#will be on the road for about 4 hours to go back home sigh T^T

[satorisoup]

EEEK good morning & happy sunday friends !! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝ i’m wishing all of you the bestest of days today and giving each of you a strawberry !! MWUUUAH !! <3 🍓

[whisper-in-the-night]

Undesirable

Plot: Thomas is omega who will never find his true mate. Or no?

Warnings: omegavers; deviation from the canon; omega!Thomas Hewitt, alpha!male!reader / Y/N

Part 2 | Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

•••

The sun was slowly rolling out from behind the horizon, turning the dark sky a dirty orange color. The night sounds gradually closed in, and at the same time the warm Texas wind was leaving, indicating another hot day coming.

You sighed softly, letting the smoke out of your mouth and filling your lungs with residual coolness, blissfully closing your eyes. Your head hurts a little after another sleepless night, but it was clearly worth it. Your little sister enjoyed the holiday and your presence to her heart's content. Although it was somewhat uncomfortable to be among all this huge mass of relatives for a whole week, you were able to heroically withstand this ordeal, although it was not without bad gossips of envious relatives behind your back. And yet all these inconveniences paled against the background of your sister's sincere smile without a few lower teeth. In addition, the girl was very pleased with the gift of a drawing set from you.

And so now you had an equally tedious and long journey home, your home. Although that place could hardly be called home already. Work got boring, familiar peopleс got bored, and constant entertainment with friends caused stress. You missed your childhood home for only one reason: the spacious landscapes here have always brought warmth to your heart and a feeling of freedom. But, alas, there were no people here who would understand you. Besides, having lived here for a long time, you have not found your mate. Perhaps the decision to leave was for the best.

You threw the cigarette butt on the ground and rubbed it on the asphalt with a hard movement of your boot.

•••

A long gray strip of road seemed to stretch endlessly ahead in front of the car. You rested your head boringly on your hand, leaning against the opened car window, your other hand resting on the steering wheel, which was slightly slippery from your sweaty skin. It wasn't even ten a.m. and the heat was already infernal. The sun was reflected in the car window with nasty sunbeams, which made you have to lower the visor.

After driving only about an hour and a half from the departure point, your gaze inadvertently slipped a little further from the road, noticing a group of people standing nearby.

They were three young people about twenty years old. One of them, a young guy, was tall and rather broad-shouldered, but still quite thin, with a sloppy short brown haircut and dimples on his cheeks. He was dressed as openly as possible: a white T-shirt, apparently so that the sun would not mercilessly burn his grayish skin, and loose red shorts; he had a large sports bag on his shoulder. There were two girls on either side of him. One, the short one, had the same color hair, and delicate blue eyes that looked at you just at the moment when you were slowing the car down, staring at the guys. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a careless bun that flashed at the back of her head whenever she turned. She was wearing some kind of inconspicuous yellow dress with flowers matching the color of her slightly worn ballet flats. The other girl, slightly taller, had black hair flowing freely over her fragile shoulders, a white shirt tucked into denim shorts and a bunch of bracelets on her arms. Both girls carried small backpacks with them.

As soon as the short girl saw you on the road, she happily said something to her friends, nodding in your direction. The company came up to you, you stopped the car.

"Hey! Could ya give us a ride?" Smiling, the guy asked, which caused small dimples to appear on his cheeks once again, "It's just that transport doesn't often go here. 'think we'll be stuck here for a long time without ya, y'know."

You looked the young man up and down, as far as the current review allowed you, and after throwing a short 'Get in', nodded towards the back doors. You took a small thermos from the glove compartment and a pack of suppressants, hastily stuffing a couple of pills into your mouth. Just in case. Without thinking twice, the young man putted his friends in the back seat with their bags, and he sat in the passenger seat in front, deciding to keep you company. The car drove on.

You drove in complete silence for a while.

Finally, the young man spoke.

"Well.. Thank ya for lettin' us down, man. My name is Mason," the guy began with a slight smile, shifting his gaze from the road to you. The young man was clearly not dejected by your bored expression.

"Y/N" you answered briefly, feeling a dull headache coming up to your temples from a sleepless night; it didn't help that the guy's voice was quite high and loud, which hurt your ears a lot.

"Cool, nice to meet ya. This, by the way, is my girlfriend Judith," he pointed at the short girl, "and my sister Lily," He nodded towards the tall girl. It's not clear if this was his strange attempt to start at least some kind of conversation or if there was some other reason behind it, but you didn't care at all about either the guy or any of the girls present, who at that moment began to giggle softly from the back seat. The only thing you wanted was to get home and rest as soon as possible. Your gaze inadvertently slid up, looking into the mirror. You could see how the girls were whispering enthusiastically about something with silly smiles, from time to time running their eyes in your direction.

The rest of the trip was quite calm. Over time, Mason's speech became less enthusiastic, but rather more friendly and carefree. He talked about his family and college studies, friends and hobbies. In the end, from his story, you knew out that these guys were students who took a sabbatical and just decided to visit different states. To some extent, you even caught yourself thinking that you envy these guys: you would also like to spit on all your responsibilities and goals and go somewhere far away, even if you stay here in Texas. But work is work, you wouldn't want to let your family down, much less your little sister.

•••

Driving up to the already familiar gas station store, you parked near the entrance and got out of the car. Perhaps, finally, it would be worth taking some gasoline with you. There would hardly be another gas station for the next mile ahead.

"I'll buy gas and come back," you said shortly, taking one last look at the young people.

Without waiting for an answer, you walked towards the store. Your ears were filled with the already familiar ringing of a small door bell, the door closed behind you with a slight creak. The sweet, tired old woman's face was immediately waiting for you at the checkout.

"Hello," you said with a slight smile, walking inside the room.

The woman looked at you sternly, but as soon as she recognized your face, her features softened. "Oh, hello son. I didn't think to see you here again."

"Oh, yeah.. I'm still after the same thing. I need to buy gas to go home," you said, awkwardly, as if embarrassed, rubbing the back of your head with your fingers.

The old lady looked at you with almost maternal understanding and nodded. Obviously, she was alone in the store today. After putting the meat on the shelf of the showcase and wiping her hands with a towel, she came out to you.

"Yes, sure. Except I don't have any cans left in the store, and as you can see, my son isn't here today either. Could you take me home? I'd give you the canister for free, son. I live here, nearby."

You looked at her in surprise, but immediately replied with a slight nod. Who could refuse such an offer?

"Sure. Come on."

You opened the door for the woman and as soon as you both left, she began to close the store with several locks. Obviously, the area was not the most prosperous. You looked back at your car and saw the guys on the street. Mason was standing under the awning of the store and reading some small ads from an old time, while the girls were practically hugging each other and chatting casually about something. As soon as you left the store, Mason's sister gave you a strange look and smiled slyly.

"I'm go na take my friend home now, stay here, okay? I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

You opened the passenger seat in front for the woman and helped her get inside. She explained to you how to get to her house, and you started this slow relaxing ride. She introduced herself to you as Luda-May and was no less pleased to hear your own name. Her face was constantly decorated with small wrinkles on her cheeks or between her eyebrows when she asked you something with interest. Overall, she was a pleasant conversationalist and was happy to tell you about this town. Luda also told you about her family, which includes three people besides herself: her brother Monty, son Charlie and youngest son Thomas, whom you have already seen directly before. As you listened to the story, clutching the steering wheel leather with your free hand, you lit a cigarette, releasing gray smoke out the window. After knew out about the same habit of the woman, you kindly offered her one from your pack.

"You are such a sweet child, Y/N, not like my eldest son. Would you like to come over for tea?" Luda asked with a smile, blowing smoke out the open window, and looking at you. You couldn't refuse this lovely woman.

[racinggirl]

promise

Lando Norris Fic - requested

My inbox for requests

a/n: Oh my godness I'm back y'all! It's been so long! It's the first request of hopefully many to come. So far my inbox is empty again, so don't hold back to send in some requests, one, or more. You can even send some anonymously! I hope you will like this story, and keep reading to find some little extra's I added, because I loved making AU's as well. Let me know your thoughts, tips, tops, anything really. It keeps me motivated to write more, so any form of feedback is very welcomed! Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy this fic 🧡

‘’Promise.’’ You linked your pinkie finger with the 5-year-old curly haired boy, giggling as the both of you were running around the playground, hiding from his mother.

‘’Come on, I’m nearly 25 already! I can easily go on vacation on my own!’’ You had always wanted to go on a road trip, preferably with a partner on your side, but that hadn’t been the case yet. So, you decided to go alone, because why not? You were old enough to look out for yourself, even though your parents weren’t too keen on the idea of their daughter traveling around Europe on her own.

‘’The world has changed, Y/N, it’s not safe to go on your own.’’

‘’But-…’’

‘’No, you’re not going on your own, end of story.’’

You groaned at your parents’ reaction and went to your room, frustrated, upset, but somehow you got their point. They weren’t wrong, the world had changed, and wasn’t that innocent anymore. Wherever you were watching the news, reports about murder, drunken drivers, kidnappers, it was all out there.

‘There’re more crazy people out in the world than there are behind bars’ was something your father would say, and he wasn’t wrong.

However, you wished you would have been able to do what that curly haired boy did. Sometimes you were jealous of him, jealous of how he travelled all around the world, going from one country to another, flying from Finland to Australia to Bali and back to his new home, Monaco.

Him and you met when you were karting in Bristol, the both of you loving the sport more than ever. However, karting wasn’t a girl’s sport, at least not to the world at that age. That’s why you moved on from it, where he pursued his dream career, you were only there to cheer from the side lines.

You hated learning, studying, it’s something you never were good at, or at least, not in school. Whenever you saw the data on the karting track, you’d spent hours trying to understand every piece of data that was coming through.

You begged your parents to let you go to engineering school, university. They didn’t want you to, it wasn’t a ‘girl’s thing’ to do, but after you refused to do anything else, they eventually agreed on letting you go to engineering school.

4 years later, and you had your engineering degree. You couldn’t be happier, because right now it meant you might do something you’d actually enjoy. Even if it wasn’t a ‘girl’s thing’ to do, you loved it.

‘’Hey’’ you smiled as you brought the phone close to your ear, lying in bed as you checked the time.

‘’Hey, did you see?’’

‘’Oh yeah, I did.’’ You laughed, looking up at the ceiling. ‘’You were flying! Pole position baby!’’ You giggled, smiling even harder when you heard him on the other side, repeating the final three words of your sentence.

‘’You still have to come for a race someday, you know?’’ His deep voice was ringing through your ears, and it immediately made your chest feel warm, it always did, he always did.

‘’Mhm.. I know, and I will, when my parents finally let me.’’ You sighed, playing with the ropes of your hoodie.

‘’You’re almost 25, when will they ever let you do your own things?’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ you sighed heavily, ‘’when I’m 40?’’

The sound of his laugh made you sit up straight, your cheeks turning a light shade of pink as you heard his laughter.

‘’Nah, I’ll have you kidnapped by then.’’ He smiled, causing you to giggle next. ‘’They’ll destroy you when you do that.’’

‘’Good thing I have my bodyguards, then.’’ And that made your heart feel a thousand times warmer. He was never one to brag about his success, never. He always was very modest, very gentle, and never liked it whenever people talked about the amount of money he had, or how famous he was. That’s why you clicked so good. You knew each other from when you were 3 years old, and he knew you liked him as a friend, and not because he was a driver.

‘’I asked them if I could go on a road trip, alone.’’ You quietly said, hearing how he fumbled around on the other side of the line. A soft ‘hold on, I’m busy’ made you smile, knowing he told whoever was there to wait, because he was talking to you.

‘’And let me guess, they wouldn’t let you go alone because the world is dangerous.’’

‘’Yep, exactly.’’ You sighed but sat up straight when you heard him gasp.

‘’Lando, what did you do?’’

‘’Nothing.’’

‘’What are you thinking?’’

Silence…

‘’Lando?’’

‘’Come with me.’’ You could hear his grin through the phone, and he could hear your brains working overtime because he immediately started to explain himself. ‘’You won’t be alone, you’ll be with me, my team, my crew.’’ He said. ‘’You can travel the world with me, I might even be able to work around some things here to have you here for some sort of internship, so you won’t have any expenses, and you’ll be able to come to the races with me. Your parents know me, I’m not a stranger.’’

You wanted to say yes, you wanted to give in because honestly, it was a great idea.

‘’But, and these aren’t my worlds, but you’re famous, Lando, and you-…’’

‘’I’m still the same Lando from 20 years ago.’’

‘’I know, I know that, but my parents don’t, you know how they are…’’

You hated the fact you just basically told him you couldn’t go with him because he was famous, and you hated that word as much as he did. Your parents were always so fond of him, they loved him, but they also always made sure to tell you that he had a lot of money, was very well known around the world and that most famous people weren’t the same people they were before they had the money. They’d say that the fame got to their heads, but it wasn’t the same with Lando. He had always been that giggly, funny, sweet, and caring boy, but simply because he wasn’t around during Christmas dinners, or the traditional ‘start of spring’ picnic, they assumed he felt too good for those kinds of things. You explained to them that he was just busy, that because of his job, the start of spring was in the middle of the start of the season, and that he simply couldn’t make it. But they were your parents, stubborn as always.

‘’Y/N?’’

‘’Hmm, sorry, what?’’ You said, hearing him chuckle on the other side of the phone.

‘’Let me talk to them, okay? Let me try to convince them, because honestly, you wouldn’t be the only one to benefit from that decision.’’ He whispered, causing your cheeks to heat up again.

‘’Okay.’’

‘’Lando?’’ Your parents were surprised to see him at your front step. He promised you he’d come to talk to your parents, and he always keeps his promises.

‘’Y/F/N, Y/M/N, it’s been a while, it’s good to see you again.’’ He was always very polite. Calling your parents by their first name was something you always did; you did the same with Adam and Cisca.

It was a good conversation, you occasionally tried to mix yourself into it. A reassuring smile from the curly haired boy made you confident enough to speak up to your parents, and this time, with success, because only a few weeks after your conversation you were packing your clothes.

One year. For one year you’d join Lando with his journey around the world. You had no idea how he did it, and especially this fast, but he had managed to give you an internship position at McLaren, meaning you could come along to the races, the dream scenario for every Lando-girl out there.

‘’You’re the best, you know?’’ You laughed, placing your phone on the bed as you zipped up your suitcases. Instead of living here in London with your parents for a year, you and him both decided it would be the best if you would live in his apartment near Woking. It was still close to home, and to the factory.

He was the best one could imagine, and you knew he was, because he was always there, and he always kept his promises.

You put your phone away and collected the things you had to before ordering a taxi to head straight to the airport. You had been living in his apartment for almost 2 weeks now, and things were good, they were great. He occasionally came to Woking for work, but also to spend time with you. You were best friends ever since, and nothing could ever change that.

The moment you arrived on the airport you felt it again. Those feelings you have been trying to ignore the moment they appeared again, the moment your brain wandered off and thought of him. He always made you feel that way, but you ignored it, always. It might sound cliché, and you hated thinking about it because in every romance book it got romanticized. Having feelings for your best friend never worked out great, except in those books.

But reality is, you’re not living in a book, you’re living in the real world, and it was dangerous. Feelings weren’t mutual all the time, and you didn’t want to find out if it was the case this time because you didn’t want to get your heart broken, so being friends made you be close, feel good without the heartbreak ending it.

It went quick, you got in the jet and 1 hour and a few minutes later you were already back on the ground. He was right, it was faster. Of course he was right, he always was, and that made you fall for him even more, how silly it may sound.

He had texted you, saying he was waiting in his car because of the fans wandering at the airport. Someone spotted his car on the way here, and the FBI agents they are, they immediately put one and one together. He was picking up someone, or his girlfriend, something most fans would say.

‘’Hey.’’ You smiled as you embraced him in a tight hug, he smelled good, he always did. A mix of Dior Sauvage and his own scent made you inhale his scent deeply. It felt like home. You explained him that mixing 3 very expensive perfumes wasn’t making him smell 3 times better, he used to mix most of his perfumes until you made that comment. He asked which one you liked the most, and ever since you mentioned Sauvage all he wore was that. But you never noticed the reason was because you mentioned it, you always thought he simply liked that fragrance the most.

‘’Hey, how was the flight?’’ He opened your car door after helping you put the suitcase in his trunk, the real gentleman he was, and hopped in the driver’s seat.

‘’Amazing, the most relaxing flight I’ve ever had.’’ You sighed, putting on your seatbelt before looking over at him, how he started the car and drove out of the parking garage.

You talked more, about the flight, about how things were at the apartment, his apartment here in Monaco, you even talked about your plans these next upcoming days.

‘’We’ll go to London tomorrow.’’ He whispered. The both of you were laying on his couch in his apartment here in Monaco. Instead of watching TV, you had moved the couch so you both could see the harbour, and the sun setting in the ocean.

The couple of weeks you had been here were the best you ever experienced. You did many things, from shopping to karting in Italy, a day at the beach in France, simracing and even streaming. You made chat very clear you were best friends and nothing more, but when people in chat started to ask about his feelings, and about yours, he told you, quietly, to not answer and ignore them, whatever that might have meant.

‘’Really?’’ Your smile grew wider when he mentioned that. It would be your birthday in 2 days, and you always spent your birthday at home, with your family and friends. Last year he couldn’t make it, as the season started the day your birthday was, but this year he made his way around it. Your birthday was on Tuesday, so Wednesday you’d both fly with his jet to Bahrein for the first race of the year.

‘’Mhm, I wouldn’t want to break your birthday tradition.’’ He smiled, his lips placing a tender kiss on your temple. You were lying when you said your feelings towards him hadn’t grown these couple of weeks with him in Monaco. Everything he did gave you tinglings in your stomach and you couldn’t help ignoring them anymore. You surrendered to the fact you had a crush on him, you liked your best friend, and it was the best feeling ever.

‘’Happy Birthday!’’ Your parents were waiting in the living room when you entered the house. They decorated the entire room with balloons, garlands, and pictures from your first till your 24th birthday.

‘’Smile!’’ They held the camera out in front of you, and you immediately felt an arm wrapped around your shoulder. This caused your smile to grow even wider.

‘’Happy Birthday, beautiful.’’ He whispered in your ear, pressing a kiss to your temple as his scent immediately went through your nose.

‘’Thank you…’’ You whispered, looking into his bright eyes and immediately looking down after, trying to hide the fact you were blushing because of his actions.

Later that evening, after you spent time with your family and friends, you and Lando went back to his apartment. You got many gifts, and you couldn’t be happier about this day.

‘’How was your day?’’ You felt the vibrations of his deep voice going through your entire body, leaning against him as you were seated on the couch of his apartment.

‘’Amazing.’’ You smiled. ‘’Couldn’t be better.’’

