#yes there is a Story behind these tags ok now move along

[historicity-was-already-taken]

To any Palestinian folks who have sent me requests for aid: I’m so sorry—there are active scammers going around posing as folks in Gaza, and I don’t know how to figure out which ones are real and which ones are scams.

En lieu of those. I’d like to direct you all towards NGOs which I know are not scams

[solar4seekstron]

Transformers One x reader: Awakening Chapter Two

Chapter 2: Map

Chapter One, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six

Transformers One x Cybertronian!GN!reader

TW/tags: Long chapter, reader’s dragged along, D needs a hug, the reader is safe from Elitas grasp, B and Reader get along very well. You think he funny deal with it lol, I believe that’s all

(Note: Yes chapter 2 lets go! Like chapter one this will be pretty long as well. I also decided to add two characters who I really love, especially MTMTE being Ratchet and Drift. At the time though since it’s before the war Drift is still Deadlock I don’t think he had a different name before becoming a deception so I’ll just be putting Deadlock as a name for the story. I like to think Deadlock in the story has a cog but we don’t see or hear of him. At least I don’t think so I’m going to add him here. If you guys want to imagine him being your favorite bot or cogless that’s totally fine. I’m just having a good time. Ratchet will show up in the medical bay scene later. The two already knowing and have eat Y/N before. Helping give some lore dump of Y/Ns past like hinted earlier in the first chapter. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this long chapter!)

It was the day of the Iacon 5000. Many of the Cybertronians with cogs and not go to the arena to see many races and by far the most exciting thing of the day for them. Y/N is seen walking by their self into the stadium along side other miners and other cybertronians with cogs. They make their way getting a pretty good seat to watch the race. They would seat next to a few miners. Next to Y/N was Deadlock, someone who worked clubs as a bouncer dealing with customers. At first he didn’t notice them since they were so small. They would put their hand on his arm to gently grab his attention causing him to look around confused until he looks down

”Ah. Y/N so glad you could come my dear.” He would put his hand on their back as he continues to talk

”Can’t wait to see the race I see. Must be tiring working all those mines for hours”

”It has it’s moments but just shows how strong I am to do it pretty much everyday.”

”I bet. I can’t imagine how you can do that for so long. Then again I work at a club so I shouldn’t complain. Heh If you had a cog I would be taking you places. A shame really. You cogless bots gotta work all the fragging time. Ain’t fair that I can’t see you all the time.” His arm would then be around their shoulders as he looks forward. Y/N would chuckle to what he said but then look down a little sad. Looking at his hand then forward again as they waited for the race to start. Deadlock continueing to speak to another bot next to him not moving his arm.

*With Orion and D-

D and Orion were walking together as they talked about the race.

“The Iacon 5000 is finally here!”

“I have a surprise for you. Come on.” Orion pats D on the shoulder. Grabbing his attention.

“Where are you going? The stadium is that way.” D says to Orion, turning to look at him.

“Yeah yeah I know. But follow me.” D would sigh and reluctantly follow behind him.

“Great. We’re gonna be late now. I wanted good seats. We came all this way to miss the opening ceremony. This is wonderful.”

“Trust me I know what I’m doing. Hold up. Get caught in one of those. It’ll launch you halfway across the city.”

“Ok where are you taking me?”

“Don't be a glitch, this will be totally worth it. Trust me.”

“Hey you don’t be a glitch. I know this is like fun for you like we joke around but if you make me miss any part of the Iacon 5000 I swear I will smelt your face right off your…”

D soon realizes he and Orion are inside the starter line. Seeing thee crowd and the racers coming in from different directions

“Welcome! To the Iacon 5000. There they are. Put your hands together for todays competitors are taking the field.”

“Look! Look! There’s Thunderglide! And Bahemoth! Unbelievable! I feel like I’m in the race…..You did this..for me?”

“No. I did this…for us.” The two would fist bomb as they looked at eachother

“And now. The moment you all been waiting for. The Icon an Iacon. The Savior of Cybertron. Quintessons fear him but we love him! Our Leader. The One and Only! Sentinel Prime!”

Sentinel Prime would fly down from a tall tower and fly down to the stadium as the lights of the city followed him. Y/N would see him. Deadlock not really caring much rolling his eyes as he removes his arm from around Y/N to check his polish. Y/N would then get the idea and and stand reaching their hand up as high as they can for Sentinel to give them a high five. He will fly close to the the other Cybertronians and give a few high fives as they raised their hands. Sentinel notices them as he flew down seeing them raise thier hand and looking at him. He almost loses focus and makes sure to get to them. Y/N being the last one to get a high five before he goes to his spot in the sky and speaks.

“Yes! It feels so good to be here with you all today! My friends. My Cybertronian family. It has be precisely 50 cycles since the Quintessons attacked our home. 50 cycles since we lost the matrix of leadership and our energon supplied dried up. 50 cycles since the battle that killed the other primes my brothers and sisters in arms. Today we honor the primes who gave their lives for ours and show them that the strength of Cybertron will never be diminished.”

Y/N would watch as the primes appear and start to think to their self as Deadlock cheers wanting the race to start. Deadlock would notice Y/N still standing and chuckles his himself as he looks forward again. Still sitting down.

“Racers! On your marks!” The racers start to transform

“I can’t believe we get to watch from the starting line! At the best seats of the house! Why'd you bring jet packs?”

“Get Set!”

“Its time we show them we are more than meets the eye.”

“Oh no..”

From there Sentinel shoots his blaster and the racers soon start. Deadlock now standing as he cheers for his favorite racer. Y/N watches but then notices two bots flying with jet packs. Them soon looking familiar. They would gasp after the realization of who they are.

“And they’re off!”

From there the two would fall down and Orion would catch D as D was upside down. Him screaming as Orion looked forward with a smile plastered on his face.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Sure feels like it.”

“The Iacon 5000 has begun.”

“Sorry. Are those miners in the race?”

“Miners! Those are miners! Like us!”

“Can’t believe what I’m seeing here. There are miners trying to run in the Iacon 5000!”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

“This is insane!”

“There’s miners in the race!”

“Miners?!”

“Where?!”

“They can’t even transform!”

“It’s Orion Pax and D-16!”

“This is a first in Iacon 5000 history! How are they going to survive?”

“If we survive this I’m going to kill you!”

“I accept those terms!”

“Going into the led down the main strip. Followed by scape and skyfire!”

“Hey look out!”

The two would then have to start running continuing the race

“I owe you one!”

“More like a 1000!”

Sentinel was watching the two run with his hands behind is back in almost disbelief

“I can’t believe we’re not in last place!-“

“Beat it, Miner!”

“Darkwing delivers a devastating blow.”

“We’re not fast enough!”

“Improvise!”

The two say to each other running into a tunnel with the other racers. One by one the two would jump on another Cybertronian. D continuing to be polite to the others being a big fan while Orion was sort of having fun at that moment. Soon D would save Orion and the two continue to run joining together to jump out

“Time this right! And. Now!”

“Move!”

One of the racers say trying to warn D. But it was too late and D was hit. Soon D was over the edge but Orion was able to catch him just in time and pull him up. The two ran again before stopping.

“And the miners have fallen way behind. We can now focus on the real contenders on this race.”

The two would then get an idea

“I don’t believe it! The miners take down Darkwing!”

“Ugh! Miners!!”

“Great effort Darkwing!”

“It's all worth it. It actually worked!”

“Is this the dumbest thing we’ve ever done?”

“Oh yeah it’s up there!”

“Wait. Go go go.”

“Four blocks pile up in the magnetic tunnel that the miners are now in first position! This is unbelievable.”

“D!”

“Go! Go! Leave me!”

“No! We do this together!”

“One miner is now carrying the other! Mere steps from the finish line. The most amazing sensational, dramatic, hard working, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of-“

“Yeah!!”

“We have a winner. Chromia comes to take the price! Talk about an Iacon 5000 for the ages.”

“Well second place is still pretty good.”

Then other racers would past them

*After the Race and Orion and D are taken to the Med Bay

Y/N stands up and starts heading to the exits . Deadlock noticed and walks after them.

”Woah hey where are you going?”

“Those two are my friends. I have to make sure they’re all right!”

Deadlock would grab their arm stopping them as other bots walk past the two and he stands next to them

”Don’t worry I’’m sure the doctors and nurses will take good care of them. Come on let me take you out and grab a drink before your shifts.” He puts a hand on their back as they looked up at him

”Maybe next time Lock but I care about my friends. I’ll see you at the next race yeah? I should really go.” They would pat his arm gently as they then leave. Deadlock putting his hands on his hips as he watches them ;eave. Seeming almost disappointed and upset before walking away with the other bots.

*The Medical Bay-

“Reaching Dr. Ratchet. Dr. Ratchet to-“

“Do not worry you’ll be fixed up in no time.”

“Did I win?”

“You- participated.”

“Yaaaay.”

The two past the room with Orion and D. D looking very mad as Orion tries to think of what to say to kill the silence.

“So. How long do you think we'll be here?”

“I’m not talking to you………You know what, I can’t believe you made me do that! We are so screwed!”

