exchange of the vows, they get up to take the walk to the reception and Dominik instinctively holds out his arm for Nori to wrap hers inside. Nori’s mother finds them midwalk, “Oh, look at the two of you, how cute! Come come, I need to introduce you to some family.”

Nori wants to protest that they should wait until they are inside but she is sent flying by her mother’s grip. Dominik’s tumbling right beside her, chuckling in her ear.

As predicted, Nori’s mother introduces Dominik as Nori’s ‘boyfriend,’ and Nori would’ve corrected her but Dominik is so smitten to meet Nori’s family, taking their hands and greeting them with a bright smile. Nori wants to throw up. He is playing the role so well, slipping his fingers into hers and pulling her close after meeting her family.

After they finish, Dominik leans down towards her ear, “Your family is nice.”

“And they all think we’re dating,” she sasses.

“What is wrong with that?” He pulls out her seat for her and scoots his seat closer to her.

“Nothing,” she says. “Except when they ask about you again, I’ll have to tell them we broke up.”

He clutches his chest, “You are breaking up with me at a wedding?”

Nori breaks out into a laugh as Dominik feigns hurt. “You’re right, I probably shouldn’t say those words at a wedding.”

He chuckles, next time he would her boyfriend and it wouldn’t be just for a day. He slings his arm over her chair and smirks to himself.

Two hours and a meal and a couple of drinks later, Nori and Dominik were on the dancefloor dancing as if her dress wasn’t centimeters away from having a mishap. Dominik tried to get her to slow down but she was having too much fun with her cousins and some of her aunts dancing. She wasn’t drunk or tipsy, but she had some alcohol in her that Dominik had thought otherwise. She was just excited to dance, that’s all.

“I have to pee,” she yells into his ear as he slides his hand against her waist. He nods and leads her towards the restroom, both of their shoes clacking against the floor. “Are you having a good time?”

The purple glowing lights against his diamond earring has her staring at him for longer than usual. A line of sweat lingers near his temple, his proximity almost overwhelms Nori but also gives her a sense of comfort.

“Yeah I am, they have pálinka.”

“What’s that?”

“Hungarian alcohol.”

“Oh,” she opens the door and holds it open for him. It was a single-use restroom. “You can drink more if you want, I don’t mind driving us back.”

He nods, “I should be sober by then.” It goes without saying when Nori pulls her hair up and turns around in front of him for him to unzip her dress. He does so and exits the restroom, waiting until he hears a small voice that she was done. He had only been out there for a couple of minutes but the air seemed to shift once he came back in.

Nori’s dress is still unzipped and her back exposed as she leans over the sink. But her gaze. Her gaze is hard as she looks at him through the mirror, making him gulp as he locked the door. He treks slowly and stops barely a foot away from her.

“You look so good in that black,” she comments. He brushes off the blush he feels because he can do flirting. He can flirt, right?

“I like the way you dance,” he replies.

“What do you like about it?”

“You dance so,” he glances down at her shoulder, “carefree. Not caring what other people think. It’s beautiful, the way you look so happy. I mean, your dress was almost falling but you fixed it and kept going.”

She laughs and he swears he feels his knees buckle. Her eyes gleam within the mirror and it makes him so unsteady that he masks it by zipping her dress. His nimble fingers delicately pinch the material and drag the zipper to the top. Nori leans back, bare shoulders pressing into his chest. His hands rest on her hips as he hesitantly looks up at the mirror.

“I’ve never—” she stops abruptly, Dominik gives her waist a squeeze for encouragement. He rests his chin against her shoulder, Nori not even fazed with his prickly beard or trying to reel away. “I’ve never…been kissed before.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected to hear but it certainly wasn’t that. The confusion is etched on his face he pulls back and looks down at her, “What? But—” It wasn’t even her age, it was that she was so beautiful. That all he would overhear were guys trying to ask her out. Asking Trent, and even him once, if they could ask her out or knew if she was single. Dominik knew that Trent never shot down a guy’s pursuit either, letting them know to go ahead, heck, he would say the same thing.

She shakes her head, “It’s never bothered me because who would I even kiss? But today my cousins were all telling me how hot you were and that of course I’d bag someone who's ‘so hot’ because I’m ‘so pretty.’ And I kinda found it all so foolish because you and I aren’t dating, and they know I’ve never kissed someone so they think I’ve done it all now…I’m starting to feel a little guilty for lying.”

Dominik steps towards her again, his hands firm on her hips, standing up straight. He feels like he needs to exude some kind of confidence so that it transfers to her.

Nori speaks before he can, “I know I’m pretty—that sounds really dumb, but I know that I’m—that I’m okay, but still.” Dominik watches the way her shoulders droop and he impatiently waits for her to finish talking. He didn’t like listening to her beat herself up about something. She continues, “I’ve never had a boyfriend. Never been on a date. Never even held hands! And I know it’s foolish, but my cousins would be the first to know and I’m almost certain they know I’m lying.”

“Okay, wait,” Dominik interrupts the second Nori pauses. “Just wait. You are beautiful, super—like—I can’t even think in English—beautiful. Any guy would be lucky just to even get a glance in their direction from you. Any guy. You know Trent and I, guys come up to us all the time to ask about you and we tell them to just go talk to you.” Dominik’s words were coming out so fast as he tried to stop Nori from feeling bad. “And your cousins, I’m sorry for making you lie to them. I can apologize to them, make it clear that we haven’t done anything.”

Nori rests her head against Dominik collar bone again, her mind forming more thoughts than she can keep up with. Somehow, Dominik’s words disappointed her. It didn’t make her feel wanted. She had heard about guys coming up to Trent, some made it her way but they were never ‘great’ guys. And despite Dominik’s efforts, it only made her feel worse.

‘Any guy,’ but not necessarily him.

Oh. Oh, she’s going to vomit. That’s what it was. It was Dominik who was making her feel so nervous, so dizzy, the reason her stomach fumbled, and the reason she seemed to want to clench her thighs when he touched her.

Nori pushes his hands off of her, forcing herself to get off of him. She ignores Dominik’s confused face in the mirror, looking down at the faucet instead. She couldn’t think of Dominik that way, not when he made it clear that he didn’t see her that way.

“Nori?” His voice is soft, so low that she thinks she imagines it. “Are you okay?”

“Can you leave?”

Dominik feels heat creep behind his neck, “What?”

“Can you leave?”

He fumbles over her fragile voice, his heart skipping a beat. He wants to comfort her, wants to ask her what’s wrong—

“Dominik, please, can you leave?”

“Yeah,” he sputters out. “Yeah, I uh, I can.”

He stumbles out of the restroom, bumping into someone on his way out. It’s an old family friend of Nori’s, a guy around their age.

“Dominik, right?” he asks, and Dominik’s mind is so clouded from Nori’s sudden change of emotion that he can barely muster a nod. “I’m Danny. Nori’s old friend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dominik mumbles, clasping Danny’s outstretched hand.

Danny pulls Dominik’s hand, forcing Dominik right into Danny’s ear, “So, was it a good fuck?” Danny whispers.

Dominik pushes him off, “What?”

“C’mon, we all saw you go in there with Nori.”

“What the fuck—”

“We had bet y’all wouldn’t last until the night,” Danny nods to a group of guys and Dominik’s stomach churns. Danny holds out his hand for Dominik to clasp, and Dominik can barely think as he weakly takes Danny’s hand. “The way she had your hands on you, you just won me a twenty.”

Danny walks away and Dominik restrains himself from following him and the group. The boys clap Danny once he returns, raising their glasses at Dominik.

He thinks about storming up towards them, grabbing them by the collar and telling them to leave Nori alone, and he turns in their direction, head hot as he sees them laugh, but the restroom door opens and Nori comes out, looking surprised to see Dominik still there. She gives him a curt smile and walks off.

That small exchange clears Dominik’s rage.

He follows her down the corridor but the second she walks onto the dancefloor, he loses sight of her. Too many bodies to make out where she went, he heads to the bar.

Seriously, what the fuck was going on?

“Drive safe,” Nori’s mother says to Dominik. Nori hasn’t mumbled a word since she entered his car. Her heels are in her hands as she peers out the window.

And he really has no idea what he’s doing. One second they were good, the next, Nori is turning away from him after avoiding him the rest of the night.

Nori, on the other hand, just wanted to rip this dress off. It felt too suffocating, poking her in all the wrong places, and too tight, like the lies she buried herself into. Her cousins believed her, but she would soon have to tell them the truth. She couldn’t stomach lying to them for more than a day. Besides her cousins, her aunts and uncles would come up to her during the dance and tell her how they were so happy Nori met someone and that he was making her happy. It was sickening.

As Dominik pulls up her driveway, he debates on following her inside, “Do you need help taking off your dress?”

Nori glances at him, her exhausted eyes make his throat hitch. She nods, grumbling, “What do you think?”

She hops out of his car and he huffs as he turns it off, following closely behind her, “You know, I don’t really know what to think right now. I’m so confused that I—I’m just really fucking lost right now, Nori.”

Nori doesn’t look at him as she keys her front door. She opens it wide enough for Dominik to follow behind her. His hair is ruffled and his blue tie and suit jacket long gone. Hairs peak out through his unbuttoned shirt, and Nori would’ve ogled if she wasn’t so damn exhausted and over with it for the night.

She walks upstairs silently, his heavy footsteps a step away from hers.

“I met Danny.”

Nori freezes, slowly turning towards Dominik, “What?”

“After I left the restroom, I bumped into him. He thinks we had sex.”

“And what did you say?” She crosses her arms. The two of them stand in the upstairs corridor, Dominik leaning against the staircase post.

“I didn’t get to say anything because he walked away so fast.”

Nori swallows, knowing that Danny would spread a rumor to anyone who heard and she certainly didn’t want her mom hearing that she—allegedly—hooked up with Dominik in the bathroom at her aunt’s wedding.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said in the restroom,” Dominik rubs his hand on his face. “I don’t know if that made you upset, and if it did I’m sorry.”

Nori nods, realizing her silence was only confusing Dominik more and that wasn’t necessarily fair after all he had done for her in the past couple of days, “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize.”

“Was it something I said?” He walks towards her, sticking his hands through his hair.

She nods again, looking at his chest instead of his eyes. She coughs, “I don’t want just any guy.”

