#whispers loudly from tags sENPAI WHAT

[nowoyas]

Koi no Yokan 10: Get it out of your system (Nishinoya Yuu/Reader)

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A/N: this chapter was tough to write. please enjoy however you can.

Summary: The long ride back to Miyagi comes to an end. You open old wounds and gain a new one.

Warnings and tags: blanket series warnings. this chapter contains explicit death of a parent. also: implied animal death and implied/assumed homophobia (light). some suggestive themes.

Words: ~4700

The foretold Soba albums are remarkable. Despite his promise of unlimited access, Noya curates the photos for you, starting at the very beginning and not quite handing his phone over to you directly. You suspect this has more to do with the fact that you saw the text his phone unlocked on, and given the opportunity, you're fucking deleting the photo Tanaka sent him of the two of you napping together before lunch.

Instead, you lean in close to see his screen properly, head resting against his side. Initially, he'd shown a split second of awkwardness at the contact, but your attempt to respect his comfort level and pull away had seen him wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you right back down.

The photo he shows you now is one of the earliest: a girl, a bit thicker than Noya or the other sister you've seen but looking to be around his age now at the time of the photo, holds what's clearly Soba as a kitten—99% fluff and 1% anger. "This's Mei and Soba," Noya tells you in a low voice. "Mei and I were the ones that rescued her—I think this picture was right after we brought her back from getting checked at the vet? He said she was barely old enough to be separated from her mom, but when Mei found her, the mom was…"

You get the implication. "That's so sad. Do you guys know what happened to her mom?"

"We think she was hit by a car," he answers.

You nearly laugh. It's too perfect. "Mine, too," you whisper bitterly.

He tenses against you. "What?"

"Right in front of the house."

"Fuck, I'm so—"

You wind your arm around him, eyes locked on Soba and Mei. "Don't, Senpai. I don't want it."

He clears his throat awkwardly. Drags his thumb in mindless circles over your waist. "Okay. I won't, then."

"Tell me more about Soba?"

He obeys without a second thought, scrolling through to show you more as he continues telling you about Soba—early days, the household war over her name that the mysterious third sister, Satsuki, eventually won. (Apparently, he'd wanted to name her Miku. He refused to elaborate on this.) His arm doesn't leave you after that, either—one hand flicking through his photos, one resting too-hot on your waist.

It's a little weird, hearing him talk without raising his voice. Part of it, you think, is the weird tension that still hasn't quite left the others—the rest of the bus is relatively quiet. There's still noise, of course. But normally, Hinata and Kageyama would be at each other's throats, or else Hinata would be loudly chattering to someone—pissing off Tsukishima, or excitedly hyping up Tanaka. Unlike the bus ride down here, where the two boys weren't present, you're dimly aware in the back of your mind that they should be disrupting the peace.

"Hey. Where's your head?"

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't say that. You were all out of it earlier, too."

"Just… worried about those two," you whisper.

"Who, Shouyo and Kageyama?"

A nod.

"Is worrying about it gonna change anything?"

"It's not like I can just not worry about it. What, do you just decide not to worry and then not do it?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

You blink up at him, somewhere between awe and disgust. "That's insane."

"It took some practice. But, you know, unless you're gonna do something about it, looking at pictures of my cat is a way better use of your time. Otherwise you're just stressing yourself out, and that's the opposite of what we're trying to do right now."

"I don't understand how you can not worry about it."

"I mean, I'm worried. I'm just not paying too much attention to it 'cus there's not much point. Especially not when there's this picture of Soba in a bowtie Satsuki made for her you need to look at before I move on."

Oh my god that's the cutest thing you've ever seen. You coo, eyes sparkling at baby Soba.

"The fact that you have this many photos of your cat is still the most jarring thing to me," you tease. "Tough guy and his two thousand photos of his cat wearing cowboy hats and bowties."

"It's closer to one thousand, thank you very much. Soba's a very important cat." He clears his throat, drops his voice even lower, like he doesn't want anyone else to hear him. "My… I'm pretty sure she saved my sister's life."

"Oh. Like…"

He nods. "I don't really remember much, but our dad left when I was pretty young. I guess it probably messed me up pretty bad, and I used to be a lot more like Mei when I was a kid, but she always took it way harder than even Okaa-san did. She started doing stuff after we found Soba. I don't know where she went, but it was kinda like she brought my sister back."

"Are you just telling me this because I told you about my mom?"

He shrugs, the movement awkward with you pressed so completely into his side. "A little. It didn't seem fair."

…well, at least he's honest.

"But, I mean, I also just want you to know. That's okay, right?"

"…yeah." You shuffle a little, press your thigh into his in a way that's meant to be comforting. "Soba's a good cat."

He nods. "The best cat."

"And… thanks. For sharing and—and all that. I'm sorry about your dad and your sister."

He goes back to showing you photos of Soba in relative silence until his phone battery hits red. Then, it's you actually reading your book, half-resting it on his lap so he can read along if he wants. Impressively, he actually seems to be. He taps your side whenever he's done reading the page, and you nod whenever you're ready for the page to turn.

You don't untangle for the rest of the several-hour bus ride.

~

Back at the school gets you all a meeting, sat in a circle on the gym floor, and reminds you with stunning clarity that promising to tell Noya the story over dinner means you have to make a real dinner and actually tell him the story. The teasing from a few of the others on the way you were cuddled up when you got back to the school falls completely flat—you're too wrapped up in dread to even think about being embarrassed for the tangled legs or the comfort of Noya's chest beneath your ear.

So you respond the way you always do: get changed slow, linger in the changing room until Shimizu and Yachi have both gotten into their school uniforms and gone on ahead for the night. Check your phone in slow motion, pretending like you would have received any texts when the only people you talk to have been on a bus with you for the past five hours.

(Tanaka has texted you. Multiple times, in fact; you now have two pictures of you cuddling Noya awake and asleep, as well as several teasing messages about your new boyfriend.)

Eventually, you can't justify wasting any more time. Noya will come drag you out if you take too much longer. You meander past the gym just in time to see a panicked Yachi run past, yelling for an upperclassman—any upperclassman.

Then you hear the shouting inside the gym.

You poke your head inside, drop your bag as you watch Hinata clock Kageyama right in the face.

Not on your fucking watch.

~

Noya leans against the school gate with Ryu. He's waiting, of course, for you. His side feels buzzy where you'd spent the majority of the past three hours pressed into him. He keeps thinking, guiltily, about your leg pressed into his, migrating over the course of two hours until neither of you were acknowledging the fact that you were halfway in his lap. And now, dinner.

Later tonight, he'll text Ryu, a series of all-caps messages begging for divine answers on what the fuck it's supposed to mean when a girl goes out of her way to cuddle up to you. He won't include your dinner conversation, but he'll include a too-detailed description of how it felt when you sighed against him, the way you melted slowly over the course of the ride. He'll give even more details to Satsuki, red-faced and falling apart, desperate for a straight answer from the only sister available to give advice, and when she teases him—you should have just pulled her into your lap the rest of the way, stupid—he'll feel no more enlightened than before he debased himself asking for his sister's advice. He'll end the night with an embarrassing new search history that starts with how to tell if a girl meant anything by cuddling with you and ends with a browser in incognito mode, no new insights, a profound sense of guilt, and a mess to clean up in his bedroom.

For now though, he's fully not processing what Ryu's saying to him, though he knows it's about you, about the leap from teasing jokes to napping together.

He's processing it even less when Yachi runs up to them, white as a sheet and nearly screaming.

"Woah, Yacchan, what's—"

"P-please! I-in the gym, they're—they're gonna die!" she babbles, already crying.

Noya shares a look with Ryu and runs off ahead. Ryu can be the one to calm her down—Noya's faster.

This is how he finds Shouyo: rage in his eyes, voice hoarse as he shouts, cut off abruptly as he's thrown to the ground.

This is how he finds Kageyama: swinging back, hardly paying attention to anything except the middle blocker he's fighting before a fist closes in his shirt and roughly shoves him back.

This is how he finds you: right in the middle of it, taking a punch in the mouth clearly not meant for you as you throw one to the ground and roughly force the other back a good few steps.

"That's enough!" you snap. The other two are shell-shocked at the sight of you. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"[surname]-san—" Kageyama starts, eyes wide. "I didn't mean to—"

"Be quiet. Both of you, sit. Don't even look at each other. You scared the hell out of Yachi-san, you know that?"

Noya stands, frozen, watching you stand over them with your hands on your hips like you didn't just take a punch to the mouth.

"Right. I'm sorry," they mutter in sync.

"I'm sure you are. Is this about the spike thing?"

They both look instantly incensed, talking over each other.

"He said he wasn't gonna set to me—"

"We don't have time to focus on this—"

Your voice cuts them off sharply. "I asked you both a yes or no question. I'm not interested in hearing anything else right now."

"…yes."

"Oi oi oi!" Ryu's voice cuts in, footsteps stuttering to a stop beside him in the doorway. "You two—"

You don't even look up at the intrusion. "One of you, find me a first aid kit. The other, go find me a couple rags and get them wet. Cold water, please. Yachi-san, take a seat. Your heart needs to rest before I enlist you in anything."

Noya's muscles tense, and he moves, remembering vaguely where the first aid kit is normally hung on the wall. Ryu silently moves to the storage closet to find some rags.

"Now. Admittedly, I'm still not that informed on volleyball. Is getting into fistfights with your teammates how you make it to nationals?"

"…no," Shouyo mutters.

"Do you win matches by scaring the shit out of the most gentle-hearted manager in existence?"

"…no."

"So what the hell do you think you're accomplishing right now? Fifty words or less from each of you. Hinata, you can start."

"He—he said that he wasn't going to set to me anymore! I'm just trying to improve what we have! If that quick is our greatest weapon, then—"

Kageyama growls. "Then you need to—"

"It's not your turn to talk." Silence. "You've got twelve more words, Hinata."

"…I'm not worth anything on the court without that attack," he finishes lamely. Noya might not have heard him if he hadn't come up beside you, placing the first aid kit in your waiting hand.

You crouch down, start rifling through the kit with a nod of thanks to Noya. "You're trying to improve things because you want to keep being a regular."

"…yeah. I just want to keep playing volleyball."

"Alright. Kageyama. Fifty words or less."

Kageyama grits his teeth. You're not even looking at him—instead, you're looking over Hinata, a bandage in hand.

"If we spend all our time and energy working on making a change that might not work, it's just going to hurt us more later. Hinata should be focusing on improving as an all-around player instead of wasting time on something we've tried before and couldn't make work. All this—"

"That's fifty."

"Oi—"

"I said fifty words or less."

"But—"

"You just punched me in the face, so sorry, but you get to talk when I say you get to talk. You used your fifty." You accept a cold rag from Ryu, press it firmly against a red spot on Hinata's cheek. "Hold that there. It's not quite an ice pack, but it'll help with the swelling and maybe prevent later bruising."

"Um, [surname]-san, your lip—"

"This isn't about me, but thank you for your concern."

"Oi, did Kageyama seriously—" Ryu whispers to Noya.

Noya nods. "I don't think she even noticed. He got her right in the mouth."

You shift to looking over Kageyama for injuries, roughly smoothing a bandaid in place on his face. "I know I'm new to all this stuff, but you two weren't there for the start of the training camp. Right now, the team is built around that attack. Without it, you can't win against high-level teams. And with it, you also can't seem to win, but you're much closer."

Noya winces. You're right, but…

When you're satisfied with the first aid administered, another damp rag being pressed against Kageyama's own bruises, you lean back, settling on your knees to look at them both. "I don't think Hinata's wrong for wanting to improve it when it's not working. And I don't think Kageyama-san is wrong for wanting there to be focus on improving in other areas. It seems to me, as someone whose entire job is to watch you guys and pay attention, that both of those things are going to be necessary if you want to start winning. But that's just me."

After a long moment of silence, you sigh. "How are both of you feeling?"

"Fine," Shouyo mutters. Kageyama simply glares at the floor.

"Good enough. Let's get this mess cleaned up and go home. Gym inspections tomorrow, so you have a day to work through your shit before practicing together again. Do us all a favor and use it wisely. Solve it however, I don't care, but no more scaring Yachi-san and no more actual fistfights."

You rise, move to help them clean up the scattered volleyballs and take down the net. Noya grabs your shoulder immediately, turns you to inspect the damage.

That would be what Hinata was trying to point out. Now that you're actually facing him, he can see the split in your lip, the blood lazily trailing down your chin.

"Nope," he says immediately. "Come on, it's your turn to get first aid."

"Senpai, I'm—"

"Bleeding. Those three can clean up just fine. Let me take a look."

You roll your eyes, but let him guide you to sit against the wall while he inspects your bleeding mouth. Yachi seems no better for the wear after returning—the fight's done, which leaves her full brainspace to panic over you and your bloody lip.

"[s-surname]-chan, h-how did you—"

You scoff at her panic, pat the ground next to you. "Sit down. You look like you're gonna pass out."

She obediently sits. Noya crouches in front of you, tilts your chin so he can dab at the blood running down your face. "I'm gonna kill him," he growls.

"Don't. I knew what I was getting into. 'Sides, he clearly didn't mean to hit me."

"But he did," he grumbles.

Your eyes slide Yachi-ways, amusement clear in your features. "Senpai. You realize you can't really do anything for a split lip, right? It's stop the bleeding and then go about your life."

"But—"

"Yachi-san, are you okay?" you interrupt him, turning to the poor girl. "You're still super pale."

She nods slowly. "I… it's not like I got involved in the fight or anything. It was just… scary…"

You flash a reassuring smile, reach over to pat her on the shoulder. "You did good. It's over now, yeah?"

"Right… d-do you think they'll be… okay…?"

"They will if they've got their friends with them through it."

Noya stands, helps you to your feet. Offers a hand to Yachi, too, who politely refuses. "I seriously thought you might pass out back there."

She shakes her head. "I'll be okay. Thank you."

You brush yourself off. "Sorry you guys had to see that, though. Yachi-san, if you're feeling alright, maybe walk back with Hinata? You gel pretty well with him, and I don't think either of them want to hear any more from me tonight."

She nods. You ask the same favor of Ryu with walking back Kageyama; effortlessly, everything is cleaned up, the two first-years involved in the fight get sent on, and you walk back with Noya, carrying the bloodied rag in your hand.

"You're learning a lot about me today, I guess," you comment, a thin veneer of amusement over your voice. "We haven't even gotten to the part where I cook you dinner to make up for telling you all about my trauma immediately after."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," he jokes. If he runs right at the dinner thing, you'll probably clam up again. "Stern [name]-san back there was kinda hot, though. You need a husband?"

Wrong thing to say, Noya, wrong thing to say—

You toss your head back and laugh. "I dunno. I've gotten a lot of applications recently. Pretty sure they're all the same guy, though."

"Damn. He must have eyes or something."

"I'm not sure he does, really. I'm kinda a mess."

He pulls you into a side hug. "You do a really good job of pretending not to be."

"You're not even going to deny it?"

"Oh, sorry, you're not a mess. You alone are the one human being in existence who has ever had it together."

"Thank you, thank you." You pat his chest. His nerves light on fire at the contact—he nearly misses a step.

You lead him past his own house, where you normally part. Your mind is somewhere else—he lets it drift there for now. There'll be plenty of time over dinner to figure out what's going on inside your head.

~

Your hands shake as you prepare dinner. You didn't really have much of a plan, but curry makes a lot and lets you eat well for over a week after cooking once, so you tie an apron around your waist, peel potatoes, chop garlic, and get nearly half an hour to think about the elephant before you let it into the room.

Noya, for his part, waits as you work. He sits at the table, watches you swish about the kitchen, watches you grate an apple and wipe down the salt container and dump lemon juice into your bowl of grated apple. He's patient, just to surprise you. When you throw stock into the pot and drop a lid on top, you turn to him at last, feeling the dread so acutely that you end up turning back to the sink and washing whatever dishes you've dirtied in the past half an hour.

"Did you want to wait until we were eating to talk to me about it?" he asks at last, head propped up against his hand as he watches you. "I can help with dishes."

"No," you say, too quickly. "I just—I need to do something with my hands. Sorry. I'm nervous."

"It's alright. You've got good reason to be. How's your lip feeling?"

"I've had worse."

He raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't press.

You wipe the knife clean and sigh.

"Alright. I think—I think I'm ready."

~

Twenty months and five days before you make curry with Nishinoya Yuu sitting in your kitchen, your parents finally figure out how hard it is to love you.

Ten days before that, you'd taken midterms and simply chosen not to care about them. You did whatever, you rushed in, you didn't prepare. And you bombed two exams.

For ten days, you didn't tell anyone. You crumpled the test papers into the bottom of your bookbag and forgot about them. Who cared, anyway? It was midterms and you were fourteen. They weren't even final exams. You had other, more important things to worry about, like the new game that just came out and impressing Kasumi from your homeroom—so cool, so pretty, so unabashed.

(To Noya, you don't mention her name. You don't mention her gender, or her shiny black hair, or how soft it felt between your fingers. How easy it was to find excuses to touch it.)

Your parents cared. They were rarely both home after school. They both loved their jobs, loved to work, loved each other, and loved you less. Love was real and it was different from person to person—shameless, bubbly affection between your parents, the thrilling swoop of your stomach as you stole kisses with Kasumi behind the arcade and fished for extra yen to try one more time for the rabbit plush in the crane game.

The parent you got to have on November 11th, 2010 was your mom. You took an early bath, left your bag a mess on the living room floor. Emerged with skin tinged pink from too-hot water, already in your pajamas long before dinner.

Your mother stood in the living room, a crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

Your math exam, a stunning twelve points out of a potential hundred at the top. You'd understood all the concepts, you just hadn't cared.

You always wanted to test whether people actually liked you.

If your mother loved you, she'd look at the paper and love you anyway. She'd work to love you, fourteen years old and filling out two answers on your answer sheet before doodling over the rest because you just didn't care anymore. She'd smile, exasperated, and ask why, and then no matter what you said, she wouldn't care about the answer because she'd love you anyway.

If your mother loved you, whenever she inevitably learned about Kasumi, about your infatuation with her berry-flavored chapstick and soft skin, there wouldn't be a fight. She'd look at you and see you happy with another girl. She'd smile, exasperated. She'd ask why, but wouldn't care about the answer. No matter what you said, she would love you anyway.

The way she looked at you wasn't loving. It was disappointed.

"Why does your test paper look like this, [name]?" she asked. In your memories, her voice sounds like ice, almost pretty in how cold it is. You're sure it probably sounded a little nicer at the time.

You'd mumbled something halfway truthful, something about you'll love me even if I'm a failure, right? and she'd looked actually hurt.

"You're not a failure," she said simply. "My daughter is not a failure. She's brilliant. She's just lost her way a little."

You didn't lose your way you loved her you loved her YOU LOVED HER—

You remember your temper flaring. You remember yelling.

You remember your mother going out for a walk—give me a minute. You calm yourself down, like we talked about, and I'm going to calm myself down outside, and then we can come back to this conversation, okay, sweetheart?

You remember sitting, arms crossed, on the couch. Screaming into a pillow. Screaming not into a pillow.

You remember laying on the couch, the way you always would with her when waiting for Dad to come home, late at the office again. The way you and Dad would when she was the one working late.

There was love in this house—once. The last time it had been here was November 10th, 2010.

Eventually, still angry, hoping to maybe yell at Mom in public so the neighbors would see how much she didn't love you, you stormed outside.

You saw your mom, returning from her walk.

You saw the car.

You're told that you screamed, but you don't remember it.

~

"So… yeah." The roux block breaks harshly in your hands with a crisp snap. Noya doesn't speak, so you keep talking. "Otoo-san has barely looked at me ever since. I don't blame him. I swing between trying to get him to be my father again and just not giving a fuck."

"Holy shit, [name]-san."

"I thought the whole neighborhood knew I got my mom killed."

He shakes his head. "I had no idea. Fuck, I'm—I'm so sorry."

"Please," you say, voice too sharp and jagged. You have to pause before you try again. "Don't be."

"What should I be, then?"

You stare at him a long moment, not quite understanding the question.

"…I don't know."

He stands, joins you at the stove. You stare into the pot, skim the scum pointedly to avoid looking at him.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

"They never caught the driver of the car. He slowed down a little bit, started to get out, and then saw me and sped off."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah."

There was love in this house once. It was real, and took work, and it was earned.

It was warm and comforting. It felt like a hug from behind, standing at the stove and dissolving blocks of curry roux into a pot. It felt like quiet acceptance, like choosing not to leave when the door wasn't locked and no one was stopping you. It was sitting up on the couch, waiting for someone to come home from wherever they'd been out late to make life good for everyone else in the house.

It felt like the secret moments behind the shift from a question—why—to a smile, a decision.

There are realities you have to accept, and as far as you're concerned, there's realities you don't. One of the former is your mom's absence, the love that left with her. Still another is the raw facts of this scene: mixing curry, adding too much spice and still not enough, sitting in the living room and talking and laughing with Noya as he tastes your curry and promptly lets a marriage proposal leave his lips, breezy, easy, familiar.

"Nine hundred sixty-one," you say with a smile.

One of the latter types of realities looks more like this: a warm feeling in your chest, a familiar flutter in your stomach. The heat of his arm on your shoulder, the persistence of the smile on your lips. Complaints about the spice of the curry hurting your split lip met with playful teasing that you'll still think about laying on your futon tonight, long after he's gone home.

And you'll need one damn good yes to accept a reality you don't have to.

Later, you'll feel hollowed out from the mood swings of the day. Tomorrow, you'll feel too wrung-out to get out of bed in the morning. Tonight, you just feel warm. So warm, in fact, that you're not even mad when he pulls out his phone and produces a video of you, half-asleep and pressed into his side on the bus a few hours earlier, as proof that actually, [name]-san, you'll find I only need to ask nine hundred and sixty more times.

Nine hundred and sixty it is.

Tags: @deeplightgarden @idonthaveanameideayet @dusstory @kazunish

[sunaswife]

A Suna Rintarou Series

Summary: Suna was the best boyfriend you could ask for, after fighting with your inner demons that screamed you were ugly, worthless, and annoying. You finally decided to go the next step with your boyfriend, only to find out it was all a game.

A/N: PART 19 two more chapters and dis shit gonna be over

Warnings: underaged drinking, smut, guys talking badly about women, heartbreak, messed up shit that you shouldn’t do and a bit of fluff if you squint

Disc ten-slide one: Kageyama Y/N 🤍

The metro moved quickly and just like that the team was on their ways to nationals. You and Suna were dragged to the coach’s office the day after you broke up since you slapped him in the middle of practice because he wouldn’t leave you alone. He didn’t understand personal space and he didn’t understand that leave me alone meant leave me alone. You didn’t want to see him, talk to him, or breath the same air as him.

But Kita had his arms crossed and said “I don’t want to know the details and if you’re not together then that’s fine. But what’s not fine is you making Y/N uncomfortable and you slapping Suna. Next time let me know and I’ll be there to talk to him.”

Honestly you wished Kita-senpai was your older brother.

The whole team sat in one train car and you sat in the middle where the table was at along with Kita, Aran and Omimi. Aran and Omimi got the window seat and you with Kita got the seat in the middle due to you both having to go talk with coach once in a while. You were double checking to make sure all the information regarding the players were correct. You had their name tags and ID. You hummed as you went through ID to ID and you froze when you saw Suna’s.

As if god hated you or something Teenage Dream by Katy Perry started playing on the train speaker and you sighed and rubbed your tired eyes. “Are you sleepy?” Aran asked and looked away from the window. “Nah, I’m fine.” You answered and put Suna’s card away after checking to make sure his information was correct.

My missing puzzle piece

I'm complete

You sighed and turned to the seat across the walkway. “Agaki are you using your headphones?” You asked. “No you need ‘em?” He asked and you nodded. He reached into his bag and took them out. He tossed them to you and you caught them. You checked to make sure his beats connected to your phone and you put them over your ears. You pressed shuffle and Into you by Paramore came on, you skipped and skipped and skipped but love song after love song kept playing. You groan a little too loudly and you placed your phone on the table and little too loudly as well. Some of the players turned to you as well as Suna and the twins who had a perfect view of you.

“If I hear another fucking love song I’m going to lose it.” You groaned and put your head down.

Kita senpai patted your head and Aran patted your back. “Listen to work out music. It always keeps me pumped and focused.” Aran said. You nodded and sat up to grab your phone once again. You just needed the distraction. You scrolled through Spotify and looked through the playlists. You found one called confidence boost. You clicked on it and read some of the song titles. None of them seemed like love songs so you pressed shuffle and you heard That’s my Girl from a band called fifth harmony.

You layed your head back down and Suna saw the small smile that formed on your lips when you closed your eyes.

“Oh my god it’s Inarizaki. They got a manager! They didn’t have one last year.” You heard whispers left and right as you walked next to Kita in the front with the rest following behind. The whole group walked with confidence and players around were intimidated. Instead of the ponytail you always had on. You decided to let your hair down and you put on a white head band to match your white joggers.

