#wouldn’t be the one to break it off but her lover instead so she wouldn’t feel guilty and she’d beg them to stay despite doing on purpose

[shecarnionmyval]

kicks rock

i might be fuckin’ up my own relationship… self sabotagin’ and shit

one of my friends said i did this with my ex that’s why it didn’t work out and im afraid i might be doin’ it again

[withmyloveasyourgarden]

TO BE DRUNK AND IN LOVE

EDDIE MUNSON X F!READER.

Nervous Eddie, protective reader, and a drunk love confession. Idiots who are too dumb to realise their feelings are reciprocated. 9.4K of tooth rotting friends to lovers fluff. [Re-uploaded from my old blog]

Even when it was Valentine's day it wasn’t all that surprising to open your door to a random knock and find Eddie Munson staring back at you.

He was your best friend after all.

What was surprising however, was to open your door at nearly midnight, bleary eyed and more than a little bit annoyed, to a sheepish looking Steve Harrington.

His usually perfect hair was in wild disarray from the winter winds still sweeping through Hawkins and there was a hesitant smile on his face, all boyish charm and sweetness, like he was already intent on persuading you to forgive him before you even knew why.

But then you had taken a closer look, letting the light from inside spill out onto the porch to reveal that Steve wasn’t alone. Appearing to be struggling with a rather drunk Eddie, arms straining, looped around the longer haired boy who instead of being on the ‘hot date’ he’d been rambling about having all week, was half asleep, swaying back and forth into his friend’s side.

"He called me to come get him but when I got there he wouldn’t stop asking for you.” Steve explained before you had the chance to ask, grumbling good naturedly. “Didn’t wanna drop him off home and risk him having the genius idea of trying to get here himself, s’that okay?”

You nodded in response, still a little confused but you couldn’t stop yourself from softening. Chest warming as you mumbled a quick ‘of course’ and tried to bite back the laugh that was threatening to bubble up at the way Eddie was trying to use Steve like some kind of pillow.

The wild mess of his curls spilling down to cover his face as his head fell to the other boy’s shoulder with a quiet groan, ringed fingers curling into the fabric of Steve’s jumper and voice rough as he grumbled your name again, again, again.

"Yeah, she's here, man." Steve chuckled, his tone surprisingly gentle, a fond type of exasperated as he nudged his shoulder into the rosy squish of Eddie's cheek. "You wanna wake up now so you can actually see her?"

To your surprise he actually listened.

His head snapping up quicker than you anticipated, curls bouncing with the movement and brown eyes a touch glazed over, just that little bit unfocused, before they locked on you and then his mouth split into a blinding grin. The kind that made his whole face light up and your heart flip all too wild behind your ribs.

"There’s my pretty girl." He cooed loudly and you heard Steve snort, something that sounded an awful lot like ‘very smooth Munson, jesus christ’ muttered under his breath whilst he fought to remain upright against the weight of Eddie leaning his entire body in your direction.

You did laugh then.

A bright, flustered thing that you were unable to resist any longer, along with the way your arms opened on reflex to wrap around the boy when he finally managed to break free of his friend’s hold. His hands batting furiously at Steve’s as he twisted away, and only stumbled slightly in his determination to swoop you up into hug that was all leather, cheap beer and the smoky bite of whiskey - weed and the spice of his shampoo where his hair tickled at your nose.

"Hey sweets.” He whispered, humming happily as he pushed a messy kiss to your hairline.

God, why did that make you want to melt.

“Hey Eddie, you okay?” You asked softly, one hand rubbing gentle circles on his back and the other reaching up to cradle the back of his head.

It made him snuggle into you further, ducking down so he could press his face into the warm crook of your neck as his arms tightened and you prayed he was too drunk to notice the way your pulse thrummed faster when he spoke, soft lips brushing against sensitive skin.

"‘Am now.”

Tou froze for just a second, lips parted, blinking once, twice, just to make sure you had really heard what you thought you had and when it did fully register you wondered if the heat radiating off your cheeks was as obvious as it felt.

A quick glance at Steve told you it was.

Your friend was looking at you and Eddie all huddled together with an endless amount of amusement and affection, eyes twinkling as he grinned, shining like there was something he knew that you didn’t.

"Okay then, that’s good I guess,” You croaked out, voice a little too affected for your liking, coughing slightly in attempt to cover the sudden shyness you felt before you told the other boy. “I better get him to bed before he falls asleep standing up.”

Steve chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” He added, snorting at the ‘hey, screw you Harrington, it was one time’ that sounded from the metalhead still needily curling himself around you. “You need a hand hauling his ass upstairs?”

You considered it but then the poor Steve was desperately trying to fight a vicious yawn and failing, his eyes tired despite the way they crinkled as he smiled when you gave him a mothering look and made a shooing motion with the hand that wasn’t still making gentle strokes down Eddie’s back.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got him, go get some sleep, yeah? And thank you for bringing him.”

He hesitated but ultimately didn’t argue and you waved him goodbye as he drove away before shutting the door. Turning your full attention to your best friend who had slowly become suspiciously heavier, arms loosely folded around your waist and hands still, where only moments before they’d been trailing patterns along your spine.

"Eddie?”

Nothing.

“Eds?” You tried again and when there was no response a second time your eyes narrowed, suspicious.

The boy remained limp as your hands snuck past denim and leather, his breathing light and even whilst your fingers crept up his vest covered sides until you met torn fabric and then smooth, warm skin.

You let them rest there just a moment, waiting, and when he made no move to give up the pretence of sleep that you suspected, you dug them in a little firmer, tickling across his ribs until you heard a choked laugh and felt the stretch of his grin against your neck.

"Just let me sleep here, m’comfy.” He whined when you took to the task with more enthusiasm, snickering as he protested. But he was still laughing as he jerked and thrashed, dramatic as ever, and then threw himself out of your arms, cheeks flushed with it and dimples showing despite the glare he attempted to pin you with, snapping. “Fuckin’ devil woman, give me peace.”

There was no heat behind it and you smiled sweetly in return,reaching over to poke him in the cheek before pointing in the direction of the staircase. “I’ll give you peace Munson when you get your ass upstairs so we can go to bed.”

He raised his brows at the demand, dark eyes gleaming with mischief.

“Are you trying to seduce me sweetheart? Do I need to call Steve to come back and protect my virtue, save my poor innocent soul from being snatched by a temptress?” Eddie asked playfully, all faux horror and scandalised expression, a hand pressed to his heart as he choked down a bark of laughter at the way you stared at him, incredulous.

"Jesus christ.”

"No, I’m Eddie, remember? If you’re tryin’ to seduce a man at least get his name right, babe.”

You threw your arms up in the air, let out a long-suffering groan whilst the boy cackled and then you were marching towards him, fingers twisting in denim as you shoved him in front of you and walked him in the direction of the stairs and to your room.

"Shit, okay, I’m going.” He yelped, sniggering when he heard you grumbling behind him as he deliberately leaned his full weight back into the press of your hand and tsked, voice full of tease. “So fuckin’ pushy, you're lucky the whole bossy thing works on me.”

There was a familiar routine to the way you entered your bedroom, the kind that developed after countless nights of Eddie deciding it was too late to drive home despite the journey only being five minutes, of you both refusing to let the other take the couch that very first time until you eventually agreed, with shy smiles and faux nonchalant shrugs, that it was no big deal if you just shared the bed.

Friends totally did that, right?

It happened enough that he claimed a side and a drawer, that tapes and other trinkets of his littered the tops of your dressers, mixing with yours, and you’d even bought an ashtray and a spare lighter especially for the bedside table on his side.

And it happened enough for it to be second nature for Eddie to veer left and you right, clumsily kicking his shoes off before he fell into the bed with a contended groan and turning just time in to catch the old, faded sweats he left the last time he stayed that you threw before they could slap him in the face.

"You smell like a brewery Eds, don’t even think of getting in that bed until you’ve changed.”

"Mean.” He groaned but he hauled himself back up and did as you asked, shrugging off denim and leather in one go until all he was left in was tight, black jeans and a slashed up vest that showed more tattoos and bare skin than it possibly hid. His silver chain glinting prettily where it lay against his collarbones.

And oh fuck, you were staring.

Despite the fear that prickled at your skin at the thought of being caught, it felt impossible not to.

Because Eddie had always been far too pretty, a heartbreaking kind of gorgeous really, and if that wasn’t distracting enough, then the way his muscles moved as he yanked the vest over his head before dropping his hands to his belt certainly was.

You swallowed hard, throat suddenly dry when you realised your eyes had followed, fixed on the flex of his hands, and you couldn’t stop from wondering if they’d look just as perfect dragging up your bare waist, gripping at your thighs. Maybe circling your neck, cupping your chin, rings glittering in the low lamplight, before his lips descended on yours.

Jesus.

You wrenched your gaze away, fully intending it to land somewhere more decent. Somewhere that wasn’t your best friend and where it couldn’t ruin that easy bond you’d always had with the boy by giving all your secrets away.

But it felt like there was some kind of higher power at play, some hand of fate kind of bullshit that brought it straight back to Eddie, to his eyes that were already watching you, darker than usual and more than a little wild.

It made your breath catch in your chest. Cheeks flaming with heat, heart slamming against your ribs hard enough you thought your bones might shatter, and god, could he hear it?

You already knew by the look on his face that Eddie had seen every single second of your staring, that he’d been able to guess every little thought that swam through your mind and revealed themselves in the brief flash of want in your expression before you could shove it back down.

You just hadn’t noticed him doing the same.

Gaze lingering on his shirt that you were wrapped up in, the way the hem was as long as the length of your sleep shorts and made it seem like you were wearing nothing else, the way it made you look too soft, too enticing, too much like you were his and when his eyes flicked back up to yours he looked at you like you were something dangerous.

Like you were making him want something he shouldn’t ask for, or at least, didn’t think he could.

You licked your lips, a nervous sweep of your tongue as the air in the room seemed to thicken, and his gaze followed the movement hungrily as if he wished it was his mouth sliding over them instead.

But then the wind was howling, branches smacking and scraping at your window, the sound bringing reality crashing back in and making you both flinch.

Eddie’s cheeks were pink and his lips parted, a strangled noise slipping past them as he tried to speak and stumbled and suddenly you couldn’t look at him. Eyes snapping shut and mortification burning in your throat as you spun round before you could make an even bigger mistake than you already had, because what the hell were you doing?

What were you thinking?

This was Eddie.

Eddie, who you swore to never let your feelings for ruin your friendship.

Eddie, who you were convinced was still very much drunk and you very much weren’t.

It felt wrong.

It felt like you were begging to have your feelings hurt when the boy became clear headed enough to realise that the person he was looking at like he wanted to push them down onto the bed and devour, happened to be his best friend and inevitably freaked the fuck out.

He had just come back from a date with someone else after all, a date that he would have never thought to ask you on and despite the fact that you suspected it must not have gone well given his current state, it didn’t really make you feel any better or lessen the sting of jealousy that felt like barbed wire snaking through your ribs.

You continued to face the wall as he changed, cheeks still burning, stained with heat. But your gaze was unfocused as it flickered over lines of polaroids, fairy lights and old ticket stubs that you’d refused to throw away and used as decoration, your mind far too aware of the sound of his belt being unbuckled, the chains on his jeans clinking quietly before the denim hit the floor with a soft thud.

The silence that spread through the room after felt overwhelming, like it amplified every little movement either one of you made, the breaths you both took that made your chests fall a little too quick, a little uneven still, and when Eddie finally cleared his throat you tensed at the way it broke the quiet so harshly it felt like he’d made the noise directly in your ear.

"It’s okay - if you wanna turn around now, I mean.” He muttered softly.

It still felt like too much to look at him.

Maybe even more now because all you could see out of the corner of your eye before you walked towards the little lamp on your desk was messy hair and bare skin, sweats slung low on his hips. Big, brown eyes that seemed to be pleading with you to meet their stare and melt back into your usual softness with him like nothing had happened.

You couldn’t.

Not yet.

So you flicked the light off whilst the boy sighed and slipped beneath the covers, shoving his face into a pillow that smelled faintly like you as he squeezed his eyes shut before they flashed open again when he heard your approaching footsteps.

Eddie swallowed as you drifted close, throat bobbing when the air between you seemed to hum again once there was less of it as you reached above him to draw the curtains tighter, knowing how much the boy hated any hint of sunlight first thing in the morning.

There were nerves all lit up inside him that he hadn’t been able to shake all night, fondness fizzing in his chest when he heard the sound of the unopened bottle of water you’d brought up for yourself being set down next to the pile of his rings. The rattle of painkillers being plucked from the draw following before you moved around the bed and pulled back the sheets to climb in beside him.

He couldn’t help but hate what felt like an ocean of cool sheets that you deliberately left between you.

Hated that you didn’t push into his side and press your legs to his to steal his heat like you usually did, hated the way you lay stiff with tension in your own bed, facing the ceiling he had helped you paint one summer instead of facing him like you would when you would whisper with him, nose to nose, until the sun came up.

And when you did finally turn, a soft frown on your face as you wriggled to find a more comfortable position, he hated that your eyes widened slightly with panic when you finally noticed he was watching you.

It made his brows pull together in a distressed frown - his throat tight with guilt when you quickly glanced down at your hands that were knotting in the bed sheets.

An anxious habit he despised being the cause of because god, the last thing Eddie had ever wanted was for you to feel uncomfortable because he couldn’t keep his own feelings in check.

For the longest time he looked at you like he wanted to say something, working his jaw like he wanted to address what had happened and apologise but couldn’t find the right words, his eyes soft and sad in the pale slip of moonlight from the window.

And then he seemed to think better of it.

You were caught off guard when he smiled instead. A soft grin that was all easy warmth and a touch playful as he reached to poke a finger to your cheek and whispered, “thanks for taking care of me, sweets.”

You huffed out a laugh like you couldn't help yourself and the boy took it as small progress when you visibly relaxed. Taking the opportunity to get more and more dramatic with his prodding and tickling until he could feel the way your body vibrated with the giggles bubbling up from your chest and you’d allowed yourself to sink fully into the bed, rolling closer as you tried to fend him off.

"Someone has to make sure you’ll be alive enough to take us for breakfast in the morning.” You whispered back sternly when your face re-emerged from its hiding place in the mattress.

But your smile was matching Eddie’s, growing wider when he caught the hand you tried to bat his away with and gently pinched at your fingers.

"So you’re only being nice so you can use me.” He gasped theatrically and propped himself up on an elbow to stare down at you, all over the top stricken expression as he stifled a laugh when you shoved your face into the pillow and groaned. “How could my best friend betray me like this?”

You turned your head back to face him, rolling your eyes before levelling him with a thoughtful stare. “I wouldn’t call it using,” you mused, slipping your arm under your pillow and beneath your head as you yawned, “more like cashing in straight away on a debt, y’know, since you woke me up in the middle of the night. Which, as my best friend, you’ll remember makes me very grumpy in the morning.”

Eddie nodded, bangs falling into his eyes as he did so. He was serious for all of a second before he let himself fall back into the mused sheet with a guilty grin, hair spilling everywhere and the movement making your body lean into the dip he created, suddenly closer to the boy than before.

"Touche.”

The word came out in a small huff that you felt it against your cheek, a soft thing that made your lashes flutter and when you glanced up at him you found him looking at you with gentle eyes, all brown sugar sweet and lovely as he smiled, full of affection.

It made the last of the left-over tension fizzle away, turning the air softer, warmer, as Eddie drew lines along your fingers with his own before he slotted them together.

You hadn’t even realised he was still holding your hand.

"You win, babe,” He murmured, almost too quiet to hear, his thumb rubbing slow against your skin, touch worshipful as he traced the faint scar on your hand that was proof monsters were never simply just part of stories, and if he noticed the way you inhaled a little shakily, well, he did his best not to show it.

“I’ll do anything you want, maybe take you to that bakery you like and buy you coffee so you’ll stop hissing at me and then so many of those cinnamon things that like that you’ll go into a sugar coma and I’ll have to carry you out.”

You snorted and Eddie beamed like he’d hit the jackpot, encouraged by the sound as he arched a brow like he was begging you to argue.

"Idon’t hiss.” You muttered petulantly, full of false indignation whilst you scrunched your nose to hide your grin and knocked your knee against his.

His gaze shone at you, eyes bright and twinkling with mirth in the dark, and when he managed to fend off your attack by hooking a leg over yours to trap it between his own, he continued with a teasing scoff.

“You do. You’re like some kind of rabid raccoon when you wake up, I’m lucky I still have both eyes and all my fingers.” He wiggled the ones resting snug around yours for emphasis and you snorted. “Now shut up, I’m trying to impress you with my plan to get back in your good graces.”

You huffed, too amused to be offended, and gestured with your linked hands as if to say ‘well go on then’

Okay, so after I’ve carried you out of the bakery, we’d go to the bookstore,” the boy told you, gaze knowing and smile a little smug when he noticed that he’d caught your attention despite the way you tried to hide it from him.

"Always a pretty foolproof plan - which one though?”

“Not the fancy one where the housewives hog the couches pretending to talk about their weekly book club read,” Eddie assured you, his voice dropping to a scandalised hush, the fingers that weren’t holding yours tugging at his curls to hide a salacious grin as he whispered, “when instead they’re bitching about how their husbands don’t satisfy them anymore and how they’ve had to resort to fucking the pool boy so they can feel young again.”

"Of course,” You choked on a laugh, a startled, delighted sound that made Eddie’s heart stutter and his chest ache with warmth. “Can’t have them cheapening the wholesome moment when I’m overcome with the joy of being surrounded by books and finally forgive you.”

"Exactly.” He replied sagely. “So we’re gonna go to that one near Oak instead with the shit ton of stacks everywhere that threaten to fall and crush you if you breathe near them. Works better in my favour if I get to save you from a gruesome death.”

You nodded, only looking half as serious as Eddie thanks to the way you could barely stop the threat of giggles rising in your throat. “I get it, totally get extra brownie points for a hero moment.”

"Right? And then maybe I’ll get you one of the books you stare at all longingly everytime we go in 'cause for some reason you act like it’s a fuckin’ crime to treat yourself once in a while-”

"-I do not! I just have other things that kind of have to take priority, y’know like bills and stuff. ”

"Same thing.” Eddie dismissed, but his voice was softly teasing and his gaze understanding as he fingers tapped a random beat against your hand. “Anyway, after that we’ll rent some movies and get some snacks, maybe horrors so I can be all charming and let you hold my hand when it gets scary, we’ll get pizza for dinner and by the end of it you’ll have totally forgot that I crashed your romantic night with yourself and ruined your sleep.”

You stared at him. “And that’s all it’s gonna take, huh?”

"Don’t pretend you’re not impressed, sweetheart.” He grinned knowingly, looking too proud of himself as his hand slipped out of yours to prod a finger to where your cheeks were appled, aching from smiling far too long.

He wished he could kiss them instead, brush his lips over the pretty flush that bloomed after his touch made you realise you never really had stopped smiling from the moment he started speaking. “Look at you, just dyin’ to forgive me right now, I can tell.”

You hated that he was right.

Not about you dying to forgive him now, because the truth was Eddie hadn’t actually done anything to need forgiveness, no, it was the fact that if you were ever genuinely mad and the boy did all that for you, you knew in your bones you would fold in a pathetic, lovesick heartbeat.

It was the fact that Eddie knew it too, he just hadn’t figured out why.

Yet.

So you swatted at him once again and tried to discreetly shuffle back whilst he was distracted threatening to snap his teeth down on your fingers.

You were praying for some distance, needed it so you could breathe without the scent of him making you feel weak, so you could hide in the dark for the moment it would take to stop looking at him like he’d shoved his hand inside your chest, wrapped long fingers around your heart and slipped it out to put it where it belonged. With him.

But your legs were still tangled with Eddie’s and your body was against you when he clamped his legs down to stop you from slipping away. Turned traitor by the feel of soft fleece pressing to your bare calves, the muscles of his arms flexing when he threw one over your waist and pushed the other one beneath you to roll you on top of him.

His biceps were warm where you caught at him with your hands to steady yourself and as he shifted a little higher up the pillow, stretching until he found himself comfortable, you cursed the warmth it spread through your belly.

"See, you can’t even deny it can you?” Eddie prompted and you felt it rumble from his chest to your own, chin dipped to peer down at you and cheeks dimpling as his grin turned smug. Unbelievably delighted that you had yet to refute him.

You wrinkled your nose when he tapped a finger there, if only to hide the shock that lingered on your face, the way you felt flushed all over because there was no part of you that wasn’t touching him and jesus christ, it felt like his hands resting on your sides were burning through the thin material of your shirt, threatening to brand the skin beneath.

“What, no– I mean yes– I mean, shit, you know what I mean asshole” You finished with a scowl and prayed your rambling had sounded less frantic to Eddie than it had to your own ears, though judging by the way he arched a brow at you, gaze dancing with withheld laughter, you would guess you had failed there too.

'Uh huh, but feel free to keep tryin’ to enlighten me anyway.”

"I was just wondering,” you began, all false confidence just to hide the fact you were still unsure of where you were going with it. Stalling just a little because it was hard to remember what you had been wondering before he had decided to use you as a blanket, your chest now lying atop his abdomen, stomach resting against his hips and legs cradled between his own.

You let go of his arms to fold your hands at the centre of his chest, settling your chin there, and his eyes softened as they roamed your face, waiting for you to continue. “Okay, so how does it make sense that you can pull off something like that and yet you’re here with me, drunk, instead of on your date swooning the hell out of Sarah?”

"Sam.”

“Same thing.”

“Not even close, sweetheart.”

“At least I got the first two letters right, unlike you with the last guy I dated.” You shot back.

Eddie shrugged. “He looked like a Danny.” He defended mildly but his gaze was playful, bottom lip tucked between his teeth to hold back the laugh threatening to escape when you threw a death glare his way.

“His name was Matthew.” You deadpanned and the boy snorted, throwing his hands up in a placating gesture when it looked like you might rip the pillow from beneath his head and smother him with it.

But then you were shaking your head instead, an accusatory finger jabbed to his chest and you rolled your eyes when he frowned and muttered a petulant ‘ow’.

“Hang on, why are we even arguing this again? Answer the question Munson - did you try to take her to skull rock again? ‘Cause I don’t give a damn what Steve says, just because you take a fucking picnic it doesn’t suddenly make a make out spot romantic”

He made a disturbed noise and shook his head but you didn’t miss the way his face fell a little at you bringing up the date again, smile half-hearted at best, and even the dark couldn’t hide the way his eyes had dimmed. His thumbs that had been dragging small, steady circles over the sides of your ribs faltering as he dropped his gaze from yours.

It made you gentle - the sense of protectiveness that tightened your chest and urged you to shuffle your way up his body until you were seated in his lap, knees dragging the sheets askew. Fingers finding their way to his chin to bring his stare back to you and you were too focused on your worry to register the way it made his lashes flutter, eyes hooded and lips parted, breath hitching at the gesture.

"Hey - did something happen tonight? Is that why you came back in such a state?” You murmured, eyes flicking between his, searching, before your tone suddenly grew sharp and your hand fell flat against his chest. “Was she a dick to you - I swear to god if she was I’ll get dressed right now and–”

You were cut off by Eddie’s hand descending over yours, the other landing on the thigh that you had already raised to clamber off him, squeezing the flesh softly, drawing it back down, and the fight left you just as fast as it had appeared when he chuckled, his voice smudged with fondness, awe, a hint of pride.

“Okay, reign it in Rocky, nothin’ bad happened I promise, you don’t need to go runnin’ off into the night to defend my honour.”

But god, he wanted to kiss you for trying to.

He settled for watching you watch him instead, your frown of concern that he itched to smooth away with his thumb still present before you eventually nodded, only slightly pacified when you had found no sign of a lie in the way he met your gaze.

And Eddie knew it was foolish to hope that was the end of it, knew the expression on your face all too well despite the way it flickered sweet just for a moment, just for him, as he released your hand to tuck a lock of hair behind your ear.

So it came as no surprise to the boy when you seemed to be considering your next words as you tilted your head, whether to deliberately lean into his touch or just a habit whilst you thought he wasn’t sure.

Maybe it was coincidence or maybe it was both, either way when your hand followed his seconds after he had let it go to clasp gently at his wrist, his heart spasmed despite knowing what was coming.

"There was something though, wasn’t there? You stated but you were quiet in how you spoke, gentle, trying to make sure Eddie knew he wasn’t being pushed, that you were only concerned, and everything about it made him ache. His thoughts going a cotton-wool kind of hazy that he wasn’t convinced he could blame on the alcohol anymore.

He let his thumb brush the downturned corner of your lips, a brief second of indulgence before he pressed up, moulding your mouth into a smile until he spied it becoming a real one, the kind that would have had Eddie dropping to his knees if he’d been standing, as you knocked his hand away.

He tapped at your legs then, drumming lightly at the creases of your knees and up the backs of your thighs, making you twitch.

You got the hint though, rising off him just enough for him to push himself up and then back, leaning against the pillows before he held out his hands for you to take so you could climb back into his lap.

It felt like his first mistake.

Or was it his second, after coming here in the first place? Third, after losing his head and nearly kissing you?

He’d lost count.

All he knew was that it was suddenly a little harder to breathe, that being this close didn’t feel as innocent as it had five minutes ago.

As it had all the other times you’d been tucked tight against him, sleepily whispering secrets until dawn broke and your head fell heavy against his shoulder, leaving Eddie to have to carefully roll you back on to the mattress so you didn’t wake up stiff and sore.

Your hands were soft on his stomach, forcing the boy to fight off a shudder every time you traced the dark lines of another tattoo, jaw slack as he watched every little movement of your fingers with rapt attention, only realising he’d been repeating each one with his own touch on your thighs when he felt the brush of soft fabric against his fingertips.

It took Eddie a second to tear his eyes away from the sight, to meet your gaze with pink cheeks and lips almost bitten raw and find that you had swayed closer.

Close enough so that he could map each little freckle that made up constellations on your cheeks in the moonlight that slanted over your features, noses only inches apart and he swallowed down a choked curse when he remembered you were probably still expecting an answer.

He licked his lips, unsure of how much he could give away, and shrugged, fingers toying with the hem of your shirt. "S’really nothin’ for you to worry about princess, the date was fine and she was… great - incredible actually - we just, uh, mutually decided there was a point in taking it past a one time thing.”

The silence stretched long enough that Eddie wondered if he was maybe more wasted than he'd thought. He must have been if the question of whether telling you the truth was really as bad as he'd feared was nudging at his brain, the consequences seeming a lot less daunting the longer allowed himself to consider it.

Because there you were, looking at him with the prettiest confused expression he'd ever seen and all of a sudden it felt like the worst crime in the world to lie to you. That you deserved more than the way he'd been continuously lying to you for years and if there was the slightest chance - which sometimes he thought there were signs there could be - that you wanted him to be the one who gave you more, then he had to take it, right?

"I don't understand,” you said slowly, face scrunched like you were trying to figure out if you missed something somewhere in his explanation, like you were trying to hide how the boy calling Sarah - Sam - whatever her name was - incredible in a dazed voice had made your stomach twist. "If she was so amazing and the date was a hit, why wouldn't you want to see her again?"

"Well turns out no matter how awesome a girl is, she doesn't really wanna waste time trying to date someone who's in love with someone else.”

"Makes sense-" you shrugged, and then it sunk in what he had said. "-no, wait, hang on - what?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, a little shaky, a little rough, and despite the easy grin he tried to offer, there was an undeniable bloom of nervousness unfurling in his eyes, “crazy right? I mean I expected her to leave when she figured it out but then she stayed and even tried giving me advice, which maybe me taking wasn't the best decision 'cause it involved some liquid courage and telling the girl how I feel but I kinda took the first part too far, which is how I ended up like this– ”

He gestured wildly to himself and when his hands dropped back to rest on your bare thighs it took all you had not to flinch. Your brain felt fuzzy, chest too tight, and suddenly every part of your body that was pressed to his felt like it was in agony. A new kind of torture.

Eddie was in love with someone else.

And he hadn't even told you.

"Eddie–” you murmured weakly, because christ , he was still talking and you just really needed him to stop .

"-she originally offered to help make her jealous, which was fuckin' insane , I thought that shit only happened in movies. I gave it a hard pass cause it seemed sleazy, like a total dick move, y'know. Didn’t seem right to mess with her like that and I don't think I even could if my life depended on it-”

Fuck, this hurt worse than you had ever imagined. A dagger shoved deep between your ribs with every word, twisting until you thought you’d be sick with it.

'Eddie.” You repeated, only a little stronger this time. but to your horror, you could hear the painful edge that made your voice shake.

You wanted to slam a hand over his mouth.

You wanted to crawl as far away from his touch as you possibly could.

And yet you were painfully still.

A statue in Eddie’s lap, turned to stone like those poor souls you’d read about in a mythology book when you were a kid except here there was no terrifying creature to blame, just your best friend who was breaking your heart without even realising.

Oblivious to a tear that welled and spilled over your lash line, dripping onto the shirt that you were suddenly wishing wasn’t his as he pressed on.

God, you felt pathetic.

"Felt wrong just thinking about it,” He rushed out and maybe if you weren’t so upset you would have put it together. The way he was rambling like he couldn’t speak quick enough, like he would lose his nerve if he didn't, lungs burning and eyes darting over your face, anxious, as if his heart would give out if he looked away for even a second. Fingers tapping too quick on your thighs. “Touching someone, kissing them, loving them, even if it’s pretend, shit I can’t even remember the last time I thought of doin’ those kind of things with anyone else that wasn’t-”

“Wasn’t her,” You interrupted, head ducked to hide your embarrassment when the words slipped out scathing, a little more heated than you intended. The burn behind your eyes grew stronger as you tried to climb off him, numb fingers clumsy, grappling for purchase on his stomach so you could push yourself away. “I get it Eddie, fuck-”

He stopped you with hesitant hands wrapping around your wrists, squeezing soft when you didn’t immediately try to yank yourself out of his hold, drawing them to his chest in a plea for you to look at him and listen.

"-you.”

You froze, head snapping up to stare at the boy in disbelief, utterly stunned. Your heart spasming before it began to pound so hard you thought it would splinter bones as you tried to figure out if you had heard him right, if he had said what you thought he had, if you dared to ask him to repeat himself just in case he had.

It felt like the world had slowed for a moment, like it was trying to give you a chance to push past the rush of blood in your ears that was drowning your ability to think straight, to decide whether Eddie had misspoken or not and if he hadn't, did that mean it was finally time for you to stop hiding.

Did you even know how?

The answer came when the winds outside grew into a storm. The patpatpat of rain on the roof coming slowly at first and then all at once and each knock of a branch at your window sounded like the tick of a clock as the silence between you rolled on too long. It felt like a countdown, a warning that if you weren’t going to be brave now, you wouldn’t get the chance again.

So you fought the urge to rip yourself away, lowered yourself gingerly back down onto his thighs whilst Eddie watched you with wide eyes, a little hopeful, a little terrified, a little too aware that any wrong move could make you run for real next time. “Did you– what did you just say?”

"Wasn’t you.” He whispered and neither of you could take your eyes off the other, your own breath trapped in your chest as he took a deep breath before he continued. Voice growing braver like it was an obvious truth he was telling you and not one that felt like a bomb being dropped on your head. “I haven’t thought about anyone else since I realised I was in love with you.”

You inhaled sharply, a small noise slipping from your throat that you couldn’t stop if you tried.

You wanted to ask him to say it again, you wanted to kiss the words from his mouth as he said them, you wanted to say it back, murmur it over and over into him until you were dizzy from lack of oxygen but you couldn’t. Because there were tears in your eyes and your throat, your lungs, were refusing to work, every part of your body suddenly paralysed whilst your heart tumbled wild behind your ribs.

Eddie licked his lips, parted and closed them again as tried to organise the mess of his thoughts into words.

He sat up and pulled you closer until your hips were flush, your thighs caged around his as he gently ran his thumbs up over the soft part of your wrists where your pulse hammered against the skin and you wondered if it was a gesture meant to soothe you or him.

If it was maybe for both of you.

A way to encourage you to touch him in whatever way you needed whilst he did the same, preparing himself to give a confession that he never thought he would get a chance to, that he hoped you would understand.

"I only asked Sam out because I thought you were never gonna feel the same and I just needed to get over it, ” He sighed, cheeks pink as he nervously analysed your expression from beneath his lashes. “Turns out she knew all along, figured out I was gonner that night at the hideout when you made me sing fuckin’ Bon Jovi.”

He said it teasingly, all false betrayal and shining eyes like you’d made him commit the worst kind of crime, like he was so in love with you that he’d sing that fucking song until his throat was raw if you asked again.

You let out a watery laugh and Eddie beamed at the sound.

His gaze lovely as it roamed your face, endlessly adoring when you swiped at a falling tear with the heel of your palm and melted because the boy had caught your hand in his before you could drop it, bringing it to his lips so he could kiss away the salt on your skin with a sweet tsk, voice like honey as he murmured, ‘c’mon, pretty girl, please don’t cry’.

"I couldn’t even deny it when she brought it up, y’know,” he chuckled, leaning in to rest his forehead to yours, noses grazing until you sighed happily for him. “She wasn’t mad either, just told me I needed to grow a pair and tell you how I felt before someone else did, but it was like she’d fuckin’ me in punched me in the face. All I could think was, ‘shit, she’s right, what the hell am I doing’ .”

And then his smile faltered. His stare flickering away from yours like he was ashamed, lips twisting into a grimace, voice strained as his hands slid down your arms and dropped to the hem of your shirt to twist the material in his fingers.

"Thing is, it sounded like the easiest thing in the world when she said it, but then I was about to leave and it suddenly felt terrifying and the idea of calming my nerves with a drink didn’t sound like the dumbest one I’ve ever had.” Eddie admitted, closing his eyes briefly and when he opened them again the disappointment in them made your heart ache.

“Not until I started hesitating the longer I was there anyway, overthinking and talking myself out of it, and then before I knew it I was wasted and I’d fucked up another chance to tell you. So I called Harrington instead, though I guess that kind of backfired too, huh?”

He was making it sound like it was all his fault that this had gone on so long but god, you knew what your own fear felt like. The things you told yourself daily to stop you from taking that plunge.

Had you both been using the same insecurities to hold yourselves back all this time?

"What were you so scared of? ” You coaxed softly, pressing a hand over the place where his heart thumped beneath the skin, fingertips toying with the chain that hung around his neck and when you’re other hand smoothed it’s way up to his jaw, thumb gliding along the edge of it, the boy leaned into your touch like he was starved for it. A ragged sigh slipping past his lips as his lashes fluttered.

"Messing everything up.” He explained quietly and the crack in his voice made you want to wrap your arms around him and smother him in affection. Refuse to let him go or ever doubt himself again. “Losing you. I didn’t know if you’d hate me for making things awkward if you didn’t feel the same and I couldn’t handle the thought of not having you in my life.”

"You could never do anything to make me not be in your life Eddie,” you told him, and if your words were soft then the look in your eyes was even softer. Lips pulling into a warm smile that he swore was pure light as your hand left his chest to tug teasingly at one of his curls. “Even if it’s something like turning up at my door, half gone, smelling like you’ve been dunked in whiskey, to tell me something that I’ve been waiting a hell of a long time to hear from you.”

Eddie melted for you then.

“Yeah?” He breathed, his own grin blinding as his hands nudged their way beneath your shirt to curve around your bare sides, seeking out the warmth of you to ground himself because he could have sworn he was dreaming.

"Yeah.”

“Well shit, sweetheart,” he huffed out a soft laugh, a little giddy with relief, more drunk on you than whatever alcohol was left in his system. “If I’d known that I would have made Stevie boy haul my drunk ass over here a lot sooner. You have any idea how long I’ve had to suffer mourning about my feelings to him after one of his house parties for him to just tell me to shut the fuck up and go to sleep?”

Probably the same amount of time you’d endured Robin telling you to get a grip.

"No, but I’m sure Steve would gladly tell me if I asked,” you answered cheekily instead, letting out a terrible shriek of a laugh when the boy tickled your ribs and muttered that you better not dare.

It made him grin all stupid and lovesick, even more so when you bumped your nose against his and looked at him a little shy, a little hopeful as you asked, “Though maybe you could try voicing some of those feelings without the alcohol, y’know, just so I know they’re not a result of your brain being fried and so that when I say them back, you actually have a chance of remembering it in the morning.”

Eddie was enthusiastically nodding before you could finish, a brightness unfurling in his chest like the flowers that had snaked around his ribs when he met you were now opening up, blooming with what he felt for you. What you felt for him back. “Yeah, fuck, I can do that,” he murmured. “Anything you want.”