“Oh,” he pauses. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

She turns towards her bedroom and pulls her hair up with her hands, Dominik follows behind her. He peels down the zipper again for the final time of the night, a somber feeling in the air.

“You, um, you look really pretty in the blue,” he comments. “My favorite color on you by far.”

Nori feels her throat tighten, the urge to turn around and just spit it out at him forms but she doesn’t. He’s saying all the right stuff, but what, means it all as a friend?

“Dominik,” she blurts, surprising herself as she turns around. She couldn’t keep a secret for long anyway. His eyebrows raise, falling slightly when she doesn’t respond. He stands there, waiting for her to say something but she doesn’t.

Dominik would rather dig himself into a hole and never come up than to be in this awkward, uncomfortable bedroom. He takes a step back, fists shoving into his pockets, “Have a good night, Nori.”

Nori decides within that moment that she isn’t going to let the awkwardness linger for another day, but she also feels her heart shatter.

“Is that what it is?” Nori asks, catching Dominik off guard at how loud but shaky her voice is. “Everyone thinks I’m pretty but no one sees me as—” She stops suddenly.

Dominik’s eyebrows pinch together, “As what?”

“Desired.” Dominik’s eyes grow wide but Nori continues, “No one wants me. No one wants to have sex with me unless what, it’s a bet? Yeah I heard that conversation, Dominik, why did you leave that part out?”

He isn’t even sure what to respond to first, but he’s gasping for some kind of dignity, “I—”

“I mean you certainly didn’t deny it, and so what, were you ever going to tell me?”

“Wait, I didn’t bet on you,” he corrects.

“I know you didn’t, but you didn’t correct Danny. After I had just told you I had never been kissed, do you seriously think I’ve had sex before?”

Dominik freezes, “He caught me off guard, Nori. I was already so confused after leaving the restroom. You—after I said what I said, you got upset, and it made me confused. Then I run into him and it’s like I can’t even understand what he’s saying. I swear all I could think about was punching him and I couldn’t think of words.”

“Punching?”

“Are you kidding? After what he did, Nori? Making a bet with his friends?” Dominik nearly flaps his arms. “I was going to do it. Was about to walk towards them too, but then you opened the door.”

Nori stares at him quietly, trying to connect the dots while Dominik sighs, almost too exhausted to plead his case too. It was nearing four in the morning, and Dominik would love to spend more time with Nori, but not like this. Not when they’re both seconds of being frustrated with each other.

And Nori would feel embarrassed after just telling him that she’s a virgin, that she feels less-desired, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t know why, but she doesn’t feel that way in front of him.

“Thank you,” she sighs. “For not going punching him and causing a scene, but also for your words.”

He winces, “Not like they seemed to help much.”

“Yeah, but, it was thoughtful.”

Dominik doesn’t feel right leaving her after the conversations they shared, it doesn’t seem like everything that needed to be said had been said.

He scratches his neck, almost groaning at the words that find his brain because he knows he can’t convey them in a better way, “I…you know how you said no one wants you?”

Nori flops on her bed and buries her head with her hands, “God, that sounds so pathetic”

“What?” Dominik comes up to her and drops to his knees slowly. He doesn’t care about how much her wooden floors seem to make his knees ache, just that she would listen to his words.

“It was so dumb—”

“No it wasn’t,” Dominik says, his voice firm. “It wasn’t. Look, we haven’t necessarily been on the best of terms, and when we do, it feels like we sometimes go back to square one, but I like you, Nori. Not in the friend way, in the ‘I want you to be mine one day’ way.”

Nori’s throat bobbles as she peeks at him through her hands. He lets out a nervous chuckle, gently prying her hands from her face and clasping their hands together.

“I’ve liked you since the day we met, which hasn’t been great since you’ve ignored me the past month after I almost broke your nose—” Nori laughs and Dominik’s chest squeezes at his confession but also her joy. “I’ve been trying to make it up since then. I just didn’t want to make you feel pressured, it’s why I hadn’t made a move. First, I didn’t want you to feel like you owe me something after I gave you a ride. You don’t, nothing at all. And then after telling me you haven’t been kissed before, I backed off because I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Nori feels the tears well up in her eyes, blinking them away before they can spill. Dominik’s gentle eyes bounce between hers, his thumbs stroking her the mountains of her knuckles.

“Thank you,” she musters. If he was going to be honest, she needed to too. “I got upset in the restroom because I realized I liked you. It was right after you said that any guy would be lucky to be looked at by me, and I got upset because it wasn’t you.”

Dominik chuckles, “I’m the luckiest guy right now, looking right at you.”

Nori laughs, wiping the tear that fell, and then wrapping her arms over Dominik’s shoulders, burying her head into his neck. He hugs her back, his hands slipping through her unzipped dress and landing on bare skin.

“Thank you for giving me another chance,” he presses his lips to her temple gingerly, leaving a chaste kiss on her skin before squeezing her tighter. He kisses her exposed shoulder a few times.

Nori pulls away from the hug and Dominik raises one, questioning eyebrow at her. It’s the eyebrow with the slit and for whatever reason, Nori finds that as the cutest thing she’s ever seen in that moment. She chuckles, kissing his slitted eyebrow. His eyes narrow as smiles, cheeks bubbled up in Nori’s hands.

And she does it, she presses her lips against his and it’s fast. Very quick and nervous. Dominik’s laugh vibrates underneath her hands as he bats his eyes bashfully, “Nori…maybe a little longer wouldn’t hurt.”

She nods, initiating the next kiss as his hands relax at her waist. He wasn’t going to make the next move, only wait for her. Her lips are still hesitant when they meet his, and his lips part in a smile. She giggles, finding more confidence to press her lips harder against his and Dominik has to stand up in order to not fall back, but god he’s been waiting for months for this moment.

She pulls away, “How was that?”

“Better,” he cheeses, pecking her nose. He sits down beside her on her bed, “So, our first date, I was thinking about a night by the docks? At the restaurant that’s there?” Nori listens to his next words but she’s so infatuated with the way he speaks, the way he’s so emphatically enthused and passionate. “Oh! And we can hold hands as we walk down them.”

She chuckles, slipping her hands into his and pecks his cheek, “Okay. I’m excited for it, but can you please help me out of this dress now?”

Nori had no idea what she was doing or if she was walking in the right direction. Their first date wasn’t until a couple of days laters but Nori had to see Dominik. And the docks, they were so windy, the wind battering her hair as she walked alongside the pier. She had seen so many, so many different boats and god she really hoped these last few piers she’d find Dominik or else she’d feel really stupid.

She clutches onto her coat tighter, going up on her tippy toes to look at the men working on the boats and docks. They all had hats and blue jumpsuits, some with wet suits. And ugh, what if Dominik and his dad were in the water and wouldn’t be back until later? She should really just call Dominik instead of trying to surprise him.

There was only one dock in her hometown, but it was so long. She realized that quickly once she started the walk.

A whistle comes from behind her, she tries to ignore it but then another comes, short but loud whistles. She turns around, seeing a blue jumpsuited-figure standing meters away, so far that she can’t make out who they are very well. They give her an overly-enthused wave, hand flapping across their head.

But Nori can make out the wavy curls and Dominik’s bright smile. She chuckles, heading his way while he meets her midway.

“Hi,” he cheeses, pulling her into a hug, his arms are tight as they wrap around her waist.

“Hey,” she shies.

“Surprised to see you here,” he chuckles. “My dad said he thought he saw a girl walking the piers, I just said she was probably going to take pictures somewhere and I look up and it’s you.”

Nori takes in his outfit, black boots, a zipper kind of jumpsuit that he would slip into. The zipper is unzipped to his abdomen, displaying the black shirt he wears underneath. He looked so much different than what she was used to. No one had the pleasure of seeing him like this back in Liverpool, just her.

“Nori?” he questions, eyes glinting as he dips his head towards her.

“Sorry, this outfit.”

He shuts his eyes, “It’s a part of the job—”

“No, it’s cute!”

Dominik lets his hands linger on her waist, chuckling, “You’re a terrible liar.”

“It’s cute,” a hand of hers slips between them and pinches his dimpled cheek. Pressing herself up to her tippy toes, she kisses him briefly on his cheek, a goofy grin on her face that Dominik’s knees buckle for a second. She pulls back, digging into her purse, “I brought you something.”

Dominik’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “Me?”

She nods, “Yes.” She pulls out the tiny bottle of pálinka and hands it to him. “I know you didn’t get to drink it at the wedding, and I’m not saying to drink it now, but I saved one for you.”

He laughs, “Aww, Nori, this is sweet, but I told you you don’t owe me anything.”

She shakes her head, holding her hands up, “I’m not taking it back, and I know you said that but it’s just a little something. I don’t owe you anything, I know.”

Dominik grins, stuffing the bottle in his pocket. He would’ve spotted Nori in a room of crowded people, and that’s exactly what it felt when he saw her walking alongside the pier. Her here just for him. He really wanted to pull her for a proper kiss.

He peeks back at the docks his father was at, confirming that it was out of his view. As soon as he turns back to face Nori, he pulls her in for a hug and picks her up, spinning her. She lets out a yelp, clinging onto shoulders.

“Thank you for coming,” he exclaims, “I’m really happy to see you.”

Once he places her back on the ground, his hand slides behind her ear and pulls her in for a kiss. It’s sweet, chaste, and has Nori fumbling to catch up to his movements because his lips were engulfing hers.

She wouldn’t mind doing this again, not at all.