“I thought you weren’t talking to me.”

“Hey! I know it’s all a big joke to you! But not me! I was paying my dues. I was going places and now they’re going to bust me down I-I don't even know how many tiers.”

“I’m sorry D. Come on, didn't you feel it? Even for just a second? Didn’t you feel liberated? Didn’t you feel like you were something else? Like you could be more than what they say you are?”

“Yeah I felt it. I did. But it doesn’t matter, we’re going to get punished and demoted. Ugh, Sentinel Prime saw everything! This is so embarrassing!”

From there this tall spider woman walks into the room using her eyes on the side of her to scan the two as they look at her confused and a bit scared.

“It’s clear.”

Sentinel would then walk in. Hands on hips as heeled down at the two.

“Orion Pax. D-16. What you two did today was one of the craziest things I have ever seen.”

“Sir, this is all my idea and we’re so sorry-“

”YOU TWO!!!” The three in the room besides Airachnid were startled by someone yelling as they then hear someone running towards them almost panting. Y/N then appears gong around Sentinel then standing in front of him not really processing he’s there as they look at the two angry and worried. Sentinel look down at them surprised, regonzing them from the crowd as he had his hand up to stop Airachnid from approaching. He then has an intrigued look on his face as he listens to them speak

“Orion what were you thinking putting yourself and D in that situation?! It was awesome but you could’ve died!!”

”Uh Y/N-“ Orion would say

”And D why didn’t you just stop him. What in the forever spark of Primus could have convinced you that-“

D would stops them grabbing their hand and pointed at Sentinel.

”Oh hey Sentine- Sentinel?! OH! Sir I am so sorry. Mostly for these two. I’m sure something like this will never hap-“

“I loved it!”

The three woukld look as him confused and shocked

“You did?”

“How can anyone not love it? You gave my best racers a real run for their money!”

Y/N would walk back a bit to stand next to D. Putting a hand on his shoulder as they listen to Sentinel

“So we’re not getting demoted?”

“Demoted?” They would start laughing. D and Orion laugh nerviously as Y/N only chuckled a bit

“The fact of the matter is. We are halfway into the first shift since the race ended. And that mining crew has already reached one hundred-fifty percent quota. You inspired them to work harder!”

“Sentinel Prime, Sir. We joined the race to show everyone our potential. That we bots can do more then just mine-“

“Outstanding. I love a bot that can think for himself! Perhaps you two could tour the mines. Speak to your brethren and help them see their potential.”

“Wow. Great. That- that sounds incredible! I-i would love to be-“

“Sir. It’s time.”

“Ba. Yes. I’m sorry friends. We’re preparing our next travel to the surface. But in the meantime, I got a treat for you. Hang tight. Airachnid have someone escort these heroes to my personal service facilities. Best care in Iacon. Ah, and Y/N I believe was it? Maybe you can join me up until my depart seeing you’re a good friend of these two and you can help me figure-out how we can make the city with the miners a better place with these two.”

“Oh sir that would be wonderful but I believe I should start heading to the mines before my superior gets mad at me for being late. I can always join later though as these two finish getting their special care.” D chuckled a bit and Orion hummed. Sentinel looked a bit disappointed his eye brows farrowed as he looks at Y/N then at the two. His smile retuning

“Well that’s just fine. I look forward to seeing you join us for a little meeting for the miners of Iacon. Until next time legends!”

He especially winked at Y/N who looked a bit confused as the other two didn’t notice

“Sentinel Prime. Ahh Thee Sentinel Prime!”

“You still mad at me?”

“I am less mad at you.”

“I’m telli-“ The two are then grabbed by the their shoulders. Orion on his right and D on has left as Y/N stood in front of them again and shook them a little

”You two ain’t off the hook yet! It is still stupid and you two were idiots!….But you’re alive and seems like you aren’t that harmed from racing luckily. So when we return from Sentinels quarters after you two better have a really. Really good apology! You got that?!”

The two nod saying yes to make them happy. They would turn to walk out but then look back at them and gives them a quick hug. Their arms around the both of them so their heads are close to theirs

”Just try to not scare me like that ok all right?” They would pull back their hands on their shoulders again then smiles with also worry in thier eyes. Then turns around and walks out. Right at the door then pointing at the two

”Good apologies.” Causing the two to chuckle watching as they left

“I’m telling you D I got a feeling that everything is going to change wer- we’re going to go-“

From there Darkwing walks in very upset

“Miners!”

“Ahh..Darkwing.”

*With Y/N-

They walk out of the medical bay and passes Ratchet. He waves at his patient saying he’ll only step out for a moment and walks to speak to Y/N outside the room and go for a little walk.

”Ah Y/N good to see you’re well and healthy. How’s the new team? Are they treating you well? Was there an injury that cause you the need to come here?”

”Yes Ratchet they’re a lot nicer then my last team. But I can’t really say the same with the surpiors. But I like it. Just came to check up on a couple friends. Going to the mines right now to see a friend at waste management.”

”That’s good to hear. At least it��s safer and I don’t have to see you in my hospital much anymore.”

Y/N only chuckles a bit embarrassed and almost looks sad. Once at the front Ratchet look turn to look at them

”You take care now and get plenty of rest”

”I will. Good seeing you Ratchet.”

*Orion and D during that time-

Darkwing then flies the two down the sub levels

“No! No! Wait wait! You don't understand we were suppose to Sentinel Primes service pods-“

“You two dots aren’t going to see anyone ever again! I’ll make sure of that!”

“You’re making a mistake! Ask Sentinel!”

“Hate that guy.”

They then see a yellow bot. Soon the bot is walking to them pointing at them.

“You! How did you get down here? There’s no access. There is no one else here but me! N one- You’re real?! You- you- you- you’re others! You’re not me! You’re here! And you’re not me!”

“Uh yeah?”

“Awesome! I am so sorry that must’ve been so weird for you. I-i just haven’t had a lot of company since they put me down here in sub level 50.”

“50? But there are only 40 sub levels.”

“That’s what I thought. Turns out there are 10 more. And they are not pleasant. Probably why no one ever really talks about them.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“How long have I been here? Ha! Lets see, uh. Somewhere between a long time and forever. I mean I had other jobs but I kept getting reassigned ‘cause I’m so good at what I do. Oh! I’m B-127 by the way. But you can call me B. I’m actually working on some nicknames the one I’m floating right now it’s badassatron which is actually pronounce. “Badassatron” But if you have any critiques.”

“Yeah uh. Great great. How- how do we get out of here?”

“Great question. You don’t.”

“We don’t?!”

“Nope. We have limited access to the waste management area but the new shift manager there does not like distractions. No, they prefer we stay here on the task at hand.”

“Which is?”

“Oh, The scrap comes in from the shoot there onto the coveyor velt our job is to look for anything that might be worth salvaging before it hits the furnace and gets smelted.”

“So you just watch garbage burn?”

“Yes! It is so great that you are here now! I can’t wait to learn everything about you, and then tell you everything about me! I have a lot of hopes and dreams that I am just dying to share with one or two new best friends!”

“Uh yeah we- we love to.”

“Where are my manners? Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. Hey guys!! We got company! This is EP508. This is A-A-tron. And this fella here is Steve.”

“Steve?”

“Yeah. He’s foreign.”

“Question. Do they talk back to you?”

“Um. They’re not real. What- jeez. They think I’m that crazy?”

“No no. It’s just you been down here for-“

“I was talking to Steve.”

“Classic Steve!”

“What is that?”

“Look at this guy”

“Its coming from the side-“

“Steve! Noooooooo!”

“I am so sorry.”

“Steve! Nooooo! My Steve!”

“Uh we can fix it! Don't worry! We uhh-“

“Quintesson ambush! Calling the high guard for immediate support. Immediate support!!”

“That’s Alpha Trion.”

“One of the Primes?”

“Repeat. Zeta prime has fallen.”

“It’s an SOS message.”

“Protect the matrix! Sending location coordinates. Sending location coordinates.”

“Holy Primus.”

“Those are coordinates to a location on the surface. This could be where the primes died in the Quintessons war. Which means this is where we can find the matrix of leadership.”

“What are you talking about? It’s an old beacon inside a statue made of garbage.”

“Or it's a clue of how we can find matrix of leadership.”

“No. No way. Absolutely not.”

“Hey D. Come on. This could be our chance to show everyone that we’re not-“

“You already tried to show everyone in the race you tricked me into running which got us stuck down here in this waste hole with this- uhh really cool guy.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“I’m just saying-“

“There’s a reason why no one goes to the surface; it's dangerous! I’m waiting right here until Sentinel Prime finds us.”

“Oh Okay. Yeah well we’ll just stay here forever. That's cool with you B?”

“Forever? This is great! New coworkers and roommates! There’s plenty of room now that Steve is dead. I usually sleep on the conveyor velt but you can totally have it. I’ll just sleep in the corner next to A-A-Tron. Plenty of room for you guys to stretch out too because you guys are taller and I am you know what I mean? You know what I mean?”

“Hey D what do you think Sentinels reaction will e if you personally handed him the Matrix of Leadership that You found-“

“Ok stop. I know what you’re trying to do. And it's definitely working. I’m in!”