‘’Oh, but I think it can.’’ He reached for something in his bag, and once he got the box, he handed it to you. ‘’Happy Birthday, beautiful.’’ He whispered again, watching how you opened the box slowly.

You pulled the black coloured leash that was hanging from the side of the box and gently placed it on the table in front of you. You lifted the lid and grabbed the small bag inside of the box.

‘’Lando.’’ You gasped, touching the velvet bag and opening it slowly. Tears were burning in your eyes at this point, because you realised he made all this effort to get the perfect gift for you. And he succeeded because it was more than perfect.

‘’This is way too crazy.’’ You whispered, feeling how he moved your hair to the side, helping you clipping the silver Swarovski necklace around your neck.

‘’Look inside.’’ He said, tucking some hair away from your face with his fingers, causing your nervousness to grow even more.

You opened the necklace and smiled when you saw the picture inside. It immediately gave you flashbacks, because even though you were only 4 and 5 years old, it was the brightest memory you had from the two of you.

FLASHBACK

‘’Dating is stupid! Kissing is stupid!’’ You laughed when you were seated on the swing, holding tightly when Lando pushed you carefully.

‘’I know! My mommy and daddy kiss when daddy comes home from work and it’s so weird!’’ He laughed, making sure you wouldn’t fall from the swing.

‘’Lando! Y/N! Come on, it’s time to go home!’’ You heard Cisca calling for the both of you, and you jumped off the swing immediately.

‘’Come on, run!’’ He held your hand and while the both of you laughed, you ran to the playground, hiding from Lando’s mom. ‘’Shhh..’’

You stayed there for almost 5 minutes, which seemed like an eternity when you’re just 4 years old. ‘’I have an idea.’’ The curly haired boy smiled and held your hand tightly.

‘’Okay, tell me!’’ You giggled.

‘’When we’re both 25 and we’re still single, I’ll ask you to marry me.’’ He smiled, causing you to giggle and laugh, him doing the same. ‘’Okay!’’

‘’Lando! Y/N, come on we have to go, it’s getting dark!’’ You ran away again, running around the playground as you linked your pinkie finger with him. ‘’Promise’’.

END OF FLASHBACK

After he clipped the necklace around your neck, he took a hold of your hand and grabbed the second box in his bag. He kneeled in front of you, a smile on his lips as he opened the box with one hand.

‘’Marry me.’’ He whispered. ‘’Not now, don’t worry. But one day. You know I am a man of my word, and I still remember that day so well.’’ He smiled, looking at your necklace and then back into your eyes. He always maintained eye contact with you, and it made you feel safe and secure, because you know you can trust those eyes.

‘’I’ve been counting the days till your birthday, knowing that the day you turned 25, I was able to ask this question. I’m lying when I say I was hoping you wouldn’t find someone to be by your side, because, and maybe I’m being selfish, but I want to be that man. It’s too fast to immediately ask you to marry me, because I can’t force you to say yes, but God… Y/N. See this as a promise ring. See this as a promise ring that we’ll be together, that I’ll be the man in your life that makes you the happiest you’ll ever be.’’

Tears were streaming down your face as you listened to every word he said. Every word chosen so carefully yet so chaotically, because this is the moment you knew you weren’t the only one feeling this intense love for him. He felt it for you, too.

You answered him by cupping his cheeks with your hands and doing the one thing you have been dreaming of doing for almost 22 years. You kissed him, his lips moving on yours almost instantly caused you to smile against his lips, him following your movements. This kiss was something else, something that made all the butterflies in your stomach explode with fireworks, like they were all holding a fairy light and lighting them all at the same time.

‘’I love you, Lando, I always have, and I’m so glad I can finally say it out loud now.’’ You giggled, feeling his hand reaching for yours and the ring slipped around your finger so effortlessly.

‘’I love you too, and I promise I’ll get you a proper engagement ring.’’ He whispered before pressing his lips on yours again, firmly, full of love.

2 years later

[lovecoremarbs]

Proudly Displayed

fandom: smiling friends

prompt: charlie dompler/reader

words: 1,264

summary: Things were going well as you and your boyfriend unpacked the first few boxes, that was until he got to the bottom of the first box and stumbled across something you wished he wouldn't bring up. Your degree.

notes: Yes, this was totally inspired by the game "Unpacking" where you have to put the character's degree underneath the bed of their shitty ex to progress through the game. I tried a new writing style with this by trying not to break up paragraphs like I normally do, hope you like it!

Boxes were all strewn around Charlie’s apartment, you two were bringing in the last of them as you only had rented the moving truck for a few hours and your time was quickly running out. You and Charlie, after months and months of back-and-forth discussions, decided to bite the bullet and finally move in together. Your lease was almost up anyway, so the best decision was to move into his place by the end of the month. You both had moved the last of the boxes into the small space, crashing down on his couch as you both leaned against each other on the lumpy cushion, your chests heaving as shitty timing decided you moved in during the hottest point in summer. Your mind wandered as Charlie breathed heavily next to you, his eyes half-lidded while sweat poured down his face onto his white shirt, leaving a thick wet ring around his neck. Damn, he must really love you if he’s willing to do all this work to help move you into his place. Charlie was known for doing the bare minimum at work, home, basically anywhere so to see him go through this much effort for you made your chest fill up with butterflies, daring to make you nauseous. He really wanted you there with him and showed it to you, even if he didn’t mention it…

Your mind wandered further, thinking about the moving truck. You reached out for your phone on the coffee table, your screen reading 3;40 pm. Shit, you needed to have the moving truck back by 4, or else there would be an extra fee. SIghing, you were preparing to get up and moving only to have an out-of-breath Charlie pull you back down onto the couch with him.

“Not now.” He swallowed hard as he spoke,”Ugh- You need to rest.” You raised your brow, pointing to the window, “But the truck is-” “Those stuck-up assholes can wait, I don’t want you getting heatstroke.”  He was right, you were already sweating your ass off in your shirt and sweatpants, if you went out in the sun right now, you would pass out right in the middle of the road. But there was no point in sitting there and doing nothing, you wanted to get this done before bed tonight and the boxes won't unpack themselves. Getting up off the couch, you walked over to a leaning pile of small boxes and ripped the tape off of one of them with your bare fingers.

“H- Hold on.” Using the bottom hem of his shirt, he wiped the sweat off the top of his forehead with it. “Gimme a minute and I’ll help you with that.” He’d been getting better at doing things on his own accord and not having to be asked, you took note of that. You smiled at him and turned your attention back to the contents of the boxes, small trinkets and necessities filled this one, stuff you needed Charlie’s help to find a place for. Right on cue, he walked over and pulled out things one at a time. It was stuff that was all mixed about, as you didn’t really have time to organize shit. Well, you kinda did but procrastination can be a bitch, y’know? But it got a laugh out of Charlie, which in turn made you laugh. “Babe, what is a PEPPER GRINDER doing in a box with your bathroom shit? How in the hell did you do that?” Your boyfriend laughed his ass off as you tried to explain yourself, “I was in a hurry!” “My ass, what did you do? Bring the pepper grinder into the bathroom as you were making dinner?” It was like that for most of that box as you worked on emptying another, until he got to the bottom where he pulled back the newspaper to see a degree displayed in a very nice frame. 

“Oh shit, this is a master’s degree.” You were pulled from your thoughts as you looked over, seeing Charlie holding the frame, his eyes slightly wide as he looked back at you. “You didn’t tell me you went to college, let alone you graduated.” Snatching it away from him, you held the frame to your chest, “I didn’t think it was that important.” You started to sweat again, this time not from the sweltering heat. “Babe, that’s like- super impressive and important. Do you know how many people actually finish college and graduate?” Your face flushed as your chest tightened, he was making a big deal out of this when it really wasn’t. You didn’t feel like bringing it up so you didn’t! “I just figured you didn’t wanna hear about it, it’s no big deal.” You looked away from him, going back to emptying the boxes. Only problem? You couldn’t focus at all and kept picking up the same two things, staring at them as Charlie continued. 

“What do you mean I ‘wouldn’t wanna hear about it’? What would make you think that, honestly?” Shit. You really didn’t want to think about him ever again, but Charlie’s question really made you think. Think to the point you dug up old memories you hoped would be locked away in the void pit of your brain forever and ever. You took a breath, despite the large lump in your throat making it hard to do so, and faced him. “You remember that ex I had right before I met you?” Charlie’s expression softened as he sat down, “Yeah? What about him?” “Well, he had all these things hanging up on his wall that he proudly displayed-guitars, records, family pictures.” Your breath hitched as you continued. “Well, when I first moved in with him, he told me he… Had no room for my degree and I had to put it away. Said ‘It wasn’t that important anyways.’ So I did, haven’t hung it up since.” 

Charlie’s expression turned to one of frustration, his lip slightly quivered in anger. Balling up his fists, he spoke rather loudly, “With all due respect-nah scratch that, fuck that asshole. With NO due respect, that’s bullshit!” He took the frame out of your hands and stomped over to the junk drawer of your now-shared kitchen, pulling out nails and a hammer. “Charlie, what are you…?”  

His knuckles were turning white from how tight he was holding the hammer, lining up a nail to the kitchen wall as he hammered one in. “I’m showing you, this is something that needs to be proudly displayed!” He hung your degree on the wall, taking a step back to look at it with you. 

“Does it look crooked? I-I can’t really tell.” “No, it looks fine Charlie but why did you do all that? I mean, it’s just a damn piece of paper.” Charlie pointed at you as he continued, “See? That’s why I did it, right there. If you really believe that, I’m never taking that ‘damn piece of paper’ down.” That feeling in your chest came back, not the one where it felt like your heart broke into pieces but the one where it felt like your heart was in a chokehold, in a good way of course. Charlie wrapped an arm around you as you both stared at your master’s degree. Yeah, you should feel proud, all those years of studying and tests were damn worth it right that second. 

Your proud moment was short-lived however when Charlie looked at his phone and mumbled “Oh shit. We gotta get the truck back now, it’s thirty minutes overdue.” 

[wutheringcaterpillar]

Remember That Night? Chapter 2/4

Summary: Aaron recalls what he witnessed after following you home and has to find a way to cope with his emotions. What will happen when you arrive at his room, asking questions, and he has to make a decision on whether or not to tell you the truth of how he feels?

Warnings: descriptions of depression

taglist: @ivebeenthearchersstuff @himboelover @zaddyhotch @rousethemouse @pambeasleylover

It took Aaron nearly two hours to arrive home, he ended up taking side roads to make the drive last a bit longer. This was a night he really wished he had Jack but he insisted on staying at Jess’s for the night because he missed his dear auntie. Aaron didn’t want to go home to his empty apartment, the place that he once shared endless nights with you, unforgettable nights. He was alone once again, the passenger seat sat empty.

For a moment he reached his hand over to grab yours imagining you were in the car next to him but when his fingers gripped nothing but thin air he settled his hand onto the middle console, wishing hopelessly that you’d come back to him. In his head the image of your face took over, all he could think of was the way you smiled at him like no other ever could.

 Arriving at his destination he parked his car as he wept, he felt desperate. You had moved on and it was all on him he messed up again, he lost Haley, and he lost you. How could he be so stupid, how could he put his job before you? He knew deep down that the only reason he pushed you away was because he was scared to fall in love again. Beth was just a distraction and his heart knew it. It didn’t flutter when he saw Beth like the way it did with you. He knew you inside and out and what did he know about Beth? If someone had asked him how many siblings she had he couldn’t even answer that but if someone came up to him about something involving you he could go on for forever. 

His phone rang pulling him back to reality but it was Dave, and he had known this man long enough to know that he’d be able to read him right away by just the sound of his voice so he just answered the phone, as he was, a complete mess. “Hotchner.” 

“Why did I just get a call that you put in your-“ the sounds of Aaron sniffling made him pause mid sentence. Aaron wasn’t okay and even though neither you or him outed it to the team about anything you had going on, Dave knew. “It’s Y/N isn’t it?” Aaron sighed deeply, running his free hand over his tear stained face, when he spoke nothing came out but a low, soft, broken whisper. “Yeah- I- I fucked up Dave.” 

There was silence on the line as Aaron watched out the window a couple had walked by on the sidewalk, holding hands, smiling. God how he wished that was the two of you.  He felt himself on the urge of crying once more. He had to get off this phone call he didn’t say a word before ending it and throwing his phone at the windshield, and burying his face onto the steering wheel. It wasn’t for nearly twenty minutes later that he got out of his car. His feet dragging slightly on the wet concrete before walking into his home that didn’t feel so much like a home. Jack wasn’t there, you weren’t there sleeping soundly in his bed. He was alone, again with nothing but the last remaining items you had left there. 

-

When he awoke out of his sleep your shirt was still clutched tightly in his grip. Glancing at the time on his phone he took note that he was going to be late for work but he didn’t have a care in the world. An empty void filled his chest, he blew it, he lost you entirely. The scent of you taking control of him, his nose nuzzling in deeper into your shirt. Chills lingered down his spine, but he knew he had to get up out of bed and find a way to get through the day without imagining you kissing your new friend every time he walked passed you.

 Groaning, he pulled himself up out of bed and lazily put his suit and tie on. When he walked in the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb through his hair he wasn’t even able to look at himself in the mirror. A ship of guilt had crashed into him anytime he looked at himself, he was ashamed of how he handled himself with you and deep down, he felt like a coward for putting his two weeks in but he just couldn’t look you in the eyes knowing you weren’t his anymore.

 When Aaron arrived at the office and Penelope was presenting the case she stopped mid sentence and every one turned to look at him. He looked at everyone in the room except for you. Derek was the first to comment on Aaron’s attire. He looked drained, like he wasn’t all there. Bags remained under his eyes along with dark circles, his suit and tie were disheveled, the collar not even buttoned all the way, his hair was combed but not to the standard that Aaron considered exceptional. “Well if it isn’t the boss man himself. You’re never late we were getting worried is every thing alright?” He was quick to ignore the question and sat down in the only empty seat that was next to you. “Everything is fine. What do we have?” 

The only time he looked at you through the presentation was when he knew you were focused on something else. He caught you looking at your phone and smiling down at it, and Spencer had made a comment about how happy you looked when exiting the room. Aaron couldn’t help but form a small smile. He was happy that you were getting through life but upset that it meant you were moving on from him. His mind was tangled in different directions, his mind knew how he should act accordingly but he was afraid his heart would effect his work performance, and this was another reason he was leaving. 

 He was walking out the door in front of you hurriedly but before he could make it he felt your grip on his wrist. That small touch just made him squeeze his eyes shut, the touch of your skin on him made him want more of you. 

When he turned to face you, he did his best to keep his composure. “Hey! Um I- I heard you put your two weeks in and I just- Well I guess I just wanted to know-“

 “Y/N i disregarded how you said you didn’t need me to follow you home and I followed you anyway. I think it’s best for me to leave, you’ve moved on and that’s what I need to do now.” He could tell when he spoke by the look on your face his words had stunned you. He was hitting himself in the head on the inside for being so foolish. “You- You followed me home? Aaron you didn’t need to-“ He wondered if your heart was breaking as much as his. 

When he turned around he noticed Emily and Penelope trying to pretend like they weren’t watching and listening. Aaron knew his friends weren’t stupid, and that they probably caught on awhile ago, another reason he needed to remove himself from this environment. “Listen, can we talk about this later? We need to go and I just can’t do this right now. I’m sorry- I’m sorry for every thing that’s happened but I’m happy that you’re happy.” With that said he smoothed down his tie and exited the room, leaving you there completely and utterly speechless, at a loss for words.

 Once on the plane he had sat down on the opposite side away from you, facing an empty seat, well was empty until Emily took the seat across from him. “So when are you going to tell her?” He looked taken aback, and put on a straight face. “Tell who what?” 

 “Come on, it’s me. I’m one of your closest friends and hers. I know when something’s up and I’ve had a hint for quite a bit.” 

“Emily, I don’t think this is the time or place and quite frankly I don’t particularly want to talk about my love life right now so let’s just focus on the case. Please.” He raised his eyebrows expectantly at her. If she didn’t drop it he was going to excuse himself to some other seat on the plane. 

Sighing with defeat, Emily folded her hands and looked at Aaron with caring eyes. “Alright, just- When you’re ready to talk about it you know where to find me.” He nodded respectfully and thanked her, before she took her seat back next to Derek. 

That night he followed you home he planned on telling you about Beth. The only reason he hadn’t done it in the office was because he wanted to be safe and be sure there weren’t any lingering ears. He sat there and contemplated in his mind, watching you from afar eyeing the case files. How could he not have known, how could you not have told him you had moved on. He couldn’t blame you after what he did to you but the thought of him mentioning that he still had feelings for you entered his mind quite a few times on the plane ride but he knew in no way was that fair. Taking one last glance at you before the plane landed, he looked at you with loving, desperate eyes but before yours could connect to his he looked away out the window, watching the clouds pass by in a daze. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be done loving you no matter how hard he tried. 

He had booked the room furthest from you, trying to put distance in between the two of you even though that was the absolute last thing he wanted. He wanted to be in your room with you, falling asleep next to you, knowing you were safe and sound. His heart quenched as he pulled out the shirt of yours he had packed with him. He was a mess and clinging on to the last important thing he still had of yours. It only made him feel more like a fool when he fell asleep with it in his hands once again. 

 When he awoke in the morning his arm was spread out on the empty side of the bed as if you were there. His lips curled into a small smile at the thought of you next to him. A knock on the door brought him out of his imagination. He let out a groan before tossing a shirt and sweats on and answering the door. When he opened it his heart rate sky rocketed when he saw the sight of you, with your messy hair, and two cups of coffee in your hand. “Can I come in?” He opened the door  giving you a full welcome to his room before taking the coffee you handed him. “Thank you. You’re up early.” You nodded in response, taking a seat in a cushioned chair by the bed. “I wanted to talk. If that’s okay?” He motioned for you to go on while taking a sip of his coffee. “Aaron- I want to know why you followed me home and before you start I want honesty. Please.” Tapping the side of his cup, he looked off to the window on the side of the room, eyebrows knitted together like the way they did when he was contemplating a situation in his mind. 

If he gave you his full honest answer, he’d lose you for good even as a friend, he just had a deep gut feeling you’d be upset and angry with him for how selfish he would be but on the other end he couldn’t lie to you, you’d know if he was from how well he knew you could read him like a book and tell right on the spot if he was lying. “Well, where would you like me to start.” 