It was the opening ceremony so everyone was huddled around the lobby waiting to be called in order to line up. You were talking with Akagi and from the corner of your eye you saw a boy tumbling your way. You turned to see the short boy falling right in your direction and you caught him by his armpits before he fell face first into your chest.

“Are you alright?” You asked and he quickly pulled away. “Y-yes—I’m sorry I—are you single?” He asked and you smiled softly. Before you could turn him down you recognized his uniform and your eyes widened.

Tobio is here.

You heard familiar yelling and you looked past the shorter boys shoulder to find your cousin gripping the shirt of an orange haired boy. You dropped your bag and moved past him and Agaki. “Y/N where are you going!” Akagi yelled earning the attention of Kita, the twins and your ex. (Oof I really said that lmao anyways)

Tobio heard someone yell your name so out of curiosity he turned and saw you running to him. He quickly let go of Hinata and he stumbled back when you hugged him. He moved back a bit and you went on your tippy toes so your chin could rest on his shoulder. He still had to bend down a bit and he squeezed you just as tight. “Boke we saw eachother less than a month ago. No need to—“ he stopped talking when he heard your sniffle and you were shaking. He didn’t know what to do or how to comfort you but he saw suga at a distance imitating him and using hinata to show him how to rub your back and comfort you.

“I’m such an idiot Tobio. Why did I give him my heart on a silver plate only for him to stab it?” You cried and he sighed. “Boys are stupid. The right one will come when the time is right.”

“Who are you and where is Tobio?” You asked and he smacked your head and you laughed while wiping your tears. “Did you kick his ass?” He asked. “I threw an empty coffee can at him and I slapped him.” You answered honestly and he smirked. “Good. He deserves it.” He said and punched your arm. You winced slightly and punched his gut causing him to lean forward in pain. You slipped out your phone from your pocket and you lifted his head close to yours to take a very very ugly photo to send to his mom because she wanted photos of her precious son.

The announcer on the speakers explained where the players should go and you quickly left to join your team after saying bye to Tobio and promising him that you’ll watch his game.

“I didn’t know Tobio-kun and Y/N-chan were related.” Atsumu told his brother and Suna as they watched what went down. “Thank god.” Suna sighed. “What’s his last name?” Osamu asked.

“Kageyama.”

“You’re a fucking idiot.”

Previously

Up next

Masterlist

A/N: 🤠 this is prob a shitty update but i just want a hug from Tobio and a head and back pat from Aran and Daddy Kita-senpai. This was all for myself I needed the comfort after my last update lmao 😭

🏷: @therealwalmartjesus @differentballooncollection @aaesuki @atsunflower @dope-squish @prettysetterboiss @june-phantom @tomo-uwu @austriasmariazelle @xrnia @katsulia @aprettyfruit @shut-your-eyes-kiss-me-goodbye @tvbiio @sun-daddy-yoriichi @kamenoyaki @ppangiiroo @loeyprivvv @kmskj92 @lovinnoya @tris-does-stuff @mokkeguts @sunaluvr6969 @bara-rose-would @sempiternal-amour @volleybloop @leykyuu @bokutoichigo @stfucanunot @tpwkatsumu @ohshirabu @shoutosimp @mqrinqcele @bokutosdivineass @anngelllla @toworuu @hidden-otaku-stuff @seijohiselite @caxsthetic @aquariarose @hhwanggu @bakuhoetoedoroki

[cozy-neko]

if you’re still doing the domestic fluff, ahem

may i have a scenario of Tendou getting some well needed affection from reader? specifically the reader hyping him up on his blocks, his status as a senpai and what a great boyfriend he is. i love tendou with all my being😏👍💛💗✨

yes, please keep sending in requests 🤍 i need to practice my fluff hehe. also tendou babie 🥺

- ♡ -

wham! the sound of a spiked volleyball connecting with outstretched palms rang loudly in your ear. you let out a small cheer as you watched your boyfriend move fluidly across the shiny volleyball courts, concentration at an all time high as he positioned himself to stuff another spike from goshiki on the opposite side of the net.

currently, the shiratorizawa boys were having a practice match against one another, and you had snuck your way into the gym and watched from the railings up above.

lately, you had noticed that tendou hadn’t been acting his usual happy-go-lucky self; his text messages were short and straight to the point, he wasn’t sitting with you at the cafeteria for dinner, and he had been spending way more time at the gym and less free time with you. you could only imagine that his distance was probably due to how close the spring interhigh was approaching.

“hey!” a string of curse words brought your undivided attention back to the court as you watched in slow motion tendou jump up and block a spike. unfortunately, goshiki had spiked the ball a little too hard this time into tendou’s fingers.

“TIME! get your fingers taped, tendou.” 

tendou tsked in annoyance and left the court, gripping his sprained and throbbing fingers in his other hand.

“satori,” you whispered from up above. his eyes widened at your surprised visit. you beckon for him to come join you and he complied.

“are you alright?” you asked him as you gently helped taped his fingers.

“sure,” he replied. you frowned at his lack of eye contact. finishing up, you suddenly reach out and grab his face, pressing your forehead together with his.

��wha-“

“what’s bothering you?” you whispered. tendou’s eyebrows furrowed and a frown marred his pretty face. after contemplating, he finally broke down.

he hadn’t been able to time his blocks right, he felt like he was letting down his underclassmen by missing said blocks, and he was disappointed at how little free time he was leaving for you.

you cut off his rambling with a soft kiss and leaned his head into the crook of your neck. stroking his hair comfortingly, you murmured sweet nothings.

“satori, everyone can see how hard you’re practicing and how much time and effort you’re putting in. we can all see your hard work paying off. it’s okay to have moments where you feel like you’re not doing enough, but what’s not okay is you beating yourself up over it.

“your blocks are looking great! goshiki even told me the other day how insane you are at stuffing him out majority of the time. he told me not to say anything, but he was really hyping you up!” you let out a hearty laugh and run your thumbs across his cheeks lovingly. you don’t have to worry about letting down your kouhais, satori-senpai~.”

tendou looks up at you, his eyes softening at your comforting words; you always knew how to raise his spirits, and for that, he loved you so much.

“and of course, i can’t forget how much of a great boyfriend you are,” you whisper lastly. “thanks for all the tulips you leave on my door handle every night i don’t get to see you. it’s very sweet.” 

you press a soft kiss to his cheek.

- ♡ -

fluffy + domestic requests are now closed! thank you to those who requested some fluff.

you can check out the rest of the requests through my #love letters tag. thanks for reading! ♡

[hidden-otaku-stuff]

Lockscreens (ch. 3)

tw: Implied drinking

Word count: 2.9k

Genre: Angst, fluff

All trigger warnings will be tagged and posted at the beginning of each chapter! This will have *manga spoilers*

Pairings: Bokuto x fem!reader, Kuroo x fem!reader

Summary: Nearly four years ago, Bokuto left the love of his life for volleyball. Despite all the time, he’s still very much in love with her. He comes home to a major surprise leaving him wondering…What happened while he was gone?

AN: Please check the bottom for info about my 150 follower special!

Masterlist | prev | next

ch 3: No new notifications (13 weeks)

“Cheers! To the best, most hard-working Manager I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, who is doing a kickass job in her life. This is all for you, bestie!” Kuroo pointed at her, brandishing his red solo cup. The room broke into cheers as she began to glow cherry-red. She glanced down to the phone in her hand. No new notifications. 

“Congratulations (Name)!” Yaku grinned, tapping his cup against hers. She tucked her phone back into her pocket as she took a sip of the sparkling apple cider.

Kai stood beside her, elbowing her slightly. “We always knew you could do it.” 

“He’s so embarrassing,” she huffed, cheeks puffing up. Kuroo walked over, pushing her cheeks together. His own glowed like fresh-picked strawberries.

“You look so adorable kitten~!” She playfully nipped at his fingers, causing him to pull them back and wag his finger at her. “Is that really any way to treat your bestest friend who planned this party for you?” They stood side-by-side as they surveyed the scene. Kuroo had gone all out. He’d ordered food and had even helped prepare curry prior to the party while she had made the gyoza. Her house was filled with familiar faces. Her heart glowed, recognising all the members from the Nekoma team from her third-year. Even senpais who had graduated two years before had stopped by. Here and there were familiar faces from other teams like Sugawara from Karasuno, Konoha from Fukurodani, and even some of her classmates from university. 

By the entrance, a large white poster was tacked to the wall serving as a backdrop. On it was “Congratulations (Name)!” with markers were provided for party-guests to leave heart-felt messages. The pop of another champagne bottle being opened caught their attention. White and gold streamers decorated the walls. Balloons were center-pieces at all the various tables. Her heart clenched, an all-too familiar jersey and face popping into her mind. 

“Congratulations Kou!” She squealed, jumping into her boyfriend’s arms. Bokuto beamed, wrapping an arm around her waist. 

“Congratulations to you too, babe!” He leaned down, rubbing his nose against hers. She giggled, pulling back and straightening out his tie. 

“I can’t believe we’re finally finished,” (Name) smiled, turning her body so that her back was against Bokuto’s chest while they surveyed the room. All around were various former third-years of Fukurodani and Nekoma. Nekoma’s graduation ceremony had been yesterday whereas Fukurodani’s ceremony had been that day. 

“Finally finished, but still stuck together,” Kuroo appeared, looming over their shoulders with a smirk on his face.

“It’ll be a new adventure,” she protested, glaring at the male. 

“Oi, Kuroo, leave the love-birds alone,” Yaku scolded, holding two red solo cups. Yaku handed her a cup. “Cheers guys!” They all cheered, their cups tapping together. 

“To another four years with my babies,” she smiled affectionately, letting her head rest against Bokuto’s chest. 

“I guess I’ll sacrifice another four years taking care of you children,” Kuroo teased. She rolled her eyes, feeling Bokuto’s warm breath on her ear.

“To four years of university, and then a lifetime beside the girl who stole my heart all those years ago,” he whispered. (Name) flushed pink, only for a scarlet glow to overtake her when Bokuto pressed a sloppy kiss onto her cheek. “Let’s party!” He cheered, pulling away and chugging the rest of his beer.

She glanced down to her phone. No new notifications. All that stared back at her was the picture of some cute dog she pulled off of the internet. Nimble fingers plucked the phone from her grasps. “Hey!” She protested, hands reaching up to try and grab it. 

“This is your party!” He gestured to the room. “All of these people gathered here to celebrate this accomplishment with you.” He sent her a soft look, cupping her cheeks before pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead. “You can have your phone back later, okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she pouted, pushing his hands off of her face. 

Kuroo pushed her towards Kai and Yaku before he walked away, joining Kenma in the corner. “You and Kuroo seem closer than ever,” Yaku commented, shooting the girl a sly look. “Did something happen?” The former libero eyed the rooster-headed male as he laughed. 

“Oh, let me help you with that Kenma!” (Name) called, putting down the water bottles as she made her way over to the first year setter. Kenma’s face turned as he avoided direct eye-contact, focusing on the ball he was wiping down. She stood beside him, grabbing a towel to wipe another. Her perky voice carried through the emptying gym. Hazel eyes followed them, a smile proudly displayed on his face. Yaku and Kai exchanged looks, a smirk creeping on Yaku’s face. The second years entered the locker-room, following the rooster-headed male.

“God I’m so happy right now.”

“Oh really, what’s going on now Kuroo?” Kai inquired, sending the male a sly look.

“Does it have anything to do with (Name)?” Yaku teased.

“No!” Kuroo pouted. “Maybe.” He took off his shirt, grabbing a different one from his bag. “I’m just happy that she and Kenma get along, okay?” 

“Don’t they usually hangout anyways?” Kai raised his eyebrows.

“Is that all that makes you happy about her?” 

“Well I mean...isn’t that good? Isn’t it a good thing my best friends get along together?” Kuroo smirked. “I don’t see you having any best friends, Yaku, so I guess you can’t relate there.” Yaku’s face crossed into anger, as he rolled his shirt sleeve up. 

“Hey, don’t start fighting here,” Kai warned, tugging his own shirt down. 

“He started it!” Yaku scowled.

“Well, I’m ending it.” 

There was a knock at the door. “Kuroo? Are you still in there?” 

Kuroo was holding his hand against Yaku’s forehead, preventing his movements. “Yeah!”

“Hurry up, rooster-head. I gotta get home and get started on my paper!” 

“Coming!” Kuroo pushed Yaku back, throwing his bag over his shoulder as he ran out, tripping slightly. The boys exchanged looks.

“He’s so whipped.” 

Kai grunted in agreement. 

“Something like that.” They all turned to look at the pair of best friends.

“What happened to Bokuto?” Kai asked, his eyebrows raised. 

(Name) turned to look at them, her eyes dimming. “He uh...he left, I guess.” She cleared her throat. “He went to go pro and left me behind.” She shrugged. Another sip.

“That owl-haired idiot,” Yaku scowled. “You guys seemed so in love though.” 

“Didn’t you choose your major because of him?”

“We were and yeah, kinda.” Kuroo’s eyes met hers from across the room, and he sent her a cheeky smile. “But sometimes, you gotta let go of the people you love so that they can fly to their highest.” The group drank, Kai and Yaku exchanged looks at her sorrowful expression. “Besides! I love being a recreational therapist anyways.” 

“Are you planning on getting a doctorate? I know you mentioned wanting to do physical therapy sometime.”

She shrugged. “I don’t think it’s in the cards for me right now, but maybe sometime down the line.” A hand subconsciously settled onto her stomach. In turn, she asked them about their post-graduation plans and they soon fell into an easy conversation. 

After a few hours, the party began to wind down. People left, the food and alcohol had long been consumed. “Thank you for having us!” Yaku waved as he and Kai left. (Name) had been bent over the kitchen counter, picking up the empty cups and dirty plates that littered it. She waved at the duo before the door snapped shut behind them.

“Thank god that’s over with,” she said as she went back to cleaning. Another glance at the phone on the table. No new notifications. She bit back her sigh. At this point, she shouldn’t have even been surprised. 

Kuroo’s annoying laugh echoed in the house as he began cleaning the table. He eyed the decorations. “How about we leave the decorations up for a bit? There’s no harm in celebrating a little longer.” 

She rolled her eyes. “You’re just too tired to clean up.”

He walked around the island, wiping down the cleared counter. “That and you need rest,” he chided. A light hand pressed against her lower back. “Go shower and get ready for bed. I’ll take care of this.” A chaste forehead kiss. Her eyes fluttered shut at the searing contact. 

She let out a long sigh, a hand on her stomach, a slight bump meeting it. “Only because my feet and back are killing me,” she acknowledged. She leaned up, pressing her lips to his cheek. “Thanks rooster-head.” Ignoring his cry of indignation, she headed to the bathroom. By the time she was finished, Kuroo was sprawled onto her bed. “I don’t remember giving you permission to sleepover,” she remarked, leaning against the doorway as she towel-dried her hair.

“And I don’t remember getting a thank you for today. I guess we’re both missing something now aren’t we?” His snarky reply had her balling up and throwing the damp towel on his face. Kuroo whipped it off, complaining loudly. She walked over, crawling towards Kuroo to hover over him.

“Thank you for the party.” His eyes gleamed as he tapped his cheek. 

“I think you missed something here.” 

“Kuroo!” She warned, and he threw his head back in a good-natured laugh. 

“Down, kitten,” he teased. “No need to get your claws out.” He gently eased her off of him onto the bed. “I’m gonna shower and I’ll be right back for cuddles.” She scowled, throwing a pillow at him.

“Don’t even think about it Kuroo!” He cackled as the pillow bounced off the door. She stretched slightly before she relaxed onto her side. Exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she slipped into the abyss. 

****

Nearly 300 miles away, a muscular male was just clambering into bed. His phone vibrated, lighting up. 

Konoha: Missed you at (Name)’s grad party! Hope you’re having fun with the pros 🙄😜

Gold eyes widened as he opened his calendar. He cursed. (Name) had finished university last week, and he hadn’t even sent her anything! Setting a silent reminder to send her a gift in the morning, he quickly drafted a text.

Bokuto: Congratulations baby! I’m so proud of you 💖 Can’t wait to see you soon!

He tossed his phone onto the nightstand and laid on his back. His muscles were extra sore that day, practice had run three hours over due to an interview that had predated it. He closed his eyes as his breathing deepened. The wing-spiker didn’t notice the error message that popped up on his phone as he fell asleep. Nor did he notice that his phone wasn’t plugged in.

****

(A week later. Name is 14 weeks along)

Stepping into the comfort of her home, (Name) let out a sigh of relief. It had been nerve-wracking, going to the clinic alone. She threw her purse onto her couch, plopping down next to it. Glancing down at her phone, she realized she had probably an hour before Kuroo would be coming over. At the thought of her friend, her heart skipped a beat. A hand settled on her stomach again as she slipped in her thoughts. Feeling the bump, seeing the doctor….it was all so real. She really was having a baby. She was having Bokuto’s baby. Her fingers played with her phone. Should she…? A thumb hovered over his contact. (Name) gnawed on her bottom lip. She tapped on their messages.

Last message sent:

[Name]: Hi baby! I hope you’re having fun at your training camps 💞 Don’t forget to eat and drink water. I love you. Read: 1 month ago.

(Name) shook her head. There was no point in texting him if he wasn’t going to respond to her. She sighed, startled out of her thoughts as her stomach gurgled. “Ooh, I’m sorry baby. Gimme a sec.” She stood up, making her way to her kitchen. Opening the door to her fridge, she was greeted to the sight of prepared bentos. “Oh, Kuroo,” she sighed affectionately, taking the top box out. A sticky note was tacked onto it. ‘Figured you might be too busy to make food. Enjoy! -Kuroo’. Popping the lid open, she was greeted to rice, a fried egg, sliced chicken breast, and spinach. Placing it in the microwave, she pulled out her phone to send a text. 

[Name]: Thank you for the bentos! It looks delicious

Rooster-head: Anything for you, dear 😼 See you soon!

The microwave beeped, calling her attention. She sat at her table, whispering a quick, “thank you for the meal,” before she started scrolling through social media. As she placed the empty container into the sink, there was a knock at the door. Briskly patting her hands dry on the towel, she opened the door.

“Howdy-do!” 

She rolled her eyes. “Hello to you too Kuroo. Do you have any other weird greetings for me?” He shrugged off his coat, throwing it over the back of the couch.

“I’m sorry, is ‘Honey, I’m home!’ more appropriate for you, princess?” 

“You’re insufferable.” He cackled, pulling her into a hug. 

“Eh, but you love me.”

“Do I really though?” She dead-panned, gently pushing him off. “Thanks for coming over, I really appreciate all the help you’ve been giving me.” He let her go, taking a step back.

Kuroo cracked his knuckles. “Don’t sweat it, I offered. Now, is everything already in the room?” 

“Yeah, I just need to get some last bits of furniture, and then it’ll be all set.” 

“Let’s get to painting then!” She stepped into the secondary bedroom, revealing a cloth-covered floor. “What color did you pick out?” 

(Name) popped open the lid for the bucket. “I liked this blue-grey colour. Figured I wanted something gender neutral.” 

“Makes sense.” He surveyed the walls. “Are you going to do a mural or something on the wall too?” Kuroo bent down, pouring a bit of paint into the tray. 

“Maybe? Might have to ask someone who’s more artistically inclined.” A hum in response.  

“How was the appointment, by the way?” 

She put her hair in a bun, pulling on a pair of stained overalls. “Good! The doctor just told me to have more DHA, protein, and to make sure to get sufficient rest.”

“I told you that you needed more docosahexaenoic acid.”

“Like I said, insufferable.” They stared at each other before bursting into laughter. 

Kuroo clapped his hands, rolling his shoulders back. “Well, the paint isn’t gonna get on the walls itself.” They rolled up their sleeves. “Let’s get to it.” The next hour was filled with laughter, their favorite songs blaring from the Bluetooth speakers that (Name) brought in. Just as they were about to jump into the chorus of (favorite song), the music died out and was replaced by a ringing noise. She raised a brow, laying the paint brush against the lid as she went to her phone. Her heart skipped a beat. Was it Bokuto? (Name) answered, taking the call off of Bluetooth.

“Hello, is this (L. Name, Name)?” 

Her brow furrowed. “Yes, this is she.”

“Excellent! My name is Kirishima Kayda, I’m with the Tokyo Office of Sports Medicine. I’m calling about the resume you submitted recently. Will you be free for an interview next week?” 

Her eyes widened, and she started smacking Kuroo’s arms as she bounced with excitement. “Oh my gosh, hi Ms. Kirishima, yes! I have open availability next week. When would you like me to come in?”

“How about Tuesday at 10 A.M.? I will send you an email with the interview confirmation and all other information you’ll need.”

“That sounds wonderful, thank you so much for your time.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you next week!” 

“What was that about?” Kuroo asked as she pulled the phone away from her ear.

“I just got an interview with the Tokyo Office of Sports Medicine!” She squealed, glowing with excitement. 

“Ooh, I’m so excited for you! Congratulations, kitten.” Kuroo pulled her into a hug, causing her to whine as splatters of paint transferred onto her clothes. “Now, help me finish getting this room ready.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she pouted, tucking her phone back into her overalls. After tucking some strands of hair back into the bun, she grabbed one of the brushes, flicking paint at the tall male. 

“Oi!” 

She giggled, ducking under his arms as he attempted to send a glob of paint at her. They began running around the room. More paint ended up on them rather than the actual walls as they played like children.

****

“Not that I care, but why the hell have you been checking your phone so much?” Bokuto jumped, his phone flying out of his hand and skidding across the ground. Sakusa stood in front of him, his arms in his pockets. 

“No reason!” Bokuto replied nervously, running over to pick his phone up. He winced at the cracked screen. “Aw man,” he whined. Bokuto had already been having issues with his phone for the past week or so. 

“Serves you right,” Sakusa rolled his eyes. “C’mon, we’re supposed to be practicing.” Bokuto let out a soft sigh as he walked back to his bag. Sakusa turned, heading towards the court while Bokuto dropped his phone into his bag. No new notifications. Every opportunity he had, he was racing back to his phone. No new notifications.

AN: Thank you to everyone who has been reading my work so far! I really enjoy putting Lockscreens out for you. I have officially reached 150 followers!! Please read this post for more info about my request celebration that I am having! 

Taglist: @toaster-stick @thatartsybitch @brazil-hinata @sawamooora @lastminaddition @anejuuuuoy @abby-rutledge20 @babybluebisexual @badboysdoitbetter2 @liathachcapricious @cosmiclunas @wishingforanother@toobsessedsstuff  @setterfish   (If your name is bolded, I had trouble tagging you!) 

Please message me or send me an ask if you’d like to be added to the taglist! 💞

[for-ests]

Love It If We Made It: Oikawa Tooru x Reader (Part 1)

[ my masterlist ] Part 2

Warnings: angst, few mentions of death

Word count: 5, 105

Summary: You are Karasuno's volleyball manager, and when you tag along to their first match against Aoba Johsai, you reconnect with your childhood friend, Oikawa Tooru. A relationship soon develops, along with feelings that weren't present before. Problems soon arise though, because of his reputation, and your troubled past that he didn't know about. 

Everything happens for a reason.

That's what you always told yourself, realizing that one choice you made could lead to endless possibilities and situations you never thought you would find yourself in. It was far too easy to slip up, and let the world you had spent years creating turn to dust and fall between your finger tips.

You learned that the hard way, yet you were strong enough to pick yourself back up.

Joining the Karasuno Volleyball club as their manager came out of desperation on your end. In truth, it was a favor for your friend Kiyoko, who knew you were going through a tough time. When she explained the challenges, but emphasized that she couldn't do it all herself, you decided it was a good way to take your mind off things, while also helping others. Kiyoko was quiet, but it was her way of showing you she cared, by sharing her world with you and providing an outlet.

You needed something to do. Something that you could focus your energy on to forget your ex-boyfriend, the boy that had broken your heart. Along with that emotional trauma, you also had to deal with a devastating death in your family, your younger brother. Within the blink of an eye, those two events had changed you as a person. For two months, you had locked yourself away in your room to deal with it. And those who cared for you had started to grow worried.

That's why you were beyond relieved when you first walked into that gym, bombarded by underclassmen that soon became your friends. They were so happy, they were so passionate. Their optimistic nature began to inspire you in other aspects of your life.

Knowing you had a rambunctious group of boys to take care of, all the while alongside your friend, the massive hole in your heart began to repair itself.

As the weeks passed, the bond between you and the Karasuno volleyball club grew stronger, and you found yourself falling back into your healthy habits. You were smiling again, you were laughing again.

"What are you thinking about Y/N?" Hinata surprised you suddenly with a question. He had practically teleported to your side so quickly that you jumped.

"Oh!" You laughed, looking down at him with a smile to mask the once nostalgic expression that had graced your face. "I'm just really proud of you guys for making it this far."