“Haha! Yeah buddy!”

“How do we get to the surface?”

“You're kidding me. The surface? Easy. I know a way. But it won't be easy.”

The three will then proceed to climb the trash shoot.

“Why is there so much trash?”

“Warning next time please. My mouth was open.”

“Only 49 sub levels to go.”

“Waste disposal trains are the only vehicles that go all the way to the surface.”

“Yeah but they don’t allow passengers ‘cause the trains are autonomous.”

“Yeah that’s the “won’t be easy part.”

“That’s perfect. We’ll be safe inside the train.”

*Meanwhile with Y/N-

Y/N continues to head to waste management. Where Elita was still working at. They would pass by the surpiors as they are their way over tho Elita. They see Elita picking up a box and making her way to the train. They would follow her. After she put the box down she would go to a bigger box and look to see who’s closer. That’s when Y/N waved and stood on the other side of the box.

”Hey Elita, how you holding up?”

”Only the best I can Y/N. Though I can be of more use else where.”

”Hey at least you have a pretty good job and you know Orion didn’t mean to do what he did. He really is sorry.” Y/N says as Elita looked at them then down a upset

”It’s whatever. At least I wont have to see that scrapping face again. Mind helping”

”Not at all”

The two pick up the box together and start to carry it into the train. The two walk out as another two bots with a big box go in then put theirs down in the middle of the room

“That's the last one. Start her up.”

The three would land on the train sneakily and get through one of the small doors on top of the train. Getting in quietly after seeing two other bots leave. Y/N old walk to the other miners until she notices there’s one more box. She’ll pick it up and walk back into the train. Y/N would wait staying close by thre trai while the other miners just talked.

“Hold up. One more. I’ll lock it down.”

She would then see the open door on the ceiling. Scoffing and even chuckling as she walked back in.

“Heh thanks for being an idiot whoever you are.Turning you in will definitely get me promoted back a rank or two.” Y/N would notice her still in the train. They then walk standing a little pass the doors inside the train about to speak until they witnessed what happens next

“Got her!”

“Wait wait wait.”

“Elita stop!”

“Orion??” Y/N and Elita say at the same time

“Hold on let me-“

“Security! Sound the alar-“

The doors would close and the train would start moving forward to its destination. Elita will grow annoyed and start running towards the front of the train.

“Elita wait- Orion. D-16 what in primus is going on?!”

“I’ll tell you later but right now I need to stop her!”

”What?!”

“She’s headed towards the entry.”

The three start chasing Elita and Y/N just groans then starts chasing them. Staying behind D

“Don’t worry I got this! Hold on, let me explain we’re on a mission!”

“So am I! To ruin your life!”

The train would then go up. Elita getting on a box as the others would fall back because of the gravity. Y/N was able to hold on to a box where they watch the others fall back

“Elita, wait we found a message. We know-“

Elita would then kick the box down and keep climbing up the train as the box would almost land on Orion until B pushed Orion before getting hit

“This bot is crazy! Who is she??”

“Deadend Elita! There’s no way uhh..Well she’s gone.”

Elita was able to make it out of the train. climbing you as the others follow behind. Orion soon on her tail as B comes out next and then D.

“Why! Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?”

“Climb Faster!”

Y/N continues to follow behind going up the train ladder after D as they climbed up. As the four continue to follow her the train soon goes in a straight line once more and then down before going forward once more again causing the four to hit the train after holding on. Orion then sees his opportunity and grabs her leg.

“Gotcha!

Elita would then turn to punch him but seeing the surface for the first time soon stops her. The five stand up as they look ath the same direction. Y/N would step a bit closer to D. Being both fasciated but scared of they are currently witnessing. D noticed this and sets his hand on their left shoulder to bring them a sort of comfort

“The surface.”

“It’s beautiful..” Orion would look at her

“It’s incredible…”

“I am…speechless.”

“Elita, listen to me, we know where the Matrix of Leadership is.”

“Oh sure, and I’m really a prime. I just prefer loading crates in toxic waste- woah where I’d you get this?”

“From my friend Steve. Orion killed him.”

“I did not kill Steve.”

“He was never alive.”

“What?” Elita and Y/N both say. As Orion and Elita spoke D puts his hand back on their shoulder

”It’s a long story. Also this is B.”

”Hi!”

“Oh uh hello B.”

“Sentinel told us he was going to the surface and then we found this message. We figured that we can hand deliver it to him or scout the location ourselves. Whichever comes first.”

Elita would stare at the map for a good second before looking at Orion

“This was too important to wait. It will change all of our lives.”

“No no no no. I’m not going to get demoted again because of you. I’m turning this rig around and I’m notifying the o-“

Elita starts walking to the head of the train once more Orion watching her along with B and Y/N but D would speak.

“Hey hey guys? What is that? Is it getting bigger?”

“Or closer?”

As the five watched, B would start running. The others soon joining him running back the open door.

“No no no no no no no-“

“Don't close. Stop closing. Don't close! It’s closed!”

The five will start trying to open the door. But the giant transformation is soon closer and the five turn their head and look at the now mountain. Fear on their faces they all grab the railes and hang on tightly

“Come on!”

“Oh now I know why no one comes to the surface!”

Soon the transformation causes the train to shake and at times loses its gravity. This causes the five to let go without meaning to. Causing them to fly and soon hit the ground. Elita would then open her optics

“Elita…..Elita….You ok?”

Elita would punch him on reflex and trys to stand up while Orion was still on the floor as he touched his jaw. B in the back upside down as his legs stay outside moving. D then comes up grabbing Bs leg and starts pulling to help. Y/N was on the floor between the four mostly their head and upper back on the floor as their legs are over their head and seems to not be moving. But can be heard groaning a bit

“Please stop punching me in the face!”

“Iacon. The trai- Where’s the train?!”

“Relax! Ok here it comes. Aaaaand there it goes. Ok I was wrong about that it was going the other way-“

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

Oh yeah Chapter 2! Next chapter will be released on Tuesday so in 4 days

[runnning-outof-time]

Through the Night | John Shelby x Reader

Request: yes by anonymous

Pairing: John Shelby x reader

Summary: John and (Y/N) grapple with the struggle of getting their son to sleep through the night…amongst the other struggles that come along with parenthood.

Warnings: mentions of breastfeeding

Word Count: 2656

A/N: I’m finally back to writing requests! It was fun to work on a John story again after not writing one in so long. I liked the premise of this one…it was fun to plan out. Thank you for your paitence. Enjoy! :)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Comment/Message me if you’d like to be tagged in future stories similar to this one!

The shrill sound of cries rang through the previously peaceful night, making (Y/N) sit up in bed with a start. She let out a sigh upon recognizing where those cries were coming from. Movement came from beside her before she could get out from under the covers.

"Let me get him," John's groggy voice came from next to her, making her stop what she was doing.

"No, he's probably hungry again," (Y/N) brushed off his offer, blindly reaching over and patting him on the shoulder as a show of thanks.

"I'll get him the next time then," he conceded, flipping over to his side as (Y/N) got off of the bed and exited their bedroom.

James Shelby's room was two doors down the hall. The volume of the cries increased the second she stepped out into the hallway. She instantly felt bad for the other children who surely had been woken by the disturbance. No matter what she tried, he just wouldn't sleep through the night.

"Baby, it's ok," she whispered to him as she reached into his cradle, pulling the baby out so that she could rock him in her arms, "you need to get some sleep."

She proceeded to try everything. Rocking him, feeding him, walking around with him, changing him, feeding him again...nothing seemed to quiet him down. It wasn't until she had patted him on the back long enough for him to burp that the crying finally stopped. She held him for a few more minutes after his cries had ceased, just to make sure that he wasn't going to start back up again. He seemed to finally be asleep after waiting those few moments. So she carried him to his cradle and gently lowered him into it, hoping that he'd stay asleep.

"Let's try to get more than three hours now, baby," she said as she stood straight again, watching over him for a few more moments until she finally decided to go back to her bedroom.

"He's asleep?" John's groggy voice was heard the second she got under the covers.

"Yes. Finally," (Y/N) sighed as she tried to make herself comfortable, "I think he was gassy...it took me going down the list to figure it out though," she continued, moving over to where John was laying on his side.

"You figured it out and he's sleeping now, that's all that matters," he tried to get her to look on the bright side of things.

"He's sleeping for now," she placed emphasis on his statement. "Where you awake this entire time?" she then asked him.

"I was waiting to hear if you needed back up," he answered her, his words making her laugh softly, "but it seems as though you did amazing on your own," he added, blindy reaching behind him for her hand. He grabbed onto it when he found it, pulling it over his side so that he was no longer twisted awkwardly.

"Hopefully he'll sleep a little longer now," (Y/N) sighed as she scooted even closer to him, embracing the feeling of warmth that his body was giving off.

"How 'bout you and me get some sleep while we can?" John proposed an idea.

"Yes...let's," (Y/N) agreed, finding it easy to fall asleep once she closed her eyes.