You were beaming, and if he could bottle the way it made him feel he would. Gone for the way you melted for him when he slipped a hand from beneath your shirt, dragging it slow up your spine until his palm was fitting itself around the back of your neck, just so he could feel you this close. Just because he could.

"Anything?” You repeated coyly, smiling when he sighed real pretty as you brushed some of his curls back.

“Anything.”

"You gonna take me on a date Munson?”

As if he was going to say no to you. Like he ever could.

He’d bring you the damn moon if you wanted it. The stars too because he wouldn’t be able to help himself when it came to you.

He pressed his nose to your cheek to hide the dopey grin that tugged at his lips, humming. “Mhm, how does tomorrow sound? Maybe upgrade our plans from grovelling duty to first date?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” you pondered, eyes fluttering shut with a smile, content to tease the boy by pretending to think about it as you tilted your head back for him when he pushed his face into your neck with an amused huff. “I kind of liked the idea of you grovelling all day and the plans you made were pretty tempting. What will the upgrade entail if I agree?”

“Same plans, I’d just get to keep touching you like this, hold you whenever I wanted, whenever you wanted me to.” He murmured, lips catching at your skin as he spoke, the hand that was clamped around your waist tightening when you shivered as he drew a line with his nose up to your jaw. “Maybe walk around with my hand in your back pocket the way I know you think is real cute. Use it to pull you in for a kiss when you’re looking far too pretty to be real, which is fuckin’ always, and I feel like m’gonna die if I don’t.”

Your chest hitched, lips parted and body feeling a touch too warm, because the thought of Eddie kissing you all greedy, a little too desperate to give a damn about where you were or who was around, was suddenly so consuming. Leaving you dizzy enough that you had to clutch at his shoulders, his neck, curling your fingers around his chain to keep yourself seated instead of falling back into the cushions and pulling him down with you. “Oh.” You breathed out.

He swallowed, hard.

And when he lifted his head his eyes were half-lidded, almost black beneath the heavy fan of his lashes, voice a low rasp that made you burn as his gaze flickered from your mouth to settle on yours. “Yeah, oh. ”

"How am I supposed to say no to that?”

His lips twitched. “Now you know how it feels when you ask me for anything.” He whispered hoarsely and you wondered if he could hear the chaotic hammering of your heart, if he could feel the vibration of it slamming into your ribs against his own.

The air between you was buzzing, electric, bloated with anticipation when the last couple of inches fell away as his face leaned closer to yours, mouth hovering over your own. his breath warm and smelling of smoke and whiskey, a hint of mint as he said your name, sticky sweet with heat and a longing kind of need.

He drew lazy circles under your ear with his thumb and it took everything you had not to let the pleading noise building in your throat escape.

"Yeah, Eddie?” You asked instead, so quiet that had he not been right there, you doubt he would have heard you at all.

You knew he had though when his tongue darted out to wet his lips, a nervous gesture just like the way your fingers couldn’t stop their movements, toying with the curls at the nape of his neck and making him shudder.

"Can I kiss you now?”

It already felt like he was.

His mouth brushing yours as he spoke, each word the ghost of a kiss, a brief taste of the real thing that you were sure would shatter you entirely because jesus christ, this alone was making you feel like there were fireworks beneath your skin. The way your bottom lip caught between his stole your breath, a cracked noise bubbling up in your throat that Eddie inhaled and echoed back with a groan when you tilted your head and pushed your lips to his.

It was a fleeting thing, ending after a second because your brain had caught up and was telling you this wasn’t right. Not that kissing Eddie wasn’t right, it felt like the most natural thing you’d ever done, like you’d found a piece of yourself you hadn’t realised you were missing.

It was just the timing.

“Wait…” You murmured and Eddie drew back immediately, the hand that had been clasped around your neck pulling back to tuck your hair behind your ear, cupping your jaw as his worried gaze flicked over your face, searching for any sign of discomfort he might have caused.

"Shit, I’m sorry.” He said gently, thick with guilt, full of concern. “Was it too soon? I swear I didn’t mean to pressure you or anything, fuck, sweetheart, I’d never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable y’know that right? And if I do by accident I want you to tell me or hell, punch me or something- ”

“-No, no, it’s okay Eds - Eddie listen, I’m not gonna hit you, jesus - I just,” You couldn’t get the words out fast enough for the way the look on his face was making your chest squeeze. Your hands flew to his face as you shook your head, stroking your thumbs over the arc of his cheekbones to quiet him whilst you gave him a reassuring smile. “I just don’t want our first real kiss to be when one of us is drunk, that's all. Is that okay?”

He blew out a breath, visibly softening, and then he was wrapping his arms around you, pressing a kiss to your nose, your cheeks, your forehead until you were both grinning, laughter still echoing above the sounds of the storm outside when he touched his forehead to yours. “Baby, of course it’s okay,” he murmured, “you just say the word, I’ll kiss you whenever you want me too.”

His words lit you up, warmth spreading through you until you were giddy with it. So full of affection for the boy that you thought you’d burst and it must have been contagious because Eddie was looking at you like he knew exactly what you were feeling.

"Kiss me tomorrow?” You whispered, unable to bite back your grin as you brushed your nose against his. “When I first wake up so I don’t think I’ve dreamed this whole thing?”

Eddie’s eyes shone and he squeezed you a little tighter, his smile becoming devastatingly lovely, stretching wide across his face as he nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

And he did.

[trendywaifus]

you have a habit of kissing miyabi on the lips and saying “ i love you “ as goodbye whenever she leaves for her duties. she’s so used to it by now that she’s expects it and looks forward to it in her mornings with you.

so when you don’t do it one morning before she leaves for work and only waved her goodbye as a prank, miyabi was . .confused?

“ (name). .aren’t you going to. .? “ she trails off, puzzled. standing by the door with her petite frame, ready in her uniform and precious sword at hip. miyabi seems to bear a neutral expression, yet, her brows are slightly furrowed, and her long fox ears occasionally twitches.

you act dumb, giving her a confused look. “ huh? i waved you goodbye. i’ll call and visit you later today.”

“ but you don’t wave me goodbye. you usually say i love you and kiss me on the lips as a routine between us. why is today different? “ she inquired blandly with a curious tilt of her head. miyabi maybe sharp but she’s oblivious to the teasing glint in your eyes.

“ what if i just want today to be different this time, love? you should go off to work before you’re— “

“ no, i refuse. “ miyabi interjects swiftly, eyes slightly narrowing.

“ huh? “

“ i wish for my kiss and i love you from you. there’s no way i’ll go out without good luck from my lover. my strikes will guaranteed to be off by 0.5 cm and I wouldn’t be at my prime. “ miyabi explains seriously, crossing her arms, not stepping an inch out the door.

you snorted, “ lovely, you’re literally crazy strong. 0.5 isn’t that much at all. “

“ it is. anyone will have a chance at defeating me in this state if i go out like this.”

you raise a brow, “ so you’re telling me that you’ll be weakened and late for work if i don’t give you good luck? “

“ yes, exactly that. but i won’t be late for work. i can be there within fifteen minutes if i avoid the route I usually take and jump to building to building instead. it’ll be good training for me to hone my speed.” miyabi replies in a matter-a-fact tone, looking at you with expecting eyes.

“ that’s called rushing for work but alright, alright.” you breath out a sigh, walking over to her short form. miyabi doesn’t hide the way her eyes brighten up with satisfaction. you place a hand on her waist and she immediately closes her eyes. leaning down, you draw closer and. . plant a kiss right on her relaxed brow.

“ i love you, my strong fox. “ you murmur with a mischievous grin. despite her milky cheeks turning pink, miyabi lets out a dissatisfied sigh.

“ you didn’t kiss me where i wanted. “

without saying anything, you kissed her nose. she emits out a cute little grunt.

“ not there either. . are you attempting to tease me now? “ the fox thiren asks in a subtle flustered tone.

now? you were doing it this whole time. miyabi’s so precious.

“ i’m sorry, pretty. here. “

finally, you kiss her lips, a chaste gesture that is meant to appeal miyabi’s dissatisfaction. after a moment, you try to break the kiss but her hand swiftly comes in contact with the back of your head, keeping you still. “ mmph? “ miyabi locks her lips with yours smoothly as she angles her head.

where did she learn that? this is new.

she kisses you until your chest becomes tight with limited oxygen. “ wh-when did you learn how to do that? “ you utter breathlessly, breaking away from the kiss. miyabi was bit of a stiff kisser so she have to had seen that somewhere.

“ me and the manager watched a romance movie together and i wanted to try that with you. i’m satisfied now, i’ll see you later. “

just like that, she moves away, opens the front door, and casually leaves out.

. .she wasn’t bad at all.

[lowkeyerror]

Just Hold Me

Rio Vidal x Reader

Word Count: 1k

Notes: Fluff x 100, comfort x 1 million, very soft

Summary: You had a rough day and Rio wants to comfort you, but she wonders if she's doing enough.

An: The yearly fluff I post after Christmas. Soft as a bunny's tail.

Masterlist

Love was such a strange thing. Tangled up in emotions like hurt, betrayal, and longing, but also bathed in happiness, care, and optimism. It was complex enough with normal people, but you had fallen for Death itself.

Loving Rio was like loving a hurricane. It was wild and even if some things were predictable, you couldn’t always prepare for what was to come. Having a trail of destruction behind her was a part of her job.

It was something she only found shame in when she was with you. She didn’t want you to think that of her. The truth being, that you never could. It was what had drawn you to her in the first place. Death didn’t scare you, not at all. Falling into her embrace felt like destiny. You’d tell her, but Rio was never one for fate, she said if anything it was an omen.

She was so scared of the consequences when it came to being with you. She tried to go against her urges, but you were patient. In her mind you’d forget her and move on with someone more suitable, but you never did. You knew what you wanted and it was her.

There would never be anyone to come close.

Rio was a good girlfriend. She was affectionate, and as attentive as she could be. There were still some things that she was uncertain about when it came to her emotions. After all she had only learned them from her limited experience in other relationships and observing others. She had seen a lot, but that didn’t mean she understood it all.

So when she appeared in your home to find your curled up on the couch, hidden by a blanket, she simply tilted her head to the side before approaching you.

“Love?”

You heard her voice, but felt like you couldn’t move or speak. Instead you let out a soft hum in response. It caught Rio off guard, she was still assessing the situation, but it wasn’t looking good.

She stepped into your point of view, crouching so that she could meet your eyes. She was taken aback by the sadness in them. The bags under your eyes were dark and heavy. Rio pouted seeing the red hues scattered in them.

She reaches out cautiously to hold your face in her hands. Her touch was warm, it made you briefly close your eyes.

“What happened?” Rio’s voice was soft, as if she was scared of pushing.

However you weren’t like the lovers of her past. You wouldn’t push her away, so you took a deep breath trying to muster up your voice.

“Hold me,” you managed to murmur.

Rio was quick to shed her work clothes and create more comfortable attire for the sake of both of you. You briefly sat up on the couch, only enough for the Green Witch to slip behind you. Once she was behind you, you tugged her arm over your body. You held it in place keeping her hold on you tight.

Rio places a delicate kiss on the back of your neck, “I'm not going anywhere."

For a while you stay in that position silently. Neither of you break through the quiet. Rio thinks she’s eventually going to hear your breathing level but it doesn’t.

“Long day,” you mumble against her hand.

“I think I know something about those,” Rio threaded her fingers through yours.

You let out a small laugh, “I bet you do.”

You feel the time shift again. You turn to face Rio who scans over your features again.

“Is there something I can do?”

You see the worry in her eyes and it makes your heart swell. The smallest furrow in her brow, the usual mischief in her eyes is gone, her tone is missing the teasing edge.

“Just this,” you bury your head in the crease of her neck.

You inhale deeply, her scent always grounds you. That specific scent of earth freshly hit with rain. You could get lost in her aroma, it almost makes you feel like you’re outside. You can feel her skin cooling, which only submerges you deeper into the fantasy.

Now both of her hands hold you. She kisses the top of your head. Rio is still uncertain about it she should be doing more for you. This didn't feel like enough. She wanted to destroy whatever it was that made your day so hard. Seeing you in this state was tugging at her heart strings.

She began to trace patterns into your back. You didn't mind, you like having her hands on you, being this close together. It helped you feel safe.

“Are you sure it’s enough,” Rio whispers, insecurities gnawing at her.

You pull back just enough to look at her, “Rio Vidal you’ll always be enough for me.”

Your words knocked the wind right out of her, she felt her face getting warm under your gaze, but she wasn’t trying to hide it from you.

“I’d do anything for you, you know that? Legal or illegal. If I need to go fuck up your boss I will. If I need to pop your annoying coworkers tire, I will. If you needed me to hunt down a Karen I-"

“I know,” you cut her off.

“All of the above?” Rio wriggles her eyebrows playfully.

You move to sit up and she sits beside you.

You rub a hand over your face, “Work was fine, I guess. A few difficult customers, but nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t really know why, but today just felt harder to get through than other days. Nothings wrong, I just feel a little… down.”

Rio listen intently as you speak. When you finish she nods slowly, “I think I know what you need.”

“You do?”

Rio nods with a little more certainty, “Let me cook for us. We’ll order some snacks and pop in a movie. We can keep cuddling too. And tomorrow, I think you should call out. We’ll spend the whole day together, I know all the best parks for walks. How does that sound?”

You let out a sigh of relief, “That sounds perfect. I love you.”

Rio places a gentle kiss on your lips, “I love you too.”

Rio reluctantly begins to stand, but you pull her back down, “Just hold me a bit longer?”

She lays her back flat on the couch and pulls you on top of her, stealing another peck.

“Always.”

[leaawrites]

Good Graces (LN4)

Lando Norris x fem!reader

Summary: when he does something suspect, he has to live with the consequences. Unless he stays in her good graces.

Warnings: swearing, talk about insecurities, almost breaking up, fluff, a bit of angst, secret relationship

Wordcount: 1.8k

Masterlist, Short n'Sweet Series

She could tolerate a lot, she really could. But a line must be drawn before everything and a thin one can have contrasts like no other. White can turn into black in a mere second by one wrong step. Or one too much.

“You’ve been acting so weird lately,” Lando said, standing on the opposite side of the room. Hands on his hips and a sour look on his face.

The photos and the rumors were enough to make her mad, though she decided to keep quiet until she saw him in person again. Now, that he was home, standing in front of her, she cornered him the moment he walked into the apartment. Instead of a sweet kiss he was greeted by red eyes and a mad woman.

It wasn’t the first thing he said, it wasn’t even the second or the third. But slowly, with every question following the last, his worry turned into annoyance. The jet lag taking a tool on him. All he wanted was to lie in bed with his girlfriend and cuddle until it was all over, but she wasn’t having it. She could tolerate a lot, but him overstepping the line with every rumor he doesn’t shut down and letting people believe what was not true and only feeding into their take on his reality even more was becoming too much.

“I’m acting weird? You’re being out more with this girl than your own girlfriend at this point,” she defended herself. Tears threatening to spill once more. Spilling more of her feelings than she ever meant to reveal.

“I’m with you every second I can get off from work. I take time off from my sleep to talk to you no matter how late it is, what are you talking about?” His voice got harsher the more he talked.

“You know how I feel about you hanging out with her so much,” she tried getting her point across. “You know it and still you go on vacation with her! Fucking vacation, Lando! I wasn’t even there, I was working and had to find out over fucking Instagram.”

“I told you, that I was going with friends and you were fine with that!”Lando stepped closer to you, his arms flying around the air with every word he spoke.

“I thought it would just be Max or so.”

“Why are you so god damn insecure?”

When you overstep that line it’s hard to get back, but it’s easy to notice. It’s easy to notice to everyone involved. Lando notices as his eyes go wide, filling with guilt, noticing his stupidity. He started stuttering and stumbling over his words, trying to fight his way back but she wouldn’t let him. Not like that.

“Oh, I’m sorry that I actually care about this relationship,” she said, walking past his frozen body and towards their bedroom. “Seems like I’m the only one.”

Flowers and chocolates in the morning wouldn’t get her to soften at the mere sight of it, Lando knew that. He needed something more, something better and more validating. Something that truly showed he cared about them. And when she walked into an empty apartment the next morning with flowers and chocolate decorating the dinner table, she knew it would just be the beginning of a very long week of putting down her lover.

Messages were next, hundreds of texts and even more little letters hidden away in pockets or on his pillow when she woke up alone once again. ‘I love you’s’ or ‘I hope you’re having a great day’. Sometimes little drawing were next to the words, and sometimes he left a flirty comment. But after all it were just written words, not spoken ones.

“Maybe you’re expecting too much?” One of her friends said as Y/n complained to her about the situation and how Lando seemed to still not have time for her. It even seemed like he was just more distant now. Maybe she was too much. Maybe she wanted too much for a woman in love with a racing driver.

“I just want to feel validated,” she confessed, taking another sip of her drink. “Is that really expected too much?”

Maybe she expected too much from the wrong person, she thought as she laid in bed that night.

“Lando,” she called out once she heard the door to their apartment open. Footsteps stopping for a moment to listen carefully if he’d just imagined her calling out to him or if it was real. When she repeated it he finally closed the door and stepped into the living room.

Seeing his girlfriend up at this hour with her laptop prepped up on her legs and working, the TV playing some show or movie in the background. Glasses on her face.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted her, walking up to her and kissing her head.

Looking over her shoulder to see the screen in front of her filled with work stuff. Stuff she assumed he was never interested in. Truth been told, he enjoyed listening to her talk about her job. It felt like a completely different life in contrast to his. Nothing there was filled with paparazzi or strict diets and work-out plans. She actually had time off. Colleagues she didn’t had to fight with in order to keep her job. Colleagues that were completely different people on and off track. For her, it was all one straight, maybe with some curbs or turns on the way, but never too many for her to get as impacted by it as he did.

“What are you working on?”

“Oh, nothing important. Just lousy work stuff.” Shutting the laptop as he sat down next to her, she put it away to turn to him fully. She didn’t want to loose him, she really didn’t. But some things were meant to be spoken out loud, no matter the outcome. “I wanted to talk to you, actually. That’s why I stayed up.”

“What about?” He threw an arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer and resting his lips on her hair.

“I knew, I couldn’t talk to you in the morning because you’d already be busy when I wake up and after training and everything you’d pack your stuff, game a bit and then get ready for bed early to get your plane tomorrow.” She took a deep breath, sitting up and looking at him properly. “I want you to be completely honest with me and I want you to know I will not hate you, OK?”

“Baby, you’re scaring me. What’s up?” Lando looked genuinely, sickly worried. Sitting up straight to show his concern, taking her hands in his.

“If you wanna break up with me, say it. I can’t take more distance or confusion. I just want clearance and if that is us breaking up, I think it’d be better than dancing around each other as if we’re just roommates or some shit.”

His whole face dropped at the proposal, she could see it all unfold in front of her. His jaw went slack, his eyes grew wider and it seemed like all of the colour left his face the moment her words were spoken. “No, no, no, no,” he quickly said, taking her shoulder and rushing out every word he could think of. “I - fuck, no. That was never even a thought I had. God, please don’t think that. I was just so busy with everything going on at the moment, you know. The potential Championship and having to show that I deserved that seat at McLaren. I don’t want you to think that, ever. OK?”

“I just thought, maybe you were getting bored of me. With all the other stuff happening around you.”

“I could never get bored of you.”

If only there was proof to his words. Proof she could rely on. She was supposed to trust him blindly, so why did it seem so unbearable now? The thought of relying solely on one person and their words. He said that now, but what would be in a few years? What would be after another holiday she couldn’t accompany him on? What would be after another long, drunk night in a club he was in alone? Without her. All because of work, all because she couldn’t go with him and had to stay home. All to keep their relationship hidden and safe from the public. Only that it was breaking behind the curtains.

“I don’t think I can go on like this any longer,” she finally said what had been on her mind for weeks now. “I love you, I really do. But I can’t help but think that maybe we aren’t meant to be together for longer than now.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m being ridiculous?”

He had to be kidding, right? He had to. How was she being ridiculous in this moment? All she said was valid, right? Right?

“How can you firstly think, that I’m gonna get bored of you, when you’re literally the most interesting, funniest, most beautiful person, I’ve ever met. Secondly, I believe I have a word to say about this relationship and it’s future as well. I hated the thought of sharing you with the public and all it’s opinions. But the more I thought about it, I don’t hate showing you off.”

“Hold up.” She put her hands up to make him stop talking, looking at him directly and serious. “What are you trying to say? I’d like a short summary of the whole speech and all I haven’t yet heard, of course.”

“Of course,” he nodded with a smile on his face. “Y/n Y/l/n, I love you and if you’re willing to, I would like to make you my publicly known girlfriend.”

“I think I’m gonna faint actually,” she joked with a still rather straight face. “Are you being serious?”

“You can take Thursday and Friday off of work and come with me and Max on his private jet. Kelly said she missed you, so that would be the prefect opportunity for you to catch up and meet all the others. I’d be perfect,” he started rambling his already made up plan. A huge smile covering his face and excitement radiating from him not going unnoticed by no one. “What do you say?”

“I-,” she started talking, but quickly cleared her throat when her voice went an octave higher than normally. “Yeah, I’d love to. I’ve thought about it as well, actually. I know it could be hard, but I’m willing to go through that, with you.”

Capturing her lips with his, she knew this was worth it. The sole feeling of him against her was enough to make was between them worth fighting for. A simple touch and he made her feel whole, and vice versa.

Pulling away from his lips, she pointed her finger at him, “But I swear, you do something suspect and you can kiss my ass goodbye. I’m not kidding.”

“Me neither, baby. Me neither.”

[zvdvdlvr]

— I Love You

— 🧠 synopsis. A tough case leaves you in the more than willing arms of SSA Aaron Hotchner.

— 🧠 word count. 2,409

— 🧠 warnings. Foul language. Idiots to lovers. Friends to lovers. Weird plot. Possible jealous!Hotch.

Maybe it was the children that hadn’t been saved in time. Maybe it was the pitying glances from not only the team, but the police officers. Maybe, even, it was the way Aaron’s eyes flitted away any time y/n looked up. 

No, y/n was mad. Angry, spiteful, defiant- any other synonyms for angry. The fact that the unsub had been completely fooled by y/n’s act until he had promptly decided he didn’t believe y/n’s promise to help in any way she could to lower his prison sentence. That’s the thing with schizophrenics: they’re extremely paranoid.

Y/n was so infuriated, she refused to talk- a habit that she had learned from childhood. If she didn’t say anything, she couldn’t get in trouble. It was a bad habit that y/n had eventually stopped by the time she went to college because the anger she kept inside of her without any kind of release would always find a way to rot her from the inside out. 

So now, even on the flight home, y/n still hasn’t said more than two sentences in a row.

— 🧠

Aaron Hotchner was a man with excellent observation skills and the ability to adapt. He knew y/n’s habit of reserving herself to silence due to the amount of time they have worked together, but Aaron felt like something was different this time.

Instead of starting the pile of paperwork he already had, Aaron instead found himself watching y/n. She was always extremely sensitive to cases that dealt with kids, but this seem to hit home, adding to the fact that their unsub had blown his brains out within a five foot radius of y/n and the seven-year-old girl that had been the last victim. 

When the team had gotten to the scene, they watched the little girl dissolve into y/n’s arms, brain matter and blood on the latter’s face. The look in y/n’s eyes when Derek had immediately rushed to the two of them was one of complete despair. Aaron watched, paralyzed, as you picked up the little girl and let her scream and wail near your ringing ears. You turned, pressing her head down so she wouldn’t look at the dead body and look Aaron dead in the eyes and took the child to the ambulance.

Something in your eyes had provoked worry in Aaron. Did you feel guilty? Were you not allowing yourself to break down when you needed to be strong for the little soul in your arms? Was there something you were trying to tell him?

“Hey,” Hotch murmured. He sat down as carefully as he could (which wasn’t too impressive seeing as it was 1 in the morning on a plane).

When you didn’t say anything, Hotch sighed. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I need you to know you did what you had to do. What he did… that wasn’t on you, y/n.”

Then you looked up at him with tears in your eyes and Aaron felt his heart sink. “Oh, honey…” he whispered. 

And then you were in his arms, crying, while trying not to wake up the others. “Hotch, I-“ you started, sniffling. 

“I’m here, sweetheart,” Aaron all but cooed, lightly carding his fingers through your hair. He knew you blamed yourself because that’s how you are. You always strive to do the best you possibly could, oftentimes resorting to neglecting yourself whenever you did something that you knew you could have done better or simply because you forgot. 

“It’s all my fault, Aaron, I- I could have saved him but- I… I messed up and I- I don’t even know what I did! And that little girl…” you trailed off, another wave of tears threatening to overtake your ability to speak. 

Aaron’s throat bobbed as he struggled to find the words to comfort the woman in his arms. Long ago had he resigned to simply being y/n’s boss/borderline friend because he accepted the fact that- as much as he hated to admit it- he was older, not your type, or just simply unattractive. But he would do theoretically anything you asked him to do even if it caused him heartbreak in the future.

“You saved that little girl, angel. *You* did. If you save one of them, you save all of them. Focus on the good, honey, not the bad. If you can do that then you can do anything, and believe me,” Aaron smiled, “I have no doubt in my mind you can do anything.” 

Aaron held you and prayed to God that you didn’t hear how fast his heart was racing. He brushed your tears away and let you sleep on his shoulder, happy that he had hopefully gotten you out of your funk.

— 🧠

Later, Aaron woke up to Derek tapping his shoulder. “Do you want me to take our golden girl home?” Derek asked, with a softness to his voice that he had whenever he talked to you. 

Blinking away the tiredness from his eyes, Aaron shook his head. “No. No, I got her. Tjank you, Derek, but you need to go home and get some rest.” 

Derek nodded. “Get home safe,” he said to Hotch, a small smile in his face when he heard you sigh a little in you sleep and bury your head even further into Aaron’s neck.

Derek patted Aaron’s shoulder before taking his leave.

“Wake up, y/n,” Aaron murmured, heart swelling in his chest when he heard you mumble incoherent words.

Slinging his own go-bag and yours over his shoulders, Hotch helped you stand up.

“Hotch, lemme take my-“ you started, being cut off with a yawn.

“I got it, y/n,” Aaron chuckled. He let you slip your arm in his and all but lean on him as he made his way to his car. 

When he got you settled into the passage seat, Aaron tossed the bags in the back and started the drive to your house. 

“Aaron?” You asked, voice small.

He looked over at you. Despite the lack of light, Aaron watched you pick at your fingers. “Yeah?”

It took you a minute before saying something. You wanted to ask him why he kept calling you ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’. It’s not that you didn’t like it (you loved it), you just don’t think he could keep calling you that if he didn’t have any kind of attraction to you. You, though, you’ve been enamored with Aaron Hotchner since the day he shook your hand and offered you a job. 

Similarly, you wanted to ask him what he did when he got lost in his own mind; when he himself couldn’t pull himself out of his thoughts. 

So you settled on a breathless “Thank you”. 

Silence reigned once more as Aaron tried to pick out the meaning of your thanks. Where you thanking him for driving you home? For letting you fall asleep on him? For… being one of the best friends you’d ever had in your life without saying it?

When Aaron carried your bag to the door as you unlocked the it, he wondered if there was another universe where he was taking you home every night, going to bed with you, waking up to Jack begging for pancakes with you, dropping Jack off at school with you, and then going to work with you. Maybe, Aaron thought, somewhere in another universe I’m watching the woman I love fall asleep with my child in her arms. 

“Do you… need anything else?” Aaron asked, holding out y/n’s go-bag for her to take. 

Aaron kicked himself. He felt like a school boy whenever you’re around, and the fact that he’s standing in front of you and your home isn’t really helping his nerves.

“Would you maybe want to, uh… stay? For tonight?” Y/n blurted. Aaron’s eyes must have widened because he saw y/n become flustered. “I- you know, just for tonight. I need a ride to work tomorrow anyway… You- You might as well just stay.”

“If you want me to-“

“Please?” 

Aaron stepped into y/n’s house and immediately toed off his shoes. “Where do you want me to put this?” 

“I’ll take it.” She accepted the bag and walked to her room.

Aaron walked around the kitchen. Your house was clean and colorful. You had quite a few photos of the sunset framed by your television, but there were a lot more candid shots of the BAU then of your family. Hm.

“Come here, A,” you called from your room (?).

Dutifully, Aaron followed the sound of your voice, pushing your door open slowly and entering your room. Where you sleep. Where you get dressed and undressed. Where you live.

You walked over to Aaron and handed him a little pile of clothes. “These should fit. I guessed your size. If those don’t fit I have more men’s clothes.” 

“Why do you have men’s clothing?” Aaron asked, a smile toying at his lips. 

“Brothers, boyfriends… they’re comfy,” y/n shrugged. “Does it matter, Aaron?” 

Aaron watched you tilt your head, smirk widening. 

“Just curious.” He defends himself poorly, red tinging his cheeks as he scratches his head.

“Bathroom’s right in there,” you say, pointing to the door attached to your room. 

Aarom walks to your bathroom and shuts the door. He immediately releases a breath of air he hadn’t realize he had been holding. After turning on the lights, he changes into the clothes you gave him. Both owns smelled exactly like you, something that made Aaron smile.

He shut off the light and closed the door. “Thank you, y/n. I appreciate it.”

You looked up from your dresser. “You’d do the same for me. There’s nothing to thank me, Aaron.”

“What are you doing?” Aaron asked, approaching your figure. 

“I don’t think you would want to see me walk around in just a bra and boxers, A,” y/n laughs. 

The bluntness of your answers smacks Aaron in the face with a metal bar. “Boxers?” He finds himself asking.

You just laugh. “They’re comfortable.” 

“You don’t have to change your sleeping routine for me,” Aaron says quietly, eyes looking directly into your own.

“Are you sure?” 

“We’re just sleeping,” Aaron shrugs. “So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Your eyes flicker between your boss’s and suddenly your wondering how you got here. The line between boss/employee and more-than-friends/not-quite-dating was blurred and you didn’t even remember putting your thumb on how you felt about your boss.

“Okay,” you say slowly. You close the drawer, holding a sports bra and boxers. “I’m gonna go change and go to sleep… Do you want me to set up the couch or just sleep in the bed with me?” 

“What do you want, y/n?”

You direct your gaze to the floor. “I don’t care, honestly.” You weren’t just gonna tell your crush you feel safer when his touch is what lulls you to sleep, that you’ve been in love with him since practically the beginning of time, that you wanted more than just a night (of PG activities!) with him.

“I hear your brain going 200 miles an hour over there, sweetheart. What’re you thinking?” Aaron teases.

“Will you hold me, Aaron?” You ask, urging yourself to look into his eyes. Moment of truth, you think, he’s either gonna laugh in my face or I’m gonna fall even deeper in love with my boss as we cuddle.

Aaron feels winded at your tiny voice. Yes, he wants to scream, yes! “Go get changed, honey. I’ll be right here.” 

Then that smile is back and all Aaron wants to do his pick you up in his arms and kiss you, maybe spin you around the room. His heart swells in his chest again (it’s been doing that a lot lately, he notes) as you pat his arm in thanks as you pass him to head to your bathroom.

Aaron climbs into your bed, setting his essentials (badge, keys, gun, etc.,) on the nightstand. 

You flip off the light switch and pad over to the bed and slip under the covers. 

For what felt like a millennium, Aaron held his breath and waited. 

“Aaron, I have to tell you something. It’s been on my mind and… just hear me out. Please. You don’t have to say anything back and I understand if-“ you babble.

“Take a breath, y/n,” Aaron soothes. “What’s up?”

“I’m in love with you, Aaron Benjamin Hotchner. Like, if I had to choose between you over breathing I would literally spend my last breath telling you how much I love you. You are always on my mind, Aaron, and it hurts because I can’t do anything about it. I know I’m not your type, I know I’m just your co-worker, I know you probably aren’t looking to date anyone, but I just… I want you to know,” you ramble, words tumbling out of your mouth like Reid when he get’s started on some random fact. 

Aaron blinks, pupils widening. “Do you seriously think you’re ‘just a co-worker’ to me?” 

You swallow. “Yeah?”

“Do you think I would let just anyone call me Aaron? How often to you see me taking out Morgan for coffee when he gets cranky? Do I almost always end up sitting by Emily on the flight home after a case? Do I call Spencer ‘sweetheart’ and ‘honey’?” Aaron asks quietly, hand resting on your cheek while he tucks a loc of hair under your ear so he can see your eyes better. “Jack loves you. I love you.” Aaron laughs at how comically large your eyes get.

“Jack loves me?” You ask.

Aaron laughs. “He loves you ‘to the moon and back’.” 

“He loves that book, Aaron, don’t laugh at your baby boy,” you scold playfully.

“I outdo him though, because I love you to Saturn and back.”

You turn to the nightstand and shut the light off before turning back to face Aaron. “Will you hold me, Aaron? Please?” 

“C’mere, sweetheart,” Aaron says, opening his arms to welcome you into him. 

And then that’s when you know his words are true. His heart rate  is definitely elevated, but so is yours. “Will you tell me you love me, again?”

Aaron, now lying on his back with you clinging onto him like a weighted blanket, complied. Carding his fingers through her hair, Aaron lulled her mind off to a quiet, safe place. “I love you, angel,” Aaron whispered, pressing a soft kiss to y/n’s forhead.

[steddieas-shegoes]

scared to want you

for @steddie-week prompt 'exes to lovers'

rated m | 1021 words | cw: implied sexual content | tags: post breakup, getting back together, idiots in love, platonic stobin

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

“Are you gonna stop staring at him anytime soon?” Robin’s voice asked loudly in his ear.

“Probably not,” Steve admitted. “He’s wearing my sweater.”

He saw Robin’s head whip around to look back at Eddie. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

It’s surprising to see Eddie here at all, let alone in Steve’s sweater. Eddie had moved back in with Wayne three months ago after an argument with Steve that led whatever they were to destruction.

Steve wanted more, Eddie had been afraid. Steve said he loved him, Eddie said he needed to leave.

Steve spent the last three months hurting. Eddie was wearing his sweater in public.

Everything was a little confusing right now.

“We should go, Steve.” Robin sounded angry now, and Steve loved her for it. She’d been the one to show up at his door a few hours after Eddie was gone and held him while he cried. She’d been there for weeks while he avoided everyone’s questions, went through the motions of being an adult while barely getting by. She had blocked Eddie on all of his social media and her own out of spite. “It doesn’t do you any good to sit here and pine after someone who hurt you.”

She was right, of course, but he couldn’t leave.

Eddie was wearing his sweater.

Eddie looked good in his sweater.

“Steve.”

Steve turned to Robin, who was smiling sadly back at him.

“I don’t think I can go without talking to him.”

Robin nodded once, always so understanding of Steve, supportive even when he didn’t always deserve it. She was the best, and he was about to piss her off.

“I’ll text you when I leave,” he said as he gave her a quick hug. She wouldn’t want to stick around to see what happens with this. “I’ll be fine.”

He wouldn’t, and she knew that, but she squeezed his hand in hers and left anyway.

Eddie hadn’t noticed him yet, or at least wasn’t acting like he had. He was standing at the bar talking to the bartender and a woman who walked in only a few minutes ago. Whatever he was talking about seemed serious, none of them smiling.

Steve walked up to the bar slowly, but with the sole purpose of talking to Eddie.

The bartender turned to him and smiled. “Hey, hon. You need another Sunrise, Sunset?”

Steve shook his head, but smiled at her. “No thanks, Kim. Just here to say hi to someone.”

When he turned towards Eddie, he was already looking back at him, biting his lip nervously.

“Hey, Eds.”

“Hey, Stevie.”

“Been a bit,” Steve swallowed. He didn’t actually know what he was trying to accomplish here. All he knew was there had to be a reason he was wearing Steve’s sweater. It wasn’t exactly his usual style. “Doing alright?”

The other woman seemed to catch onto what was going on, turning away and talking to the bartender instead.

“Um, yeah I guess.” Eddie was lying. Steve could always tell when he was lying. “You?”

“Been better,” Steve replied. “A little surprised to see you here. In that.”

Eddie looked down at what he was wearing and then up at Steve, cheeks red with embarrassment. “Laundry day.”

“Sure.” Steve sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. He just had to say something. Maybe closure would be good. “Can we talk somewhere else?”

Eddie nodded and started to walk to the back of the bar where the office and bathrooms were. Steve followed, assuming they’d go into the bathroom and hope no one came in. When Eddie led him into the office, Steve frowned.