-----

Note: If you made it this far I love you so much and you are so cool and deserve the best itw, especially after putting up with Domi's sloppy performance. Brave soldier. (:

#dominik szoboszlai #dominik szoboszlai x oc #dominik szoboszlai fanfic #dominik szoboszlai imagine #em.writes

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writing-like-a-whore · 2 months

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gojo satoru x reader

it was the aftermath of everthing. the fight w sukuna and the curses were over, yuji and megumi somehow survived and were back and shoko revived gojo w yuuta's help. it was an incredibly difficult fight, and the journey was far from over, nobody could just move on. the heavy feeling of losing their loved ones and the heavier feeling of blood on their hands was worse. gojo was devastated but he just couldnt return to his older self, not after everything. the school seized to exist, no reason to train people and gojo felt as if there was no value to his life anymore, and in an odd sense it was a good thing, everything came to an end. shoko seemed to have been the one bringing everyone together. she arranged weekly dinners, truly uncharacteristic for her, but maybe thats why everyone attended.

the third dinner, she couldnt take it anymore, "we all fought for this freedom, you know. and youre all letting it go to waste by rotting away. pick yourselves up for fuck's sake." she stromed out but she was right, they had to pick themselves up. and so, little by little, piece by piece, gojo told himself to get up and not waste anyone's sacrifice. he started going to cafes and clubs, for what, he didnt know. but he did, and there he met you. you, with your long hair and your big glasses, squinting at your laptop. he could see you struggling from a mile away but he didnt say a thing. he tried to occupy himself by checking his texts to see if yuuji was here yet. "gojo-san!" he was here, "im sorry the college work took me some time," gojo waved his hand, he was happy to see yuuji back to his normal self. he went to college now, megumi too, gojo was so proud. "megumi said he was tired but i think he might have a date," gojo laughed, "yeah well, i better interfere right?" yuuji laughed and got up, "i'll go get some- oh is that y/n?" he said, looking at you.

"you know her?" gojo asked. yuuji nodded, "yeah shes like a senior advisor, at a law firm. she occassionally gives lectures for megumi's class. we've talked to her a few times. lets go say hi!" gojo didnt have much of a say as yuuji dragged him along. "y/n ma'am! hello!" you looked up, "ohh, yuuji, hi. its so good to see you." gojo was awestruck by your smile, and just by you in general. he tried his best not to gawk. "this is my old teacher, satoru gojo. he's like my father though." that snapped gojo out of it, "i prefer elder brother, you know. hi." you laughed. point scored. "yeah you dont look like a college student's father either. hello." and that was that. he was whipped.

somehow, gojo managed to stick around you. his boyish charm was back, much to both the happiness and dismay of his friends. he was back to his old bubbly, obnoxious self. he took you out on so many dates, always found ways to be with you and after a few months he asked you to be his girlfriend. dating him was fun, the dates, the clingyness everything continued, but you both wanted so much more. around your one year anniversary, you moved into his apartment. living with him rekindled that love in a way you could only dream. as you lived with him, you realised he was carrying a burden with you he couldnt share. he'd told you abt shibuya and sukuna long back but he always underplayed how much it affected him. you'd notice sometimes watching a movie he'd remember his friends and go silent, or at nights you could feel his restlessness, and when you asked, he simply gave you one of his famous (in his words) grins and said "im alright baby." you let it go for his sake.

until it was all too much, it was near the three year anniversary of the end. gojo was at a low you'd never seen, your heart filled with sorrow as he pushed you away even when he didnt want to. you came back home from work one day and found him lying on the bed, he didnt move when you called out his name. "satoru?" no reply. you carefully walk upto him and see a picture of you in his hand. you look into his eyes, swollen from crying, "baby, whats going on?" he finally looked at you, his eyes welling up again, and he looked back at the ceiling, "how could someone whose hands are stained with so much blood be any worthy of you or your love?" you were taken aback. this was so unlike the gojo you knew, the confident, obnoxious, overbearing, cocky, loving idiot. your hands find his face, wiping away his tears. "i've seen you in a million different ways, looked at you in a thousand different lights, and i have loved you in every single way."

he got up and kissed you before you could continue. you broke the kiss, only to mumble on his lips "dont bring this stupid i-dont-deserve-you bullshit ever again. youre worthy, of me, of love, of happiness and of moving on." gojo nodded, a little teary eyed but you could basically feel his actual personality coming back, "yea no, im winning rn."

#gojo satoru #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #gojo x reader #jjk x reader #jjk angst #jujutsu kaisen #jjk

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ddejavvu · 1 year

Note

hey for mvm, how about poly dbf marauders picking you up from a date after the guy was awful to you or from a party after your friends ditched you, whatever you like more 💕

this post is 18+ (and so are its characters), minors dni.

You're lucky you were able to remember Sirius's number to dial it on the phone in the home office you're standing in, and you feel bad for whoever's house this is, because there's whiskey on the carpet and a pizza slice closed in his laptop. Sirius has promised that no matter what time it is, day, night, somewhere in between, he would gladly come pick you up, and Remus and James had echoed his sentiments.

You stumble through the party in your wedged heels to the lawn outside, preferring to wait on the grassy lawn for Sirius than stay inside sandwiched between drunk and high people alike. The cool night air nips at your bare skin that's exposed by your shirt, and your miniskirt doesn't offer much warmth either.

It's Remus's car that pulls up to the house, not Sirius's motorbike, and you're only a little disappointed you won't get to feel the wind whipping over your skin. You're more excited than you are downtrodden, though, because all three men spill out of the car, beelining across the grass for you.

"Hi, dovey." Remus reaches you first, squatting in the grass to kiss your flushed cheek, "I'm glad you called us."

"Yeah, 's a good girl," James croons, smoothing a hand down your hair, "Let's get up into the car, m'kay?"

"Okay," You nod, brain hazy as Sirius grips your underarm. James takes your other bicep, helping to haul you up off of your ass. Your heels sink unevenly into the dirt and Remus crouches down once more to take them off, maneuvering the straps out of their buckles and sliding the shoe off of your foot. He lifts your foot up to get the shoe out from under your sole, and he drags it up the rest of the way to his face to kiss your ankle. You send him a tired smile from where James and Sirius are holding you up, and he kisses the expression when he stands again.

"Come on," James croons, leading you to the middle seat in the back row, "Siri'n I'll sit back here with you, 'kay?"

"Then Remus is alone in front," You realize forlornly, watching him worriedly through the mirror as he gets settled into the driver's seat.

"S'okay, dove," He soothes you, reaching back to squeeze your hand while Sirius does up your seatbelt, "I'll take you back to my place, 'n we can cuddle all night to make up for it."

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rubyuji · 4 months

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Fragments (Mingyu, Seungcheol) ˙ ✩°˖🫐 ⋆｡˚

“You know since we are just a few minutes away from landing, did I ever get the chance to thank you for being a huge blessing in my life?” 𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖🎐

Genre: Slight angst, fluff, romance

AU: University!au, Coming of Age!au

Pairing(s): (Short) Wonwoo x Afab!reader, Seungcheol x Afab!reader, Mingyu x Afab!reader (Reader is Jeonghan’s little sister)

Warnings: Cheol is toxic, nonchalant and doesn’t care for their relationship, a kiss scene (how shocking)

Synopsis: Growing up with someone you love isn’t easy, well at least for Seungcheol, he never expected to be a life-altering heartbreak for you either, and while he did wish for a second chance, that plan had only backfired on him when he received an invite to your engagement party with Mingyu.

Note: I’m finally done with the long awaited fic! I kept pausing and got busy in between, but overall I’d say that I’m satisfied with it. Thank you all for waiting and I hope you like it! Don’t forget to like + reblog as always to help support me and other writers, happy reading!

WC: 12k (exceeded my estimate omg)

Taglist: @nerdycheol @notevenheretbh1 (Thank you guys so much!)

Seungcheol remembered the first time he saw you. It was at his friend Jeonghan’s house, your nose crinkled adorably as you read some cheesy romance novel at sixteen on the cream sofa in the living room.

He had wanted to say something, but all he could do was smile as Jeonghan introduced him to your parents. Since then, he has been practically your family’s newest son besides Joshua, their other best friend.

When Seungcheol had received his fair share of confessions from girls all over the school in his senior year, he had always declined them politely because he was just never interested in any of them, except this time, it was different ever since the day Jeonghan had introduced you to him.

In moments wherein he would receive a confession from someone, he would see you walk by and forget the girl even existed, opting to call out your name instead and jog after you.

He would even walk you to your class or visit you in your classroom, using the ‘protective brother’s friend’ excuse, when in reality, he was only scoping out the potential guys who were interested in you in your class.

“Dude, do you like my sister? You look like a lost puppy following her around,” Jeonghan chuckles. Seungcheol raises his brow at his friend and turns to Joshua, who just shrugs as he agrees with Jeonghan.

“You hang around Y/n so much that there’s already rumors being spread of her being your crush or girlfriend,” Joshua says flatly.

“Guys, I’m just looking out for her, you know we all care about her like a little sister. Come on, I’m just a lot more proactive than Jeonghan” Seungcheol whined.

It was half true, he did want to look out for you because he cared, but also because he wanted to ward off any of the guys who were admiring you.

“You act like I leave her for dead, people probably think she’s your little sister instead of mine,” Jeonghan says, bored.

“Oh by the way, I honestly can’t believe she’s seeing this guy in the other class, his name was Jeon Wonwoo or something? He asked her out on Valentine’s Day,” Seungcheol whipped his head around and stared at Jeonghan, who was way too engrossed in his laptop even to notice the way Seungcheol’s brows furrowed.

Seungcheol felt his heart clench, no wonder you were starting to decline his invitation to walk home with him, Joshua, and your brother.

You had even started distancing yourself from them. It wasn’t that noticeable at first, but you were definitely around them less, opting to spend more time with a certain boy that he had seen with you way too often.

“So he’s buying her snacks and getting her flowers every morning? That’s crazy to me. I mean, Y/n is still so young, how are you letting this slide?” Seungcheol whined.

Looking back, he remembers you walking around hand in hand with a tall guy who had glasses on, and you were always smiling at whatever the guy said to you.

As Joshua was about to get another word out about how Seungcheol was probably going to cry about you growing up and becoming your own person with an identity, you suddenly walked into the living room and plopped onto the seat beside Jeonghan. Your brother scoffed and rolled his eyes as you accidentally knocked the laptop from his lap.

“I heard my name? Are you guys gossiping about me?” You say playfully.

Seungcheol felt his ears warm up at the sound of your voice, despite you being a mini version of Jeonghan, he still couldn’t help but fall for you as a person because of how charming you were.

“Yeah, I told them about the boy you’re seeing in the year above yours. Is he your boyfriend or is he just a crush?” Jeonghan runs a hand through your hair and you hum with a smile on your face.

“He’s my boyfriend, a super sweet guy. I never expected him to ask me out or even feel the same way, but I like him,” Seungcheol could hear the love practically dripping from your voice, and he wanted the green-eyed monster to simply swallow him whole.