——

"Come on, buddy...you've gotta be tired out by now," John sighed as he switched the position of the baby in his arms for the umpteenth time now. Confidence was draining out of him with each loud cry that James would exude. He told (Y/N) that he'd try to get him to sleep tonight, and he'd been at it for a half hour now with no success.

The baby didn't listen to his exhausted father's pleas though, and instead kept on crying...so much so that his little face was turning red. John let out a defeated sigh as he tried to think of something, anything else he could do to calm his son down. Rocking wasn't helping, changing him wasn't helping...John had even tried to tell him a story that he remembered liking as a kid, but it was hard to get a word out over the loud cries. He truly felt like he was at the end of his list of options.

"What can I do, J...what can I do?" he asked in desperation, knowing full-well that the baby wasn't going to give him the answer.

But as if the homing beacon was sent out, the door to the nursery opened the second he was finished speaking. "You need some help, John?" (Y/N) asked as she held onto the doorknob. She didn't want to slide right in and assume control over the situation because she knew that John was wanting to get more involved with his children when he could.

He'd never let it on to the random person walking the street, but John felt terrible that he wasn't able to be around for his kids. Whether it was the war or later the nature of his work, he often left the care of his young ones up to his late wife, Martha, and then his aunt, Polly. When he had this baby with (Y/N), he vowed that he was going to be more present and help out the best that he could. But now that the rubber had hit the road, he felt that he was completely useless.

"John?" she spoke a little louder, realizing that her husband probably couldn't hear her over the baby's cries.

"What?!" he yelled back, not meaning to raise his voice at her, it instead happening as an effect from the frustration he was feeling.

(Y/N) knew that. She could hear it in his voice. "Would you like me to help you with him?" she asked, keeping her voice calm; not wanting to add to the stress he was feeling.

"Please," he just about begged her, desperation present in his eyes. (Y/N) nodded and walked further into the room. "I've tried everything, (Y/N)...he's just not settling. I've rocked him, I've changed him a few times, I...I even told him a story," he rambled on as he transferred the wailing baby to his wife, "I couldn't think of anything else to do."

"Maybe he needs to eat again," (Y/N) suggested as she moved over to one of the chairs in the room.

"I couldn’t really offer much in that regard…so I didn’t think of trying that," John admitted sheepishly as he watched (Y/N) get James to start feeding. He exhaled a huge sigh of relief once the room was finally filled with silence.

"That's alright, love," (Y/N) said to him, laughing slightly at his comment. She glanced down at James then, watching as the baby ate; his eyes starting to droop already.

John slumped down in the chair across the room and watched as his wife fed their child. He was relishing in the quiet because he didn't know if James was going to start crying again the second he was finished eating.

The silence, thankfully, held up as (Y/N) lifted him to her shoulder so that she could gently pat him on the back and hopefully get a burp or two out of him. Once she did, she brought him back down into her arms and gently rocked him a few times for good measure. His eyes were now shut tight and his breathing had evened out, two signs that he'd finally slipped into sleep. (Y/N) held her breath as she slowly stood from the chair and moved over to where the cradle was standing. James made it through the transfer to the bed, only stirring slightly when his body touched the mattress.

"I don't know how you do it," John breathed as (Y/N) made her way over to where he was sitting.

"I got lucky tonight...most nights I haven't a clue what to do," she said to him, sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. John brought the hand he had propped up on the chair's arm down to rest against her thigh, gently squeezing it to show his appreciation.

"I don't know what I'm doing every night," he mumbled into her hair.

"Nonsense, John," she disagreed with him, lifting her head from his chest to look at him, "do I have to remind you of the number of nights that he falls asleep on your chest while you're sitting on the chair with him?" she reminded him, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"He wakes up a few hours later though," John still didn't let up on himself.

"And he'll probably wake up a few hours from now too...he just isn't to the point where he's sleeping through the night yet. We can't be hard on ourselves John, Polly says that this is common," she stated, reminding him that they needed to think positively.

"I feel like I'm leaving it all up to you though," he voiced another thought that had been eating at his mind.

"You most certainly are not," she disagreed once again. "You do so much for this family. I'm not sure where I'd be without you...my partner in crime," she grinned at him then, the final part of her sentence making the softest grin form on his face. He just couldn't stay down on himself when she looked at him like that.

"I'm not sure how much 'crime' you're getting yourself into, love," he teased her, his words making an exaggerated look of surprise form on her face. John chuckled at the face she pulled, and (Y/N) held it for a few moments before letting it dissolve into one of fake hurt.

After holding that expression for a few moments, she tried not to let the smile break onto her features as she delivered the statement she'd been thinking up since John shared his, "that's because you commit enough crime for the both of us, my darling," she said to him, winking after she was finished speaking.

John's jaw went slack as he heard what his wife had said. "(Y/N) Shelby!" he said, his voice a little too loud for the room they were sitting in.

"Keep your voice down, you'll wake the baby!" (Y/N) hissed at him, her eyes wide to show the seriousness of her statement. She then listened intently for any noises coming from James' cradle and was relieved when she was met with silence.

"Let’s head to our bedroom then," he said with a grin, standing up from the chair and taking her into his arms without warning. Him doing this made her let out a shriek of surprise, to which he sent her the same wide-eyed expression she gave him. "Be quiet, you'll wake the baby," he scolded her in a teasing manner, a grin breaking onto his face.

"Take me to bed then," she responded to him, his grin proving contagious as one formed on her face as well.

John didn't waste another minute. He exited the nursery as quietly as he could, carrying (Y/N) down the hallway to their bedroom so that they could get caught up on some much needed...sleep.

—

The bedroom still had an early morning glow shining in through the windows when (Y/N) opened her eyes again. She let out a sigh of content and snuggled in closer to John's sleeping frame. Or at least she thought he was sleeping.

"This is nice," he said in a low voice, his words rumbling through his chest and making (Y/N) smile at the sensation of it.

"It is," (Y/N) agreed with him, drawing sleepy shapes on the skin of his pectorals. She let her eyelids flutter shut then as she tried to soak up all of the last minutes of sleep that she could. It wouldn't be long until John would be needed at the betting shop and that she would be getting the children up for their school day. Wait...the children. "Oh no, John..." (Y/N) started off as she scrambled into a sitting position.

"What, love? It's still early," he complained, not moving from his spot as his wife fumbled her way out from under the covers.

"James, John...he didn't wake us up all night," she managed to get out as she rushed to get her robe on before making her way to the door. "What if something's wrong?" she asked, her heart pounding in her chest as the worst case scenarios started running through her mind. She heard the fumbling of covers behind her, but didn't bother to look back and see if he was following her before she opened the door and quickly exited the room.

(Y/N) wasted no time in opening the door to the nursery after hurrying down the hallway as quickly as she could. She then took a deep breath before approaching the cradle, still prepared for the worst. All of the fear and worry were whisked away from her the second she saw James.

"What's happened, (Y/N)?" John's panicked voice came from the door to the room.

"Nothing...nothing's happened," (Y/N) answered, calmness present in her voice now. She heard John's footsteps approaching her as she kept her eyes on her sleeping baby. James looked like he hadn't moved from the spot she laid him in last night, and he was still sleeping soundly. His belly was rising and falling in an even pattern, and he even had the slightest smile present on his adorably plump lips. "He slept through the night," she told her husband, looking over at him to see that he was also focused on the baby.

"That's amazing," John said, a smile breaking onto his face. Much like (Y/N), a sense of calmness had now rushed through him as well. "So wha...what do we do now?" he asked with a slight chuckle as he looked at (Y/N) again.

"I guess we can go back to sleep," (Y/N) answered, grinning at the thought of getting a few more minutes of shut-eye.

"What're we still in here for?" John's grin grew. He was also never one to turn down some more sleep.

The two made the way back to the door of the nursery then, both still grinning like fools at the thought of crawling back under the covers. Quiet mornings were practically unheard of in this Shelby household, and they were going to hold onto every minute of it. (Y/N) carefully shut the door behind her before they began to walk down the hall to their bedroom. They only got two steps away when cries started coming from the room they'd just left.

"There goes our extra sleep," (Y/N) stated, a bit of a deflated look now present on her face.

"I'll go get him...you get some more sleep," John told her, nodding his head towards their bedroom's door before he began backtracking towards the nursery. (Y/N) sent him a smile as a thank you before she continued walking to her bedroom.

"Mum! Katie won't stop making fun of me!" she heard Matthew, one of her older children (step-children) call out just as she grabbed the door knob.

"I am not!" Katie yelled back in defense.

"Yes you are!" Matthew continued the argument.

"Am not!" Katie wasn't backing down.

"Ok both of you stop, I'm coming in!" (Y/N) finally stepped into their bickering, turning from her bedroom's door to go and sort their problem out because it was quickly becoming obvious that it wasn't going to be figured out on its own.

While she became the mediator, John worked on figuring out what would get James to stop crying.

There was certainly never a quiet morning in the Shelby household.