“I don’t think we have permission to be in here.”

“I work here part time. Kim lets me take my breaks in here,” Eddie explained, closing the door behind them. “I didn’t know you liked this bar.”

“We’ve only been a few times,” Steve explained.

“Oh, you’ve um. You and your date?” Eddie was leaning against the desk, eyes cast down to his feet.

“No. Me and Robin.”

Eddie let out a shaky breath. “Right, good, yeah.”

“Eddie, look at me.” Steve stepped closer, could almost feel the heat coming off of Eddie’s body. Eddie looked up at him, eyes watery and bottom lip bitten red. “Why are you wearing my sweater?”

“I needed you.” Eddie’s broken voice was all Steve needed to close what little distance remained between them, pulling Eddie against him and holding him as tightly as he possibly could.

“I didn’t think you needed me anymore,” Steve said against his neck, trying not to get his hopes up despite Eddie’s tears now soaking his shirt. “You didn’t want me anymore.”

Eddie’s hands tightened in Steve’s shirt and Steve felt him shake his head. “I wanted you too much. I was scared how much I wanted you.”

“Are you still scared now?”

“Only that I don’t have you.”

Steve’s lips found Eddie’s, hopeful and desperate.

Eddie took control within seconds, turning them around so Steve was sitting on the corner of the desk, legs spread so Eddie could fit between them. Where he belonged.

As Eddie’s hands pushed Steve’s shirt up and Steve’s legs pulled him in impossibly closer, the thought that they were still in a public place occurred to Steve.

He ignored it as Eddie’s thumb brushed against his nipple and his teeth bit his bottom lip.

“Want you now,” Eddie groaned against Steve’s neck. “Want you forever.”

“Lock the door.” Steve ordered.

Eddie locked the door.

****

When they left the office, hair disheveled and suspicious stains on their shirts, they were met with a knowing look from Kim.

Eddie rolled his eyes and pushed Steve out the door by the small of his back.

“Still living with Wayne?” Steve asked.

“Yeah. Could we go to yours?” Eddie asked hesitantly.

“Only if it can be ours.”

Eddie stopped him on the sidewalk, eyes blinking furiously. “You would want that? After I left?”

Steve smiled. “Are you gonna leave again or are you gonna let me love you?”

“You can still love me?”

“I couldn’t not love you.”

“Then let’s go to ours.”

[faygosoda]

A/N: Chat I had to do smth cute but also slightly angsty JS NOT TO THE POINT WHERE READER DIES AGAI

Title: My Gift To You

Yeah, playing a dumb kids game with a random suited stranger that had soo much money in his suitcase in the subway was probably the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.

Who would have expected to be kidnapped under a bridge and brought to a gigantic place full of so many other people?

Nobody.

But at least you won against that random dude eight times before he seemed as though he got upset and ended your streak, giving you a small card before leaving and telling you to call to play games for some money..

I mean talk about human trafficking..

So here you were, standing in a crowd of people as debts got named off and people were show on screen and- wait what the fuck?

Hyun-Ju.

Your- dude that’s your girlfriend.

Uhm hello what the fuckkkk..

You’d think you would be able to see her tall self through the crowd but all of these people were blocking the way n shouting obscenities left and right.

Why was the love of your life here of all places?

Wait- nevermind, you know why.

The surgeries duh.

Idiot.

That was the same reason you were here for so why wouldn’t she also be here for that as well.

Tch.

You wish she would’ve told you instead of scting all suspicious and distant.

Then again you didn’t say shit to her though but thats different cause it just issss.

Too lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t realized that the guards had finally shut up, the crowd of people breaking apart slightly which gives you the chance to find your girlfriend.

You move through the crowd, eyes catching the tall figure and short hair of your lover whos back is slightly turned away from you, hands clasped together showing her hesitance.

Hyun-Ju looks around, observing those around her, thoughts spiraling before a hand clasps down on her shoulder which causes her eyebrows to slightly furrow and turn to the person that held her and-

Oh my.

“..(Name)! What are you doing here?” Her eyebrows were raised in surprise, her lipstick covered lips forming a small ‘o’ shape.

“Your surgeries.. I wanted to help out, but I should be the one asking considering I haven’t been seeing you as often lately but all of a sudden you’re here.” You squint at her, head tikted as you held strong eye contact with her.

Hyun-Ju sighed, a hand coming up to caress your cheek as she spoke while the other landed on your waist, giving you a squeeze.

“My love, I’m doing this for my surgeries as well, and for us. That’s why I’ve been so distant.. I’m sorry. It’s no excuse though and I promise I will make it up to you.”

Damn. She had you wrapped around her finger superrrr tight..

You huff, leaning into her hand, lips pursed as you nod. “It’s okay.. kinda. I missed you a lot Hyun-Ju and I- I honestly thought you were maybe kinda.. getting tired of me.”

Your words come out mumbled, eyes flickering down as you mess with the hem of her zip up.

“I know it’s probably stupid-“

“No, no it’s not. I should have been honest with you. I truly didn’t mean to make you think that Sweetheart, I love you and I’ll never leave you again..”

She kisses your cheek and then your lips, a small smile on her face before she pulls away, her hand still remaining on your hip.

Sadly, the lovely reunion is cut short by the guards speaking about photos..

Didn’t know it was selfie time.

You and Hyun-Ju move, following the rest of the players while holding hands to stay together.

<><><><><><>

Photos had been taken already and it was time for the first game.

Hyun-Ju and you hadn’t let go of each other besides for picture taking, having took never leaving each other again very seriously.

Hand in hand you both moved through large doors into an arena filmed with.. sand?

“Sandbox..?” You mumble, Hyun-Ju humming as she thought.

“I don’t think so.. look at that big doll at the end of the room.” She points, your eyes following in that direction, landing on a tall and gigantic doll-like robot.

“Oh…. Ew.” That earns you a snort from your lover who kisses the top of your forehead with the shake of her head.

A sudden voice is heard through out the arena, explaining the game.

“Red light green light? Oh I’m good at this! It’ll be easy!” You smile, laughing.

Yeah uhm it wasn’t easy.

Numerous times you had tripped, not only hurting your hands and knees but landing in puddles of blood.

Blood from the others players around you.

Dead players might you add.

As of now you stood behind Hyun-Ju, hands shaky and throat tight from everything going on around you.

What the fuck was happening????

Your hand held the hem of Hyun-Ju’s shirt tightly, squeezing your eyes shut as the doll indicated to stop.

So close to the line.. just fifteen steps away.

So close yet so far from death.

You wanted to go home, see your family, see your friends, listen to music, eat something, lay in bed with the love of your life who was holding up with this way better than you were.

Eight steps away.

Then, you’re grabbed by the sleeve, pulled in front of someone as the robot says “green light!”.

Hyun-Ju’s shaky breath hits the nape of your neck, her hand tight on your arm as she hold you in front of her, moving you along.

“Red light!”

Four steps away.

It feels like eternity when the doll rings out “green light!” And your pushed past the line, your girlfriends body making contact with your own as she sughs in relief, her hold still tight but not in a painful way but instead in a way that shes praying this is the first and only round of this sick and twisted game.

You let a breath that you didn’t even know you had left in you, head turning to her with eyes full of tears, about ti say something until shes dashing right across the line and back into the peripheral of that stupid pig-tailed doll.

“HYUN-JU!”

It’s a pathetic cry, already knowing that when your girlfriend makes up her mind there’s no way of changing it.

You watch as she runs towards to males, one already injured and the other assisting.

Your heart beats in your chest as the seconds go down, frozen in your spot as all three freeze, Hyun-Ju and the other man that helps the injured man shake in fear.

Five seconds left.

You’re gonna be sick.

Please you can’t lose her you can’t you can’t you fucking can’t

They make it over the line though, falling on the floor and a sudden ‘BANG!’ Rings throughout the arena.

The injured man was taken out.

Is it bad that you felt relief that it wasn’t Hyun-Ju?

You don’t know and in the moment you don’t give a fuck as long as she’s alright.

You rush to her aid, arms wrapping around her tightly as your ears ring.

She’s okay.

You’re both okay.

You both WILL BE okay.

You’ll get out of here and go to Thailand and- and everything will be okay.

The end!

—————————————————————————

A/N: I finished this up during basketball practice LOL hope u guys like it!! PLS SEND IN MORE REQUESTS I ONLY GOT 2 RNN💔😒

[antinousletmehit]

Im so happy your request are open cause i crave a odyssey telemachus fic (totally not the person who asked about it), so could you maybe do a telemachus x reader were reader is like really sweet and everybody likes her and such in the palace but one day some suiters/ or a group of boys make a comment about her that isn't nice and telemachus gets mad cause he swore himself/ took the job on him to protect reader (who's his partner) and basically beats the guy up and readers secretly likes that he did that for her (sorry this is long, hope this isn't weird request)

The great hall of the palace was filled with the usual raucous laughter and crude remarks from the suitors. Telemachus, seated near the throne, clenched his jaw as he listened to the incessant chatter. He was used to their arrogance, their disrespect for his family and home, but today, one comment had him gripping the hilt of his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white.

It had been about you.

“She’s a fine little thing, isn’t she?” one of the suitors, Eurymachus, had sneered to the others. “I’d wager she’d be more welcoming to me in her bed than to the boy prince there.” The laughter that followed was like a dagger to Telemachus’s pride. He turned his head just enough to catch Eurymachus’s smug expression, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“I wouldn’t mind testing that theory,” another suitor added, his tone slimy, drawing more laughs.

That was the last straw.

With a sharp motion, Telemachus rose from his seat. The hall grew quieter as his chair scraped against the stone floor, the suitors looking up at him with mild amusement. “Say that again,” he growled, his voice low and dripping with menace.

Eurymachus raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Which part? That your little dove might prefer—” Before he could finish, Telemachus lunged forward, his fist colliding with Eurymachus’s jaw. The suitor stumbled back, knocking over a table as the other suitors scrambled out of the way. Gasps and shouts erupted as the young prince grabbed Eurymachus by the collar, shaking him roughly.

“You don’t get to talk about her like that!” Telemachus barked, his voice echoing through the hall. “Ever.” Eurymachus tried to shove him off, but Telemachus was faster, landing another punch before one of the suitors attempted to intervene. Telemachus whirled on him, his sword drawn in a flash.

“Who’s next?” he snarled, his chest heaving with anger. The suitors exchanged uneasy glances, none of them eager to test the prince’s fury. Slowly, they backed off, muttering under their breath. Eurymachus, now nursing a bloody lip, glared at Telemachus but wisely kept his mouth shut.

The tension in the hall was thick as Telemachus sheathed his sword and stormed out, his blood still boiling. He didn’t stop until he reached the quieter parts of the palace, where he could breathe without wanting to break something—or someone—else.

He didn’t expect to see you there, waiting for him.

“Telemachus,” you said, your voice soft but tinged with concern. “I heard… what happened.”

He froze. “I didn’t mean for you to find out,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “They were saying things about you, and I just—”

“—punched Eurymachus in the face?” you finished, a small smile playing on your lips. He glanced at you, expecting anger or disappointment, but what he saw instead made his heart skip a beat. You looked… pleased.

“You didn’t have to do that,” you said, stepping closer, your fingers lightly brushing his. “But the fact that you did… it means a lot to me.”

His cheeks flushed, and he shifted uncomfortably. “I couldn’t just let them talk about you like that. You deserve respect. More than they could ever give.”

You tilted your head, your smile widening. “You know, there’s something kind of… attractive about a man who defends his lover’s honor.”

He blinked, caught off guard by your words. “Attractive?”

You laughed softly, reaching up to touch his face, your thumb brushing over a small cut on his cheek. “Even with a little blood, you look good, Telemachus.”

His lips parted, a faint smile tugging at the corners. “If I knew you’d react like this, I might’ve punched him sooner.”

You rolled your eyes but leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Just don’t make a habit of it,” you murmured against his mouth.

“No promises,” he said with a grin, wrapping his arms around you. “But I’ll try to keep my temper—for you, and you only.” The thought of what he’d done sent a thrill through you, and as you leaned into his embrace, you couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, his fiery temper wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

[m3l0nfl0at]

just say yes - t. kuroo

kuroo tetsurou x f!reader ; fake dating to lovers, trigger warning: family problems which leads to a lot of degrading, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, flirty!kuroo x obtuse!fem reader, happy ending, 2000’s romance-esque vibe, y/n used a handful of times, heavy amount of pet names, a LOT of build-up, reader is lowkey weird girl coded (aka me), 13.2k words

summary: upon receiving an invitation to your sister’s wedding you decide to ask kuroo for a favor to be your fake date for the event. but what happens when your feelings for your fake date suddenly become real?

melon’s recommended melody: just say yes playlist

“I need you to do me a huge favor. Hear me out first, okay?” Kenma faces you in his chair even though his eyes were on his game. You inhale deeply, “I need you to attend a wedding with me and before you start saying no, I’ll do anything you want for a whole month”. Even though you knew Kenma could pay someone to do anything he wanted for him, you needed him to realize how desperate you were for him to attend this wedding with you. 

 While you look over to Kenma you’re holding your breath, your roommate was never consistent so you know him saying no was always a fifty percent possibility. Waiting for an immediate shutdown you’re instead granted with Kenma saying “Ok, when is this said wedding?” You start celebrating all too quickly because just as you tell him the dates, you’re met with an immediate dreadful silence. “Sorry, I have several business meetings that week but I think you can ask Kuroo. He did say he had vacation due to the off-season.” A flush creeps across your cheeks as you think about asking Kuroo. Knowing he’ll just tease you relentlessly for even asking him to fake a relationship with you. Kenma groans in annoyance at his game, snapping you out of your dazed contemplation, Kenma’s met with your pinched yet flushed expression.

 “You know better than anyone that I cannot ask Kuroo, Ken. Not only would I be betraying Alisa, but he plays around too much. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells trying not to get teased by him.” You huff sitting down while Kenma looks over at you with narrowed eyes finally taking his full attention off his game. “Just tell Alisa it’s a dire situation, I think she’ll understand why you so desperately need someone to attend with. She knows you wouldn’t voluntarily pick Kuroo for anything, even if he was the last person on earth.” You sigh letting your shoulders hang low knowing Kenma was right. Even though Kuroo was a smug bastard, he was your best option to come out of this wedding in one piece.

 Alisa immediately lets you in her apartment, noticing how you kept pacing around uneasily in the hall. Gaining the courage, you finally tell her your original plan to ask Kenma to come with you to your sister’s wedding until that ship sank quickly leaving you to a last resort. “So, you’re going to ask Kuroo to be your fake date because of your iffy relationship with your parents?” You quickly nod, lying flatly across Alisa’s bed. Looking up to see her supporting a sad sympathetic smile before she quickly follows up. “You know, I’m not his girlfriend right? You don’t need to ask me for permission to ask him out for pretend purposes. Besides, it's not like you have feelings for the guy.” 

 Pouting, you let out an elongated sigh conflicted because your gut was telling you instinctively, something didn’t feel right. “I know he’s not your boyfriend, not yet at least. Nonetheless knowing you like him it just feels icky not asking for permission. Plus, I don’t want to overstep any boundaries you may have. Or even worse, have you think I have any ulterior motives with him.” Alisa chuckles knowing that a major weight has now just been lifted off of your chest. Suddenly she pulls you into a bone-crushing hug, you both take a minute to bask in the comfortable silence until Alisa decides to break it.

 “I’m glad to have such a considerate friend like you, you don’t find too many people like that anymore.” 

You pick yourself up only to be mentally weighted down again, as a realization clicks that you’ve only solved half of your problem. Even though you got Alisa’s approval, you still hadn’t asked Kuroo, knowing he’ll be harder to persuade than Alisa. Massaging your temples you tell yourself to stop overthinking, for once giving Kuroo the benefit of the doubt. “Lis, how am I going to face Kuroo while I’m desperately begging for his help? He’s just going to ridicule me.” Alisa chuckles just as you start sulking for what feels like the tenth time today, picturing Kuroo’s annoyingly wide smirk.

 “Just ask him nicely like I do, he’s always super sweet to me. Doesn’t hurt to try?” You glance over at Alisa whose face is flushed all over while you make gagging noises. “Please stop, of course he’s going to be nice to you Lis, you’re an angel. For me, he just turns into a pestering tease who won’t give me a break. He can’t even have a normal conversation with me without poking fun.”Getting up you send Alisa a finger salute, taking off to go ask her rooster boyfriend to accompany you for the upcoming event. She then flashes you two thumbs up, sending you off in a nervous state. 

 Standing in front of Kuroo’s door with your head in your hands wondering what you’ll say to convince him to do this fake dating scheme. Fidgeting with your fingers, you finally look up to his door hesitatingly knocking twice, shocked to hear the chaotic rustling footsteps on the other side. Kuroo answers wearing a black fitted tank with some sweatpants signaling he just got home from the gym. As he leans on the doorframe, you suddenly take notice of his muscular build and just as you start to open your mouth to speak, nothing comes out. He notices you staring but decides to fill the silence feigning obliviousness. “Did Kenma forget something at my apartment again? No, I swore he came yesterday to get his Switch charger.” 

 You take a deep breath and close your eyes as you slowly start to whisper. “No, I actually came to talk to you. I need your help with something really important.” Kuroo lifts his brow and suddenly leans closer sporting his Gengar-like smirk. “I’m sorry but I actually can’t hear you, can you speak up sweetheart?” Your nose scrunches in disgust and suddenly you realize who you’re talking to. Not your roommate’s good-looking best friend but Alisa’s brash crush. Snapping out of whatever daze he had you in, you lean into him mimicking his stature feigning confidence. “I need you to be my date to my sister’s wedding next weekend. As a fake date of course…nothing real.” He takes notice of how you rush over your words and refuse to make eye contact with him but decides not to verbalize it, could be better blackmail material later he thinks to himself. 

 Kuroo leans on his door frame with an amused smile crossing his arms over his chest before puffing it to let out a chuckle. “Ok. I’ll do it.” You look at him with wide eyes shocked that he agreed so easily, shock soon turning into suspicion. “Why did you agree so easily, what do you get from this? Did Kenma pay you?” You step back raising an eyebrow only for Kuroo to lean towards you while pouting. He then reaches to take your hand holding it with sincerity. “Do you think that poorly of me sweetheart? I would never pass up an opportunity to date you, real or not.” He stares at you menacingly before you take your hand back to punch his shoulder. Making way into his apartment to land harshly on his couch, still wondering if he’s taking this seriously.

 “Ok for real, Kuroo will you help me or not?” He places a hand over his heart exaggeratedly taking a seat next to you. “I already said I would, what more do I have to do to let you know I have no hidden intentions?” You look at him straight on with narrowed eyes before muttering jokingly “I will never fully trust you, even if my life depended on it. Has anyone ever told you that you have the aura of a conman?” Kuroo looks at you as if he just faced the biggest heartbreak, dramatically placing a hand over his heart. “You know I have heard that before but coming from you sweetheart, that feels like a direct hit.”You roll your eyes knowing Kuroo is always one for dramatics. You start contemplating how this is actually going to work since Kuroo and Alisa both agreed. “What’s going on in your head princess?”Kuroo follows up by scooting closer to you and tapping his finger against your temple. “Tomorrow, meet me at the cafe down the street from Ken and I’s apartment. We can go over the plan and most importantly boundaries.” you say as you scoot back from Kuroo only to be met with the arm of his couch. 

 Letting out all the tension in your body, you allow yourself to relax while walking back to your apartment. Filled with relief that you found someone to willingly help you get your mother off your back. Especially since that someone was as picture perfect as Kuroo was, he was the trophy boyfriend that every parent would want you to bring home. Kuroo was smart, athletic, determined, and very charming. You cross your arms snickering loudly, wait till your mother gets ahold of him, that’ll finally put an end to her constant nagging. 

 Entering your shared apartment you notice Kenma chatting with someone on the phone, tiptoeing to try and ignore Kenma from addressing the elephant in the room. “Hey, get back here. You can’t just ignore me! Tell me, what did Kuroo say?” Staring down at your feet in embarrassment you head over to Kenma who’s still on the phone. “He said yes right away, no questions asked.” Kenma wrinkles his brows “Then why do you look so…tense?”. You try avoiding eye contact with Kenma hoping that he would drop the conversation but Kenma was known to never give up. “I didn’t want to make it awkward, I just asked your best friend to fake date me for a weekend. You don’t find that weird at all? Plus, Kuroo seemed way too desperate for my liking, it freaked me out.”

 It wasn’t till you were done with your ramblings that you heard a boisterous laugh on the phone, automatically knowing whom it belonged to. “Kenma! Were you really on the phone with him this whole time? You twerp! It’s even more awkward now!” Kuroo continues laughing as your hands cover your hot face. “Princess, did you really just call me desperate when you were the one eyeing me as soon as I opened the door?” Kenma notices the flush intensify across your face but before he can say anything you interject. Stating that you were heading to your room not wishing to engage in any more of their pointless conversation.

Awakened by a blaring ringtone you answer even looking at your phone, only to be met with instant regret. “You’re going to the wedding right? Your sister expects you to be there, she said she was even making you a bridesmaid? You understand how big of a responsibility that is, especially at such a last minute-“ Your mother continues talking but your mind instantly shuts her out. Knowing you should be listening but not having the energy to put up with her this early in the morning. “Mom, look it’s early and I just woke up so do you think you could give me a minute before you start being belligerent with me.” 

 You hear your mother huff on the other side as if she just heard the most offensive comment ever made towards her. Unconsciously rolling your eyes as you answer her first couple of questions. “One, yes I’m going, I don’t intend to miss my sister’s big day. Two, I already gave her all the information to help her with the sizing for my bridesmaid dress.” you let out a big sigh “Did you have any other questions mom?”. Your mother smacks her lips, “No, but how come you talk to your sister and not me? Even on the family group chat you don’t talk? Are you being lazy these days, do you have nothing interesting to report on? I want to hear how you’re doing and you treat me like I'm not important, do you want a new mom?” 

 You get up from your bed holding the phone up to your cheek before you start pacing around the room. “Your sister told me you were bringing a plus one? Is that correct? Didn’t know you had it in you to get a boyfriend, especially after all these years. I mean your sister is already getting married and you’re barely getting into a relationship? Don’t you find that a bit odd?” She chuckles condescendingly while you start picking at your cuticles walking to the kitchen. “Well mother, as much as I would love to continue this interesting conversation, I actually have a meeting to attend so I’ll let you go. I’ll see you at the wedding.” 

 Your mom agrees before hanging up finally putting you out of your misery. You place your phone on the counter as you start rubbing your temples not noticing Kenma enter the kitchen. “Who was that? Is Kuroo bothering you already?” you chuckle at Kenma’s remark, as much as you didn’t like Kuroo’s endless teasing you sure wish it was him on the phone instead of your mother. 

 “No, it was actually my mother but it’s over now. That’s all that matters, she got her monthly call so lets hope she doesn’t call again. Now that you reminded me, I do have to text Kuroo, just to make sure he can make it today. Wish me luck with that.” You exit the kitchen not wanting to socialize right now, due to your mother draining your mental battery. Deciding that you should start getting ready to head out to meet with Kuroo.    

 Texting Kuroo you found that he was already on the way to the cafe just as you had finished getting ready. As you’re on your way to the cafe you feel drained due to never really regenerating mental stamina from your phone call with your mother. Walking on auto-pilot mode, you start thinking about how to approach this meeting with Kuroo without pushing your problems on him. Entering the cafe you see Kuroo tucked away in the corner, sitting in a cozy brown booth. As the scent of coffee hits your senses, you feel it replenishing your fatigue. 

 “Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I already paid for your drink. Don’t worry I made sure to ask Kenma for your cafe order.”. Maybe this meeting wouldn’t be as hard as you thought it would be. You start placing your bag in the booth to sit while Kuroo rests his head on his palm, “Are you okay? Not to be rude but you look like you had a rough morning. Usually when you see me you have this flush on your face and start to stutter nervously.”. He smirks but you stop him before he could go any farther “Thank you Kuroo for the treat but please just don’t do this”, you gesture at him, “today.” Then placing your head down on the table dissociating, feeling remorseful for snapping at him. 

 Kuroo tilts his head drawing his eyebrows together, knowing something serious must’ve happened for you to be this irritated. He then lifts a hand onto the table to catch your attention “I apologize, don’t feel guilty for telling me your limits. For today, I’ll set aside all my teasing. But seriously, are you okay princess? Talk to me, what happened? If you don’t want to talk about it then that’s fine too.”. He then reaches for his drink waiting patiently for you to speak. 

 Giving into the silence, you decide that bottling your feelings isn’t healthy for your friendship or  for you guys’ new found fake relationship. “I had a phone call today with my mother and let’s just say I’m glad you agreed to come with me because I don’t think I could’ve done this alone. Throughout the call she just kept talking about how my sister is living a great life while I’m barely getting mine started.” you didn’t notice it but you started picking at your cuticles again, Kuroo did notice. Placing his hand on top of yours as both of your eyes lock on eachother “I’m guessing that’s the reason you asked me to attend this wedding?” He lifts an eyebrow hoping to get a verbal answer from you but instead gets a nod.

 “Well then that’s why I’m here with you, you’re not facing her alone. I don’t know if this’ll make you feel any better but you guys just have different definitions of life goals. She thinks a major life goal is getting married, while you think otherwise, it’s not your fault she’s stuck in her own ideals and is trying to push them onto you. You’re a grown woman, she can love you as her daughter but I think you’re grown up enough to make your own standard bunny”. You start laughing, brushing off the ridiculous nickname and focusing on how he makes perfect sense of your mother’s logic without even having to meet her. Sneaking a quick glance at you, Kuroo mentions how he also had family problems with his parents as a child. “My family problems lead me to meeting Kenma, who is now my best friend. So, who knows what yours will do for you?” Kuroo nudges you with his elbow and you suddenly think inviting Kuroo to come with you wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

 After you and Kuroo’s chat about your mother, you decided going forth it wouldn’t be good for you to withhold your family problems from Kuroo, especially since he is going to experience your parents behavior firsthand. Still sitting in the cafe, you both collaborate to come up with ideas on how you guys both first met. “As much as I would love to tell my parents how we actually met, I’d rather come up with something more romantic.” you spoke sarcastically knowing how you and Kuroo originally met was an embarrassment. Kuroo laughs recalling the first time you actually met wanting to tease you but deciding not to pester you after the morning you’ve been having, “Well, if we make it too romantic it won’t be believable. How about we say we met through Kenma on a blind date and we hit it off after I saw how enchanting you were.”. 

 You roll your eyes, “You do know no one is here, right? You don’t have to add all the compliments yet, who are you trying to impress?”. Kuroo rolls his eyes playful, knowing how obtuse you are. He decides to move forward with the conversation and express his opinion on the situation. “I think it’s simple and effective. No one needs to hear that our eyes met and we instantly loved each other. If it's too romanticized then people won’t believe us or even worse, we won’t remember it.” Locking eyes with Kuroo you realize he is being unrealistically rational today, “Who are you and what did you do with Kuroo?” you raise a brow at him. He chuckles looking down at his hands bashfully before locking hands with yours to fully get his message across. “I don’t want to bother you with being playful, especially with the morning your mother gave you. I want you to know I'm taking this role seriously, no matter what happens on this trip, I’ll always be by your side.”.

 He then squeezes your hand letting you know his sincere remark wasn’t him joking around. “We should probably start leaving soon but can we meet again in say two days? You know, start picking up couple mannerisms and go over what feels right and what doesn’t? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable while trying to impress your family.” You agree with Kuroo knowing you won’t get comfortable with physical affection so quickly, “Sounds good, in two days we can meet at your apartment to practice mannerisms. Since I’d rather not give Kenma two front row seats to embarrass myself the show.” You and Kuroo laugh before exchanging glances while he smiles at you. “I’ll see you soon bunny, text me when you make it home.” Kuroo starts picking up both of your belongings before handing you your bag, so you can both start heading your separate ways. You looked back at Kuroo walking away, feeling better about your day. What you didn’t see was him looking back at you two times, it’s safe to say you both left the cafe with a new sense of realization that day.

Two days, it took you two days to come to terms with being physically affectionate to someone that wasn’t your sister or Alisa. The whole train ride to Kuroo’s apartment you wondered if you could just stay on the train until you ended up back home. As if Kuroo had a sixth sense, he soon texted asking if you guys were still on for later today? Your last meeting you both decided on being truthful and who were you to break that promise so early? Responding back to him you say how you’re nervous for today and that physical affection doesn’t really come easy to you. After you hit send you reminisce about how your father used to force you to hug him after every argument you guys had. Snapping out of your thoughts you see Kuroo responding not even a second later, “That’s okay. We don’t have to do it all in one go. We can take small steps or you can verbalize what you’re comfortable with and we can practice later. Remember, we’re in this together! :)”. 

 Relief washes over you as you once again realize that Kuroo might be a tease but he’s also a respectable person. Heading off the train and walking to Kuroo’s apartment, deciding to take the elevator up. A wave of nostalgia hits you, realizing last time you were here you asked him to be your fake date. The wave of nostalgia turns sour as you start to feel nervous again, you decide to calm yourself by doing some breathing exercises all the way to Kuroo’s door. As soon as you are met with Kuroo he stares at you grimacing, “Did you take the stairs, why are you breathing so heavily? You know there’s an elevator right?” You stop your breathing, “I didn’t take the stairs! I’m doing breathing exercises, you jerk. I’m sorry not all of us can be the cocky and confident Kuroo.” 

 Striding into his apartment as you both sit down on the couch. Kuroo being the first to break the awkward silence, “Well, did you think about what you were comfortable with trying on the train? I was thinking the most we would have to do is maybe holding hands and hugging. If anyone asks us about anything else we can just say we’re not big on PDA, it’s not like we have to explain ourselves anyway. I don’t want you to push your limits considering your mother is going to be draining your social battery. Does that make sense? Did it sound okay, you’re looking at me weirdly?” As you heard Kuroo carefully explain how he never wanted to push your boundaries or make you feel subjected to PDA, for once in your life you felt understood. Getting up from your side of the couch you inch closer to him before opening your arms awkwardly. Kuroo then wrapped his arms around you slowly, afraid you’ll pull away. Hugging Kuroo felt different from any other hugs you’ve experienced. 

 Your father’s hugs always felt coerced and demoralizing, you never thought hugging someone could feel so homely and natural. Still hugging Kuroo you decide to tell him the truth, “I never liked hugging, it always felt like a burden. My mom treated it as a chore, making me greet our family even though I hated them and even my father making me hug him after our terrible arguments. Anyway, hearing you talk right now about not wanting to push me into anything made me feel weirdly understood. Thank you Kuroo.” Kuroo smiles into your hair as he lets go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in, “You shouldn’t have to thank me for understanding boundaries but since you never thank me, I’ll take it.”

 Tapping his shoulder, Kuroo realizes the moment is over for you but his heart still feels aflutter. “You’re right though, I shouldn’t have to explain myself to people. These are our boundaries and they need to respect them!”, you puff out your chest proudly before realizing you never answered him. “Oh and to answer your question, I’m fine with you hugging me and us holding hands. Nothing beyond that please.” Kuroo nods still freaking out over your shared moment before diverting your attention somewhere else. 

 “That reminds me, a suit should be fine to wear right? Since you haven’t really said anything about the theme of the wedding, I kind of just assumed. If not then we might need to go shopping.” Embarrassed, realizing you never really told Kuroo about the details of the wedding. “Sorry, Kuroo I didn’t realize! A black suit should be fine, I mean black will go with my bridesmaids dress-“ he cuts you off “Wait, you’re a bridesmaid? You really are worried about your parents if you’re forgetting key details. Well, I’ll make sure to look my best for my bridesmaid.” You side eye him, knowing he’s partially right. You’re placing more value on getting this interaction with your parents finished than actually paying attention to your sister’s big day. “We should both start packing for the weekend, it’s about a couple hours away so make sure to get some rest so you don’t fall asleep on the road. I’ll see you in a couple of days Kuroo.” You start heading for the door but just as you’re about to reach for the knob Kuroo beats you to it and opens the door for you. “Would it be weird if I asked for a hug before you leave?” You side eye him, “Don’t push your luck Tetsu.”. “Alright, I’ll see you later sweetheart! Text me if you need anything.” 

    The days leading up to the wedding passed quickly, as if time wasn’t on your side. The morning Kuroo and you had to leave you felt exhausted, mentally and physically. You couldn’t sleep due to the ticking time bomb that was your sister’s wedding, usually you would have texted Kuroo your concerns but didn’t want to wake him since he was the designated driver. The next morning packed and ready to go, you receive a text from Kuroo that he’s downstairs before heading out. Deciding to say goodbye to your roommate, you gently tap on Kenma’s door, walking in to see him at his desk. “Kenma I’m leaving…unfortunately. I’ll see you Monday, call me if you need anything!”Kenma nods and just as you start walking away he decides to say “Oh (Y/N), make sure not to fall in love with Kuroo, okay?” You freeze and start nervously chuckling. 

 Brushing off Kenma’s comment to walk down to your ride, you realize the nervousness washes away as you see Kuroo opening his trunk for your luggage. You knew that as long as you had Kuroo with you, you’d be fine for the weekend. “Here, I opened the trunk for you but please be careful with my suit. Oh and I have something for you when we get in the car.” Placing your bag and dress in the trunk, you then start to get in the passenger's seat waiting to see what Kuroo got you. “So, yesterday I realized we had to raise the stakes a bit to make this more believable, so I bought you this.” He pulls out an ornate necklace that has a letter K on it, showing you proudly with a wide smile. “Kuroo, where did you get this? Oh my god, I’m going to be sick, this is too much for me to accept. Why did you buy this for just a weekend? Are you crazy?”.

 Kuroo cuts off your ramblings by placing a hand on yours, “You’re a bridesmaid, everyone’s going to be looking at you. I wanted to show them you’re mine, even if it’s for the weekend. Plus now it’ll be more realistic, if anyone asks we can say it was an anniversary present. Now, let's not puke in my car over a gift, if it makes you feel better I kept the receipt so when this is over I can return it okay?” You nod feeling relieved before turning around so he could put it on you. What you didn’t know was that the receipt was thrown in the trash long ago, nowhere to be found. As you turn around to show the necklace to Kuroo, you notice his flushed appearance before he’s asking permission to touch the necklace lying flatly on your neck. You agree, he carefully touches the K charm as you notice him staring at the necklace then glancing back up to you, making sure your eyes lock on each other for a moment. “Beautiful.” he speaks for a moment, suddenly clearing his throat looking away to face forward, “it’s beautiful.” you feel your face heating up but decide to look at the road to distract your mind.

 “Thank you Kuroo.” he flaps his hand, “It’s nothing princess.”, you scoff. “No really Kuroo, thank you. For the necklace, the past week, and for coming with me. Today when I came down to meet you I didn’t feel nervous at all, I think your presence makes me feel at ease and like I can face anything.” Kuroo takes a quick look at you to see you looking down with a flushed face before interlocking you guys’ hands together “That’s what I’m here for bunny. Now lay back, don’t think I didn’t see how exhausted you looked coming down. It’s going to be a long drive anyway.” You squeeze his hand before looking in his direction to send him a drowsy smile, dozing off.

Kuroo shakes you awake to tell you that you guys made it to the hotel successfully, you start to unbuckle yourself before Kuroo stops you. “Hey, before we get off I just want to say one thing,” he grabs your face with both of his hands “you better not forget that I’m here for you and only you. If at any time it gets too much let me know. Remember no hiding feelings.” You take his hands in yours to pull them off your face before nodding your head and getting out of Kuroo’s car. Kuroo takes that as a sign that your mental battery is already draining, opening the trunk letting you both grab your luggages. “Let me do all the talking at the hotel, you can stay by me just in case you run into your family.” Kuroo successfully gets checked in and you successfully watch him do that without encountering any of your family members. 

 As you both head up to your hotel room Kuroo notices you rubbing your eyes, “You still tired sweetheart? When we get to our room you can lay down, dinner isn’t till later anyway.”, you nod in agreement as you both walk towards your room. However entering the hotel room you felt like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water on you, immediately waking you up. Facing a singular king bed in the middle of the room,“Okay, well safe to say I’ll be taking the floor and you can take the bed princess. I’ll go ask the receptionist for another blanket, just lay down while I go run this trip real quick.”. Even though Kuroo told you to lay down you couldn’t help but feel guilt eating away at you, first you drag him to come to your family event, then you made him drive, and now you’re forcing him to sleep on the floor? 