“The beginning would be wonderful.” He nodded in response before dragging his hand over his face. This was going to be the hardest conversation he’s ever had in his life and he just prayed that he wouldn’t shed a tear. “Well. About two weeks into dating Beth I realized something. She wasn’t you. I told myself I’d never do this to a woman but I dragged you into my world and for months we made it our world. When I told you we needed to end it that wasn’t a wise decision on my part. I wasn’t seeing Beth the whole time, it wasn’t until about a week after I broke it off I met her. I was trying so hard to force myself to get over you because I never thought I’d be in the position I was in, dating my beautiful employee, and falling so outrageously deep in love with her that it terrified me.” He looked up at you and saw you had stopped all movement, your coffee was now sat on the floor, spilt over onto the carpet. Your eyebrows raised, and mouth slightly agape. Those pretty eyes that he once made big and wide with love, now on the brink of tears, filled with sadness. He continued on and looked at the floor. 

“The reason I followed you home wasn’t just to make sure you made it there safely but to tell you all of this, but I understand that you have moved on and you’re happy and I fully respect that which is why I put my two weeks in. I can’t be near you and put myself through endless regret every day. Just know that every thing we did was real and that I’m glad you have found someone who’s not afraid to love you. Truly. You deserve it but I still-“ Another knock on the door had him wiping his eyes from the tears that were about to form and he watched as you excused yourself to the restroom to get yourself back together. 

The knock on the door was Dave informing him that it was time they go and all he did was nod in response. He quickly got dressed and knocked on the restroom door letting you know you all were about to head out and when he got a broken “Okay” from the other side he wanted to slam his fist against the door. He shouldn’t have said anything at all. He made you upset like he knew he would but he turned and let his back and head rest on the door, looking up at the ceiling as a tear slid down his cheeks, causing a single wet tear droplet to fall onto the floor. This was going to be a long, difficult day for the both of you to say the least. 

-

The endless longing stares and the distance he forced upon the two of you made him go crazy the whole day. If it weren’t for Spencer pulling him out of his mind earlier, the unsub would have gotten away. 

 The two weeks had dragged by, Aaron began to drink practically every night he didn’t have Jack. For some reason he assumed you would at least text or call him or even talk to him at the office about the last conversation the two of you shared but you didn’t and that’s when he realized he made the right decision by leaving the bureau. 

Entering the building on his last day he was welcomed with warm hugs and tears from the team and of course the goodbye cake Penelope had gotten for him. He had gotten to say goodbye to everyone except you, he couldn’t find you for the life of him. “Dave where’s Y/N?” 

“She called in sick but she said she left a case for you on your desk.” He nodded in response and headed into his office, it wasn’t a case. It was a letter that lay there with his name written on the envelope in your hand writing. He closed his door, and made his way to his chair taking a deep breath before opening it.

 “Aaron. I wanted to say thank you for being such a great man to me. I apologize I couldn’t be there for your last day but just know, I believe you. That it was all real. I knew it was and that’s why I’m wishing you all the success in the world for your new job. You were a pleasure to work with and I think wherever you’re going and whoever you may work with in the future are going to be lucky to have you. You don’t need to respond, just live and be safe please.   -Y/N” 

He gently folded the letter and tucked it in his pocket. When he picked up and threw the envelope in his trash can he hadn’t noticed the small note that was left in the corner. A small smile formed on his face, accompanied by dimples and the flow of one single tear, once more on his final day. Buckling his suitcase, he said his goodbyes, glancing one last time at the office before leaving.

[cottonlemonade]

Confessions After Hours

word count: 1124 || avg. reading time: 5 mins.

pairing: Akiteru x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff, friends to lovers

warnings: like one time swearing

synopsis: Akiteru accidentally confesses to you

You looked outside the café windows for the fourth time in the last 5 minutes, it was past closing time, all the cleaning was done and your fellow part-timers had already left. So you just tried to find some busy work to have a somewhat legitimate reason to stall. The rain was getting worse and by now you were pretty sure Akiteru wouldn’t come.

It’s not like it was an actual plan, you reminded yourself, it was just kind of implied that he wanted to walk you home but no one could expect him to go out in this weather.

And so you hummed to yourself while carefully brushing down mint leaves and edible flowers with egg whites and sugar.

Your mood dropped a little when you checked the clock again. You had been looking forward to spending time alone with Akiteru.

Of course, you had little hope that he was interested in you romantically but that didn’t stop you from dreamily staring at him during study sessions or making a fool of yourself whenever possible - like running into a glass door when he smiled at you like last week.

When you laid the sugar coated decoration out on a baking sheet, a familiar figure caught your eye.

He stood on the other side of the road, waiting for a safe crossing. Quickly you walked over to the front door to unlock it and let him in.

“Ugh, wet.”, he commented, waddling in.

“Why didn’t you bring an umbrella?”, you asked incredulously when he pulled back his drenched hood and shook his soaked hair like a dog.

“We only have one and one of the others got it tonight.”, he explained as if that was normal.

You swallowed the start of what would probably be a rather long discussion about why it wasn’t smart that 4 roommates shared a singular umbrella and so instead opted for “You should get out of those wet clothes before you catch your death.”

He gave you an overly dramatic look of shock, clutching his soaked collar like a Victorian lady.

“Oh, grow up!”

Together you peeled him out of his hoodie (his t-shirt underneath was dry for the most part) and you considered the dripping bulk of fabric for a second, before making a decision.

Wringing out as much of the excess water as possible over the kitchen sink, you then opened the still warm oven from the banana bread you made earlier and placed the black hoodie on a baking sheet inside.

Akiteru watched you with crossed arms and then asked in complete earnest, “How long do you think it needs?”

“I don’t know, Akiteru. I have never baked hoodie before. I’d give it like 5 minutes and then I’ll turn it over. We’ll see.”

To warm him up you brewed him a big mug of coffee in the already cleaned machine. A gesture that didn’t fail to impress. “I have never felt this special in my life.” He wrapped his large hands around the steaming cup and breathed in the cozy coffee scent.

“Don’t get used to it.”, you said, smiling, taking a sandwich and a bowl of fruit you had prepared for him earlier out of the fridge.

“This café has such excellent service. Thank you.”

You pulled a folder of various papers from a shelf, turning pages as if to check things - he didn’t need to know that you were just pretending. “So, how is the Kei situation - still hating the club?”

“Not so much hating, I’d say indifferent, which somehow is almost worse.”

“How come?”

“At least hate would indicate a strong emotion.”, he said wisely, plopping a grape in his mouth and feeding you one, too, while you were “busy” tapping something on your phone’s calculator and writing gibberish numbers on a slip of paper. When his fingertips accidentally brushed your lips in the process your brain came to a full stop.

“But the spring tournament is right around the corner and I am almost sure he is actually starting to enjoy himself - a little.”

Another grape.

He took a sip of coffee and sighed.

“Your coffee tastes like a hug.”

Your eyes lit up. “I… that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. You mean, like a good hug though, right? Not one of those half-assed one armed thingies.”

He spluttered into his mug and coughed to clear his throat.

“Yes, a good hug. Both arms, full body contact. I am talking full-on cocoon.”

With a bragging smile, brain still fried, you said “I’ve been told I give pretty amazing hugs like that.” proudly pushing your chin up.

“Oh yeah? Well then let’s see what you got.”

You thought for a second, then dropped your highly important paperwork back on the counter. “Let’s have a look at your hoodie first, don’t want it to get too dark.”

A moment later you stood across from each other stretching as if getting ready for a fight. “Alright, little one. Give it your all.”, he said and opened his arms.

He had been ready for a lot of things. He had held your hand before, when navigating through a crowd (only as friends of course), so he was no stranger to the tingles your touch sent through his body.

What he hadn’t been ready for was your head to be leaning against his chest and your hands gently stroking over his back. He returned the hug immediately, placing one hand on your back and one gently cradling your head, resting his cheek against your temple. A perfect fit. It was better than he had ever imagined. Where did they even make people as soft and heavenly squishy as you? For many hasty heartbeats he held you like this. Then you gave the smallest sigh and actually snuggled even closer to him. He couldn’t take it. It was too much. And so without thinking in one quiet breath he let out, “Shit, I’m so in love with you.”

He felt you stiffen in his arms and prepared for the worst. You lifted your head to look at him, your eyes sleepy like you had been about to doze off.

Akiteru loosened his arms so you could pull away like you undoubtedly were going to. But you didn't.

"I'm... I'm sorry that was really stupid.", he said quickly.

"Don't worry, I accidentally tried freezing a cucumber last week. You're good.", you said in a drowsy sort of way.

"What?"

"What?"

He didn't know what to do. You hadn't pulled away. You weren't screaming or running away or hitting him. Instead, you got on your tip-toes, a hand on his chest and smiled, before you set the softest kiss against his surprised lips.

[beansricejc]

JOHN WICK x READER - The Courier

part 4!

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

summary: John sneaks into your apartment to surprise you when you get home, and asks for you two to become official. Then y’all finally get steamy in the bedroom, where he talks you through it the whole time. Female reader, 3270 words.

author’s note: thx for following so far! if you’re new here, I’d recommend reading the previous parts but it is not necessary! feel free to lmk what you think! I love reading what u have to say! thx 💕

warnings: cursing, p in v, relationship talk, breaking & entering, alcohol, implied organized crime, significant age gap. 🔞

Your condo was surprisingly easy to break into. Well, for John that is, and John’s the best there is. It’s no surprise that getting into your place without a key is a walk in the park to him. 

It’s been about a month and a half since the pair of you began to see each other. People John’s age would call it casual dating. People your age would call it a situationship.

One of the biggest challenges was John trying to keep up with your lingo, and then whenever he’d try to use it in a sentence, he’d fail drastically. 

Enough of that. 

John’s lurking around in your living room. He’s been here a few times before. Dinner, drinks, movies, and gaming nights, you name it. John’s Casanova identity was slowly being torn apart by you. He had developed feelings for you that he was convinced would never appear again after the death of his wife. 

The last place he thought those feelings would come from was a young crime boss. The sheer idea of it almost made him laugh, even if it was true. 

Tonight, he’s going to ask you to make it official. A public romantic relationship, between a budding crime lord, and an infamous hitman. 

It sounded ridiculous, yet it was all John wanted. 

-

Meanwhile, you’re driving back home from a very frustrating work meeting. 

The title of work meeting was a very loose term. It mostly consisted of you berating some of your workers for fucking up a decent sized delivery. Two of your employees had totaled their motorcycles, and were suffering from road rash, and the other one forgot to fill up on gas before the job.

Fucking idiots.

That didn’t matter now, you were blaring some A$AP Ferg just to let out some frustration, your Audi R8 was a fantastic car to speed down the highway in. You, of course, specialized in riding a motorcycle but fall was on its way, evident by the chill in the air. 

The plan for you tonight was to get home, drink half a bottle of Plum Sake, and pass out to some sort of Netflix Original playing on your tv. 

You thought about shooting John a text since he had messaged you a few hours ago. You decided you would text him once you got home.  

-

John was admiring your home aesthetic, he had complimented it a few times. You really had the 70s vibe down to a T. The nostalgia was almost overwhelming to him, you were a 2000s baby, and John was, well, not. 

John was surprised that you hadn’t said anything to show that you hated the age gap you two had, except for the occasional old man diss. 

John took a closer look at some pictures that were in frames on a shelf. He didn’t know exactly what they were. If he was a betting man, it would be a high school graduation photo with friends, vacation pictures, and then some competitive Motocross racing images.

“Damn, badass.” John chuckled, it was interesting getting an insider look at your life since you are a crime lord after all. 

-

You parked your car in the garage and made your way to your condo, a few floors up and a few doors down. Your stupid key was so hard to find in your purse, and you almost gave up looking for it out of pure exhaustion. However, you managed, sighing as you opened your door and kicked your shoes off onto the rack. 

You didn’t notice John at all. No one ever did. He was an expert, and experts act like ghosts when they need to. 

You hung your purse up on a hook and immediately went for the kitchen and into the fridge, searching for sparkling water to chug. You didn’t know why but the burn of it going down your throat was really great feeling. To you at least. 

As you grabbed a can, you could tell something was off. You weren’t that dumb. Any normal person would have gone about their business as usual, you picked up on a presence in less than two minutes. Impressive. 

“Hey, cutie.” John’s voice suddenly appeared from your living room, his tall and menacing figure emerging from the shadows of your dark condo. You jump, grab your gun that’s in your back holster, and stop abruptly after you realized it was John. You went into panic mode from hearing his voice and gasped to settle yourself down. 

“Shithead! Oh my god, you scared the fuck out of me!” You exclaim, there are actually a million other things you’d like to say right now. 

“Asshole!”

“I’m gonna knock your teeth in.”

“Holy shit, you’re hot as fuck.” 

Those were a few examples, of course, you didn’t say any of them. They were still going through your head though. 

John was cackling from the living room while he stepped towards you, you put your firearm down on your kitchen counter, fuming at the fact that he somehow broke in, and almost gave you a heart attack. John absolutely loved teasing you, watching your face getting frustrated or flustered really did something to him that he couldn’t explain. 

John joined you in the kitchen as you were calming yourself down, the danger you were in being a false alarm. He gave out a throaty deep chuckle, looking down at you with those menacing brown eyes. 

They were never menacing towards you. John couldn’t even imagine the thought of doing something to hurt you or to even intentionally scare you. Over the past month, he’s grown to like you more and more, a thought that scared the shit out of him. He’s gonna do it. He’s going to ask you to be his girlfriend. 

What a juvenile term, he felt much too old to even use that word but what else was there? 

John hadn’t exactly figured out how he was going to ask, one thing was for sure, it would happen tonight. 

He didn’t know why but tonight just felt like a really good choice. 

John’s long dark hair is slightly draped over his chiseled face, his eyes peering through the strands directly at you. 

“Sorry, angel. You’re just so cute when you get scared.” John tells you. You’re currently putting on the biggest pouty face you can manage right now, just to show your disdain for his prank. 

You can hardly be mad at the man. He’s just so damn attractive. He’s even wearing a tee shirt, you have never seen him wear one before. John’s toned biceps are peeking out of his short sleeves. Your eyes can’t help but drink in the sight of his bare arms. Multiple scars and bruises are sprinkled throughout his skin, ones you have yet to hear stories of, or even see. 

You snap out of your fan service moment when John takes his large hand to ruffle your hair. He loved the feeling of your thick and soft hair against his skin, and the smell? He had no idea what type of shampoo you used, the smell of it was embedded into his memory and only associated with you now. 

Raspberries, and coconut? That was probably the closest he’d get to guessing the scent. 

“I should upgrade your security here, it took me like 20 seconds to get in. I expected better from a criminal mastermind.” John tsked at you, playfully disappointed. 

He takes the chance to lean against your kitchen’s island, crossing his legs but his gaze has yet to leave you. 

You’re such a beautiful creature. 

The sight of John’s casual lean stirs something inside of your chest. 

Christ, can this guy get any sexier? You think to yourself. 

“Sorry, guess I haven’t looked into that yet.” you stammer. John waves you over, and you take a few steps towards him, laying against his body and setting your head on his chest. You press your ear to him, listening to the soft thuds of his heartbeat, the organ doing its job to keep pumping blood through this lethal man. 

“Hey, uh, let’s talk for a sec.” John says suddenly after about a minute of mutual silence. You scrunch your eyebrows and peer up at him, curious. Why did he sound so serious all of a sudden? He looked nervous almost. 

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” you ask. 

John is quiet for a few seconds, it looked like he was trying to find the right words to say. You’re really enjoying laying against him since his body is so warm, and definitely not because of the muscles you can feel against your own. 

“So.” He starts. “What do you say we make our little situation exclusive?” 

Your eyes widen. No way. Absolutely no way. Was John fucking Wick asking you to be, oh Jesus Christ. The deadly playboy was being serious, and you can tell based on how his brown eyes are soft but with anticipation growing inside of them. 

Oh my god. 

You were clearly interested, even if both of your schedules clashed with each other. You two were well-known workaholics in the criminal underworld, the few times you got to see him a week were very romantic, however, short-lived. 

With this in mind, your time spent together was amazing but as far as the physical aspects, you two were taking it slow. You of course were doing it unintentionally, work tired you out, you haven’t really done anything sexual of the sort in years because of your painstakingly busy work life, and so on and so forth. 

John, on the other hand, was becoming a bit sexually frustrated. He really loved your wholesome time spent together, he did! Just, sometimes the way your pants fit around those hips and ass of yours, his mind tended to, wander, to say the least. 

“Are you asking if you can be my boyfriend, Johnathan?” you inquire, walking your pointer and middle finger up his chest to fidget with the hem of his black tee shirt. You were attempting to calm yourself down but were failing miserably, just the sight of John looking down at you in that idyllic gaze of his was driving you absolutely nuts. A soft but low hum escaped his lips. 

“Or maybe, I’m asking you to be my girlfriend,” he whispered down at you. 

You don’t really know why but you laugh. 

“Same question, different fonts.” you giggle. John huffs in amusement at your statement. He still doesn’t know where you come up with these things, or really how internet culture works. 

“God, you guys, and your memes.” he sighed. “You can’t leave a man hangin’ like this, angel. What’s it gonna be?” 

You haven’t had a real relationship in years, and it seems like John is in the same boat as you. He’s mentioned his late wife only once to you, obviously, it was a sore subject. He was serious about starting anew with you it seemed. 

“I wouldn’t want to be anybody else’s.” you murmur to him. 

John’s immediately filled with glee, and he squeezes you in a death lock of a hug. You eyes bulge as you attempt to hug him back but your arms, or anything really, are unable to move. 

Well, it’s official. The two of you shared an excited kiss before he goes to your living room, revealing the very nice bottle of wine he brought to celebrate the occasion. 

It seemed like he was betting on you saying yes. 

You’re quite flattered by his confidence, and grab two wine glasses from your liquor cabinet before you two sit on your orange couch and share the bottle with each other. 

Fun conversation ensues. You two are a fantastic couple, you guys found that out a few hang-outs in. John thought you were hilarious, and he definitely had his moments. The man was a total flirt, even after you two had been dating for the past month. 

Conversation turns into joking, joking turned into play fighting, and next thing you knew he was laying you down on your couch, your legs wrapped around his waist as he pressed his hard on in between your thighs. 

“We have too many clothes on, can we change that?” John asked as he stripped his shirt right off of his torso. 

What a sight to behold. 

Despite John being in his mid-forties, he has stayed in shape for the sake of his career, and it shows. Toned muscles have been revealed above you, and you’re honestly shocked. It’s the shape he’s in and the scars that got you, John noticed as your eyes dart to the different marks on his body. 

“Do I rock the bad boy look?” he slyly asks, his hands wiggling under you and lifting your body up and over his shoulder as he brought you to your bedroom, despite your gasp of surprise and hysterical laughter. 

You’re finally at an angle where you can see his tattoos, you didn’t know he had any. His back is covered, you can make out a Latin phrase and, a wolf. Was that a wolf? Guess he was Team Jacob all along. 