Tagged: @the-anxious-youth @mystcldydrms @look-at-the-soul @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @stevie75 @dark-academia-slut @zablife @cillmequick @letal-y-poetica @depxiety @shelundeadxxxx @cilliansangel @areyenotfondofmelobster @valentinabloom @wildheartsalwaysburn @dragons-are-my-favorite @padfootdaredmetoo

MASTERLIST

[troomtroom101]

Toon Quest Theory PT.1: Who is Pib and the meaning behind the Book of Life

okay so I know @toontails announced their return (idk your pronouns im sorry!!) but I recently reread thru the Toon Quest story and I’m finally clicking some stuff together that I’ve been wanting to maybe throw out there!! Please guys listen to me i have been thinking of this for weeks, TQ has so many open ends and mystery that it’s not even funny. I’m a person of wanting to understand things so I made this post to share my thoughts with you guys, and yes I did research don’t make fun of me!!!

so, to start off first and simple. I wanted to get down to the point where the Book of Life is first mentioned, AA mentioned that the Book of Life dosen’t randomly select its holders which makes sense because the book is a lingage and it somewhat of a heirloom (ok probs not the best wording but still) it was also mentioned that the Book of Life chooses its holders like I said, generational wise but also because of the attributes that the subject brings to the team. I couldn’t find the screenshot but AA answered an anon ask at one point stating that. Now if we look more into the team we can understand why exactly they make up the team they are now, instead of a group of goofballs we actually do have a pretty well looking team.

Oswald’s attribute would be his luck. Which is seen in the first chapter when he managed to save everhine in the van from the semi truck crashing into them, which follows with him cheering that he still had his luck.

Bendy’s attribute from what I can assume, would be the fact that he’s a demon, and from what AA has stated/revealed the strongest one on the team (though Bendy himself might not know that) I’m taking it that in this AU, Bendy isn’t created from the ink machine but as it was said from AA he was accidentally taken from his home and placed on the surface (I can’t find the screenshot of the authors confirmation but trust me!!) I say that because Abel is after Bendy, which was also stated. And I’ll also go into why he might be after Bendy in my next post. But bendy’s attribute would be his strength and the fact that he’s basically inhuamne. Not to mention toons are hard to kill as is and since he’s a toon demon, it’ll take a lot to really kill Bendy and I’m sure we’ll see more of that in detail with future chapters.

Donald’s attribute would be his bad luck, which may be bad but is actually a good thing as in one of the chapters his bad luck basically murked the spirit spider that was chasing after them in the cave sequence.

His attribute clearly comes in handy when it’s needed. Not to mention it weighs out Oswald’s good luck with his bad luck. Creating a balance.

For Cuphead and Mugman, it would have to be because they harness power to shot their peashooters, and because as stated they defeated the Devil some years ago. Though with their character turnaround with tagging along with the TQ gang, this makes them a great advocate with knowing some plans about the opposing team.

And Panchito would have to be for his intellucal integrity as he himself was the one to even put the band together to begin with. Traveling overseas just to find one of them. His morals seems to be very strong and I believe there’s more to his character as he was the first one to recive the book and get any sort of information about it, as he claimed that the thought of the book came to him in a dream that he has had for years. Which would make sense why the book would go to Panchito first out of everyone because his person is uplifting, loyal and fairly responsible (in a way)

the book clearly harness some spiritual power as AA has stated. It’s not just a book, so I believe the book is what sent Panchito these visions. Also he’s good to and that it’s clear he’s a sharpshooter. Maybe even as good as Bettigan.

And moving onto Y/n. Her attribute, as we all know. Is undetermined because she’s a human. Not a toon. She dosen’t have any cool tricks, she dosen’t entirely have magic as it was said that she was supposed to, but lo and behold. She dosen’t. And she never will, as AA has confirmed. But inside the story it was say MULTIPLE times that the reader was supposed to be given a power to help her.

it’s refered to as a mark and how it was supposed to be given to Hector, but because of time and how he and his group couldn’t successfully go on with the plan of figuring out what Ruby Falls was (the death of his friends) he came to a witch in the woods to send a message to Y/n about how her having a mark would help her defend herself from darkness and save mankind.

But as we noticed, Y/n has no power and so far has been fighting and defending herself based on her agility and luck. As it’s seems multiple times, she’s not very good in combat unless the other toons are with her to back her up. But by herself on a 1 on 1 combat, she fails exceedingly bad at defending herself, which I won’t bash her too much as she’s just a teenage girl who’s revealed to be a homebody with no friends, fighting against various combative individuals who clearly has more training and knowledge in the ring than she does. You’re not gonna wake up one day and be able to take down Batman. But there is one thing about her that I will point out. That she’s very observant and can very much tell when things are off in certain situations. As stated by AA.

Reader is indeed a fast learner as when Ruck was teaching her archery, she was able to develop a knowledge on how to properly use a bow and arrow. And I must say. Archery is very much a tactile and difficult field to get in as it takes a lot of body strength and muscle strength, but with little time she had. She was able to adapt very quickly as seen with her being able to successfully get bullseye during the Warrior Falls contestant picking for the finale’s.

Though that dosen’t mean we’ll run right over the fact that Y/n dosen’t have magic as states as she was suposoed to have. It even concerns her to a point of questioning why she dosen’t have it. Does the book decide not to give her magic? Does it often happen for these quirks to just not show up. It was clear that someone or something is suposoed to give them these quirks as Hector denied wanting to have it as he stated he would save it for Y/n. Which also comes into play that this is probably a one time use.

So where is it? And who has it? Well. Who else is the only one in the series that has magic? Well, we have Bendy. Who’s able to bend liquids (which from what I see it’s preferably ink) and he can also make portals.

But this can also be because of the fact that Bendy is an actual demon and harness power that not any ordinary toon can. But that also makes me say. Do you know who else has the ability to create rifts and portals?

And y’all look at this FUCKING KEY WORD!!! PUDDLE

I swear this is not a COINCIDENCE!! I make this side by side comparison because at some point it was mentioned that Bendy would be the one prone to betray Y/n. Now I don’t wanna point fingers, but I believe Bendy may be a reason why Y/n is powerful. Or 1 of the many reasons. Because my second reason is going to be Pib. As it was said that Pib plays a big role and sort of a fairly meaningful role to not only Y/n, but to everytbing. Now, I don’t wanna be that guy but I really do want to say that Pib is actually a good guy and Y/n is a bad guy. AA did at one point said that Y/n is morally grey and that she dosen’t really care to be a hero, meaning that Y/n dosen’t wanna put her life in the line for just the sake of it.

which may seem like a bad thing but, honestly? We’ll probably get more into why the reader may feel this way and why she may essentially reach a point where she feels this isn’t really fit for her. Pib isn’t exactly a bad guy because their only objective to them is to kill Y/n. That’s it. They don’t care for the book. They don’t care for the situation or who has the book, but it’s just to kill Y/n.

and the opposing team also wants Y/n dead as well. And only her. They don’t care for the others but just wanting her dead

I’ll get into later why I might think why they want Oswald out of everyone. But that’s besides the point, I find it concerning that Y/n has such a large bounty over her head when she hasn’t done anything to anyone or from what we know and have been seeing she’s pretty much innocent. Before I get into Pib, I also want to put on the table why I may think everyone wants Y/n eliminated first.

I’m chapter 5, Argus states that when she kills Y/n, the book will be in her possession.

She claims that when Y/n’s dead her bloodline will be no more, now I want to say she’s refering to Y/n being the last of her generation to hold the book in her possession, but now that I thought more on it, maybe when Y/n dies, the book just automatically releases its hold on the others making it accessible to anyone. So in some sort of way, Y/n has to be a key, a valuable key and asset to keeping that book locked. Whuch can explain why Ruck is trying him damn hardest to teach Y/n under the time he has to defend herself properly seeing she has no power to properly do it. Because if she dies. Everyone is shit out of luck, anyone in the world can just access the book. Which can explain why the villians want Y/n dead so bad. if break the lock. You have access to the riches. Now that’s if the others will still be there to defend the book from being taken still.

which moves back to Pib. Now we all know. The books signature glow is a yellow/golden light or aurora. It helped them navigate where to find eachother. Certain locations and even a piece to Ruby’s Heart. This book is basically its only navigation. But who else has that certain golden glow to them.

In the recent sneak peek, Pib was able to tug some hair from their head and use the essence of it to creating a golden line to lead them to where the TQuesters are. The same navigating line that they used many times to help them travel around. And Pib’s glow is yellow and golden. A color that's assossiated with the book. Maybe Pib is also a keeper of the book, and maybe the magic that was supposed to be given to Y/n was handed to Pib somehwere along the line. But who would have given this power to Pib. The only other person I can think of, would be the main villian. The man in the trenchcoat. As he was the sole purpose of all of this happening to begin with. Though he has little screentime. It’s clear that he’s going to be a big problem. Pib’s power was also stated that it’s just about as strong as Bendy and Abel. Abel being a literal arch Angel—which is mentioned that Abel’s sole purpose on earth is to kill dark magic that’s located in the Shadow Realm. A split between physical world and the spiritual world. Which I can assume is where Bendy came from as well as Zip and Zot as they were confirmed to be from the shadow realm. I belive the things from this world are dangerous and cannot be contained. Which is why Abel is even present to begin with. He’s role is to destory anything that’s from that world. Including Bendy. Now why he has such a hatred towards Bendy, I don’t know.