 As you’re mentally debating with yourself, Kuroo soon enters the room to be met with you sitting down on the bed wide awake in a daze, “You don’t feel tired anymore bunny? Don’t tell me you want to switch because I’ll happily take the bed.”. Before you could speak Kuroo then abruptly jumped on the bed next to you smirking “ Kuroo! I was about to say I feel bad for you but you know what sleep on the floor.” You lay down turning over but Kuroo lays his head on your shoulder looking over at you pleadingly. You quickly look away, “Anyways before you rudely interrupted me, I was actually thinking that we could sleep together…on the same bed with some space.”. Kuroo smiles “Okay sweetheart, I’ll put the pillows in between us so that way you’re not uncomfortable.” Kuroo lifts himself off you to then start placing pillows in between you guys, “There you go, pillows placed and now I’ll set the alarm clock to 5:00 pm, so that way we’ll have time to get ready. Now, let’s sleep together on the same bed with some space!” Kuroo laughs, knowing he’s poking fun at you, you turn around huffing, deciding to ignore him and attempt to sleep before dinner. 

 Thirty minutes pass by and you hear Kuroo snoring, deciding that you aren't going to fall asleep anytime soon, you get up from the bed deciding to kill time by texting Kenma and Alisa. Only for you to realize that you left your phone in Kuroo’s car, getting up to retrieve Kuroo’s keys you start heading down. However, it seemed like the world was against you because as soon as you step off the elevator you’re met with your father talking to the hotel receptionist while your mother looks around. As you start to walk the opposite way, you hear none other than your mother’s shrill voice. “Honey, don’t be rude, say hi to us.” you lift your hand to wave but still stay silent “Well, where’s this plus one you were talking about with your sister? Wait, let me guess he canceled at the last minute or he couldn’t make it due to a cold?” You dig your nails into your palms “No mom, he is actually sleeping right now. I just came down to get my phone from his car.” Your mother looks you up and down suspiciously before your father interrupts her. “How forgetful of you, I thought I taught you better. First not properly greeting us and now forgetting your phone in your boy friends car?”. You cut him off before he could talk anymore about Kuroo, “No need for the space father, he’s my boyfriend.” 

 Both look at you stunned with your sudden imprudence, “Let’s hope this “boyfriend” of yours is very retentive seeing he’ll need to make up for your lack of memory. Nonetheless, I’ll let you get to it, be safe dear. We’ll see you at dinner.” Wasting no time to say any closing remarks you head off to your original destination, Kuroo’s car. As soon as you open the passengers side you see the phone that caused you so much trouble to retrieve. You pick it up and start heading back to the room not even caring about what you originally intended to do with it. As you open the door to your room, you make sure to close the door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Kuroo before moving to carefully sit onto the bed and find safety in your room. As you're slouchy sitting down, you realize you felt more exhausted than ever due to the overwhelming amount of thoughts in your head after your interaction with your mother, “What happened?”, Kuroo’s hoarse sleep-voice pauses every thought playing in your head. “I went down to your car to get my phone.” “Alone?” you nod your head slowly. “I don’t need you to say anything. I already paid for the consequences…I ran into my parents in the lobby and both think I’m making you up. Not only do they think that I’m incapable but they also think I'm aloof because I “forgot” to say hi to them properly.” 

 You know Kuroo is listening due to the lack of snoring but you can’t see him so you start picking up the pillow border to move them out of the way. As soon as you lift the final pillow you’re met with Kuroo’s face being scrunched due to intense concentration. “Kuroo, can you…”, his face softens. While you hesitate knowing that this is new territory you have yet to cross, “Can you hug me, even it’s just for a while.”. After you finish your sentence you look up to see Kuroo opening his arms up to you, you make your way up to Kuroo before seeking comfort in his warmth. Realizing you just needed him in this moment for nothing else around you to matter. Kuroo kisses the top of your head “Don’t worry sweetheart, we’ll show them at dinner just how real I am to make them regret their words.”

  Recharging your social battery by cuddling Kuroo was not something you expected to happen today but you guess desperate times call for desperate measures. After preparing to be a fake couple with Kuroo, it was now time to make it a convincing reality. At the start of the two weeks you would have thought it to be a challenge, getting along with Kuroo. Now walking hand in hand with him to the rehearsal dinner, you scoff at your past self. The instant you walk into the rehearsal dinner, you’re met with lingering gazes on you and Kuroo which is to be expected. I mean you really weren’t typically known for being in a relationship, especially with someone like Kuroo. Kuroo squeezes your hand before leaning down to whisper in your ear, “Remember we’re in this together.”. He then guides you to your seats, which are right next to your sister and her fiancé. 

Getting closer to your sister you feel alleviated knowing she wouldn’t pester you or bother Kuroo with offhanded questions like your parents likely would. “Hey little sis, long time no see.” your sister suddenly pulls you into a hug before pulling back and looking behind you, “Who is this little sis? He’s very handsome, I taught you well!For a moment I thought your plus one was going to be Kenma!”. Laughing along with her quietly you quickly feel Kuroo pull your arm softly, “This is Kuroo, he’s my boyfriend.” your hands suddenly feel clammy introducing Kuroo as your boyfriend but the moment  you shared soon turned sour. “Pinch me, I’m dreaming,” a harsh voice interrupts, “did I just hear her say boyfriend? My daughter finally has a boyfriend after all these years!”. Even though some might mistake your mothers tone of voice as excitement, you knew all too well she meant it backhandedly. 

 Kuroo locks your hands together again “I never get sick of hearing that come from her. She always gets so flustered, it’s adorable. Don’t you think so?” He looks over at you after speaking before pulling your hand up to his lips placing a quick kiss to the back of your hand, “I heard from my love here that you guys met earlier in the hotel? I apologize for my absence. I had been driving all morning, you know how tiring that is.” Kuroo says as your parents turn wide eyed knowing you told Kuroo about your bump in. Your sister interrupts to quickly greet your parents so she can leave to go greet her other guests, leaving an awkward silence. Your father stares at you and Kuroo before raising a brow in Kuroo’s direction, “Well Mr. Kuroo, since we didn’t have the pleasure of meeting this afternoon, care to tell me more about how you met my daughter?” Kuroo chuckles before you cut him off “Dad, let’s not do this right now please. It’s not my day, it’s my sisters.”, knowing he’ll take this as an opportunity to ask belligerent questions.

 Unfortunately your discomfort doesn’t stop his persistence. “Well, I’m just asking? Can't your father be a little curious about who his little girl is dating?” Kuroo rubs his thumb over your hand “She’s reserved, you know? Nothing bad about that, we don’t feel the need to flaunt our relationship. I will tell you this though, I remember when we first met like it was yesterday. My first impressions of her was that she was such a kind and vibrant soul.”. Kuroo gets interrupted by your father, “Yes, she gets her kindness from me, I’m so glad to have raised such a kind girl.”, you roll your eyes at your father,  knowing the facade he’s putting on for Kuroo. “When we met she had just moved in with Kenma, of course he needed help with moving boxes due to how much streaming equipment he has. Being the caring person she is, she decided to volunteer to help us. Even though Kenma and I could’ve done it ourselves, she’s persistent.” 

 Realizing he’s not sticking to the plan, he’s telling the story of how you guys actually met. “At the time, I didn’t know her but thought she was sweet because Kenma mentioned her to me a handful of times saying that she always helped him with technical issues and streaming ideas. However, as soon as we started moving boxes she and I both had accidently reached for the same box bumping our heads together. She was so red that you would think it was permanent and I couldn’t help but think how adorable she looked blushing violently. When she stood up, she stood so quickly that she ended up tumbling over more boxes behind her.”. Now Kuroo laughs, recalling how strangely captivating you were that day to him. However, for once it didn’t feel like he was laughing at you, which most people tend to do. “To this day, if you ask her how we met she’ll decline telling you. She thinks it’s embarrassing but if you were to ask me I would say that day she stumbled her way wholly into my heart.” Kuroo looks over to you still rubbing your hand, before you lean onto his shoulder smiling, you’re so going to kill him later. 

 Your mother coughs, “Isn’t that adorable? Speaking of Kenma, where is he honey? No offense to Mr. Kuroo here but I thought you’d be with him. You know, spread some generational wealth to our family like your sister.” Kuroo feels you freeze. “What does Kuroo here even do? If you don't mind me asking?” your father asks before staring at Kuroo, his eyes widen at your fathers thoughtless remarks. Even though you’d allow your parents to walk all over you, you would never let them do that to Kuroo. “Does it matter what his profession is, dad? He makes me happy and that’s all that should matter to you. You know, I’ve put up with you for a long time demeaning me but I will not let you sit here and demean my boyfriend. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go head to the ladies room.” 

 Just as you get to the hallway, you feel someone grab your hand, only to be met with your father. “I’m sorry if your mother and I offended you but you cannot act like this at your sister's dinner. It’s your sister's moment and you’re acting like a brat, I raised you better than that.” You look at your father in disbelief, feeling anger blooming within your chest, wanting to lash out and create a scene but not wanting to give him the satisfaction. “Excuse me, I need a moment to speak with my girlfriend please.” You and your father look to see Kuroo behind you guys, “If I were you, I’d talk some real sense into her. She should be ashamed of herself, creating such a spectacle at her own sister’s rehearsal dinner. Now you understand why she’s been single for so long, acting like a little girl.” Kuroo blocks out what your father is saying to see you clenching your fists so hard that your hands are losing color, looking up at your glossy eyes to see them devoid of any life and replaced with dullness. 

 “I’ve heard enough, sir. Give us a moment.” Kuroo snaps at your father making him leave swiftly as he glances back at you scoffing in disappointment. As soon as he leaves Kuroo gives you the keys to his car, telling you to go while he explains to your sister that you’ll both be leaving for the night. While handing you his keys he sees the nail marks imprinted harshly on your palms making note to care for those later. “Tell my sister I’m so sorry, please.” Kuroo angled his head downward to see you holding the keys tightly while trying not to cry, expressing your apologies to your sister. “I’ll let her know bunny, now go quickly.” Kuroo walked you to the door so that way you had no chance running into your parents, making sure that what just happened never happens again.

 “Hey, what’s up Kuroo? Did something happen?” Kuroo sends your sister a sympathetic smile. “Your sister and I are leaving a little early tonight. She’s not feeling too well but she sends her deepest regards.” Your sister sends Kuroo a knowing look, “Tell her that I'm not mad at her. I know our parents can be…crazy and that’s putting it lightly, if she needed to get away that’s fine. Actually, thank you for being with her tonight, Kuroo. Now, I think she needs you more than ever.” Your sister then waves off Kuroo. Heading to you, he sees you in the car messing with your hands guiltily. “She wasn’t upset with you bunny. She empathized with you, saying she knew how your parents could be.” That helped you breathe clearer, lifting some heavy weight off your chest, feeling safe and sound in this moment with Kuroo.

 Entering your hotel room, Kuroo takes your hand in his and guides you to sit down on the bed. Giving you some much needed space, shortly leaving the room to change. Alone with your thoughts, you think how bad things would be if Kuroo wasn’t here. Yet him getting belittled because he was associated with you was where you drew the line. How much farther could your parents go before Kuroo’s mental state starts slowly chipping away too. Cursing yourself for even letting your parents get a rise out of you infront of Kuroo, body heavy with disappointment. Now feeling embarrassment crash over you, wanting nothing more to shed the skin of your actions today and get out of this tight dress. You go to grab a wire hanger hoping that you could take off this dress the same way you put it on. 

 Kuroo walks out of the bathroom dressed in his pajamas to see you fishing the zipper on your dress with a hanger, “Sweetheart? You know you could’ve just asked me to unzip it for you right?”, you turn around stumbling back. “Kuroo, you scared the crap out of me! Don’t do that again.”, you place a hand on your chest before turning back around, “Then can you just unzip it for me please?”. Kuroo’s eyes bulge out of his head, shaking his head wanting to clear his thoughts, “Sure, don’t have to ask me twice princess.”. As Kuroo closely approaches, you start moving your hair to your left shoulder, Kuroo successfully unzips your dress then proceeds to press a light kiss to your shoulder. “I’m sorry about today sweetheart, I should’ve gone after you but your father beat me to it. To be honest with you, their words kind of shocked me.”. 

 He hugs you from behind, laying his head on your shoulder, his hands softly placed on your waist, “I never once felt insecure about my job but hearing them bring it up like I was some peasant not worthy of you, made me question myself…I thought if this is how I feel from one comment, then you must feel awful dealing with this your whole life. I’m so sorry bunny.” Listening to Kuroo you couldn’t help but feel emotional, knowing how emotionally burnt out you are just from one day with them. Kuroo sensed something was off as soon as he saw your shoulders sag, “Princess? Are you okay?”. Deciding to swallow your pride you turn to face Kuroo. Crying blurred some of your vision but the look of concern on his face still came through for you. Feeling undeserving of any kind of empathy, “Kuroo, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you here, I didn’t know they would go this far. It’s all my fault for dragging you into this.” 

 Kuroo grabs your hands while stepping back shocked to see your weeping face, “My love…no, it’s not your fault! If I didn’t come and heard you over Kenma’s phone crying I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself. I would’ve drove all the way over here just to come get you bunny. Even if you didn’t want to come with me. I would’ve thrown you over my shoulder and forced you back home.” You weakly laugh picturing Kuroo angrily driving for two hours just to come get you. He turns over your palms to see the indents of your nails still there as he caresses the marks, “Go get changed princess, you had a long day.”. Agreeing, you head to the bathroom before changing and getting rid of every bad memory that happened today. When you return you’re met with Kuroo on the phone speaking to someone, laying down next to him on your shared bed just to decompress. “Yeah, thanks for your help. I’ll tell her to call you tomorrow. Bye Kenma.” You look over at Kuroo, “What were you guys talking about?” Kuroo pulls you into his chest. 

 “Nothing, just asking him for some advice.” He starts pulling your palms up to his lips before giving them soft kisses, you pull back scrunching in disgust, “Don’t, my palms are going to be all clammy.”. He grins, grabbing you to tightly hug, “You’re very strong for enduring that your whole life, my strong bunny.” he pets your head. “Tomorrow will be better, I promise. Let’s go to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us.”

You woke up lying next to Kuroo the following day, seeing the sunlight peek through the blinds behind him. Illuminating him beautifully, you run your hands across his face softly. “Good morning princess.” You stop your hand after seeing Kuroo stare at you, “Morning, Tetsu.”. Truth be told, Kuroo was awake before you but didn’t want to get up, longing in the feeling that was waking up next to you. You get up and stretch, making sure to tell Kuroo your busy schedule today. “Let’s go drop you off, my beautiful bridesmaid.”, you roll your eyes at his remark. Starting to head off to the venue to meet with your sister and her other bridesmaids.               

 “Text me if you need anything, I’ll let you know when I'm heading over here, okay?” Kuroo looks at you one more time as if this is the last time he’s going to see you. “I’ll be away from you for only a couple of hours, drama queen.” Before getting off you peck Kuroo on the cheek and head into the venue. It wasn’t till you got into the venue you realized the severity of your actions, embarrassed but immediately receiving a text from Kuroo. “Goodbye to you too sweetheart x”

 Spending the first half of your day getting dolled up to be in your sister’s wedding was chaotic. When Kuroo texted you he was on his way to the venue you knew it was almost showtime. “You look beautiful. I’m so happy for you.” You look behind you to see your sister, “I could say the same thing to you, it’s the fairytale wedding you’ve always dreamed for. It’s your big day.”. You both hug before being interrupted by the photographers letting you know that it was time to take pictures. “Who knows maybe next time I’ll be the bridesmaid to you and Kuroo’s wedding.”, she playfully nudges you before heading to the photographer. “What!”

 As you’re taking pictures you see your mother, she calls you and your sister wanting to take a picture with you both. You make sure that you put on a good fake smile even though you didn’t forgive her or your father for yesterday. Wrapping up the pictures, your mother pulls you aside. “Well, look who it is? You know, your father and I were very upset that you left so rudely.”, realizing that you’ve done this for far too long you stand your ground. “Mother, I appreciate all you’ve done for me in my life but I’m not going to accept this anymore. First you verbally break me down but now you’re attempting to take down my boyfriend with me? How far are you willing to go before you realize this act is pathetic. After this wedding, you cut all contact with me. Unless it’s an emergency or you’d like to apologize for your behavior, don’t bother. Now, if you don’t mind I’m going to walk back in there and put on a smile like a mature woman, you should do that too. Not for me but for her.”. You point to your sister before walking back inside, only thinking of Kuroo yesterday telling you how strong you were. 

 Hearing the quartet start to play the music, you realized the time has come. Your sister is finally getting her big beautiful moment. Marching down the aisle you head over to the spot your sister assigned you looking around afterwards. Spotting Kuroo he smirks, shyly waving to you. You look down, trying to lessen your smiling afterwards looking right back up. Kuroo catches your attention again before you see him mouthing that you look breathtaking. At this moment everyone disappears and it’s just you and him, your heart speeds up. Lost in each other's gaze you hear the quartet stop signaling your sister's arrival, you look at her and can only think of how beautiful she looks but Kuroo’s gaze never left you. 

 At the very moment, your sister got down the aisle you couldn’t help but feel tears fill your eyes. The preacher starts his speech while you look over at Kuroo. “Love is patient, love is kind.” Kuroo’s smile reaches his eyes, you feel a flutter in your stomach. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Keeping eye contact, your heart stops, the flutter in your stomach feels like it’s going feral, and your hands are clammy. Kuroo is the only person to have ever made you feel that way, safe and hopeful. Kuroo is the most kind individual you knew and was always patient with you, you feel your knees get weak. Do you like Kuroo?

  Your thoughts get cut off by everyone clapping at your sister and her fiance, you slowly start clapping, joining her other bridesmaids. Watching the newlywed couple start walking down together, people follow as you stay behind going crazy. You can’t like Kuroo but you still have to put on an act with him to shut your parents up. Kuroo and you being the only ones left in the venue he comes up to you taking your hand in his. “Shall we go to the reception my lady?”, Kuroo playfully bows in your direction. You chuckle before interlocking your arms together, “We shall.”.

 Arriving at the reception Kuroo feels that something with you is off, your eyes were always avoiding him and when he tries to hold your hand you flinch away. “Hey bunny, are you ok?”, you jump at the feeling of Kuroo’s breath near your ear, “Yeah, I’m totally fine. Just on edge because of family and what not”. Making up a fake lie was all you could do in this situation, feeling guilty for breaking you and Kuroo’s pact to not keep anything from each other. Kuroo gets up, your eyes follow him, “Well in that case, then let’s go dance.”. Your hands feel clammy as Kuroo offers his hands to you, waving yours back in rejection. “Ah no, I don’t know how to dance.”, Kuroo smiles in retaliation, “Then I’ll teach you, it’s not that hard anyway sweetheart.”. He grabs your hand lifting you in one go while dragging you to the dance floor.

 Kuroo places his hand on your waist and the other interlocking with yours, following you interlock hands and place the other on his shoulder. Looking down at his feet making sure to not step on them, Kuroo lifts your face up to him. “Don’t focus on your feet princess, keep your eyes on me.”, you nod mesmerized by him. He starts leading, swaying slowly back and forth, “See it’s easy, sweetheart. It’s just you and me here bunny, only focus on me.” , fascinated by Kuroo. He was right, in that moment it was just you and him. Every worry vanished, you didn’t notice your parents looking at you two or your aunts gossiping about you, it was just Kuroo helping you sway to the music. “I mean what I said earlier by the way, you look beautiful princess. I mean don’t get me wrong, you look gorgeous everyday but today bunny. You just have this fascinating glow to you. It’s like I can’t take my eyes off of you, you’re so captivating.” Your palms start sweating, hearing the music stop you break away from Kuroo abruptly. “Sorry, thank you for the dance Kuroo.”, wiping your sweaty palms you start to head back to your table feeling dizzy. Not realizing your parents sat themselves at your table, sitting down trying to look for Kuroo in the crowd. 

 Finally finding him near the refreshments, letting out a breath of relief. “So, got anything to say about yesterday young lady?” you freeze just barely noticing your parents at your table. You start to turn around feeling the fear comeback into you facing your father. “No, actually I have nothing to say and I’d prefer if we don’t talk about this here.”, trying to be the mature person in this situation. Your dad crosses his arms, “It’s just like you to walk away, you know you talked a big game to your mother but now you have nothing to say to me?”. Feeling your throat burn you start to pick at your fingers starting to speak before getting interrupted.

 “No matter what title you have to her, that doesn’t allow you to speak to her that way? A father should never speak to their daughter that way. Instead of trying to celebrate your other daughter’s beautiful wedding, here you are trying to make it about yourself. Excuse us, we're going to go ahead and sit somewhere else.” Kuroo places your drinks down before grabbing your hands and guiding you to another table. “I’m sorry bunny, I went to go get refreshments for us cause you seemed flushed after dancing but trouble seems to follow you anywhere you, huh?”, Kuroo tries lightening the mood but you still feel frozen by the tone your father displayed. Noticing how you weren’t letting up he decided to pull you away from the party entirely, gently caressing your face. “Sweetheart, look at me.”, he slowly starts swaying you just like before. 

 Laying your head on his shoulder you start swaying hearing music faintly playing in the background, “It’s just us remember. I’m here now.”. Kuroo’s lips gently graze your forehead as your vision feels blurry and you feel hot tears welling up. “Kuroo, can we go back to the hotel?”, he nods as you pull him to his car, not wanting to spend another minute near your parents. Driving to the hotel looking at the window you realized, your parents sucked at wanting to be parents. Being their daughter you always tried to make excuses for them but seeing how they treated Kuroo, it finally clicked for you that your relationship with them wasn’t worth the mental gymnastics. “Kuroo, do you talk to your parents?” Kuroo nods, feeling bad for not being able to provide the answer you wanted. “I do, I’m not going to lie to you though our relationship isn’t perfect but it’s not borderline damaging like your relationship with your parents. No offense.” You laugh, “No offense taken, It’s just sad to me that my parents don’t really feel like my parents. I can’t justify our relationship anymore, especially after everything they put you through. I just have to accept that my parents are not willing to change. Man, I need a drink after the day I’ve had.”

Heading out to the hotel bar, you and Kuroo decide to hangout before heading up to you guys’ hotel. Just getting a soda to drink, prematurely deciding that anything alcoholic will mess up your mental state even more. “Thank you Kuroo. We did it! The weekend is over!” You cheer with Kuroo before taking a sip of your drink. “This weekend was rough but you made it easier.” Kuroo leans on the bar smiling, picking at the tab on his soda can, “Well sweetheart, with you by me anything is easy.”. Suddenly feeling daring, you lean forward deciding to tease Kuroo the way he teases you, “Are you saying I’m easy Tetsu? That’s so mean of you to say to a girl who’s already down.”. Kuroo laughs leaning into you, “Bunny, we both know you’re anything but easy, more like troublesome.”  

 Kuroo leans down playing with the K charm on your necklace that lays on top of the nape of your neck as his gaze travels up to your face. Your breath hitches, knowing that your conversation just took a left turn, “Your friends wouldn’t describe you as troublesome, no?”. You shake your head, “Then what does that make me bunny?” You feel your heart pounding in your chest, “Tell me then sweetheart, tell me you want to be with me and I’ll drop everything to be with you. I’ve been telling you, "It was always you”, only you bunny.” Kuroo is only centimeters away from your parting lips. You feel his eyes locked on yours while your breath quickens, his fragrant musky cologne overtakes all your senses, and even though your desire to touch his lips with yours is strong, you hesitate.

“This is a mistake.” You whisper before pulling away abruptly, his fingers accidentally breaking the chain he bought you. You knew Alisa wanted him and what kind of friend would you be to take that from her, what kind of friend are you to even joke around like that? Deciding to pull away from Kuroo meant keeping your friendship with Alisa, knowing that she’d be heartbroken if she even knew you had any sort of feelings for Kuroo. “You’re right, this was.” Kuroo’s warmth is now gone and replaced with an ice-cold wall of rejection. He pulls away shaking his head and avoiding your eyes, “I’m heading back to our hotel room, since it’s the last night I think I’ll just take the floor.”, you sit up knowing you shouldn’t leave Kuroo alone but fearing what will happen if you convince him to stay. 

 Quickly contemplating the options in your head but your feet feel glued to the floor and a deafening silence hits your ears. You felt naive for allowing yourself to have feelings for Kuroo knowing he was never yours, you felt numb to the outside world. How could you do this to him, you hurt the only person who stuck out their neck to protect you. Not only did you hurt him but you also hurt Alisa, you felt like a terrible person. Not realizing you were in public till you heard people laughing near you, you felt heavy with negative thoughts consuming you. You quickly fix yourself before heading up to your hotel room. 

 Approaching the hotel room, you are met with light peeking out from under the door in the hotel hallway. Your chest felt like it was on fire, how could you go in there and act like everything was fine? You wished you could just start everything over from the beginning and profusely beg Kenma to come with you instead, never even considering asking Kuroo. Maybe even ignoring the invitation altogether and telling your sister you came down with some terrible food poisoning. Mid thought, the door abruptly opens but you can’t even tell because your slouched figure is on the nearest wall covering your face deep in thought. Kuroo stands still thinking about his next actions before shakily telling you that he’ll see you in the morning to drop you off at your apartment. You nodded, still stuffing your face in your hands because your throat felt too heavy to talk and you felt too ashamed to show your face. 

 Kuroo lingered longer than he expected wanting to hear you explain yourself but nothing progressed. Instead of saying anything, you finally let your hands fall to your side to be met with a blurry version of Kuroo’s silhouette. Just as you’re about to enter your shared hotel room, Kuroo suddenly grabs at your forearm. You stop becoming speechless at his actions wanting to grasp onto any words that’ll escape your mouth only to be met with nothing. He instead takes a deep shaky breath before speaking. “If you need me for anything just text me, I’m going for a drive. I’m not mad at you… I just need some time.” You didn’t face him still looking forward as you nodded before retracting your hand and heading in. Hearing the door shut in place, you sit down on the edge of the bed taking shelter in your arms. Conflicted about what to do with yourself now that you were truly alone. You did the only thing that felt right in this moment, cry, because deep down you know it’s over. Whatever chance you had at an actual friendship with Kuroo is over. The wedding being over was no longer a relief because you knew trouble was just going to follow. 

 Feeling the burden of having to explain yourself to Kenma, who would most likely be mad at you for stupidly developing feelings for his best friend and Alisa, who probably wouldn’t want to be your friend knowing you're disloyal to her. Laying down you grab the blanket and pull it up over your head, shutting out the world. However, the blanket could never replace the amount of comfort Kuroo would provide you and you only have yourself to blame for that.

 The next morning you’re met with Kuroo packing up his belongings, “Morning.”. His voice devoid of any  playful emotion and missing the stupid pet names he calls you, your heart breaks. You lift yourself up before heading to the bathroom to take off all of yesterday’s remains. As you slip everything off you feel yourself remembering how good the day started just for it to end rotten. Washing your face, you hoped you would wake up and maybe this would all just go away like a bad dream but sadly it wasn’t. Facing the consequences of your actions you decide to go back out there. Packing your things away you feel your phone ring, deciding to silence it before seeing it was Kenma spam calling you. Looking around seeing Kuroo immersed in packing you decide to put your phone on do not disturb. “You ready?”, you turn around to see Kuroo packed, “Yeah.”. Picking up your things before heading out the hotel, this was going to be a long drive.

After your awkward drive with Kuroo, you knew exactly where he would be going and exactly where you couldn’t go. Knowing he’d end up venting to Kenma, you go where you knew Kuroo wouldn’t be. That’s how you end up knocking quietly on Alisa’s door in the early morning. She opens up to see your sunken and tired expression as you fall straight to the floor begging for forgiveness. Her eyes widened, “What happened, what did your family do to you and where’s Kuroo? How come he didn’t come up with you knowing you’re in this state, I’m going to kill him.” You silently look up to Alisa before covering your sobs with your hand and saying sorry. She looks down at you confused, while her brows furrow in concern. 

 “What are you saying sorry for honey? Are you ok, come in and tell me what happened.” Alisa pulled you into her apartment, you sat in silence waiting patiently to get yourself together before saying your explanation on the weekend and why you suddenly came to her declaring for forgiveness. Deciding to cut to the chase you close your eyes before explaining everything, “Kuroo tried to kiss me Lis and I pulled back because I didn’t have it in me. He’s yours, Lis. However, I would be lying to you If I said I didn’t have feelings for him and I’m so sorry.” Alisa stares blankly into space, “He tried to kiss you?”, you nod. “Alisa, what kind of friend would I be if I kissed him back and didn’t let you have a chance? I couldn’t live with myself If I took this opportunity from you.” Alisa chuckles and looks at me like you’ve overlooked key details.

 “You are so beautiful but yet so dense. What kind of friend would I be if I denied you an opportunity to be with someone who likes you? Answer me, do you like him?”. You looked at her then looked away afraid this would blow up in your face. “I guess? Maybe? I don’t know! When we started this I thought he was annoying but now he’s less annoying?”, not knowing what else to say about him without hurting her feelings. “Do you remember what I told you the day you came to ask me for permission to fake date him?”, you nod. “Well then, you should know that Kuroo is in fact not mine. Yes, I liked Kuroo but I now know he doesn’t feel the same way about me. However, I do know that he feels that way about you, so what are you going to do about it?”. 

 Your stomach felt like it was in knots, did you like Kuroo that much you were willing to take him away from Alisa? How do you know when you like someone? Was wanting to kiss him at the hotel an instinct or a moment of weakness? Thinking back to the weekend you realized just how much Kuroo influenced you, how his compliments started to linger on your mind for longer, or how you suddenly turned into a mess each time he engaged in physical contact with you. Holy crap, you liked Kuroo. Oh no, you liked Kuroo. You look up at Alisa who gives you a knowing look, “Go get him girl!”. Even though you wanted to make a big dramatic escape to Kuroo you knew it just wasn’t that simple, you dropped your head.

 Alisa looks at you questioningly, she thinks you didn’t hear her so she raises her voice a little. “Hello, I said go get him… why are you hesitating?” Your sigh fills the room, you don’t know what to say, you don’t know if there’s anything left to say. “I messed up badly, what am I supposed to say? Hey Kuroo, I know I said almost kissing you was a mistake but now I suddenly realized I like you. Kuroo doesn’t deserve backpedaling. Plus, we didn’t talk the whole way home! What do you think that means? I hate you.“ Alisa cuts you off before you can talk for another 30 minutes. “Look, if he really liked you he wouldn’t be over you in the span of a day! I’ll give you two days here before I drag you to his apartment myself. So get yourself mentally prepared to talk to him, okay?”

 I’m heading home, is what you text Kenma before putting your phone on, do not disturb, not wanting to hear him nag at you for avoiding him. It takes you a while to pick up all your belongings due to your hesitance. Alisa notices, “Ok, I’m about to start throwing all your stuff in your bag. I told you two days, not two decades, what’s taking you so long to pack? Didn’t you already tell Kenma that you were on your way?” Alisa glances over at you slumped on her bed. “I’m just mentally getting ready for Kenma to get upset at me, you know how territorial he is when it comes to Kuroo. On top of that, he’s scary when he’s mad. Usually people yell and argue but Ken just gets silent and stares at you disappointedly.” As soon as Alisa starts laughing you both hear a knock on her door. Glancing at each other, deciding to tiptoe to the door. She glances out the peephole to see Kuroo, gasping she whispers to go to her room. You signal an ok as you quietly but quickly make a run to her room.

 She opens the door to see Kuroo in a distressed looking state, “Hey Kuroo, what’s up?”. “Alisa I need your help, I know (y/n) was just here but how was she before she took off? Was she upset, did she mention being upset at me?”, Alisa had never seen Kuroo like this. Even in high school when he played big tournaments he always stayed peaceful. She quickly thought how he must really like you if you have him this distressed. You were listening to Kuroo ramble from Lis’ room and for once you felt like you were listening to yourself speak. “She’s actually still here, she hasn’t left yet.”, your heart drops, “Come on out! I’ll leave you guys to it, let me know when this is all over.” With that you hear the door click and footsteps heading towards Lis’ room.

 “Hello, anyone there?” Kuroo stops right in front of Alisa’s door before knocking softly, “I know you’re in there. Can you please open the door? I want to talk.” You hear Kuroo’s breath falter waiting for your response before you open the door letting him in. You guys look at each other before breaking the silence, “I’m sorry I didn’t reach out Kuroo, I didn’t want to seem pushy. Especially if you felt that you needed more time.”. Kuroo laughs bitterly, “Do you ever intend to put yourself first?”. You felt your heart stop, “Excuse me?”, you didn’t know if this was a fever dream or if Kuroo was really trying to reprimand you. “Kenma filled me in, he told me why he thinks you didn’t kiss me back. I want you to tell me the truth, is it because of Alisa’s feelings or is it because you don’t like me?”

 Kuroo knows the answer but he wants to hear you say it. Kuroo grabs your fidgeting hands, “Please bunny, tell me. If you don’t like me I’ll walk away, never bother you again. If you do like me then I need to hear it from you.”. He hears you take a deep breath, anticipation building up in him. “I didn’t want to hurt Alisa. Even if I did like you, knowing I would betray Alisa would hurt me more. I’m sorry but I need you to understand that.”, a silence looms over you two. “What about what you wanted? What about what Alisa would want for you?”Kuroo has you thinking about what you wanted for once but not being selfish enough to take it. 

 You stare at your hands interlocking, “You aren’t supposed to be with someone like me. The weekend we shared validated that answer, whether it be my parents dragging me down or even my own expectations limiting me. If you’re associated with me, I fear that I’ll just bring you down. Alisa has a beautiful family, a great job, and everything you need to live a happy life. I don’t deserve you.”, Kuroo’s heart shatters with each dig you throw at yourself. “Sweetheart, look at me.” You stare at Kuroo seeing that his eyes are watering, “Ever since you clumsily stumbled into my life you have possessed every single one of my thoughts, I wasn’t lying to you.” He places his face near yours.

 “I know that asking to be with you, is asking for all of you, all of your family troubles, your bad days, and even your nagging roommate.”, you chuckle, now tearing up with him. “That also means I get quiet mornings waking up next to you, being able to come home to you after a long day, and just being with you, no one else. You fill the holes in my heart that are shaped after you, and hold my heart in the palm of your hands. I never want you to feel like you have to earn me, you are good enough just as you are sweetheart. I don’t only want the good parts, I’ll be by you through the bad parts too. We’re in this together and I never intend to break that promise bunny.”, you shyly smile. No one has ever talked to you in such a caring manner that wasn’t meant to be taken platonically. “I really, really want to kiss you Tetsu.” You lean into Kuroo still feeling doubtful. “Okay, I’m all yours.”, you quickly kiss him, seizing the opportunity he gave you. 

 You both start getting lost in the feeling of kissing each other, relishing in how quiet your mind was, thoughts buried in the thought of how plush Kuroo’s lips felt. You never wanted this feeling to stop, Kuroo pulls away from you, still close enough to pull you back in. “I guess this trip brought you a new boyfriend, huh?”, you pause laughing for a moment remembering back to the cafe. “You’re such a nerd Tetsu.”, you look down to his lips wanting to kiss away his cocky smirk. “Oh, you forgot this at the hotel by the way, clumsy girl”, you looked at him in concern before seeing the K necklace, shocked. “I made sure to fix it for you, I can’t have my baby wearing it broken now, can I?”, he smirks looking at you. You turn around letting him lay the necklace down, clasping it together. “You know how I said I kept the receipt?”, you nod, “Well I kinda lied about that.” You turn around slowly, “Kuroo Tetsuro, how much did you spend on this? What if I had said no to your confession?” He grabs your face close to his smirking, “Well good thing I already said I’m all yours sweetheart.”, kissing you softly relishing in the thought that you both belong to each other.

divider credit to @/anitalenia and @/thecutestgrotto

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ melon's marginalia: please enjoy, this is my first long fic and i hope you love it! inbox is open if you have any comments!! kuroo is slowly becoming my fav character!! 🐈‍⬛

[lascvitae]

the hills. — kim minjeong x reader.