The two of you stared down at the polished wood floors, the rows of stands, and the many, many schools that were preparing their fan sections for their upcoming games. It was the fall tournament, and the boys had won their first couple games—but now they were going to face an strong opponent- Aoba Johsai.

"Not you guys, it's us." Hinata said, conviction heavy within his tone. "We couldn't have done this without you."

A chuckle escaped your lips as you nudged him. "You're laying it on thick today."

Grinning, the orange-haired first year gave you a thumbs up. "I just want our Senpai to know that she's appreciated."

"-you have done a lot for us." Nishinoya joined in as the rest of the group caught up with you and Hinata.

All the boys had heard about your brother's accident. The trauma of it all was still looming over your head, threatening to take over your conscious at any moment. Perhaps the boys knew that being able to help and take care of them was a replacement for the family member you had lost. It felt good to be apart of a group again, with people who appreciated your time and efforts.

"Then I hope we win today." You made sure to use the inclusive pronouns. "So you didn't waste my time!"

"There she is!" Tanaka laughed a little too loudly. "Stop looking so nervous and keep making those jokes."

"I'm not nervous." You puffed your lip out, realizing the entire team had now surrounded you.

"You look really nervous." Kageyama finally spoke in monotone, seeming to deal with his own nerves in a completely different way.

"Okay fine." You grumbled. "I'm nervous."

The boys laughed.

"Why?" Kiyoko joined the huddle, looking concerned as she gazed at your face. You were trying really hard to remain calm.

Awkwardly twirling your hair between your finger tips, you tried to avoid locking eyes with anyone. "I don't want to put pressure on any of you-"

"Just tell us, it's okay Y/N." Suga's calm and reassuring voice whispered from behind you. The look in his eyes conveyed that he already knew what you were thinking, because that was also what was on his mind. This was your last year. Your last tournament. If you lost; it would be over.

"I really need you guys to win." You said. "Because I don't want this to be our last game."

It was true, when you thought about it for long enough, the threat of your time in the Karasuno volleyball club could be over in an instant.

Kiyoko gave your hand a reassuring squeeze, knowing you had grown to love the sport, and it's players, as much as she had. This moment was bittersweet.

"We will try our best, Y/N." Hinata said without his usual smile. Whenever that happened, you knew he was serious.

A brief moment of silence hung over the group, as if their situation had finally sank in.

You finally lifted your head to meet everyone's gaze. "Thank you all, really. Being apart of this team has helped me more than I can explain."

All of the boys replied instantly, more than happy that you were there with them. You could tell you meant a lot to them. Well, except with Tsukishima— but you knew you would eventually get there.

"Alright everyone, let's get to work." Coach Ukai encouraged as the tender moment faded. "We can't disappoint our managers."

He nodded at you, and you smiled back. When you really wanted to, you were a great pep talker.

"Now, Use your looks to distract our opponents!" Tanaka teased as he walked past you. Teasingly, you stuck your foot out to try and trip him- but his fast reflexes allowed him to casually step over it.

"Nice try!" He boasted.

Giggling from the interaction, you and Kiyoko crossed the volleyball court and to the coaching staff benches.

"Third years now have the ability to participate in the spring tournaments." Kiyoko said as the guys wandered off to begin warm-ups. "So if you want to, we can come back next semester."

"Really?" You breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"I could tell you were getting sentimental."

Feigning discomfort, you slumped next to her dramatically. "Knowing that beforehand would have been nice. I just embarrassed myself in front of the team."

"I think they needed to hear that from you." She said with honesty.

The genuine expression she wore warmed your heart. You and Kiyoko were incredibly different, yet incredibly similar. You always appreciated the time you spent with her, she was an important friend.

Your eyes drifted to the opposite side of the net. The team still hadn't arrived for warm-ups.

"We're playing Aoba Johsai right?" You asked, eyes searching the gym for their supposed school colors.

"Yes." Kiyoko had already immersed herself with writing down notes on her clipboard.

The name Aoba Johsai felt so familiar, as if you knew someone who attended that high school. Yet, you couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Though you were well-known at Karasuno, you were unsure about other high schools in the area. You weren't the type of girl to care about people you didn't interact with on a daily basis, even if you were considered popular.

You just went about your days trying to be kind, and trying to make a name for yourself. The last thing you wanted to be known for was what happened earlier in the year. You didn't want to be pitied.

But sometimes, the people from your past are the only ones that can heal you. Sometimes, it's better to reflect and appreciate everything that happened, even if it hurts.

Everything happens for a reason. Even if that reason doesn't seem clear at first glance.

The gym doors squeaked open, and in waltzed Karasuno's opponent- Aoba Johsai.

Though only a portion of the fan section had arrived, excited cheers sounded from the stands. You scowled, wishing your classmates had come to support your team. It definitely would have had an effect on the players, since half of them loved praise and affection.

Starting from the bottom already put you at a disadvantage. Unlike your opponents, Karasuno had a reputation to build back up. Every game counted. Every game mattered.

With that thought in mind, you had lost focus through all the noise. You could feel your nerves creeping back, threatening to overtake your smile, one that was needed as a morale booster for your players.

"Look pretty." Kiyoko teased, mocking Tanaka's ridiculous suggestion. Not every boy got worked up about girl managers with good looks like him and Nishinoya.

But still, out of habit, you ran a hand through your hair and flipped it behind your shoulders. Though you weren't the star of the show, you could still feel eyes on your back.

You needed to keep your composure. Because of her extended time as the volleyball club manager, Kiyoko has perfected her posture.

"I'm going to get some water." You whispered, standing up from the bench. That would definitely be the best option since your throat was starting to tighten.

Walking quickly, you reached the shared water table that was provided to both teams. A great plus when participating in tournaments.

Out of curiosity, as you grabbed a water bottle and took a sip, your eyes drifted to the other side of the net, where you were met with a striking, familiar, set of deep brown eyes.

For a moment that seemed to stretch past time limitations, you stood frozen in place.

"Tooru?" You whispered, voice drowned out by the cheering and movements of the players on court.

Your heart fluttered at the sight of him. It had been years since you parted ways.

Oikawa had been staring at you before you realized it was him. His look of astonishment quickly switched to one of wonder once he realized your lips had formed his name. "Y/N?" He mouthed back, flashing his notoriously handsome smile.

Without thinking, you crossed the threshold to the other side of the court.

"Oh my god-" You managed to choke, stopping abruptly in front of his towering figure. "I never thought..."

His expression wavered, as if it was begging you to follow through with the natural actions that filled your mind.

As if you had done it the day before, you threw your arms around his neck and pulled him down for a tight embrace. For the first time in a long time, you didn't care what anyone else thought about your actions.

"Hi again." He chuckled at how rash you had become, knowing you must have been overwhelmed to see him with how openly you were showing your emotions. Curling his arms around your torso, Oikawa chuckled in your ear. "You look great."

You pulled away, studying the changes he had made to his appearance. He had grown into his stalking height, one that he used to get teased for. His hair was silkier, his eyes wiser.  "So do you!"

The boy's touch lingered. "Wow." He breathed, short on words. "I never thought I'd see you again, but I really hoped."

You met his piercing gaze, one that seemed to flicker across parts of your body that a normal friend would restrict themselves from staring.  "Me too."

Your excitement passed though, as soon as you realized that the eyes of both teams were on you. Darting your eyes away in embarrassment from your rash actions, you recognized another familiar face. The regret that had built up inside of you dissipated within an instant.

"Haijime!" You waved, beckoning him to come closer.

"Hi, Y/N." He smiled, also bending down to give you a friendly hug. A hug that was much different than Oikawa's.

Teasingly, you continued the conversation. "I see that you two are the same. Still obsessed with volleyball."

Oikawa rolled his eyes. "Duh, of course. But what's more surprising is that you're a volleyball manager?"

"Yeah, I never thought that would happen." Iwaizumi added. "We inspired you, didn't we?"

Grinning from ear to ear, you nodded, reflecting on the hours that you had practiced with them. Before you had moved, the three of you would spend hours at the gym. Joining the Karasuno volleyball club had rekindled your love for the sport. And the boys were surprised that you had so much previous knowledge, which was now obvious that it had come from Oikawa.

Though what saddened you was that you had forgotten all about that. Your wholesome memories had been replaced with something far more grim.

"Hey!" The Aoba Johsai coach yelled from the opposite side. "Get back to business, all of you!"

The three of you turned and noticed that the rest of the team had stopped what they were doing, and seemed to be gossiping about your relationship to Oikawa and Iwaizumi. You immediately blushed, your contempt flooding right back in.

"Oi! don't look at her like that! She's not a piece of meat!" Oikawa pointed aggressively at his teammates, causing them to scatter and pretend they had been invested in their warm up practices the entire time.

"You're just mad that everyone is staring at her, and not you." Iwaizumi gave him a slap on the back for good measure. "Focus now."

Iwaizumi wandered off, leaving you one more brief moment with Oikawa. He glanced behind him, then back to you, looking somewhat regretful. It was most likely because the outcome of this game was going to be disappointing for one of you.

"Wait for me after the match, okay?" He asked, yet it came out more desperate. In a way that caused your heart to hammer in your chest. You really couldn't figure out if it was because of him, or if it was because of all the eyes you could still feel pointed towards you.

Throughout your younger years, Oikawa had boosted your confidence, and pushed you outside of your comfort zone. But things were slightly different now. Someone as outgoing as him could tell you had become timid, for reasons he didn't know yet, but hoped he would eventually figure out.

"Good luck, Tooru." You smiled. "You'll need it."

All he could do was flash you a devilish smile.

Oikawa had always been a flirt. It was somewhat comforting to know that his bubbly personality hadn't changed. At least on the surface. He had always commanded the attention of everyone in the room, which made your more reserved nature recoil in embarrassment.

But now, at least on the surface, you could handle it.

Because your parents moved all those years ago, you had never gained the opportunity to tell him how much he had meant to you. But as you watched his presence command the movements of his team, you realized that now was your chance.

Turning back to your teammates, who were all as equally surprised, you scratched the back of your neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry for interrupting." You apologized.

"Y/N, you know Oikawa?" Kageyama was the first one to ask.

"Y-yeah... we were friends in middle school, before I moved here."

"Interesting." Hinata dramatically set his chin in his hand, stroking it as if he had a goatee. "Y/N-chan knows both the kings!"

Kageyama immediately smacked the back of Hinata's head. "Shut up dumbass!" He scolded.

You stifled a laugh, encouraging them to continue on practicing, reassuring them that you were still crossing your fingers for Karasuno to win.

"Y/N took my suggestion a little too seriously." Tanaka sighed, watching you shyly make your way back over to the coaching bench.

"She's so popular and beautiful." Nishinoya added. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really wish I was Oikawa right now."

Feeling more pumped up than you had before, you shouted a cheer from the sideline. "Don't disappoint me boys!"

❀∙∘✿∘∙❀

Knowing that volleyball meant the world to Oikawa, you were somewhat relived that Aoba Johsai had won the match.

You would be there for your team in the end, but in this moment, you couldn't be there for Oikawa. You hadn't been for years. That's why you were relived, knowing you couldn't stand to see him upset.

"Don't look at me like that." He teased.

"Like what?" You deadpanned, trying hard to remain upset with him, since he had just ruined Karasuno's chance at participating in the fall nationals.

"Like you're trying to hate me. Because I know you can't."

Finally cracking a smile, you averted your gaze with embarrassment. "You're right."

Oikawa instinctively stepped closer. The proximity caused your heart to pound in your chest, surprisingly because you had never felt like this with him before.

"Even if we lost, I still would have felt that I won." The boy didn't need to explain what he was referring to, because you knew it was about you. It was because you were in his life again.

Trying to remain calm, you scrunched your nose. "Now you're laying it on thick."

Seeming to accept the challenge, Oikawa continued with his flirtations. "I find it strange that I usually get everything I want, but I somehow never got you." The third year laughed sadly, staring up at the pale blue sky. He had always hoped to see you again, but he had never expected it to be in this way.

"You don't even know me anymore." You said, not intending for your words to come out so harshly.

You were right. Oikawa hated it, but you were. And for some reason it made you that much more attractive. Personality wise, and looks wise. Your maturated appearance didn't help his thoughts from wandering.

He had missed your presence more than he had realized. Knowing that you were going to be in his life again gave him a strange sense of hope. It seemed that he had been holding onto them at dream since you parted ways at the end of junior high.

Your parents moved away, taking you along with them. Since your childhood friend was no longer your neighbor and you didn't go to the same high school, your friendship prematurely ended.

Oikawa wish he had tried harder to keep contact, but something told him you might be better off without him. He was going through his own troubles, and needed to focus on himself.

"I should have called you, or something... I don't know." Oikawa admitted. Though it had been years, he still felt comfortable enough around you to speak his mind.

You were the only girl he could ever do that with. He had searched far and wide to replace you, but he always ended up empty handed. Perhaps he should have searched for you instead.

"It's okay." You assured, knowing that life had moved fast for the both of you. You would never hold a grudge against him for that, being young and naive, trying desperately to fit into your new environments. It also didn't help that neither if you had cellphones when you moved away, therefore making it practically impossible to keep in contact. "We were both busy."

Oikawa knew you were putting on an act, but it also seemed genuine. To him, you had always been confusing, your thoughts and emotions so complex that it frightened him. Girls like you had always been hard to find. Ones that were able to explain their resonating so well that it caused them to reflect on their own actions and behaviors. You had always kept Oikawa in check.

But right now, the spirit that he had grown to love was barely visible. He could tell you were happy to see him, but something inside you had been wounded. Whatever it was, Oikawa could tell you were hurting. And every fiber in his being wanted to fix it.

"What happened to you, Y/N?" He asked suddenly, the look in his eyes convincing you that you had done a terrible job concealing your emotions.

Averting your gaze, you shifted awkwardly on your toes. "A lot has happened, Tooru. Too much to explain now."

You could hear the boys loading into the bus, some of them shouting your name in reminder to hurry up your conversation. You glanced back and saw that Kiyoko was waiting outside the vehicle for your return.

Smiling to dispel the haunting memories, you continued. "I would rather hear about you for now. You must be really happy that you won."

"I worked hard...I worked my ass off for years to get where I am today." He kicked a rock across the cement sidewalk. "Watching Kageyama play so well helped me realize that I had been slacking. I guess I forgot what that feels like."

"But?" You pushed him to continue.

Oikawa grimaced, and for a moment, you wished you hadn't asked that question. "Our next opponent will be harder."

It was true. Oikawa had worked hard all his life. He hadn't been blessed with raw talent like his underclassmen Kageyama, but he followed his dream, he had followed his heart.

For some reason though, as he stared at your glowering expression, he began to second guess himself. Maybe he had been doing it wrong.

"Don't give up then." You said, voice wavering with conviction that surprised him. "Whether you were born with it or not, you still have talent. There's still ways to utilize that after High-school. If you really love volleyball then you will continue."

Oikawa's eyes widened.

"This is strange coming from you, who's been rubbing off on you?"

You chuckled. "Nobody. I just know what to say to you."

You were right again. You encouraged him in the most perfect way, but you never praised him like the others. Oikawa's mother always told him to never accept too much praise, and to never get too full of himself.

You were real. You weren't fake like the other girls who only fawned over him for his looks. He would have preferred you to watch him from the stands with genuine interest for the sport, unlike the other girls who were only there for him.

Why?

Because it was the truth. And it was normal. People who work hard to get to a certain point, stop once they reach it. But that's not what he had done. He kept trying. The boy tried harder than he needed to become the best.

No matter what anyone said, Oikawa knew he had to keep trying. He couldn't let his pride get the best of him like it had in the match against Karasuno.

Just by looking his way, he knew what you were thinking. Only a girl as special as you could make him realize that. A girl that had known him from the beginning.

He laughed at first, causing your eyes to drift towards him. You didn't seem surprised, instead, you were calm. "Well, I'm glad that hasn't changed."

You smiled as your hair rippled to the side from a gust of wind. "I missed you, Tooru." The tone of your voice was filled with hope, directly asking him to make the first move, and to not let you leave without a promise to see you again.

"I think it's finally time that you gave me your number." Oikawa held his phone out for you. You tried desperately to hide the blush that was creeping along your face. Everything he did was flirtatious, yet in a way that was childish and made you remember how you used to play with him back in primary school.

After typing in your number, you handed him back his phone. The entire time, you could feel his eyes on you, studying, lingering.

"Well," you apologized, gesturing behind you. "I can't keep them waiting."

"Go ahead, Y/N. I'll text you."

"I'll be waiting." You whispered, barely audible enough for him to hear. Turning on your heels and jogging towards the bus, you glanced behind your shoulder one last time, as if you were afraid to let him escape your gaze. Times were different now, you would see him again. You were sure of it.

You flashed him a smile.

Oikawa shoved his hands in his pockets. You would never know that you had already won over his heart. You had all those years ago, and your presence within him had remained.

Then you left, hoping and praying that he would keep his promise. Hoping and praying that nobody had taken your place.

True love wasn't real, you knew that well enough from your past experiences. Yet deep down, your heart claimed differently. You could anticipate what was going to happen.

❀∙∘✿∘∙❀

Four months ago

Your hands trembled.

Your thoughts raced as you swung your legs over the railing of your balcony, gazing at the stars that twinkled brightly in the sky.

Your bare feet brushed the plants underneath you, fresh dew gathering in their crevices.

You managed to smile.

It was a quiet and beautiful night. The moon illuminated the oak trees so mysteriously, it would have intrigued you on any other night.

But right now...

All you wanted to do was forget him.

It had been almost a month since the breakup, but you couldn't seem to forgive his iniquitous mistake.

You were a relatively calm and understanding person. But his betrayal had left you in shambles. Haruki was his name, and he had cheated on you with a girl in a different class- who knew that he was your boyfriend. A girl that hated you for no reason, only because you had something that she did not.

You had never been in a situation like this. Nobody had ever taught you how to handle the feelings that came along after heartbreak.

Your supposed first love had cheated on you, yet you didn't know how to respond. How could love just... disappear? Did he ever even love you? Had you wasted the last two years of your life on him?

You were bitter, angry, and confused. Time was supposed to heal wounds, and it did, but only to an extent.

You were a completely different person now. Some would say stronger, but some would say weaker. You had been out of touch for quite some time. And now you were finally sinking back into reality.

But what made you the most addled, was that you couldn't remember his face. It made you so angry to realize that you could forget a face you had studied for so long. Your stomach felt sick as you tried to remember the color of eyes, the taste of his lips, his smile, anything... But you were blank. You had already started to forget about the man you loved, but with good reason.

You had been so lost. And that's why it hurt so bad. You had been vulnerable, you had been taken advantage of. You felt sick knowing you didn't break from his spell on your own.

You winced, partly from the nighttime breeze, and partly from the cold hard truth. Haruki was the liar. But somehow you felt like it was your fault. How could you ever trust someone like that again? You had fallen head over heels for someone who was way under your league, pouring all of your love into the relationship.

You had tried your best to make it work, you had given him everything. All of your time, all your emotions, and all of your body.

But it was never enough. Why were you not enough?

You had made a fool of yourself. You had begged him to stay, because you felt guilty about letting him take your virginity. Haruki had cheated on you, thrown your love away like it was nothing, and left without seeming to care. But the thing was, you still cared.

You could only hold yourself together around your family and friends. But when you were alone like this, your mind drifted away.

You regretted the decisions you'd made with him. You really did. You had blindly followed a boy into a destructive relationship, thinking that he could be a man. Thinking you could fix him, and thinking you could make him better.

But if someone doesn't want to change, they won't. It hurt like hell. Because that's when you realized that people always lie.

Your love was wasted on a boy who didn't deserve it.

Guilt crept into your subconscious. Though you didn't want to admit it, you felt that you had disappointed whoever you were going to end up with in the future.

You leaned against the metallic railing, ears perking up at the undertone of cicadas. They sang mindlessly into the night, like you once had.

It wasn't meant to be, and that was alright. Yet it was still painful, the memories causing tears to prick at your eyelids. You felt helpless at times like this. Why couldn't you just forget about everything and move on?

You desperately wanted to, but deep inside, something was urging for you to never forget this pain. You had spent countless nights in this very position, staring up at the stars, cloudy sky or clear.

And it finally spelled out for you. You were never meant to brush these emotions aside. Instead, you urged to hold them close to your heart. You would never forget your mistake, so you would never make it again.

You had learned, you were stronger. You were different.

You had to put on a show for far too long, masking the pain Haruki had caused you until it was too late.

Now your broken heart was already healing.

Looking up into the black sky once again, you smiled for the first time in days. Tomorrow you would be looking at the same stars through a different lens.

You were changing, while he would stay the same. That was the greatest revenge of all. You would live on without him.

That was what you had convinced yourself until your mother called you the next day, and relayed the devastating news that your brother had died in an accident.

And just like that, two of the most important people in your life were gone.

And back into the spiral you fell.

❀∙∘✿∘∙❀

Tag list!! lmk if you want to be added for the next part <33

@ardorwrites-hq-mha​ @cuddlyasahi​ @vventure @writeiolite​ @allywritesimagines​ @benewol​

[riotfuckery]

Shattered hearts and clean shirts

Pining!Sero Hanta x f!reader (slight Cheater!Bakugo Katsuki x reader)

A/N: Hello beautiful readers! It’s your friendly neighborhood big tiddy goth gf and lowkey weeb 💖I’m here with an extra long angst/comfort fic featuring best boy Sero! Best boy doesn’t get the love he deserves sometimes so I’m here to change that! Also shoutout to my writing senpais who were so incredibly kind and sweet to me as to show my Shinso fic love. I’m sending lots of love your way! I also hope you don’t mind me tagging you 💖💖💖 @queensynderella @kingtamakimurder @ikinabi @trafalgar-temptress Extra A/N: Another writing senpai gave me permission to tag them so here they are @quirkless-fics @thedreadthread Thank you again senpais 💖🥺💖

Sero always considered himself a plain looking guy. He thought he was nothing special with a plain quirk and weird elbows. You always made him feel special, beautiful and loved. You tended to do that with everyone you met apparently cause you scored yourself a relationship with the angriest and most volatile student of UA along with a school wide reputation of being the kind cutie who you could get patched up by without any embarrassment. You were gentle, kind, and patient with a strong quirk to go with it.

You were blessed with a quirk that made any living thing grow or heal at the expense of your own energy. Gently touching a broken arm would heal it within a few seconds, whispering sweet words to a dying flower made it spring to life and bloom brighter than ever. The plants you spring to life heeding your commands, forming walls and giant thorns seemingly out of nowhere. Your undying need to want to heal and make things better earned you a spot in class 1-A.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought that, noticing his ash blonde friend take a liking to you because he was too prideful to go to recovery girl at times. You made your way to the bakusquad. Befriending the energetic redhead and blonde first. Eventually you made your way around the whole crew.

Mina was overjoyed to have another girl in the squad. Always having sleepovers and girls nights, wasting away the hours filling your faces with junk food and talk of boys. So when she learned you had a small thing for the ash blonde she immediately went to work. Soon enough he saw you chatting with the blonde and saw that something was happening much to his own dismay.

His heart would squeeze in his chest, making it almost impossible to breathe when he saw how Bakugo was treating you. He always called you “bandaid” and “shitty girl”. You always brushed it off with a smile and always helped him along with every student in the school. When he heard Bakugo loudly announce to the class that both of you were dating along with the threats to kill whoever came too close, he thought his heart would fall to the pit of his stomach.

He was pining after you almost painfully, he saw how Bakugo should shake off your hugs and call you clingy when you tried to hold his hand. His heart ached at the thought that you would be okay being treated like that. You were always brushing it off as the excuse that he was shy and saying he would open up soon enough but he was always observant. He saw the way couples would hold hands and give small kisses in public, he noticed the hurt in your eyes at the thought of never having that feeling. He saw the flashes of sadness in your eyes and the small sighs when you were particularly upset one day.

Sero did what any good friend would do and talked you about it, knowing keeping feelings bottled up would only leave them to explode. He pushed aside his feelings and gave a chance to let out your feelings without being judged. He caught you after class one day, saying he needed to talk to you about an assignment. Bakugo was nowhere in sight and that made him sigh in disappointment. How could he just leave such a beautiful girl by herself and call her horrible nicknames? He couldn’t fathom it.

“Hey Sero, what’s up? You need help with anything?” You smiled brightly at him, he thought he would be blinded by it. He stopped himself before he could get too lost in his one sided love for you (ouch). He grinned back immediately “Actually, I’m fine for right now. Maybe I could use your help later with some home work. But I just wanted to ask are you okay? Ya know like emotionally? I promise I won’t tell anyone. You just seem to be upset a lot more and I was wondering if I could help you with that” he spoke nervously. You on the other hand were caught off guard. Your eyes widened a bit and your lips parted for a split second before you smiled shyly at him.