You squeal as he plops you onto your queen-sized mattress, and your lips crash into each other, desperately craving the other’s touch. John’s hands assist you in peeling off your shirt and jeans, tossing the clothing to the wooden floor. His breathing seems to heighten at the image of you in only a seamless bra and a thong, your soft skin, curves, everything is better than he had ever imagined. 

He’s going to absolutely ruin you. 

Minutes pass, and the sting of John’s beard dragging along your inner thighs is a sensation that is completely unfamiliar to you. Your hands are grappling at your duvet from underneath your now nude body, as John’s tongue is sloppily circling your swollen clit, and some inhuman noises are erupting from your throat.

“H-holy, fuck!” you shriek. You were no virgin but you haven’t been intimate with anyone for a few years. 

John couldn’t say the same thing. 

You knew what good was even if it has been a long while, and this was fucking immaculate. John dips two long fingers into your core, his eyes boring into yours while he was devouring your cunt. 

“You’re such a good fucking girl,” John mumbled into your pussy as he continued to lap you up with his mouth, the vibration of his words almost sending you over the edge. John’s using that signature come here motion with his fingers inside of you, and your hips buck, legs wrapping around his neck and squeezing to force him to stay in his current position. 

He had honestly forgotten how strong you are. 

He’s fucking obsessed. 

His other hand is stroking his completely erect cock, making sure he’s good and ready to claim you as his. 

You’re strong but John’s stronger. He’s able to easily push past your thigh’s grasp, you’re almost seeing double from the pure ecstasy he’s been so gracious to gift you. His mouth and chin are slick with your juices, his tongue dragging over his lips while he smiled down at you to savor your taste. 

You can barely think. Holy fuck, was this actually happening right now? Did John Wick make a deal with the Devil to have the ultimate skill of giving head? 

You blink a few times and catch a glimpse of John’s erection. Jesus Christ, it’s way bigger than you had ever pictured it. 

“J-John, that’s not going to fit!” you cry out at him, as much as you want him, that thing is fucking huge. John tilted his head of sweaty, messy, long hair, raising his eyebrows and giving you a chuckle. “Seriously? Baby girl, how long has it been for you?” John questions, spitting into his palm and giving himself a few more tugs to hold himself over. Somehow, your face becomes redder than it was already. 

“Uh, a few years,” you admit, embarrassed to even say it out loud. “Just, don’t really have the time.” 

That admission throws John completely off. It doesn’t stop him from rubbing his bare tip against your slick and swollen entrance. “Don’t worry, angel, I’ll change that.” he smirked down at you, his eyes are all over your nude body below him on the bed. You only reply with a small squeak in response to the sensation of his tip on you. “Just, trust me, princess. Can you do that, trust me?” John asks, leaning completely over you so he’s just a few inches above your sweaty face. You nod while he pushes into you, and there’s a lot of resistance to him, despite the several minutes of foreplay he had provided you. You grit your teeth and grip his back. 

“Hey, hey, you’re tense.” John murmurs, grazing your cheek with the back of his hand. You two maintain eye contact as he’s gently entering you. “Can you take a deep breath?” 

You listen to him, taking a deep breath, and even you can tell the difference in feeling down in your core. “See, look at that, you just need to relax for me, baby girl. Take another one for me.” John orders you sweetly.

You oblige. 

John lets out a deep breath, your tight cunt is almost overwhelming to him. After your deep breaths, your pussy is letting up and welcoming him now. 

“See, you feel that? You’re taking me in all by yourself now, good girl.” John praises while you respond with unintelligible whimpers, his lips peppering kisses onto your sweaty forehead. 

You can feel his entire length inside of you at this point, he’s so deep, you swear you can feel him in your cervix. You gasp before he continues, sliding in and out of you at a gentle and steady pace, nipping and sucking onto your neck and collarbone. This is sure to leave marks later but he could care less. People should know who you belong to. 

“You like that, baby?” he asks as he thrusts at a faster and deeper rate, you moan affirmatively, you can’t seem to respond in English at the moment, only squeals and whimpers that he can’t help but be attracted to. One of John’s hands travel to your cunny, skillfully rubbing his thumb over your tortured clit. You let out a small scream, your nails digging into his muscular back, he’s doing the same to your hip, so the feeling was mutual. 

John can feel your cunt tighten around his fast moving cock, he wasn’t going to last much longer like this, especially with no condom on. 

You were in the same boat though.

“J-john, fuck! I wanna cum so bad!” you mewl out, John throws a dark chuckle your way. The timing was spot on.

“You want me on your stomach, face?” He asked. 

“Just, just, do it, I don’t care!” You gasp, approaching your climax while he continued to rub your clit as he pounded into your tight little cunny.

“Don’t care, huh? Interesting.” He grunts. “I’ll make you my little Twinkie then, alright?” 

You’re quite literally in the middle of a tear jerking orgasm while he says this, so you really don’t have time to react to the absolutely ridiculous phrase. Your trembling legs and shaky grasp on his body is what sends John over, he cursed and grunted, releasing all the way into your cunt. Ropes of cum shoot into you, and you twitch at the sensation. 

You’re both trying your best to catch your breath as he pressed his forehead to yours and chuckled. 

“Did you just call me a fucking Hostess snack?” you huff out, and he can’t help but burst out laughing. 

“Yeah, I think I did.” 

[4townie]

Road to 4☆TOWN

“FREEDOM!” Jesse cheered. “I can finally tell everyone I’m going home to my beautiful fiancé and my adorable kids.”

“Oh my god, you’re so lame.” Z laughed at him. “Not half an hour ago you were going on about missing 4☆TOWN and now you’re running off.”

“That was before I had the rush of telling everyone I’m a non-single family man.” Jesse reminded him. “And hey. Now you guys can stop making out in the bathroom every time we go out. So you understand me.”

T and Z both blushed. “Huh?”

“Guys, we don’t have time for this.” Taeyoung tugged on both of their arms. “We have to go pick up Livvy from the airport. We can’t be late.”

“Awww, someone’s excited to see his best friend.” Robaire teased. “Did you miss her or something?”

“OF COURSE I MISSED HER!” Taeyoung yelled with a slight blush in his cheeks. “We didn’t get to hang out before she left because of finals and then there was the dance recital and—” He cut himself off with a groan. “Can we just go now?”

T laughed at his eagerness. “Yeah, we should probably go. We don’t wanna leave her hanging.”

“Alright, fine.” Z rolled his eyes. “We’ll see you guys around.”

“Kay, bye. Love you.” Jesse waved. “Oh, and I’ll text you guys about the wedding stuff soon.” He sighed. “Ugh, I just love the sound of that. I can’t wait for the actual day.”

“I’m really happy for you, Jes. I honestly can’t wait either.” Robaire said with a soft smile. “By the way…are Sean and Danny gonna fight for Best Man? Or are you just gonna let them pick?”

“Actually, we already talked about it.” Jesse admitted quietly. “They both agreed they’re too incompetent and they don’t do well under pressure, so they’re just gonna be groomsmen.”

“Oh. Well that’s cool too.” Robaire shrugged. “You don’t really need one anyway.”

“I didn’t say that.” Jesse shook his head. “I wanted to ask you if you’d be my Best Man.”

Robaire stared at him with stars in his eyes. “You what?”

“Robaire, you’re my best friend.” Jesse put a hand on his shoulder. “In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve done so much for me and my family. I mean, I’ve literally never had a better friend in my life. Plus I obviously already know what a great leader you are.”

“Oh gosh, now I know why Selina cried when you proposed.” Robaire fanned himself teasingly. “I’m so touched.”

Jesse blushed and pushed him away. “I take it back.”

“Ugh, you’re so sensitive.” Robaire rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I’ve been there for you since day one, no way I’m gonna stop now. Of course I’ll be your Best Man.”

“Thanks, man. It means a lot to me.” Jesse smiled. “I wish I could stay and hang but—”

“But you have a family to get home to, I get it.” Robaire nodded. “Go, be free. And say hi to Selina and the kids for me.”

“Will do.” Jesse nodded as he started to back away. “I’ll see you tomorrow though, right?”

“Yeah of course.”

“Neat.” Jesse winked and gave him finger guns. His phone started to ring. “That’s Selina, I gotta go. Love you, bye.” He waved and headed off.

Robaire chuckled to himself. “They really are the perfect couple.” He sighed and headed to his car. Once he got in, he took off his ring and paused to stare at it. “What a wild ride.” He smiled at the memories. “Goodbye 4☆TOWN.”

———

And that’s the end of the series…no I’m kidding🤭 sorry I can’t link the last parts, tumblr is kinda wonky right now🤪

[lexusiswriting]

A love you deserve (Ricky Olson) - Part 13 of ?

Hi guys!

I know it's been a long time and I'm sorry for that. :( Hope you'll like this part. <3

Warnings: none.

Tags: @multifandomcrackhead, @nicelittlenightmares, @roll-tide-babe89, @skulliecadaver-blog, @21-century-tae, @melissa-anderson, @abiomens, @w743, @insanitywulf, @awkwardalex, @philomenie, @kaite1996, @coc41nn, @xxsparklezzzxx, @shilohrosechicken

Requests: OPEN.

_________________________________

Ricky’s point of view

We had to stay for 4 more hours to work on the song. It was still not done, but we made some changes to it. In the meantime, Lexus told Chris that she was not feeling well and she would go home. Of course, it was a lie, and he knew it had something to do with me. But surprisingly, he did not say anything to me.

While I was driving home, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. There must be something I can do to make her trust me again. At the same time, I hated myself for being another burden on her mind, next to her ex-husband. He did her so wrong, and I hoped I would never see him again because I knew I would regret later what I would do to him.

Suddenly, I took the right exit instead of the left one. My brain made me choose the road to her home instead of mine. I decided that it may be a sign, something I need to do right now, or I’ll never get another chance. 6 years have already passed and I couldn’t wait any longer.

I parked my car and went to the door. For a couple of minutes, I contemplated if I should do it or if it was better to leave. Again, my unconscious moved my hand and knocked on the door. After a couple more minutes, which felt like hours, Lexus was in front of me.

“Ricky, what are you doing here? I thought I made myself very clear when I told you to leave me alone.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for that. But I really can’t get you out of my head and my heart. The only thing I am asking is for one more chance to make things clear. After I will explain everything, if you don’t want to have anything to do with me, I promise I will step back.”

She looked at me dead in the eyes and a tired sigh left her lips. Still thinking that it may be wrong, she moved a little so she could let me enter.

“We can talk in the living room, my daughter is with her father. Start explaining.”

“I don’t know how many times I can say it, but I’m really sorry for everything. From the moment we met, I only brought sadness into your life. Now I’m sure, more than ever, that the only thing I want in this life is you.”

“This is not easy at all, Ricky. You can’t expect me to forgive you just like that, jump into your arms, and pretend nothing ever happened.”

“Of course, I know that. But we can take things slowly. Then you’ll see I’m not the man I used to be. You can trust me.”

“How slow do you think would be best?”

“Well, I can assure you, nothing intimate would happen. Not even holding hands if you don’t feel comfortable doing it. We can be friends first. Having dinners together, watching a movie or just talking when we need to get something out of our chest.”

“What if it will make things worse?”

“It can never happen. We can try and when we feel things are going in the wrong direction we can stop. But at least we will know that we tried.”

Lexus stood up from the couch and walked around the room. While she was thinking of an answer, I was feeling like I could faint at any moment. There she was, the woman of my life, deciding our future.

“I guess we can try.”

All I wanted at that moment was to take her in my arms and kiss her with all the passion I had in me. But remembering what we agreed on, I just smiled, knowing this was a win as well. Now I had the opportunity to show her how much she means to me.

After 6 months

Lexus’s point of view

Motionless In White released their album “Scoring the End of the World” and it was a huge success. Their fans loved it so much, the songs did so great on the charts, and I couldn’t be any much happier for them. Now they had to prepare for the world tour, which will start in about 2 months.

At the same time, Ricky and I got to be the most talked about topic. A lot of pictures were released with us from what we thought was going to be a private moment. The speculations started right away, all of them saying that we got back together, which was not the case. There were some not-so-nice ones as well when people would say that I divorced Corey just to be with Ricky, not thinking of my daughter’s feelings. After a few of those, I stopped reading the news when they popped on my phone.

Apart from these things, I was having a really great time with Ricky. We started to get to know each other for a second time, discovering how much we changed through the years. He kept his promise and never tried anything without my consent and after 6 months of being friends, we only got to hold hands. I appreciated how he never complained about it and forced me to do something I would not want.

Even though there was not much happening romantically between us, I took him home to meet my daughter. Corey was not happy about it, especially thinking that Ricky could become one day her stepfather. Regardless of that, my daughter liked him from the beginning. She would show him all of her favourite toys and make him play with her, which was the sweetest thing I ever saw. I knew that in my final decision, I had to include her as well, and I was glad to see how well they got along.

Tonight we decided to have dinner at my place. While we were preparing the food, Blaire was upstairs in her room. The tour will start in 2 months and I knew I wanted to make things straight before he would be gone for 7 months. I knew I would never have this good of an opportunity any time soon, and I wanted to get it out of my chest.

[jazztato]

🌙✨M4 when mc demands cuddles and kisses✨🌙

Main 4 when Mc demands cuddles and kisses

(these are like mini stories lol and i'm still alive! )

Asra

It was a long day and I was very exhausted I spent all day trying to prevent a fight in my shop, when I entered my room I fell face first on the bed, I was aching all over  when I turned my head I nearly jumped off the bed when I saw my beloved (Y/N) sitting here staring at me with a stern look on her face I was confused on why she was looking at me like that it was the dead of night and out of nowhere she started to jump on the bed then onto my back with a big oof, why was she acting like this but as I was in deep thought when I heard her beautiful voice speak out saying that she demanded cuddles and kisses since I spent all day working and not giving her the attention she needed I let out a soft chuckle, sitting up pulling her onto my lap giving her soft kisses on the lips soon pulling her back down onto the bed to give her  lots of cuddles, It was cute on how she was acting just for cuddles and kisses I love my little hyperactive bunny.

Julian

I was off at the palace working late like I always do since I’m not really one to sleep and with all the black coffee I drink I probably won’t be sleeping for a long time, all day the palace have been packed with people who needed treatment the only reason why I agreed to work here at the palace was because my little muffin is helping the countess with a few things I wanted to take a break to see her but more people kept piling in I was a bit annoyed but it’s my job to help these people but once the last person left I was thrilled and decided to rest my head on my desk letting out a soft sigh, however as I was just about to close my eyes, I heard the door open, I was about to jump out of my chair and make a run for it but when I looked over to the door I saw it was the love of my life (Y/N), I gave her a soft smile except she didn’t look so happy look I sat up straight and asked her whats the matter, right as those words escaped my lips, I watched her cross her arms as if she wanted me to guess, which I tried Multiple times…, I  guessed are you sick?  But that wasn’t it….  I even guessed are you hungry?  But that also wasn’t it, I decided to guess one more time and asked if you're tired?  But she had enough of me guessing the wrong thing so she let out huff and told me that she demanded for me to give her cuddles and kisses!  I’ve been working all night and she’s been waiting for two hours for me to get finished with work, I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle I stood up off my chair revealing my tall self to her she reached up to him like a baby is to their mother, I gently picked her up and walked off to the room we were both staying in at the palace, I laid her on the bed as I gently laid next to her my tall limbs dangling off the edge of the bed I pulled her close to my chest and started to cuddle her as I smothered her in lots kisses. 

Lucio

It was a tough day out on the road of adventure. It's easier than being a count. That's for sure I missed being a mercenary, being free, no responsibilities well sometimes and most importantly no boring work! There’s only  work I want to do!, but with all the jobs I'm taking on I fear I won’t have time for my little Dove…  She dropped everything just to come out and go on a big adventure with me. Right now I’m working on this tough job as she stayed behind in the Inn we’ve been staying in. I just hope this job won’t take longer than needed..  After a few hours had passed I was heading home, but I came to a bit of a road block, some bandits jumped out in front of me and tried to rob me well jokes on them I’m broke till the person who offered me the job pays me when i get back I didn’t have time for this my Beautiful Dove is waiting for me!  I let out a groan taking my sword out and went in for the attack I thought It would be easy to take those bandits down but I took longer than expected, by the time I arrived back at the inn I was completely out of energy and covered in blood,  I started to head my way up the many stairs when I walked up to the door i decided to kick it open, I was too tired to even move my arms as I staggered inside I fell onto the bed not caring if I get blood on it, I turned my head slightly to the right only to see My little Dove (Y/N) standing there crossing her arms she didn’t seem very happy at first I thought it was because I didn’t take off the bloody clothes to wash up but I was far from wrong, she gave me a lethal glare as if I did something wrong, I gave her a soft smile and started sweating what did I do wrong…  did I forget our anniversary…..  Again….  No no…  it can’t be that…  that was last week…  did I forget her birthday….  No…  it can’t be that….  I was about to speak out except she interrupted me and started giving me an ear full telling me I’m late and that she demands for me to give her cuddles and kisses since she missed me so much and that she was worried about me I started tearing up because it was so sweet of her to worry for me I moved over as she laid next to me she didn’t care that I was all bloodied up she’s just grateful it isn’t my blood I hugged her tightly and started to cuddle her I gave her head and lips and her cheek lots of kisses and i gently cuddled her she was my cute little Dove from now on she’s joining me on every job there is. 

Muriel

I was out in the woods with Inanna. It was getting late and colder so I was out gathering food that’s edible since I don’t like heading out to the market to many people..  (Y/N) always offers to go but I tell her it’s OK..  I have my own way of getting food. She looked a bit sad. I know she wants to help and I’m glad she does but I'm still getting used to her and I dating…  I get flustered every time I think about it…  I was about done and getting ready to head back but I saw a wounded animal, it was a bird who’s wing look injured I set down the bag with the things I gathered and tended to the birds wing, I didn’t want it to be left alone out in the wilderness so I decided to take it along with me till it’s wing heals, I gently placed the bird on top of the bag as I picked it up and headed back home, but since I was in the deeper end of the woods it took me a bit long than usual to get back to my hut, eventually I arrived before I headed inside I gently picked up the bird and set it down next to my chicken friends and told them to behave, I walked into the hut and noticed (Y/N) was there I was confused on what she was doing here I thought she was going to be at the palace all day….  I set the bag down and walked over to her, however when she looked at me she didn’t look happy but instead sad, was she worried?  Did something happen at the palace?  So many thoughts were going through my mind but i was snapped out of my thoughts when she tried to pull me towards the bed I raised my brow but decided to follow she forced me onto the bed, I was still confused, I laid down on the bed but she sat there I was curious of what was going on in her mind…  I was about to ask her but she blurted out that she demanded me to give her cuddles and kisses I turned a bright red at what she had requested I was hesitant for a sec till I gently pulled her down and gave her a soft kiss on the head I was really flustered that I thought I was going to pass out I didn’t want to hurt her..  She’s a lot smaller than I…  she wrapped her arms around me as I cuddled her. I couldn't help but admire her….  I’m still surprised she fell for me…  I’m covered with scars from my past but she always seems to tell me they're beautiful no matter how I got them.