"when i'm fucked up, that's the real me."

sypnosis ⸝⸝⸝ park y/n has always hated minjeong, and the feeling has always mutual. growing up as rivals, it only made sense for their rivalry to carry on with them to college. but when minjeong became student council president she devloped a knack for using that power over y/n, causing for the line in between love and hate to blur.

pairing ⸝⸝⸝ enemies to lovers, stuco president!minjeong x campus player!reader

warnings ⸝⸝⸝ profanity, suggestive, alcohol & cannabis consumption, cheating, y/n is lowk big mad, minjeong is down bad

note ⸝⸝⸝ HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY TO ME AND MINJEONGGG 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 and happy new year too!!! idk how i feel about this fic, it’s kinda out of my comfort zone (also its so late rn, i took WAYYY too long to post this)

word count: 4.4k

if there was one thing that every college student looked forward to during midterms, it was the month long break. whether they spend it sleeping, partying, or with their loved ones, it was always the fuel of their excitement.

this had even been the case for park y/n, an extremely popular student yonsei university. the popularity wasn’t due to her looks & lovable bold personality, but she was also park sunghoon’s little sister. sunghoon was notorius for his ability to ice skate, entracing everyone who watched him dance across the ice almost insantly.

y/n went viral after being spotted giving her brother a pep talk before a big performance, resulting in praise for her demeanor and refreshing visuals.

this event lead to her current boyfriend at the time, kim sunwoo, who was one of the most popular campus crushes. he was known for throwing the craziest parties, especially during the breaks.

even though y/n is well-known for breaking hearts and then moving onto the next person she deems worthy, sunwoo didn’t seem to mind this at all. he was happily enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. and in his mind, they were the hottest couple the university had laid their eyes upon.

this hadn’t been the case for student council president kim minjeong, who was currently eyeing the said girl with disdain. the annoyance was practically radiating off of her at this point.

minjeong wasn’t the typical president, though. while she exuded the punk and rock aesthetic perfectly, she was extremely nice to everyone. some would even describe her as shy, but everyone could tell that she genuinely cared for the students. with the way she coordinated all the activities, advocated for the students’ needs and concerns, and represented the entire studdent body. her leadership and communication skills were out of this world.

that was with everyone except for park y/n.

they had been enemies — or more so rivals, for years now. it started in elementary school, where they used to be table partners.

their table was pretty far in the back, so the teacher would always reach them last.

on the very first day when the teacher handed out colored construction paper, minjeong took the last blue colored one. the one that y/n had been waiting so patiently for.

that wasn’t the worst part about it all. she even left a friendly comment for her so-called table partner.

“i’m smarter, so i get it instead of you!” she chirped.

y/n smacked her gum angrily, crossing her arms as the teacher scolded minjeong.

“you’re a big fat liar!” y/n spat back, resulting in a loss of two class dojo points.

“park y/n! give me your gum, now.” the teacher scolded, and y/n immediately obeyed.

two more class dojo points that she needed for her favorite candy — the big blow pops with gum inside.

she could still remember the event as clear as water to this day.

and everytime she does, she reminds herself that she is indeed better than minjeong, and she wouldn’t let that anger consume her. it wouldn’t have been possible to beat minjeong in every spelling bee if the girl was better than her.

minjeong and y/n used to compete in the spelling bee every year during middle school, and they would always be the final two left standing.

but minjeong could never beat y/n. and the smile that y/n would give everyone once she got the award was worth losing.

and the time in high school where —

“are you even listening?” minjeong quirked a brow, patience running thin. her teeth grazed against the piercings that looped around her bottom lip. the piercings that made minjeong look ten times hotter.

y/n hated those.

“yeah, whatever. i, park y/n, swear to improve my behavior over the break. can i go now?” the blonde-haired girl shook her head in disappointment.

“today isn’t the day to be testing my patience.” even if there was any real threat behind the warning, y/n didn’t care. she rolled her eyes before standing up from the chair, smacking her gum to take it a step further as usual. she always knew exactly how to push minjeong’s buttons.

“just get out.” minjeong ordered before holding out the palm of her hand, tilting her head as her eyes zeroed in on her rival’s lips.

a reluctant y/n spat out her gum with crossed arms, huffing quietly. this wasn’t uncommon for the two, and y/n was never truly bugged by the action. she only feigned annoyance so that minjeong had a reason to do it more often.

and she definitely did.

“ugh! i can’t stand minjeong!” y/n complained in the canteen, fixing her lip combo as sunwoo held up the phone camera for her.

sunwoo was currently seated with y/n and her friends, listening to his girlfriend rant on and on about their student council president. this wasn’t a new topic for him.

yuqi was absent this time — she had probably been lip locking in a hallway with her boyfriend, waiting to get caught.

“is there something i should know about her?” aeri raised an eyebrow. “she’s my r—“

“mm-mm. just let her finish, aeri.” sunwoo cut her off, waving his hand side to side in the air. aeri could only shrug in response.

“i swear she does it on purpose too… she never reports anyone as much as she reports you.” ningning chimed in, sipping from the lilac stanley cup that sat on the table.

“exactly! urgh, like she’s so infuriating!” her boyfriend, who was more of a decoration, watched y/n work her magic, amazed by how pretty she was. “i swear we’ve memorized each other’s schedule.” aeri’s face contorted into one of confusion.

“maybe she wants to be your friend.” sunwoo shrugged, resulting in y/n giving him her signature eye roll.

“be my friend? baby, come on now…” she had looked up at him for a moment, sighing quietly before passing her attention to aeri instead. “babes! you should totally come to sunwoo’s party tonight.“

aeri was the newest addition to y/n, yuqi, and ningning’s interchangable clique.

while the three of them stuck together like glue, it was never the same case for the fourth person.

but they had high hopes for aeri.

“i wouldn’t miss it, y/n. anything in particular i need to wear?” she questioned.

“just come to y/n’s house. she’ll get you all fixed up.” ningning’s smile widened, twirling a strand of aeri’s hair. and if anyone was paying enough attention, they could see the faint blush appearing onto the pink-haired girl’s cheeks.

“yuqi had designer dresses made for all of us! today’s your lucky day, because we have a fourth.” y/n smirked, stuffing her makeup into sunwoo’s hands.

the boy hurriedly but carefully put everything back into her purse, along with the pink iphone 16 he knew she loved so much.

“it was originally meant for yujin.” ningning explained, sipping from her stanley as they all stood up. “before she went… rogue.” her voice dropped an octave on the word ‘rogue.’ aeri believed that she understood what that meant — yujin had made friends with minjeong and the rest of the student council.

“but it’s okay, because you’re totally prettier.” y/n giggled before grabbing aeri’s arm and walking off, ningning following close behind.

sunwoo dropped his girlfriend’s phone just as they walked off, picking it up and wiping it off with his hands. “y/n, wait!”

“yuqi, we look like cheap fucking whores. i thought you said this was designer?” y/n complained over the music after they arrived fashionably late to sunwoo’s christmas party.

there were already tons of people there. people that y/n could recognize and some that she couldn’t. some were dressed appropriately for the occasion, and some were in casual clothing.

they all had something in common though — hazy clouds filled the air, and the scent of alcohol boomed throughout the whole building. clearly whoever the dj was didn’t give a fuck about christmas, and that was obvious enough with the way rihanna blasted through all of the speakers.

“this is designer! feel the material.” yuqi retaliated, caressing the faux fur that stuck out of the top and bottom of the red minidress. the belt that defined their waists brought it all together.

aeri shrugged, being pulled closer by ningning. “it’s not too bad.”

their dresses were topped off with a matching santa hat, as well as black gloves and boots.

y/n crossed her arms, poking her hip out as she scanned the crowd. they had noticed their arrival now, earning the attention from a select number of the partygoers. she sighed, knowing that she couldn’t leave early because she rode with yuqi.

unless she were to leave with someone else tonight.

“damn, baby. you look good.” sunwoo sauntered over with his red cup in hand, smelling like a mixture of weed and his signature cologne as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss against y/n’s lips.

he was dressed up as an elf. santa and the elf, how fitting for the couple.

“we look no different than the cup in your hand right now.” she pushed him away, furrowing her eyebrows.

“you look good in everything, though.” he pulled her close once more, planting open mouthed kisses to her neck.

“where’s the weed?” y/n subtly pried him off of her neck, clearing her throat. “this is a party, right?” she tilted her head, eyes burning into his.

“just come this way, baby.” and with that, he maneuvered his way through the crowd, being extremely easy to lose due to the dim and multicolored lighting and the way his green outfit looked underneath it.

the group had a bit of trouble following behind. all different types of people were around with their train of thought altered. high, drunk, both. sober.

they staggered into the kitchen, watching sunwoo open the door to a room just some feet away from them. “he went in there.” yuqi pointed out.

“hey! fucking watch it!” y/n shoved a random person after seeing them bump into aeri, who was being pulled close to ningning’s side once more.

the girl turned around, and y/n validated her own anger once she saw the girl’s face. it was ahn yujin.

yuqi stepped in front of aeri and ningning before gasping comically.

“hey! she didn’t even touch her.” a tall girl that had long brown hair spoke up for yujin with an alert expression painting her features. her name was wonyoung or something? whatever. y/n didn’t care.

“bitch, don’t lie! i saw it!” yuqi raised her voice, and wonyoung gave her a look of annoyance. this made both yuqi and y/n’s temper flare up.

y/n moved in closer to give them both a piece of her mind, but she was stopped by the familiar voice that she could recognize over any symphony.

kim minjeong’s.

“yujin? wony? what’s going on?…” the blonde haired girl was accompanied by the vice president of the student council, yu jimin.

jimin had two drinks in her hand, and yujin scurried out of sight. wonyoung was quick to give the two girls an apologetic look before following.

minjeong’s breath stopped as her eyes met y/n’s, studying the girl’s attire whilst her tongue played with her lip piercings. it was like her expression did a whole one-eighty. taken over completely by anger and something else that y/n couldn’t name.

y/n hated it.

“minjeong, huh?” she let out a laugh that was annoying to minjeong’s ears. “didn’t expect to see you here.”

it’s not that minjeong wasn’t expecting to run into y/n. this was her boyfriend’s party.

after all, y/n was the reason why she left the house tonight.

“this doesn’t look like improving your behavior.” her hand waved around y/n’s figure, arms crossed in her leather jacket. her shirt was short enough that her abs were on display.

y/n hated that.

“you aren’t innocent either, president.” y/n motioned to the red cup that was in jimin’s hand.

jimin laughed awkwardly, opening her mouth to de-escalate the situation.

“i earned this, don’t you think? for being valedictorian this semester.” minjeong spoke in a condescending manner, inching closer to y/n. the way she could see y/n’s eye twitch was the icing on the cake, smirk dancing onto her lips.

and y/n fucking hated it.

“you’re not better than me at everything, minjeong.” her words were laced with venom, even though the person in front of her was the snake.

“i’m sorry? name it.” minjeong chuckled, shoving jimin’s hand that came onto her shoulder.

“if you really wanna hear the answer, come smoke with us. i spent too much time on you.” y/n crossed her arms, smacking her gum.

minjeong was slightly taken aback, and jimin noticed this.

“hey, minjeong… we can—“

“lead the way, y/n.”

jimin’s face fell. how far was minjeong willing to go just to prove y/n wrong? her friends were in need of her help right now.

“hurry up! yuqi said sunwoo went this way.” aeri grabbed ningning’s arm, guiding her through the ocean of people as the rest of them followed, leaving jimin there alone.

“president finally letting loose, huh?” yuqi’s boyfriend, juyeon vocalized in an intrigued tone while sparking up both the blunt and the conversation. the group shared laughter of their own.

yuqi was cuddled close next to him, with aeri and ningning exactly to her left.

y/n was seated in between sunwoo and minjeong, while jake sat next to sunwoo. they were having their own conversation that y/n couldn’t care less about.

as the blunt started it’s rotation, the topic of conversation started to get lost. random thoughts were being talked about now. minjeong swore that she could hear juyeon lighting another blunt.

once it y/n passed it to minjeong, all eyes were on her.

“just do it.” y/n laughed at the worry plastered on the girl’s face.

“or are you a pussy, kim minjeong?”

that was all it took for minjeong to take a hit. a big one, too.

she blew out the smoke and immediately went into a coughing fit, sunwoo rushing to get the girl some water.

y/n felt jealousy coursing through her veins over this. but she wasn’t feeling jealous of minjeong.

“hey.” y/n stood up, elbowing sunwoo away from the blonde haired girl. she pat her back, taking the water bottle and waiting patiently for the coughing to come to an end.

once it did, minjeong tilted her head back so y/n could pour the water into her mouth. yet neither of them broke eye contact.

had aeri seen that right? because it looked like y/n pushed sunwoo away just to help minjeong. purposely.

but if sunwoo didn’t find anything wrong, she didn’t find a reason to, either.

all it took was a few minutes for the whole group to be completely faded. yuqi and her boyfriend left the room a while ago, and ningning excused herself to the bathroom. aeri followed to make sure the girl was okay.

this left jake, sunwoo, y/n, and minjeong. jake had the blunt, and he was laughing after y/n politely asked for a game of truth or dare.

“i might admit something i’ll regret later.” he shook his head, eyeing y/n considerably. this didn’t go unnoticed by sunwoo or minjeong.

she nudged y/n’s shoulder, leaning in to speak quietly once she had acquired her attention.

“the fuck does that mean, jaeyun?” sunwoo barked, sitting up slightly.

jake raised his hands, shaking his head as he yielded.

“still haven’t told me what you’re better at.” the president whispered, and the corners of y/n’s lips went upward.

“come here.” y/n grabbed minjeong’s hand as they stood up, sneaking out from the room that was full of hazy clouds.

sunwoo clicked his tongue, leaning back onto the couch as he looked over at his friend. “you gonna keep babysitting or what?”

“my bad. would hate to ruin y/n’s night.” his voice was lower now, and he handed the blunt to sunwoo, who was obviously upset.

sunwoo took a hit while shaking his head, turning his head to talk to his girlfriend.

“you good y/n—“

“the fuck? where’d they go?” he asked, coughing as he took the blunt from between his lips.

jake shrugged, and sunwoo left him alone in the room to start his search for y/n and minjeong.

“he took the blunt.” jake lifted his arms up dramatically.

y/n and minjeong were in the corner of the kitchen, and y/n smirked as she settled onto the side of the table parallel to her rival.

random people were watching as they began their game of beer pong.

“if minjeong wins, i’ll sleep with chaewon tonight.” a classmate named yunjin spoke out.

y/n started the game, easily taking the lead with two cups to zero.

“seriously? you can drink better than me? everyone knows that, y/n.” minjeong spat out once she kept losing. there were ten cups and y/n had already scored four, while she was at zero.

“hey, now. you know what they say. if you’re not drinking, you’re not playing.” y/n teased.

minjeong huffed, realizing that people were recording now. a light flush painted her cheeks. she didn’t want to seem like a total loser, at least.

she played with the piercings on her lip, finally landing the ping pong ball into one of the cups.

y/n couldn’t focus on anything else after seeing minjeong tease the lip rings, slowly losing her lead.

and after two more, the crowd began to ramp up. they were surrounded by red cups and camera flashes.

“yo, the president is about to beat y/n in beer pong!” some guy yelled out, and y/n furrowed her eyebrows. that’s not what she wanted to be remembered at this party for.

then suddenly, the crowd exchanged gasps as all of the cameras were suddenly pointed at y/n.

jimin had splashed a drink onto y/n’s dress, the liquid coating almost the entire top half of it.

and while y/n was enraged, minjeong found it the hottest sight laid upon her eyes. ever.

“minjeong! the fuck are you doing! people are recording!” jimin scolded her, grabbing her arm to drag her out of the party.

minjeong was crossfaded — she didn’t care. she hadn’t even zoned back in all the way yet.

“this is designer, you whore! it costs more than your whole life!” y/n yelled, and the room had gone quiet.

“you bitches post this anywhere and i’ll kill you.” she threatened the crowd, stomping off to the bathroom.

finally coming back to her senses, the blonde-haired girl spoke up. “jimin, what the hell?” minjeong pushed the vice president off of her shoulder, running after the girl she claimed to be the bane of her existence.

“what the fuck just happened?” a troubled sunwoo asked the crowd that had quickly dispersed and continued on with their previous activities.

a few had sobered up, but the rest replaced their tasks with getting wasted.

“i don’t know. chaewon ain’t getting laid tonight though.” ryujin commented, pouring a drink for yeji.

y/n found herself in some random bathroom, wiping frantically at the stain and trail of drink mixture trickling down her cleavage.

she groaned loudly, grabbing more paper towels when she heard the door open and close. it was no one other than kim minjeong.

she even heard the lock click.

the fucking audacity, y/n thought.

“y/n—“

“get the fuck out, minjeong!” she yelled out, words coming out slower than intended.

“let me help you—“ y/n pushed her away, chest heaving with anger as minjeong stumbled back into the door, leaning against it.

“this is all your fault, kim minjeong. she wouldn’t have spilled that drink on me if it wasn’t for you.” y/n yelled, pointing her finger at the girl. “it’s always your fucking fault!”

her words were slurred, but minjeong thought it was the hottest thing ever. had she ever gotten turned on from a girl yelling at her before?

“w-what jimin did isn’t—“

“shut up!” she moved closer to the blonde haired girl, and she didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was looking straight at her chest.

y/n couldn’t help but notice this, and it made her heartbeat accelerate. “you know what? my whole mood is ruined. just… just shut the fuck up.”

minjeong fiddled with the piercings on her lip. she didn’t want to shut up.

“let me take you home.”

“while you’re drunk? no. this is why you just need to shut up.” y/n scoffed, making minjeong want to try even harder.

“then let me pay for your uber.” minjeong spoke up again.

“what do you not understand about shutting the fuck up?“

“please, y/n?” she breathed out, pushing off of the door to hold herself up on the edge of the sink. “i’ll make sure you get home safe.”

y/n looked at the other from over her shoulder, imaging how it would feel to have her lips against her own.

“okay.” the conversation ended there and the room went silent. only for a while though.

“does sunwoo do that?”

y/n’s breath hitched, and she swallowed harshly. “do what?” she whispered back, skin ablaze with the amount of fire that was burning in minjeong’s eyes.

this was the moment that they realized they both wanted each other this whole time. the way that minjeong slammed their lips together proved it.

it didn’t take long for y/n to get into the feel of the kiss, lips dancing together in a rhythmic manner as y/n pushed her back against the door.

y/n smiled into the kiss as she finally fulfilled her dream of finding out how those piercings would feel at her lips, and it had her craving more.

the president let out a quiet moan as her rival’s tongue slithered into her own mouth, cheeks flushing as she lost herself in the sensation of their heated kiss.

“y-y/n...” she breathed out, and y/n pulled back to witness the sight.

minjeong was so cute.

“this isn’t the student council president i know.” y/n smirked, challenging the girl as she connected their lips once more.

they were drowning so deep into each other that they didn’t even notice that someone was knocking at the door.

“y/n? y/n, you in here?” sunwoo called out, twisting the doorknob.

oh fuck. y/n’s stomach dropped.

minjeong took this opportunity to switch them around, trapping y/n against the door as she attacked her neck with desperate kisses.

y/n didn’t know what to do. should she stay silent?

surely sunwoo had heard the noise of her colliding with the door.

should she just pretend that they were some random couple making out?

minjeong had gotten touchy, shakily gripping y/ns waist as she marked her as her territory.

sunwoo was persistent — knocking again as he continued to call out for y/n. does this guy ever give up?

just as she heard another guy approach the door, minjeong bit down on the sweet spot of y/n’s neck.

y/n whimpered at the action, listening to the conversation that happened on the other side of the door with heavy breaths.

sunwoo was asking someone if they had seen his girlfriend.

even if y/n did want to answer now, minjeong swallowed her noises, tongues fighting each other for dominance as y/n traced the other girl’s abs.

she whined into y/n’s mouth, feeling all of her fantasies finally coming to life.

“please, y/n..” it was a desperate whisper as they pulled away just enough to breathe, not wanting to create any more distance.

“i’ll take care of you.” she panted, playing with the piercings on her lip as she eyed y/n hungrily.

“i love it when you do that.” y/n whispered, keeping eye contact with minjeong while the footsteps retreated. “yeah?” minjeong closed the gap between them, pressing their lips together in a needy kiss.

“minjeong— baby, wait...” y/n moaned, pushing the girl away.

“call the uber.”

it felt like y/n’s brain was doing summersalts inside of her head, hammering against the edges with each routine. she groaned, reluctantly opening her eyes as she scanned the room that she found herself in.

the sheets smelled like amber vanilla with a hint of tart cherry. a scent she had come to love and hate over the years.

because it belonged to kim minjeong.

y/n sat up abruptly, breathing frantically as she really examined the room that she was in. she hadn’t even noticed the figure with blonde hair that she had been previously cuddled up with. that’s why she didn’t recognize this room.

because it belonged to kim minjeong.

“shit shit shit! what the fuck?” y/n bounced out of the bed, searching for her clothes that were scattered on the floor. her phone was on the nightstand, and she could see the multiple notifications that she had received from sunwoo.

she collected everything, tip-toeing into the connected bathroom and slipping back into the outfit she had on previously.

the mirror revealed that her lip combo was stained and there were marks scattered over her skin.

she would have to hide all of this from sunwoo.

feeling the realization really sinking in now, y/n grabbed her phone and traversed into the hallway. she saw that there was a door that seemed to lead to another room, and she began to panic more.

of course minjeong has a roommate.

quickly finding her way to the living area, it was barely lit up by the sunrise. the blinds were completely closed, and there was no other light available. y/n could barely see now, so how did anyone even see when they got home?

her mind tunneled on getting out of this mess, finding one of her boots at the door. after slipping it on, she ran a hand through her hair as her eyes scanned the space for the other pair.

it had to be close, right?

she hit her knee on the sofa, yelping and kneeling down to grab it. “fuck!” she whisper-yelled, pouting up at the sofa as she mentally cursed it out.

someone walked into the living room, flicking the light on and y/n fell silent. she froze in place, closing her eyes as she hoped the sofa would hide her figure completely.

“y/n. i can see your hat.” a familiar voice called out.

what the fuck?

y/n jumped up. “ningning!” her eyes were damn near poking out of their sockets.

ningning’s lips spread into a smile, letting out a melodious laugh after she scanned all of the hickeys and love bites scattered on y/n’s collarbone area and up.

y/n was confused and embarrassed, but not ashamed. “wait, but minjeong isn’t your roommate?…” that was when another figure left the room, grabbing both of their attention.

“holy shit, aeri??” y/n yelled out in surprise.

taglist — @saysirhc

[nesepte]

Half Pink Half You :: l.dh

pairing: lee donghyuck x female oc

Description: Locked in an endless prank war, Donghyuck and Haewon only had one goal— outsmart the other by pulling a cleverer trick. But when one of Donghyuck’s pranks goes horribly wrong, the two might come face to face with their true feelings. As emotions run high and tension deepens, can the two survive a test of their hearts?

Tags: enemies(?) to lovers, pining (lots of it), angst, more pining Content: prank war, enemies to idiots to lovers (they pine for each other a lot), hospitalization, near-death experience, near-drowning, and once again, lots of angst a/n: seriously, don't read this if you don't like angst

Word count: 8.8k words

Happy Reading!

It was only 9 am and Donghyuck had made Haewon curse seven times already. Eight, if you count the finger she had just given him after he had made a retching sound at the picture she clicked of the sky.

‘Did I ask?’ she gritted out, turning away from him.

But Donghyuck caught up to her. There wasn’t much room to escape on a bus filled with 40 other students anyway.

He clicked his tongue, pulling his bag over his shoulder. ‘You should appreciate the free advice, princess. You clearly need it.’

Haewon bit her tongue, deciding to swallow the protest at the nickname he had just used for her and settle for a roll of her eyes instead. She found an empty seat a few rows from the end and settled down on the window side only to sigh immediately as Donghyuck plopped down beside her.

‘Can’t you sit anywhere else?’ she complained, shoving him out to the aisle.

Donghyuck barely caught himself before bumping into another student.

‘Tch tch, where are your manners?’ He pulled himself up and dusted his jacket, slumping down next to her again.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, knowing the answer was to annoy her.

But Donghyuck went quiet.

Haewon looked up at him, curious when she received no reply. But all Donghyuck did was stare at her, his signature devil-may-care smirk plastered on his face and for a moment she could swear that she saw his eyes glint.

‘What?’

He narrowed his eyes at her, slightly amused. ‘Did you really forget what day it is today?’

Haewon knew what day it was. It was a Saturday. They were sitting on a bus that was going to take them away from the city to the mountains for their Photography Club field trip. It was the beginning of their mid-semester break and… and…

She rummaged through her mind trying to find the meaning behind Donghyuck’s mischievous smirk that was only growing wider by the second.

And then, like a bolt of lightning, the memory shot to the front of her mind, her eyes widening at the realization. Suddenly, it all made sense– his grin, his tone, the way Donghyuck was clinging to her today and why he was acting so smug since morning. She was sure now that the glint she saw in his eyes earlier was very much real.

Haewon gulped the rising anxiety, shocked at how quickly it took form inside her.

‘So, you remember,’ he said, tilting his head to the side, his tone haughty and amused in equal measure.

She wanted to curse at herself for forgetting the day but her desire to slap the smirk off Donghyuck’s face took precedence making her curse at him instead.

‘I am so hurt,’ he said, rounding his lips into a fake pout enough to rile her up and Haewon had to stop herself from rolling her eyes for the nth time today.

‘What are you planning to do?’ she asked, hating how hoarse her voice sounded.

‘Hm…’ He leaned back in his seat, crossing his hands behind his head and sighed as if reminiscing a fond memory. ‘Just a little fun thing for you.’

Haewon raised an eyebrow. ‘For me or for you?’

‘For you,’ he insisted. ‘Oh, don’t be so scared.’ He nudged her arm.

‘Please,’ she scoffed, hoping her voice wouldn’t betray her this time. ‘The last prank you pulled on me was so pathetic.’

The smile on his face dropped. He ran his fingers through his hair, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. It was quite unoriginal to hide the keys to her locker for a day but he wasn’t going to admit that here.

‘Don’t worry, I came prepared this time.’

‘Fine.’ She shrugged. ‘Bring it on, then.’

‘Oh, careful with it,’ he said, the smirk returning to his face. ‘You will land yourself in trouble this time, princess.’

‘Go die, will you?’

‘Classy,’ he remarked and got up from the seat, pulling his bag up his shoulder. ‘See you later.’ He winked.

Renjun found Haewon a minute later. Mark, the President of the Photography club, had just finished taking the attendance and they were waiting for the bus driver.

‘Damn, what got you so worked up this early in the morning?’ Renjun asked.

Haewon was seething, a permanent frown on her face. ‘What do you think?’ She crossed her arms and made space for him beside her.

Depositing his bag in the overhead compartment, he sat himself down once the bus started to move.

‘The field trip hasn’t even started yet and you both are fighting already,’ he pointed out.

‘Is it my fault that he is so annoying?’

Renjun shook his head, exhausted. Being Haewon’s best friend wasn’t easy. Not that he didn’t like spending time with her, but there was only so much rant one could hear about a supposed ‘enemy’ before wanting to pull their hair off.

‘Seriously, when will you both end this prank war?’ he asked.

‘He started it!’

‘It’s been two years, Haewon…’

Had it really been that long, she wondered. Haewon could clearly recall the day she joined the Photography Club. It was Renjun who had introduced her to Mark, who was the Vice-President at the time. She had showed her photographs to him and the next day Mark had given her the form to the club.

But she took her time.

The club was infamous for its all-boys members and more so notorious for how the seniors treated the girls who wanted to join. It wasn’t until her junior year, after Mark’s several reassurances and Renjun’s insistence that she joined the club. Even then, she kept to herself, talking to no one except Renjun until she visited the common room one evening after her classes and ran into Donghyuck.

He was too loud— that was the first thing she had noticed about him. He liked attention, that was the second thing she had realized.

Sprawled in the middle of the common room with his photographs on display, he was inviting everyone to take a look, irritated by anyone who didn’t take an interest in them. Donghyuck even had the seniors lining up to see his latest collection.

‘Do you like it that much?’ was the first thing he spoke to her. Haewon hadn’t realized she had been staring at a picture that was tucked away in a corner. She was also the only one who had stopped in front of it. The picture wasn’t anything extraordinary. The camera angle was basic and the scenery was plain— a lake between a thick cover of forest. But what had caught her attention was a boy standing right at the edge of the lake. He was dressed in all white; his hair was messy and his clothes were too loose for him.

‘It’s the only picture with someone in it,’ she said, still looking at the photograph.

She heard Donghyuck chuckle beside her. ‘It’s also the only picture nobody has noticed.’

She looked up at him. He was already looking at her, his eyes focused on her face.

‘I did,’ she said.

Donghyuck was silent for a moment. He wanted to say something, she could tell. The words were right there on his lips but he smiled instead and nodded.

‘You did,’ he agreed.

Haewon never figured out why Donghyuck did what he did next.

A week after that encounter, she had received an email from the college administration regarding her ‘community work credits.’ Haewon had apparently signed up to volunteer at the cafeteria’s kitchen for a month, more specifically for the onion chopping duty.

She had tried explaining to them several times that she had never signed up for such a thing and that there had been a mistake. But the duty was already assigned and withdrawing wasn’t an option, not without a disciplinary action against her.

So, Haewon had to turn up to college at 6 am every day for a month and chop barrels full of onions till her eyes were red and her nose had turned pink. She did get her credits but at the cost of smelling like onions for a month.

It was not until her last day that she had learned who had actually signed her up for the duty. She had overheard the seniors from the photography club congratulate Donghyuck for pulling a successful prank on the new girl. Haewon had never felt so angry and humiliated.

‘It’s a tradition of the club,’ he had told her, when she had confronted him.

Haewon wasn’t sure if she was waiting for an apology or an explanation other than ‘it was a tradition’, but she was sure of one thing— she wanted revenge.

For the next month, she left cut up pieces of onions in Donghyuck’s locker, bag, desk, and practically anything of his that she could get her hands on.

Donghyuck could have left it there. A prank for a prank and call it even. But he was not one to sit silent, specially not when she had managed to replace his mouth freshener with onion juice.

And that’s how it began, a never-ending prank war.

‘Why don’t you tell him to stop?’ she replied to Renjun.

He wanted to remind her that Donghyuck wasn’t particularly the kind to listen to other people but she knew that already. So, instead, he reminded her of a simple solution.

‘You can just end it,’ he said. ‘Let his prank be the last one.’

‘And admit defeat? Seriously, whose side are you really on?’

Renjun could already feel an incoming throbbing in his head. He shut his eyes and pressed two fingers between his eyebrows.

‘Do you have a headache?’

‘Not yet,’ he sighed and turned to her. But her attention had already been stolen away. He followed her eyes to find her gaze on Donghyuck sitting at the front of the bus.

‘You know…’ Renjun started, a knowing smile on his face, ‘sometimes, people who have trouble expressing their true emotions resort to other means to convey them.’

‘What?’

‘Well… you both spend an awful lot of time together,’ he said, crossing his arms. ‘And the rest, staring at each other.’

This definitely caught Haewon’s attention. ‘Who are you talking about?’

‘The one you have been staring at.’

Renjun was crazy. He had gone insane, she thought.

‘You are absolutely mental,’ Haewon spat, a little too loudly, her voice a pitch higher than usual.

He shrugged and leaned back in his seat, satisfied at the reaction he got from her.

‘I have to keep an eye on him,’ she protested, unable to bring her voice down to her normal pitch.

‘Right…’ he said, grinning proudly. ‘What about yesterday then?’

‘What about yesterday?’

‘In the library.’

‘You saw that?’

Renjun had to control himself from laughing.

It wasn’t that Haewon hadn’t caught herself staring at Donghyuck before but it was because he was everywhere she went. How could she not look when she would run into him at every turn.

‘He was checking out the book I wanted.’

‘Mhm…’ Renjun closed his eyes again. ‘I didn’t know you were changing your major to Math.’

‘It was a math book?’ she whispered to herself. All she could recall was how small the book looked in his hands. The way his long fingers tapped along the edges as he pulled himself to get another book from the top shelf. How he had to fold the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows after it got hot inside. Was it even hot inside?

‘No!’ She shook herself awake from the memory. ‘I do not like Lee Donghyuck!’ she said more to herself than to Renjun, who was no longer listening to her rambling.

‘I am not…’ she mumbled and dragged her gaze back to Donghyuck only to catch him already staring at her. The moment their eyes met, he winked at her, a smirk spreading on his lips. Usually, she would have rolled her eyes, but Haewon kept staring, studying his face, wondering why a frown had suddenly appeared on his forehead. He looked concerned for a moment. He jerked his chin up at her but she shook her head, making him scoff and turn away.

Renjun’s words had scared her. Haewon couldn’t sit still for the rest of the journey. She tried reading the book she had brought with her, tried listening to the playlist she had made for the ride, even tried falling asleep like Renjun had but she couldn’t shake Donghyuck out of her mind.

She replayed all their conversations in her head like a movie reel, going over every word they had spoken to each other, every prank they played on each other in the last two years, surprised at how vividly she remembered every memory related to him.

Was Renjun right?

And what if he was? What then? What was she supposed to do? Tell the guy who she swore was her enemy that she likes him?

She could imagine Donghyuck laughing at her. But what terrified her wasn’t the thought of his mockery or his teasing, but the smile that she felt forming on her lips imagining him telling her that he liked her too.

‘What got you blushing?’ Donghyuck asked, creeping up behind her.

Haewon was standing at the edge of the pier, staring at the lake in front of her. They had reached two hours ago, and while the others were surveying the place for getting the best shots, she found herself stationary in front of the lake.

She hadn’t realized that she was blushing. But apparently this is what she did now— blush whenever she thought of Donghyuck.

‘Are you wondering why I haven’t done anything yet?’ he asked.

‘Hm?’ She looked up at him.

‘The prank,’ he reminded her, then paused and narrowed his eyes. ‘Seriously, what are you thinking about?’

‘Nothing,’ she said, pulling herself out of her thoughts. ‘And no, I wasn’t wondering about that. I don’t keep thinking about you, just so you know.’

There it was, the twinkle in his eyes, followed by his smirk and the slight jerk he gave to his chin whenever he wanted to emphasize how proud he was of himself.

‘Lies,’ he said, leaning forward, his arms behind his back. ‘I know you think about me.’

For the first time, Haewon was silent. She had no answer. Donghyuck was so close to her, she could feel his breath on her face.

‘You have moles,’ she said, the words falling out of her mouth on their own. ‘On your cheek.’ Her eyes dazed yet focused on them. How had she never noticed before, and now that she had, her fingers twitched, suddenly wanting to touch them.

But Donghyuck snapped his fingers in front of her face. ‘What’s the matter with you today?’

‘Just an observation,’ she said, quickly turning away from him.

‘The sunset is beautiful, isn’t it?’ he said, breaking the momentary silence.

‘You are here for making small talk?’

‘Just an observation.’ He shrugged innocently.

‘Oh, shut up.’ She rolled her eyes at him.

‘The lake is getting darker too,’ he remarked.

‘Another observation?’

He nodded. ‘I have swum in a river after dark once,’ he began.

‘Okay, and?’ She crossed her arms over her chest, ready to hear another nonsensical thing come out of his mouth.

But Donghyuck’s grin widened, a hint of mischief creeping up in his eyes. ‘It’s terrifying,’ he told her. ‘You can’t see a thing and even a few feet seem like kilometres.’

Haewon froze. Her arms felt heavy and her legs felt stuck in place. She was suddenly too aware of the wooden pier beneath her feet, where it ended and how close she was standing to the edge. This was it. His prank. This was what he had intended to do.

‘Donghyuck, I can’t—’

But before she could even complete, he pushed her into the lake.

The water hit Haewon like a brick, and the last thing she saw was Donghyuck laughing, clapping his hands on the pier before darkness engulfed her. The sound of the splash rang through her ears. For a single, horrible moment she thought that her ear drums would burst and then there was complete silence.

Her hands flailed about her, trying to grab onto something, anything as the water pulled her in. She came up with the initial inertia of the fall but as her legs gave out below her, trying to mimic a swimmer, she realized how futile the attempt really was. She could not see, could not breathe. Her arms were not trained and her body could not float. The sun that appeared just within her reach moments ago, seemed far beyond her as it sunk below the horizon and all that was left around her was darkness.

She swallowed mouthfuls of water with every attempt to come up to the surface, unable to tell which way was up anymore. Her body swayed with the ripples she had created around her and after she had gulped enough water, she stopped struggling. Haewon sunk to the depths as the lake carried her to it and suddenly, she realized how weightless she really was, how easy it was to drown as she allowed the water to swallow her.

On the surface, Donghyuck had stopped laughing. All the jabs had died on his tongue when a minute had passed and Haewon had still not come up to the surface.