Not to mention Abel is at the top of the list of things that is very hard to be defeated so it’s safe to say that the book refering to angels being able to banish darkness, Abel is what it’s refering to.

Pib and Abel works hand in hand because they both have the power to do a lot of damage. I’ll make pt2 going over more bc I need you guys to hear me OUUTTTTTTTTTTTT

@toontails I WILL NOT BACK DOWN UNTIL I FULLY UNDERSTAND

[telomeke]

15 people, 15 questions

I got tagged by @colourme-feral (at this link here), @pandasmagorica (at this link here), @wen-kexing-apologist (at this link here), @dribs-and-drabbles (at this link here), @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas (at this link here) and @airenyah (at this link here). Thanks for tagging me guys! 🥰 Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season. 💖🎄

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1. Are you named after anyone?

Not anyone in particular; Mom's dad set out the names for the children of his sons but not his daughters. So Mom gave me a name that incorporates the concepts bright and strong. I sometimes like to think I was named after a laundry detergent. 🤣

2. When was the last time you cried?

I can't remember exactly… I never used to cry, not at stories or movies, unless they involved dogs dying (because that was my first exposure to grief, when my little furry boy died on me during my teen years). After more family members passed away though, I felt my core shift and now know what it is like to be moved to tears by a more human-centric grief and loss (I think I wasn't allowing myself to feel that before, as part of that armor you put on when out in the world as an adult).

And ever since I learnt my lessons I've cried a lot more often, sharing heartfelt moments with characters on the page or on the screen because I'm less afraid of showing emotion (as in, I no longer think of it as some kind of weakness). I think the last time I cried may have been watching Last Twilight? When I watched tough guy Mhok shedding his hard protective shell to love Day unconditionally, with the motivations behind his acts of love going mostly unnoticed and unseen by the object of his affections – e.g., the sunflower just before August turns up late, setting up Day's surprise birthday party and basically giving him away to others when you know his heart is telling him to keep Day for himself. 😢 (I've not watched Ep.7 yet, so I don't know if the meaning of any of this will change moving forward, or if there are more tears in store though.) And yes, I think the last tear I shed was when Mhok grabbed Day to kiss him at the end of Ep.6, to prove that he was loving him truly for his own sake, not plying him with secondhand emotion out of pity as Day had been led to expect from the world.

I may write more about Last Twilight in the future… It's easy to think of romantic love as a gift to be received, but Mhok really does exemplify that the human nature of love is rather more tied to wanting to give of oneself, and (for romantic love at least) that experience only achieves its fullest completion when it is met with the recipient giving you their love in return (or crushing your heart with rejection or indifference instead). And I do see the parallels between love rejected and grief; "grief is just love with no place to go" rings so very true.

3. Do you have kids?

No I don't, and it is maybe the one regret in life I will allow myself. "No regrets" is a great motto to live by, but if I could do things over again I might choose to have kids (whether my own biological kids or my own adopted ones; I'm a little too far gone and set in my ways to consider this now though). Never wanted kids before (noisy, troublesome, a dampener holding you back I told my younger self) – but when my nephew came along it was like somebody flicked a switch and I realized it was OK to feel that kind of unconditional love for another human being, for no other reason than the privilege of loving them. And I think being a parent (unlike a romantic partner) allows you to love truly unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

Used to like playing soccer/basketball/badminton as a kid, but only unseriously and very badly. Nowadays I swim a lot and the gym is my second home (but I'm not at all some bulked-up gorilla; I don't have the genetics nor the inclination to abuse my body with steroids, which is the only way to look like the bodybuilders and fitness models IMO). But exercise does wonders for your mental health in addition to your physical fitness; it's been my refuge whenever things got horrifyingly stressful in life by providing an outlet for stress, plus endorphins to make you feel better. It just doesn't feel like it would be any good when you're going through it, but you can sense it after. Which is also part of why it's so hard to get yourself up and exercising when you're down; the hardest part is overcoming the inertia that is doubly weighted whenever life is stressing you out. I always have to remind myself that the more I don't want to go to the gym, the more it is I probably need to go.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Sarcasm? What, ✨MOI✨? (Yes I'm being sarcastic here. I can be a bit too barbed with people I know, so I've learnt to pare it back, but my propensity for sarcasm has done me no favors in the workplace. It's also why I understand people putting up hard-shell defenses – shoutout to Pran in Bad Buddy and Mhok in Last Twilight.)

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I think their general demeanour and what their overall body language is conveying.

7. What’s your eye color?

Darkest, darkest brown; so dark it looks black in all but the brightest light. You can't see where my pupils end and my irises begin.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings all the way. Don't like horror movies and I won't pay to watch them.

9. Any talents?

I have a number of interests, but whether or not I have any talent in them is for others to judge because – even though I'm proud of some of the things I've done – my ever-critical perfectionist's eye can never fail to see flaws and things I could've done better. Everything is always falling short in some way. So my interests are: languages and linguistics (I can handle a few languages, but only a couple have acceptable fluency while the rest are still in pretty rough shape, IMO). Love to write (in English only, more focused on fact than fiction, but even then the inspiration doesn't always flow). I have an ear (but not an abiding love) for music, so I will often be singing if I'm alone and need more than silence around me. I'm interested in biological sciences (wanted to be a palaentologist as a little boy; isn’t that every kid's dream at some point?) – animals, plants, and nature fascinate me. I used to like dabbling in visual arts, but that's been deadened a bit by having to work with some of that in my job (maybe that's why the visual aspects of BL will always fascinate me though). And I think I do have a knack for research, looking things up and putting facts together so that they can convey some kind of message or bigger truth.

10. Where were you born?

In the delivery room of a maternity ward. My roots are in Asia though, if that's what this question is getting at. 😆

11. What are your hobbies?

Scrolling through Tumblr takes up way too much of my time, but yes that is one of my hobbies. I watch BLs now and then, and from that I go on to do the odd write-up about aspects that interest me (especially culture, linguistics and BL visuals). Another current obsession is baking up fruitcake variations (part of the culinary landscape of the season) and this will continue as a hobby until I've baked it out of my system. I love to watch cooking shows, but I do this more to pick up tips on how to make my meals quicker, easier and tasty enough for me (I don't love cooking, but I cook a lot, to get around dietary intolerances more than anything else). Also – gym and swimming a few times a week.

12. Do you have any pets?

None at the moment. We had dogs growing up and I am an avowed dog lover. But when you're a working adult it wouldn't be fair to leave a dog alone for most of the day while you're out at the office, so I never got one after I began working. Plus dogs don't last long (15 years is already geriatric for a pooch) and I'm not ready to face the shattering grief when they have to leave you. But never say never... Maybe I'll get a kitty for a change? 🤔💖

13. How tall are you?

I'm tallish; tall in some countries, average in others. Taller than Singto, shorter than Ohm. 😆

14. Favorite subject in school?

Art and art history? We had a dream lecturer who made the subject come alive. Also a psychology elective that I took, for all its insights into the human mind. In school school it was a mix depending on my mood and the topic of the day: English, geography, biology, chemistry, mathematics, or art. Didn't like physics or economics at all.

15. Dream job

Something in research and analysis backing up the boys in The Sign. 😆 Or maybe volunteering at a charity to help with food/housing (but I can probably only think about doing this after securing my own retirement).

Onward tagging (I can't count so don't expect this to be 15): @7nessasaryevils, @crzshaly437, @faillen, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @neuroticbookworm, @greenreflections, @recentadultburnout, @thecleopatrawannabe, @nihilisticcondensedmilk, @allthegoodusernamesaretakenhuh, @lamonnaie, @non-binarypal7, @twig-tea, @williamrikers, @gillianthecat, @hughungrybear, @solitaryandwandering, @starryalpacasstuff, @rane-ab, @serafyne, @silvercrystal1, @tsukitsuki077, @5raccoonsinatrenchcoat, @vegasandhishedgehog, @reformedcharacter, @writerwithoutsound, @bengiyo, @gelofhellyeah, @shortpplfedup, @dc-alves, @zhaagdewin, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts and anybody else who wants to play! As always no pressure if you don't wish to play either.

If you've already played do tag me with a link so I can read your 15 answers too! 🥰 (And I left out some mutuals because I see you've already been tagged; let me know too if you've already played so I can head on out to read your post as well! 😍)

‌

[wrestlezon]

(hell yeah. heres a whole post blogging about my blog. i hope you like introspective words. if not... then definitely dont click that readmore)

I posted 3,572 times in 2022

That's 3,572 more posts than 2021!

(well... a respectable amount... for this being the first year of Blog Existing)

370 posts created (10%)

3,202 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

pepsitwist

dogcollarpunk

hoodyhoo

allelitewrestlings

(3 people with the best tastes on the site and a fantastic sourced aew content blog. hell yea ofc these were my most reblogged blogs)

I tagged 3,533 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

(oh no. where are they. where are these 40 untagged posts?? how could i leave them BARREN... NO... THEYRE LOST... OUT IN THE COLD...)