“You’re so gross if he hurts you, we’ll be after his head. Please tell him as a reminder,” Jeonghan then flicks your forehead and you whine.

Seungcheol could never get tired of seeing the way you and Jeonghan interacted, the way you reacted cutely, and how your nose scrunched in the most adorable way possible.

Turns out, Jeonghan’s promise was going to come around way sooner than any of you would’ve thought.

As Seungcheol was there for your first boyfriend, he also ended up being there during your first heartbreak.

He clearly remembers the day you shuffled over to your older brother quietly and held onto his arm for support, Jeonghan opting to pull you close to his side instead. Your eyes were soaked with tears, the guys looking at you worriedly on the way home.

“We’ll head in, I gotta take care of the little one first. You guys go ahead,” Seungcheol and Joshua nodded, still worried about your current state, but decided to leave your actual older brother to it because he knew what to do.

That night, Jeonghan texted their group chat about how Wonwoo had broken up with you that day.

Some bullshit excuse like you guys weren’t meant to be, when in reality, Wonwoo had been seeing a different girl behind your back and didn’t know how to tell you that he fell out of love, something Seungcheol couldn’t fathom.

How could someone fall out of love with you? You had so much to offer and you had so much love to give.

Seungcheol cursed the kid out in his head and texted that he would deal with him, but before he could do anything stupid, Joshua had to talk him out of it.

He knew it was a bad idea to even confront Wonwoo for breaking your heart, but he couldn’t help it, not when he couldn’t stand the look of hurt that graced your pretty face, the way tears welled up in your big doe eyes.

But, Seungcheol also considered the fact that you wouldn't like it if he got into a fight either.

Your first heartbreak felt like a blur after a few years, and Seungcheol had found himself watching from the sidelines again as you grew up to be such an independent and self-assured young woman. However, he could’ve never expected to become the face of your second biggest heartbreak.

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua were now in their third year of college, and you had just entered as a freshman.

With him and Jeonghan studying business management and Joshua taking the psychology route, you were now added to their little family as well, this time majoring in fashion design.

“Are you guys proud of me? I’m finally an adult! Can’t wait to rot away for the next three to four years while you guys only have a year left again,” You joked as you settled on the seat beside Joshua.

Jeonghan had offered you a place to live that was in the same building, and it was pretty affordable, while still being near campus. Seungcheol thanked whatever deity was up there for giving you the opportunity.

Though you guys weren’t apart for that long, albeit the guys visiting you during every break since they started living away from your hometown, it still felt like something was missing during their time in college.

You felt the same admittedly enough, and even though you enjoyed the solace that came with the silence of not having to have the guys around with their constant bickering and yelling, you couldn’t help but miss them dearly.

So, when your brother offered up an apartment in the same building as theirs, once you got accepted into the same school, you took it immediately.

“Hey, we’ll still live here until we get stable jobs after graduating, baby. You don’t have to sulk, you won’t be lonely and we’ll make sure of it,” Seungcheol chuckled.

You felt your heart beat faster at the sound of his voice, you’ve seen Seungcheol ever since you guys were teenagers, but you had to admit, college and becoming an adult was catching up to him.

Seungcheol looked broad, and it was the result of continuously working out and his efforts to maintain his body and health, but he also carried a different air around him, one that made you feel choked up and so small around him.

You held back from developing feelings for Seungcheol though, as he was your brother’s best friend. It was strictly sibling code, but Jeonghan didn’t seem to care if you dated any of his friends for that matter.

“I’ll take it,” You smile at Seungcheol.

You couldn’t help the fluttering you felt in your chest, but you also weighed your feelings for the man.

Seungcheol was handsome, and he had a charming personality to match, but would he date you? He most likely saw you as a little sister above all else, and he was Jeonghan’s best friend, your brother would never let you live it down.

You were so wrong though because not even a month after you had moved in, Seungcheol had asked you out on a date.

You were pleasantly surprised, not expecting him to ever look your way at all, but here you were as the man handed you a small bouquet, pink dusting his cheeks as he waited for your answer.

“Yes Cheol, I’ll go out with you,” Seungcheol’s eyes lit up as he picked you up and spun you around out of excitement.

You laughed once he put you down, and on the way home, he couldn’t help but announce it to both of his roommates. Jeonghan raised a brow at you, and you shrugged shyly under your brother’s gaze.

One date with Seungcheol turned into two, then three, until you finally agreed to be his girlfriend. Things got serious quickly between the two of you, given how long you’ve known each other, and Jeonghan and Joshua couldn’t help but laugh at their friend who was finally experiencing a relationship for the first time.

You were both acting like lovesick fools whenever you visited the apartment and within a year, your relationship had progressed into something deeper.

Seungcheol opted to move over into your apartment on the floor above, and you both even decided to adopt a puppy and name her Kkuma.

Life couldn’t have been better, especially when Seunghcheol took great care of you in all ways.

“Hi baby, I picked up some things at the store that we were running out of. How was your day?” Seungcheol kissed your cheek as he placed the groceries on the kitchen island.

You were currently cooking dinner for the two of you, and you turned gratefully toward your boyfriend. He is the most perfect partner you could ever ask for.

Communication with Seungcheol was easy, loving him was easy, and being with him was easy, but it was as if he had become an entirely different person once you were about to reach the two-year mark of your relationship.

Seungcheol started becoming more closed off, he spent more time at his new job, and he started lashing out at you, causing huge blowup fights between you both, resulting in you having to sleep at Jeonghan and Joshua’s place more often than not.

“I don’t understand what’s gotten into him, you know he seems fine at work, but now he’s raising his voice at you? Y/n, we know Seungcheol is our best friend, but his actions are already harming you, don’t you think it’s better to break up?” Jeonghan looked like he was pleading with you.

Your older brother knew better than anyone, and you bit your lip softly. Even Joshua and Jeonghan had started to notice the change, it was how Seungcheol even refused to spare you a glance at parties, or how he had started to leave you alone more often, even during his day off.

What ticked Jeonghan off though, was the fact that Seungcheol had already raised his voice at you in front of them multiple times.

He couldn’t stand to see his baby sister being taken for granted by someone who once cared about her so much, he wondered what on earth happened to the Seungcheol who vowed to take care of you.

The one who always doted on you and scolded Jeonghan for leaving you alone when you needed him.

“Hey, take it easy on her. Two years is a long time Han, so it’s not like Y/n can walk out on him instantly just like that. I have to agree with your brother though, Y/n. This isn’t healthy for you, and we’re willing to help you with whatever just to make things easier,” Joshua pulls you into his side on the sofa and you huff.

The Seungcheol you were with felt unrecognizable, and you just wished you could run away from him for once, so you decided to confide in the two about how your best friend, Mingyu, had offered to take you to Italy with him because he was going to model for a brand there, and how they loved your portfolio and wanted to take you under their wing as a senior fashion designer.

“Don’t you think it’s wiser to take the opportunity? I know you love Cheol, but Y/n, you can’t keep putting up with this. He’s only hurting you,” Joshua says softly.

You shake your head and let out a deep sigh. What would it take for you to walk away from it all? Leaving sounded tempting, yet all you could think about was how Seungcheol would feel if you left.

He could still change, but how much longer could you endure the pain he’s been putting you through?

“Look, we understand that it’s easier said than done, but you’re still so young and have the whole world to explore. Don’t chain yourself down to this relationship, Y/n. We promise to deal with Seungcheol if it makes you feel better, but for now, we think you should take the opportunity to go to Italy,” Jeonghan looks at you painfully, and the last thing you wanted to do was to hurt your brother, seeing as you being in pain was already doing just that.

“I—'ll go to Italy, but promise me that you both will take care of Cheol? I know he hasn't been the best lately, but he’ll need as much support as I do. It's been difficult, but you guys are right, I still have the world out there for me, and whatever happens with Cheol will happen. Find our way back to each other or not, I think I’m ready for a fresh start,” You declare.

Jeonghan and Joshua look at you fondly, as Seungkwan, their new roommate and one of your closest friends, walks into the room, eyes as wide as saucers.

“Wait, you’re taking Mingyu up on that offer in Italy? That’s amazing, Y/n! I’ve been waiting for Seungcheol to finally get his grip off of you so you can flourish!” You laugh awkwardly as Seungkwan crushes you in his embrace.

“Ugh, Kwannie! Mingyu said he’s supposed to leave next week, I think it’s finally time I give him the answer he’s been waiting for. Are you coming with?” You pout at Seungkwan. Your friend nods and gives you a wide grin.

“I’m coming along so I can get used to the environment, I can’t leave these two just yet you know? Besides, I’ll go tell my sister once I’m ready and I’ll be there with you both ok? Now come on, let’s head upstairs, I’ll help you pack!” Seungkwan pushes you out the door and you bid your brother and Joshua goodbye, promising to call them later.

You were happy you had Seungkwan to keep you company while packing your things, he kept your mind at bay knowing you still had to talk to Seungcheol about everything that was happening.

You couldn't just get up and leave without an explanation, it just wasn't who you were, and you felt like it would’ve been unfair for your boyfriend.

Once you finally zipped up your last suitcase of personal belongings, you didn't have much, to begin with, and Seungkwan lugged the rest of your bags down to their apartment, you heard the door open. ‘He’s home,’ you thought to yourself.

You walk out of your room and see Seungcheol walk into the apartment, his body language seeming a bit more apprehensive than usual, but you know you have to say something.

You were already leaving for Italy the next week, and this was probably going to be the last time you’d be seeing Seungcheol in a while.

“Cheol? Can we talk, please?” Your voice was timid, almost coming out as a squeak if Seungcheol didn’t listen hard enough. He turns to look at you, his gaze suddenly soft but still somehow holding anger.

“Can you make it quick? I still have something to do so I won’t be in the house for long, you don’t have to wait for me,” Seungcheol huffed.

Your heart broke at how you could barely even recognize the person in front of you.

This wasn't the same Seungcheol who constantly doted on you while growing up. The Seungcheol who was too scared to even raise his voice at you, knowing you hated it when people yelled at you.

How did his, “Hey angel, don’t wait up for me and get some rest, you had a long day,” turn into cold scoffs and constant eye rolls? Was he tired of you?

You finally gather enough courage to speak up about everything you’ve held back from him the past few weeks.