He lowered his camera and realized how dark it had really gotten. Panic rose inside him like bile that made his throat feel raw. He tried to gulp but the air refused to enter him. His clammy hands trembled and he felt his face getting warmer and colder at the same time.

‘What’s going on?’ Renjun came up behind him along with Mark, who wanted to set up his camera at the pier.

‘I—’ Donghyuck was lost, unable to comprehend his words. It was just a prank, he told himself. Just a prank, he repeated.

‘Donghyuck…’ Renjun placed a hand on his back, worried.

‘Haewon…’ Donghyuck mumbled and the expression on Renjun’s face was enough to tell him what Haewon had wanted to say before he had pushed her into the water.

Donghyuck, I can’t… swim.

Suddenly, all panic drained out of his body replaced with adrenaline. He removed his jacket and jumped into the lake, dropping his phone and camera into the water with him.

Renjun had gathered a crowd, the students running up to the pier in panic.

Donghyuck shouted her name above the surface but it was pitch black now and the flashlights that the others held up did nothing. He dived deeper into the lake, his fingers reaching out for her. Her hair, her shirt, her arm, anything. But it was of no use.

He reached the depth and felt the soil beneath his feet but Haewon was nowhere. He wanted to cry, to thrash, to yell out her name but the water swallowed his screams. The darkness pressed heavy on him, heavier than the water itself. Even he couldn’t find his way around the lake and he had pushed her into this terrible nightmare.

Where is she? How long had it been?

Forgetting to come up for breath, Donghyuck found himself floating in his own delirium now. Time shifted, working slower as he let the water take over him.

He was drowning but he didn’t know how to stop it anymore.

Haewon, he repeated like a chant in his mind, praying for a miracle he knew he didn’t deserve.

Is this what she felt? Did she call out my name when the depths called to her?

The water made his eyes hurt so he shut them, not that it mattered anyway— the darkness did not differentiate this far below.

But just as he was about to give up, not on her but on himself, he felt someone grab him by his collar and pull. The weight returned first and he felt his limbs heavier than usual, the water scraping against them as he was being dragged out of his own death.

With a gasp, he breathed his first breath as he broke the surface and felt all his senses return to him at once.

‘H-Haewon…’ Donghyuck spit out a mouthful of water, his voice barely a rasp. All he could see were bright lights flashing in his face as he felt two men carry him to the pier. It was not until his back met the wooden surface, that he realized that they were first responders.

‘N-No.’ He tried pushing them aside as the men held him down to check his vitals. ‘Where— Haewon…’ He choked out more water from his nose.

‘Haewon…’ Donghyuck looked about himself, trying to spot her in the crowd. ‘The girl—’ he asked the men, but they weren’t listening to him.

‘Raise his neck,’ one of the EMTs was shouting orders at the others around, while fixing an oxygen mask around Donghyuck’s mouth. ‘Wipe his face.’

Donghyuck hadn’t realized that he was crying. There were tears streaming down his face but no sound other than her name on his lips. Gathering whatever strength remained in him, he pulled himself up and pushed away the blanket the EMT was trying to wrap around his body.

‘Haewon,’ he cried out, vomiting out more water as he stumbled through the crowd without direction, his own clothes dragging him down, till someone yanked him forward by the arm and he fell to his knees.

The crowd parted for him and the sight froze him.

At the edge of the pier, lay Haewon, wrapped in a thick blanket, unresponsive. An EMT was giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while another was administering CPR on her.

‘Rub her feet!’ one of them shouted between breaths and Renjun leaped to action, pulling her shoes off and rubbing the soles of her feet.

‘We have to get her to the hospital,’ the other one yelled.

It had been 5 minutes and Haewon hadn’t woken up.

Donghyuck had to crawl on his arms to reach her. Her face was pale as though she had been bled dry and her arms were a luminescent white, glistening like porcelain under the flashlights.

‘H–Haewon.’ He tapped her cheek but shuddered when his fingers met her ice-cold skin.

‘Get away from her!’ Renjun rasped and the voice cut through Donghyuck’s body like a blade sawing him in half. His throat choked itself and he felt himself submerged under water again, the noises drowning out as he felt a weight press on him.

He looked down at his hands, shivering under his own gaze.

‘I—’ He shook his head, unsure what he wanted to say and to whom. There were fresh tears in his eyes, burning his cheeks on their way down.

Then suddenly, they were taking her away. The EMTs laid her out on the stretcher in front of him and were carrying her away from the pier. Donghyuck followed only to realize a moment later that the EMTs were there for him too.

‘Let me…’ He fell unconscious, his body giving up on him.

Donghyuck woke up in a hospital bed, his eyes blinking wide open the moment he realized where he was. There was an IV drip attached to his arm and a thick blanket covering him.

Mark was beside him the moment he stirred.

‘How are you feeling?’ Mark asked but quickly realized that he wasn’t going to get an answer from Donghyuck. He did not try to reason nor stop him when Donghyuck pulled the drip out of his arm and jumped out of bed. Instead, he showed him the way to Haewon’s ward.

Down the long, deserted corridor was Renjun, sitting with his head between his palms. At the sound of the hurried footsteps, he looked up.

‘Renjun, no!’ Mark had to throw himself in front of Donghyuck as Renjun charged at him.

‘You—’ Renjun’s face was red in a matter of seconds and despite Mark’s pleas, he held Donghyuck by the collar, ready to punch him.

‘Not here.’ Mark held him back. ‘Not in the hospital, please.’

Had it not been for Mark, Renjun would have bashed Donghyuck’s head against the wall. It wasn’t like Donghyuck was fighting back anyway. He had his head bowed the entire time, ready to take whatever punishment.

Renjun shoved him aside. ‘You better stay away from her now!’ he warned before walking away.

Donghyuck picked himself up and staggered towards the ward but his feet stopped him right at the door. He had no intention of going in, not anymore. Slowly, pushing away the gnawing guilt and fear, he peered his head to peek inside the ward through the small glass window in the door.

In the middle of the room was Haewon, still unconscious. Her mouth was intubated for oxygen while a nurse was monitoring her pulse. There was a defibrator on the side and another nurse preparing a machine Donghyuck couldn’t recognize.

‘They are going to shift her to the ventilator,’ he heard Renjun tell Mark behind him.

‘It’s only for one night,’ Mark appeased. ‘To give her lungs a rest.’

There was a pause and he heard a scuffle behind him. He didn’t have to turn around to know that Mark had held Renjun back again.

All Donghyuck did, all he could do was watch. He stood by the little window to her ward and watched her, mute, his chest rising and falling in the same rhythm as hers. There were a thousand thoughts running through his head yet all he could hear was a ringing silence in his ears.

An hour passed or two, he couldn’t tell anymore, when he felt a hand press against his shoulder. Mark was saying something to him and he knew he had to respond but he couldn’t understand the words.

The sun had come up outside when Donghyuck agreed to move, giving way to the doctor.

‘Are you a relative?’ The doctor asked him but words escaped him.

He shook his head.

‘Are you alright?’ was the next thing the doctor asked. Donghyuck’s eyes had sunk into their sockets and his face was ashen white.

‘He is the other drowning patient, doctor,’ the nurse chimed in.

‘Check his pulse,’ the doctor ordered, ‘and administer him an IV.’

‘H-Haewon?’ Donghyuck managed to mumble out, pointing at her ward.

‘She is under sedation,’ the doctor informed him. ‘She will wake up in a few hours.’

Donghyuck nodded and stepped out of the way for the doctor. The door closed on him and a nurse came up behind him to escort him to his own ward but he did not budge, not even an inch. He could hear Mark mutter something to the nurse as he watched them take Haewon off the ventilator.

‘Donghyuck?’

He felt someone shake his shoulders and turned around to see Mark, who had been calling his name for the last minute.

Mark paused before speaking, a sigh escaping him. ‘You need rest. You don’t look well.’

Donghyuck blinked at him, annoyed that Mark had tried to take his attention away from Haewon.

‘Donghyuck?’ He tried again. ‘Are you listening to me?’

Just then, the door to the ward slid open and a nurse peeked her head out. ‘She’s awake,’ she informed them.

Renjun immediately rushed past them to the ward.

Mark waited and held the door open for Donghyuck but he stood frozen in place, his legs refusing to move. He looked down at his feet and shook his head.

‘Hey…’ Mark whispered, leaning down to his eyes level.

But Donghyuck turned his back to him, silent. He did not turn around till he heard Mark step inside and close the door shut.

Haewon was awake, talking. Renjun was sitting next to her bed, his hands holding hers. Mark was talking to the doctor, and the nurse was checking her vitals. When she laughed at something Renjun had whispered to her, Donghyuck felt his own lips curve into a smile.

Then, her eyes fell on him and Donghyuck suddenly felt himself transported to the bottom of that lake again, drowning. Shame rose inside him, hot and suffocating. He felt embarrassed, undeserving to be even standing there but he couldn’t look away. A tear rolled down his cheek and he knew she could see it but he just couldn’t look away, not yet.

_

That was three months ago and the last time that Donghyuck had looked at Haewon.

He had disappeared from her life.

Haewon wasn’t sure what she had expected from him, but his silence was not it. The doctors kept her in the hospital for another week to treat her for pneumonia. She had Mark and Renjun by her side throughout the treatment but she never saw Donghyuck peek his head through the door again.

She wanted to ask Renjun about him. But his silence made her angry, and then, worried. On the day of her discharge, she mentioned his name and saw Renjun visibly stiffen.

‘He is gone,’ Renjun told her. ‘He got himself discharged the day you woke up.’

‘Is he alright?’ she asked, not knowing what else to say.

‘I haven’t spoken to him if that’s what you want to know.’ Renjun was being cruel but Donghyuck had almost killed his best friend and he couldn’t get past that.

A week later, Haewon returned to college only to learn that Donghyuck had withdrawn his name from the Photography club. He stopped showing up to their shared classes; started eating his lunch elsewhere. His locker had been emptied and all his photographs from the common room were gone. She knew he was around, but Haewon never ran into Donghyuck again.

The Photography Club Exhibition had to be cancelled and Mark had to deal with the Student Council because of the accident during the field trip. Haewon had wished that Mark would allow her to attend the meetings. She was sure Donghyuck was there but Mark had insisted on keeping her away from the trouble.

She had considered calling him, several times. But what would she have said? Donghyuck wasn’t particularly a friend. He was… what was he to her? The only time she had texted him was four months ago and it was to lure him into the Dean’s office for a prank.

She didn’t want him to apologize. All she wanted was him… around.

The first time Haewon saw Donghyuck again was on the day of their first final year exam. He came in late and left early. His eyes were swollen and his face seemed dull. He had lost weight.

Her own anger surprised her that day. He knew she was sitting in the same class. Her eager eyes were set on him, following his every movement, yet he never looked up to find her, not once. Two years, two fucking years they had known each other and not once did he bother to speak to her.

Perhaps it was her fault, Haewon thought, to assume that she had a place in Donghyuck’s life.

The exams got over and their results were out. They were going to graduate from college.

It was the eve of their convocation, and Haewon was sitting on the couch of an unknown house between people she wished weren’t there and sipping on whiskey she couldn’t swallow.

Renjun was dancing in the distance, occasionally singing farewell songs with his friends. He had tried to call her to the dance floor at every song change.

‘Are you going to sit there the entire night?’ he yelled at her. ‘It’s our farewell party!’

‘I am not feeling too well,’ she lied and slipped away from the loud music, setting her glass aside. Her head was throbbing from the beat anyway and the number of drunk people increasing by the second.

She finally found some quiet on the second floor of the house but the moment she turned down the hallway, Haewon froze.

It was dark and she could barely see two feet ahead of her but she could recognize Donghyuck’s silhouette even with her eyes closed.

Haewon couldn’t tell how long they stood facing each other in silence. Donghyuck was the first to move, walking into the light. For some unexpected reason, she wished he would have his usual smirk on his fae, the smug grin that had made her roll her eyes a hundred times in the past. But Donghyuck looked tired. Somehow, the three months had aged him and she felt strange in his presence.

‘Haewon,’ he whispered in greeting but his voice echoed in her ears as though it had travelled the length of an ocean to reach her.

‘Keeping well?’ she asked, her own voice strange to her.

He shrugged.

‘How was your result?’ She could see the effort it took him to reply.

‘It was alright,’ he said, sighing immediately after.

Haewon nodded, not knowing what to say or do with herself. Donghyuck was finally looking at her but they were not the same eyes that she had perfected to read. They had been in each other’s presence for more than five minutes and he had not tried to annoy her, not try to irritate her nor make her curse. There were no sarcastic remarks on his lips and no mischievous twinkle behind his eyes.

He stood in front of her like a wretched mirror, and Haewon couldn’t tell if she was hoping to find him or spot her own reflection in him.

‘Do—'

‘I am leaving,’ he cut her off, stepping closer. ‘Tomorrow morning… I am leaving for US to continue my study.’

Suddenly, the music wasn’t too loud and the noise was barely a whisper in her ears. She stared at him, silent, and he did not shy away from her gaze this time.

‘You are leaving?’ she asked.

He nodded his head. ‘I won’t come back,’ he said and paused.

‘You won’t stay for the convocation?’

Unexpectedly, Donghyuck scoffed, but he looked defeated, hurt somehow. He pulled his gaze down to the floor. ‘No, I won’t stay for the convocation.’

‘Right…’

‘I have to go,’ he said but did not move.

‘Of course, packing?’

‘Packing,’ he echoed and did not wait to hear her goodbye or say his own. He walked past her, leaving her in the hallway.

Haewon waited till she heard him climb down the steps then walked down the hallway and found her way to the roof. The cold air relaxed her senses and she sat herself down on the ledge, her feet dangling off the side.

She turned around when she heard the door open. It was Mark and strangely she was grateful that it was only him.

‘Beer?’ he asked, raising the two pints in his hands. He sat beside her on the ledge and passed one of the bottles to her.

‘Not a huge fan of beer,’ she said, but took the pint from his hand.

‘Try this one,’ Mark urged her. His own bottle was half empty and he took another sip. ‘Don’t like dancing?’

‘The music is too loud,’ she made an excuse.

‘It is,’ he agreed.

‘Sorry for the exhibition by the way,’ she said. ‘I know you were looking forward to it.’

But Mark waved a hand at her. ‘Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.’

Haewon wanted to disagree. The cancellation was a result of a prank war that she was as much a part of as Donghyuck was. But she nodded nonetheless, taking a sip of the beer.

‘So, what are your plans after college?’ he sighed, leaning back on his palms.

‘Uh… I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘I have been just trying to…’

‘…stay alive?’

This made her laugh. ‘Right. Just trying to stay alive these days.’

‘Donghyuck has it figured out,’ she mumbled after a pause.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

‘He is leaving for US,’ she told him. ‘Tomorrow.’

‘Ah,’ he exclaimed. ‘I heard. Pretty impressive, don’t you think?’

Haewon feigned a smile. Mark was watching her closely. ‘It is. I am happy for him.’

‘Are you?’

The question hung in the air and Haewon stared at it, speechless. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said and Mark let it go.

The wind caught her hair and Haewon found herself chugging the pint. It was much easier to gulp after the whiskey she had been sipping since evening.

‘Did he ever tell you?’ Mark asked once she had set the empty bottle between them. He smiled upon seeing her confused eyes. ‘Really? He never told you?’ he asked, shaking his head at the realization.

‘What are you talking about?’

He downed his own bottle before turning to her. ‘Do you remember how it started?’ he asked her. ‘The pranks between you two.’

Of course, she remembered. She remembered it like it was just yesterday.

‘He had signed me up for cutting onion!’ Haewon yelled, groaning at the memory. ‘I smelled like onions for a whole month. A whole month!’ Her voice had returned with fervour. ‘I did what I had to— take revenge. I left pieces of onion in his locker for the next month. It was hilarious. You should have seen how annoyed he got every time. But he could have left it at that. Call it even. But you know how he is. So stubborn. So annoying.’ She groaned again and folded her arms across her chest.

Mark sighed, his grin more amused than earlier. ‘Didn’t you ever wonder why Donghyuck did what he did?’

Haewon had wondered that before. In fact, she had spent countless hours wondering just about that.

‘It was a club tradition?’ she ventured. ‘That’s what he told me. Besides, it’s because he is… him. He is Donghyuck. He plays pranks on people, right?’

‘That’s true,’ Mark replied. ‘But have you ever seen him play a prank on anybody else in the last two years?’

‘Uh—’ Haewon was ready to argue and was certain that an instance would just come to her lips. But she couldn’t recall any. She stared at him, blankly. Mark was right. Donghyuck had not played a single prank on anyone except her since the start of their prank war.

‘When you joined the club,’ Mark began, ‘the seniors had a bet on making you cry.’

‘What?’

‘It was a tradition among them. We all went through the hazing. They did not stop till they made us freshmen cry. Yes,’ he added, seeing Haewon’s incredulous expression. ‘I was made to clean every leaf on the campus ground. I was exhausted by the end of the day and cried by nightfall. Donghyuck was smart. He faked his tears in the first minute of cleaning the toilets and they let him off the hook.’

‘Renjun never told me,’ she said.

‘He joined later, like you, and was spared because of his father,’ Mark told her. ‘I’m sure he doesn’t know about it either, or the extent of it. But then you joined. Donghyuck knew what was going to happen. I still remember that day. He had stormed into the club committee meeting. I had never seen him that serious.

‘The deal was to make you cry. The seniors wouldn’t have backed down unless they saw tears in your eyes. He convinced them that he would take care of it and made them promise not to meddle if he succeeded. That’s why he signed you up for cutting onions in the kitchen.

A memory surged forward in Haewon’s mind— Donghyuck had visited the kitchen every day for the first week of her duty with the seniors lingering behind him.

She tumbled the memory in her head, trying to recall a certain detail.

‘You cried eight days into it,’ Mark helped her.

And suddenly all the pieces fit together. It was a Monday and it was raining. The humidity had rendered the ventilation useless in the kitchen. The smell was unbearable and nothing helped, not the open windows, nor the scarf she had wrapped around her mouth and nose. That was the day. She had tears in her eyes from cutting up onions.

Donghyuck did not visit the kitchen again nor did she see any of the seniors around. She had cried. His part of the deal had been completed, saving her from who knows what the seniors were planning for her.

Her thoughts took her back to the first time she had met him, to the photograph tucked away in the corner of the common room, to the boy in that picture. That was the Donghyuck she had met and that was the same Donghyuck that she had known for the last two years too.

Haewon spent the night stuck in time on the roof. Somewhere in the middle, Mark had left and Renjun had found her, though he did not stay, not for long at least. The sky had started to change colours behind her, the light of the sun pushing its way to her. She closed her eyes to feel its warmth, a slow smile spreading across her face when its first ray touched her. She turned around, suddenly grateful at how easily she could hold the sun in her eyes.

It was time. She had to start getting ready for her convocation in an hour. But instead of taking the bus back to her dorm, she hailed a cab to the airport.

‘Can you drive a little faster?’ Haewon urged the cab driver, her fingers fidgeting over Donghyuck’s contact in her phone. She had called him seven times already but he had his phone turned off. ‘How much longer?’ she asked, groaning seeing the time.

There was only flight leaving for US that day and it was leaving in thirty minutes.

‘Almost there, madam,’ the driver told her, which did little to calm her down.

Haewon hurried out of the cab the moment it stopped, paying more cash than the bill. She waded through the sea of people, searching for an empty gate and settling on the least crowded one. It didn’t matter anyway because she sneaked past the queue amidst the curses from the people lined up. An elderly couple eventually relented and let her cut.

‘Thank you.’ She bowed to them and presented the dummy ticket she had bought in the cab earlier to the security officer.

She was in. But this was the easy part. Haewon glanced at the clock. She had about fifteen minutes to make it to Donghyuck before his flight. Her desperate eyes raked the area, frantically trying to locate the security check but gasped seeing the longest line she had ever witnessed. All the counter were full with queues looping around each other.

There was no way she could make it to him in time if she waited her turn. There was only one option— make a run for it.

Without thinking, she sprinted across the airport lobby to the checkpoint and jumped over the first barricade, picking up pace as she heard the alarms go off behind her.

An officer whistled to alert the others as she whizzed past the line and broke through the automatic doors, ducking just in time to avoid the baton that the inspector had swung at her head.

‘Stop right there!’ She heard him yell.

But Haewon didn’t have the time to look back.

‘Move!’ she shrieked at the people, who leaped out of her way.

Jumping over the sea of security tape stands, she reached the front and squeezed herself through the gap between two body scanners, shoving a security personnel in the process and almost injuring a passenger.

‘I am sorry,’ she yelled out but came to a sudden halt just a few metres away. Across the lounge were at least twenty uniformed men with their batons in their hands.

‘Don’t move!’ she heard the officers shout behind her.

She squeezed the side of her stomach to ease the stabbing pain and looked up at the board, catching her breath for a moment. Gate no. 27, she read. It was on the other side, past the wall of officers, who had slowly begun to close in on her from all directions.

‘Get to the ground!’ An officer slowly stepped forward.

Unexpectedly, Haewon grinned. She had to hand it to them on how quickly they gathered forces, how swift they were to surround her. But unfortunately for them, she knew exactly how to get out of this situation. In fact, she even had practice.

A year ago, Mark had arranged a gallery visit for the photography club. At the end of the evening, Donghyuck had come up to her with a painting in his hand.

‘This is for you,’ he had said, tossing the portrait to her.

‘What is this?’ she had asked.

‘I got it from the back room.’

‘The back room?’

She had held it out, turning it over in her hands only to realize it was the centre piece that had been slated for auction starting at 90 million won.

‘Oh?’ Donghyuck had slapped a hand to his face, theatrically, feigning innocence. ‘Should I not have told the security that I saw a girl with your description carrying it out?’

‘You what?!’

She had to run down the street for thirteen blocks with the security chasing after her even after she had hurled the painting back at them.

Haewon closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. It is just like that time, she told herself, making sure to curse Donghyuck.

‘Put your hands behind your head,’ the officer ordered, approaching her with a gun in his hand.

But Haewon shot her eyes open and let out a guttural scream, flailing her arms around her and reaching into her pocket mimicking the motion of pulling out a weapon.

‘Everyone down!’ the officer yelled immediately and she jumped over them as they flung themselves to the floor.

Laughing, Haewon ran away, her hair flying behind her. There were sirens going off in the distance and caddies chasing after her yet all she could hear was Donghyuck’s laughter in her ears imagining how he would react after she tells him what she did.

25, 26… Gate no. 27, she spotted.

But the moment she reached the gate, the smile on her face disappeared. It was empty, not a soul in sight except a lady at the counter. The gasp caught in her throat and she shook her head, checking the number again.

Gate no. 27, she confirmed, confusion pricking at her.

‘The flight to the US…’ Haewon stumbled to the counter.

‘Flight 78291?’ the lady asked in her perfect voice. ‘I’m sorry but you missed it, ma’am.’

Blood drained out of her face, her knees close to buckling. She nodded quickly, trying to regain control of herself but it was taking everything in her to not cry right there at the counter.

The lady was offering alternatives, connecting flights and reservations but all Haewon did was thank her.

The airport security finally caught up to her. She did not protest, nor struggle as the officers handcuffed her wrists behind her back. They detained her in the holding cell at the airport before she was transferred to the local police station in the evening, where she was questioned and searched thoroughly.

Renjun had to leave the convocation to bail her out and it was past midnight before she was allowed to leave but not without a hefty fine and a warning.

She followed him back to his car, grateful that he had kept his thoughts and his scolding to himself. It was going come, she knew that much but not tonight.

He drove her back to her dorm, offering to stay the night but Haewon could not take any more favours from him.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she told him, her eyes half drooping. ‘Thank you.’

‘Go on in,’ he said. ‘Get some sleep, alright?’

She dragged herself to the staircase and climbed the steps one at a time till she reached the third floor. Donghyuck was gone. Sure, she could call him, message him but he was gone. What a fucking day, she sighed to herself but her mind was still alert, pulling her to their last conversation, to a particular moment after he had told her that he was leaving. The pause after his words, his expectant eyes and the defeated look hearing her reply.

Should she have said something then, she tried to reason. Was that the chance Donghyuck had given her, testing her heart.

She shook the feeling away, too tired to form coherent thoughts anymore but the moment she turned the corner, her feet suddenly stilled as her eyes landed on the door to her apartment.

Under the flickering light bulb, curled up on the floor beside three suitcases, was Donghyuck.

Haewon scoffed at the sight of him sleeping peacefully against her door. And she had every right to be angry too. Annoyed, irritated, wanting to kick him in the shins before cursing at him and maybe pushing him away. She had been awake for more than 24 hours, had missed her convocations, was almost shot and had started her own criminal record, and there he was, sleeping like a baby.

But Haewon found herself smiling and wasn’t surprised.

Hearing her footsteps, Donghyuck stirred, quickly rising to his feet. He stared at her and she waited. His lip quivered and he gulped, stalking forward, a frown on his forehead.

‘Why didn’t you ask me to stay?’ he cried out. A tear rolled down his cheek and in the light Haewon could see that he hadn’t slept the night too.

‘You were never going to see me again.’ His voice was hoarse, each word grating his throat. ‘And you were fine with that?!’

She wanted to laugh at his accusation and perhaps she did too because Donghyuck fumbled, his expression growing incredulous.

‘Is this funny to you?’ he rasped. ‘After everything we have been through—’

‘Ugh,’ Haewon groaned and closed the distance between them, slapping him on his shoulder.

He stumbled backwards, almost tripping over the suitcases. ‘What was that for?’

‘Who do you think you are, huh?’ she yelled, smacking him in the chest this time.

‘Ow, that hurt!’

‘Good, it should,’ she gritted out. ‘You deserve it.’

‘Wh— what did I do?’

She scoffed in disbelief. ‘I’ll tell you what you did!’ she spat, her finger pointed right at him. ‘First you push me into the lake, almost killing me, then disappear from my life like nothing happened.’ She pushed him again, hitting the same spot. ‘I don’t see you for three months. Three fucking months, and when you do see me, you tell me that you’re leaving forever. Then, I have to learn from Mark out of all people about your deal with the seniors two years ago?’

Donghyuck bowed his head at this but caught her wrist just in time before receiving another shove. ‘Haewon…’

‘Don’t you dare ‘Haewon’ me. Why is your phone off, huh? I called you so many times!’

‘I—’ He was scrambling for words.

‘You what?!’

‘I—you called me?’ There they were again, his expectant eyes.

‘Oh, I did more than just call you, Lee Donghyuck,’ she groaned again, struggling in his grip but he held her close. ‘You wanted to leave, right? Leave. Go.’ She pushed him. ‘Leave. Why are you here?’

Her arms were hitting his chest, his shoulder, anything they could grab onto but Donghyuck was stronger and Haewon was exhausted.

‘Haewon…’ he almost had to yell out, trying to placate her and finally as her body gave out and she broke down crying, he pressed her to his chest, engulfing her in his arms.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered, tightening his grip around her. ‘I am sorry.’

‘How could you?!’ She gave one last fight before melting into him.

‘I know… I am sorry.’ He soothed her back for her, swallowing back his own tears. Slowly, he pulled away, holding her face in his hands. ‘I was… I don’t know… I wasn’t thinking. I thought I had lost you, Haewon. You don’t know… I couldn’t bear to look at you after what I had done,’ he choked out, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

‘I thought I had lost you too,’ she whispered back, pressing her forehead against his.

Donghyuck let her cry, his own tears mixing with hers.

‘Do you still want to leave?’ she asked, her fingers still clutching his shirt.

It was his turn to laugh. He pulled away, shaking his head and when he saw her smile, he leaned down to press his lips to hers.

THE END

[sincerelyneo]

wildflower | z.cl

“you know you are my favourite fantasy”

💿now playing: wildflower by 5 seconds of summer

❯ summary: Chenle just has to make it through one more round of twister. Then, you and his friends can leave and he can take care of the boner growing in his pants from your limbs grazing over his crotch every turn. Yeah, that’s his plan. Just one more round.

❯ pairings: chenle x fem!reader

❯ genre: friends to lovers, smut

❯ words: 4.0k

❯ tags: 18+ minors dni!, light petting, male masturbation, explicit descriptions of chenle's thoughts while he gets off, voyeurism, hand jobs, literally just horny chenle, reader uses she/her pronouns.

"Chenle, left foot, green," Jisung announces.

It's just a game of Twister, Chenle keeps reminding himself as the colourful spinner dictates his next move. So why is he feeling so flustered? He needs to get a grip. Like he said, it's just a fucking game for Christ’s sake, one that families play on holidays. There's no reason for him to be turned on right now, but he is.

"Dude, will you hurry up? I don’t think I can handle Jaemin's ass in my face much longer," Haechan grumbles from his awkward position on the board, head perched to the side to avoid eye contact with the back of Jaemin's jeans.

"Stop pretending you don’t love my ass." 

Chenle feels no sympathy for Haechan; after all, this stupid game was his idea. He's the reason Chenle keeps having to conjure up the most unsexy thoughts imaginable to suppress the growing bulge in his pants.

It all started with a trip to the mall earlier in the day. Chenle had turned his back for just five minutes to go to the bathroom, and when he returned, he found his friends gathered around the ridiculous board game on the shelf. 

"Come on, it'll be fun," Haechan insisted, while Jaemin practically bounced with excitement. 

Chenle thought it was stupid; he's never been any good at Twister. But they all begged and pleaded to buy the game instead of sticking to the original movie night plans Chenle had organised for their traditional Friday night hangouts. And truthfully, Chenle had no intention of playing the game, let alone buying it. That is, until you stepped off the wall you were leaning against to join the conversation.

You strode over to pick up the box Haechan was clutching onto and inspected it. Chenle's gaze was fixed on your fingers as they tapped the package gently. It was surprising how everyone instantly fell silent from the shock of you wanting to get involved in their antics for a change.

 "Come on, Lele, Haechan has a point. It does look fun," you encouraged.

Chenle's attention immediately shifted to your puppy-dog eyes, and he swore they were strong enough to break his willpower. Or maybe it was the way your lips protruded in a practised pout, staring up expectantly at him. Actually, now that he thinks about it, it was definitely the soft and eager "Please," that you uttered that had him heading straight to the counter with the box and his wallet. 

That's what landed him here now. Stupid you and your stupid eyes and your even more stupidly cute smile.

“Chenle did you hear me?!” Jisung waves the spinner in front of his face, “Left foot, green.”

He snaps back to attention, finally shifting his left foot to a green circle. 

“Fucking finally,” Haechan murmurs, “Sung, spin it for me.”

Jisung complies, giving Haechan his next instruction. Haechan begins to twist his body through the gap between Jaemin’s legs – he just needs to stretch a little more to reach the blue target in his vision. But then…

“Ow, what the fuck?!” Jaemin groans, his ass crashing down on the board from Haechan’s manoeuvring between his limbs. 

“That was totally your fault! If you didn’t wriggle your body at the last second I wouldn’t have—”

"Nobody cares, Haechan. You're out. Off the board," Chenle grits through his teeth. He can't stand the arguing; it only prolongs the silly game for him, and he doesn’t want that – he doesn't need that. He just wants to get this all over with.

But as Haechan and Jaemin move away from the board he realises that won’t be so easy because you and him are the last two players standing. Chenle gulps, the realisation hitting him like a truck. He’s the only player left that you can tangle your limbs up with. 

He doesn’t need this – this is what he’s been trying to avoid thinking about all night. You’ve only innocently brushed him this round, nothing overtly explicit. But just seeing you contort and arch alone was enough to trigger a twisted fantasy in his mind. 

Chenle considers forfeiting. Sure, he's a little competitive, but he’d rather lose than pop a boner in front of all his friends while playing the old-school classic game of Twister. He also knows Haechan would complain, insisting that the winner was rigged and therefore there needs to be a rematch. Chenle does not need a rematch.

He just needs to focus. Keep his head in the game for a little while longer. Then, you and his friends can leave. Yeah, that’s the plan. He just needs to breathe. 

Chenle composes himself, hastily waving his finger in Jisung’s direction. “It’s her spin.”

“Y/N, right-hand yellow.”

You’re already reclining, distributing your weight between a palm and a back foot. And you’re just as competitive, so when Jisung issues the instruction, you aim for the dot directly beneath Chenle but still behind him, manoeuvring beneath him for your hand to brush past his thigh before landing on the target.

Chenle almost stumbles at the slight touch, and it makes you raise an eyebrow. Was he ticklish or something? 

“Y/N, that’s cheat–” 

“Oh, so when she touches you, it’s cheating, but when Jaemin wiggles, I get told to get off the board,” Haechan complains. “I see how it is.” 

“Be quiet, Haechan,” Jisung says, and Chenle is thankful for the intervention as he shushes the boy and flicks the spinner with his hand. “Left hand, red.” 

Chenle looks down at the position you’re both in right now. So far, luck had been on his side as he was still on two feet, but you, you were on all fours and very close to him. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about looking down to see you pooled at his feet, looking up at him with pretty eyes, but he never imagined it like this.

The fact that this is all happening in front of his friends should be enough to kill his boner, but he’s still turned on. Not only was just the position of you on all fours tantalizing enough to begin with, but your last spin caused arms to cross over one another, pushing your breasts together. 

Damn. 

Chenle bites the bullet and goes for it, his body fully covering yours as he plants his right hand in front of him. In theory, his plan sounded like a good idea; if he places his right hand on the red dot behind you, he can just hover over you and then he won’t have to see you looking up at him with those pretty tits, he so desperately wants to fuck, on display. 

But that was all in theory, because Chenle may have overlooked one massive fatal flaw. The new position places his crotch right in front of your face, and Chenle hadn’t even registered that until he could feel your hot breath against the fabric of his sweatpants. 

This is not good.

Chenle can’t help but panic, he knows being like this, his clothed cock so close to your lips, he’s not gonna be able to hide his growing erection any longer. His cheeks flush, he doesn’t know how much more he can take, but he still tries to compose himself. 

It’s just a game of twister.

“Y/N, right-hand green.”

Chenle thanks the heavens when he hears Jisung tell you to move your right hand because it’s that hand that’s already put him in this stupid predicament. You move to a red dot and it helps create some space between your lips and his groin. And Chenle thinks the Earth is finally on his side, because Jisung’s next instruction is for him. 

“Left-hand blue.”

This seems perfect, he thinks. He can simply shift the hand that caused him to hover over you behind him. That should work. And it does, but only for a little while. Because on Jisung’s next instruction, you’re reaching over Chenle's shoulder with a hand, but your reach isn’t quite good enough, and he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep himself balanced on one arm. 

Then it happens – you land on top of him, and the room fills with whoops and cheers as the game comes to an end. But Chenle can’t comprehend that because all he can think about is you, and how your body is pressed on his, tits crushing him and looking so delectable. 

He sees you laughing, and God, how he adores your smile. He almost loves it as much as he loves how close you are to him, almost. You feel so warm, and he wants you to stay there forever, wrapped up in him as he... well, his thoughts suddenly take a more heated turn.

Damn, he’s getting hard.

No, fuck, he’s getting hard with you on top of him.

Without hesitation, Chenle brushes you off him and rises to his feet. He hastily adjusts his sweats to conceal his bulge, but nothing can disguise the sudden shift in his mood, which casts a frosty chill over the atmosphere.

“Dude, you good?” Mark asks. 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Chenle responds, his voice strained as he tries to sound casual. 

The vibes in the room have turned awkward, suffocating almost. All he can think about is you, and he just wants this whole shit show to be over.

“Hey, why don't we call it a night?” he suggests, trying to mask the urgency in his tone. “I mean, it's getting late, and I'm sure we all have stuff to do tomorrow.”

You exchange glances with the others, sensing Chenle's unease, but you all agree to pack up and leave. As you gather your things and head towards the door, Chenle can't shake the image of you out of his mind. All he wants is to be alone, to explore the thoughts and desires that have been swirling in his head ever since the game started – he wants to deal with his boner.

Once you’re gone, Chenle lets out a sigh of relief, finally able to breathe again. But even with the apartment empty, his mind is still consumed by thoughts of you. He knows he needs to get a grip, but the memory of your touch, your laughter, lingers in the air, and he can't help but crave you.

He can’t control himself anymore, he just feels so needy. He sits down on the sofa, eyes fluttering shut as he thinks. He lets his tongue slip out from between his lips and one hand travels down his body, over his hoodie until he reaches the waistband of his sweatpants. 