“Oh geez am I that obvious?” You looked him shyly, your hand covering the side of your neck. He thought it was cute you picked that habit up from Kirishima while also wondering what other habits you picked up from the rest of the squad. “Well yeah I’ve been upset, I’m just really sad and frustrated right now. But let’s go somewhere more private yeah?” You moved your hand to wave at him to follow you. You both headed straight for your dorm and gently ushered him in. You locked the door before taking off your shoes and tie.

He took off his shoes and left them next to yours and gently put his bag down by the entrance. He saw you make your way over to your bed and plop down on it. A small blush made its way to his face as he was hit with a tsunami of nervousness. He was here, in your ROOM, ALONE, WITH THE DOOR LOCKED. If he muscles got anymore stiff, he thought he would pass out.

Your light giggle made him relax and look over at you. You were still sitting on your bed and looked up at him with amusement, you smiled at him cheekily. “No need to be nervous Sero, I just wanted to talk to you. Nothing more, I don’t bite unless ya ask ya know?” He blushed and did the kiri embarrassed move. “No I know” he chuckled and moved to sit backwards on your desk chair across from the bed. He gave you a friendly smile and small nod as if pushing you to continue.

You took a deep breath and flopped down on the bed while staring at the ceiling poster you have of your fav band. “Well I’m just really frustrated and sad, it’s all about dating Katsuki. Like yes he’s nice to me in his own way but how hard is it to hold hands in public? Show me he’s interested? It feels like all I’m doing is annoying him” you sighed and propped yourself up to look at him. His black eyes never leaving yours and giving you another minuscule nod to tell you to continue.

“People ask questions you know, and it just makes me sad because I keep making excuses for him. Like how many times do I have to come up with some random line? Why do I feel like I’m always giving and I’m never getting anything back? Am I asking for too much Sero?” You ranted in frustration, looking at him for answers. He blinked slowly and inhaled slowly before exhaling and loosening his tie.

“I don’t personally think you’re asking too much, I agree with you actually. Like how hard is it hold hands? Yeah maybe he’s too pussy to buck up and show the world he’s dating you. But not even in private he’s sweet to you?” He asked. You shook your head slightly. “Well I guess he’s nicer and calls me babe. But still doesn’t hold my hand or anything. He gets angry at me when I talk to any other guy outside of him.” You sighed again, he noticed you seemed to do that a lot today.

You and Bakugo were still new, only a few months in. You wouldn’t say it was love but you liked him quite a bit. Your patience with the explosive blonde was never ending it seemed. Until one day you were avoiding Bakugo and the rest of the squad like the plague. He found you sitting underneath the trees in the courtyard, just looking up at the trees during lunch. Your slumped shoulders and dull puffy eyes and tears threatening to leak out immediately putting him in a state of alarm but decided to leave you for the time being. You’ve grown quite close to the ravenette, now you considered each other close friends. He hoped for more from you but he never got his hopes too high, just keeping it to daydreaming in class and free periods.

He noticed you were off today. During training with the class, you were being harsher than usual. Sending small spikes into your unlucky training partner and much larger precisely aimed thorns into their clothes to pin them to the ground. Whispering into the air and summoning bright green vines to shield you if someone ever got close enough to you. If they bursted through your vine wall, you came at them with thorns the size of large hunting knives and slashed them up almost ruthlessly. You didn’t talk much and your eyes held regret everytime you healed small pinpricks and cuts on your opponent after your sparring. Just muttering a small sorry and you were off to your next sparring partner.

Once the end of the school day arrived he immediately looked for you, the rest of the squad going off and finding Bakugo to question what he did to make you this upset. He found you in the same spot you were at during lunch and quickly sat down next to you, putting an arm around your shoulders and pulled you close to him, placing your head on his chest and your legs on his lap while resting his chin on top of your head. He could feel the shaking in your entire body before he heard the muffled sobs in chest. He ran one hand on your lower back and the other rubbing comforting circles with his thumb on your calf.

He didn’t say anything and he didn’t need to yet. He just pulled you closer and held you tighter while your muffled sobs continued to soak his shirt. He didn’t care that you ugly sobbed all over him, the only thing he cared about was making you feel better. Your sobs turned to hiccups and that turned to semi even breathing.

You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him but he sure as hell looked at you. He couldn’t help but think you look adorable, wiping your red eyes and pink nose with your sleeve. You thought and felt like you looked disgusting so you still refused to look at him. He sighed in defeat, not wanting you push you any further cause the last thing he wanted was to make you cry again.

He rested his chin on your head once again, never removing his hold. You found comfort in it as a bit awkward as it was. His heart was beating steadily and a bit faster due to worry. He was hoping you didn’t notice. All he wanted was for you to be happy and feel loved, even if it wasn’t with him. In his perfect fantasy world, you two would have dated from the start. But this world isn’t perfect.

“H-he was cheating on me, the entire time. I caught him in the act with another girl. And when I asked him how long, he looked at me like I was dumb and said ‘the entire time, you thought you meant something to me huh? You were just a prize to be won, another achievement over stupid Deku’ and I left. Is there something wrong with me? Is that why he cheated? I did all that I could to make him happy but my best just wasn’t enough” you cried. Sero’s eyes widened and his body tensed, you could almost see the words slap him in the face. He knew Bakugo wasn’t the gonna win any awards for ‘person of the year’ but he didn’t know the ash blonde could be this cruel.

He held you close and moved his hand to softly pet your hair, trying all his might to soothe you without revealing his true intentions for you. He was still hopelessly in love with you so seeing you sobbing almost made him confess. Although he wasn’t the most book smart, he knew how to read people and socialize like a pro. He held the almost painful flowering of the love he had for you.

“Oh sunflower, I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. I had no idea that this was even happening. The rest of the squad went to go after him after I went to find you. They must be beating the shit out of him right now and he definitely deserves every hit he takes.” He spoke softly to you, almost afraid of you bursting into tears again. Almost on cue, your sobbing continued but harder this time. All the times you had hope for the blonde and for the patience you had for him wasted, reality harshly scattering your romantic dreams to the wind like ash. You cried for the you a few weeks ago when you were so stupid and blind.

He just kept holding you, reassuring you that you were a good person who tried your best and that Bakugo was in the wrong here. Your sobs turned to sniffles soon enough and he decided that he needed to take care of you. He gently moved you off his lap and stood up, holding a hand out to you. The beating of his heart against his rib cage felt painful. He hurt because it hurt him seeing you so sad and his heart ached at the thought that you thought you were never good enough for anyone.

He put on a small comforting smile as he spoke. “Hey sunflower, lets go somewhere more comfortable okay? How does my room in the dorms sound? We could watch movies and you can let out everything judgment free.” He gave you the cute nickname one day when you sprouted the flower and handed it to him after he a particularly rough day. You presented it to him with a smile that rivals the sun and ironically told him that his own smile lit up a room better than said flower. His heart leapt in joy and soar at the memory but he hoped he would never have to use it in such a terrible situation.

You took his hand and he helped you to stand up. A small wavering smile on your soft lips while you held his hand tightly. “That sounds good Sero, I’m so sorry about ruining your shirt. I’ll wash it and return to you tomorrow after you change.” Your voice was heavy with sadness. He was walking the both of you with your fingers intertwined to the UA dorms while you spoke. The distant sounds of shouting from the bakusqaud and explosions filled the air and your wavering smile steadied for a bit after thinking about how hard everyone was chewing him out, especially your ‘sister from another mister’ Mina.

You both arrived at his room, immediately taking off your shoes and making yourself comfy in his hammock while he went to the bathroom to change his clothes. You didn’t even think about leaving or changing until Sero spoke. “I left extra clean clothes in the bathroom incase you wanna change out of your uniform. I know how hard today has been on you so feel free to go in and change if you want to. You also don’t have to worry about cleaning my clothes by the way, I’m doing laundry tomorrow.” His normal friendly tone sending a small spark comfort to your broken heart.

You nodded and said a small thanks as you went to the bathroom and changed into the pair of grey sweatpants and random band tee he set out for you. As you slipped them on, the smell of laundry detergent mixed with his natural scent of earth after a heavy rain shot a nice warmth through your entire body. His clothes were big and so incredibly comfortable that you couldn’t help the small smile that made its way to your face.

You exited the bathroom with a small smile and Sero immediately noticed how cute you were dressed in his clothes. He fought the heat that tried to make its way to his cheeks and ears with the clearing of his throat. He made his way to the beanbag next to his hammock that was facing the tv. He looked at you once again with his signature grin. “So what do you wanna watch?”

You didn’t get a chance to answer his question when the rest of bakusquad burst into his dorm, all scuffed up and dirty. Kiri and Mina immediately crying and tackling you in a bone crushing hug, apologizing and saying you didn’t deserve it. You smiled and squeezed them back and let them cry on your shoulders, you laughed internally when they seemed more upset than you were at moment. They were such good people. Kaminari was in idiot mode so Sero took care of him.

You and the squad spent the rest of night having a sleepover and watching movies, their cheery and energetic attitudes distracted you and you found yourself feeling better. Mina and you had everyone do face masks at one point. The love they all had for you was almost touchable. The warmth in your heart spread throughout your entire being, you forgot about Bakugo for that night.

Sero decided to confess at a later date, once your heart healed along with the help of him and his friends. A loving smile suddenly plastered on his face during a movie roast session going on between you, Kami, and Mina. Kiri patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up and a bright sharp toothed smile. He smiled back at his red headed friend and gave a small shake of his head.

He was happy for now. Just knowing you were on your way to mending your own heart, and not being alone while doing that. If he was the one to tape together the final pieces, he would be more than happy to do so.

[monoshii-wasu]

You Come Across the Batcave (Batfam x Reader)

Au : You’re a doll/figurine and you were sent to one of the batfam to become their helper. Dick was the one that sent you to one of the batfam as a gift but doesn’t know that you’re alive by a certain time of day. (If it sounds confusing, then you can comment me what I need to explain more on)

Warnings: Batfam or the DC universe do not belong to me. They belong to their respective creators. Other than that, there might be angst for Damian but mostly fluff. Oh and maybe like a couple of swearing.

What’s happening so far? : You either tag along, sneak along, or accidentally follow one of the batfams and you come across the batcave

Bruce :

You were using your magic to help Alfred around the house

You just saw Bruce earlier but he went somewhere

Alfred hand you a tray of tea

He asked, “Could you perhaps give this to Master Bruce? He should be in his studies.”

You nodded while walking to the room

It took awhile since your magic can’t really teleport you or make you fly around the place

All you have is your magic that could act like your hands for now

You set the tray down on the table of his studies desk

You look around and sure enough

He’s not here

You hear a beeping noise from somewhere

You walk out of the studies room and there was something strange

You hopped on a mini table with a vase

Maybe it was just your imaginat-

You lean against the vase and it slid right off

You thought you heard a crash but when you open your eyes

The vase just slid a bit and a ‘click!’ was heard

What was that about? You see a door open

You use your telepathy magic to poke it with your broom

You gulp

Hopefully Mr. Bruce isn’t actually a vampire

Or a serial killer

You hop right down into the doorway

Then, you tripped

You continue to fall down the staircase until you felt someone catching you

You swear you saw stars

After a minutes, you realize that Bruce caught you

You held your head as he asked, “How did you get in here (y/n)?”

You answered, “I was cleaning and then I uh before I knew it… I was um… here.”

Your mind was a bit fuzzy from falling down

You looked around as you asked, “Where am I?”

Bruce chuckled as he answered, “This is the bat cave.”

You thought about it a bit

Then it muttered

”How does Alfred clean all this?”

Tim 

You were just sweeping Tim’s desk

Beating up those dust bunnies

Then, something started beeping

In Tim’s bag

Strange? Must be his phone

You checked where the sound is coming from and there was this weird device when you looked at it

There was a bat symbol on it

You didn’t believe it

Tim

Is...

A Batman fanboy

You gasped

No wonder he’s been busy non stop

He wants to know his senpai

Lol it can’t be that

Can it?

I mean you’ve been basically living in Tim’s room and you haven’t really been outside

But I guess that’s a for a different story

You started folding his clothes

Then you felt something

It was rubbery and felt like a suit

You pulled the outfit from the bottom of his drawer

...it was…

A red robin suit

Oh gosh...

He’s also a red robin fanboy!

Or a Red Robin cosplayer

You heard someone coming and you tripped and fell into one of the bags

You heard someone getting something and zip up

You felt yourself get lifted up

You heard someone said, “(Y/n)?  Where did you go?”

It sounded like Tim

You tried to make a sound but it was muffled by the bag

Tim muttered, “They must be sleeping.”

You feel Tim moving and you decided to just… let it happen?

You were too lazy to even do anything so why not?

After a while, you heard Tim stop

You were half asleep so you heard some voices

Then you heard a ‘Riiippppp!’

You fell from below

You fell onto the hard cold floor

You looked up and you were in a cave?

Multiple scenarios went through your head

Was Tim kidnapped?

Was this a convention?

Batman/Red Robin fanboy base!?

You immediately stand up and look around

There was a few cars, a monitor, cameras, and a giant T-Rex?

Who needs a giant T-Rex in their cave?

Oh well, you stand up and noticed Tim talking to Batman?

Pfft must be a cosplayer

You walk up to Tim and Batman

You coughed loudly

They turned to you

Tim exclaimed, “(Y/n)!? What are you doing her!?”

You raised your eyebrows

“I could be saying the same thing.”

Jason :

You were using your magic to fold Jason’s clothes

Jason was in the living room, doing something

You wanted to know what he was working on but he refuse to tell you

But then his phone started to ring

You called out, “Mr. Jason! Someone’s calling you!”

He comes out from the living room and sees the phone

He picks it up and you try not to eavesdrop

Jason then cancelled the phone as he looked at you

“Time for a road trip,” he states

You were a bit unsure but you just tagged along

Jason kept looking at his motorcycle and back at you

You wondered what he was doing

Jason was actually wondering where he could put you without causing you harm

It’ll get stuffy if he placed you in his pockets

You might fall off if he placed you in his hoodie

He could put you in one of his compartments but it’s sort of filled with emergency bullets and guns and other stuff so it’s cramped in it

He grabbed his hoodie as he motion you towards him

You ask, “Where will I be sitting?”

Jason suggested, “There’s no room but you could stay in my jacket.”

You didn’t understand until he placed you in the inside pocket of his jacket

He opened a small part of his jacket so you could breathe

Your face is flushed red

You could hear his heartbeat

And you’re so close to him

“Everything okay?” He asked

You answered, “Um Yes!”

Then you heard gas being pedaled as you then felt everything moving

You could hear the rhythm of his heartbeat

It was calming

You were about to sleep until you heard Jason whisper loud enough for you to hear, “We’re here.”

Then, you guys stopped

You heard someone say, “Took you long enough!”

You could hear Jason say, “Hey! At least I’m here. I was in the middle of cleaning my safe house.”

You also heard some people give out sighs while you wondered when you were going to be let out

Jason and these people were talking for a bit until you heard someone say, “Hey Jason, I’ve been wondering. What’s that bump in your jacket.”

You could hear Jason trying to make an excuse but he immediately changed the topic. Things were getting a bit stuffy as you then lifted your head from Jason’s jacket

“Phew! Fresh air!”

You then could feel everyone just staring at you in shock

You noticed that the place that you’re at is… at a cave?

You asked them, “Is something the matter?”

Damian :

You kept hearing strange noise from the walls

You were fixing Damian’s ripped shirt but this noise was loud and clear for the whole mansion to hear

Or that’s what you thought

Where was that sound coming from?

You decided to check the whole manor

There was no other doors that could lead to where the nois-

You weren’t looking and you fell in something

You were falling for quite awhile but it was scary

Everything was dark

Then, you were met with glowing eyes

You looked around for something to hang on to

But there isn’t anything but total darkness

You looked behind you and were were met with a wall

You quickly tried to grab it, hold it, anything!

You grabbed onto it but it felt rigged

You scraped your hand while you tried to hang onto this thing

It turns out you’re in a cavern and you’re clinging to part of the ceiling

You desperately try to hang on the slippery icicle

Tears prick from your eyes

The fall would surely shatter your entire being

Your hands are shaking but you’re still clinging onto it

You see more glowing eyes

They’re staring at you

As if they’re looking in your soul

They seem to come closer and closer

IT’s a bat!

You would rather fall from this height rather than be a bat’s chewing toy

You take a deep breath

You let go of it

The bats immediately followed you

The wind felt like it was coming from different directions

But something within you snaps

You held onto the needle that you had from the start

One of the bat is slowly coming towards you

You held onto the staff tightly while taking a deep breath

Once the bat is within reach, it opened its mouth

Which you respond to kicking it on it’s chin and grabbed it’s ears

Flipped the situation the other way around

You’re on top of the bat as it screeched loudly

You whisper, “I’m sorry.”

You stabbed the bat through its head towards the end of it’s chin with the needle

Blood pours out from the bat as you see bright light

You use the bat as a launcher as you fall down

One of the bats try to reach you

You did the same thing with the bat but instead, you rip their ears off

They scream in pain as you both were met with the cold touch of metal

You regain your senses as you start to breath heavily

You hear a crack

You notice that a piece of your arm and leg are broken (or rip)

It was as if somebody was choking you the whole time

You coughed loudly as you noticed the color of your hands and clothes

It was covered in blood

Your hands are shaking

Why are you covered in blood!?

You covered your face as you cried

You muttered, “There’s something wrong with me…”

You curled yourself in a ball as you tried to remember what happen

But the only thing you could remember was falling and darkness

This new side of you scared you

You then heard someone calling out your name

“(Y/n)!? (Y/n)!? (Y/n) where are you!?”

A door seemed to slide open by itself and you see Damian

He seems to be breathing hard

As if he went to run marathon

And… a look of fear, anxiety, and… there was something that you couldn’t quite express

It was weird

You thought Damian wouldn’t have bother if you left

“(Y/n)!” Damian yells out once he spotted you

You notice that his face seems...relieve

He runs toward you but halts

He sees that you’re covered in blood

As well as the two dead bats that aren’t that too far away from you

Damian ask, “What… happened?”

You feel exhausted

You muttered loud enough for him to hear, “I don’t know... All I remember was darkness and falling. There was nobody there. Not even a single light. I was… so scared. I didn’t kno-”

Damian immediately scooped you up as he held you tightly but he’s holding you as if you could disappear from the Earth

You hear Damian whisper, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

If only that was true

You don’t feel okay

You could feel your stomach twisting and turning

Guilt is haunting you

You just close your eyes as you mutter, “I’m just tired…”

Then, sleep had taken over you

Alfred :

You were dusting some of the vases

You were behind a vase to beat the living life of the dust bunnies when Bruce comes walking out the door

“Oh! Hello Mr Wa-”

Bruce opens a door

You're a bit surprise but you trip and fall in right after him

The door is shut behind you

You try to open the door but it won't budge

Curse those electronic doors

Sadly the door doesn't have a handle

And the door is really tall

You carefully walk down the steps

You see Alfred and Bruce

“What's going on?”

Alfred and Bruce is a bit surprised at how you got in

“How did you get in?” Bruce asked

“I was saying hello, tripped, and then I ended up here.”

Alfred picks you up

“Oh look. You found out. Well, I am batman.”

You know that he's being sarcastic but you can't help but believe it

“Really!? That's so cool!”

Butler by day, superhero by night!

You can’t believe that the person you look up to is the Knight in shining armor!

If only that was true

Bruce silently laughs in the background

“No, to be honest. I'm batman (y/n). Alfred helps me when I go to Gotham and fight criminals,” Bruce confirms

You pout

“Isn't that dangerous? With your status and everything.”

Alfred sighs, “I had the same thought but once Master Bruce sets his mind on something, you can't stop him.”

Barbara :

Lately, you’ve caught Barbara leaving the house more often at night

You always ask if she has insomnia

To which she denies

Which doesn’t help that you worry about her being since you’ve been secretly watching the news channels in the family living room

And also how you knew that Gotham City isn’t the safest city

This does not help you calm down the least

Barbara has said that she needs to do overnight shifts but you already recognize her schedule so you know for sure that she is up to something

Also doesn’t help the fact that she also does this on her day off (because she’ll post ‘Day offf!!!! Gonna celebrateee!!!’ on her social media)

You were gonna follow her where she goes because you have tried talking to her countless of times but she just either makes an excuse, lie, change the topic, or just plainly ignores it

You didn’t want to resort to this but you felt like you had to

You got into her purse when it was around the time where Barbara would usually go

“Hopefully it isn’t anything bad,” you hoped

After what felt like an hour, you could hear someone say, “You made it.”

You could then hear Barbara responded, “What happened?”

Then Barbara and this mystery person to talk for what seemed like forever

You got tired of this so you decided to quietly leave the purse

When you did, you noticed that this was a cave

With a here and there of bats

The person that Barbara seemed to talk to was… Batman?

This was weird but then again, Barbara did mention that her dad has connections with Batman so this makes sense

You were about to explore more of this cave, when you felt someone pick you up by the waist with a single hand

You yelped, “Hey!”

Then, Batman and Barbara wiped around and saw you

Barbara was shocked while you had an “uh oh” face

“F*ck,” you both said

[stealth-spiderr]

be soft™ with me

summary // roommate!tom has had a long day and just wants to relax

paring // tom x reader

warnings // like one swear??

word count // 1054

The faint sound of jingling keys hits my ears, followed immediately by Tom groaning dramatically as he entered the apartment. I roll my eyes, finishing up the sentence of the paper I was working on, knowing I wouldn’t get much done with Tom back home.

He emits a continuous noise of exasperation whilst walking to his room and presumably dumping his stuff. He takes a few minutes in his room, getting changed into comfy clothes most likely, still groaning and sighing loudly. He doesn’t stop making noise as he heads to the kitchen, I hear him riffle through the fridge, and then the cupboard followed by the fridge again.

He finally makes his way to join me by the couch. Not sitting on it though, I haven’t given him the option, considering I’m sprawled over the entire thing, but he wouldn’t have sat on it anyway. He sits on the floor beside where my head is, back against the couch. His groans turn into small whines as he makes a grabby gesture over his shoulder with his hand. I roll my eyes even though he can’t see me, and give him my hand which he careless tugs to his hair. I thread my fingers through his fluffy curls and gently massage his scalp, he sighs contently whilst eating the strawberries he’d grabbed.

“Rough rehearsal?” I ask.

“Kinda,” he replies, chewing a strawberry. “It was our first full run of the show so there was plenty of fuck ups obviously, but we just ran it so many times and we barely had a break and I’m tired.”

He holds the container of strawberries over his shoulder, I take one with a muttered thank you and eat it, leaves and all. We sit in a comfortable silence for a while, I’ve zoned out but my fingers are still gently messing with Tom’s hair. I jump a little when he suddenly moves, he crawls to the tv and opens the draw on the cabinet with the DVD’s in it.

“What are you feeling?” he asks, not looking at me.

“Something cute.” I answer, very much looking at him, at least his butt in the grey sweats he’s wearing.

“The First Time?”

“Yep, let’s do it.”

He sets up the movie and I ask if he wants to sit on the couch. He hums a yes. I sit up but before I can swing my legs off the couch he puts his hand on my calves and moves my legs apart. He makes himself comfy between my legs, arms around my torso and his head resting on my stomach.

“You right there, Tommy?” I ask, worrying about the blurred line of our relationship right now. Not quite lovers but something more than friends.

“Just be soft with me,” he mumbles, pulling an arm out from under me and grabbing my hand, once again shoving it into his hair.

“Alright.”

Tom barely lasts the first ten minutes of the film before his snores fill the air. I wake him up when he gets too loud, he grumbles in annoyance about being awoken and shoves his face into my stomach.

“I couldn’t hear the movie over you snoring, dumbass,” I say to him.

“What did I miss?” he asks.

“Your favourite part with Dave and Aubrey at the piano.”

“Damn.”

We get through another good chunk of the movie before my eyelids start getting heavy. My hand stills in Tom’s hair, he frees an arm and pulls my hand down to his face. He gently presses a kiss on my knuckles for a few seconds and then holds my hand to his lips.

“Can’t do that,” I mumble.

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t do that.”

“We should start.”

I let out I hum in acknowledgement, not entirely processing the words. I move the hand Tom’s holding out of his grasp and gently cup his face, tracing his cheekbone with my thumb. He kisses the inside of my wrist.

“Tommy,” I say warningly.

He just does it again.

I withdraw my hand and let out a nervous breath. He sits up, repositioning both of our legs so he’s straddling my thighs where he sits fiddling with his fingers.

“Would it be so bad? Because I kind of have a thing for you, and every time I think I’m getting somewhere with you we revert back to being very seperate and I can never work out if it’s because you don’t like me or you’re just freaking out or something,” he confesses.

I sit up from my reclined state, bringing us chest to chest. Sort of, he’s a little higher due to him being on top of my legs.

“It’s definitely me freaking out, because almost the entire time we’ve been friends we’ve had the blurriest line between what friends do and what lovers do. I can never figure out where I stand, or what I want. Because when I look at your face I really want you but then I think about it and that makes me believe it would just complicate everything.” I ramble, trying to avoid Tom’s eyes.