My request are open :3 I just had bad writers block lol

[ryqoshay]

How to Handle a Nico: All My Sanity's Gone

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Words: ~4.1k Rating: T? Time Frame: Late in Maki’s college career and early in Nico’s idol producer career Story Arc: Stand Alone Set: Love Me When I Don't HtHaN: All My Sanity's Gone HL: Put You Through Hell

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Author's Note: Finally got around to finishing this one, after having started it over two years ago...

Summary: Nico is ready to celebrate Egao Jōshō getting a central office, but things don't go as planned.

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Nico stood up and stretched before rubbing her back. She’d spent most of the last hour assembling the office chair she would be sitting in for the foreseeable future. She spun the seat and smiled, satisfied with the result. Finally, she pulled out her phone and snapped a selfie in front of her new desk setup.

“Hey, Tsubasa, Hanayo!” Nico called as she exited her office. “You guys need any help finishing up?”

“I think your timing is perfect.” Tsubasa replied, stepping out of her own office.

“Almost done.” Hanayo’s voice came from one of several cubicles. Before the other two women could make it over, her head popped up over the partition. “Done.” She announced with a smile.

Tsubasa yawned. “Shall we head out then?”

“One more pic.” Nico said. “Let’s get one with all three of us.”

“Maybe outside?” Hanayo suggested. “By our temporary sign?”

“Great idea.” Nico agreed before leading the way toward the front door.

“Give the phone to Hanayo.” Tsubasa suggested as the three gathered by their sign. “She has longer arms.”

Nico grumbled a cruse while ignoring the smug glance it earned before holding out her phone. “There.” She said, snapping the shot. “I think that’s perfect.”

“Alright,” Tsubasa said, leading the way to her car “let’s get you two home. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

The other two women agreed and got in the vehicle. As Tsubasa started driving, Nico pulled up the company’s social account and started typing.

We finally did it!

She typed.

Egao Jōshō officially has a central office!

1/?

No more renting rehearsal space in one place and needing to take a train to get to the rented recording area. Our idols can stay in one place now.

2/?

No more working from the kitchen table or living room couch for me. Maki-chan has been very patient in putting up with my mess.

3/?

And I hear Rin and Honoka have put up well enough with Hanayo and Tsubasa. But no more! We have offices! And room to hire more staff!

4/?

Thank you everyone for your support over these last few months! We look forward to seeing everyone at the ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow!

5/5

Nico uploaded several pictures she had taken over the course of the day, attached them to the messages and posted everything. She smiled as Likes began to register and the first few comments appeared.

“You took some good pictures today, Nico-chan.” Hanayo said from the back seat, apparently having received notification of the posts. “Looks like everyone is excited for tomor… oh…”

Nico checked her phone and grimaced. Apparently, even after all these months, she still had adamant detractors. “Trolls gonna troll, I guess.” She said with a sigh.

“Don’t feed the trolls.” Tsubasa said, not taking her eyes off the road.

“Yeah…” Nico agreed as a few memories popped up in her mind of her own time trolling the comments sections of the fledging group known as µ’s.

The rest of the drive passed quietly. Hanayo was dropped off first as she lived closer. Nico thanked Tsubasa for the ride when they reached her house. Finally, she headed inside to see what Maki had ordered for them since she hadn’t been able to get home in time to cook.

----------

Maki smiled as she listened to her girlfriend prattle on about the plans she had for her company’s new location. After watching Nico overwork herself these last few weeks, it was nice seeing her excited and smiling again. As she stopped at a red light, she allowed herself a moment to turn her gaze to the passenger seat and soak in a bit of the energy Nico was giving off.

On green, she returned her attention to the road, but her thoughts continued to focus on Nico. Her stubborn girlfriend needed to learn to delegate if she was going to survive managing a business. Maki knew all too well how much Nico insisted on doing herself, one of many examples being her constant rebuffs of Maki’s offer to hire cleaners for the apartment.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that Maki herself was any better. She knew she would have to hone her own delegation skills if she was to take over the Nishikino hospital at some point.

“Oh…”

The sound of Nico’s choked gasp snapped Maki back to reality and she glanced in the general direction of the building they were now approaching. Oh…

Maki pulled to the curb and barely had the vehicle in Park before Nico was out the door.

“Nico-chan!” Maki called, striding after her girlfriend before reaching out to grab her shoulder. “Wait!”

Nico stopped.

“Nico-chan?”

Maki noticed the raven-haired woman’s legs were shaking.

“Woah… hey…” Maki reached out to awkwardly catch Nico before she collapsed. “Nico-chan… uhm…”

Her mind scrambled for something. Anything. Eventually, she settled on shifting her hold and guiding Nico back to the car and had her lean against it. She kept her arm around Nico’s waist to help keep her steady. For a moment she wondered if it would be better to have Nico sit back down in the passenger seat, but at this point, that would mean moving her aside to open the door. This was good enough for now, Maki thought to herself, pulling Nico closer. Maybe… Hopefully…

With that issue addressed, Maki finally turned her attention to the scene before them.

The storefront of the new Egao Jōshō central office was destroyed.

Broken glass was everywhere, scattered across the sidewalk outside as well as the floors inside. Graffiti had been sprayed across the non-glass surfaces, spelling out various vulgar insults and derogatory terms. The chairs in the reception area were strewn about and the desk showed signs of damage. Maki couldn’t see a computer monitor and assumed if it wasn’t lying smashed on the floor somewhere, it had been stolen. The rest of the office couldn’t be seen from the street, but the damage was likely similar within.

Maki started reaching for her phone to call the authorities when…

“It’s my fault…” The words fell from Nico’s lips like icicles from a winter rooftop.

“What?” Maki paused with her phone halfway up.

“This is all my fault…”

“Nico-chan, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t you see?” Nico looked up with tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“No. I don’t. How is any of this…”

“I fed the trolls.”

“You… what?” Maki tried to remember the last time someone had mentioned the term.

“I knew better. Tsubasa even reminded us not to and yet…” Nico’s voice seemed to die in her throat as the first tear finally slid down her cheek.

Maki turned and pulled Nico into a tight embrace. “It’s not your fault.” She said quietly.

“But…”

“It’s not your fault.” Maki repeated, a bit firmer than she intended. “Nothing you could say online could possibly warrant this.”

Nico’s response was buried in Maki’s shoulder before her whole body convulsed in a sizable sob.

The sound of a vehicle pulling to a stop behind Maki’s car caught her attention. She turned her head to see Tsubasa stepping out of the driver’s side, her jaw clenched and her eyes as hard as emeralds. Hanayo was slower in exiting the passenger side with a hand over her mouth and tears already falling.

“I’m calling the police now.” Maki said, hitting Send on her phone before finally putting it to her ear.

Tsubasa nodded solemnly before standing and staring silently at the scene, obviously still processing the situation.

“Officers are on their way.” Maki announced after a couple minutes before scrolling through her contacts.

“Who are you calling now?” Tsubasa asked.

“Hikoya-san.” Maki responded.

The other woman nodded again as she recognized the name of the lawyer whose firm had helped in writing the contracts for Egao’s investors, as well as getting the company properly incorporated and in good legal standing.

“I’ll have him send an associate over to speak to the authorities on our behalf.” Maki explained. “They can then start dealing with insurance; I’ll email them the receipts of everything purchased for proof of inventory.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Tsubasa nodded again. “Thank you, Maki-chan.” She turned to Hanayo. “Shall we start cleaning up?”

“Wait!” Maki spoke up. “Hello, yes, it’s me, Maki. I’m terribly sorry, but one moment.” She slid a thumb over the mic. “We can’t do anything until the authorities have written up their report and we have sent all the necessary information to insurance.” She returned her attention to the call.

Tsubasa and Hanayo stood in an uncomfortable quiet as Maki explained the situation to the firm’s employee on the other end of the line.

“Sorry about that.” Maki said, hanging up again.

“No, it’s fine.” Tsubasa shook her head. “You’re right. We shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our insurance claim.”

“So, what do we do?” Nico suddenly asked, pushing away a little, but not completely out of Maki’s embrace before looking up at her.

“Right now? Not much.” Maki admitted. “You three could probably just go home…”

“What?” Nico’s brow furrowed.

“Although I suppose someone should probably get online soon to inform everyone that we will have to cancel the…”

“Like hell.”

“Uweh?”

“We’re not cancelling the opening.” Nico’s voice hardened.

“Yes, sorry, not cancelling, just postponing…”

“We’ll get this mess cleaned up and we’ll do the ceremony after.”

“Nico-chan…”

“You don’t think we can?” Heat began to rise in Nico’s voice as she detached herself fully from Maki.

“We don’t even know the extent of the damage yet.”

“Of course not. That’s why we go in and start cleaning.”

“But we can’t do that yet.” Maki was starting to get frustrated as well. “That’s why I said you should go home for now.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll stay so someone is here when the police arrive.”

“Alone? What if the jackasses who did this come back?”

“They won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“This is a coward’s attack. They couldn’t bring themselves to confront you in person, so they went after your stuff under the cover of darkness. But now it’s morning. It’s light out and there’s more traffic.” Maki motioned to the general area around them. “Other shops are starting to open up. There are more people around. I’ll be fine.”

“I’m staying here.” Nico stomped her foot a little to emphasize her point.

“That’s fine, I guess.” Maki conceded. “I just thought that since you three were so emotionally invested that you might want…”

“Damn right I’m emotionally invested!” Nico exploded. Unable to step back from Maki due to her position leaning against the car, she pushed her girlfriend away instead. “I’ve poured blood, sweat and tears into this place for months. Literally and figuratively.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Exactly what?” Nico demanded.

“You’re too emotionally invested.”

“That’s what I just said!” Nico waved an arm to accent her statement.

“Fine.” Maki crossed her arms. “Do whatever you want. Stay or go. I don’t care.”

Although she regretted her words as soon as they left her lips, Maki could tell by Nico’s expression that it was too late.

“Fine.” Nico spat. “You don’t want me here. I’m leaving.”

Nico stomped around the still running car and dropped into the driver seat. She slammed the door, backed away from the curb, and sped off.

“We’ll go after her.” Hanayo said solemnly.

“I’m sorry.” Maki said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Don’t apologize to us.” Tsubasa replied, placing a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “Call us when the police and insurance company have everything they need. We’ll come back and start cleaning up this mess.”

“Alright.” Maki nodded. “Say, uhm… I don’t know if Nico-chan is actually going home. But I know of a couple places she might go instead if you don’t find here there.”

“I know some places as well.” Hanayo agreed.

“As do I.” Tsubasa added as she opened the driver’s side door of her car. “We’ll see you in a little bit.”

Maki waved at her two friends before unlocking her phone. There were still several calls she needed to make and messages to send.

----------

“Uhm… Nishikino-san?”

A voice caught Maki’s attention as she watched the officers move through the building taking pictures, followed closely by the associate sent by Hikoya’s firm. She turned to find a small group of young men gathering near her. It was hard to miss the buttons and other memorabilia they were wearing, designating them as fans of Nico and A-RISE.

“I’m sorry.” Maki resisted sighing. She figured some people wouldn’t get the notifications in time. “But today’s event has been cancelled. We’ll send out an announcement when we’re able to reschedule.”

“We know.” One of the men nodded. “We came to see if there was anything we could do to help.”

Oh. Maki had to admit she hadn’t considered that possibility. Still, “I’m not sure…”

“I know how to remove graffiti.” One of the other men offered. “I did a lot of paint removal at my old job.”

“Say, isn’t there a hardware store a few blocks down that rents out equipment?” Another offered.

“There is.” Still another confirmed, already typing away at his phone.

“I’m sure you’re probably having professionals coming later” the first one spoke again “but perhaps we can get a head start?”

“I actually haven’t been able to find anyone yet.” Maki admitted with a rueful smile. “Everyone I’ve called so far is booked.”

“Alright then.” The young man nodded. “We’ll be back in little bit.”

“Wait.” Maki said as the group started to move off. She hadn’t actually agreed yet. But as they turned back toward her, something about their determined expressions convinced her. “Be sure to keep your receipts.”

“Of course.”

----------

One of the phones on the table started vibrating.

“Oh, that’s Anju.” Tsubasa said, reaching for the device. “Hello? … … No. Absolutely not. … Look, I appreciate the offer, Anju, but no. We’ll be fine, you don’t need to come back. … No, don’t cancel. The show must go on. Our loyal fans paid for tickets and they deserve to see the performance.

“Plus,” Her expression hardened. “I don’t want the bastards who did this to know they can disrupt our business. Sure, they managed to delay the opening of our office. But we’ve worked from home and used rented space just fine up until now, and we’ll be fine continuing to do so for a little while longer. We’ll keep scheduling events like we always have. We’ll show them that this will not deter us.”

Tsubasa’s face softened again. “Right. … … Yes. Definitely. Have fun tonight. We’ll see you two when you get back. Goodbye.” She hung up and turned her attention to the other two women at the table. “You feeling up to heading back, Nico-chan?”

“I suppose.” Nico leaned back in the booth and sighed. “May as well see what my idiot girlfriend has been up to.”

“I’m actually surprised Mak-chan hasn’t contacted us yet.” Hanayo said before waving down the server for the bill. “Surely the police are done by now, right?”

“Maybe they were delayed in arriving or something.” Nico shrugged. “Who knows. We’ll find out when we get there.”

----------

Nico braced herself to face the scene again as she turned the corner. She looked down the street and…

What the heck?

She pulled up to the curb like Maki had done a few hours ago and got out of the car.

“Yazawa-san.” A young woman acknowledged with a smile and a nod as she moved past toward a dumpster to unload an armful of stuff.

For the second time that day, Nico stood in awe of the scene before her. However, this time, for very different reasons.

There were people everywhere. A couple were scrubbing away at the graffiti on the exterior wall and she could see others inside painting the walls to cover the vandalism there. Others, like the girl who had just passed her, were hauling damaged items from farther within the office. Then, she spotted red hair.

Nico moved across the sidewalk and stepped through the front door. Or rather, the entryway, as the door itself was gone. From there, she approached her girlfriend.

Maki was sitting on a folding chair at a small plastic table. She was talking to someone on her wireless headset while tapping away at a pair of tablets in front of her.

“Make sure your contact info is on the back.” Maki said to a young man on the other side of the table.

The man nodded and stabbed a slip of paper on a receipt spike and picked up several boxes at his feet. His face lit up with recognition as he turned toward Nico. He then bowed as much as he could while holding the stack before moving past her.

“Yes… … Yes…” Maki had returned to her call. “No, that’s fine.” She tapped at one of the screens. “We’ll be sure to have someone here then. … Thank you. Goodbye.” She hung up and turned to Nico. “Yes, what is… N-Nico-chan?!” She stood up quickly enough knock her chair over backward.

Nico couldn’t help chuckling at the scene as she stepped around the table.

“I-I’m sorry! I, uhm… I forgot to call.” Maki stammered out.

“It’s alright.” Nico replied, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. “It looks like you’ve been busy.”

“Mm…”

“So, want to fill us in?” Tsubasa requested, approaching the couple with Hanayo in tow.

“Well, what can I say, but your fans are amazing.” Maki said, jutting her chin in the general direction of everyone working around them.

“Our fans?” Hanayo asked, marveling as the idea processed in her mind.

“I tried to send the first group away because I thought they hadn’t gotten the message about the ribbon cutting ceremony being canceled.” Maki explained. “But they insisted that they were here to help. And then more kept showing up. And I started getting messages from those unable to make it in person offering donations and connections.

Maki chuckled. “The connections.” She repeated. “Every place I tried to call initially was booked, but people started sending me links and numbers that they knew. Someone’s cousin works at a glass shop, so they’ll be here soon to install windows and a door. Someone else got me in touch with a carpet company that will be coming tomorrow after we get a second coat of paint on the walls and let it dry, although someone said it was quick dry paint, or something, so apparently it doesn’t even need overnight.” She shrugged. “Oh, and Honoka should be here any minute with treats for everyone who came in person.”

“Honoka-chan?” Tsubasa asked, checking her phone. “Strange, she hasn’t called or messaged me.”

“She probably just jumped right into getting things ready.” Maki proposed. “She didn’t respond to my message in group chat when I told everyone there, and she sounded out of breath when she called me a few minutes ago as she was heading out the door.”

“Yeah, that does sound like her.” Tsubasa laughed. “I’ll be sure to thank her personally when she gets here.”

“And speaking of food,” Maki continued “Eli and Nozomi closed for the day and are apparently rushing a catering order for everyone later. Umi and Kotori are out with a group picking up new furniture and Rin is with another group is getting electronics. Both groups should be back soon.”

“That’s what Rin-chan meant…” Hanayo checked something on her phone.

“The gentleman who was just here picked up some security equipment that was recommended to me by the company that my parents contract with at the hospital. They’ll be here later this week to formally install everything, hide the cables and whatnot, but until then we’ll at least have functional cameras and door alarms and such to deter a repeat incident.”

Nico felt a smile tug at her lips. “Well, if Maki-chan had any doubts about being able to run the hospital when her parents officially hand things over, I think she’s proven herself capable of managing a crisis here.”

“Oh, well I, uhm…” Maki began to blush at the compliment.

Encouraged by the reaction, Nico continued. “Nico may have to take some lessons from Maki-chan if she wants to become half the manager she is. Of course, Nico will definitely surpass Maki-chan and become the No. 1 Manager in the Universe.”

“… Idiot…” Maki muttered, still working through her embarrassment, but still willing to play one of their favorite games.

“You love it.”

“Yeah… I do…”

Nico’s smile grew. By the gods she loved how the game had changed over the years. Maki did still use her old maybe response often, but she seemed to have a knack for knowing when Nico needed to hear this version.

“Alright,” Tsubasa said, stepping toward the couple, “that’s enough sappy stuff for now. You can continue that when you get home. Anyway, thank you, Maki-chan.” She placed a hand on the redhead’s shoulder. “What you’ve done here today is incredible.”

“I, uhm…” Maki fumbled for a moment. “I was just doing what I had to to protect my investment…”

Tsubasa laughed. “Somehow I knew you’d say something like that. But you’ve done more than that, and you know it.”

Nico was about to chime in again with more praise when she was interrupted by someone calling for Maki somewhere inside the office. Maki’s demeanor changed back to professionalism and she responded that she would be there in a moment.

“So,” Nico said before her girlfriend could move away, “once you’ve checked on that situation, come back and tell us what we can do to help. It’s our company. We should really be doing something. But this is clearly your show.”