#chuck taylor - 576 posts

#orange cassidy - 570 posts

#cm punk - 500 posts

#fanart - 406 posts

#p - 291 posts

#trent beretta - 229 posts

#talkzon - 221 posts

#mjf - 220 posts

#jon moxley - 201 posts

#eddie kingston - 198 posts

(ah yes my top 3 favorite wrestlers. chuck, orange, cm punk. of course. LMAO. funnily enough the pipeline for me was in that exact reverse order... punk vs eddie got me watching the show, then i saw an orange match and was like hey thats fun and cool, then i was like hold up... whos that weird-cute guy who hangs out with him sometimes... and now here i am. with incurable chuck taylor brain worms.)

(ok. actually the story is a bit more ironic than that but if i get too openly genuine on here i'll break out in hives sooooo moving on)

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#excalibur said something last friday along the lines of ''hes not willing to team up with danhausen yet'' which made me laugh out loud. ''ye

(my tag got cut off... i think this is before xkit rewritten added the ''tag too long'' alert for the quicktags thing. i dont even remember what the rest of it was supposed to be... this was on a gifset of the hook birthday chips incident)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

thank you aew broadcast team for the instant replay alternate angle on wardlow's very cool pin

295 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

(...i liked wardlow better when he was a vaguely amoral henchman guy but i can appreciate A Very Cool Pin)

#4

"One word to describe me? GAY"

295 notes - Posted October 17, 2022

(the people need to know. they need to know max caster is an entertaining and somewhat unhinged weirdo)

#3

listen. look. i need you to understand. look at this.

SLOUCHED. HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK. HEAD BENT DOWN. cm punk spends most of his promo at this point AVOIDING EYE CONTACT. he never even holds the goddamn mic!!! punk is posturing SO hard to appear as a small harmless creature. so much smaller than hangman.

which he factually ISNT. i mean, look at how he looks when he stands up straight, when he isn't trying to put on an appearance.

See the full post

325 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

(oh noooo lmaoooo not my overly excited cm punk theory-effortpost... embarrassing...... even more embarrassing in hindsight... u_u "wow theyre doing such a good job of working together to tell this fictional story of conflict and antagonism! such acting! such subtlety! wait. what. no. are you guys mad for real. what the")

#2

See the full post

389 notes - Posted June 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

how im feeling about that upcoming dog collar match

752 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

(honestly the most shocking part of this was seeing people out in the wild think this was where the sickos meme came from? which doesnt even make sense chronologically?? sickos has been around forever!!! and the original comic is so good. i am not deserving of kartoonist kelly's onion comic clout i am just a wrestle blog)

(also. i have to say. getting into wrestling right as the cmjf feud started was such a mistake... it set the bar too high... wrestling is not normally Like That... ;~;)

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

When unidentified photos become identified

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Over the summer, we received a donation of photographs and other items from The Chronicle-Express – the now-defunct and sadly missed Chronicle-Express, that is, a weekly newspaper whose history dates back almost as long as Yates County’s existence [Edit: Shortly after this article was originally written, it was announced, much to the surprise and delight of the Yates County community, it was announced The Chronicle-Express would continue under new ownership.]  – including several photos with little or no identifying information. We decided to post these unidentified photos on our social media outlets (Facebook and Instagram) and see if any of our wonderful and passionate followers could fill us in.

The results were amazing and nearly perfect – as of this writing, only one of the two dozen photos posted received no comments indicating its identification – and fun. Really fun. Truly fun. Along with receiving identifying comments for almost every single of these photos, it was fun – for someone who neither grew up in Yates County nor was alive at the time many of these photos were taken (most of them appeared in The Chronicle-Express during the early to mid 1980s – to read people’s comments on social media as they shared their knowledge and memories of the people and places depicted and the respective people’s and places’ marks on their personal stories and on Yates County history.

Perhaps the most fun of these photos for me depicts a young man in a U.S. Navy uniform, whose last name is Schroeder according to the name tag on his uniform, standing it what appears to be a submarine. Other than these details, and a date stamp of September 11, 1986 on the back, we knew nothing about this photo before we posted it on social media. Before long, we knew the man’s name is Tom Schroeder, and at the time he was a senior chief petty officer aboard a submarine. He is the son of Leland and Mary Schroeder, and he has a brother named Herb whom he may look like.

Then, the day after we posted the photo, I received a call from a woman expressing interest in this particular photo. The phone call started out something like this:

“I’m calling about the photo of Tom Schroeder.”

“OK, and how do you know Tom?”

“Well, I’ve been married to him for 41 years!”

“Oh!”

Yes, the caller was Tom’s wife, Roberta Tozier, and they currently reside in North Carolina, where they moved from the Saratoga area, where Tom had retired from the Navy as a master chief petty officer. Tom was a local Penn Yan boy, and the two met while Roberta attended Keuka College. They had been married for five years at the time this photo was taken. As an interesting tidbit, she told me the photo places Tom in the forward of the submarine, but he actually worked in the aft.

Upon her request, I sent her the scanned photo along with a digital copy in which the photo appeared – in an article in the September 11, 1986 edition of The Chronicle-Express with the headline, “PY man gets immersed in his work on Pintado.” I decided to read this article for myself, to learn more about the man and the story behind the photo. Interestingly enough, with Roberta’s positioning of Tom in the photo, the caption reads: “Navy Machinist’s Mate Tom Schroeder checks equipment onboard the USS Pintado.”

Back in 1986, Tom was a 35-year-old machinist’s mate and submariner in the Navy aboard the USS Pintado, a nuclear attack submarine. As the article describes: “This type of submarine was designed for a special mission – to seek out and destroy enemy ships and submarines.” And Tom was the senior enlisted nuclear power adviser, “responsible,” in his own words, “for coordinating departmental watch bills and overseeing the training of the engineering department.”

According to the article, through the work of Tom and his team of sailors, the 4,800-ton Pintado could cruise underwater for extended periods of time without surfacing and could generate enough electricity to support a small city. Tom had served in the Navy for 15 years by that point, having graduated from Penn Yan Academy in 1969 and enlisted in the Navy two years later. After his basic training post and other duty assignments, Tom reported to the Pintado in 1981.

In the article, Tom acknowledged he joined the Navy because of the Vietnam War still happening when he graduated high school. Having lost his college deferment and knowing he would likely be drafted, Tom visited recruiters from the different services before deciding on the Navy – “the one (branch) who could offer me the most education.”

And, the Navy had provided Tom with the ability to live and work in several different countries and localities – Spain, Brazil, Hong Kong, and even the North Pole, to name a few. And all because of an unidentified photo that became identified, the Navy provided us with the ability to tell Tom’s story.

[adminbryantsaki]

Scenting and Marking

Day three of Spicytober featuring Naga Hizashi x Reader

( I do not own Hizashi Yamada/Present Mic. Horikoshi Kohei does. If this isn’t your cup of tea, blend of spices, or brew of coffee, move on. Reader discretion is advised. @lhcartoonist has requested to be tagged in the stories featuring Hizashi Yamada.)

Wc: 938

Tw: ABO, hints to monster fucking, scenting, biting, slight blood.

 It was one of those rare three day weekends that both you and your mate Hizashi both had off from work. One of the various tasks you did on your time off was wash your laundry that had accumulated over the past few weeks. This time you needed to clean your sheets and remake your bed. This normally was a struggle for you as you had a giant bed for nesting. You were happy that your boyfriend was over to help you and spend time with you today. You were currently in the process of stripping your bed of the sheets and carrying the giant mass of your bedding to your laundry room when you heard a knock on the door. “Just a moment!” You called out and set your bedding by the washing machine in the back of your apartment and running to the front of your apartment and checking through the little hole in your door to see that Hizashi had arrived. You smiled and unlocked the door to let him in. You saw that he had a backpack on him along with a couple plastic bags of food in his hand as he slithered into your apartment. He probably had some work to get done while he was staying with you over the weekend.

“Hi honey, did you miss me?” He asked as he set his stuff down in your bedroom. “I did miss you.” You told him. He pulled you close and kissed you. “Why is your bed stripped?” He asked. “I’m washing my sheets. Can you help me remake my bed and scent my sheets? Your scent faded on them and I miss it. Your scent helps me sleep at night.” You requested. He smiled and kissed your cheek. “Of course. I’m glad my scent helps you sleep at night, baby. Why don’t you relax and put your feet up? I’ll get laundry started and make you something if you’re hungry.” He offered. You smiled at the idea and got yourself comfortable on the couch while your naga boyfriend went to start laundry. He came back a little while later and found you relaxing on the couch. “Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?” He asked. “Not right now. I just want you here. I want to cuddle in your coils. They support me so well.” You told him. He nodded and coiled up in the corner of your living room on the floor and invited you over. You got up and walked over to him and climbed into the center of your coils and got comfortable, soon after you had gotten yourself situated, you began to grow sleepy. “If you need to take a nap, go ahead, I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.” He told you in a whisper. You nodded before promptly passing out. Hizashi pulled a blanket over you and laid down behind you.