This wasn’t your Seungcheol anymore, this man was a stranger in your apartment, he was a stranger you once knew, a stranger whom you’ve loved with your whole heart, only for him to throw it all away. You finally had enough, it was time for you to choose yourself for once.

“You know what? Fine, I will. To sum it all up, I’m leaving you Seungcheol, this isn’t gonna be the same as some silly little sleepover at Joshua and Jeonghan’s. I’m leaving, I’ve had enough of dealing with your outbursts and I barely recognize you anymore. I’m sorry I had to end it like this, but I’m choosing myself this time,” a stray tear makes its way down your face and you hold in the urge to sob.

This was for your own good, and if leaving Seungcheol and bearing the pain was what it took, so be it.

You knew it would be hard to move on, but you also knew that making a choice for yourself and choosing yourself for your peace was what you needed right now.

“I’m letting go, maybe we aren’t meant to be, or we’ll find our way back, but I can’t promise anything. I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me anything else because I leave next week. I have everything packed, and you can talk to my brother and Joshua about living arrangements, I’ll still pay the lease until the end of the month,” You choke out.

Your nose was starting to get stuffy and your vision started to blur, you couldn’t even look at Seungcheol as you told him everything.

“Y/n, please, don’t leave. I’m sorry, just give me time to fix everything, I know I fucked up. Why did you decide to drop all of this on me now? I– I can’t, Y/n, please,” Seungcheol was pleading with you.

You knew it was unfair, but after countless months of giving in to Seungcheol and settling with being the same understanding girlfriend you are, you couldn’t help it.

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you fix everything when you’re too late. I’ve given you countless chances to finally pull yourself together, even going as far as to leave you alone because I know how much you hate being bothered when you’re stressed, and this is what I get in return. I’ve been too understanding towards you that it’s starting to affect me, please, just let me have it this once Seungcheol,” You were now the one pleading as tears cascaded down your face like a waterfall.

Seungcheol’s heart ached as he looked at you. You were such a self-assured, independent, and strong young woman, he knew that since the moment he met you.

Jeonghan made sure you grew up not needing a man to take care of you but also made sure you still left a part of yourself where you allowed someone to take care of you once you felt vulnerable enough.

This wasn’t the same woman he had fallen in love with, instead, what Seungcheol saw in front of him was the same girl who had her heart crushed by a stupid teenage boy back in high school.

You looked so broken, so frail, as you tried to shield yourself away from him. Seungcheol couldn’t help but feel as if the world was closing in on him, had he been too neglectful the past few months?

Did he let his emotions get the best of him when he had promised you that he would keep a level head around you? Hell, he even promised your brother he would never hurt you, and look where it got him.

Seungcheol couldn’t even get another word out before you left the apartment, leaving him in the silence of a home that was once filled with the warmth of the love you had once before.

Ten minutes had passed and Seungcheol still couldn't believe that you had walked out on him, had he been too lax of a boyfriend already?

He knew he fucked up and he had been wanting to fix things between you both, but it ultimately ended in failure the moment you walked out of that apartment.

You hold the handle of your carry-on bag as Mingyu checks you both in while you are still taking in the atmosphere of the entire airport.

It felt surreal, a week ago you were in the apartment you once shared with Seungcheol, everything you withheld from him boiling over, and now you’re at the airport with one of your best friends in the entire world, ready to go to Italy and start life over.

“Hey, I got our boarding passes, let's head in and get past security so we don't have to deal with the hassle later. Also, you look tense, lighten up a bit, you need this reset,” Mingyu smiles at you gently while handing you your passport.

You nod and let out a breath, Mingyu was right, your life had been stagnant for too long, and this was something you deserved.

“Thanks, Gyu, for everything. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, I seriously feel like I’m indebted to you,” You joke, and Mingyu lets out a scoff.

“No need to thank me, you’re the most amazing fashion designer I know, and with the company liking your portfolio and telling me that they would like to take you under their wing immediately, you should give yourself more credit where it’s due. This was all from your hard work, Y/n,” Mingyu shakes his head and you both go through security while lugging your bags through the scanners.

After going through security, you and Mingyu bought food and chatted at the boarding gate happily while waiting for your flight to board.

“I’m glad you took the opportunity, I was starting to think you’d be stuck here forever, forced to live a boring life with Seungcheol. No offense, of course, it's just that you’re way too talented to not show your colors to the entire world,” Mingyu flushes and you grin at him sheepishly.

You met Mingyu through Minghao, who introduced you to the man because he knew you needed a male model because you ran out of options for your menswear class.

“Look, I know you love your brother and all, but this is our last final for the year, Y/n! Think about it, you already had Joshua model for the midterm, and Jeonghan modeled for us during the first semester’s finals, and our second-semester midterms.” Minghao gave you a pointed look knowing you had to do this for your sake.

You were too familiar with your brother and Joshua’s builds, and despite getting near-perfect scores on your projects, you still wanted to try something that was out of your comfort zone. Minghao then snaps his fingers and you look at him in confusion.

“I have this friend, you remember Mingyu right? He was my model during the first round of midterms last semester. I think it would be great if you practiced with him since you aren't used to taller and broader builds,” You raise your brows at Minghao’s proposition.

“I mean, you’re right about that. Give me his contact, and I’ll shoot him a message,” You smiled softly. Minghao handed you his phone with Mingyu’s contact as you input it into your phone.

You met Mingyu once for his measurements, saw his sweet smile once, heard him speak in his soft voice, and the rest was history.

Mingyu had turned into your rock, your other cheerleader who was there whenever your boyfriend wasn't. Now, you’re traveling the world with your best friend who is everything you could ever ask for.

“I appreciate the sentiment Gyu, I couldn't have gotten here without you being by my side. I guess I thought I was destined to just, you know, wait until I get offered a boring job at some corporate office that has nothing to do with my degree, then live with Seungcheol until God knows how long,” You laugh softly, looking back at what you had thought would be the rest of your life, but change is inevitable and it was time you accept it.

“Of course, you know I’ll always be by your side. It's my job to take care of you as your best friend, even if you insist that you’re completely fine on your own.” Mingyu pouts.

You laugh at Mingyu and heave a sigh of relief. You finally felt free after all these months.

From being too depressed to get out of the apartment, declining every invitation from your friends, to moving to Italy with both of your best friends and starting life over from scratch.

Your brother and your friends were right, even if you did love Seungcheol, some people just aren't meant to be in our lives for so long once they impact you negatively.

“Oh, by the way, did Seungkwan send you his flight details? I swear, he has do-not-disturb mode on more, these days,” You laugh as you come across a picture of you, Seungkwan, and Mingyu on your last trip to Jeju during Seungkwan’s birthday.

Mingyu hummed and nodded, showing you a screenshot that Seungkwan had sent to him.

“His flight is still later tonight, so he’ll probably arrive the day after us or like at night? I don’t know, time zones are weird,” Mingyu gave up trying to understand time zones and you laughed again at how cute your best friend was.

“I’m sure Seungkwan will call us once he’s there, so we don’t need to worry much. What we need to worry about though, is where we’re going to be staying once we get there first,” You laugh.

Mingyu shows you an email on his phone from the company, it said you were going to be provided with housing since Mingyu was a model, and you were a senior fashion designer.

“What? They’re going to provide us with housing? That’s crazy,” Your mouth gaped like a fish and Mingyu laughed at you.

“I know, that’s why I chose this company over every other one. The others only ever put your portfolio and resume aside, while the one we’re being hired to right now provided us both with opportunities. I thought it was only fair to bring you along since I did get scouted by big shots after uploading myself modeling in your pieces,” Mingyu smiled softly, his tone laced with gratitude towards you.

You wave off Mingyu’s remark dismissively. “You worked hard you know? I think my clothes were only a little bit of help when it came to your actual scouting, I think you should give yourself more credit,” You reply.

After an hour of talking, you and Mingyu were finally headed into your seats on the plane. Suddenly, everything felt so surreal as Mingyu lugged your carry-ons into the overhead bins.

“I can’t believe we’re moving to Italy, never in my life would I ever imagine hopping on a plane headed to work in Europe of all places,” You say to Mingyu, who is settled on the seat beside you.

“I think you should finally start believing it because you still might feel as though you’re dreaming the moment we land,” Mingyu chuckles and leans his head on yours, an action that makes you feel warm inside.

It felt nice having Mingyu around, he was healing a part of you that wished it was Cheol doing all this, but you knew better than to think of your ex right now because you were on the path of moving on from everything he put you through.

The flight was a breeze, and thankfully nobody was in the seat beside Mingyu, because he could easily slip into the restroom at any time, a luxury he didn’t usually have if he was placed in a window or middle seat on the plane.

“You know since we are just a few minutes away from landing, did I ever get the chance to thank you for being a huge blessing in my life?” You laugh as the plane is making its final descent.

“I knew you needed this opportunity because I saw how badly he was treating you, I had to give you this much because you deserve way better,” Mingyu replies gently.

Your heart blooms and you grip his hand, you are ready to move forward, and you know you have the right people by your side.

“Seungkwan, can you go pick up groceries at the Korean supermarket across the street? It’s your turn since you are mooching off me and Mingyu until you move in with Vernon,” You jokingly call out to your friend.

Seungkwan grumbles and you laugh before turning to him from the kitchen. “Yeah, don’t worry, I already know whatever is on the list before you need to tell me, I’ll be back in like twenty minutes,” he tells you on his way out the door.

It had been a few months since you had arrived in Italy with Mingyu and Seungkwan, and you all had settled into the country quite easily.

Starting work was a breeze because the company was very accommodating and everyone was friendly, and you found yourself moving on faster than you expected.

“Seungkwan’s finally moving in with Vernon huh? I can’t believe it’s already been a while since we got here. Now tell me, when are you going to give in to me?” Mingyu jokes as he wraps his strong arms around your waist.

You were no stranger to skinship with your best friend, but the veil between friendship and romance was starting to wear thin after moving in together after a few months.

Mingyu was just a stark contrast from who Seungcheol was, and you were starting to give in to him despite your fears of commitment.

It didn’t help that your best friend was just as hopeless a romantic as you are, so Mingyu naturally took his time with you. It was something you were immensely grateful for because he fully understood that you probably weren’t even ready to pursue another relationship.