His hands grab my face gently, bringing my gaze to meet his. His cheeks are tinged red, I think I can almost feel the warmth of them but I realise that’s probably my own.

“We can just go with the flow and see what happens, yeah?” he murmurs.

I nod a little, licking my lips and Tom, who of course had been staring at them, smiled a tiny bit.

“So, you dig me?” he says, and I snort at his use of a line from the movie.

“Yeah, I dig you, you giant loser.”

He leans forward, resting his forehead on mine, his hands dropping to my hips taking fistfuls of my shirt in each one, holding me against him.

“We’ve never kissed before,” I whisper, heart rate picking up as my lips brush Tom’s with every word.

“No, we have not,” he replies, fists tightening their hold on my shirt.

My own hand creeps up his chest, slowly feeling his toned muscles as I go, causing him to smirk.

“Should probably change that,” I grab the neck of the shirt in my fist and pull him that last centimetre closer to connect our lips.

((let me know if you’d rather not be tagged lol or if you would like to be))

tagging some mutuals for validation lmao // @tomsfireheart​ @starksparker​ @hollisterholland​ @parkerrpeterr​ @peters-vlogs​ @bi-writes​ @leni-lion-luke-larb-logic​ @letsbefriendskk-fanfic​ @peachyhollands​ @dorkyholland​ @peterstrainingwheels​ @stephie-senpai​

[writingthingsisdifficult]

Y/N knows best

Dean is hurt, and so restless, and wants to leave the bunker to go with Sam, and Sam asks Y/N to convince Dean that he’s not well enough yet.

I was listening to my Disney obsessions playlist on Spotify, the “Mother knows best” came on, and I got this vision in my head. So: have a silly, little fic. Hope it can help to cheer up this Sunday. Let me know if you want on or off my tag list, and I’ll be super happy if you tell me what you think of the story.

Word count: 1221

With each step towards the library, the angry voices grow louder. Well, not so much angry, as exasperated and pleading with notes of rage and subtle hints of an underlying threat. Stopping in the doorway, I watch as Dean argues with his brother while leaning heavily on the crutches he has been dependent on the last month and a half.

“I’m going crazy in here,” he says, waving one crutch in the air. “Come on, Sammy, I’ve cleaned every weapon at least twice, and –“

“Forget it,” Sam replies. He shakes his head so his long hair dances over his shoulders. “You’ll just be in the way. The doctor said eight weeks, and it’s only been six. Besides: it’s not a big case, I’ll manage on my own.”

I have a hunch Sam is just trying to get away from the Bunker and Dean, and as much as I love the idiot, being cooped up with a Dean with a busted leg has been hell sometimes. I can’t blame Sam for needing a change of scenery.

“Yeah, but,” Dean mutters through a pout, “there’s nothing wrong with my arms. I can still shoot, and as you said: it’s just a tiny case…”

Sam rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “Listen, you can’t sneak around on those things. And the Wildlife Services would never send someone with a broken leg. Think it through, Dean!”

But Dean isn’t prepared to give up. I watch their little dance back and forth for a while before Sam spots me.

“Ah! Y/N, help me out here. Dean is in no shape to hunt right now.” He gives me a perfect impression of a begging puppy. “Tell him I’m right. He always listens to you.” The way he so casually mentions it makes it hard to breathe, and my chest swells with nerves and anticipation.

Dean opens his mouth to protest, but I nod to him before he can say anything. “Your brother is right, you really should rest, you know.” I hum silently, feeling a mischievous smile spread over my face. Then finally I step into the room, swaying a little and twirling around Dean, who follows me with suspicious eyes.

Nodding to Sam, letting him know I got this, I begin to sing in a voice dripping with honey: “You want to go outside? Why, Dean...! Look at you, as fragile as a flower, still a little sapling, just a sprout. You know why we stay up in this … bunker …?”

Blinking, Dean follows me around the table with his eyes, huffing silently. “What? But…” Confusion lies thick over his voice.

I let out a tiny laugh and continue the song, setting up a heartbroken expression as I spin around to face him: “That's right, to keep you safe and sound, dear. Guess I always knew this day was coming… Knew that soon you'd want to leave the nest… Soon, but not yet…”

“…Y/N…” Dean’s voice is serious, but lighter than I would expect. Good. He is at least curious, and there is an outburst of laugher bobbing just under the surface.

Putting one finger over his lips, I look up at him through my eyelashes, trying to sound as innocent as I possibly can. “Shh! Trust me, pet: Y/N knows best.” The song is interrupted by Sam’s loud chuckle, and I shoot him a theatrical glare. He bites his lips together, breathing hard through his nose.

Satisfied, I resume my singing: “Listen to your Y/N: it's a scary world out there. Y/N knows best, one way or another something will go wrong, I swear,” I sing, growling under my breath, “ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes… The plague!” Dipping dramatically backwards to look into Dean’s eyes, I flop an arm over my forehead and sigh loudly.

He rolls his eyes, but the corners of his mouth curls up. “No –“

“Yes!”

Sam clamps a hand over his mouth to mute the laugh that bubbles over his tongue as I swirl over the floor like a ballerina out for blood, jumping out of my way when I tiptoe in his direction.

Continuing, I snarl and bare my teeth and curl my fingers to claws. “Also large bugs, men with pointy teeth, and… Stop, no more, you'll just upset me. Y/N’s right here – Y/N will protect you.  Darling, here's what I suggest: Skip the drama, stay with… uh… Y/N… Y/N knows best!”

Dean sits down in a chair and rubs his eyes. “Really, Y/N? There are monsters to kill, innocents to save –“

He has always been more stubborn than is good for him, but I can play that game too. Drawing a completely serious face, I make my lower lip tremble before continuing: “Go ahead, get trampled by a rhino.”

“Rhino? What?”  Dean mouths to Sam, who shrugs and giggles behind his hand.

“Go ahead, get mugged and left for dead! Me, I'm just your…” I hesitate; what are we, really? I know what I’d like to be, but… “Best friend, what do I know? I only bathed, and changed, and nursed you – yeah, no, ew, sorry – Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it… Let me die alone here, be my guest! When it's too late, you'll see, just wait: Y/N knows best.” Leaning wearily on an empty chair, I close my eyes and inhale slowly, turning my face away from Dean and Sam before twisting around and dancing energetically around Dean’s chair.

“Y/N knows best, take it from your Y/N, on your own, you won't survive!” I belt out, pulling on his t-shirt – it’s so soft and warm I almost lose my train of thought – before skipping off again, “sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy: please, they'll eat you up alive!”

Dean shakes his head, and waves Sam away with his hand. He knows I won’t let him go on this hunt. Internally I roar from the victory.

Coming to a swaying halt in front of Dean again, I smile and lower my voice to an affectionate whisper: “gullible, naïve, positively grubby… Ditzy and a bit, well, hmm vague. Plus, I believe, gettin' kinda chubby.” I pinch his cheeks, but shake my head. Dean is anything but chubby, and the thought brings fire to my face.

“I'm just saying 'cause I wuv you… Y/N understands, Y/N’s here to help you: all I have is one request… Dean?” I ask, looking soberly into his eyes.

“Yes?” he replies with a look that almost takes my breath away.

“Don't ever ask to leave this bunker again,” I finish, fluttering my eyelashes and smiling shyly, hoping that thing I saw in his eyes wasn’t just in my imagination.

Putting a strong arm around my waist, he pulls me close with a shit-eating grin. “Yes, Y/N.” He thinks for a moment: “If you promise to stay with me.”

Gaping, I stare at him, unable to say anything at all, but I think I manage a tiny nod.

“Y/N, I love you,” Dean mutters, looking very much like an embarrassed schoolboy.

“I love you more,” I whisper back, barely daring to breathe.

“I love you most.”

Somewhere in the bunker I vaguely register a door slamming shut and an engine roaring to life, but I am too lost in Dean’s eyes to care.

Tagging my wonderful Rapunzels:

@awesomeahwu @brynleewolfe @funwithfanfics @babeinthebowtie @savingapplepie-eatingthings @winchesterprincessbride @savvythedork @littlegreenplasticsoldier @youtubehelpsmesurvive @blackcherrywhiskey @mrswhozeewhatsis @schwarzwaelder-kirschtorte @aiaranradnay @fandomismyspiritanimal @barneybrigade  @mogaruke @wstrumpel @whovianextrodinare @hennessy0274-blog @sushi-senpai-chan @tardis-is-mine @badasssweetsrebel @jensensjaredsandmishaslover @megasimpleplan4ever @bitch-i-am-a-dean-girl @iruff685 @kathaswings

[iamthechocobabe]

Hiii! Can i request an imagine with Prompto? Considering his origins he probably would't be able to have kids, or so he thought until, ten years later his captive, his s/o tells him she is pregnant. However his old insecurities and knowing he should tecnically be sterile lead Prompto to think his lover cheated on him with Ignis, whom his s/o has grown close in the years. Happy endings but a little angst in the middle :) thank you!

I honestly love this so much. If I wasn’t over the word count so much already, I would include Ignis more in it, but I like to think that it’s not half bad. Hopefully anon will agree! I also tried to keep the gender of the baby neutral since I wanted the reader to imagine the gender as the gender they would someday want if or when they had kids. 

Tagging the senpais: @roses-and-oceans @bespectacled-girl (I know you don’t want kids but indulge me) @gladiolus-mamacitia @itshaejinju 

Please Believe MePromptoXReaderSFWWord Count: 4,116

“I’m…a Lucian" 

That face, the face that has haunted Prompto’s nights for a little over ten years. That same fucking face that was always more daemonish than it was in the memory, the face that appeared in the dream with screaming children behind him that were bred and forced into being daemonish machines like livestock as they all reached out to Prompto, begging him with their eyes to kill them. Even Prompto, with his pretty knowledgeable skills with a gun, wouldn’t be able to give all of those children in his dreams the mercy they so much deserved, as there was always so many of them. But the man, the face with the horrifically stinky breath that made Prompto’s insides rot whenever it reached Prompto’s icy cold cheeks, the face that was a monster and daemon in every sense of the word…

That monster who was supposedly his father…

Always there, in his dreams, to tell him his worst fears. 

"You’re nothing but a failure," 

Prompto stares into the mean eyes of a man so devoid of life, of humanity that Prompto feels his own soul being sucked away-but despite it all, he manages his next sentence as he always does in his dream…his nightmare. "I-I’m not one of your experiments," 

"You’re nothing but a clone-you can never possibly have a normal life," 

It wasn’t true-he was normal, Prompto could recognize that he was dreaming because memories of his recent life, ten years after being trapped in Niflheim were coming back to him in a wave of a wonderful and happy life that he desperately clinged to, even in his dreams. 

Falling in love with you. "She could never love you," Asking you to marry him. "You could never make her happy," The tears that flowed from your eyes and the smile you gave him when you said yes. "She will leave," Those same exact tears and smile when you told him you were pregnant."You cannot be her husband. You cannot be a father," 

Father…night upon night of this same exact dream and this bastard never questioned Prompto’s ability to be a father until now. The gall of this man, the man who had bred and passed his own ‘children’ around like a litter of puppies, all for his twisted and demeaning experiments. This man, questioning his ability to be a father. 

"I am a better father than you could ever be,” The words muttered are so dark and shaky from anger that even Prompto doesn’t recognize his own voice. 

“You are a clone,” 

“Shut up,” Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, Prompto told himself, tried to convince himself that it was time to wake up. 

“You are worthless," 

"Shut. UP,” He knew he was dreaming-all he had to do was…wake up. 

“Failure," 

"SHUT UP,” He was screaming, but he didn’t care-Prompto looked up and opened his eyes to face the man who was one of the most evil men Prompto had ever met, save short for Ardyn Izunia…

But Verstael Besithia was gone-and in his place stood Prompto’s best friend, the person who Prompto thought could never ever betray him and didn’t have a bitter bone in his body. The person who grew closer and closer to you, the love of Prompto’s life, every single day, the person who Prompto began to dread seeing every day more and more. 

Ignis Scientia, who whispered one word that made Prompto’s heart practically stop. 

“Infertile,”

Prompto’s eyes popped open and he involuntarily shot up in bed, out of breath and looking wildly around the room. When he discovered he was back in the small two bedroom house you two had bought together, back in the bedroom with the curtains you had picked out and all of Prompto’s candid, selfies and glossy photo collages plastered in various spots on the wall, he knew the dream had ended. It was done, it was just a dream…

Prompto hears you mumble in your sleep, opening your eyes blearily to stare at your husband of four years with a sleepy smile that Prompto loved more and more every time he saw it. Your voice was deep and raspy with sleep, showing that you were barely awake, but you still managed to ask your husband if he was alright, if he needed you. 

And Prompto, knowing he could never, ever voice his concerns to you, just smiled softly and whispered words of reassurance. “Just a nightmare, babe. Go ahead and go back to sleep," 

"You sure?" 

"Yeah," 

"Wake me up if you need me,” Was your sleepy response before slipping back into the realms of unconciousness, relieved that you didn’t have to wake up for a few more hours and too tired to wonder why Prompto’s eyebrows were dipped downwards with worry. And when your breathing had returned to relaxed with a deep sigh to show that you were once again asleep, Prompto’s eyes traveled down to your swollen belly, so swollen that you looked ready to pop anyday now. And he remembers those horrific words from his dream that he’s had every night since you announced your pregnancy. 

“Infertile,”

“So, the doctor says the baby moved so it’s feet first and it’s head is upward, so we think that weird lump on the top of my stomach is just the baby’s elbow or arm," 

"Well, that is a relief-I told you it was nothing serious, but you insisted on worrying”

“Yes, yes, once again you never fail to point out how right you are,” You joke once again as you continue to fold laundry with your cellphone balanced against your ear to better hear Ignis’ refined accent through the speaker. Prompto stood off to the side, making both of you lunch as he had been given paternity leave from the Citadel since you were due any day now. Ignis, of course, had to call in and check with you two every few days to make sure you were doing alright and that Prompto was handling his responsibilities as a new father. 

And Ignis talked about that, but you two mostly spent the time talking and joking with each other about various things. The baby, that crazy hunt you two had gone on shortly after you and Prompto got married, how angry Prompto was when he heard that Ignis had let you go…you and Ignis had practically become inseparable ever since that hunt and the man was usually over to your guy’s house every other night for dinner. 

While being with Prompto was wonderful and you loved your husband to absolute death and beyond, you had to admit that it was just nice to have a friend other than Iris-Iris was sweet, but she could be a bit of a handful at times and it was nice to have someone calm and rational like Ignis to talk and comfort you when you were worried about the health of the baby. Whenever you expressed worry to Prompto, he would start panicking as well and insist on taking you to the hospital, but Ignis was far more rational, subdued and actually quite knowledgeable in health and pregnancy tips, usually spending his time calming you down. 

“And you insist on not knowing the gender?” For the fiftieth time ever since you announced your pregnancy, Ignis asked the question. You catch Prompto looking at you out of the corner of your eye with a strange look, like he was wary about something, but when you quirked an eyebrow at him he just shook his head and mouthed 'never mind’ before going back to making lunch. 

For the fiftieth time, you told him. “Yeah, Prompto and I want it to be a surprise," 

"Of course-how is the father to be anyway?" 

"Nervous, I think…he’s been very quiet for the past few months,” You glance over your shoulder at your husband, expecting him to be looking at you since his name was brought up and you had said the last bit rather loudly to hope and get him to start talking again, but he just continued to cook while zoned out in his own world. 

“Tell him I said hello," 

You place the folded lingerie that had you blushing slightly as for what its initial purpose was (hint, hint, something to do with the baby) and turn back to Prompto with one hand on the phone and the other resting on your swollen belly. "Ignis says hi," 

Sizzling water from the bowling pot on the stove is the only sound you hear from Prompto, the blonde man still staring with a dazed look out the window that sat over your sink that had a picture of you two on your first wedding anniversary sitting on the window sill. "Prompto?” You repeat yourself, but Prompto still just stares out the window, his gaze slowly moving over to the picture, one of your favorites. 

Waddling over to him, you gently pat Promtpo’s arm to get his attention while trying to fight your worry for him. “Prompto," 

Blinking, Prompto looks at you in shock as if he had forgotten you were in the room with him and coughs a little. "What?" 

"Ignis says hi…” You pause to wait for Prompto’s response, but his eyes just fall back to your first anniversary photo-why did he look so sad when he stared at that photo? “Are you okay?" 

Cobalt blue eyes still stared off into the distance but Prompto forced a fake smile at you. "Yeah, I’m fine-tell him I said hi back," 

"Okay,” You give him an odd look while saying it slowly and make a mental note to talk to him about it after hanging up with Ignis-something was obviously bothering your husband. “He says hi, too," 

"Great-I have to go, but is it still alright for me to come for dinner tonight?" 

"You know it’s fine-who else would we rely on to cook our dinner?” You giggle but out of the corner of your eye, you notice that Prompto is gripping onto the counter tightly, his jaw tightening as well. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” You hang up the phone and look back at your husband with a quirked eyebrow. “So, that was Ignis…" 

"I know,” Prompto practically snarls the word, causing you to be taken back by his sudden harsh tone over a seemingly innocent statement. 

“What’s going on with you?” You demanded, placing your phone on the counter and trying to get him to face you. 

Prompto swats your hand away and stares at you with a fear and sadness in his eyes, a fear you hadn’t seen since Noctis had come back from the crystal and the news he heard when his best friend was gone. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut like he’s trying hard not to think of something, he just barks “Nothing,” before shoving past you and heading out of the house. 

“Prompto?” You call his name, but he’s already slammed the door shut by the time you finish.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

The whole time you had been on the phone with Ignis, Prompto had argued with himself that he was being irrational, that his fears weren’t justified and that you would never betray him. And then his eyes would fall to your stomach and he would hear the words from his dream again. 

Infertile. 

He was a clone-he wasn’t supposed to live a long life and he wasn’t supposed to have children, based on all of the notes from Verstael Besithia. The thought of your child not being his had never crossed his mind until he saw how close you and Ignis were one night and he remembered a document he had seen while in the Niflheim facility that gave information about clones life expectancy and how they were made sterile in the process due to a faulty enzyme. Now, it was every single day when his brain would scream that the child wasn’t his…and it wasn’t long until his brain began to argue that it was Ignis’ child. 

Ignis wouldn’t do that to you-she wouldn’t do that to you. 

But the thoughts were still there and it seemed even after walking around for three hours with no real aim of where he was going, those thoughts weren’t going to leave. So, he figured he might as well head back to the house; he would probably just apologize to you, saying he was just nervous about being a father and insist that he was alright. 

You probably wouldn’t believe him, but-but he just couldn’t face it. He couldn’t face the idea that the child growing in your tummy wasn’t his and if he confessed his fears to you, he would have to face an inevitable truth. Besides, it didn’t really matter…he knew. He knew-you would probably deny it, but he knew it was impossible for him to have children. 

He knew that Ignis was the father of your child. 

And there was nothing he could ever do about it. 

Walking up to the front porch light, Prompto blinked the tears away from his eyes and forced a smile on his face. Part of him wanted to scream at you, wanted to get you to just admit it already so he could get on with his life. Fear was always there to stop him, though, so he walked in with his false promises of assurance on his tongue…

And saw you with your head on Ignis’ shoulder.

“Prompto,” Sniffling after having a tear filled conversation about why Prompto was so angry at you with Ignis, you stood up to face him. “We were just-" 

"Stop it,” The sharp tone Prompto had was gone-it was instead replaced with a tone that just seemed sad. Defeated. Like he couldn’t fight something anymore, though you didn’t know what he was fighting. 

“Prompto, what’s-” You try to talk but Prompto, with his cellphone gripped tightly in his hand, chucks it at the far side of the wall with a strength many people didn’t know he had that shattered the phone into large bits of plastic and a cracked screen. 

“Stop it,” Tears are falling freely down Prompto’s cheeks and it breaks your heart to see it and you start to approach your husband to give him a hug to be stopped by Ignis with a hand on your shoulder. Seeing the action Ignis made just seemed to break Prompto’s heart even further and he gritted his teeth. “Just stop it already…I’m done. Just admit it," 

You’re not sure how your face looks, but you’re pretty positive you look confused and worried because that’s what your body is being overcome with. Shaking your head, you blink confusedly at Prompto and tilt your head a little as if to show him how confused you were. "Admit what? What are you-" 

"The kid’s not mine," 

For the past few months, there had been a million reasons why Prompto was so quiet around you. Maybe he was nervous, maybe he was worried for your well being…a million reasons…

But you lying about who the father of the baby is was never one of them. 

Prompto didn’t need validation, he didn’t need to know the truth. Your color drained face and shocked expression said it all-he couldn’t see Ignis’ expression behind his glasses, but Prompto could see that his so called 'best friend’ was grim. It was so obvious…how could he have been so stupid? He hadn’t planned on confronting you or Ignis, but when Prompto saw how comfortable you two were, the words were out of his mouth before he realized it. 

And now the thought of staying anywhere near you two made him want to vomit. "I’m going to stay at Gladio’s," 

"Prom, it’s not-" 

"Prompto!" 

Prompto ignored both you and Ignis’ desperate pleas and stalked out of the house with tears practically blinding him-he would have walked into the road and in front of an incoming car had he not heard the far off honking of said car just as his foot reached the pavement. Luckily he stopped himself and made himself find the sidewalk before walking down it, feeling so unbelievably betrayed…his best friend. And his wife. And they were going to lead him to believe for Gods knew how long that the kid was Prompto’s. 

So stupid. Why was he so stupid? 

"Prompto, WAIT!" 

Your desperate scream that echoed off your neighbors houses and rippled through the night made Prompto stop and turn around to see you, an eight month pregnant woman who was due for labor any day now, running at full speed towards him with eyes wide and one hand on your stomach to try and balance yourself as you ran. 

Prompto was betrayed, he was hurt beyond belief, but apparently he couldn’t stop any love he felt towards you because he immediately raced to you to get you to stop running. "Don’t run, are you crazy?" 

"You-you-” You stop and bend over for a second, breathing harshly and trying to catch your breath. Prompto forced breath into his lungs, knowing that this was where you would tell him that you hadn’t wanted him to find out this way, that you still loved him or cared for him as a friend, blah blah blah. 

Far off, Prompto could see Ignis standing by hesitantly with his arms folded as you still tried to catch your breath, clearly itching to race to his new love and Prompto had the urge to go and strangle his former friend. Ignis was handsome and could get any girl in the world and he chose you. Prompto’s wife. 

Bastard. 

“You-you-” You were still trying hard to catch your breath and Prompto winced a little at how desperate you were. 

“Don’t say anything-it’s not-" 

"You. are. the father. of my. CHILD!!!!” You finally managed to tear your scream out at him and Prompto stood in shock…you were still denying it. He knew it was impossible for him to be the father of your baby, yet you still denied it. 

It was time for a wake up call. 

Saying your name harshly, Prompto practically spits his words at you from anger as he uses his hands to make gestures towards himself to prove a point. “I’m a clone. I’m sterile-I’m infertile. I can’t. have. children. So why don’t you just come off of it already?" 

"You-” You glance up at Prompto, the color still drained from your face and tears forming and he felt hope that you would finally tell the truth. Apparently not, though, as Prompto listened to your desperate pleas again. “That’s-that’s impossible, Prompto," 

"Just admit the father is Ignis!” Prompto screamed, ignoring the lights from the neighbor’s houses turning on and seeing curtains being pulled back to observe the commotion. 

“But it’s NOT!” You screamed at him, still hunched over and coughing harshly from running far too hard for someone who was as pregnant as you. Prompto told himself not to fall for your tears, but your face was genuine and your tears seemed legit as you continued to scream at him. “The father is you! IT’S YOU! I’ve never had sex with anyone BUT you since we started dating, so it’s NOT. POSSIBLE!!!" 

"I’m infertile! How many times do I have to say it before you finally get it? I know the truth. I know, okay?” Shaking his head, Prompto finally turned and walked away with the idea of Gladio’s apartment in his mind but your anguished scream made him turn around. 

When he saw you on your knees and clutching your stomach, Prompto couldn’t help it no matter how angry or betrayed he felt-he tore himself over to you and cradled your shoulders gently as you continued to sob uncontrollably, muttering words that Prompto couldn’t understand because you were crying so hard. He tried to calm you down, but felt his eyes widen when he saw the dark patch of damp clothing that appeared on your maternity pants. 

“I’ve summoned an ambulance,” If Prompto wasn’t so worried about you, he would have told Ignis to piss off, but you gripped onto Prompto’s cheeks and made him make eye contact with you. 

Your eyes were wide with fear and were tinged with red swelling, but you kept talking, trying something-anything-to convince him that this baby was his. “It’s you-the father is you. I would never do that to you, I would never hurt you like that. Neither would Ignis…please, Prompto, I can’t do this without you," 

"But I’m-” Prompto tried to argue, but your grips on his cheeks tightened as you continued to sob. 