“Alright.” Maki nodded.

As she watched her girlfriend continue to direct the disaster recovery efforts, Nico realized she hadn’t yet apologized for blowing up on Maki earlier. But as much as she wanted to do so as soon as possible, she figured she had probably just embarrassed Maki enough with public thanks and affection. Perhaps it would be better to wait until they were home and behind closed doors.

In the meantime, Nico took a moment to fully appreciate the scene before her and used it to psyche herself up for pitching in.

---------

“Eh?” Nico uttered as Maki buried her face in her chest.

The couple had finally turned in for the night, after having stayed far longer than intended at the party. The official grand opening, ribbon cutting ceremony for Egao Jōshō had been rescheduled, but Nico and Tsubasa still wanted to do something to thank all those that had gathered to help clean up. And their closest friends already had the framework prepared, at Maki’s behest.

But after a long and emotional day, both were exhausted. And Nico’s head had barely touched her pillow when her girlfriend had wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

“I’m sorry.” Maki said softly, her voice muffled by Nico’s sleep shirt.

“Maki-chan, I…”

“I pushed you away when you needed my support.”

“I actually thought I was the one who ran away.” Nico admitted. “And that was only after yelling at you, so I’m sorry for that.”

Maki puffed out a sigh.

“This morning I really felt like all my sanity was gone.” Nico continued. “Seeing all my hard work ruined was bad enough, but thinking it had been my fault was the last straw. And I took my frustrations out on you. And you didn’t deserve that, so I’m sorry for that too.”

Maki tightened her embrace.

“But you still had my back. You stopped me from making things worse, even though it turned my anger toward you instead. And you stepped up and took care of things when I couldn’t. You’ve always been there for me, Maki-chan, in one way or another, finding new ways to love me even when I’m struggling to do so myself.”

“I do love you, Nico-chan.”

“I know.” Nico pressed her lips against the top of Maki’s head. “I love you too, Maki-chan. Thank you for everything you did for me today.”

“Nico-chan is always helping me so…” Maki cut off as Nico gently swatted where she had kissed a moment ago.

“And you can thank me when I do. But today Maki-chan was the star of the show.”

“Mmph…” Maki huffed.

Nico was about to laugh when Maki suddenly turned her head and pushed herself up to press her lips against Nico’s. Nico responded by sliding a hand through Maki’s hair and pulling her in to deepen their kiss. Maki’s hand moved up to Nico’s shoulder and gently pushed her onto her back.

“Speaking of new ways to love you…” Maki breathed as she positioned herself over Nico.

Now, Nico laughed. “I think this is a pretty old way to love me, Maki-chan.”

Maki pouted.

Nico laughed again. “But it’s fine. Love me like you do, Maki-chan.”

And Maki did exactly that.

---------

Author's Note Continued: This is the first of what was originally planned as a set of three chapters, one for each of my main, canon-compliant’ish fics, but now that I’ve added a fourth flagship to my fleet with ShikiMei, I may need to figure out a fourth chapter for the set. Not complaining, mind.

Anyway, the theme of the set is one of my favorite songs by Pentatonix, Love Me When I Don’t. The first time I heard it, I immediately knew I needed to write something based on it. Unfortunately, although ideas spun fast and I collected a ton of notes, things just never materialized; real life circumstances certainly did not help.

But Pentatonix released a new original song recently, which got me on a kick for them and I’ve been listing to a ton of their songs ever since; excluding their boat load of Christmas songs as it is bit to early in the season for that and my years in retail make me adverse to such things being too out of season… I say having written fic chapters with a different take on the issue… But I found myself focusing more on the group’s original songs than their covers, and every time I replayed Love Me When I Don’t, I remembered the WIPs that were gathering digital dust. So, I finally busted out the first one and finished it.

That said, having finally finished this one, I can say with certainty that I strongly dislike writing fights. Well, fights between characters who are supposed to love each other. Anyone who has read some of my AUs will know I’m fine writing battle scenes, even if I can feel like I’m repeating myself too much with describing various actions. And I can’t say I had much trouble writing the confrontation between Nico and Etsuko, the latter of whom I really need to write more of at some point. But an argument between Nico and Maki? Not so much. I hated writing The Incident, and writing the fight here felt little better. And I really can’t say I’m all that happy with the result of either. And I still need to finish a different fight for PoH…

Obviously, this isn’t to say I dislike bickering. On the contrary, I love writing that. Teasing and harmless banter is fun, even if one or both sides steps a bit out of line from time to time. That’s just NicoMaki to me. But more serious fights, like the one in this chapter, I’m just not a fan. Props to my fellow authors who can write such things with more confidence.

Next up, another topic I’m not particularly fond of writing, fan backlash to news that their precious pure idols may have lives off stage. Egao Jōshō exists primarily to rebuke that idea and makes no effort to hide the fact that it will not prevent the idols in its employ from dating. And while in-universe, many dedicated fans go along with Egao’s ideals – no, I don’t care how unrealistic it may be – many others do not. And having read some real-world scandals, I figured something like this may be plausible. That said, one may notice I didn’t actually write any of the backlash, just the results of it. And I probably will keep it that way if I continue to address the topic in future chapters.

And finally, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for HtHaN, so here are a few quick reminders in case anyone is left wondering. Honoka is running her family bakery, although I’m not sure if she has officially inherited it yet. Eli and Nozomi run a restaurant together, an idea I shamelessly stole from some old NicoMaki doujin years ago. Anju and Erena have formed a subgroup, that I’ve yet to name, so they can continue to perform while Tsubasa takes some time off from being an idol to both get Egao up and running and spend more time with Honoka. Hanayo is Egao’s first, and probably by this point the only, employee of Egao. I’m not sure if Hanayo has graduated college yet, if not she is in a paid internship position. And I made up Hikoya for this chapter, and I’ve no idea if he’ll ever be mentioned again; maybe in TA with what I have planned for Setsuna…

[slytherinshua]

Your replies to my comments made me so happy 🥲 I never have the balls to actually request anything but you made me feel comfortable enough to do so 😭 I was hoping you could write another fluff post for sanha? A situation where he picks the reader up from a late night at work :3 y’know just having someone to hug at the end of a shift :( (a nice stress reliever). Sanha is definitely a source of comfort dkndkfndkdn

Thank you for your kind words 🥹 and I hope you stay healthy :)

COOKIES, CUDDLES, AND A CONVERSATION

genre. fluff. comfort. warnings. kisses. mention of a bad day and a jerk boss. pairing. sanha x reader. summary. after an exhausting day at work, your boyfriend finds the perfect way to cheer you up. wc. 1.5k. a/n. thank you so much for requesting love 💖 it was so fun to write!

In all your 3 years of working at this job, no day had been as stressful as this one. You started out the morning being late for work because of a traffic accident that blocked the road - an immediate bad omen to start your day. And it only got worse from there.

Because you were late, you missed an important meeting about new employees and who your new boss was going to be. Turns out, your new boss is the most insufferable person you’ve ever interacted with.

Everyone knows you as the nice employee who does her job well. But today, you were struggling to keep up with that reputation. With every rude comment your boss poked at you throughout the day, your patience just grew thinner and thinner.

You were so overloaded with work by midday, that you couldn’t even take the proper lunch break. You had no choice but to watch from your work desk as your colleagues left the building cheerily, leaving you and your towering stack of papers to go through.

It was now late in the evening and you were finally off for the day. Just a short 4 hours behind schedule. Your boss had assigned you overtime work last minute, which went against company policy. But at that point, you were worried if you talked back to him one more time, you would get fired.

You had scoffed at the ridiculousness of the situation as he left your office, wondering who had hired the man. You had never even seen him work in the building before, and you could tell his knowledge was lacking. He barely even met the minimum requirements to lead a team of workers, and he was miles behind your old boss, who you were now missing sorely.

But now that you were off work, you brushed the bad day off, focusing on getting home to Sanha as quickly as possible. You could really use some cuddles with him under a blanket.

You got into the driver’s seat of your car, a relieved sigh escaping your lips now that you were finally going home. Today being a Friday, meant that you had 2 more blessed, free days to spend with Sanha after this. No more work to ruin your day for this week.

You turned the key to start the engine, but you were only met with the sound of ugly grouches from the engine. You furrowed your brows, trying the key again, but again, the only sound you heard was the engine trying to start, and failing miserably.

“Don’t you dare-” You whispered to yourself, stressed at the thought that now was the time your old car decided to break down. You tried again and again, getting your hopes up each time you thought you heard the engine turn on for a bit longer. But, after the 15th time turning the key, you gave up.

Stepping out of the car, you looked under the hood, inspecting the cables and machinery which you couldn’t even begin to try to understand. You were helpless. All of the knowledge you had about cars dated back to when you took your driver’s test 6 years ago, and most of it had left your brain by now.

You sighed heavily, “What did I even do to deserve this today…” You muttered, checking the engine one last time, before giving up entirely. You collapsed back into the driver’s seat, taking out your phone to text Sanha. Your sweet boyfriend would probably come to pick you up in an instant. At least that thought brought a small smile to his face.

You sent a text briefly explaining the situation with the car, and leaving out the other events of the bad day. You could explain it to him in person. He replied almost immediately, saying he was coming to rescue you. You would have laughed at that statement if you weren’t so drained but, you really did feel like you needed rescuing right now.

You tried to think of a way to lift up your mood just a bit before Sanha came. He hated seeing you sad. Scrolling through your camera roll seemed to do the trick, as you looked at the countless photos you had of you two.

One was from that spa night you had forced upon Sanha 2 weeks ago, the two of you posing with your cucumbers held out like swords. Another was a picnic date selfie, where you two wore matching clothing.

And the one that brought your mood up the most was a pic you had taken sneakily of Sanha, who had fallen asleep cuddling with you. His head was resting on your shoulder, his lips forming a cute pout in his unconscious state.

You spotted Sanha’s car entering the parking lot, and you stepped out of your broken one. He pulled up next to you, a smile on his face for seeing you for the first time today. Though he pouted at how tired you looked.

You hopped into the car, giving him your best attempt at a happy hello. You failed to convince him, his observant nature picking up on your mood in an instant.

“Are you not feeling great because of what happened with the car? We can just get it towed tomorrow…” He said, starting to drive back home. You slumped back in your seat, nodding. You shouldn’t worry about the car right now, it wasn’t a big deal.

Once you got back home, you went to shower and change into comfy clothes, barely saying a word to Sanha still. When you were finally relaxed and ready to have a conversation with him (and some cuddles), you looked around the apartment for where he had gone.

You found him in the kitchen, apron on and mixing up cookie batter in a bowl. You smiled, knowing he was probably thinking of ways to cheer you up. You walked up to him, wrapping your arms around his waist slowly and muttering a “hey”.

“You doing okay?” He asked, pausing his mixing for a second. “You were so quiet in the car…”

“I’m okay now, but today was the worst.” You explained softly.

“I’m glad I decided to make cookies then. You need cheering up.” He smiled, moving to spoon them onto a sheet pan and bake them. 

You still clung to him like a koala, the hug making you feel just a bit better. He didn’t mind working in the kitchen with you attached to him in the slightest, but he laughed when you refused to let go while he put the cookies in the oven. You were forced to let him go when he turned around to you, leaning down a bit so that you were at eye level with him. 

“What about… cuddles, cookies, and a conversation about your day?”

“Since when did you become so good at alliteration?” You giggled, and nodded at the suggestion. You settled on the couch with him, snuggling into his chest comfortably.

You began to explain the events of the day, Sanha eagerly helping you talk shit about your new boss to make you feel better. You laughed when you got to the car breaking down, realising how comical it all was - the kind of bad day that would only happen in a tv show.

“Gosh I’ve been wanting to hug you all day…” You murmured, holding him closer for comfort. 

“I’m sorry your day was so bad, love. I wish I could’ve made it better.” He told you, stroking your hair gently.

“You’re already making it better, don’t worry.” You smiled, tilting your head up to his. “But, you know what would make it better?” You whispered suddenly, grabbing his attention.

You leaned closer to his face, and he got the hint immediately, placing his soft lips on yours. You were both so lost in each other that you barely heard the timer on the oven beeping.

You broke apart from him reluctantly, waiting as he went to take the cookies out of the oven before they burned. He came back holding a tray with a small plate of cookies and 2 glasses of milk on it. He took back his place on the couch, and you took back your place cuddling next to him.

“I think you need to receive a ‘best-boyfriend-in-the-world’ award.” You told him, taking a bite of the chocolate cookies and smiling as the warm, sweet, slightly gooey cookie melted in your mouth.

“Really? Where’s my trophy, then?” He asked, turning to you with raised eyebrows.

“I’ll have to look into that.” You giggled. “For now, you can just take this.” You pretended to reach into your pocket, rummaging around as if to retrieve something impossible to find. You pulled your hand out slowly, quickly giving him a finger-heart and snuggling closer.

“Cute…” He murmured, his smile widening. You stayed next to him for the rest of the night, talking quietly amongst yourselves and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere together under a blanket.

↳ astro taglist: @yeonjuns-bluehair,, @hannahsophie0103

[holethoa2010]

City Girl Returns to Her Old Family Home in the Countryside and Starts C...

Chapter 1: A Journey Back Home

The bustling cityscape of Saigon was a far cry from the serene, quiet village where Linh grew up. She had left her childhood home over a decade ago, drawn by the allure of the city’s vibrant energy and countless opportunities. But now, as she sat in the back of the old bus, bumping along the uneven country roads, Linh felt a mixture of nostalgia and nervous anticipation.

The sprawling rice fields, lush green forests, and distant mountains brought back a flood of memories. She remembered running through these fields as a child, chasing butterflies, and helping her grandmother with the daily chores. The village was a place where time seemed to slow down, where life was simpler and more connected to nature.

Chapter 2: The Old House

Arriving at her family home, Linh was greeted by the familiar sight of the old wooden house, now looking more weathered and neglected than she remembered. The paint was peeling, the windows were covered in dust, and the garden was overgrown with weeds. It was clear that the house had seen better days, but to Linh, it still felt like a sanctuary.

She unlocked the creaky front door and stepped inside. The musty smell of old wood and the faint scent of her grandmother’s jasmine tea hit her nostrils. The furniture was covered with white sheets, and cobwebs hung in the corners of the rooms. Linh sighed, knowing she had a lot of work ahead of her. But she was determined to restore the house to its former glory, not just for herself, but to honor her family's legacy.

Chapter 3: Rolling Up Her Sleeves

The next morning, Linh woke up early, energized by the fresh country air. She put on an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt, tied her hair back, and began to tackle the house room by room. She started with the kitchen, the heart of any home. The cupboards were filled with dusty jars of spices, some of which had long expired. She scrubbed the counters, washed the old pots and pans, and polished the wooden cabinets until they gleamed.

As she worked, Linh found herself humming old folk songs her grandmother used to sing. The process of cleaning was therapeutic, each swipe of the cloth bringing back vivid memories. She remembered the stories her grandmother told her while they cooked together, the smell of freshly baked bánh chưng, and the warmth of the hearth during chilly evenings.

Chapter 4: Rediscovering Treasures

In the attic, Linh discovered boxes of old family photos, letters, and mementos. She spent hours sifting through them, smiling at the black-and-white photos of her grandparents, her parents' wedding, and her own childhood snapshots. There were letters written in elegant, flowing handwriting, detailing everyday life, dreams, and struggles. These treasures connected her to her roots, giving her a profound sense of belonging.

Among the clutter, she found her grandmother's old diary. As she read the delicate pages, she learned about the resilience and strength of the women in her family. Their stories of love, loss, and perseverance inspired Linh to keep going, even when the task seemed overwhelming.

Chapter 5: A New Beginning

After weeks of hard work, the house began to shine again. The windows were clear, the floors spotless, and the garden, once overrun with weeds, now bloomed with vibrant flowers. Linh stood back and admired her work, feeling a deep sense of accomplishment. The house was not just a building; it was a living testament to her family's history and her own journey of self-discovery.

Linh decided to stay in the countryside for a while longer, finding peace and purpose in the simplicity of rural life. She reconnected with old friends, helped her neighbors, and even started a small vegetable garden. The city girl had found her place in the countryside, embracing both her past and her future with open arms.

In returning to her roots, Linh discovered that sometimes, the greatest adventures are not in distant lands, but in rediscovering the beauty and strength within oneself, and in the places we call home.

[destinycrystal]

Chapter 2 : Here's where it goes downhill.

CWs : Murder, Mentions of body functions, Stabbing, Blood. Time loops once more.

Jane was left absolutely awestruck. Simply standing there as Gina ran off... Jane wasn't exactly sure why she had said yes. But now plans had been made. At 4:30 about 2 hours after school ends she will be meeting up with Gina once again. She couldn't get the scene out of her mind of the last time she ever spoke to Gina. The impact... God it almost made her want to throw up. It nearly did in fact. She shook her head and continued forward towards the school building. She had a long day ahead of her.

The day passed slowly. Jane counting down the seconds of the day as she practically ignored her teachers... She had been so pushed at home about her studies that it isn't like she didn't know all this stuff already. Plus she had relived this school year at least once already. She just wished for something new... Although she was once again mesmerized once she got to Math Class. Her eyes laser focused on the one person she longed for. Kaiser... She just couldn't keep her eyes off him... He didn't even know either. Too focused on class to simply look backwards at his creepy staring classmate. She really wondered if one of these days she should ask him... Ask him on a date. Maybe he would keep her safe and away from danger long enough to break the loop?

Though soon her concentration was broken and the loud bell rung. Signaling the end of the school day. She got up and gathered her things stepping away. She moved towards the door to begin going back home. It was all the usual. That person went that way at this timing, that person went this way. But what she wasn't expecting is that when she went to cross the road a truck came barreling at her.

Everything seemed to be a haze after that. The bright light fading from her eyes as she got pulled out of the way. Her fate saved by a mysterious person.

"Are you okay?"

She turned around to face the man of her dreams. Kaiser had saved her! She couldn't believe it. She was at a loss of words. This was the first time something like this has ever happened. Why did she feel caught... Unable to mutter a word just letting out a- "U- E- Ai-" sound every now and then. Kaiser let go of her pretty quick and moved away. It seemed she was just going through shock. It's common. Soon turning to go away.

Jane simply watched standing there as Kaiser soon disappeared inside his home. She shook her head and squealed a bit beginning to slip home. She had to get ready after all. Reaching her empty house. She entered her room beginning to collect all the things she would need for a small hangout. General items really that you would bring in public. After that she decided to jump in the shower. Get whatever she could off. Before getting back into a similar outfit. Rocking a Skillet T-Shirt. It was one of her favorite bands. Along with a nice pair of ripped jeans. Finally topping it off with her white sweater. She was ready.