See, Mingyu was naturally a soft-spoken man. During the entirety of friendship not once had he raised his voice at you, or anyone for that matter, even when he was angry or agitated.

Mingyu rarely blew up on people. You used to fear being yelled at because with Seungcheol, it was inevitable, and it only planted a fear of everyone raising their voice at you the moment Seungcheol had let go of all his reserve during a fight.

Even if Mingyu did raise his voice from across the apartment, he made sure it was at a reasonable volume that didn’t scare you, and on the rare occasion that you both would get into a fight, Mingyu would only communicate his feelings towards you in a calm tone.

Mingyu was also just full of love, he was always so considerate towards everyone around him. He made sure you and Seungkwan knew how grateful he was to have you both by his side because this was a big step for all of you.

The nights when the three of you would drink together, and Mingyu would pour out his gratitude towards you both, about how he felt so happy that the universe had given him some of the most amazing best friends in the entire world (also yapping about how much he missed Wonwoo, his old roommate, but that was for another time).

It was just a huge plus that Mingyu also willingly helped around the house, naturally because you knew it was in your best friend’s upbringing to keep the house in proper shape.

Even cooking with Mingyu was an experience because you both enjoy sharing recipes and want to try them out together, which meant Seungkwan was treated to a delicious meal every time you and Mingyu would find a new dish to try out.

Mingyu made you experience new things that you couldn’t when it came to your ex, and slowly, the feelings between you both unfolded.

Seungkwan couldn’t deny it to you either that you and Mingyu would make a great married couple, you both were pretty tame and low maintenance, something that was rare to find these days.

“I know you’re not ready to start a relationship or deal with feelings right now after everything you’ve been through with your ex, but trust me when I say this, Mingyu is the one you should marry. You both look so perfect together, and it’s a plus that he already likes you,” Seungkwan whined, and you laughed as he threw your other best friend under the bus.

Mingyu was out for an event with Minghao that night, and he wanted to bring you along but he also knew you hated huge events or loud places, so he opted to leave you at home with Seungkwan, promising to come back at a reasonable hour and to not drink so much.

It was a small action but it was something you felt grateful for, it showed that Mingyu still thought of you while having fun and living his life.

“I’ve never thought about dating Mingyu, let alone marrying him but, I mean, he’s not that bad. I’m already way past my ex anyway, so you’re right on that. Don’t throw Mingyu under the bus like that ever again though,” You giggle. Seungkwan clicks his tongue and sips from his wine.

“I wish you met Mingyu before Seungcheol or something, you two make each other so happy and you guys don’t leave me out at all. I love you and Mingyu so much despite everything we’ve been through,” Seungkwan smiles softly and holds your hand.

Moving to Europe definitely wasn’t an easy decision for the three of you, but you all found comfort in each other and got through hurdles together.

There were fights, and misunderstandings, one time you even walked out on them, but you all knew that at the end of the day, you all had each other no matter what.

Seungkwan’s words from that night echoed in your head as you snapped back to reality, Mingyu’s arms still wrapped around you with a soft grin on his face.

You wish you had met Mingyu before it all, maybe then you would’ve narrowly avoided one of your most life-altering heartaches, but now you were ready to move forward with Mingyu.

“What if I told you that you already had all of me?” You didn’t stop for a second and kissed Mingyu, who froze for a second, but immediately melted into the kiss.

You weren’t afraid to love anymore. Mingyu was all the proof you needed, knowing you deserve a second chance after everything.

When you both pulled away, Mingyu’s cheeks were dusted pink, his signature smile with his canines tugging at his lips.

“You don’t understand how long I’ve been waiting for you to do that,” he breathed out cheekily, chasing your lips for more.

“You’re so annoying, you know that right?” You laugh and pull Mingyu in for another kiss, this time with your arms around his neck.

Suddenly, you both hear a crash by the doorway and hear plastic bags falling, only to find Seungkwan with his mouth agape and eyes as wide as saucers.

“I was out for twenty minutes, what the hell happened,” Seungkwan choked out.

It’s been years since Seungcheol had heard from you, and he was still a mess, except he was finally starting to get back up on his feet to help himself.

About a month after you had left, he had moved back in with Joshua and Jeonghan, and he didn’t understand why they still welcomed him with open arms, let alone Jeonghan of all people.

You were his younger sister, and he hurt you, shouldn’t he be cursing him out and telling him to go to hell?

“If you’re wondering why you seem like in our good graces, Y/n told us to take care of you until you’re back on your feet. You’re still our childhood friend Cheol, and even if we don’t tolerate what you did to Y/n, she told us to make sure that you weren’t going to do anything stupid. You need as much support as her, and who are we to deny when we care about you both?” Jeonghan says firmly.

Seungcheol felt his heart clench, even after he hurt you, you still cared enough to tell his two best friends to care for him.

You were an angel, and he took you for granted. You even went as far as to tell them that it was okay for him to move back in with them (granted Seungcheol also did twice as much housework compared to Jeonghan and Joshua because of how guilty he felt).

Now, three years had passed since you had moved to Italy, and you usually visited during the holidays, but Seungcheol was never around because it pained him too much to see you.

He had eventually gathered up the courage to try to move on, and while he is stable in his career as a form of distraction, he still had feelings for you deep in his heart.

You were his first love, and it wasn’t going to change any time soon because he wanted you forever.

Every day he wished he wasn’t immature enough to push you away, he silently prayed to every God above for him to give your relationship another shot.

Seungcheol was a changed man now, and he was willing to do everything in his power to be with you.

Seungcheol was hopeful, until he wasn’t, especially when Jeonghan had dropped the bomb that you had invited them to your engagement party in Jeju island.

“This has to be a joke, right?” Seungcheol could only laugh at how ridiculous it all seemed.

Were you engaged? It had only been a few years since you moved to Italy, he was sure you wouldn’t have found a boyfriend in that period, let alone a fiancée.

“Nope, you’re hearing it correctly. Y/n’s been bringing home her boyfriend, well I guess fiancée now, for three years already. I understand that it’s been rough ever since we started living separately, you wouldn’t visit as much as Josh whenever she was around, understandably so, but she’s moved on and he makes her happy,” Jeonghan sipped from his mug, and shrugged, making Seungcheol’s brows knit.

“I know exposure therapy isn’t the way to go, but Y/n means a lot to us despite everything, you know that. You can get the closure you need and you can finally move on, Cheol,” Jeonghan continued before putting his cup down on the desk, this was his second cup of coffee, he had to stop at some point.

Seungcheol was in an internal debate with himself, he realized that while he did need closure, was it worth all the pain of seeing you again?

He knew he had to, it was what he needed before he could fully move on, but something in him was still hanging on to what could’ve been between you both.

“I’ll go, maybe it is time. I’ll consider it,” Seungcheol slumps in his chair and stares outside the window of his office.

All the time he had spent building his company from the ground up so he could prove himself worthy once you came back, only for you to be engaged with someone else.

“You don’t have to force yourself though, just take it easy. Y/n will understand, you know she always does,” Jeonghan walks up to Seungcheol and leans by his desk, staring at the same city skyline in front of them.

Seungcheol’s hard work was undeniable, and it was all because of the effort he put in to forget you, but he just couldn’t, Seungcheol knew he needed proper closure instead to fully move on from your past.

“I’ll be fine Han, I can handle myself now,” Seungcheol says as his brows knit once more, looking back at the events of the past year.

He had started his own tech company and now he’s the CEO of a huge corporation, his career is now a reflection of all his hard work and dedication, but what was the use of all that money when he couldn’t share it with someone else? That someone who he desperately wished was you.

“I know you can handle yourself Cheol, but you were a wreck when you first moved in. Me and Josh had to pester you for you to get back on your feet for fucks sake, I wouldn’t hold it against you if had second thoughts about going,” Jeonghan says softly. As much as he knew that his friend could handle himself, he couldn’t help but worry.

Since then, two weeks had passed since that conversation and your initial invitation to your brother and his best friends to your engagement party.

Jeonghan calls you excitedly as they settle on the plane to Jeju, Seungcheol lugging the bags into the overhead bins, and Joshua already taking a nap as other passengers continue to board.

“Are you certain that we already have assigned rooms? Ok, I understand. Take care Y/n! We’ll see you at the airport,” Jeonghan hangs up before turning over to Joshua and Seungcheol beside him.

“You guys are sharing a room at the resort, and I’m going to room with Seungkwan. Y/n and her fianceé will be picking us up, so no funny business,” he continued.

Seungcheol clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. He's a jealous guy and he can’t help it, but you’re no longer his girlfriend and he knew he had to behave himself.

He couldn’t wait to see who your fiancée was, and he tried to make the most of it at least because you were still someone who’s considered family to him.

The flight was short-lived and they landed in Jeju in no time. Joshua stretched as they carried their bags from the conveyor belt onto the cart, and Jeonghan had received a call from you saying you were outside waiting.

Traveling with three bachelors felt like a nightmare for Seungcheol, it wasn’t like they weren’t capable of getting girlfriends, but rather, they were too busy for the dating lifestyle.

Seungcheol wouldn’t wish for it to be anyone else though, he was just happy to have Joshua and Jeonghan around as his support systems.

“Last bag, let’s head out so we have enough time to rest before the party tomorrow. Don’t wanna go on the plane with a hangover and a fuck ton of regrets once we’re headed home, just so we can mentally prepare ourselves,” Joshua breathes out. Though this wasn’t a wedding, it sure did feel like one.

The only reason you and Mingyu had even decided to have an engagement party was because you two were going to have your main wedding in Italy with your close family members.

The party served as a gathering for distant friends and relatives to congratulate you both since you couldn’t bring everyone to Europe with you.

As they headed out of the airport, Jeonghan could spot your figure and hear you calling out to them by your rental car.

Seungcheol had also caught sight of you and felt his heart skip, you looked more radiant since the last time he had seen you, granted it was probably because three years had passed, and he just couldn’t believe it.

You looked healthier now, you were no longer frail, and your smile had reached your eyes again, the same glint of happiness in them.

Seungcheol had forgotten why they were here the second he saw you, but it was only for a moment until he saw your fiancée standing right beside you, his form towering over yours.

Seungcheol recognized who this man was, it was Kim Mingyu, your best friend since college.