He can still feel the warmth of your breath there, and he’s harder than a rock, but this time there's no need to hide it. He wastes no time slipping inside the fabric to palm himself, his hands cool and rough. He savours the feeling of rubbing his long, thick length slowly with both hands, imagining it's your body taking him in, and filling you to the hilt.

You.

The girl he could never quite shake. The girl who Jisung had introduced to the group a couple of years ago. The girl who started hanging out with them more often, securing her invite to ‘boy’s night’ at his place. The girl who he’d found himself having the same interests as. The girl who was seconds ago brushing soft fingers over his body while playing Twister.

His friend.

His mouth parts and he thrust his cock up into his fisted hands. Precum lubes the tip of his head as he spreads it around with his thumb, gently rubbing the slick up and down himself. Needing more glide, he spits into his hand and rubs it down his length, coating his cock. He knows that when he finally gets to bury himself inside of you he won’t need spit, you’ll be fucking soaking for him, he’ll make sure of it.

He squeezes his eyes shut and groans. He needed this, badly. It had been a long night of your body bending, spinning and twisting – and fuck – remembering the way your back curved so delicately in the first round. 

Not to mention you’d worn leggings that clung to your skin and a T-shirt that dipped low enough to flash everyone. Skimpy shit that you insisted were your ‘comfortable clothes’. He doesn’t believe that for a second – but he’s not complaining. They may have killed him when he was trying to hide his arousal, but now he’s glad he’s got a more accurate image for his thoughts. 

Thoughts that include him wanting nothing more than to feel your body beneath his, sweating and used. Panting. Hair wild and a mess, as his fingers explore every inch of your flesh. He wants you wet enough that your arousal seeps over your thighs. He wants his cum dripping out your mouth, down your chin, and pooling on your tits.

He wants you filthy.

Fuck.

He palms himself up and down again, gritting his teeth and throwing his head back against the sofa.

He wants to bend you over, stretch you out. He wants to make you beg for him, writhe for him. Mould you to be his perfect little toy. If you could see him panting as he indulgently strokes himself to thoughts of you he’s sure you’d be flushed, embarrassed. 

The image has him shuddering and thrusting his cock up into his hand again. And again. And again. 

Fuck. What would you say if you knew? If you walked in and saw him?

You couldn’t blame him. Nobody forced you to insist on the game of Twister. Nobody forced you to trace your delicate little hands across his legs and arms and shoulders as you found the coloured circles. Nobody forced you to stumble on top of him, your grip holding his shoulders to find balance, immediately triggering his mind with thoughts of you riding him. 

And fuck – nobody forced you to be that flexible. 

His arms begin to ache at the punishing speed, but he couldn't stop. He wouldn’t stop. It felt too good. He hisses at the smooth glide over the sensitive underside of his head, head falling back again as he curses. 

He knows you’d beg for it - just like he is.

“Fuck, Y/N…”

You and Haechan are making your way through Chenle’s building, en route to the parking lot. Haechan had insisted on you driving him home tonight, citing that "Ubers are too expensive in this economy." But as you both walk towards the car, your mind starts to wander.

Chenle's behaviour tonight was odd.

He never ends your Friday night hangouts early, and his sudden shift in demeanour was quite... uncharacteristic. Moreover, he's usually very competitive, yet there were numerous instances during the game where he could have easily nudged or jostled you, but he refrained. It was almost as if you were a hot stove, and he feared getting burned by touching you.

Was he coming down with a cold or something? Whatever it was you don’t like it, and you’re about to ask Haechan about it. However, as your hand reaches into your jacket pocket, you realize: shit, you left your car keys.

"Mind waiting here? I left my keys back there," you inform Haechan and he looks at you unimpressed. 

He groans dramatically, “Y/N, it’s freezing out.”

"Relax, I'll be back in five minutes tops," you assure him.

 "I knew I should've gone home with Jisung.”

 You quirk an eyebrow, "What was that?" 

"Nothing, just hurry up." 

You return to Chenle’s building, taking the elevator up and walking down the halls. You hoped he hadn’t retired to bed if he was feeling unwell. Unfortunately, you can't even send him a quick text because your phone is with your keys.

You're slightly puzzled as you reach Chenle's door and find it open just a crack, unusual for him as he typically locks up immediately after everyone leaves. Concern creeps in — did something happen to him?

Anxiety triggers, and though you know you should knock and give him some warning that you're entering his apartment, your rational mind seems to switch off. And then it fogs because you just realised what you’ve just walked into.

Chenle’s head is thrown back with shut eyes, lips parted just a touch as he fists his cock. He groans, the motions causing a loud sloppy sound. His hand goes past the base of his cock and he grabs his balls, tugging at them with a whine. 

He fucking whined. 

You have to fight every urge not to gasp because the sight sends heat to the place between your legs, wetness pooling in your panties because he looks so hot, so unfiltered, raw and erotic. His face is so relaxed, his breath uneven, and you wonder what has got him so worked up. He looked like he was ready to kill moments ago. 

“Fuck Y/N…”

What the fuck?

Chenle sounds like he’s on the brink of an orgasm…to your name. Were you hearing it correctly? If only you could see better, peer further into his apartment, and realize that you'd made this whole thing up, then you could relax – you could curse your mind for playing such a cruel hot joke on you.

So you do, you creek the door open and that’s when you see his abs begin to quiver and his eyebrows knit tighter together. It was visible that he was getting close and he let out an involuntary yell, hips bucking as his hand pumps harder.

Your thighs rub together, and your legs threaten to tremble from the sight. You'd never imagined yourself being so turned on from watching someone else get off, but here you are, and you don't think you've ever been more aroused. 

And perhaps you’re a little too aroused because you don’t even realise that Chenle’s hand has stopped stroking because he’s staring straight at you, eyes wide looking like a deer in headlights. His cheeks are red and he’s awkwardly stuffing his very hard cock back into his sweats. 

“Oh shit! Fuck! I’m sorry,” you stumble over your words as you turn around, giving him a little bit of privacy. 

Chenle is at a loss for words. While he might have entertained the idea of you catching him, he never expected it to actually happen. And he certainly hadn't anticipated just how hot the glint of lust in your eyes as you watched him would be.

“No, it’s my fault…I should have locked the door.”

You’re still facing away from him, looking at his apartment walls when he stands to his feet and walks closer to you. You can feel the heat radiating off his body as he settles behind you. It’s a delicious warmth and if you weren’t just caught being a fucking perv, you would have let yourself bask in it. 

“N-No, I should have knocked, I just came to get my keys, I’m so so sorry–”

“Y/N will you just look at me?”

He cuts you off and you feel him wrap a hand around your wrist. You wonder if it’s the same one that was wrapped around his cock and – fuck Y/N – now is not the time. 

His gentle tug compels you to turn around and face him. You can't bring yourself to meet his eyes; instead, yours remain fixed on the floor. Still, you can feel the intensity of his gaze burning into your forehead.

"How long were you standing there?" His voice breaks the silence, prompting your mouth to open and close, resembling a fish for a moment as you process his question. 

"I-I um, not long," you stammer out.

“Not long?” He raises an eyebrow, “Were you planning on standing there until I came or what?” 

Your mouth goes dry as the realization dawns upon you because, yes, that's exactly what you were planning on doing. You wanted to witness what he looked like when he reached his climax, to see if he could possibly look any sexier than he already did as an orgasm washed over him.

“Lele—”

"You know," his finger reaches up to rest beneath your chin, trailing along your jawline until he has a firm grip, coaxing your eyes to meet his. "If you wanted to see me cum, the least you could have done was offer to help."

"W-what?" Your eyes widen in surprise.

"You heard me," he smirks confidently. "You gonna help me or what, Y/N?"

You bite your lip and nod, your hand dances along the hem of his sweats slipping inside to feel the length of his cock. It twitches in your grasp, and it doesn’t surprise you since he looked so close to his peak only seconds ago. 

Chenle sucks in a breath, he’s thought about this moment plenty, and today specifically, he’s been so pent up about it. He focuses on the feeling of your touch, slow but effective as you tease him. And Chenle swears he almost drools at the sight of you collecting his precum and licking it off your thumb – it’s so filthy – just as he fantasised.

The sounds coming from his mouth are heavenly and sinful all the same, echoing in your ears. Your hand hovers over his length again, only starting to stroke when he bucks his hips. The rutting of his hips forces you to quicken the pace and his breath is all but shallow gasps. 

Chenle can’t help the way his abdomen tenses, and his eyes find themselves falling on your low-cut top that had earlier been teasing him with your tits as you contorted your body for a stupid board game. Chenle thinks the view paired with your vigorous stroking might be enough for him to blow his load in his pants.

He's whining. He needs it. He��s chasing it. 

He spasms as you continue frantically fucking him with your fist. He meets your touches grunting and cursing with every thrust. He bites down hard on his lips when you grab his balls cupping and pulling and squeezing until you know his high is ready to hit him like a steam train.

Chenle’s body tenses, thrusting his cock as hard as he can manage. His stomach contracts as stars cloud his mind and he moans out your name. His body has never been hit by this much blinding bliss before – especially not from just a hand job. But still, his legs buckle and he has to steady himself on the wall behind him.

“Fuck Y/N! Just like that, gonna cum.”

Unashamed, his eyes roll back as cum shoots violently from his pulsing cock and all over your hand. His voice rings out clear and desperate with yells in the air. Long strings of hot cum coat your fingers, each rope eliciting another groan. Another clench. Another bliss.

You bite your lip, relishing the explicit sight of Chenle as he rides out his orgasm. Despite being soaked through with arousal yourself, your own pleasure takes a backseat; witnessing him in such a state – sweat glistening on his forehead, eyes glazed with ecstasy – is more than enough to satisfy you.

As you withdraw your hand from his sweats, you both gaze at the white substance coating your fingers. You're almost tempted to tease him with it, to watch him shiver as you lick it off your fingers, but that fantasy is abruptly cut short when the front door swings open.

“Seriously how hard can it be to find some damn keys—”

Haechan takes one glance at your glistening hand and the wet patch on Chenle’s pants and puts the pieces together. Then, he looks at you his eyes squeezing as he grimaces.

“If you left me in the freezing cold for fifteen minutes to give Chenle a fucking hand job, I'm going to kill both of you."

[yelenasdiary]

Hi how about an enemy to lovers with Yelena were in their last mission they somehow get handcuffed to each other and until the team can get them off they are off duty and having to deal with eachother (their feelings)

Cuffin' Season

Pairing: Yelena Belova x GN! Reader

Summary: You and Yelena find yourselves in a situation neither of you want to be in

Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Language Warning | 1.8K

AC: Thank you for sending this! Sorry it took so long; please ignore the cringe title lmao! I hope you enjoy it! x

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” You groaned, throwing your head back against the wall. Yelena sighed heavily, for the last 20 minutes or so, the two of you have been trying to escape a from each other. Yelena still trying to wrap her head around how on earth the target tricked you both and was able to keep you both hostage, not the classic tried to a chair with duct tape across your lips. No, this was the worst kind of being kept hostage. 

“Stop tugging!” Yelena said, rolling her eyes. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, does that hurt? Is being tugged by the fucking wrist hurt the tough Russian spy?” You snapped in frustration. “You know, if it wasn’t for Natasha needing Kate, she’d be the one hand cuffed to you and I wouldn’t be sitting here wishing THEY WOULD KILL ME ALREADY!” You added, yelling out to your kidnappers. 

“They’re not going to kill us” Yelena said. 

“I wish they would!” 

“Alright, what the hell is your problem?” Yelena snapped, looking to you. “What do you mean? You’re the one with the problem” you argued. 

Yelena cocked a brow, “you think I’m the one with the problem? You’ve never liked me; you can’t even stand to be in the same room with me” she replied watching you try to squeeze your hand out of the handcuff. “Nope, that’s all you, spy! I’ve never been nothing by nice to you, but I guess you’re too high and mighty to see that and now thanks to you, we’re trapped and I’m probably going to die handcuffed to you”

“Thanks to me?” Yelena frowned, “do you hear yourself right now? You’re the one the fell for the damn trap. I followed you to stop you, don’t you remember that? Probably not because you can’t do any wrong!” She added causing you to stop your actions and look at her with anger in your eyes. 

“You want to do this now? Right now? Instead of trying to escape you want to play the damn blame game?!” 

“If the shoe fits, why not” Yelena spat. 

“Agh! You’re so unbearable! I can’t believe you think this is my fault! You’re the one who told me to go ahead, it’s like you knew this was going to happen” you argued. 

“I was talking to Kate! I had to wait for you to shut your pipe hole for a second so she could finish her sentence, I said “go ahead, Kate” Yelena corrected you, your mind having a small flash back to that moment. You were so annoyed that you had been paired with the one person who hated you the most that you when you heard her say ‘go ahead’ you took it as her giving you instructions. 

Silence fell, you rolled your eyes once more at the blonde before trying yet another pointless attempt to set yourself free. “Seriously, stop tugging!” Yelena tugged her left wrist, pulling your right wrist to her. 

“Ouch!” You groaned at the pain, before tugging back. Yelena took a deep breath to keep herself from exploding over your childlike behavior, the two of you hated being cuffed together, if anything, this was the most that the two of you had ever spoken to one another. When you first met Yelena, she gave you a similar vibe that Natasha did when you first met her, so you just assumed it would be a little bit of work to break the widow and the two of you would get along after but no, not Yelena. You’ve been on two other missions with her in the past, both missions went quick and rather smoothly but again, such little conversation was ever exchanged between you both. 

Outside of work, Yelena simply made it obvious to you that she wasn’t a fan of you. So naturally, you stopped trying to win the assassin over and found yourself giving her the same cold vibe she would give you. It made things harder given that you were both great friends of Kate’s and the poor archer hated seeing her two closest friends hating one another. But what you didn’t know was the little secret that Yelena had let slip to Kate one night after a few too many shots of Vodka. 

As time passed, you and Yelena sat in silence. Both of you quietly tried to work out a plan to get out of the situation you were in but neither of you wanted to bring your ideas to the table first. “If we work together, we can get out of here” Yelena says with a light sigh, breaking the silence. 

“What do you think I’ve tried to do this entire mission?” You replied, not trying to snap back at her but her comment slightly annoyed you. “You just hate working with me” you added. 

Yelena looked over at you, “how about once we get out of here, we never have to work together again” she says in a calm tone. 

“Perfect! Can’t wait” you gave her a fake smile before her eyes quickly turned to the banging sound of guns outside the door. The two of you instantly went into fight or flight, just waiting for whatever was going to happen come through that door. 

You let out a sigh of relief when you saw Natasha standing in the doorway with a cocked brow, Kate standing slightly behind her. “Well, don’t you two look cozy” Nat commented, earning herself a death stare from her sister. “Have you got the keys?” You asked, ignoring the comment from the older widow. 

“I’ll go find them” you heard Kate say before rushing off. Natasha stood still with a growing smirk as she looked at the two of you, “which one of you wants to tell me how this happened?” She asked before letting out a chuckle. 

“Shut up!” Yelena spat. 

----

Back at the compound, free from being cuffed to Yelena, you just sat down on the edge of your bed, letting out a heavy sigh as you rubbed the handcuff markings on your wrist. Your mind replaying everything that had happened on the mission, trying to work out if you were the one that put you and Yelena in that situation or if it was just a case of bad lucky. Did you the two of you let your hatred for one another get in the way of a mission or was it something much more than that? These thoughts circled your mind until you heard a knock at your bedroom door. 

You opened it only to see Yelena standing there, “can I help you?” You asked kindly although Yelena was the last person you wanted to see right now. 

“Can I come in?” She asked taking you by surprise. You nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter. She walked in and noticed the little things about your room layout, where your perfume sat on a shelf, how neatly your close were hanging in your opened closet, your favorite movie as a poster on one of the walls, all these little things she smiled softly to herself about. 

“If you’re come to give me a lecture about the mission, I won’t want to hear it” you said as you wandered over to your dresser to apply some cream to your hands and wrists. Yelena turned around to face you, “I didn’t come here to lecture you. I came here to tell you that I don’t hate you” she replied. You frowned slightly as you looked back at her, “you don’t?” You questioned. 

Yelena shook her head, “I’ve never hated you” 

“T-then why you act like you do?” 

Yelena took a deep breath and took a seat at the end of your bed, placing her hands in her lap before she looked up at you once more. “I told Kate what happened today, and she said it would be best if I just come clean to you” she started. 

“Clean to me?” You questioned. 

“I don’t hate you, in fact, it’s the opposite to hate” 

Her reply only added to your confusion, “so you what? Dislike me? Or is it you can tolerate me?” You asked. It was your words that quickly told Yelena that this wasn’t going how she thought it would and quickly tried to fix it before this would escalate into yet another argument. 

“Try, I have feelings for you” she replied, her eyes slightly dropping to your feet. Her confession took you back, not once did you ever think that Yelena’s behavior towards you was because she had possible feelings for you. “I know it’s probably not what you expected but putting Kate’s advice aside for a moment, after today and the way we talked to one another wasn’t okay. I didn’t know that’s how you felt until today. I didn’t think that I was giving you the impression that I hated you” she paused as you slowly rubbed the cream into your skin while listening to her continue. 

“I’ve never looked at somebody and have my heart skip a beat, I’ve never heard somebody talk to me and wish they would never stop, I’ve never had somebody smile at me and that make me nervous. I guess I was so cold to you because I didn’t know how to be around you so I guess I thought that if I was distant with you that I wouldn’t feel these things, but I spoke to Kate and she told me that what I feel is okay” she went on. 

You wandered over to her and sat beside her, “well, I can say I’m so glad that you came to me. I thought I was going mad” you looked to her, “you’re not the only one who has feelings in this” you added.

Yelena’s eyes lit up, “do you mean y-“ 

You nodded before she could finish her question, “I don’t like the saying ‘if they’re mean to you it’s because they like you’ but I guess it has some kind of truth” you added, making you both chuckle. Gently, you took Yelena’s left hand into yours, “we don’t have to act on these feelings if you don’t want too or not ready, I don’t ever want to push you” you assured her. 

“Being handcuffed to you has been the highlight of my week, I would like to explore these feelings more, but it needs to be slowly” Yelena replies. You couldn’t help but smile softly at her, “we have all the time in the world, there is no need to rush anything”

You noticed Yelena blush a little at your words and you swore, if you could, you’d kiss her right then and there but you wanted this to work and right now, you were finally able to see a side of Yelena you wish you saw sooner.

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[hrtsdevils]

dog-eared. | jh86

summary reader and jack broke up before he was drafted to the nhl. after years of watching from afar, jack finally sees y/n in person. past feelings are brought up to the surface.

pairing jack hughes x fem!reader

wc 2.6k

an my lovers… also another gracie fc sorry idk what to tell you! also for the sake of the plot pretend that the devils play the ducks on tuesday instead of vancouver thanks!!! loosely based off of everywhere everything by noah kahan ft gracie abrams

It had been years since you’d seen Jack. You broke up right before he started his NHL career as it seemed like your plans didn’t align. You’d be going to college in California, as USC had been your dream school your whole life. You dreamed of living somewhere where it was sunny and it was never freezing, unlike the weather in your hometown of Toronto. He dreamed of making it big in the professional league, which he was so close to achieving already.

The breakup between you two was mostly mutual. It happened in your 2005 Honda Civic, in the parking lot of a gas station after you had gone to buy soft drinks. The two of you could feel the breakup impending, and it felt as if the weather channel told you a meteor would be hitting Earth within minutes. As if the sun was about to collapse. The silence was deafening as you started your car, putting your drink in the cup holder. He followed suit.

“I..” He started before you cut him off.

“You think we need to break up?” You asked, giving him a soft smile. It wasn’t genuine, it was quite the opposite. You just didn’t want him to feel guilty, you thought it was the right thing as well.

He nodded softly, “I just think we’re on two separate paths… you know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Your hands tensed under your thighs, as you were using them as hand warmers. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Buttons.” That had been his nickname for you since the 8th grade. You had a perfect little button nose, and it quickly caught on and everybody would use it for you as well.

The drive back to his parents’ house was in silence, as neither of you had much to say to each other. In about ten minutes, you were parked in front of his house. “You’re still going to come to my birthday party, right?” You asked. You were turning eighteen in a few weeks, June 7th.

“Yeah, I will.” He smiled sadly, “It’s not over. We’re just separating until we get brought back together.”

You huffed, “When’s that? Whenever fate decides?”

“Precisely. Call it a dog ear.. you like to read, right?”

“Yeah, I would never doggy ear my books though.” You giggled, “Bye, Jacky.”

That was the last you talked formally. He never did come to your party, texting you an excuse about how he had a training camp that day. You didn’t believe it, but you never said anything about it. It had been years, you watched him succeed from your dorm room and then to your small apartment couch. Your roommates never understood your love for the sport, but you always attributed it to being from up north.

That was a reason, but not the only one.

Every year you anticipated the Devils coming down to Anaheim to play the Ducks. That was practically the only time you watched Jack in person. You were particularly excited this year, as his little brother Luke would be playing too. You adored Luke, he was so sweet and well-mannered, especially to you. Trevor would also be there. He wouldn’t be playing as he was injured, but you’d caught him after a few games to catch up and he was your little piece of Michigan in California.

It was a Friday game, which met that the tickets were slightly higher and there were fewer of them. You finally got your good friend, Cecilia, to agree to go with you. She was familiar with your love of hockey, and she knew you went to a lot of games. She didn’t know you knew two players on the ice, and two players up in the press box. As you were buying your tickets with her, you got a text from Trevor.

trevor zegras 🐣 : hey buttons r u coming to the game? idk cause jacks playing

You hastily replied, trying to shield your phone from Cece in the most subtle way possible.

y/n buttons : yeahhhh i was jst about to buy my tickets bahaha

trevor zegras 🐣 : don’t buy them ❌❌ i have a club ticket right above the benches if u want it

y/n buttons : usually yes i’d love to but i’m bringing my friend cece

trevor zegras 🐣 : i have 2! i’ll send em to u later

y/n buttons : thanks trev i appreciate u ☺️

You put your phone down and closed your laptop. Cece was a couple feet away on hers, but looked at you when your laptop snapped shut. “Did you buy them?” She questioned, scooting closer to you. You shook your head.

“Kind of? Well, one of my friends is on the team and he’s injured, he offered us seats right behind the bench.”

Her jaw fell slightly, “You never told me you had connections!”

You smiled, “I don’t really, I usually buy my tickets. This was a first time thing, I think he might be drunk.” You tried to explain it in the least suspicious way possible. You didn’t want to seem boastful, but an explaination had to come from somewhere.

You two discussed the arrangements for a couple minutes longer. From outfits to hair to transportation, you were more excited for this game than you had been for any others. Maybe it was because it was Jack’s team, or maybe it was because someone finally seemed to share your admiration for the sport.

Who knows, it was probably the latter.

The day came quick, as it was only a day or two out from your initial conversation. The tickets usually dropped in price right before the game, but luckily you didn’t have to spend the money on it regardless. You lended Cece a Zegras jersey that he got you, while you chose to wear an unnamed 30th anniversary jersey. You still had a few hoodies with Jack’s last name on the back, from his time with USNDTP, but you wouldn’t be wearing those tonight.

You arrived shortly before warm-ups, but when you looked at your section and seat numbers you realized Trevor wasn’t lying about you being right behind the bench. He just never mentioned that it was the away bench. You watched from your seat as the boys entered from the tunnel. They weren’t facing you, but you watched to make sure they didn’t turn around at least not now.

You managed to go a little while without being seen by Luke or Jack, that was until Cecelia got extremely into the game. The Devils had a goal in the late first period, opening up the scoring. Luke was sitting on the bench about a foot to the left of Cece, and once they scored she started banging on the glass.

As he stood up to cheer, he turned around due to the banging. The first thing he did was make eye contact with you. His eyebrows raised, and he blinked as if you’d disappear when his eyes opened. He didn’t say anything as you tried to avoid his gaze, and simply turned back around.

The game continued on, and you didn’t see him say anything to Jack. Soon enough, it was intermission and you felt safer. Like eyes weren’t on you anymore, even though they never were. It went by fairly quickly as the two of you watched the silly halftime games that usually were played by young children. As soon as the Devils came back through the tunnel, Jack turned around and looked at you. He kept sneaking glances as they warmed up again before the start of the second.

The rest of the game wasn’t as fun, as the brunette kept staring at you. As if you couldn’t go to hockey games, his hockey games. As if he couldn’t help looking at you. As if he missed you.

It didn’t help that Cece kept shouting at you, telling you that the cute one kept staring at you and that he wanted you. You knew her best interest was at heart, but she had no idea the magnitude of your situation with said cute one. You entertained her teasing of you, and how she kept pointing at you everytime Jack glanced your way.

By the end of the game you were over it. You wanted to escape and go home before the off chance that you ran into Jack actually happened. It was relieving when you got into the car, but startling when your phone lit up with a single message from Jack. Cece was giggling to herself, looking up one of the cute guys she saw on Instagram. She was oblivious to the situation

jack hughes : hi why were u there

You tried to think of an excuse, but eventually you realized it wouldn’t matter if you told the truth or not.

buttons 🩷 : because i was given tix my trevor.. and i go to a lot of ducks games

jack hughes : oh no other reason?

buttons 🩷 : u think i went for u?

jack hughes : maybe a little. sorry for bothering u buttons.

buttons 🩷 : don’t be sorry. how long are you in anaheim?

jack hughes : tonight n then flying up to seattle

buttons 🩷 : where r u staying?

It was a twenty minute drive back up to your apartment, but with your speeding it was around seventeen. Cece didn’t question your urgency as you dropped her off at your shared apartment, and left immediately after. She was a little bit tipsy. As you drove to the Marriott in Anaheim, you thought about what you were doing.

Throwing away years of peace for the same boy who disrupted it all those years ago. If you started to have feelings for him again, who knows how much you life could be uprooted? Everything could be ruined. All the progress and the getting over Jack. Your Jack. You knew you were risking your own personal journey by going to see him, but at this point you didn’t care.

The hotel receptionist was reluctant to let you up, as she knew who was staying there. The skepticism on her face was present from the very moment you walked in.

“Look, I know him and I know his room number, so can you just let me go up?” You pleaded with hed. Going to a room usually wasn’t necessarily an issue, the issue here was that a sports team was staying. She might’ve thought you were a crazy stalker fan.

As she was about to answer, Jack exited the elevator and spotted you talking to the receptionist. “She’s with me.” He told her, as he walked up to the desk. “Thanks, though.” You had texted him a minute prior about the receptionist, but you didn’t expect him to rush down.

“Hi.” You breathed as you made your way toward the elevator, “How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been good.” He stopped before the elevator, “Would you rather go for a drive? I’m sharing a room with Luke.”

Your story paused in a car, so you were unsure how this would turn out. Maybe it will be different this time. “Sure.” You replied softly.

You two walked to your car in silence. You were about to get in the driver’s seat, but he insisted on driving. “You should drive slow around here, there’s a bunch of cops at night because of drunk college students.” You chuckled, “I’ll tell you when you can speed.”

You buckled up, and he started your car. It was an upgrade from your Honda, being a more recent model of a Nissan. “So, why’d you come to the game?” He asked as he pulled out of the hotel’s parking lot.

“I go to a lot of Duck’s games. Trevor plays, of course I go watch him.” You started, “He offered me club tickets, and I figured they were behind his bench. They weren’t, obviously.”

“So you didn’t go for me?” He questioned once again, “I don’t believe that, Buttons.”

You rolled your eyes, “I kind of did. I’ve been while you were playing for the last three years, but I still like hockey in general.”

“I’ll believe that.” The silence sat for a little while as he drove 25 down the city roads, the radio wasn’t even playing. “Do you think we could’ve done long distance?”

You shook your head, “No, not then at least. That’s why we broke it off. Maybe now.” You said the last part quieter, just enough so that if he wasn’t paying attention he wouldn’t have heard it.

But of course he was paying attention. You were his everything before, and possibly even now.

“Now?” He questioned, “What do you mean by that?”

“When we broke up, you said our page was dog-eared. Bookmarked. It was more like a pause until we were ready and mature, or at least that’s how I took it.”

He smiled, “I remember that. Do you think we’re ready and mature?”

You shrugged, looking at him. “Maybe, just this semester and then I’m done. I chose to graduate a semester early. I could move back east, we could be closer. Even without I think we’d be mature enough for long distance.”

The chances of this moment happening just weeks before you graduated was an alignment of the stars in itself. This could be everything you wanted, without disrupting your peace.

“If you need a place to stay, you can always stay with me and Luke.” He offered, “To get on your feet, if you come back.”

“Maybe.” You hummed. His hand was resting on the gear shift, even though it was an automatic. You made a move to lay your hand on top of his, squeezing it gently.

It was a soft step in the right direction. A step to getting the love of your life back, which is what you’d wanted since the minute you broke it off. It’s been a long three years without him, he was your best friend and you intended to make up for the lost time soon enough. You wouldn’t bring up how he never contacted you either, because it was far in the past. You were both kids at the time and you can’t hold a grudge about that.

As he re-entered the hotel parking lot, you smiled at him. Your hands were now intertwined on top of the cup holder region, and you never wanted to let go. His hand was more rugged than before, matured and weathered, but it was still a comfort you had missed. He dropped it to shift the car into park.

“So, I’ll see you soon then?” He asked, as you got ready to get out. 45 minutes had passed between getting into the car and now. You conversed about your current life and your future. Your future together.

You nodded, “Yeah, hopefully. Keep in touch, okay? No ghosting me.” You stepped out of the car and walked around to the driver's side as he got out as well.

The two of you shared a hug, but exchanged little words. You could hear the cars around you, and the sounds of the city were still alive. “Bye, Jack.” You released him from your embrace.

“Bye, Buttons.” He smiled, “I’ll text you.” He turned around and walked back to the hotel as you watched, a smile gracing your features as well.

You’d love him forever, whether you got back together or not. You believed he felt the same. You were glad that Trevor had known about the seating on the tickets, and made sure they got to you. You were also glad Luke saw and recognized you. You were excited to see him. The end was over, and the new start was just beginning.

[carlottawllms]

The Neighbour

Mason Mount x Reader Fluff / Smut Word Count: 9.9K

TW: Mentions of break-in

I really really hope you’ll like this one as I’m rather proud of it.

The thing is, I never meant for this to include as much smut as it does now. It was supposed to be a friends to lovers one with a tiny smutty scene, but then I got carried away (thank you Mason for dropping that video) and now there’s two smutty scenes in here.

It does have a plot tho – a cute one imo. Enjoy <3

As always, feedback is very much appreciated!

When Mason got home after a busy day at Carrington, he just wanted something to eat and to get on the couch. He was just back in full team training after his spell on the sidelines, so the sessions were still pretty exhausting and made his legs feel like they were about to fall off.

But when he turned the corner to his house and all he could see was police cars and an ambulance in his driveway, his heart dropped into his stomach.

“What the fuck?”

No one was supposed to be here as his parents were back in Portsmouth and his sister wasn’t due to visit for another two weeks so it couldn’t really be anything concerning his house, right?

Once he’d parked the car a little away from the scene to avoid getting in the way, he jogged over. The adrenaline in his body shot up to the tips of his hair the closer he got and the more people he saw running about.

“Sorry sir, you’re not allowed up here.”

In his haste, he hadn’t even noticed the barrier tape and the police man stopping him now with a hand on his arm.

“I live here.”, Mason explained as calmy as he could. “What’s going on?”

“You live in number 12?” The young officer raised his eyebrows in disbelief and Mason was quick in shaking his head as worry took over just as quickly. Number 12 was your house…

“No, in number 10, sorry. I’ve just seen the ambulance in my driveway. Number 12 is y/n y/l/n. Is she okay? What happened?”

In the few weeks Mason had been living here, he’d seen you often when he came home or left the house in the morning. Apparently, you had a similar schedule and after a few days of you sending him soft smiles whenever you saw him, he’d actually rung your doorbell and introduced himself properly.

He’d just talked to you this morning and you’d seemed more than fine. And now there was an emergency doctor and police men walking in and out of your house.

“You will understand that I cannot give any details about this for reasons of discretion, Mr. Mount. I can only advice you to go home or leave the scene please.”

“Can you at least let me know if she’s okay? I know her and I need to know if something happened to her. Please.”, he begged, knowing deep down that the officer wasn’t allowed to.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I really can’t tell you.”

Mason sighed quietly and nodded. The officer was just doing his job and taking it seriously and whilst it annoyed him that he wouldn’t get any information about you, he understood. He was about to bid his goodbye and leave when another officer joined.

“Mr. Mount?”

“Yeah?”

“Ms. y/l/n asked to let you pass. You can come and see her if you want to.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s pretty shaken-up, but physically she’s fine.”

Mason let out a sigh of relief at that. Whatever had happened you were at least not physically harmed. He contemplated asking the man about what had happened as he walked closer to where you were, but given he’d probably not get any information anyway, he decided to keep quiet and instead ask you in a bit.

You were sitting on the steps outside the front door, arms hugging your bent legs and chin propped up on your knees as you stared into space. A paramedic spoke to you, but from the way you kept nodding away, Mason could tell you weren’t really listening and the closer he got, the more obvious it became in what a sorry state you seemed to be.

The paramedic smiled at him politely before leaving and the second Mason kneeled down next to you, his heart broke. Your skin was pale, but on the tops of your cheeks it was all blotchy and your red-rimmed, glazed over eyes were a clear indication that you’d been crying.

“y/n, hey.”, he mumbled softly as he rested his hand on your ankle, fingers gently caressing the warm skin they could reach in an attempt to provide you with some comfort. “Are you okay? What happened?”

When you stayed quiet, Mason let you. He figured that whatever was wrong you were too overwhelmed to speak about it, so he opted for sitting down next to you and when you slightly leaned against him, he was quick in wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pull you into his side a little more.  

“Whatever happened, I’m here now, okay? I’ll stay for as long as you want me to.”

As you felt him kissing the top of your head softly, it was like someone had opened the floodgates. Tears you’d tried so hard to hold back made it past the last line of defence and fell freely down your cheeks and before you could stop yourself, you turned your body and buried your face in his chest.

If Mason was surprised by your sudden need of proximity and affection, he didn’t show it in the slightest. He just grabbed your legs and placed them across his so he could pull you into a proper embrace and as his arms wrapped tightly around your body, you finally felt safe. Safe enough to let go of everything. And safe enough to let him in.  

“Someone broke in.”, you choked, feeling Mason going stiff. “And they…they looked through all…all of my stuff and tou- touched it and…some things are go- gone and…it’s so scary, I just-“

Now that the shock slowly wore off and you had said it, you realised for the first time what had happened. A stranger had invaded your home, rummaged through all your things, touched them and even taken some of them. Someone had just burst the safe space you’d built for yourself like a balloon.

“Ssshh, it’s okay, y/n. You’re safe now, yeah? I’ve got you.”

Mason rocked you from side to side gently, holding you tight to his chest as he felt your hot tears against his neck. His heart hurt for you. Luckily, something like this had never happened to him, so he could only imagine how you felt, but the way your smaller body shook in his hold, told him everything he needed to know.

“I’m here whatever you need, okay?”

While he kept placing barely-there kisses on your hairline, he remembered how not too long ago, you’d confided in him that you’d come here alone and didn’t know many people, let alone were friends with anyone.

You’d moved in just a few weeks before him after leaving Brighton in a headlong rush to start a new job in Manchester. Mason knew from his own experience that it could take a little while to really feel comfortable, but only a few days ago you had told him that you finally had the feeling of being at home.

It made his blood boil how now a single person had managed to destroy that feeling within minutes.

“I I need to book a hotel room.”, you sighed after a very long while of silence and just being in his embrace. “I don’t think I can sleep here tonight.”

“You can stay at mine.”, Mason blurted out before he could even think about it, blushing heavily as he felt you going stiff in his embrace. “I totally get if you don’t want to, like we can look for a hotel you’d feel comfortable in, I just thought I’d offer cause it would make sense and…yeah.”

The surprise was visible in your expression as you pulled your face from his neck and Mason watched you wiping your eyes with the sleeves of your hoodie, itching to reach out and to it himself, but he was conscious of the fact that you were barely friends, and he shouldn’t overstep the mark.

“You can totally say no, y/n. Don’t feel like you have to say yes, it was just an offer.”

“No, I…you would do that? Like letting me sleep on the sofa?”

“Not the sofa.”, he smiled softly. “I’ve got a guestroom you can have.”