Soon departing from her home to travel downtown. She would rather be out of the house when her parents get home. They aren't generally the nicest to her after all. It hadn't taken long for her to reach the small homeowned Cafe that her red haired friend stayed. Sighing she walked in and was immediately greeted by none other than...

"Hiya Jane! You are here early! Come in come in I wanna talk to you up in my room~!"

Jane was greeted by the instant voice of her friend. Gina seemed more chipper today? Which was weird... Was something going on that Jane hadn't learned about. She shifted past tables and moved into the basement going to Gina's room.

It was lined with posters and papers. Most of the papers had too much chicken scratch to actually understand but some of them could be read fairly clear. Most of them said something like : "Likes" or some other thing weird thing. What was strange is that she could see a couple of her own interests on some of them. As she stepped in further to inspect one of the more readable papers the door shut behind her.

"So Jane... There was a couple things I wanted to talk to you about~ Just a few things I wanted to... You know~ Get off my chest."

All Jane could think of right now is how almost any of the things she did here could make this very awkward looking at Gina it was strange. She was all dressed up. In makeup, good clothes, it was almost like she was getting ready for a date? No no no that couldn't be right they were just going to hangout rig-

But she couldn't finish that thought as Gina's voice rang out again a light sheen noise being heard from something nearby Gina.

"I love you Jane... I have loved you since the moment I've met you! I knew that moment when I met you that you were the one for me!"

Gina spilt it all at once. Confessing her love for Jane in the darkness. Jane couldn't talk. She was mainly confused... Was this why Gina had been so... So weird the last few days? What was she supposed to say. She stood up from Gina's bed and moved towards Gina.

"I... Gina... I'm not sure what to tell you... But... I want you to know we can totally still be friends. I just... I don't think I can... I don't think I like you in that way Gina..."

Jane stood there in front of Gina and soon her frame shifted down... Leaning in a way that looked like her spirit had been destroyed. Like everything she cared for had just been crushed in her hand. But that didn't seem to go well for Jane as something snapped inside of Gina. She stepped out of the darkness and Jane felt something poke into her midsection.

It hurt... it hurt, it hurt, IT HURT!? What did Gina do?! Jane stared at Gina's hand and fell back onto the ground her back hitting against the side of Gina's bed. She could see it now... Gina had driven a knife through her chest area. Jane moved her hands up and began trembling feeling it soon slide out just for it to plunge back into her now in her stomach.

"HAHAHA I-IF I... IF I CANT HAVE YOU! THEN NO ONE CAN! DONT THINK I DONT SEE YOU STARING AT THAT KAISER GUY! ONCE I HAVE YOU WELL HIDDEN THEN HE'S NEXT!"

Jane felt blood rushing through her body... She felt a lot of different feelings that she shouldn't be feeling... Every small movement in her body. Her heart beating. Her blood flowing. She could feel everything. Then she was plunged out of it as the knife slid out of her stomach and into her chest. Then again. Then again. Gina kept it going. In and out. In and out. The warm liquid flooding from the holes drenching Gina's new dress and the ground of her bedroom in the dark red liquid. Jane could feel the life leaving her body with each stab. Each thrust into her body slowly getting rid of her energy. Her vision began to fade. Watching her red haired friend constantly pulling back and pushing forward more and more. Soon she felt nothing as she was shot back into that bright white void all feeling being lost.

(Holy fuck the motivation has returned. Now I just need funny and interesting ways to kill Jane. Your first taste.

[boldlyvoid]

Rated R For Revenge

18+

Summary: two neighbours, both on the run with fake identities, fall in love with each other while planning a murder

Warnings: abusive husbands, rape mentions, drugging, faking own death, premeditated murder, getting revenge, torture, it's graphic so read with caution but he deserved it, strangers to lovers, oral sex (female receiving), unprotected sex, creampies, love confessions.

word count: 6.7K

Spooky Week Masterlist

When he first met her, she was going by the name Este, and everyone in town was calling him Charlie… she moved in next-door around 3 months ago, renting the old and empty house he’s lived beside for 5 years now.

She opened all the windows, painted the walls and cleaned the yard. He watched her when he was home, not in a creepy way, but because she was so graceful. Like Cinderella, she had a way about her that made the most mundane task look glorious. She would spin around, singing along to her music as she swept the floor, opening the back screen door and letting the dust-out and sending him a nervous, press-lipped smile and a wave.

She was friendly to a point. She didn’t go out of her way to interact with people, she was polite when she had to but she mostly stayed inside. He never saw her leave the property, he wondered how she got her groceries and if she was taking care of herself half as much as she cared for the house.

“Hey, Este?” He called with a wave but she never turned around. Raking the fall leaves in her yard, he calls it again and still nothing.

“Hey!”

She turns then, “sorry, hi Charlie.”

“You can call me Chip if you want?” He smiles. “That’s my real name, the one I had before I moved here and started my new life.”

She stutters and panics, “e-excuse me?”

“You’re not used to people calling you Este yet are you? If you want to make it believable you need to answer to the name,” he keeps his voice low and eyes locked on hers. “I’m not judging, everyone needs an escape plan… but if you need any advice or help… I ran a while back.”

She swallows sharply and looks away with a sigh, “Y/N, that’s my real name.”

“It’s pretty,” he smiles again, hoping she’ll liven up a bit.

“I’m pretty sure I’m safe, but…” she looks around at their empty street and the enclosure of trees around them and she lets out a shaky breath. “I’m always on edge that he’s going to find me again. How did you do it?”

“I wasn’t running from someone,” his face fills with worry for her. “Do you want to come over later for dinner? I’m learning how to make a roast and I’d love to get to know you? The real you?”

She hesitates, looking at his house and then him, “how do I know I can trust you?”

He takes out his wallet, placing it in her hands. “I’m trusting you with all my cards and things, my roast will be done in a few hours, if you don’t spend all my money by then, you’re free to join me?”

She laughs, “how are you so trusting?”

“I’ve been where you are, I wish I had a friend when I was hiding.”

She smiles at him, trusting him finally and giving in with a nod. “I’m making a peach cobbler, I’ll see you at 6?”

He nods while walking back towards his house, “I’ll be expecting you.”

—

She digs through his wallet in her kitchen as she waits for the cobbler to finish. 4 business cards for various companies she’s seen around town, a debit card, 2 credit cards and his licence. Charles Taylor jr… and his emergency contact info. Organ donor and 40 years old, he seems like a wonderful person.

But the last man she thought was good is the reason she’s so fearful now, they can change so quickly.

Long story short, don’t marry a white politician with daddy’s money. No matter how broke you are… the physical and emotional abuse isn’t worth it.

It’s only been 3 months since she “died”. 3 months since she ran away from her old life and ended up on the other side of the country.

This small little Georgia town, equipped with a truck stop diner, the old bank that looks like it was built in the 1800s, and a small family-owned market. About 15 miles down the road there was a small high school that took in kids from the 6 surrounding towns, and the gym there was used as a town hall when needed. It was a tight-knit community, one she would have never dreamed of visiting if it wasn’t for Him.

She threw a dart at a map 6 months ago, when she started her plan to run. And she did it by literally running.

Her husband liked to abuse her in the mornings right after breakfast, it was basically a scheduled event every day. Afterwards, he would tell her to do something productive, to get out of his face because he was tired of looking at her, so she went for a jog.

She’d Jog to the middle of the forest that surrounded their secluded Seattle home, she’d sit on the same called tree trunk, and she’d cry her eyes out while she planned.

If she just never came back from a run one day, he’d go out looking for her. He would find her if he knew she was alive, he’s told her that he would find her if she ran… so she needed him to think she was dead if she was ever going to be really free.

She convinced him to let her take a job at the local library once a week, thinking she was reading books to children in preparation for when they started their own family eventually. When in reality, she was meeting the nurse in town to steal blood drawing equipment, using her free time to store enough blood to convince the police she was dead.

She spent 3 months planning, storing things like a chipmunk preparing for winter. Every time she went grocery shopping with his card, she took out $20 in cash to buy her supplies. Her husband also had a habit of leaving whatever money was in his pockets on her dresser… claiming she should buy herself something nice for being such a good girl for him. If only he knew she had saved every penny he’s left her, so she can leave him.

Now, she’s making a pie while anxiously imagining how this dinner could go. Men were unpredictable and it made her terrified for every outcome. It would be horrible if she fell in love with him and he was nice and kind and everything she wanted, because then she’s just jumping from one man to another when she is stronger than that. And on the other hand, he could just be trying to get her alone to rape and murder her. Everything her mind conjured up was terrible, but she went over anyway.

In a nice dress with a hot pie in her hands, she knocks on his door with shaky hands.

He rushes to the door, opening it with a smile. “Hey, Y/N, come on in,” he ushers her inside quickly and lets the screen door slam behind her. “Do you know how to make gravy? By any chance?”

He presses his teeth together awkwardly, desperate for help and covered in flour, she laughs. “I do, where’s the kitchen?”

He sighs and pushes his hair off his face, “thank god, this way.”

It’s surprisingly easy to talk to him. He has a calming aura that brings her peace as she enters his kitchen. “It smells amazing,” she compliments him while laying the pie on the counter.

“Thank you,” he smiles, proud of himself.

“So I just need some butter and flour,” she instructs, wrapping the apron that was on the oven handle around herself to protect her dress.

He watches over her shoulder as she does it, amazed that it was so easy when he thought it was going to take forever. “Thank you,” he says as she finishes whisking. “You’re a life saver.”

She laughs to herself, for a dead woman, that was an odd compliment.

She helps him plate everything, joining him in his living room for a candle-lit dinner. He laid out placemats and fancy glasses and wine… She took a deep breath and told herself it was going to be fine.

He notices, “do you prefer white? I have other drinks too?”

“No, no,” she shakes her head. “I just got a little triggered, I’m sure some things still get you.”

He nods too, “so no red wine.” He takes the bottle off the table and brings it into the kitchen. He comes back out with a root beer, ginger ale and a water, “take your pick?”

She takes the ginger ale with a smile and sets it on her place setting. “You’re just a little too nice.”

“So I’ve been told,” he shrugs. “It’s gotten me in a lot of trouble, being too nice and doing things for other people…”

“Is that why you’re hiding?” She didn’t expect to bring it up so quickly but it was bound to happen.

He nods, “it’s a really long story.”

“Luckily for me, my trip home is short,” she makes a joke, feeling comfortable with him. “I’m all ears.”

He tells her everything. Every gross, over-detailed moment that led to him killing a room of people and lighting it up before retreating to Georgia.

She’s barely able to eat her dinner listening to the whole story… “you killed how many people?”

“Myself? I’m not sure… I want to say, six people? But they were all about to kill me and one of them was a serial killer… and one was my ex who killed Violet— it’s not something I’m proud of. I wish I didn’t have to.”

“I can see why,” she agreed, taking a sip of her drink and avoiding his eye contact.

“What about you?”

“My husband abused me,” she whispers. “I’m technically supposed to be dead.”

“Oh yeah?” He smirks. “How’d you do it?”

“Every week I saved up money, I hid things and I pretended to take jogs. I saved a little of my blood every day and spread it in the woods towards the cliffside so they’d think I was murdered and dragged… my funeral was in July.”

“Holy shit,” Chip loves it, “that’s really smart.”

She laughs, “it’s insane… I had to kill myself to get away from my husband. No one would help me, the cops said they couldn’t do anything… they said I could do a citizen's arrest if he hurt me again, no one cared until I was dead.”

“That’s the unfortunate truth, no one gives a shit about each other anymore,” Chip shrugs.

“Would you give a shit if he found me? He always said he’d find me if I ran, I’m so scared he’ll actually do it…”

“I have 2 guns if you want one?” He suggests, “I don’t need them they’re just up in my night table.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No, I’m completely serious, I mean I can try and be there for you if he comes back but I’m not here all the time, I have a job so… but I don’t want you to be unprotected.”

“I wish I was strong enough to just kill him,” she mumbles.

“We could do that?”

She stares at him like he’s lost his fucking mind, “going for lucky number 7?”

He shrugs, “any many who hurts a woman enough to fake her death and run away, deserves it.”

“Do you want to know what he did to me?” She cant look at him while she asks.

“No,” he’s honest. “If you want to tell me one day, sure. But not now, not like this.”

“Thank you, chip,” she smiles, “I haven’t met any good men in a very long time.”

He raises his drink, “and I’m not going anywhere.”

—

He was incapable of leaving her alone. He stopped by most nights to make sure she was okay, he waved to her every morning when she had tea on her porch and he left for work, and he thought about her all day long. He joined her at the grocery store on Sundays, he invited her over to watch Survivor on Wednesdays and they had dinner together at least twice a week.

She was his best friend.

The longer he knew her, the more he loved her. He knew he liked her when he first noticed her, he knew he’d have an unrequited crush for a while but now he’s concerned she likes him back. He’s concerned because it’s making her grow distant, he can tell she’s scared and it’s all because of the bastard that lied about loving her before.

It made him angry beyond belief to imagine there was someone out there who was able to love her and instead laid hands on her. They saw her beautiful face and crushed it with their hands instead of smothering her in kisses and positive affirmations and making her believe she was truly loveable.

He wanted to kill him for what he did to her, for how he made her feel and just because he could.

He waited 2 months before he finally couldn’t wait anymore, he had to find the guy and figure out how to get revenge. They were sitting together on her porch swing, blanket across their laps, drinks long gone and just the sound of the crickets to keep them company under the Georgia stars.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” she smirks.

“What was his name?”

She turns to look at him with immense fear in her eyes, “why?”

“I want to google him… I want to know what he looks like and who he is so that if I ever see his stupid face I can hit him with my car,” he’s open and honest… well as honest as he could be.

“You really want to murder him?” She whispers, “are you a serial killer? Do you enjoy it?”

He laughs, shaking his head, “no, no I don’t enjoy it. It was the scariest, most traumatizing thing I’ve ever been through but— fuck it, you know what? I really like you and it makes me sick thinking he’s happily living his life while you’re in fear every day.”

“Dustin Cuthbert,” she whispers, “he lives in Clifton Trail, near Seattle.”

“Okay,” he wraps an arm around her and holds her close. “I’m sorry… truly, I wish you never went through that.”

“Thank you,” she nudges him with her shoulders, looking up into his eyes with a soft smile. “You’re sometimes too perfect, and it scares me cause he was really amazing at first too… but you don’t feel fake, your kindness is so welcoming and warm and I feel safe and it scares me.”

“I’m never going to hurt you,” he whispers back. “You can count on that, I’m going to worship the ground you walk on as long as I know you because that’s what you deserve. No matter what he told you or what he made you think, I know you deserve all the good things in the world and I will spend forever convincing you that.”

Then she does the unimaginable— she leans in and presses her lips to his. Reaching over, he places his hand on her cheek and holds her there, breathing her in before pulling away quickly. She just smiles quickly before pulling him back in, her tongue dances along his bottom lip, begging for more as she wraps her arms around him and holds him close.

Making out on her porch swing was the last thing he thought would happen after asking her about her husband.

—

With some digging and a few friends, Chip was able to find out that her husband had a few other dead wives. One from a robbery gone wrong, another who died in the bathtub after a few too many glasses of wine… the fucking wine.

and last but not least, a wife who was murdered in the woods.

Chip laid it all out in front of her at his kitchen table, faxed to him from a friend was all the old newspaper clippings and internal reports from the Seattle police. “Don’t ask how they got it,” was the only thing he said.

“And how did he get away with this for so long?” She shakes her head in disbelief.

“He has a lot of money, ” Chip points out. “It’s easy to get the cops to look the other way when you’re a rich 50-year-old white guy… seriously how did you find him?”

“He found me,” she opens up. It’s about time he knew. “I needed to get off my best friend's couch, my parents were terrible, I have no one else and he knew that. It was easy for him to get me alone and convince me he would take care of me. He took me to events and gave me wonderful gifts and bought me so many dresses and then we got married and he hit me for the first time 14 days later.”

“I really want to kill him,” chip whispers towards her. “Who does his money go to if he’s dead?”

“His only daughter Sammy,” she explains. “He hasn’t seen her since her mother died. But I never knew how she died, I just thought it was like cancer or something?”

“Seriously?” His eyes widen, “you’d let me go kill him?”

She nods, “it would be easier if he got a call saying I was still alive and living in New Mexico, we meet him there and kill him and leave him in the desert and no one will know.”

“We?”

She nods, “ever since you said you have a gun I have been thinking about how easy it would be to just pull the trigger and never have to think about him again.”

His breathing changes then and she swears she can see his interest in her grow tenfold. “Let’s do it.”

“Okay, call him.”

“No,” Chip shakes his head. “No, we need to plan. Get some paper, we’ll burn it all after. How much cash do you have on hand currently?”

“Uh… I have like 2 grand left? He might even offer you a reward?”

“We need to buy the supplies with cash, we’re going to need shovels, bleach, lighter fluid, plastic bags and tape.”

She nods along as he lists them, “I’m pretty sure I have most of that…”

“We need to plan the meeting place, how to kill him and where to bury him and when,” Chip explains.

“After we kill him, can we go back to Seattle so I can get some of my old things if he still has them? And then I can take whatever money was in the safe still and we can leave a suicide note… saying he was going to join me in the lake so they don’t go looking for him?” Y/N plans on her feet, not wanting to have it traced back to her, even if she was supposed to be dead.

“Yeah,” he nods, “that’s a really good idea. They’ll think he was clearing out before he killed himself like most people do… if you still know his bank information make some charitable donations too… spread the wealth before he kills himself.”

“We’re really doing this,” she smirks, getting up from her seat and sitting in his lap. She runs her hands up his arms and along his shoulders, cupping his jaw as she stares in his honey brown eyes, “you like me enough to plot a murder for me?”

“If it’s not too soon, I think I love you,” he whispers. “But I respect that you’re not ready.”

“Who said I’m not ready?” She teases, “you are already 10 times better than Dustin could ever pretend to be, I trust you with my life and now we’re going to take his together… it would be weird if you didn’t love me.”

“Does that mean?” His brows raise, his hands slip down her back to her butt and he gives her a squeeze.

She nods and her heart races in her chest, “a little… more than I thought I would and it’s terrifying.”

“I’m never going to hurt you,” he repeats his same promise as before.

“I’m never going to hurt you either,” she whispers back, leaning in and pressing her lips to his quickly before whispering against him again. “You also deserve better, I’m sorry you lost the person you thought finally cared, but that person is me now.”

A tear slips down his cheek, “sorry.”

She wipes it with a smile, “no, don’t because that means you’re real. You have emotions, this is a good thing. You’re not a killing machine but this fucker deserves it… they all did.”

He nods, “that's why I like you.”

“I like you, Chip,” she smiles with her lips pressed together, still smiling when Chip kisses her. Smiling more when he picks her up and carries her down the hall to his bedroom.