“Hi, guys! It’s been so long, I missed you all so much!” You say with a smile and hug Jeonghan.

Your brother grips you tightly while laughing, he missed you just as much, if not more.

Seungcheol smiles at the scene in front of him, he had always adored your interactions with Jeonghan.

Joshua then walked over to Mingyu as the taller man helped him with the bags. So this is who you were marrying, your best friend who Seungcheol had always worried about deep down.

“Hi Cheol, how was the flight? You must be tired, Jeonghan told me you guys were up early,” You greeted him softly, a smile still gracing your features.

Seungcheol blinked in disbelief, he never expected you to be so welcoming towards him, but years have passed and he understands that you’re over it by now.

“It was alright at most, I’m honestly just excited to relax at the hotel. How’ve you been?” Seungcheol smiled.

He looks over and sees Mingyu talking to Joshua about something while helping him with their bags, still weary about him.

“I’ve been great, Italy with Seungkwan and Mingyu was one of the best decisions I could’ve ever made. I know there were some things we avoided because of our past, but I hope you know that I’ve done some reflection since then, so no hard feelings on this trip ok? I want you guys to relax,” You lead Seungcheol over to the car and he sits in the back with your brother and Joshua.

The ride to the resort was comfortable, courtesy of you and Mingyu being easy going as conversations flowed naturally.

Seungcheol gauged that you were in good hands, but his heart was still calling out for you, something he wanted to keep at a minimum. You were going to marry someone else, there was no chance left for him.

“You have always had a good eye Y/n, this resort is beautiful,” Joshua compliments.

You laugh and brush off Joshua’s comment sweetly, but it was true, you always had a good eye for things in general (except boyfriends apparently, but Mingyu be damned because he did everything in his power to win your heart).

“I’ll bring you over to Seungkwan’s room since he’s staying across from me and Mingyu. Baby, can you lead Joshua and Seungcheol over to their rooms?” You turn to Mingyu, and Seungcheol catches the way your fiancée’s gaze is full of love for you.

His heart could only clench, was it genuinely worth the pain to support you? Seungcheol secretly wished for the ground to swallow him up whole.

“Of course, remember we still have dinner with everyone later, don’t forget to tell Jeonghan the details,” Mingyu reminds you.

You nod and wave them off, dragging your brother over to a happy Seungkwan, who stands by the elevator waiting for you both.

Joshua and Mingyu had been in their own world, talking amongst themselves while Seungcheol’s focus had been on his phone the entire time.

“Hey man, how are you? Jeonghan told us you were working hard to build your company up after we left for Italy,” Mingyu says in a friendly tone.

“It’s been great, it gets pretty lonely here at the top since the breakup, but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Seungcheol says with a smirk, finding the entire situation so ridiculous.

Joshua eyes him and chuckles to alleviate the jab that Seungcheol had taken at Mingyu, but your fiancée takes it just fine and continues the conversation calmly.

“I hope you find someone to share your success with in the near future. I understand that we all deserve to be loved by someone. It’s just that some people we hoped to end up with aren’t meant to be, and it’s not our fault,” Mingyu replies, tone still friendly and calm.

Seungcheol felt ticked off but decided to behave himself as the elevator arrived at their floor.

“Here’s the key card, as I mentioned earlier, there is a dinner we’ll be having with the rest of the guests tonight, it will be at the restaurant by the beach. You can just give mine or Y/n’s name for the reservation if they ask, I’ll see you guys later! Rest up since you guys must’ve had a long flight,” Mingyu makes his leave.

Joshua turns to Seungcheol and raises his brow while unlocking the room.

“Behave a bit, I know it’s been a while but we’re here for Y/n and it’s about her, you don’t have to like Mingyu, but let’s not cause any fights. Mingyu’s good to Y/n, and you can talk to Y/n about everything tonight after dinner if you need to,” Joshua says firmly.

Seungcheol hangs his head low, Joshua is right, he promised to behave himself because he understands that he needs to move on.

You had every right to leave him back then, and he should accept it, he just needs his final bit of closure, even if it hurts.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be more friendly toward Mingyu. I’ll keep myself in line, let’s rest so we can get ready later,” Joshua nods and smiles at Seungcheol, he was finally getting somewhere and it made him feel like a proud mom.

On the other hand, you were already being interrogated in your room by Jeonghan, Seungkwan, and your beloved fianceé because of Seungcheol’s appearance.

“You guys said it would be fine! Besides, I don’t have any hard feelings! He’s still like family Han,” You whine to your brother as you bury yourself in Mingyu’s embrace.

“He was already taking jabs at Mingyu when I told him to keep himself in line. Y/n, I need you to talk to him and give him the closure he needs tonight so that he doesn’t go mad tomorrow,” Jeonghan sighs.

You pout and Mingyu pecks your lips before taking your hand in his and rubbing it with his thumb as a sign of reassurance.

“I’m willing to do that, as long as we’ll be ok by the party. I’m sorry for causing problems,” You say sadly, now feeling guilt eat at you.

Inviting your ex was such a last-minute decision, but Seungcheol had been in your life for so long even before the breakup that you still felt the need to have him at such an important event in your life.

“Look what you’ve done, Jeonghan. Y/n, it’s ok to make these decisions, all he needs is to talk to you and you’ll be fine, we know you and Mingyu trust each other enough for you to make this decision,” Seungkwan tells you.

It was your brother’s turn to pout as Seungkwan jokingly slapped his shoulder. Seungkwan’s words instantly made your shoulders feel lighter and you looked up at Mingyu.

“I trust you. Look, you can talk to Seungcheol tonight after dinner and we’ll make sure that nothing will happen, alright? Don’t worry,” Mingyu says softly. You nod and look over at your brother, who gives you a smile and a thumbs-up.

Dinner rolls around and you’ve finished your makeup, along with your hair, all that’s left is your dress for tonight.

“Mingyu? Babe, can you come help me with the dress?” Your fiancée peeks from the bathroom and you giggle at his appearance.

“I told you to make the design simpler so you can put it on more easily, but then again, you’re Y/n. My favorite fashion designer,” Mingyu jokes while he zips up the garment and ties the corset in the back.

The two of you look in the mirror, and you take in your form. The dress was designed by yourself and it looked stunning in every way possible.

The sleeves were flowy and the skirt ended right above your ankles, the bodice had a built-in corset and the neckline was a deep v, along with a slit ran down the side until your upper thigh.

“I may not be the luckiest man in the entire world, but my god does the knowledge of me marrying you cancel all that out,” Mingyu says, his jaw slack.

You blush and cover your face with your hands, despite dating for two years and now being engaged, you could never get used to Mingyu complimenting and affirming you constantly.

“I love you, so much,” You kiss Mingyu and wrap your arms around his neck.

The two of you had also had it hard during your dating journey together, but it was nothing a bit of communication couldn’t fix, especially when you both put in the work to get to where you are today.

“I love you more than you could ever imagine, vita mia (my life)” Mingyu says in between your kisses and wraps his arms around your waist.

Before things could progress even more, Seungkwan slams the room door open and clicks his tongue.

“Nice to see you’re brushing up on your Italian guys, now if you don’t mind, we have some guests to get to. You guys have five minutes to go to the lobby,” Seungkwan huffs and shuts the door again.

It’s silent, until you and Mingyu start laughing.

“Shall we?” Mingyu smiles at you after a laughing fit and you take his hand in yours. It was going to be a long night, but you’re with the people you love and that’s all that matters.

At the restaurant, you were elated to see your family members and friends all gathered to celebrate your engagement.

“Mom! Dad!” You grin wildly and greet your parents, seeing Jeonghan following right behind you to greet them as well.

“Y/n, you look so beautiful tonight. I guess being with Mingyu is rubbing off on you,” Your mother jokes softly.

She had always been a fan of Mingyu ever since you brought him home, he was the epitome of any mother’s dream son-in-law.

“She’s always been so beautiful, mom, even more so since the Italian sun hit her skin. It’s lovely to see you tonight, have you seen my mother by any chance?” Mingyu wraps an arm around your waist securely, whilst smiling at your mother.

You were surprised at the display of affection since you two had been holding hands prior, but your eyes caught wind of Seungcheol and it clicked.

“I was just with her, she’s always running off to greet the rest of the family and guests. I’ll go look for her so we can settle at the table together,” Your mother giggles while dragging your brother away, who waves at you sheepishly.

It seemed like he had a few words of his own for you two, but it could wait apparently.

Mingyu led you over to the reserved area by the waist as you greeted guests who had also arrived. “Congratulations on your engagement you two, I wouldn’t have expected it from a mile away,” Minghao jokes.

“Wouldn’t be here without you, so we have to give you most of the credit,” You reply softly.

Minghao takes his hand in yours and looks at Mingyu with care in his eyes, he admires how well you both complement each other as a couple.

“I never expected anything further, but you two surprised me by a ton. Give yourself some credit for the connection you developed with one another, and Mingyu, if you hurt her, I won’t be as pliant,” Minghao continues, this time letting go of your hand and giving way for you and Mingyu to walk through.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Mingyu gives you his signature smile, canines looking as sharp as ever, before finally letting you sit at the table that was reserved for the two of you.

The beachside hall was starting to fill up with the rest of the guests, and you kept your grip on your fiancée’s hand.

“Hey, you seem tense. Breathe a bit, we’ll just say a few words and mingle with our friends, but if you do end up feeling a bit sick just tell me and we can go back to our room,” Mingyu caresses your hand with his thumb, and you feel more at ease with his assurance.

“Sorry, it’s been a while, I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that I’m your fiancée now and not just your girlfriend. I promise to ease up a bit, and I’ll let you know if I do end up feeling a bit under the weather. Now, don’t worry about me, and let us enjoy the dinner,” You squeeze Mingyu’s hand and kiss his cheek in the process, wondering what you did to deserve him.

What you failed to realize was that Seungcheol was watching the entire interaction happen right in front of him, jealousy boiling in his veins.

Seungkwan clears his throat awkwardly, which catches the attention of Seokmin, who is sitting beside him. Seungcheol gives Seungkwan an awkward smile, realizing that he was being way too obvious with his distaste.