“I love you, Prompto Argentum. I love you so fucking much, please believe me. I would never lie to you about this, this baby is yours. You’re going to be a father-I want to do this with you, I want to be a mother to your baby. Please, I’m begging you, please-" 

Prompto shakes his head and finally tries to soothe you, telling you that you were overworking yourself and that you should stop panicking, but you shake your head vehemently, the sobbing making your contractions even worse as you gripped onto Prompto’s shoulders and held onto him for dear life. "I love you-I’m having a baby with you," 

Looking into your eyes, Prompto couldn’t see any doubt, any lies in your tear filled orbs as you continued to beg…but Prompto’s thoughts went back to those stupid documents, those documents that he wished he’d never seen. 

"I was so nervous when I told you I was pregnant,” You confessed, hoping and praying he would see that you were telling the truth. “I was so nervous that you didn’t want to be a father, that you weren’t ready. But you were so happy, so thrilled and I couldn’t not be enthusiastic as well. I don’t know what I did to make you doubt that you were the father of the baby, but you are. You’re the father," 

"Alright-” Prompto tries to soothe you, but the ambulance’s sharp sirens cover his words as it pulls up. The next few minutes are a blur and before you know it, you’re loaded onto a stretcher and are being whisked away into an ambulance. 

Prompto had never felt so torn in his life…logic told him that it wasn’t possible that the baby was yours, but you seemed so sure. You were positive that Prompto was the father-so either you were determined to keep up the ruse or-

Feeling a sharp whack on the back of his head, Prompto looked in shock and a little in anger at Ignis, who stood there looking angry at Prompto as well-well, at his cheek, really since he couldn’t see where Prompto’s eyes were. 

“You are the father, you imbecile,” Ignis spat, the anger in his tone evident by his milky eyes and his furious stance. “Are you so dense that you don’t know your own wife?" 

As if to clarify how much you loved and needed him, Prompto heard you scream his name from inside the ambulance and desperately ask the ambulance techs inside the cab where your husband was. 

"If the father is out here, we need to go!” The driver of the ambulance started to get into the car and called out for the father-for Prompto-was Prompto the father? Was it possible? 

“Prompto!” Prompto’s heart broke the second he heard your desperate voice and pleading for him as he felt his resistance to be by your side break away piece by piece. “I’m-I’m scared-I don’t want to be alone, Prom, please-" 

Any resistance he felt was now shattered and Prompto practically shoved the poor techs aside so he could scramble into the ambulance to be by your side.

Small gentle cooing woke you up to see yourself in a much more comfortable room in the hospital than what you were originally in when you finally gave birth. Following the sound, you saw the baby’s father and the person you felt you loved more and more each and every day cooing at the small bundle in his arms as the baby continued to stare up in wonder at their father. 

Prompto looked up and saw you staring and he smiled at you brightly. "They have your hair," 

"They have your eyes,” you repeat what you had said when the baby had first been born and Prompto had seemed too nervous to hold the baby. When you had scooted over to give Prompto room to sit on the hospital bed with you, he seemed to be more comfortable in holding the baby then. 

“You’re the father,” you repeat again, looking for any sort of doubt or resentment in Prompto’s eyes. 

There was none as Prompto just smiled at you. “I know,”

[luna-orlha]

Title: The Road of Hearts  Fandom: Naruto Genre: Angst ; Hurt/Comfort ; Romance Ship: Shikamaru/Sakura Characters: Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino Word count: 8,281 Triggers(s): PTSD Rating: T  Additional Tags: major character deaths, Falling in love, developing relationships Summary: After the 4th Shinobi war, Sakura finds herself stuck in the past, unable to move on, not realising Shikamaru has always been there.

Ao3

----

Sakura spends a good two hours every day at the memorial stone. The shadows in which she sits in never touch the stone. She visits so often that she now recognises the guards that guard the park.

It’s night time when she visits today. This time she pulls out a large bottle of sake and pours it into a cup, next to a cup of shochu that Kakashi loves. ‘Loved,’ she corrects herself.

The pinkette sinks to the ground in front of the two cups and takes a generous swig from the sake bottle. The moon above is thin and narrow, like how Kakashi’s eyes would crease when he smiled. Sakura can see small puffs of clouds as she exhales, taking another gulp of the sake. She can almost hear the incessant babble of Naruto talking about things that happened while she was in the hospital, the quiet flipping of the book that Kakashi never really read but pretended to anyway.

“It’s been two years, sensei, Naruto-kun,” she says, quietly. Two years since the war ended, two years since the fight that Kakashi and Naruto died in, since the traitor executed, since her parents died. It’s not the same for everyone. Some, like Ino and Shikamaru, only found about the deaths of their loved ones at the end of the war. Sakura might not have the sharingan-aided memory like Kakashi, but she held their cold bodies, remembers the fight that ended their lives, remembers the last conversation she had with them.

“I was going to be your best man, Naruto,” Sakura chuckles lowly. “Hinata would have looked amazing in the white kimono beside you.”

She takes a swig of the sake bottle, the clear liquid mixing with the salty taste of her tears. They were her family. How she loved them. She palms the tears away, tilting her face towards the dark star-specked sky.

“Team seven rule number one, never leave a man behind. Team seven rule number two, don’t die,” Sakura says to the crisp winter air, feeling a shiver run down her spine. “This is my home and I will defend it with my dying breath. See, sensei? I can still remember it. I still remember, yet why am I the only one left? You left me behind.”

Her face is pressed against a warm back when she wakes. She should recognises the scent of grass and dusty shadows, except she can’t. Sakura blinks blearily at the dark hair, her arms thrown over the man’s shoulders, the man’s arms looped around her legs as they trudge down the dark streets.

It’s been two years and even though Konoha is in a better shape as compared to a year ago, it is nowhere as prosperous as it was before the war. Streetlights are turned off in wee hours of the night to save electricity.

“Sasuke?” Sakura muses, half-asleep, then reels back mentally. It can’t be Sasuke, the bastard is dead, deader than the dirt.

“Still asleep?” the low baritone asks, not taking offense that she had just mistaken him for the one of the biggest traitors in Konoha’s history. “You know, when I promised Kakashi-senpai that I would take care of you, I didn’t think he meant coming out at two am to carry you home.”

Sakura hides her face in the man’s vest. “Then he shouldn’t have died.”

“No, he shouldn’t have,” he agrees. “Next time, you should just bring me along from the beginning instead. Or tell me where you’re going to be at least.”

Sakura could hear the worry in his voice, the tension in his body dissipating with each step he takes. With pretty much everyone that had cared for her dead, she can’t put a finger on who this person might be. Sakura lifts her head to squint at the man’s face. His dark hair hangs down and despite missing his usual spiky ponytail, she’s not even sure how she had mistaken Shikamaru for Sasuke. The height, the width of the shoulders and even the low burn of chakra from his core is different.

“Shikamaru?”

He sighs. His warm hand tightens around Sakura’s thighs almost painfully. “Ino was worried. She woke up in the middle of the night and you were gone. You didn’t even leave a note.”

The gravel beneath Shikamaru’s sandals crunches loudly. Sakura can feel the low hum of the patrols hopping past them, Shikamaru circulating chakra to keep his body warm. She understands now why Shishou had drunk so much now. The world without Kakashi, Naruto, shishou, her parents and all those she had considered precious to her, is a world not worth living for.

“You know, you still have us,” Shikamaru says. “Even without senpai and team seven, you still have Ino and me left. We aren’t going anywhere.”

No you aren’t, but you weren’t there from the beginning, she thinks.

It is New Year’s day and Sakura is lying against the tree when she senses Shikamaru land next to her, dropping a jacket over her. “You should bring your jacket out next time,” he sighs. He lights out a cigarette and sits down beside her like he has nowhere else to be. Shikamaru is clan head now. It’s traditional for the clan heads to visit their clan members on New Year’s day. Sakura remembers reading this in the books. It had fascinated her back then, back when reading was for leisure. She doesn’t ask, though. The warmth of his body beside her anchors her, holding her afloat so she’s not drowning. If she asks, she fears he might leave and she doesn’t want to be alone.

She scoots a little closer to him and he sighs. “Are you still cold?” he asks. Shikamaru puts an arm around her, holding her close to him, letting her siphon heat from his body. Pulling a bottle out from his pocket, he uncorks it and hands it to her.

“I thought you didn’t want me to drink anymore.” Her lips quirked as she sips on the sake that Shikamaru brought.

“Not alone. I don’t want you to be passed out alone.”

“Sakurrrrrraaaa, are you drunk again? What did we agree on drinking?” Naruto pokes her in the cheek. She grumbles and bats him away.

“Yes, no drinking alone.”

He heaves her onto his shoulder. “Are we going to be imitating our Shishous? Does that mean I should start peeking into bathhouse?”

Her hand clutches the corner of Shikamaru’s vest, trying to ride out the crest of emotions. Her favourite loud-mouthed person, her adopted brother, her best friend. She misses him so much that she can feel the ache in her chest. The more time passes, the less she remembers of him, of them. What did his laughter sound like?

“Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, what do you think stars are made of?”

“Fire, balls of fire,” she whispers out loud and finally remembers how Naruto chortled at her response. A low bellied snort, him leaning over, gasping and clutching his stomach.

“Really Sakura? Fire? That sounds more ridiculous than ero-sennin giving up peeping!”

“The year Jiraiya-sama died, we sat under this tree and shared a bottle of sake together. We did it every first Saturday of the month after that. As if to confirm that we were still alive, still… together.”

She trembles at the memory, trying to stop the heat in her eyes from escaping. Shikamaru holds her tighter, not saying a word when she presses her wet eyes into his vest. His warm hand rubs up and down her arm, the scent of his cigarette smoke enveloping her like a shield.

Sakura feels him press a kiss into her hair. “It’s okay. We’re here.” His chest rises as he takes a slow breath to exhale. “It’s okay. We’re here,” he tells her.

 Sakura completes her mission, dropping her scrolls off at the outpost. A hawk screeches above as she jumps from branch to branch. The sound of the trees swaying in the breeze seems to whisper her name.

Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan.

She thinks that her parents must have called for her when they died in the village. She left them to die instead of protecting them like she promised to. It wasn’t not her fault, Sakura reminds herself. She was out fighting for a war, not knowing the enemies that snuck into their camp. She couldn’t have known.

She crouches, placing her head between her legs. Her lungs burn, begging for a gasp of air that she can’t seem to find. ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ she reiterates to herself, even though the guilt that sits heavily in her chest belies her words.

Sakura runs. Not to Konoha. Sakura runs as fast as her feet would take her away from Konoha, from the memorial stone, from the memories. The sun sets and rises, and still she runs. Perhaps for three days straight, she runs, finally hitting the shore where she stops, panting. Her feet are burning, a jag of agony rippling through her when she collapses to her knees on the sandy beach.

“It’s not my fault!” Sakura screams to the waves. The waves swish and roar to her words. Even if she knows it’s not her fault, it still feels like her fault. She kneels, head pressed against the wet sand, and cries.

“Hurry up Sakura-chan! We’re gonna drag teme back!”

Her breaths are coming in harsh, stuttering gasps. Sakura claws the sand, her body now prone on the cold ground.

“Maa, there’s no hurry. My cute little genin has no need to hurry to become jounin yet. Sensei will be there for you when you need.” His single eye crinkles in his distinct manner, ruffling her hair.

“You p-promised…” She lies on the beach and falls asleep. 

Sakura doesn’t return to Konoha. Instead, she runs even more, this time putting her old sensei’s stealth skills into use. She dulls her chakra signature to a civilian's and hides her scent with a time-worn anbu skill. Days turn into weeks and before she realises it, her once shoulder-length hair is only short of a few inches off of the small of her back. Her once-vivid hair is now a very pale pink, bleached by the excessive sun she’s been under, and her skin has been darkened by the sun then lightened by the cold winter. ‘Almost silver like Kakashi-sensei,’ she thinks. She spends her time traversing the lands. She spends her nights sleeping on rooftops or trees or occasionally beneath rocks, stealing a bath from homes with no one around or a quick cold one in the stream. She sees how the Kumo Country is, through the various Kusa towns but it’s in Kiri when she finds a familiar orange book in a bookshop.

The book is new, the glossy cover still shiny with dark bold words printed on it.

“How can you prefer ‘Icha Icha Paradise’? Obviously ‘Icha Icha Tactics’ is far superior.” He levels an unimpressed dark grey eye at her.

“That’s the last copy of ‘Icha Icha Tactics’,” the bookshop manager says. “They haven’t been printing anymore. Heard the writer passed away, how sad.”

Sakura puts the last of her money on the counter and buys it. The book smells of new pages, white pages instead of Kakashi’s yellowed, dog-eared copy. She cries as she reads it and then reads some more.

 It is in Kiri that she spends the longest time. Not for the dreary weather or the equally dreary food. It’s the relative solitude in the mountains that lures her to stay there. The heavy mist providing a natural deterrent to any non-shinobis and any shinobis can’t detect her with the genjutsu seals she sets around her tiny cave. That only lasts until a wounded kiri-nin trying to get home passes out close to her perimeter. Unable to ignore the instilled medic code in her, Sakura picks the shinobi up and carries him to her cave. She heals most of his life-threatening wounds and returns to where she found him, wiping their presences from the forest.

His pursuers dash past her cave and circle the area several times, aware that there’s something there but unable to tell what. Sakura watches them from the tree branch, the hair on the back of her neck raising, her hand inching to her kunais. She might need to fight and she really doesn’t want to, far too aware that solo practice would never be good enough compensation for battle-honed instincts.

She flings herself off the tree even before the three shinobis could finish saying ‘kai’. “Now, now, boys,” Sakura drawls, projecting her best imitation of Kakashi. Her kunai digs into a shinobi’s throat as he swallows lightly. “We don’t want anyone to die, now do we?”

“Kenichi! What are you doing?” hisses a younger shinobi to the older one when he doesn’t move.

“Shut up, Ryoma!” Kenichi shoots back. “Can’t you tell? It’s Bone-smasher Haruno Sakura!”

The one called Ryoma snaps his head back to her in surprise. “I thought she had pink hair!”

“I fought beside her during the war! I recognise her chakra signature.” Kenichi bows. “Please Haruno-sama, let us talk this through. We have no grievances with you... even though you’re clearly on Kiri’s territory. We weren’t even aware that you were here. The last I heard you were… missing?”

He winces at his implied words and Sakura is immensely amused. When had they started documenting her presence? Was it when she became Tsunade’s apprentice? When she defeated Sasori? Or maybe when she defeated hundreds of Zetsu with her strength and earned her much dreaded title. The older shinobi shuffles uneasily under her stare but it serves to only irritate the younger one.

His blond hair is muted in the mist and like most ninjas with less experience, he lets off a loud roar as he pounces towards her. Sakura ducks, her hand catching Ryoma’s wrist. She tosses him into a tree, shunshining towards him.

It turns out, months of disuse in active combat doesn’t really dull her senses.

She dodges and evades the young shinobi’s jutsus and kunais with an ease and wonders if this is how Kakashi felt when he fought against team seven for the first time.

He corrects her stance and runs through them with her over and over again. “This is the Hatake kata. Firm and unyielding.”

She can see all the holes in the shinobi’s defense, all the strikes she could take in an instant to end him. She doesn’t take them, not all, at least. Her fingers weave a rapid pattern across his skin, each strike promising a bruise.

He is lucky to get away with just bruises and his teammates know that.

“Ego is the downfall to all shinobis,” she tells him when he’s lying on the ground, panting. Sakura lengthened the fight on purpose, to humble him, but ego always has been the hardest thing to beat down.

“Fuck you,” he heaves. His teammates grab him and run before she can decide to kill him - not that she would.

They will be back eventually and by then… she will be gone. Her time in Kiri has run its course. Two months of solitude. She stares into the mist covered forest, trying to remember Konoha’s forest. Would leaving the village be considered abandoning her teammates?

“Those who break the rules are scums… but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.”

She thinks of the forest that surrounded her home. She thinks of the training sessions between Kakashi and her when she was the only one of team seven left. The warmth that filled her when he crinkled his eyes at her, assuring her that he wasn’t going to abandon her just because she was the last one.

“You are my heir, Sakura. Be proud.”

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei.”

Sakura shoulders her pack when the injured kiri-nin is awake and suitably healed by the week’s end. “Thank you, I don’t-” She waves the kiri-nin’s words away and disappears into the mist.

Her feet pauses on the Great Naruto Bridge.They serve Great Naruto Ramen on the Great Naruto Bridge. Sakura bursts into laughter as she eats the large pieces of naruto from her bowl of ramen.

‘If only Naruto could see this now,’ she thinks. ‘The Great Naruto serving Great Naruto Ramen on the Great Naruto Bridge.’

Sakura dreams of Naruto that night, the twelve year old Naruto bounding down the road in his bright orange outfit.

“We’re not giving up on our mission. A shinobi never gives up!”

She had forgotten about Naruto’s shinobi motto and as much as she wants to deny it, she isn’t fixing her problems by running away from it. Naruto wouldn’t have run from it, or at least Sakura thinks he wouldn’t. He was the most headstrong ninja she had ever met. The brother she always wanted.

“We have to stop him, Sakura-chan. It’s our responsibility.”

Naruto, in the end, had to back down on saving Sasuke in order to save the rest of his precious people. She knew it hurt him deeply, but he never showed it. His smiles had brightened the medic shelters. Naruto who never stopped working towards being a Hokage despite everyone’s disbelief.

“Ero-jiji told me once that a shinobi's life is not measured by how they lived but rather what they managed to accomplish before their death. She’s… dead right? The fourth shinobi war has ended… right? I did… okay, right?”

Naruto wouldn’t have wanted her to waste her away like this, to pine for him, for Kakashi-sensei, for those lost and gone. How could she not?

Sakura sits in front of the grave of the first shinobis that team seven killed. The first C-rank mission that started them on their path. She was weak then, she is still weak now.

Sakura looks at her hands, the hands that saved everyone except for the people that matter the most. What was the point of having these hands if she was going to lose everyone anyway?

“It’s okay. We’re here.”

Shikamaru who came for her to make sure she wasn’t passed out somewhere, Ino who worried enough to prod him into doing so for her. Ino must have given birth by now, Sakura remembers belatedly, and she wasn’t there for the birth of Ino's first child. What a terrible friend she is. She looks up and catches the tiny patch of bright blue sky amidst the heavy clouds, the bright blue sky that reminds her of Naruto’s eyes. The days have been growing in length too, the leaves are turning into a lush green. Sakura can feel the heat beat down on her now.

Then Sakura stops running.

The first patrol that finds her stops and stares - like they’re surprised to see her and they probably are. She’s been gone without leave for a long time. Even though she’s never done anything against Konoha or scratched out her hitai-te, it is right for them to label her as a missing-nin.

“Haruno Sakura?” the one in the sparrow’s mask asks. She nods. The four exchange a flurry of hand signals, all too fast for her to catch - then again, Sakura isn’t even trying. “Mouse will escort you to the Hokage’s office.”

Tree jumping on the Hashirama trees is something she missed, along with Ichiraku ramen. A pang of grief crawls over her shoulders, reminding her that Ichiraku ramen doesn’t exist anymore. The large gate looms into the horizon as they approach it. It’s larger than she remembers - the painted green gates with the nostalgic ‘peace’ painted on.

Her anbu escort skips her over the queue, right to where Kotetsu blinks at her identification card and back at her face. “Haruno Sakura?” He opens his mouth to ask more questions but is stopped when another anbu drops from the trees beside him.

“Go ahead.” The newly arrived anbu waves her on.

Sakura follows the anbu’s instructions, except she can’t help but think that they should have had a different reaction.

It is like she was not even missed.

She swallows, trying to press down the rising bile in her stomach. Would she be trialed for her disappearance, was she labelled as a missing-nin? Cold seeps into her limbs the longer she thinks about it. Part of her insists on turning and running away, the other part reminds her of Naruto. Sakura looks down. She’s wearing a dark blue sweater and pants, civilian wear mimicking a jounin outfit for her jounin uniform had long been worn into threads. Her hair is no longer the pastel pink that once was her iconic appearance. She rubs a thumb across her ID.

This Haruno Sakura isn’t her anymore.

Mouse, her anbu escort, cuts through the training grounds, through training ground seven where she spent the better part of her teenage years training. Instead of the large fields and tall trees, the training ground is now filled with sand and large rocks. It’s different. Everything is different.

She falters on a branch as the city and the main administration buildings comes into view.

They’re still red with red roof tiles, but it’s different, all of it. Taller, larger, bigger, not the three storey sprawl of buildings that she was used to.

“Haruno Sakura?” Mouse asks, his low baritone breaking into her war of thoughts.

Everything has moved on without her and she doesn’t fault them. How is Ino? How is Shikamaru? How is Hinata? Has she found one else? How is the hospital and Shizune? Would she be accepted back? She laughs - a mirthless, hard laugh. “W-would they even take me back?” she starts, unable to hold back the tide of questions. “Is there space for me? This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have run, I knew that. I just couldn’t take it. Ino must hate me, Kage, she must hate me so much. That I wasn’t strong enough, that I wasn’t-”

Mouse shakes her so hard that her teeth rattles. “Sakura, stop it.”

“I wasn’t good enough, not enough for anyone. They must look down on me now, that’s why no one-”

“Sakura!”

Her words still on her tongue, the pain on her cheek shocks her from her word vomit.

“Are you with me now, or do I need to slap you again?” Mouse asks. She nods, unable to trust her voice. Mouse takes a deep breath and then curses. “Goddamnit Sakura. I had this whole tirade for you when you got back, you know?”

She recognizes his voice, the way he speaks. “Shikamaru?”

“You disappeared, Sakura. Do you know have any idea how we felt?” He grips her by the shoulders; bony, gloved fingers digging into her flesh, hard enough to bruise. “Do you have any idea how I felt?” Mouse shoves his mask up, scrubbing his face with great fury. He has lines of worry set in his face. Mouse - no, Shikamaru looks exhausted.

“It’s not like I asked you to!” she retorts. Guilt churns in her stomach as soon as she sees the look on Shikamaru’s face - like he had been slapped. “Shika-”

He waves her off, briskly setting their pace.

 They slide through the open window. The room is different from the time of Tsunade. Dark chakra-infused concrete lines the floor and instead of one table, there are four tables manned by shadow clones and one in the center that has to be the Alpha.

“Hokage-sama, Haruno Sakura has returned.” Shikamaru bows to the one sitting in the middle.

“That’s good.” Neji sighs and motions Sakura to come forward. “Are you better now?” he asks, instead of reprimanding her like she expects.

“I… I… yes.” Sakura purses her lips then asks the one question that has been on her mind since she started her way back. “W-what is my designation, Hokage-sama?”

His pale purple eyes sweep across her. Despite the fact that Neji had been the Hokage even before she left, Sakura is unable to get used to seeing him behind the desk. She has the feeling that Tsunade was going to bustle through the doors any minute now with a bottle of sake (or a lollipop, if Shizune caught her first) in her hand.

“Tsunade was gone from Konoha for over a decade. I’m sure we could have spared you a few years.”

“A- a… few years?”

“You were gone for two years, Sakura.” Neji pulls out several forms from a drawer and then stamps it. “Get a new ID done and fill out these forms. There are some temporary dorms you can use while you find an apartment. Mouse-” A smile spreads across his face. “Mouse will help you get settled, won’t you?”

“Hokage-sama-” Shikamaru says, and Neji cuts him off with a wave.

“Welcome back, Sakura. I’ll see you in a week.” 

The next morning, by the time Sakura is done with her new ID, Shikamaru is standing outside the room waiting for her in his normal jounin uniform.

“All done?” he asks, pushing off the wall.

“You know you don’t actually have to ‘get me settled’, right?”

His shoulders sag and he drags a breath from the cigarette. “I know that, it’s just that I don’t want to be volunteered to be Gai’s morning partner or Tenten’s weapons tester. I might be one or the other if I'm not with you.”

At his words, Sakura could not help but chuckle. All the time spent away from Konoha had made her forget about Neji’s ridiculous punishments for recalcitrant shinobis. “Is Konohamaru still Gai’s morning practice partner?” she asks, remembering how Konohamaru had frequently broken the rules while she was still in Konoha and how he had hobbled over to her apartment after every practice, begging to be healed.

“Well, thankfully no. I think Gai hasn’t had a morning partner lately. Even Kiba has been smart about it and picked two months worth of D-ranks instead.”

They turn at a corner and Shikamaru leans an elbow on the counter. “Obaa-san! Two coffees to go.” Shikamaru turns to her. “You still take your coffee black with two sugars?”

“Y-yes. I would like to know why you still remember that.”

“Well, eidetic memory, remember?” He shrugs and turns back to the old lady. “One black with two sugars and one with milk.”

Sakura hasn’t had coffee for so long, she forgotten how it tasted. Full-bodied, the dark tones melding with the molasses and slightly bitter aftertaste. Her last cup had been just before she left for that mission.