He could still see the mistiness in your eyes, but the small smile pulling at the corners of your lips had his heart stumbling. “I just don’t want to be a burden. Your job is exhausting and you-“

“Hey, I wouldn’t have offered it if I didn’t mean it, okay?” Mason carefully pushed a stray strand of hair behind your ear, causing a shiver roll up your spine. “You wouldn’t be a burden, y/n. In fact, I’d feel better knowing you’re somewhere safe and not alone to be honest.”

After giving it another thought you came to the conclusion that you’d actually feel better knowing there was someone around who’d protect you instead of sleeping in a random hotel room, so you agreed hesitantly.

“Thank you, Mason.”, you whispered. “I’m sure I can go back to mine tomorrow, it’s just a little overwhelming today and-“

“You can stay as long as you want or need to.”, he interrupted you softly as he cupped your jaw to maintain the eye contact. “I don’t mind it at all. If you feel safe enough to go back tomorrow, okay, but if you don’t, then please don’t force yourself. Yeah?”

“Promise me, you don’t mind it? I really don’t want to be in the way.”

“I promise you, y/n. You won’t be a burden, and neither will you be in the way. I’d be very happy to be there for you.”

“Okay then.”, you breathed. “Thank you.”

Mason just smiled at you and pulled you back into a hug, hands gently running up and down your back in reassurance. “Do you want to grab a couple of things, or would you rather we go and buy some stuff?”

Your heart skipped a beat at how caring and supportive he was, how he acted as if you’d been the bestest of friends for years and everything he was offering was totally normal.

“I erm…I’d like to grab some things I think.”

Mason nodded, noticing how hesitant you seemed as your eyes wandered over to the door, the officers had left open as they’d left a while ago. “Do you want me to come with you?”

With his hand on the small of your back, you made your way into your house. You’d already been inside with the police to check what was missing, but now being confronted with it all again had your throat closing up.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”, Mason mumbled when he noticed your change in demeanour. He wrapped his arm around your waist and tugged you into his side.

Not comfortable in your own house anymore, you went through the rooms quickly to get what you needed. You’d actually wanted to take some necessary things; pjs, toothbrush, things like that, but as you stood in front of your opened closet and couldn't be sure that the burglar hadn't touched any of it, you didn't feel like it anymore.

Mason, recognising your uncertainty immediately, clasped his hand around yours and pulled you back from the closet. “You can have some of my things to put on. I also have a spare toothbrush and if you don’t mind smelling like me, you can use my shower gel too.”

A few minutes later and only your charger in your hands, you left your house with Mason to spend the night at his.

-

1:04am. It felt like an eternity had passed since you’d last looked at the clock, but in truth it was less than 10 minutes. For hours, you’d been tossing and turning in hopes to get a few restful minutes, but no matter what you tried, sleep was out of the question.

The pictures of your thrashed place kept popping up the moment you closed your eyes and the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach just wouldn’t go away. You knew you were safe here. Mason was sleeping in a room just down the hall and you’d seen how he’d locked everything and set the alarm system, but your body wouldn’t settle.

With a sigh, you eventually gave up. Peeling yourself out of the comfy bedsheets, you placed your feet on the fluffy carpet and left the inviting warmth of your bed to quietly pad downstairs.

Much to your relief, as you were walking around in nothing, but your panties and an oversized t-shirt Mason had given you, all the blinds were closed. The lighting however, caused you a little headache. While the little lamps in the hallway were motion censored and had switched on by themselves, the kitchen was a different story. You had to search for a moment for a light switch and when you’d eventually found one, it wasn’t the one for the big light.

You allowed your eyes to wander over his beautiful kitchen for a moment. Matte black cabinets, light grey countertops, and matching decorations in what appeared to be precisely chosen places, like fresh lilies on the kitchen island. You really liked it.

His interior was exactly what you’d expected it to be. Neat, tidy and elegant, but not extravagant or like something straight out of a catalog. It had that special, personal touch, something that seemed to be so Mason.

“y/n?”

The shriek that left your mouth as you jumped out of your skin was probably loud enough to be heard throughout the whole neighbourhood as you hadn’t expected anyone to speak up. You clutched your chest in shock, wide eyes staring at Mason who’d scared you to death with his sudden appearance.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”, Mason cursed, holding his hands up in surrender with an apologetic expression on his face as he caught your wide opened eyes. “God, y/n, I really am sorry. I’ve just seen you there and…Sorry. Are you okay?”

Your heart was still racing in your chest, and you wouldn’t exactly say you were okay, but as you looked at him and took in his appearance, the shock over seeing him in a way you never thought you would, weighed heavier than the fact he’d scared you half to death.

Until today, Mason hadn’t been more than your neighbour or maybe even a friend, but now that he stood in front of you in nothing but a white t-shirt and tight boxers hugging his thick thighs and…well everything else…your mind went down the gutter.

You were aware that you stared at him for a little too long and that your gaze was literally everywhere but on his face, but as embarrassing as it was, you couldn’t help yourself. He was right there. Well, him and his best physical attributes…

Mason was handsome at the best of times and yeah maybe you’d thought about him in a certain way once or twice now – maybe even a little more often than that – but even in your wildest dreams, you’d never thought you’d actually see him like this.

And yet here he was. A pair of tight green Nike boxers far from hiding anything and his strong thighs full on display. You were only human…well and a woman.

“y/n?”

“It’s…erm.” You cleared your throat awkwardly, gaze dropping to the floor with bright red cheeks as you eventually realised, he’d seen you staring at him as if he was some sort of snack. “It’s fine. I erm…I just came here for some water.”

Just like you, Mason had to fight for his eyes to stay on your face. The shirt he’d given you just about reached you mid-thigh and the amount of soft skin you were showing off as you’d waived the shorts entirely, should be considered unhealthy in his eyes. He’d always thought you were beautiful, if not downright attractive, but seeing you in his shirt had his thoughts going wild.

It was a sight he’d hoped, but never expected to see anytime soon if ever.

“Couldn’t sleep?”, he asked, stepping around you as he made his way to the fridge. He actually didn’t need anything as he’d only gotten up when worry had taken over at hearing your door being opened, but now that he’d seen you barely dressed, he needed some sort of distraction.

“No, I erm kept waking up. But it’s okay, you can go back to sleep, Mason.” From the corner of your eye, you followed his every move and you internally scolded yourself for staring at the way the boxers hugged his bum so perfectly, but even if you’d tried, you couldn’t have stopped yourself.

He was incredibly attractive without even trying and as you were sure you’d never get to see him dressed in nothing but skin-tight boxers and a t-shirt in his dimly lit kitchen again, you allowed yourself to admire his body for a tiny bit longer.

“No, it’s fine.”, he smiled as he closed the door to the fridge, noticing how you quickly averted your eyes and tried to make it look as if you hadn’t been staring at him, but your flushed cheeks gave your flustered state away rather obviously. “I can stay up with you until you’re okay to go back to sleep.”

“Oh no, that’s not necessary. Thank you though.”, you told him as you really didn’t want him to lose sleep and risk being tired in the morning because of you. “I’m fine. I’ll just go back up and try to sleep.”

Mason had no idea what came over him, but the moment you stepped away from the kitchen counter, ready to go back upstairs, his brain switched to autopilot. Two or three strides and he was right in front of you, close enough to feel the warmth radiating off of you.

“Sure you’re okay?”, he asked, the back of his hand gently pressing against your cheek. “You’re a little warm.”

The moment you raised your gaze and locked it on his, the butterflies in your stomach went wild. There was this intense expression in his eyes; hazy and begging for the same thing that had been swirling through your mind for a while now and the moment his tongue darted out to subconsciously wet his lips, your mind went blank.

“I’m okay.”, you breathed. “It’s just…you make me nervous.”

For a few very long seconds, his brown eyes simply stared into yours and you could literally feel the thick tension in the room, but before you could even think of attempting something, Mason cupped the side of your neck with his hand and kissed you hungrily.

He walked you backwards until you were trapped in between his heavy body and the cooking island with nowhere to go but even if you’d had the chance, you wouldn’t have bailed anyway.

“Mase.”, you moaned quietly as he buried his teeth into your bottom lip, and he was quick in using the chance to invade your mouth and brush his tongue against yours with slow, lazy strokes.

Mason was an insanely good kisser. His tongue playing with yours had your knees going week and in a poor attempt to steady yourself, you grabbed onto his shoulder as you buried the other hand into his soft hair.

The way you melted into his body a little more with every brush of his tongue against yours combined with your taste and the smell of your still slightly lingering perfume made him feel as if he was slowly losing his mind and the moment your fingernails scratched the sensitive skin on his neck, he breathed a deep moan into your mouth, hand propping up on the counter behind you for some better leverage.

Just like his, your brain was fogged, and you’d lost the ability to think straight the moment his eyes had locked on yours, but when Mason pressed his hips further into your body and you could feel his hard length digging into your lower stomach, even the farthest corner of your brain was completely consumed by him and the thought of feeling him in a certain way.

“I want you, Mase.”, you sighed against his lips, not even realising you’d used his nickname for the very first time, as you pulled away to catch your breath.

Only seconds later Mason had hoisted you up onto the cooking island as if you weighed nothing, hands firmly settled on your waist. As his lust clouded eyes locked on yours and made your tummy flip in anticipation, you wrapped your legs around his waist in an attempt to pull him back against where you needed him most, but Mason had different plans.

With one hand in your hair, he tilted your head back for better access to that soft skin of yours. His lips attached to your now exposed neck straight away, making you feel hot all over with the wet open mouth kisses he left on every tiny part of you that he could reach and when he gently bit the sensitive skin right above your pulse point and soothed the sting with his tongue, a gasp escaped your lips.

The low chuckle right by your ear had shudders rolling down your spine. That bastard knew exactly what to do to make you feel all sorts of things.

“I want you too baby.”, he murmured before sucking a hickey into the side of your neck and the feeling of it went straight to your core. “But I need a taste first.”

In the haze of pure desire and lust you hadn’t even noticed how his hands had travelled lower, but when his big warm hands found a home on your naked thighs, the tips of his fingers just about playing with the hem of your panties, you nodded quickly.

His wish surprised you as you hadn’t expected him to even waste a thought on going down on you before sticking his dick in and getting some for himself, but apparently Mason was different and actually interested in making this worth your while as well.

“No baby, I need your words. Think I can have a taste?”

You were sure that with the way he kept calling you baby and his bedroom eyes locked on yours, you would’ve agreed to whatever, so you were quick in nodding again. “Yes Mase.”, you affirmed.

“Good girl.” He pressed a quick kiss to your lips, laughing quietly as you chased him for more, but since he wasn’t one to deny you anything he kissed you heavily again whilst exploring more of the body he so desperately wanted to feel.

The first brush of his fingers against your core had you gasping into his mouth. It was still with your panties acting like some sort of barrier, but even now the feeling was mind-blowing already.

“God, I can already feel how wet you are for me.” Mason dropped his head into the crook of your neck, groaning at the thought of feeling you properly in a little bit. “I’m dying to taste you, you have no idea.”

“Mase.”, you whined, making him chuckle at the way you so eagerly pulled his face out of your neck. “Don’t tease.”

The pleading and hazy expression in your eyes was all it took for him to throw his ideas of prolonging it out of the window. Within a couple of seconds, he’d gotten rid of your panties, and he came face to face with your dripping heat.

“So pretty.”, he hummed as he kissed his way up the inside of your thighs, hands following his lips and spreading your open for him a little more. “And all for me.”

A gasp tumbled from your lips as Mason eventually placed a kiss right where your thighs met, before running his tongue through your folds and humming at the sweet taste of you.

“Fuck Mase.” Your hand flew to the back of his head, fingers burying themselves in his soft hair as you tried to keep up the eye contact, but the intensity of his tongued bumping your clit and licking away at you had your eyes falling shut almost immediately. “Feels so good.”

In his determination to make you feel as good as possible, Mason made sure to pay attention to every tiny sound you made and the way your hand tightened in his hair whenever he did something particularly pleasurable.

“Yes…yes…god you’re so good at that.”

You felt him smiling against your core as you leaned back onto your forearms with moans continuously pouring from your lips. You were already close to reaching your high and if there was even a little free capacity in your brain, you’d certainly be embarrassed, but all you could think of right now was how good Mason was with his tongue.

“You’re gonna cum on my tongue, baby? Hm? Gonna show me how good you’re feeling?”

Your attempt at an answer turned into a load moan as without so much as a warning, he pushed two fingers inside of you. The force of pleasure running through you had your arm giving way underneath you and you melted into the cold surface of Mason’s cooking island.

The sound of your moans had his painfully hard cock pressing even further against the restraint of his boxers as he curled his fingers expertly inside of you. He relished in the sinful sounds you made, in reducing you to this state whilst exploring your soft warm walls and he couldn’t wait to have them wrapped around other parts of his body. 

“Mase fuck…Oh god, yes right there.”, you gasped, back arching, as the pads of his fingers brushed that magical spot inside of you. “Keep going, Mase. Please keep going.”

And Mason did exactly that. Your fingers tightened in his hair as he brought you closer and closer and when he sucked your clit between his lips and brushed that one spot with a little more pressure than before, you tumbled over the edge.

Hot white pleasure shot through your veins and made you feel all sorts of things whilst a mixture of profanities and Mason’s name fell from your lips repeatedly as he rode you through one of the most intense highs you’d ever experienced.

He made sure to gradually slow his movements to bring you down gently, until his fingers stilled inside of you, and he pressed one last kiss to your clit.

“Fucking hell.”, you sighed breathlessly as you tried to regain your senses. One orgasm and you were sure he’d ruined sex for you forever as there was no way you’d find someone who could do it as good as him.  

Mason gave you a minute to recover before carefully removing his fingers and licking them clean. “You taste like heaven, y/n.”, he hummed. His hands gently massaged your still slightly shaking thighs as he leaned over you.

“You’re okay there?”, he smiled softly as he noticed the state you were in and when you simply nodded slowly, he chuckled, satisfied with the state he’d put you into. “I’ll give you a second baby, but then you better have another one in you for me.”

You only hummed, unsure if you could actually take it after what he’d just done to you, but deep down you were dying to feel him inside of you.

With your arms wrapped around his neck, you pulled him closer until he finally pressed his lips to yours in a gentle kiss and as you deepened the kiss and pushed your tongue against his, tasting yourself on it, Mason carefully brought you up in a sitting position. He cupped your bum with his large hands and pulled you closer to the edge whilst kissing you lazily as if you had all the time in the world.

“You sure you’re okay?” His hands moved up to your waist, fingers gently squeezing and you couldn’t help but swoon a little at his caring nature.

“Very sure, Mase.” You kissed him quickly, internally wondering if you were showing too much affection when most likely he didn’t see more than a one-time thing in this, but when he pushed a lose strand of hair behind your ear and leaned in to brush his nose against your cheek, your worries settled.

“Good cause I’m not done with you yet.” His deep voice had a pleasant shiver rolling down your spine and you let out a deep breath when he continued kissing over your jaw.

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

“Whatever you want it to be baby.”, he hummed, fingers brushing over the faint mark he’d left on your neck.  

You really needed him to stop calling you baby as it was slowly blurring the lines, but at the same time it sounded so sexy, you didn’t want him to use another pet name again. His lips followed an invisible path down the side of your neck, and you thought he’d leave another mark, but all you felt was his tongue licking a stripe up your throat.

With him teasing you like that you grew a little impatient. You wanted to feel him, all of him and since he made no attempt to speed things up, you let one of your hands travel down the front of his toned torso until you could cup his bulge over the fabric of his boxers.

The moan Mason let out the second you started stroking him sounded delicious and the fact that you were the one pulling sounds like that from him had a gush of heat rushing down to your centre. He stood perfectly still with his head buried in the crook of your neck, but you could feel his slightly ragged breath fanning over your heated skin whilst tiny moans kept falling from his lips.

“Feels so good.”, he whimpered as his hips bucked up into your hand, searching for a little more and whilst you’d have loved to tease him a little longer, you were dying to touch him without any barrier.

Too desperate to have each other, neither of you could be bothered to get rid of any of the clothes you were wearing, so Mason helped you to simply push his boxers down far enough for his hard cock to spring free. He was bigger than you’d expected, and you weren’t quite sure he would fit, but for some reason the thought of being full of him had the excitement building even more.

You watched his eyes roll to the back of his head as you eventually wrapped your hand around his dick and rubbed your thumb through the precum on his tip. “Oh fuck, y/n.”

Your name falling from his lips sounded so sinful and hot, you didn’t think you could ever go without hearing it again. As you gently stroked his length, Mason had to prop up his arms on the surface next to your thighs. He felt way too good, and he wasn’t sure he’d make it to actually fucking you if you kept torturing him with the perfectly pressured strokes of your hand, but at the same time he desperately didn’t want you to stop.

Contrary to what people kept saying, it had been a while since someone had touched him the way you just did and the fact that you were ridiculously attractive and sitting in front of him in nothing, but his t-shirt didn’t really help with keeping it together either.

“God, you’re so good at that.”, he moaned pathetically loudly and, in an attempt, to muffle his sounds, he pressed his lips against yours in a heavy kiss. He was momentarily distracted by your tongue brushing against his, but when you squeezed his dick and ran your thumb over the protruding vein on the underside, he pulled away.

“Stop.”, he panted as he backed away a little, his head spinning from the pleasure running through his body.

You removed your hands from his body in an instant, surprised at his sudden change in demeanour and the thought of having done something wrong invaded your mind within a second.

“Sorry, I haven’t done this in a while and-“

“No, no, no it wasn’t you.”, he rushed. His heart dropped when he caught on to what you were thinking. “Well, it was you, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”, he chuckled, stepping closer again and brushing his lips against yours in a soft, reassuring kiss. “I just nearly came then and there because you’re way too good at that and I really want to go all the way.”

You blushed heavily at his words and dropped your gaze to your hands, fingers playing with the hem of your shirt.

“It felt insanely good, y/n, but I’m pretty sure fucking you will feel even better, you know?”

Mason leaned in and kissed you again. His hands pulled you even closer to the edge of the granite countertop before spreading your legs a little wider. You breathed his name into his mouth and gripped his shoulders tightly when you felt him running the blunt head of his dick through your wet folds.

“Eyes on me baby.”, Mason whispered against your lips before pulling back a little and once your gaze was on his, he smiled. “Good girl. You’re ready?”

“Yes, Mase.”

You’d thought he might be hesitant and slow, but Mason surprised you with burying himself inside of you with one swift motion.

“Oh my god.” The feeling of him deep inside of you had your body going limp. You slumped forward, arms wrapped around his neck and your head resting on your shoulder as you tried to adjust to his size.

The fact you hadn’t slept with anyone in a while combined with how big he was had you feeling a little lightheaded and you needed a moment to get used to all the sensations.

“I know.”, he sighed. “Fuck, you feel so good you have no idea.”

Mason bit the inside of his cheek so hard he feared he might draw blood, but the pain was the only thing keeping him from pounding into you. He knew you needed a moment. He could literally feel how tightly your walls were gripping his twitching dick.

You felt a little pathetic for how long you needed to get used to him, but after a while the painful burn turned into a pleasurable stretch, and you felt ready for what he had to offer.

“You can move, Mase.”, you mumbled as your lips trailed over his neck. The temptation of sucking a purple bruise into his soft skin was strong, but contrary to you, he couldn’t cover it up and since you didn’t want him to be the target for his teammate’s teasing, you opted for licking a stripe up to his pulse point. “Please fuck me.”   

Mason’s eyes darkened the moment you locked yours on his. “Lay back, baby.”, he ordered, gently pushing you down on your back and although the t-shirt still covered most of your body, the sight in front of him was one he would never get tired of.

“You have no idea how fucking hot you are right now.”, he growled lowly and that was about all the warning he gave you before moving his hips against yours. He started off slowly, giving you both a second to get accustomed to the overwhelming sensation of his dick rubbing against your soft walls, but it wasn’t long until he grabbed your hips and set a rather harsh pace.

Both of your moans mixed with the sound of skin slapping and created a rather dirty atmosphere in his kitchen, but even if you’d tried, you wouldn’t have been able to hold back. The sight of him, head slightly bent so he could watch himself driving in and out of your wet heat, lips slightly parted and eyes closing in pleasure every once in a while, combined with his dick hitting deep inside of you made you feel all sorts of things.

“Fuck Mase…yes…oh my god.” Your back arched off the cooking island when he hit that magical spot inside of you, making you see stars for a moment. “Right there, oh fuck.”

Mason could feel how tightly your pussy gripped him and he had to fight to keep it together. He desperately wanted you to come first and to help you further along, he quickly got his thumb wet and attached it to your clit.

“Shit, Mase.” Your lips fell open in a silent cry of pleasure as his finger drew relentless circles on your already sensitive clit and it wasn’t long until you could feel the pleasure building up in your stomach. “I’m…I’m so close, Mase. Please.”

“C’mon, baby. I need you to cum for me. Be a good girl for me, yeah?”, he panted as he got closer and closer to his own high, but after a few more perfectly pressured circles against your nub and his dick hitting that special spot, he watched as you cried out, thighs shaking around his hips and face contorting from the white-hot pleasure running through your veins.

He tried his best to push you through it, but the way your walls clamped around him so tightly had him teetering dangerously close on the edge.

“You…you can cum inside of me.”, you panted. “It’s…safe.”

And that was all it took for him. With his name tumbling from his lips repeatedly he buried himself deep inside of you, coating your pulsating walls with his hot release.

“Holy shit.”, he breathed as he collapsed on top of you and buried his head in the crook of your neck.

Your hands found their way into his hair. You brushed through the soft strands and scratched his scalp gently, trying to calm him down as you could feel his racing heart pounding against your ribs.

For a moment, the both of you just laid there. Him flopped on top of you, face hidden away in your neck and you beneath him, revelling in his heavy body pressing down on you, legs wrapped around his waist to keep him in place. You could feel him softening inside of you, the sensation a stark contrast to how he’d handled you before and when you kissed the side of his head, it suddenly hit you.

You’d slept with Mason. Your neighbour and just about the only person you trusted around here at the moment. The only person you considered a friend. What if that shag had ruined it all? You knew how weird things could get after having slept with someone and usually the friendship or whatever it had been faded away. What if it happened to you and Mason too?

“I have to go and clean myself up.”, you mumbled, suddenly feeling all awkward as you gently pushed on his shoulders to get him to move.

“I don’t like this, but fine.”, Mason grumbled, but with a huff, he hoisted himself back up and sent you a lopsided grin. He gently pulled you back up in a sitting position before carefully pulling out. “Don’t be too long.”, he said and with a gentle peck to your lips he helped you down the cooking island.

Once he’d released you, you dashed to the bathroom to clean yourself up, realising too late that you’d left your panties on Mason’s kitchen floor and had nothing to wear now. Sighing, you made peace with the fact of having to pop downstairs again to pick them up and you instantly hoped that Mason would’ve gone to bed already by then.

Your reflection in the mirror wasn’t half as bad as you’d expected it to be. Your lips were a little swollen and a purple bruise was blossoming where Mason had sucked a little too harshly on your skin, but other than that and the fucked-out expression in your eyes, you looked surprisingly decent.

What wasn’t decent however, was the thoughts running riot in your mind.

There was no logical explanation for what had just happened. Other than, that he was an insanely handsome and attractive man, and you were a weak woman with a pathetic crush on your neighbour.

One-night-stands weren’t your cup of tea at all. You could count on less than one hand how many times you’d slept with someone without being in a relationship with them and you’d never planned on extending that list. Until Mason apparently.

The sex had been incredible, there was no denying that he was the best you’d ever had – and probably ever get – and you didn’t regret it, but at the same time you hated yourself for ruining a perfectly good beginning of a friendship. Let alone relationship. A word you refused to even think about.

Completely ignoring the fact that he was Mason Mount the football player, he was still Mason, the handsome, young man who could probably pull any woman he wanted. As if someone like him would ever go for someone like you.

But the worst part was that he now probably thought of you as someone who did this more often. Having one-night-stands. Shagging men in their kitchen.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”, you whispered to yourself. “What was I thinking?”

You knew freaking out wasn’t the solution and talking about this whole thing to clear the situation would be way better, but it was late, you were exhausted, and Mason was probably back to bed already so there really wasn’t much you could do.  

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, you would tell him that you weren’t one of those women who threw themselves at men like that.

Not expecting anyone as you opened the door, you nearly screamed out loud as you came face to face with Mason.

“You erm…forgot these downstairs.” A blush coated his cheeks as he handed you the pair of panties you’d left in his kitchen.

“Thanks.” You quickly pulled them up your legs, trying not to flash him, although the attempt was completely unnecessary, since he’d already seen everything anyway. “Listen, Mase I-“

“Let’s not talk in the hallway, hm?” To your surprise, Mason gently grabbed your hand and without giving you the chance to say something, he pulled you with him towards his bedroom.

Your cheeks burned at the thought of facing him after what you’d just done, but even though you dreaded it, you knew it was probably for the best to get it out of the way before it led to misunderstandings.

Mason, feeling a little weird about it all himself too, flopped down in his bed, back against the headboard and as he could see the hesitant expression on your face whilst eyeing his bed, pulled you down to sit on his thighs. His hands found a home on your waist, fingers gently caressing you through the fabric of his t-shirt as he carefully observed your reaction to it all, wondering if sitting you on top of him like this was too much, but it wasn’t long before it burst out of you.

“Look Mase, I know this looks very much like the opposite and I don’t blame you for thinking like that about me, but I normally don’t do this.”, you told him. “Sleeping with men, I mean. Well, I do sleep with men, that’s not what I meant, like I do have sex with men, but only like in relationships cause I don’t really like the idea of randomly shagging someone…”

Mason watched the deep blush spreading over your cheeks the more you tried to explain yourself and he couldn’t help but find you incredibly endearing. With your gaze fixed on your hands fiddling with the hem of your shirt, you didn’t notice the fond expression in Mason’s eyes as he watched you rambling on.

“And I don’t know what happened today, but I somehow…I don’t know you’re you and you make me nervous cause I like you and then it just happened, but I really want you to know that I’m not like other women who like do it all the time and-“

You were suddenly cut off by a pair of lips softly pressing against yours and although you were incredibly surprised, you reciprocated the careful kiss in an instant.

“In case it wasn’t obvious, I like you too, y/n.”

Mason tried to kiss you again, but completely baffled by his words, you pulled away. “Wait, what?” Your eyes searched his for some kind of mockery, but all you could find in his big brown orbs was warmth and love. “You…you…like me?”

He watched your eyes fluttering shut momentarily as he softly brushed a stray strand of hair behind your ear, fingertips just about caressing the soft skin he couldn’t get enough of.

“Yes, y/n. I really like you.” He gently cupped your cheek, thumb rubbing right beneath your eye. “I know it’s sudden and we haven’t known each other for that long yet, but lately seeing you in the morning and getting to talk to you, has been the best part of my day.”

The way Mason kept staring at you with a fond expression had your tummy flipping and although you still felt a little hesitant, you reached out for his free hand and pushed your fingers between his.

“You…this…you mean this wasn’t just a random shag?”

“No, y/n.”, he chuckled as he dropped his head for a second. He felt bad he’d given you the feeling of being one of many when you were so much more to him. “Like you, I don’t really like sleeping with women I barely know. I don’t have that much time anyway and the idea of wasting the free time I have with women who are mostly only interested in fucking a footballer just doesn’t seem appealing to me.”

“But I-“

“You’re different. I can’t give you a proper explanation why, but I’ve felt it.” Mason placed a soft kiss onto your forehead. “I loved that I got to talk to you every single morning before leaving for training, you know, just talking random things and easing my mind a little and I felt like every day I got to know you a little better and the more we spoke the more I figured that I liked you – more than I should.”

“You never said anything. Like I would’ve never guessed it meant so much to you.”, you said quietly and in absolute disbelief. This was Mason out of all people sitting right in front of you – or more like underneath you – handing you his little heart on a plate.

It all seemed so absurd. First the mind-blowing sex in the kitchen, then your mini panic attack in the bathroom, followed by Mason taking you into his room and placing you in his lap to tell you he liked you. All whilst both of you were still barely dressed.

You felt like you were in some sort of fever dream as there was no way any of this was real.  

“I’d actually planned to invite you for dinner at my place, you know?”, Mason admitted with blushed cheeks. “Dating me can be a bit difficult, especially in the beginning, so I thought you’d feel more comfortable in the safety of my four walls, but then when I came home, there was this chaos here and my plan was out the window and...”

He interrupted himself, shaking his head and chuckling. He felt like a proper idiot. “I know it was the completely wrong order and I should have told you first that I like you before sticking my dick in, but you in my t-shirt…you were just so irresistible, and I really am sorry you thought you weren’t more than a quick shag for me.”

As he nudged his nose against yours, your tummy flipped again. “It’s fine, Mase. It's not like you couldn't have thought the same of me. After all, I’ve let you do all these things to me and made it look as if shagging random men was completely normal for me.”

“Oi, I’m not a random man, am I?” Mason tickled your sides in an attempt to lift the heavy tension in the room and the giggle you let out warmed his heart. God, he wanted to hear that sound forever. “Seriously though, I really do like you, and I would love to give us a try. If you want that too, that is.”

“I’d like that a lot, Mase.”, you breathed and after he’d taken the lead on so many occasions tonight, you felt like this time it was on you.

One of your hands found its place on the side of his neck as you leaned in to kiss him softly. His quiet hum against your lips before kissing you back made you feel all warm inside and although you should probably talk a little more, you couldn’t help but deepen it a little.

Kissing him felt amazing, feeling his tongue gently playing with yours made you feel all giddy inside and when his hands sneaked beneath your shirt and started caressing your skin, a tiny moan got lost in his mouth.

Neither of you could get enough of the other and whilst your hands were buried in his soft hair, Mason’s roamed all over your body, causing goosebumps to erupt in their wake. His fingers caressed the soft skin on your warm thighs, travelling all the way up to your waist where he squeezed gently before he eventually stroked up and down your sides, higher and higher until his thumbs brushed the underside of your boob carefully.

You pulled away to take a look at him and the moment your eyes locked on his, Mason noticed the hesitation. In his kitchen, it had appeared to be a no-strings-attached shag, but now that you’d talked, everything felt so different.

“I meant what I said, y/n.”, he whispered. “I really like you and I would love for you to give us a chance. You’re an incredible woman and so so beautiful, I hope you know that.”

Still a little unsettled by it all and marked by bad past experiences, you tried to read between the lines and find the catch, but all you could find was a smile, painted by pure and deep affection.

“We don’t have to do anything now, you know? We can just go to bed. You can sleep here or in your room, it’s up to you. I don’t want you to feel like we have to do something or that I only want you for sex, because it’s so much more for me. I don’t expect you to do anything with me now.”

“I’m not sure your body agrees, you know.”, you chuckled, nodding towards the bulge forming in his tight boxers.

“y/n.”, Mason groaned as a deep blush spread over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, but even he couldn’t hide the small laugh bubbling up inside of him. It was definitely the last thing he’d expected you to say. “I’m sorry okay? You’re in your panties, literally on top of me. It’s making me go insane. You’re making me go insane.”

“I can see that.”, you grinned. “What would you do if I left you hanging now? Take a shower?”

You had no idea what had happened, but his honest admission had set a boost of confidence free and now that you knew you were both on the same page, you couldn’t wait to experience what you hadn’t downstairs.

“Probably yes.”, he nodded as he curiously observed your every move. He watched the small smile spreading over your face whilst your hands moved down his torso until your fingers wrapped around the hem of his shirt.

“I don’t think you need that shower tonight, Mase.”

A deep sigh left his lips when you lightly scratched the soft skin of his tummy. It was the first time you touched him properly as you hadn’t gotten the chance to do so in the kitchen and his warm skin beneath yours sent shockwaves through your body.

The way Mason reacted to your touch gave you the confidence you needed to push his shirt up higher and when eventually Mason got the message and pulled it over his head you were left a little speechless.

Obviously, he was an athlete and you’d expected him to be fit and have a nice body, but what you’d right in front of you exceeded all your wildest expectations. Defined abs, the v-line disappearing under the waistband of his boxers and toned pecks, all covered by perfectly smooth skin. He looked perfect.

His muscles contracted beneath your touch, as you traced along his abs and sides with gentle fingers. You paid some extra attention to the mole slightly above his bellybutton before moving on to trace the Champions League tattoo on his side.

“You’re so beautiful.”, you whispered as you took your time to look all over his body in a way you hadn’t been able to before and you hated him a little for keeping himself hidden away before, but at the same time you felt as if now that you had more time and patience, you appreciated the sight more than you would’ve in the haste of before.

Not taking your hands off his body, you leaned down and kissed all over his collarbones and down his chest slowly, making sure to cover all of the warm skin you could reach and the way he quietly sighed kept you going.  

Mason hissed in a mixture of surprise and pleasure as you teasingly flicked his nipple and when you sent him a cheeky smile, he shook his head. He liked this version of you just as much as any other you’d showed him so far.

A drawn-out moan flew past his lips the moment he felt you palming him over his boxers. The warm sensation gathered in his stomach almost immediately and although he would’ve loved to let you do your thing, he wanted this time to be special.

Mason pried your hand off his dick gently before pulling you in a little closer. “I want to do it properly this time.”, he smiled as he leaned in to kiss you softly.

“Properly?”

“Yeah like…I want to take my time with you, feel you properly. I don’t want it to be rushed and quick, more like slowly and…loving. I want to sleep with you this time, not fuck you, you know?”

Your heart stumbled in your chest. The sudden vulnerability and intimate honesty he laid out for you nothing what you’d expected, but for some reason it made it all feel even more intense and special.

“I want that, too, Mase.”, you whispered quietly and although he’d always seemed to be so confident in his own skin, you could see the relief rushing through him at hearing your words.

-

When Mason woke up the next morning, he expected to have you in his arms; head on his chest and leg draped across his, but to his surprise, the bed next to him was empty.

He knew it didn’t have to mean anything as there were about 50 different reasons for why you could’ve left without meaning to leave him, but his stomach still dropped and when you hadn’t emerged after another five minutes of lying in bed, thinking you’d maybe just gone to the loo, he eventually got up and dressed.

When you both had actually gone to sleep last night or rather this morning and you’d fallen asleep on his chest, he’d cursed today's training, but now that 164 thoughts about you were going through his head, he was quite happy to get some distraction.

Mason couldn't find a logical explanation for why you’d just taken off after everything that had happened. He’d thought that you were on the same side, and had the same idea for what was supposed to come for the two of you, but apparently, he’d read it all wrong.

Less then 10 minutes later he’d made it downstairs. His training bag got dropped by the door before he quickly dashed to the kitchen to grab himself one of those energy bars his brother had recommended, but the sight he was confronted by was one he would never complain about.

There you were, still dressed in his t-shirt and your hair mindlessly thrown up in a bun, as you swayed your hips to the music coming from the radio, quietly singing along. For a moment, Mason allowed himself to just take it in.

The domesticity of the whole thing had his heart warming in his chest and if it had been up to him, he would’ve just watched you forever, but soon enough you turned around.

“Jesus Mase.”, you yelped as you hadn’t heard him coming in. “Normal people say something to announce themselves and don't stand in the doorway looking at other people like creeps.”

Mason laughed quietly. “Sorry, I was just very surprised to see you here. I thought you’d left.”

“I would never.”, you smiled and after you’d placed a cup of coffee on the table, you made your way over to where he was still leaning against the door. “Morning.”

You weren’t exactly sure if you were supposed to, but ever since you’d kissed him for the first time you couldn’t stop, so before you could chicken out, you leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“Morning.”, Mason hummed as he grabbed your waist to keep you close, suddenly feeling all warm and giddy inside. “What are you doing in my kitchen anyway?”

“So I know you get breakfast at Carrington, but I still wanted to make something as a little thank you for letting me stay and all that. I know it’s not much but-“

As his heart was threatening to burst his chest, Mason was quick in interrupting you with his lips against yours. He could feel you wrapping your arms around his neck and melting into his body as you kissed him back and, in that moment, he knew, that this was all he ever needed in life.

“There’s really no need to thank me, y/n.”, he whispered once he’d pulled back a little. “But I still appreciate it a lot.”

24 hours ago, you’d been y/n, his neighbour and maybe his friend, and now that he held you in his arms, your face buried in the crook of his neck, he knew he didn’t need some dates to confirm what he was feeling.

“There’s no way I’ll ever let you go again, love. Stay with me?”, he mumbled into your hair and when he felt your lips stretching into a smile against his neck, it was all he needed to know your answer.

“Yes.”  

__________

I genuinely hope you enjoyed reading this. You would make my day if you left a little feedback so I can see what you liked and what I can improve on 🩷