Joshua chuckles and taps Seungcheol’s shoulder as a sign of reassurance. “Take it slow, you still have to talk to Y/n to get all that awkwardness out the door. You’re still just as important to her you know? Again, we won’t hold it against you if you can’t take how uncomfortable it feels being here Cheol,” Joshua uttered.

“I’m fine Josh, I did choose to come here. Once this dinner is over and we can have the conversation, I can finally move on with my life,” Seungcheol sighs, noticing you and Mingyu standing up all of a sudden.

“Hi everyone, a pleasant evening to all of you! First, me and Y/n would like to extend our warmest welcome and gratitude to everyone who has made it, we cannot thank you enough for your presence.” Mingyu’s voice boomed through the hall as everyone cheered.

“Also, thank you all for coming to celebrate our engagement with us. We sadly can’t bring everyone to Italy for the wedding, so we’re here in Jeju to see you all,” You were speaking with so much happiness in your voice, Seungcheol knew right then and there that he had lost. You were happy, he couldn’t do much anymore.

Throughout the dinner, different people dedicated a toast to your engagement. Seungcheol had fun listening to both of your families and their anecdotes, along with a few friends making heartfelt speeches.

You were extremely loved, it was undeniable with the amount of praises and stories being said about you.

“I’d like to dedicate the last toast, this is for both Y/n and Mingyu, because I wouldn’t be living my best life right now without their endless support.” Seungkwan stood up and held out his wine glass, catching everyone’s attention.

“As we all know, the three of us decided to move to Italy together for a fresh start, a new change of scenery. I went with the sole intention of a vacation, though, after a month of being there, I was hooked. There was only one problem, I hadn’t found a job just yet, but Y/n and Mingyu stayed by my side. They helped me get up on my feet, they offered me a place to stay, made sure I was fed, and helped me settle in, which is something I am extremely grateful for,” Seungkwan turns over to you and Mingyu, his eyes now glossing over with tears at you stared at him worriedly, but you knew he was in good hands with Vernon beside him.

“Sorry for becoming emotional, anyways, throughout the time I lived with them, I also watched their feelings for each other unfold. Mingyu was the first one to fall, he was head over heels the moment he saw Y/n cooking in the kitchen, it was so funny because I witnessed it all. He had to debrief how he felt, and I could feel Mingyu’s sincerity, it was sweet,” Seungkwan continued, this time Vernon holding his hand for emotional support.

Everyone swooned at the revelation of Mingyu’s feelings and how they had come to be, it felt different hearing it from someone who was there every step of the way.

“Y/n fell right after, and usually this girl isn’t someone who jumps to conclusions, so she was in denial, but we both knew Mingyu’s treatment towards her changed drastically,” the audience burst out laughing, Seungkwan was on point that was for sure.

“To cut this story short, they were two idiots mindlessly pining after one another, but they finally got together after I left to grab groceries on a random afternoon. I came home and Mingyu was eating Y/n’s face off,” it was Seungkwan’s turn to laugh as he recalled that fateful day.

It was sweet coming home to see the two of you together, but he was not a huge fan of the PDA that was displayed in front of him like a platter.

“I was not!” Mingyu whined. You giggle at your fiancée, squeezing his hand and landing a sweet kiss on his cheek.

“As I was saying, I’m still so grateful to you both to this day, and I feel lucky to have been the one to help you navigate your feelings for one another. A toast to the beautiful couple and a marriage of a lifetime!” Cheers erupted once again and everyone applauded Seungkwan for his speech.

Dinner felt lighter once a few sips of alcohol were shared, and Seungcheol found himself mingling with old friends from high school that you had invited.

“I genuinely thought you would be the one over there with Y/n, but life works in mysterious ways,” a drunken Soonyoung slurred to Seungcheol.

Seokmin cringed from beside him and hit his shoulder to shut him up, but everyone knew that once Soonyoung was drunk, his mouth was relentless.

Seungcheol could only offer an awkward laugh, Soonyoung didn’t know the details of your breakup three years ago, so he couldn’t exactly blame the younger man.

“Yeah, I’m just glad he’s taking care of her. I can’t offer much now, but she’s still our friend. I have no hard feelings knowing Y/n and I are better off as friends,” he replied to Soonyoung’s drunken ramble.

“I hope you find someone soon man, you also deserve to be happy. I think Seok and I are gonna head first since we’re both starting to feel the alcohol kick in, we’ll see you tomorrow,” Seungcheol offered a smile and nodded in acknowledgment.

Everyone knew of Soonyoung’s low tolerance for alcohol, it was understandable that he decided to retire himself before any chaos ensued.

Seungcheol was left at the table with Joshua, Jihoon, and Jeonghan until Minghao approached. He settled himself into the seat beside Seungcheol, smiling and greeting everyone.

“How’s the evening? Everyone’s been leaving slowly, but you stayed. I expected you to be one of the first people to leave, no offense,” Minghao started.

“I can’t blame you, having to sit through your ex’s engagement dinner sounds rough, but it’s been three years and we grew up together. Bonds like that aren’t easily dissolved, if you get what I mean,” Seungcheol chuckled while shaking his head, taking another shot of soju that he poured for himself.

“We can all sympathize, you are a kind man Cheol. I’ve seen you as Y/n’s boyfriend before Mingyu, and you treated her well. What I want to know is, why you started pushing her away last minute. Y/n had always confided in us with your problems,” Minghao’s curiosity had gotten the best of him, but it was in your inner circle’s best interest to find out what Seungcheol’s true intentions were.

“I mean, I was insecure, scared. Y/n has a good heart, she’s the best and if I could turn back time, I would, but I ran away because she deserved better than me. I couldn’t give her the love she desperately craved, we all know about her and those rom-com books,” Seungcheol looked down at his hands.

He felt stupid, and he was stupid, but maybe it happened for a reason.

Minghao felt sympathetic, Seungcheol was afraid to tell you because you were one of the most understanding people anyone could have ever met.

You truly were swamped with attention by your peers, but Seungcheol could’ve handled his insecurity better because you were happy to offer any semblance of assurance.

“I didn’t want Y/n to bend over backward to constantly adjust to my needs because she doesn’t ask for much in return, but I ended up hurting her instead. I’m just content with the fact that Mingyu can give her the love I couldn’t,” Seungcheol’s eyes trailed over once again to yours and Mingyu’s table, only to see you whispering to each other.

You looked tired, but it seemed that Seungkwan had overheard from beside you and gestured over to where Seungcheol was seated.

You bit your lip in hesitation, and Seungcheol instantly knew what was about to take place. Minghao seems to have caught the small interaction as well, and he pats Seungcheol on the shoulder to comfort him.

You squeeze Mingyu’s hand for assurance and your fiancée smiles at you.

“You can do this Y/n, trust that it will be over before you know it. Seungkwan and I will be right here, we can go straight to our room after if you’re too overwhelmed,” Mingyu says gently, holding your hand as if it were as delicate as glass.

“I’ll be back, I love you so much, thank you for trusting me enough to do this,” You mutter just enough for Mingyu to hear.

“I trust you, vita mia,” Mingyu kisses your hand once again and you’re off to the beach outside the hall. Seungcheol didn’t even need to get confirmation as he excused himself and followed you outside.

The cold air surrounds you, along with the sound of crashing waves, feet buried in the sand as you take in the salty scent.

You hear another pair of feet shuffle behind you, and you let out a breath. “Seungcheol,” You turn around and sure enough, you see the man behind you.

“You can go ahead, I understand you’re engaged and you look happy with him. I’m here to finally close the chapter that we never ended properly, and I assure you, I have no other ulterior motives,” Seungcheol is looking at you, his eyes only holding sincerity in them.

“I’m sorry I left, I poured it all out on you right after work because of my anger, I just need to know why,” You were avoiding his gaze and playing with your engagement ring instead.

It felt stuffy, and you were opening a dam that was locked up for three years, but you prevailed for the sake of your marriage with Mingyu.

“I was dumb, I was insecure and pushed you away because I was jealous. We were both so young yet successful, but you were surrounded by so much attention, specifically by men who I couldn’t even compare a fraction to, so I started pushing you away because of the nature of the industry you were going to work in,” Seungcheol poured out his feelings, his heart aching as he recounts the number of times he constantly brought himself down whenever he saw you with men who were models or in the same industry as you.

“I know you would’ve done everything in your power to reassure me, and I also know you would never ask for much in return, but I didn’t want you to suffer because of issues I had with myself. I’m sorry for hurting you, Y/n,” tears were streaming down your face.

All this time, you thought you were the problem, that you no longer made Seungcheol happy, but in reality, he pushed you away because he felt undeserving of you.

“I thought you no longer loved me Cheol, and I am apologetic you feel that way, but that was a thing of the past. We were stupid, and I hope you know that I loved you, yet I chose to leave because I allowed myself to choose my well-being. I wish you communicated to me that you felt that way,” You were open to communication, it was normal, and if Seungcheol wasn’t such a coward back then, the two of you would’ve been fine.

“Things happen for a reason, and I still love you Y/n, but I was a coward. I knew the love I gave you wasn’t even a quarter of what you deserved, you love reading romcoms, and you’re a hopeless romantic. I wanted to give you that love and I held myself to such a high standard, but that was until I noticed that the people that surrounded you did that effortlessly, and I felt angry,” You felt your heart crack, all this time he had left you clueless, and you were now forced to take in all the pain.

“That’s all I needed to hear, I can’t believe you’d do this to me, Cheol. You left me wondering like an idiot, and what you did for me at the time was enough, but I was left a fool. Things do happen for a reason, and I’d like to leave it here. Thank you for the closure we both needed, no hard feelings at the party ok? We throw all the negative feelings away, because we grew up together, and I don’t want to lose you as a friend,” Seungcheol agreed to your arrangement.

He couldn’t afford to lose you either, and after having the conversation with you, his heart felt lighter. The confession was long overdue, but getting it out is what matters.

“No hard feelings, thank you, Y/n. I only wish for the best between you and Mingyu, I also don’t want to lose you. This is overwhelming for us both, so I’ll head first with Joshua. Congratulations once again,” You and Seungcheol smiled at each other, and you turned on your heel to run over to Mingyu, who had been waiting for you the entire time.

Seungcheol’s heart felt lighter, and even if it did hurt, he was content with even being a fragment in each other’s lives. You were in good hands now, and he could see it in the way Mingyu held you close.

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