Shikamaru chuckles, breaking her out of her musing. “Sorry.” He hides his smile behind a hand, averting his eyes from hers. “I’ve never seen anyone lose themselves in a cup of coffee.”

“S-sorry-” Sakura flushes, taking another gulp of her coffee. “I- I just realised I haven’t had coffee since… since I left.” Taking another sip to distract herself, Sakura could feel her cheeks heat up. Her tongue, unused to talking, is constantly tripping on itself, and Shikamaru’s piercing gaze did not help her nerves.

The walk to the realtors is silent, nothing like the comfortable silence that Shikamaru and her shared before she left. Two years was a long time. Outside of Konoha, time had slipped passed her without realising it, but now that she was back, she could see all the differences - in the buildings, in the trees, in Shikamaru. His face is sharper now, baby fat replaced with lean lines and despite his slouch, Sakura could see his shoulders are broader.

She turns her face, keeping her eyes on the road in front of them when Shikamaru glances at her. What do you say to a friend you abandoned two years ago? Sakura searches her mind for something to say, only to turn up nothing.

“Have you thought of what kind of apartment you want?”

She hasn’t. The apartment she lived in before disappearing had been Kakashi’s, and even though she had stayed there for two years, Sakura did not change anything. She hadn’t wanted an apartment by herself. Team seven was supposed to come back and share a house.

Sakura shakes her head mutely, not quite trusting her voice.

“Well, that’s fine. Perhaps you’ll know what you want after we’ve looked at a few.”

It takes her two days to find a new apartment that isn’t too far from the hospital and is close enough to a marketplace. With two rooms and a large living room leading into a kitchen, it is nothing like Kakashi’s old apartment. Ino bustles in, barely an hour after Shikamaru left, carrying several potted plants with her husband, Genma, behind carrying a couch.

“You need plants to brighten the place up,” Ino tells her like she’s never left Konoha, then motions to Genma to place the couch down.

“Ino-”

Ino angrily taps Sakura on forehead with enough force to leave a bruise then pulls her into a tight hug. “How dare you leave us, Forehead! I won’t allow you leaving like that again!”

“I- I’m sorry,” she tells Ino, her face hidden in Ino’s shoulder.

“You’ve no idea how worried we were!”

Genma chuckles, “Sakura-chan. Shikamaru and I were ordered by Ino to find you. We even had to call in the Inuzukas and the Aburames. You’re pretty good at hiding your scent.”

Ino shoots her husband a look. “Of course she is. Had she not been an outstanding medic, Sakura would have been the next Anbu Commander.”

“Ino! You’re not supposed to tell people-”

“Genma’s Anbu too and there are no secrets between us,” Ino says indignantly and clasps her hands on Sakura’s shoulders. “There are no secrets between us. Do you understand that? I don’t care how you hid yourself or where you went, you’re gonna tell me everything.”

She flicks her hair over her shoulders. “After all, while you were out gallivanting, poor me was stuck in Konoha with swollen ankles! Without my medic to help ease them.” Ino fakes a sob. “You haven’t even gotten to see your godson!”

“You-you have a s-son?” Sakura smiles wistfully, trying to imagine how Ino’s son would look.

Ino’s eyes soften. “He has Genma’s hair and my eyes, of course. I can show you later, he’s having his afternoon nap now. But first, we need to get you new clothes.” She picks at the standard jounin outfit that Sakura had just received with a look of disgust. “Standard outfits are all fine and dandy for fieldwear, but you are not wearing that when you’re off duty.”

Gripping Sakura’s hand, she spins to the door. “We’re going-”

“-Shopping, I heard you,” Genma says. The senbon in his mouth lifts with his grin. “I’ll be here for when Shikamaru comes back.” 

There are boxes in her apartment when she and Ino return three hours later. Genma hefts another box off his shoulders and drops it onto a neat tower.

“That’s the last box,” he tells Shikamaru

“What are these?” Sakura asks, peering at the labels on the boxes. Written on the boxes are the words ‘Kitchen’, ‘Books’, ‘Clothes’ and all in Shikamaru’s scrawny handwriting. She traces the words out with a finger, turning her head to Shikamaru. “A-are these…”

“Well, you were gone for awhile and…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. Sakura knows what he is thinking even without him finishing the rest of the sentence, but the idea that her friends had kept her stuff surprises her.

They weren’t there from the beginning, but they were there for the end, she corrects herself.

“You kept them?”

Ino scoffs loudly, folding her arms. “The landlord wanted to throw your stuff out, so Shikamaru took them.”

“Ino didn’t have space for your boxes because of Inojin, so she forced me to take them in,” Shikamaru amends Ino’s conclusion.

Unsure of how to react to their consideration, Sakura turns to the boxes, missing the angry glare Ino shoots at Shikamaru. There is the team seven photo wrapped carefully in bubble wrap in the first box she opens. Not the team seven with the traitor in it, but the one with Captain Tenzou and Sai in it. She peels it open, rubbing a finger over Kakashi’s face. His face looking resigned, his hair partly singed while Tenzou was leaping into the air to get away from the ink lions that Sai had drawn.

She remembers that training session. She remembers Kakashi teaching Sai a fire jutsu, who then turned around and tried to burn Kakashi.

“Sai! We’re on the same team. Same team!” Kakashi yelps, quickly casting a water jutsu to put out the fire, but not fast enough as it burns half of his hair away.

“That is for the four hour wait for last week. Ugly says that revenge is part of team dynamics.”

“Good job Sai!” Naruto crows from the other side of the field.

“It wasn’t for you, Dickless.”

“Stop calling me that! Or do I need to show you my dick again- wait wait, Sakura. No! Let me explain!”

“Are you okay?” Shikamaru asks, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura brushes the tears away and hugs him, then Ino. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Instead of being put back on the mission roster, Sakura throws herself back into fixing the hospital. It had been her responsibility after the war. Sakura doesn't think that being the most skilful medic means that she should be in charge of the hospital. Masashiro had been a far better administrator than she would ever be. Still, with politics and all, it means that because she was Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura is now the head of the hospital. Though she never wanted to be.

Sakura shuffles the papers, rifling through them as she rearranges them and stamps her seal of approval. The war and her subsequent departure had given her a taste of the field.

Still, Neji - Rokudaime - had requested her to be here. To heal, to set roots down perhaps, Neji had always been someone she couldn't read.

A bento appears on her table and she looks up blearily. "Shika?"

"It's dinner," he drawls. Shikamaru moves a stack of files from a seat and flops into it with a groan.

"Dinner? It's not dinner time yet..."

Shikamaru huffs an amused huff. "How troublesome, I knew you would forget to eat. It's eight pm, woman." He unpacks the bento and sets it in front of her before doing the same for himself. "Ino made your favourites and ordered me to make sure you finish your food."

Sliced lotus stir-fried with strips of pork and seaweed, thick slices of eggplant with fish and rolled omelette, the way she love it. When was the last time she had stir-fried lotus? She picks it up, stuffing into her mouth, and stuffs an eggplant in too. Not as good as how Kakashi-sensei prepared it, but it is very close.

Shikamaru quirks a smile and pushes his bento to her. "You can take mine."

"But what about you?" Sakura asks, swallowing a mouthful of rice.

"It's fine. I'll get ramen on my way home," he says, getting to his feet. "Don't stay too long here. If you stay too long, Ino will nag at me to drag you home. Workaholic!" Shikamaru claps her shoulder with a laugh and heat floods her face.

"I'm not a workaholic!"

"Yes, yes. You did not sleep here last night."

"How did you-" Sakura buries her face in her hands. "It's you! You're the one who tattled to Ino!"

"Don't stay too late!" He smirks, slamming the door behind him.

"Stupid Shika!"

 She skids backwards, launching herself at Kakashi even as he falls. To go up against a Goddess has to be on the top of the most insane things she had ever done, but insanity has always been what Team Seven deals in.

Sakura can see claws run through Kakashi’s torso. Too much, too deep. The possibility of Kakashi surviving is far too low for her liking. Her hands are gleaming with green medical chakra when she reaches him. Her heart sinks as she takes in his extensive injuries. Even with the Byakugo seal, there is a high chance of her failing.

“Kakashi-sensei...”

She reaches deep into her reserves, desperately trying to reconnect the pierced organs back together. She can do this. She can save him. She can-

Kakashi’s hand wraps around her wrist. “Sa- ku- ra…”

“Don’t talk, you idiot!”

She ducks as Naruto is thrown towards her. The blood on her hands makes it slippery and hard to hold onto the parts that she is trying to reconnect.

“Stay with me, sensei.” She channels more chakra into her healing, even releasing her Byakugo for the extra boost. Kakashi is the strongest shinobi she has ever known. If he falls in battle, then what about her? What about the rest of them? “Please, Kakashi-sensei… Rule number two. Don’t die.”

His hands slips off hers, falling limply to the ground, and she lets off a keening wail.

She has to- has to-

Sakura gets up to join the fight. It’s just Naruto and her left. The Goddess is gone, but Naruto-

Oh kage, not Naruto too. No, no, NO. Not him too.

She wakes with a sob at the back of her throat. Her gasps fill the silence of the room. Sakura leaps out of her window, her bare feet scampering across the rooftops.

“Sakura? It’s two in the morning,” Shikamaru yawns, shifting so that she can squeeze in beside him.

“There, there.” He pats her head sleepily. “Nara’s here to keep the shadows away,” he murmurs, eyes already closing before Sakura can even crawl under the blanket. Tucked in the blanket smelling of him, Sakura finally fades into a deep sleep.

“I was wondering whose cold feet was that on my calves.” Sakura wakes up to the low baritone sighing in her ears.

“Shika?” Sakura yawns, then realises that her arms are wrapped around him. “S-sorry!” She backs away quickly, almost falling off the bed had Shikamaru not caught her in time.

“Don’t start your day with a concussion. That’d be so troublesome.”

“Everything to you is troublesome,” Sakura says cheekily.

His eyes softens for a moment, his lips hitching up at the corner, and she felt the breath catch in her lungs. When she left Konoha, she had been too blind to see the things she left behind, too consumed in her grief to see anything beyond it. How had she missed it?

Shikamaru smirks, grabbing her by the waist and hauling her over his shoulder. “Too early for deep thoughts, Sakura!”

“I- I wasn’t thinking deep thoughts.” She could feel a flush start in her cheeks and climb down to the back of her neck. She had been thinking of the tug in her heart when she saw him smile.

“Yea, sure,” he drawls. “You weren’t.”

He dumps her at the kitchen table and tosses her a shirt too large to be anything but his. “Come on, since you crashed my bed, it’s time for you to pay rental fee in breakfast, troublesome woman.”

“I- Inojin really acts more like you than Genma.” Sakura smiles as she watches the brown haired baby drag his stuffed deer across the living room.

“Kage, I hope so. Can you imagine him having Genma’s personality? He would be breaking hearts before he even gets into academy,” Ino grouses, rubbing her growing belly. “Ahh, I swear Genma is trying to repopulate Konoha without my knowledge. The morning sickness is so bad.”

Sakura rubs some medical chakra across Ino’s stomach, carefully checking the fetus.

“Well? How is she?” Ino asks, a slightly anxious tone tinging her voice. “What’s wrong with my baby, Sakura?”

Sakura rubs her nose bridge. “Well…” she starts, trying to make sure she read the feedback properly. “There isn’t anything wrong with your baby per se. It’s just that you should be calling them babies instead of baby.”

Ino lifts an eyebrow. “Are you saying I might be having twins?”

“No, I’m saying you are having triplets. There are three growing chakra coils in your womb. I had to double check to be sure.” She shrugs, taking a seat beside Inojin.

Ino sinks into her couch, her face paling at Sakura’ revelation. “Oh… oh kage, I’m going to kill Genma.”

“It’s not so bad, at least you and Genma are going to be three steps closer to repopulating Konoha with your offspring.” She helps Inojin stack the blocks and he blabbers to her excitedly, pointing to each block.

“Then what about you?” Ino teases back, nudging a toe into her ribs. “I’ve seen the way you look at Shikamaru.”

Sakura holds her hand out, letting Inojin put his blocks into her hand and back into the container. Ino has seen the way she looked at Shikamaru? What does she mean by that? Sakura hasn’t looked at Shikamaru any differently from her usual way. Unsure on how to respond to Ino’s question after musing on it for awhile, she cocks her head at Ino with a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Ino grins. “For starters, you have that crinkle when you see him. Is there anything going on between you two?”

The memory of waking up to Shikamaru smiling at her, his hair spread out across the pillow. Her eyes wander from the domesticity of Ino’s house. It isn’t very hard for Sakura to imagine all this belonging to her. Out in the wilderness, while she was tramping across the continents, she had occasionally missed the Sunday afternoons in Ino’s shop and Friday evenings feeding the deer in the Nara forest.

Waking up next to Shikamaru…

Sakura tucks her chin into her neck, focusing on helping Inojin stack his blocks. There is a sense of contentment in that idea. An idea that she wouldn’t be unwilling to follow, but Shikamaru probably doesn’t see her that way. She has been Ino’s friend for the better half of their relationship and Shikamaru does consider Ino his unofficial sister.

Ino isn’t put off by her silence. Sakura knows she’s a far cry from her pre-shinobi war days or even her post-shinobi war period. It worries Ino, and when it worries Ino, she always sends Shikamaru over to harangue her into visiting or something. Sakura’s just used to not talking that much now and though she craved human contact during her travels, sometimes in the village the amount of people on the streets makes her nervous.

“You know, Ino. You should stop nagging at Shikamaru to nag at me.” Sakura feels bad for all the times that Shikamaru has been forced by Ino to come over. She knows Shikamaru would never really say ‘no’ to Ino, especially not how they had lost Chouji in the war.

Ino looks amused, hands twined on her stomach. “You think I do that, but I don’t.” Her lips twists wryly.

“Oh,” Sakura replies faintly, not really sure how to take in her words. Could she be overthinking it? She hasn’t even noticed Shikamaru until recently and Shikamaru has always been like that. No, she pushes the small bloom of hope in her chest. She has to be simply overthinking it.

“-you have to tell her!” Sakura catches Ino’s voice as she rounds the corner. Her feet still when Shikamaru’s irritated voice answers Ino.

“Tell her what?”

“Tell her you love her! She’ll never make a move if you don’t.” Ino’s reply jars the cracks in her heart. She had hoped that Shikamaru would come to like her as more than a friend, she hadn’t taken into account Shikamaru already loving someone else.

“I won’t. I didn’t do all those things because I wanted her to be with me, I did it because she would be happy. She’s not ready for a relationship. If I made a move and she rejects me, then she would have no one to lean on. I’m not going to do that to her, Ino.”

Sakura always knew Shikamaru was that sort of man. Her heart lurches at his words, wishing she had done something first. Maybe if she had stayed in Konoha, maybe if she hadn’t left- Her fingers claw into her white medic skirt.

“Shikamaru…” Ino’s voice murmurs and Sakura can hear Ino stepping forward. “I’ve seen the way she looked at you…”

Oh kage, the girl loves Shikamaru back. She-

Sakura takes a shuddering breath, the records in her hands falling onto the ground with a loud thump.

“Who’s there?” Shikamaru commands, slamming the door open. “Saku… ra?”

She’s not ready for this. If she had stayed in Konoha maybe things would be different! Coward, her mind whispers as she swivels around and leaps out of the window.

“Wait! Shit!”

If there’s anything to be gained from her… journey, it is that her speed and stamina are better now. She can feel Shikamaru chasing after her, rooftop after rooftop, but she’s not ready to look at him now. Shikamaru loves the girl with all his heart. There will never be space for her. She has to be happy for him. He’ll get a happy ending, especially with what Ino just told him.

So happy.

The thought brings hot frustrated tears to her eyes and she swipes them away with great fury. She should be happy for Shikamaru.

Eventually she senses Shikamaru’s presence disappear from her range. She wedges herself on a tree branch in an isolated training ground.

She’ll cry now, and the next time she sees Shikamaru, she will smile and be happy for him. Like a friend would, she tells herself.

Her shoulders shake with each stuttering gasp.

She will smile.

A fresh wave of tears rolls down her face and before she can tuck her face back into her arms to cry, her body freezes. Her head turns to look down at the lone figure delineated by the sunset.

“Come on Sakura, just… hear me out, okay?” He runs a hand down his face.

“No- leave me alone.” She wants to run away but Shikamaru has her trapped in a body paralysing jutsu.

“Just hear me out, and if you still don’t want to talk to me after that, I’ll go away and never bother you again.”

Her eyes heat up again with another wave of tears at the idea of Shikamaru never being in her life again. She doesn’t think she could stand that. He is the one she came back for.

“Don’t cry!” Shikamaru says in a panic. “Please don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it,” she sniffs, and he sighs loudly.

“Look,” he starts and then stops, pushing a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t know when it started. All I know is that one day you were there and the next you weren’t. And all I could think was of you. I didn’t realise it until you were gone, that I was… I was in love with you. But I- I didn’t want you to think that I was doing all that for something. I just-”

Shikamaru lets out an exasperated growl. “I just wanted you to be happy, okay? You were hurting and I wanted to be there for you.”

“You love me?” Sakura asks, not believing her ears.

“Yes, damnit Sakura. I love you. Maybe for three years, maybe since academy. I don’t know.” Shikamaru looks up and she can see the curve of his lips as he gazes her. “But there’s this warm feeling in me when I look at you that tells me everything is right.”

Even with the yellows and reds tinting the light, Sakura could see the blush all the way to his ears.

“Shikamaru… please release me.”

A disappointed look floods his face and he nods, placing his fingers together to form the jutsu release seal. Sakura stands, heart thumping loudly in her ears. Shikamaru has already confessed, she has to tell him too.

She lands in front of him and she opens her mouth for words she can’t find.

Shikamaru gives her a sad look and shakes his head. “It’s okay, Sakura. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same.” He turns from her, his broad shoulders casting a shadow onto her. Sakura grabs his vest, halting his steps.

“Shikamaru- I- I-”

He rubs her head. “It’s okay, Sakura. I knew it was a possibility that you didn’t love me back and if it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop. I just-”

“No! I- I came back for you. I came back to Konoha because of you,” Sakura says in a rush before he leaves. “Be-because you were always there and I never noticed. I came back for you but I stayed because I realised I loved you.”

“You love me?” He laughs and turns to pulls her in, tight. “She loves me!”

Shikamaru spins her around and then cups her chin, his thumb stroking her cheek. “May I kiss you?”

Instead of replying, she tugs him down by his jounin vest collar, capturing his lips with hers.

When they break apart, she rests her forehead against his collarbone and he strokes her hair gently. “I’m sorry I took so long,” she murmurs. “Why did I wait so long?”

“Because you’re troublesome,” he tells her, grinning.

She whacks him in the ribs and kisses him again.

[emetofiend2dand3d]

Any character, trying to keep someone out of a room bc of a surprise gift, and ends up swallowing the key and trying to get it out

Okay, I just read this and thought, Tamaki Suoh

Please see the tags below:)

Hope you enjoy!

.

Tamaki was so excited about his gift for Kyoya he could hardly contain himself.

He had locked it in the spare closet in the music room and would do anything to keep it hidden.

He gripped the key to the closet in his hand with a devilish smile, when Honey came up behind him.

“What are you doing Tama-chan?” He asked innocently, making Tamaki jump and nearly drop the key.

“Honey-senpai! I’m not doing anything! Why would you think that?” He stuttered nervously.

“Well, you were whispering to yourself about what a good hiding spot you found.” Honey said, and Mori turned up behind him nodding.

“Mori-senpai you heard too?” Tamaki shriveled up. “Well, no matter!” He brushed himself off. “I suppose you two as my trusted companions can be in on my secret.” He huddled in closely to them, whispering. “I got Kyoya a special gift for his birthday next week.”

“A gift?” Hikaru popped up out of nowhere.

“What kind of gift?” Next Kaoru appeared behind Hikaru.

“Uhh- it’s a secret!” Tamaki backed away from them.

“Oh come on, we won’t tell.” The twins said in unison.

“N-no!” They ganged up on Tamaki up until his back was against the closet door.

Haruhi suddenly appeared with a tray of coffee, looking confused. “What is it you guys are going on about?”

“Okay Haruhi! You’ve dragged it out of me!” Tamaki cried dramatically. “Kyoya’s present resides behind this closet door!”

The others stood with their arms crossed.

“Cool what is it?” Kaoru asked, shrugging.

“I told you! It’s a secret!” Tamaki snarled.

“You won’t even tell me Tama-chan?” Honey’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Uh- I-” He looked back and forth at everyone.

“Oh, is that a key I see?” Hikaru pointed out and Kaoru confirmed with a nod.

“Why yes it is Hikaru.” And the two of them slowly walked closer to him.

“No!” Tamaki shouted. He looked around, desperately clutching the key in his hands. “There’s nowhere to run.” He realized.

“If you won’t tell us.” Hikaru began. “Then we’ll just have to find out for ourselves.” Kaoru finished.

Tamaki panicked and then, without thinking, he put the key in his mouth and swallowed it.

The others stood with their jaws dropped.

“Tamaki-senpai are you alright?” Haruhi asked.

Tamaki thought for a moment. “Yeah-” he said clutching his throat. “I think so.”

“That’s dangerous senpai! You should go to the nurse.” She said worriedly.

Tamaki’s eyes suddenly glittered. “You’re really that worried about me Haruhi?”

Haruhi frowned. “Not so much anymore.”

“Tell me, what is it that Tamaki’s done this time?” Kyoya suddenly appeared and they all jumped in fear.

“Kyoya-senpai. I didn’t see you there, you surprised me.” Haruhi said in surprise.

“My apologies Haruhi. I was merely trying to find out what all the fuss was about.” He said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“It’s nothin-eeCHh.” Tamaki coughed loudly and clutched his throat.

“Nothing, really?” Kyoya sounded skeptical. “Then I guess you’ll have not problem with me calling someone to escort you to a hospital?”

“No!” Tamaki waved his hands in the air. “Okay okay! I swallowed the key to that closet.” He admitted shamefully.

“Mm, I see.” Kyoya tapped his chin with the pen in his hand. “That could be problematic.”

“Is Tama-chan going to die?” Honey asked, his big eyes welling up with tears.

“I’m going to die?” Tamaki suddenly went into a panic that Kyoya decided to stop in its path.

“He is not going to die.” Kyoya said calmly. “It is however, risky to wait for the key to pass through Tamaki’s digestive system.”

Everyone cringed and exchanged looks of disgust.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose again. “The safest solution would be for it to exit Tamaki’s system while it’s still in his stomach.”

Tamaki gulped and gripped his stomach. ���You don’t mean-”

“I’m afraid so.” Kyoya said seriously. “Unless of course you want me to call my father’s hospital and have them do it professionally. But I personally wouldn’t advise it.”

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. “You say that like you speak from experience.”

“No comment.” Kyoya said.

“But- how do I-” Tamaki couldn’t even get a grasp on the concept.

“There are a few ways I can think of but you must remember we’re now battling the clock. I estimate we have two to three hours before that key passes through your stomach.” He calculated.

Tamaki squeaked and jumped up and down anxiously. “Waa okay! Tell me what to do!”

“I’ve constructed a list of options. But it’s up to you to pick your poison.” Kyoya said, smiling to himself.

Haruhi crossed her arms and frowned, trying to peek at his clip board. “You came up with that list and that joke just in the span of us talking?”

“That’s besides the point.” Kyoya cleared his throat. “To present the list of options, one, triggering the gag reflex via human stimulation which is, albeit the fastest way, but also the most undesirable. Two, consume a massive about of liquid within a very short time frame until your stomach has reached capacity and is forced to expel all such contents. Or three, which should be considered a last resort, exerting extreme force upon the stomach area in an abrupt and swift motion, only to be done by professionals.” Kyoya finished.

“What’s that mean?” The twins wondered. “Like, punching him in the stomach?”

“Essentially, yes.” Kyoya admitted.

“We can help you with that.” The twins said, with looks of malice on their faces.

Tamaki yelped and jumped away from them.

“Uh uhm okay.” He said hesitantly. “If it’s the fastest way… I guess I’ll try number one…” He sounded tentative.

Kyoya stood outside the bathroom waiting for Tamaki while the others waited in the music room twiddling their thumbs.

Tamaki came out about ten minutes later with a frown.

“How did it go?” Kyoya asked.

“It’s no good. I can’t do it.” Tamaki said in frustration.

Kyoya sighed. “I was afraid of that. And I have no personal desire to help you with that, so I think we’ll have to go with number two.”

.

Tamaki sat in a chair in the back room with Kyoya, who was still holding his clip board and jotting down notes on it.

In front of Tamaki were four unopened bottles of water and in his lap was a semi large bucket.

Tamaki fidgeted nervously as he awaited Kyoya’s instructions.

Kyoya jotted down a final note and looked up at Tamaki. “I’ve calculated that you’ll have to drink about 3.7 liters of water in under twenty minutes in order to successfully produce a result. In your time sensitive situation, I recommend you aim for ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes!” Tamaki cried. “Is that even possible?”