Even though it doesn’t go past kissing, being held by him all night was the nicest feeling in the world. He was holding her in some way or another the whole night, kissing her shoulder even in his sleep as they spooned, pulling her on top of him when he rolled over. He couldn’t get enough of her and for once, she felt truly loved.

—

They’ve planned everything.

Chip traded in his Honda for a Jeep, stealing 2 sets of plates from different cars at a local junk yard for their trip to New Mexico. He needed to be able to drive Dustin off-road, towards Y/N’s “mother’s house” which was actually an empty lot in the middle of nowhere with a pre-dug grave.

They were currently in a Motel in the town over, making a call from a number that cant be traced to them before they head to Hatch, New Mexico.

He takes a deep breath while she dials the number, handing the phone back to him with a nervous grin he stared at the paper of rehearsed notes.

“Hello?” Dustin answered, making Y/N shiver immediately.

“Hi is this Y/N’s husband?”

“Yes, uh, who may I ask is calling?” He responds, fake as fuck making chip want to beat him to a pulp more.

“I’m an old friend from school. I saw her around town last week and I thought I’d call to see if she was—“

“What do you mean you saw her?” He cuts him off. “She died. She’s dead. And if she wasn’t you wouldn’t be allowed to see her, I don’t know who you think you are—

“I talked to her,” he cuts Dustin back off. “At the grocery store here in Hatch, New Mexico… she cut her hair and it’s a different colour now but it was her.”

“You’re 100% positive?”

“Yeah,” chip’s voice gets a little high, “I mean, yes. I’m positive, I had this number from around when you got married… I thought she was here to visit her mother or something?”

“So you were having an affair with my wife?” He questions, heated just the way they wanted.

“Oh yes,” Chip smirks. “I’ve fucked her a few times… whenever I was in Clifton Trail.”

“Who the fuck is this?”

“You know what? Fuck you, I’m just going to find her on my own and keep fucking her,” Chip says, “or you can give me 10 grand and I’ll tell you where she is.”

“10 grand?” Dustin repeats, unsurprised and thinking it over quickly. “Deal.”

He looks at Y/N with wide eyes, mouthing ‘that was easy?’

“I can meet you at the Hatch Royal Motel in 2 days and take you to her mom's house?” Chip lies.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth,” Dustin asks.

“She has a birth mark on the inside of her left leg on her underwear line… I know because I give it a special kiss every time I fuck your wife.” And with that, Chip hangs up.

“Holy suck,” Y/N’s shaking, anxious and overwhelmed.

“Suck?” Chip teases her.

“I couldn’t pick between shit and fuck,” her smile builds as she looks at him. “He has no idea what’s coming.”

“He’s going to be pissed,” Chip looks at her concerned and nervous. “He’s not going to really want to get in my car without killing me too…”

“He’s 5’9 and 125 pounds. He’s mentally more abusive than he is physically... he had to drug me most nights to get me to not fight back, because I tried, I fought and I wanted to help myself,” she shrugs.

“So we have to drug him back,” Chip adds. “That means I’m going to need you with me at the motel when we pick him up because I can’t chloroform him and put him in the jeep all by myself if he gets here during the day?”

“So then we knock him out and duck tape his mouth and tie him up until the un goes down?” Y/N plans quickly. “How are we getting rid of his car?”

“I’ll drive it back to Seattle and park it in his garage, you follow in the jeep?” Chip suggested.

“Yeah, we’ll just have to clean it before we leave which won't be hard to do because I had to deep clean the Maserati once a week for him while I was there and I doubt it’s gotten very dirty in the last 6 months.”

“Seriously?” Chips face lights right up, “I’ve always wanted to drive one?”

She nods, “it’s either that or the Audi and I bet he wants to get here fast…”

—

Sure enough, Dustin pulls into the parking lot of the motel in Hatch right on time. Y/N was to open the door and lure him inside while Chip was to come up behind him and chloroform him before he could get his hands on her. Y/N looks at Chip one last time before starting the plan, “ready?”

“No matter what happens this is a bond that only we will ever share,” he whispers, “let’s kill this fucker.”

She swings the door open, smirking as she stares at Dustin, “hey, fuck head!” She gets his attention and the rage that overflows from his body is almost instant. He starts to huff, waking towards her but for once she isn’t scared. “Come get me, loser.”

He charges her, slamming the door behind himself and not even checking the room before lunging for her throat. Chip wraps his arm around him, holding him back as his other hand covers his mouth with a cloth.

He struggles for a moment before falling limp in Chip's arms and to the floor. Y/N quickly duck-taped his mouth, tied his arms and legs and then strapped him to the bed where he couldn’t move when he eventually regained consciousness.

She just stared at him, breathing heavily and as she pushed through the anxiety of being in the same room as him again, “Can I blindfold him too?”

“Why?” Chip asked.

“So when he wakes up and can’t see and can’t move and he can’t scream for help he’ll finally fucking know what it’s like to be scared,” she whispers with tears in her eyes.

“Get your revenge baby.”

She takes a deep breath, walking over to him and wrapping cloth around his eyes to blind him. And she waits. She sits beside him in complete silence as she waits for him to regain consciousness and chip just waits in the corner, watching to see what she does.

He begins to stir, trying to sit up and move his arms, realizing he can’t see or speak he starts to struggle and scream as he writhes against the mattress and she just giggles. “Not so fun is it?”

Mumbled words are masked by the tape as he tries to yell in the direction of her voice, “it’s not very ladylike to fight back now is it?”

She smirks while she watches him struggle, sitting in the wooden hair beside his bed, she watches him like it’s her new favourite tv show. And then she turns to Chip, “it’s so liberating being the one in the chair… you know he used to do this to me? Completely naked, he’d tie me to the bed and block all my sense and he’d hurt me. He said it would feel better if I wasn’t expecting it… now he has no idea what I’m going to do to him.”

“You can do whatever you want,” chip replies and Dustins head turns abruptly to his voice, struggling and screaming under the tape as if they cared about his opinions. “She’s in control now dick shit… you have 10 hours until the sun sets and we drag his body to the desert so have fun, babe.”

That really makes him squirm, shouting like a little girl behind the tape as the cloth around his eyes starts to darken with his tears. And she feels a little bad, she hates hearing him struggle but she remembers how it felt and how much she hated it and that’s what makes her feel bad, not that she’s doing it to him. She lets the trauma turn to anger as she punches him in the chest, watching the wind get knocked out of him as he groans.

“Get me a plastic bag, help me put it under him,” she asks chip and he nods in response.

Rushing for a garbage bag and opening it up, he doesn’t ask why but he thinks he knows. She holds Dustin's hips up as Chip slides the plastic between him and the bed, they didn’t plan to get any of his DNA in the motel, this wasn’t part of the original plan but he couldn’t help but feel excited as she got her revenge. As she found herself and took her pride back, he looks at her softly as she flattens the plastic and she smiles up at him.

She leans over and presses a kiss to Chips lips, holding him there as she smiles against his lips just a bit. “Thank you,” she whispered after pulling back with an audible smooch.

Between them, she unbuttons his belt as he struggles and she punches him in the nuts, “just submit and deal with it already, you’re going to be murdered it’s not changing,” she spits out at him. “I’m in charge here. Fuckin’ chill.”

His breathing is heavy but he stops, sobbing under the blindfold, chip can’t even imagine how she must have felt under the one he covered her with for all those years. And then Y/N yanks his pants down and he chokes on his sobs.

Y/N just steps back, walking around the bed and taking Chip's hand, she pulls him towards the bathroom and leaves Dustin there completely alone. Closing the door behind herself she takes a deep breath and wraps her arms around him, crying slightly as he rubs her back and shushes her. “Are you okay?”

“Super triggered,” she replies. “But I’m going back out there to hurt him and I don’t know if you want to watch that?”

“If you don’t want me to I can stay in here?” He offers instead.

She nods, “yeah that would be better, I’ll try to not make a mess…” a smile builds back on her face as she pulls away, “thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, this is your choice and your decision and I’m just the backup, this is for you and about you, not me,” chip explains. “Make him pay.”

“I’m going to leave him like that for a while first,” she whispers.

Chip takes his phone out to check the time, “you’ve got lots of time till we can get rid of him.”

And so they wait, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall in the tiny bathroom. They watch a movie on his phone, leaving Dustin exposed and tied up for 2 hours with no idea when it was going to end.

When she goes back out there, Chip knows exactly what she’s doing. He just hopes he doesn’t bleed out by the time they have to transport him, dead weight is a lot more to deal with and he wasn’t as strong as he looked.

Most men in this situation would think “man, don’t fuck with y/n” as she’s literally cutting a mans dick off in the other room, but Chips proud? He loves her, he would never hurt her to deserve such treatment and he wanted Dustin to pay for not realizing that.

—

When the sun set and all was said and done, the owner of the motel had gone home for the night, the lights were off and the town was quiet. It was time to move him. The coast was clear, they wrapped him up so he would struggle less, and so they didn’t get blood in the jeep, loading him in and taking a 45 minute drive to the middle of butt fuck no where where a pre-dug grave awaits them.

Chip holds her hand while they drive, and it comes off as one of the most normal car rides they’ve had… but they have a man who’s about to become just a body in the back. Right as they pull up to the spot with their two shovels and the grave, he brings her hand close to his mouth and kisses it gently.

She smiles, feeling the butterflies in her stomach replace the fear of being caught doing what they’re about to do, “what was that for?”

“I’m just proud of you,” he whispers back.

“Are you ready?”

He nods, “are you?”

“Absolutely.”

They drag Dustin to the hole, where she gets down and takes off his blindfold and the duck-tape on his mouth, and she smiles at him. “Ready to die?”

“You’re a fucking bitch,” he chokes out, his voice gone from the screaming behind the tape.

She fakes a frown, “boo hoo.”

When she stands, she hands the gun to Chip, “you can do the honours. I’ve done what I wanted.”

Chip takes it with a smirk, “gladly.”

He walks over to dustin who starts to yell for help before Chip kicks his hip, rolling him over and pushing him into the hole. “Any last words?”

“I’M SORRY!” He screams, “Please, don’t do this I promise we can just get a divorce and I can give you the money and—

“TOO LATE!” Chip screams back, “you had every chance to treat her right and you fucked it up. I hope you have fun in hell,” he finishes the sentence with two shots, and then there’s a silence that spreads over the desert.

She’s not expecting to feel so much, a sense of freedom, adrenaline, euphoria, her body is riding a high unlike one she’s felt before and it makes her want to jump Chip’s bones right here and now.

“Pass me a shovel,” he asks, putting the gun on safety and slipping it back into his pants.

She snaps out of it and does as he asks but he can tell somethings up, “I’ve got this if you need to sit in the jeep and be alone for a minute…”

“No,” she shakes her head, getting the courage to pick up a shovel and help, “help me fill the hole so you can fill mine.”

He laughs, “that’s a good one.” He tosses some dirt into the hole, covering Dustin’s body.

“I’m serious,” she tosses some dirt in as well. “I’m free now, I’m me again? And I want you. And I want you for me not because you want me or you think I’m hot but because I haven’t allowed myself to do what I want in a very long time and I want you.”

His eyes widen and he takes a deep breath, shaking his head, astounded, “you want me to be your first since him?”

She nods, “is that so crazy? I mean… I’m pretty sure after all this, it’s safe to say I love you for all that you’ve done for me.”

He starts to shovel the dirt over his body faster and faster, making her laugh while trying to help. Patting the dirt flat on top and covering it with some tumbleweeds and sticks, she basically jumps on him the second they’re done.

He reaches under her ass, lifting her up and holding her in his arms as he walks her to the Jeep. She wraps her legs around him, kissing him deeply with more want than ever before. He presses her back against the jeep door, breaking the kiss to move his lips over her neck, sucking on her pulse point and making her moan out in pleasure, echoing into the desert.

“Fuck me,” she whispers, desperately running her hands over his back and through his hair so she can feel all of him that she can, “please?”

“You have to know I love you first,” words mumbled against her skin as he keeps kissing her. “And I want you to be with me forever, I want to love you and cherish you and protect you, and this isn’t how I expected telling you for the first time.”

She pulls his face away from her neck so she can look into his eyes, holding his cheeks in her hands, “I love you too, and you can show me how much over and over and over again, but right now I need you to fuck my brains out and then we need to get the fuck out of Dodge.”

“Hatch,” he cheekily corrects her.

She just shakes her head before bringing out her puppy dog eyes, “Chip, please?”

“Fuck,” he groans, “anything for you my love.”

He sets her back down on the ground and unbuttons her jeans, pulling them and her panties down just enough to pull them off one leg, lifting the other to rest on his shoulder as he looks at her pussy in awe, “so beautiful.”

She runs her fingers through his hair, believing him and feeling truly safe. He looks up at her softly, “I wish I could take my time with you tonight.”

“We can later,” she reminds him while pushing his face forward and feeling his tongue start working on her folds.

She moans, leaning back against the jeep more and tugging on his hair as he licks and sucks in such a beautiful manner that she can’t keep her eyes open. Her hips buck as she rides his face, “fuck,” she groans. “I need you inside me, babe.”

He pulls back, licking his lips and standing up, she pulls him in for a kiss so she can taste herself on his tongue.

He pushed against her once more, dipping down to grab her thighs and hoist her into the air once more, Y/N laughed at how crazy this was, she’d never done this with anyone— not even just the murder part, but the outdoor sex part.

Chip lined up with her and pushed in slowly. Y/N tilted her head back against the jeep as he did so, leaving her neck free for Chip to pepper kisses to her throat. It was almost second nature for Y/N to wrap her arms around Chip’s neck and grab at the tuft of hair at the back of his head as he fuck up into her.

Over and over, he fucked into her, the two of them breathing heavily and trying to be as quiet as possible so their voices didn’t travel and bring any unwanted attention to them. Y/N smashed their mouths together, kissing him as he reached between them to rub her clit. Chip’s grip on his hips got tighter as he fucked up one final time as he came abruptly, taking her with him.

She trembled, holding him close as she came, “holy fuck,” she whispered as she came down, every emotion from the night hitting her suddenly and making her hold on to him as tight as possible.

Y/N kissed his shoulder a few times, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Chip whispered back against Y/N’s hair, “Always will.”

this is all fiction, i don't condone murder in any way so don't try this at home.

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[4townie]

Road to 4☆TOWN

It was nearly 11pm. The boys sat around the tour bus impatiently, Taeyoung asleep in T’s lap.

“Courtney,” Robaire whined, “are we there yet?”

Courtney sighed. “We should be at the hotel in another ten or fifteen minutes.”

T, Z, and Robaire all groaned.

“We’ve been sitting here for hours.” T complained. “I can’t sit still much longer.”

“And my neck can’t take sleeping on this window much longer.” Z rubbed his neck.

Courtney glared at them. “Why can’t you just be quiet like Jesse? He’s behaving?”

“He’s sulking.” Robaire glanced at Jesse, who was staring out the window.

Jesse let out a melancholy sigh.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Courtney rolled her eyes. “Right now, Jesse is my favorite because he’s not—”

“SELINA!” Jesse ejected out of his seat when his phone started ringing.

Taeyoung jumped awake. “Ugh, I was having the best nap.”

“Great, now you woke the cat.” T shook his head.

“Sorry, guys.” Jesse maneuvered out of the seat row. “The love of my life is calling me, I’ll be right back.” He headed into the bus bathroom and shut the door.

The bus fell silent.

“So,” Taeyoung sat up, “are we almost there?”

Courtney groaned loudly.

“Hey, babe.” Jesse said as he picked up the phone. “How are you and Marcel holding up?”

“Well, uh…we’re interesting.” Selina said awkwardly. “I mean, Marcel’s fine. He misses you like crazy, but—”

“Awwww, I miss him too.” Jesse smiled. “I miss you both a lot. I know it’s past his bedtime, but is he still up? I wanna talk to him.”

“Jesse, we need to talk.” Selina got his attention. “And I know your bottom lip is quivering right now. Calm down, I’m not breaking up with you.”

Jesse sighed with relief. “Lina, you gotta stop opening conversations like that, especially if it’s not gonna be serious.”

“This is pretty serious actually.” Selina said quietly. “Remember the night before you left for the tour?”

“You mean when you dragged me off the couch and made me finish packing?” Jesse furrowed his brow. “I told you I wasn’t sleeping, I was just resting my eyes. I was gonna get up in a second.”

“Actually,” Selina’s voice got awkwardly high pitched, “I was talking about what happened after that.”

Jesse froze. “Why are you bringing that up?”

“Because…I’m pregnant.” Selina finally said. “Surprise.”

Jesse stared at the wall in shock, completely silent.

“Oh, not again.” Selina groaned. “Baby, I need you to actually respond so I know you didn’t pass out or something.”

“Are you sure though?” Jesse narrowed his eyes. “I mean, maybe you’re late because you’re stressed about being alone with Marcel for two months.”

“Honey, I went to the doctor’s office today.” Selina crossed her arms. “The ultrasounds confirmed it.”

Jesse got quiet again. “Okay, well I’m gonna tuck and roll off this bus, walk back home, and—”

“No, babe, it’s totally fine.” Selina stopped him. “You’re only gonna be gone for a little while longer at this point.”

“It’s only been, like, three weeks. I’m not gonna be back until two days before Marcel’s birthday.” Jesse reminded her. “And the tour isn’t as important as being there for you. I mean, you’re gonna need someone to watch Marcel while you’re hunched over the toilet.”

“Jes, it’s really gonna be fine.” Selina calmed him down. “I’m gonna call Daunte in the morning to let him know, plus my dad’s retired now so he should be able to help until you’re back. All you’re really missing is the part of the pregnancy where I don’t want you near me.”

“But even during that phase, you needed to sit on my lap while I told you how pretty you are.” Jesse whined. “I just wanna go home and be with you guys.”

“Five more weeks.” Selina sighed. “Just five more weeks and we’ll be together again.”

“It’s gonna be the longest few weeks ever.” Jesse ran a hand through his hair. “Well, other than the first six weeks after Marcel was born. That was torture.”

Selina giggled. “Well, I’m gonna have to go now, babe. I just smelled what the neighbors are cooking and I’m probably gonna be sick.”

“Awww, that’s my pregnant wifey.” Jesse said with a giddy grin. “Go on, go throw up. Love you lots.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you, too. Bye.” She hung up quickly.

Jesse quietly smiled to himself. “I hate it here.”

Act II

Late 1998–First (American Only) Tour

Robaire—20 going on 21 in ‘99

Jesse—22 going on 23 in ‘99

Aaron Z—20 going on 21 in ‘99

Aaron T—19 going on 20 in ‘99

Taeyoung—15 going on 16 in 2 months

———

Aaaaand we’re back! Did you miss me😁