“Undoubtedly.” Kyoya said honestly. “But if you’ll recall, the objective is not to drink the water, but to remove the key.”

Tamaki looked down into the bucket and took a deep breath. “Okay.” He said with a look of determination.

He prepared himself and with a deep breathe began chugging the first bottle of water.

It wasn’t very difficult, and he managed to finish it in about two minutes.

He came up panting and waited until he caught his breath. He burped into his fist and slammed down the empty bottle. “Okay!”

“That’s one liter down. 2.7 more to go.” Kyoya said.

“Right!” Tamaki picked up another bottle. He took in another deep breath and began chugging it as quickly as he could.

He only managed to finished half of it before coming up for breath and burped loudly. “Uhg. It doesn’t seem like a lot but-uuUUrp.” He swallowed heavily, feeling the water in his stomach sloshing around. It wasn’t so much unpleasant as it was uncomfortable.

He prepared himself, pausing several times before bringing the bottle back to his lips. Then he swallowed the rest of the bottle down in large gulps until he finished it off.

He came up for air again and groaned, rubbing his thighs and swallowing thickly. He was painfully bloated and by then, he couldn’t stop burping. He hiccuped loudly and the liquid in his stomach was jostled around like he was being shaken.

He rubbed his painful stomach, wincing, as it was sensitive to the touch.

“That’s two liters.” Kyoya informed him.

“I don’t think-HiiCchh- I can drink anymore.” Tamaki said weakly.

“You have to drink enough to expel the key.” Kyoya’s voice sounded more stern now.

Tamaki looked at the remaining bottles of water with a sickly glare. He picked up one of them reluctantly and placed it to his lips.

He began swallowing gulps of water, one gulp, two gulps, three gulps, and by the fourth gulp, he felt he could no longer swallow. He tried was hard as he could to force another mouthful down his throat but he couldn’t. He spat the remaining water in his mouth into the bucket and put the bottle down.

He was panting quickly as if he had been running, and the color was draining from his face.

The hairs on his arms stood up and he broke into a sweat. He leaned over the bowl panting, doing nothing else except blinking.

Then an air bubble traveled up his throat and the next moment he was vomiting uncontrollably. A flood of liquid like a water fall poured out of him. He coughed painfully and only managed to take one breath before puking up more of the water in his stomach. He vomited three times in a row before coming up for breath and by then tears were steaming down his face.

Finally, after four long strung out bouts of painful vomiting, he coughed, and felt something coming out of his throat.

He gagged forcefully and gripped the table, emitting horrible noises as he did so.

“Tamaki?” Kyoya suddenly grabbed Tamaki’s arm, a sense of panic running through him. He wondered if maybe he should have let the hospital take him.

Then one fowl and painful sounding gag forced something out of him and the gagging stopped.

He sat shaking with the bucket in his lap and sweat running down his face.

“It came out.” Tamaki said with a hoarse voice.

Kyoya let out a small sigh of relief, shaking his head and chuckling. “Tamaki Suoh, you really are something.”

[kipio]

 HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY GUYS! Hope you enjoy ;) 

Click on image for better quality! 

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“Lucy where are you?!Lucy!” Natsu yelled frantically, panting loudly as he ran past the trees. He came to a clearing where the long yellow grass silently swayed by the soft breeze. His eyes searched around until they landed on a figure quickly walking away. Found her

“Lucy!” He yelled again catching the figures attention. Lucy turned around and gasped as she saw Natsu running up to her. 

“Natsu...what are you doing here?” Lucy asked quietly quickly brushing her tears away. This didn’t go unnoticed by Natsu but he didn’t question it as he came to stand in front of her. 

“Lucy why did you leave?” he asked with a frown. It scared him to see that Lucy had left when he had come over to her apartment, only a small note apologizing for her departure. 

Lucy shifted her gaze to the ground to hide the tears that were threatening to fall. “...I had to Natsu...I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. Erza, Gray, Levy, them too...” Lucy whispered. 

“Father will kill anyone who gets in his way and now that the dark guilds are involved... I just don’t want anyone to die because of me” she said, lips trembling. Natsu shifted closer and cupped her cheek. 

“It’s because of me that all of this is happening! If I hadn’t run away from home may-” 

“Lucy look at me” He said fiercely. Lucy lifted her gaze up to meet his green orbs, tears already spilling down. Natsu softly brushed away her tears and gazed at her with fierce yet gentle eyes. 

“Lucy I won’t let that happen. We are a nakama and we will fight for you. We protect our own and that sure as hell means that we won’t let you go back to your father. If you hadn’t come with me that day, we wouldn’t have met and you wouldn’t have met the others. I don’t regret meeting you and fighting for you. If it means keeping you safe and having you here with me, then so be it, I’ll do it in a heartbeat” 

“Your secret may be out but that didn’t change the way we saw you, you’re still our nakama, our Lucy...my Lucy” Natsu stated. 

“Natsu... but...” Lucy whispered, heart thumping loudly. 

“I will make damn sure that you don’t get hurt! I will protect you with every fiber in me. You being a mermaid doesn’t change anything, you are you. My feelings for you won’t change. God dammit Lucy, I love you.” Natsu voiced heartily.  

Lucy stared up at Natsu in shock, tears sliding down her cheeks. A slow smile formed on her lips and she lightly chuckled. Natsu blushed a deep crimson color which made Lucy giggle more. 

“You dummy, I love you too” she said breathlessly. Natsu blinked for a second before a large smile formed on his face. His gaze shifted down to her lips and he leaned closer until his lips connected with hers. Lucy stood there frozen before melting in the kissing. 

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AHHHHH I SUCK AT WRITING BUT I STILL CONTINUE TO WRITE LOL

I hope you guys enjoyed the drawing and fic ^^ 

This drawing is of my AU of Lucy being a mermaid and Natsu a sea hunter (It was mermaid hunter before but I decided to change it for my story heh)  which you can now read on fanfiction since I made it an official story called Mermaid Tail !! https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12364793/1/Mermaid-Tail

I would appreciate it if you guys checked out :D 

I also want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE 300 FOLLOWERS AHHH!!! Thank you all for following and I’m so glad that you guys like my work! I hope you guys stick around for more cause I won’t disappoint XD Wow it was a few months ago that I got into the fandom and started doing fanwork and look how far I’ve gotten! It’s all thanks to you guys! I’d like to also thank my crazy ass potato family since they’ve been there supporting me along the way and I’m so thankful to be your friends and having you guys be there for me <3 My lovely CAPF: @karasufairy @jetblackirondragon @heavenlybodiedjellal @drxgnel @skullnar @cant-bokutouch-this @unashamed-shipper @fablerose @acnologically @natsudorkoneel @whazzupbroski @makasxru @erzawesome 

Bro my senpai’s that give me life and inspire me so much asdfkl (colorers, writers, and artists) : @al-lium @lapoin @rboz @miroo8 @shadoouge @doginshoe @ccrispy @giushia @giupear @geghanush @riverofmemoriesft @ayumichi-me @unashamed-shipper @keiid @arikafd @unisonraidd @zelkams-art @x-benihime @snogfairy @leons-7 @cocassion @rchella @itschildofthefairies @lolohime @mslead @phoenixx305 @zippi44 @missyplatinum @acnologias-ass @illustraice @celestialyukino77 @nanakoblaze @gajeely  

*(edit it finally let me tag screams)  

I might hold a thank you giveaway for my followers so stay tuned for that ;) 

Ah I hope you guys have a great day and I hope you liked my piece for today! 

[gray--dragneel]

The cutest thing he’s ever seen

[Ao3]

Drunk. Kageyama is so fucking drunk.

In hindsight, going out with both Nishinoya and Tanaka was not the brightest idea. Kageyama knows he’s a lightweight. While Tanaka considers himself ‘an alcohol vet’, between him and Nishinoya, Noya is the goddamn tank. Letting them talk him into trying to keep up with them, he was doomed from the start.

“How did I wind up being the one who got cut off?” Nishinoya cackles as Kageyama rubs his forehead. “I'm not the one who walked face first into a pillar.”

“No one saw that but you,” Kageyama huffs. “Stop bringing it up.”

“Besides,” Tanaka says, slinging his arm around Nishinoya’s shoulders, “you're the one who got caught yanking Kags’ shirt down and motorboating his pecs. Anyone would cut you off after that.”

Nishinoya shrugs unapologetically. “His fault for wearing a V neck.”

“And for having such an impeccable chest.” Tanaka waggles his eyebrows and nudges Kageyama in the ribs.

Nishinoya doubles over with laughter and Kageyama covers his face. “Guys, shut up, you're embarrassing me.”

By the time Tanaka has calmed down, Nishinoya is already onto the next thing. “Food!” he cries excitedly. “I need a chicken caesar pita!”

“That's so gross. Why don't you just eat a salad?” Tanaka asks.

Nishinoya grabs Kageyama’s hand and drags him towards the Pita Pit. “They're delicious, ‘Naka, you gotta try one.”

“Nuh uh.”

They playfully bicker all the way up the street and Kageyama shakes his head, barely suppressing a smile.

They barely make it in the door before another wave of drunk college students line up behind them, extending the queue to the sidewalk.

“There are, like, 8 people ahead of us,” Tanaka groans. “Let’s just go to McDonald's.”

“No way! The wait’s worth it, right Kageyama?”

Kageyama just nods and stares ahead at the man taking everyone’s order. Shouyou . He has to squint to see the familiar name tag from back here but that's probably because he’s wasted.

“Well, there’s gotta be some reason Tobio comes here four times a week,” Nishinoya argues.

“Yeah, ‘cause Shouyou is the cutest thing I've ever-” Kageyama promptly snaps his mouth shut when Tanaka and Nishinoya go wide eyed.

“Whaaa?!” Tanaka asks, voice verging on a squeak.

“Shh!” Kageyama covers his mouth. “He’ll hear you!”

“Tobe,” Nishinoya says, tone accusing, “why didn't you tell me? I come here with you all the time.”

“Because I knew if I told you, you’d say something to…oh god. I'm leaving.”

Shouyou looks up at that moment and waves, an ear to ear grin stretching across his face and Kageyama’s cheeks burn. The way Kageyama’s stomach swoops when he waves back keeps him rooted in place.

“Heh, bet you won't be going anywhere now,” Nishinoya chuckles.

Tanaka pries Kageyama’s hand off his face. “He totally likes you back,” he says in his version of a whisper. “You should ask him out!”

“Forget it,” Kageyama hisses. “I’m not gonna be that guy.” He refuses to harass Shouyou, no matter how adorable he is or how badly he wants to hold his hand. Heat pricks at his face. His already lacking filter is completely obliterated. He’s never getting this drunk again.

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Nishinoya asks.

Kageyama’s brows furrow together as he looks ahead, catching yet another drunk customer flirting with Shouyou. Kageyama is annoyed for him, listening to the girl prattle on about how cute he is and how they have to go out sometime. The same as always Shouyou barely suppresses a sigh by running his fingers through his unruly hair and prompts her to keep ordering, “Lettuce, onion, tomato?”

The girl answers him, only to insist immediately after that he at least take her number if he won't give his out to customers. Shouyou’s bright smile falters and Kageyama nearly feels sick imagining being responsible for that.

“Well?” Tanaka asks.

Kageyama takes his eyes off of Shouyou to fix his friends with a strained expression. “Have you guys even thought about what you're going to order? We’re almost at the front.”

Heaving a sigh of relief, Kageyama is actually thankful when they return to loudly arguing about whether chicken caesar salads belong in a pita or not.

Their distraction is short lived once they reach the counter and Shouyou grins brilliantly at Kageyama again. “Hey, Bo!” Shouyou calls to the man working the grill, “Chicken bacon pita, tomato, onion, spinach, extra green pepper, and chipotle mayo.”

“Oooh,” Tanaka singsongs. “Tobio must be a special customer if you have his order memorized.” It takes every ounce of willpower Kageyama possesses not to kick his senpai in the shin.

“Of course,” Shouyou laughs and Kageyama’s pulse stutters out of rhythm. “He’s the highlight of my shift Mondays, Thursdays, and twice on Saturdays.”

“He even stays half an hour longer on Thursdays so he can see him,” the silver haired man prepping food practically yells. Nishinoya’s smirk is so obvious in Kageyama’s peripheral he’d want the floor to swallow him up if he weren't internally screaming.

“Koutarou!” Shouyou gasps. “Be cool!”

“Oh?” Nishinoya finally pipes up. “And do you find my precious little blueberry here cute?” Kageyama gapes at him.

“Noya!” Kageyama hisses, colour creeping up his neck.

“Because he thinks you're, oh what did he say?” Nishinoya looks at Tanaka with a mischievous smile. “The cutest thing he's ever seen.”

Shouyou blinks those big, warm eyes at Kageyama and all he can do is blurt out a quick I'm sorry before stepping behind Nishinoya as if that’ll shield him from Shouyou’s shocked gaze.

“Tobio, stop hiding!” Tanaka chides playfully. “That's so rude.”

“Yeah, Tobio!” Nishinoya says, trying to pull him back around.

“He does know we can see him, right?” the tall, spiky haired man wrapping the pitas asks Koutarou.

“You're holding up the line,” Kageyama growls to his traitorous friends, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the floor.

Nishinoya and Tanaka practically pout and grumble their way through their orders, only lighting up when Shouyou sneaks little glances at Kageyama and visibly melts.

“Order up!” Koutarou declares loudly, sliding Kageyama's pita across the counter.

“Here you go,” Shouyou says shyly. “It's on me tonight.”

Kageyama gapes at him a moment before mumbling his thanks and digging into his pocket. He drops a handful of change into the tip jar before taking the pita from Shouyou and bolting outside.

He watches Nishinoya and Tanaka chit chat with Shouyou a little longer while they wait on their food and he prays to literally anything listening that they aren't embarrassing him further.

Tanaka whispers in Noya’s ear and the two throw a devious look at Kageyama over their shoulders before scribbling something on the back of their receipt and tossing it into the tip jar.

They've barely bid Shouyou good night before Kageyama is glaring at them.

“What was that? What on earth did you do before you left?” Kageyama demands once they've stepped outside.

“Oh, nothing,” they answer at the same time.

“Stop that. You know it creeps me out.”

Tanaka shrugs. “Then don't ask.”

Kageyama groans. He has a bad feeling about this. “Let's just go home.” If he's lucky, he’s drunk enough that he won’t even remember this in the morning.

Kageyama’s phone blares, yanking him reluctantly into consciousness. He cradles his pounding head for a moment before rifling through his jeans for the offending device. He one eyes the screen and almost ignores it when no name accompanies the number.

“Fuck,” he murmurs and swipes across the screen. “H’llo?”

A familiar chuckle comes through the line. “You sound rough.”

“No shit,” Kageyama huffs. “Do you have any idea what time it is? Who is this?”

The sound of barely stifled laughter does little to lift Kageyama’s mood. “It’s 1 in the afternoon.” Kageyama merely grunts and lets the silence stretch on until the stranger clears his throat. “It’s Hinata. Uh, Shouyou. From the Pita Pit.”

Shouyou?

Oh god. Oh no, oh fuck. Kageyama buries his face in his pillow as memories from the night before flood in, mortifying and unwelcome. “I am so, sososo sorry,” he rushes out. “I was so-”

“What?” Shouyou asks. “I can’t understand you.” Kageyama doesn't have it in him to repeat himself. He doesn't think he can ever speak to Shouyou again let alone face him after last night. “Anyway, I think your friends left your number in the tip jar? And I never call customers who come in all wasted-” Kageyama makes a small, pitiful sound in the back of his throat, “- but since you come in a lot, I figured it’d be okay!” Hinata says quickly. “And, well, if your friend was telling the truth, I'm really flattered and I was hoping you’d go out with me?”

Kageyama bolts up, blinking and starting to wonder if he's still drunk.

“Tobio?”

Kageyama chokes and hangs up his phone.

“You did what?” Tanaka laughs so hard he snorts.

“I panicked,” Kageyama grumbles, forehead leaning against the table. “Is the coffee ready yet?”

“No avoiding the subject,” Nishinoya says. “Do you want to go out with him?”

Kageyama scowls.

“Well?” Tanaka asks around a mouthful of cereal.

“Do you two ever mind your own business?”

Tanaka and Nishinoya look at each other. “That’s a yes.”

“So creepy.” Kageyama finally pokes his head up. “Gimme some coffee.”

“No coffee until you promise to go see Shouyou,” Tanaka says in the most stern voice Kageyama’s heard him use.

“What the-”

“Go get dressed,” Nishinoya says. “We’ll have your coffee ready when you come out.”

Kageyama stands outside the Pita Pit completely dumbfounded. How had he been talked into coming back?

He grips his thermos until his knuckles whiten, trying to steel his resolve. All he has to do is say yes and he can go out with Shouyou, right? Unless he thinks Kageyama is a total fucking weirdo after last night and this morning.

A man Kageyama recognizes as the manager pokes his head out the door. “Can I help you with something?” His name tag reads Sawamura. “You’ve been standing here for 10 minutes and I think it's starting to count as loitering.”

“Oh, sorry,” Kageyama says quietly, following after him. Sawamura looks at him expectantly when they're inside. “Is Shouyou here?”

“Check it out, Bo. Lover boy came back.”

Sawamura shoots him a warning look. “Quiet down, Tetsurou.”

Kageyama’s ready to flee again but Sawamura interrupts him. “Yeah, Shouyou’s here,” he says much louder than necessary. “He’s not on shift today but he came in to distract his co-workers during post lunch rush clean up!”

A small squeak sounds from the back room and Shouyou comes barreling out of the back room, already apologizing. “I was just asking Hitoka about the new procedure on- Tobio!” he gasps, bright smile taking the last traces of fear off his face.

“Oya? Did you hear about a new procedure called Tobio, Kou?” Tetsurou asks.

“No, I didn't. We should ask Hitoka to tell us all about it.” Koutarou laughs when Shouyou sticks his tongue out at him.

“Knock it off, boys.” Sawamura shakes his head and walks into the back.

Once Shouyou is able to give Kageyama his full attention, he remembers to be nervous. “Hi, Tobio.”

Kageyama nods, eyes glued to the floor.

“Did you forget something last night?” Kageyama shakes his head. “Did you come to see me, then?” Kageyama squeezes his eyes shut and nods. “I’m glad.”

After a few seconds, Kageyama manages to open his eyes and look at Shouyou a moment. “Yes,” he blurts out, ignoring their little audience. “I mean I'll-” Kageyama stares at the wall. “Yes.”

Shouyou’s face lights up. “Are you free right now?”

Kageyama peaks at him out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah.”

There's a glint in Shouyou’s eye. “Want to go for a drink?”

Kageyama gags, but he thinks it's worth it to hear Shouyou laugh. “Not funny,” he says despite the giddy feeling in his belly.

“Okay, okay, I'm sorry.” Shouyou bites his lip as he looks up at Kageyama. “Ramen’s pretty good for a hangover and I know a great recipe if you're interested.”

Kageyama doesn't answer for a moment, just watches pink dust over the handful of freckles on Shouyou’s cheeks until he tugs on his hand, anxious for Kageyama to say something.

He squeezes Shouyou’s hand. “Yeah. Definitely interested.”

[lacuracionprincesa-blog]

AMAZING PRECIOUS ORIHIME. I LOVE HAVING YOU ON MY DASH [PAPS FACE WITH LOVE] YOU ARE A SWEETIE AND V LOVELY AND IMMA JUST GO BACK TO ADMIRING YOU FROM A FAR SENPAI

[writingthingsisdifficult]

Lame

This was written for the cheesy pickup line challenge from @impalaimagining I picked line #18 and it’s highlighted in the text.

As always: let me know what you think, I love hearing from you guys (keep in mind that English isn’t my first language). And let me know if you want on - or off - my tag list.

Word count: 1082

”He said what?” You rolled back in your seat, laughing madly at Sam’s tale. “And… did it work?” you added, wiping a tear from your cheek.

Sam exhaled hard through his nose. “What do you think?”

Imagining the wounded look on Dean’s face was enough to launch you into another fit of laughter. After regaining control and a somewhat dignified expression again, you glanced quickly at your best friend. He was working his charm on some girl by the bar, and the way she slowly leaned towards him, exposing more and more of her cleavage, told you with some certainty that you and Sam would have the room to yourself tonight.

Not that anything would happen, of course. You were way too shy to do something about that pesky, little crush (that quite frankly had grown out of proportions over the last few months), and anyway, you were pretty sure Sam only saw you as a friend – nothing more.

Shaking yourself out of the dangerous train of thoughts, you sniffed and arched one eyebrow, letting out an unimpressed laugh. “Poor Dean. No, I don’t really mean that,” you interrupted yourself. “That coffee line doesn’t work on anybody. What is he? An amateur?”

“You should think, after so many years, that he’d learned, right?” Sam took another swig from his bottle, and honestly, it was more than you could bear. It was as if he swallowed in slow motion, the bob of his Adam’s apple shaking you to the core. The drop of condensation that ran down the bottleneck mirrored the spark that ran down your own back. Was he doing it on purpose? Oh, god, he was definitely doing it on purpose. Wasn’t he?

You sat frozen, staring into the void, your brain completely frizzed out by the careless, and quite frankly irresponsible actions of your other best friend – the one you so desperately didn’t want to be just friends with.

“Earth to Y/N! Earth to Y/N! You with me?”

A series of snaps in front of your eyes pulled you back into the real world. “Heh, yeah, I’m here. Just zoned out for a second. Sorry.” Careful to look away, you offered your apology with sincerity. It was just too easy to get distracted by daydreams when you were alone with Sam.

He nodded, taking another goddamn sip of beer. Jesus! So unnecessary! “Happens to us all. The hunt took a lot out of us all.”

A couple of moments of silence followed before he tilted his head and coughed. “So… uh, where did your mind take you?”

You were already slipping into another daydream, and answered without thinking: “To your bedroom.”

Sam stopped dead in his movements. He looked at you, his eyes shining in the dim light, and he was almost impossible to read. You on the other hand wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor. How the hell could you be so reckless? Everything would be so complicated now…

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. This wasn’t what he’d expected from you, that much you could see. At least he hadn’t run away. Sam was too nice to just up and leave. Time for repairs. You pinched the bridge of your nose and exhaled deeply. “Listen… I… um… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, uh, spring this on you like this, and I know you, uh… don’t… This doesn’t have to become… I mean… Jesus!”

Your lame attempt at an apology failed miserably, and you leaned back in your chair, smacking your head into the wall. Stupid alcohol. Stupid mouth that just couldn’t stay shut. And stupid Sam with his stupid charm and stupid good looks and stupid intelligence.

A soft laugh brought you back to the situation, and you watched as Sam’s smile got wider and wider, until he threw his head back and laughed loudly, making you cringe and shrink down in your seat.

Clearing your throat and swallowing the painful lump that formed just behind your uvula, you gathered up your belongings and got to your feet. You didn’t get far, however, because Sam grabbed your wrist and stopped your desperate retreat.

You were a wreck: soaring because he stopped you from leaving, and yet plummeting to the ground because you knew what was coming; a kind, but determined rejection, maybe followed by an offer of remaining friends.

“Don’t go,” Sam said when you didn’t sit back down. “You just took me by surprise, is all. Do you even realise how long I’ve wanted to hear you say something like that? I mean… Maybe not those exact words, but… I’ve had a crush on you forever. Since you saved our asses up in Montana –“ He smiled and looked away, a nice, pale red spreading across his cheeks. “ – That’s when I first understood how badass you are. Come on! You must see that,” he added when you shook your head in protest.

“I’m nothing special,” you tried, but he cut you off.

“Nuh-huh! Don’t even begin! You’re amazing! The way you fight, always making sure everyone else is okay, and still never missing a shot. And when you research… Don’t know if you know, but the tip of your tongue poke out in the corner of your mouth when you concentrate, and your eyebrows rise and fall in rhythm with what you’re reading. It’s adorable!” Automatically, your free hand went to your eyebrows to secure them in place, making Sam laugh.

“I…” you began, but you honestly had no clue what to say.

But Sam pulled you closer, positioning you so you were standing between his legs, and wrapped his arms around your butt. A bubbling heat spread through you, and you smiled. This was happening. It was really happening! Every noise from the crowded bar drowned in the excited hammering in your ears.

Slowly, still not believing fully what you were about to do, you leaned down, stopping when you felt Sam’s breath on your lips.

“Well, I’m not a huge believer in cheesy pickup lines,” Sam said with a crooked grin, “but I do have one saved for the… right person: I’m not a hoarder but I’d like to keep you forever.”

Swatting his shoulder gently, you laughed, feeling every last drop of doubt and nerve melt away. “Let Dean stick to the lame lines. Just shut up and kiss me, Sam.”

His eyes twinkled, and as he closed the tiny distance between you, he whispered: “Yes, ma’am!”

Tagging my cool friends:

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