A few hours later you had awoken from your nap and your mate was watching you lovingly. “Hello, princess. You’re so cute when you’re sleeping. Did you have a good nap?” He asked you as you sat up with a blanket wrapped around you.

“I sleep ok. Are the sheets ready?” You asked as you rubbed your eyes. “Yes. I made your bed too. I wanted to wait until you were awake to get the sheets scented for you.” He told you. You frowned and looked at him before the idea dawned on you and your eyes widened. “You want to mark me on my freshly washed sheets?” You asked. Your boyfriend nodded and kissed your cheek. “You’re so warm and cozy. Please, Baby? I noticed your marks have faded.” He said as he nuzzled into your neck. “Alright.” You said as your face had turned bright pink by now. He chuckled and carried you into the bedroom. You saw that he had made up your bed already and your nesting material was arranged for you to nest. You went to your bed and quickly made a nest and invited your reptilian boyfriend into your nest. He coiled around you and laid you down on the clean sheets. He kissed the place where your previous mark had faded and you blushed harder. He extended his fangs and grazed them over your skin. You gasped and arched your back a bit. “Someone’s sensitive~.” He teased. You let out a huff and he chuckled. He kissed you and went back to your neck. His scent of oranges and lemons began to fill your nostrils and make your mind a bit foggy. You moaned out as he bit down into your neck. You gripped onto the end of his tail that he had wrapped around your hand and he growled into your flesh.  You moaned out again and he pulled away. “All mine.” He spoke and kissed your head. He licked at the mark to clean up the small trickles of blood that had came from his bite. “All yours. I think my sheets smell like you now.” You told him and he chuckled. “Good. I love you Y/n. Thank you for letting me do this.” He spoke. “Of course, Hizashi. Just let me know whenever you want to mark me, ok?” You responded. He nodded and nuzzled into your neck and fell asleep. The End.

[footballffbarbiex]

Already There.

pairing: best friend!Daniel Ricciardo x unnamed and undescribed OC. type: kinda angst, mostly fluff.  original word count: 1488     new word count: 1624

A/N: this was written for a former patron. I’ve not included my usual tag list, because this is f1 and not football, so it doesn’t really apply.��

_

The door opens and Daniel immediately wafts his hand in front of his face as though a bad smell lingers. “Babe, how much have you been drinking?” he asks as his eyes fall to the bottle in her hand. 

“I’ve only just opened it,” she justifies and her own gaze drops to his hand, looking over the bag and what looks to be more alcohol. “What’s in there?”

“All your favourite things. I’d have put myself in there but-”

“You’d have to take yourself out along with the rest of the trash.” She says and his eyes widen in mock pain.

“Ouch! I was going to give you the bigger portion of what I’m going to cook you, but not after that.” 

“Don’t be like that.” She complains, pushing out her lower lip in a pretend sulk and shuts the door behind him. “Want a glass?”

“Oh, you’re offering me a glass and not a mug or a bottle. How very civilised of you. You must have done the washing up, I’m impressed.” He grins as she glares at him. “Y’know, one of these days I’m going to think you hate me.”

“I do.”

“No, you’re hungry. There’s a difference. You sit your cute ass down,” he pulls a chair out at the table before moving around and makes himself at home in her kitchen. He feels almost as comfortable in her home as he does in his own. He could navigate it with ease in the dark, when drunk or tired. He’s done all three. Often. 

He hands her a glass, but not without asking “do you want a straw with that?” He both accepts and ignores the finger that she gives him in response and begins to get what he needs to cook. 

“I hope you appreciate this. I never cook for anyone else.” He tries to word it in a jokey way but he’s telling the truth. He’s never wanted to look after anyone else the way he does her. It frustrates him when she doesn’t look after herself and he comes in to take over. Their mutual friends think it’s the other way around, that she looks after him but the two of them know differently. 

Yes, she does take care of Daniel. She’s there on the other end of the phone whenever he needs her. It doesn’t matter what time it is, what time zone difference there is, if he needs her, she’s asking the question, “what do you need from me to make you ok?” 

She’s there when he needs company or just to sit in silence in the same room as him. She knows she’s his safe place, the place where he longs to be when he’s away. He doesn’t feel safer with anyone else like he is with her and that hasn’t changed in the years they’ve been this close. Dan doing little things for her like this, is his way of giving back to her. This is his way of saying “thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being my home.” And right now, he wants to be here for her. Another bad break up and he couldn’t stay away when he heard the news. He had to come over. 

They slip into easy conversation as Daniel cooks, and takes swigs from his bottle of beer. He flips the utensils, sings her silly little songs and makes up dance routines. Anything he can to earn a laugh from her. He tells her stories and jokes, anything he can to put a smile on her face and though he doesn’t want to just give her more alcohol to fix her problems, he does want to see her loosen up a little and so he tops up her glass a little more while keeping the bottle where he can reach it and not her. He’ll know when her limit is, and he’s not prepared to let her take a sip more once she gets there.

“What’s on your mind baby doll?” He asks as he pushes the plate of food towards her and hands her the cutlery. He leans against the counter and watches her as he takes another sip. He’s finished one bottle of beer and he’s now drinking a glass of whiskey slowly, swirling the amber liquid around the glass as he watches her, the ice clinking against the sides occasionally. 

“I don’t take breakups very well.” She states and he says nothing. She doesn’t take them well. she goes into a pit of despair, but he isn’t about to agree with that right now. “But for once, I want to do it differently.”

“I’m listening. What are your big plans?”

“I haven’t drunk enough for that big reveal yet.” She comments and stabs at her food. 

“Interesting.”

Daniel doesn’t press for more information, instead he changes the subject entirely to put her back at ease. They make it through eating with mostly small talk, but it doesn’t feel awkward, forced or purely to fill the silence and that’s what he loved about their friendship. 

“You know,” she begins, and gives a little cough to clear her throat. “We actually broke up a few weeks ago.” 

“What?” He’s genuinely surprised by this. “Are you being serious right now?”

“I wanted to get my head around what had happened before I put it out there for people to cast their opinions.”

“And? How are you feeling? I can’t believe you kept this from me?”

“No, I wasn’t telling anyone. It’s not as though I told others but not you.” She tries to justify but he frowns. “What difference would it have made?”

“I found out tonight that you were single again, and I came straight over to make sure you were ok. If I’d known you had a few weeks to sit by yourself while all this was going on, I’d ha-”

“Interfered, for my benefit.” She concludes. “I love you Dan, honestly, I do. But I needed that time for me.”

“It’s shitty.” He tells her, ignoring the way his heart pounds at her saying I love you Dan. 

“It’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s not. It’s my break-up, not yours.” She says frustrated. “I love that you want to protect me and be there for me, but sometimes I need to hurt. And I need to be by myself,  and cry and hurt and wallow in my own pity, even if that’s not what you want.”

“How could you want to suffer alone?” He asks confused. 

“Is that really what you want to ask, or are you just upset that I didn’t need you at that time?” It’s a hard question to ask and she knows it the second it’s out there. Daniel shakes his head, his cheek clenches and he scoffs. 

“That’s the thanks I get for wanting to help you?”

“I didn’t say I don’t appreciate you being here right now, because this is when I need you. I don’t want to be around you when I’m thinking of him.” She takes a lengthy drink from her glass, “when I’m with you, I want to be thinking of you and no-one else.”  She tells him before taking another drink, unable to look him in the eye as she says it. 

Daniel copies her, taking a deep drink of his own as he processes her words. “Just so I’m not misunderstanding what you’re saying, I’d like you to mansplain this. As simple as you can because I’m grabbing the stick and I want it to be the right end before I react.”

“The breakup was amicable. Civil. We both knew it had come to the end and we knew it wasn’t going anywhere.” She tells him. “And yet, when I thought of where I wanted my future to go, the only person I wanted to text was…well, you.” He’s itching to move but he forces himself to remain where he is as he stares at her. “Am I hurt that the relationship ended? Of course, spending over a year with someone will do that. But I’m not as hurt as I thought I would be.”

“You don’t miss him?”

“Everything that I liked about him, I have with you. And that’s what I’ve been thinking about. That’s why I needed time away from you.” 

“But why? Why push me away like that?”

“Because I don’t trust myself around you right now.” She whispers. 

“Why?” He knows now where this is going and he doesn’t want to spoon feed her the answers but damn does he want to hear it. 

“I can’t rebound.” She whispers. 

“I’m not a rebound.”

“I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m so in love with you that I refuse to let us fail and fall apart.” 

He watches as her chest rises and falls faster and the way that her throat works as she swallows. “I’m not supposed to fall for my best friend.”

“You’re telling me right now that you don’t feel that way for me? If you don’t feel anything, I’ll bottle mine back up and I’ll ignore it.” 

“You’d do that?” she can’t hide her surprise at his words. 

“It would kill me, but I’d do it for you. I can’t not have you in my life. I won’t risk it.”

“And if I wanted to take things slowly?” She asks and he grins, the type which makes her thankful she’s sitting, or she’d be feeling her knees go weak. 

“I’d do that.”

“And if I asked for a small kiss?”

“I’d have to warn you that I’m going to make you fall in love with me.”

“I’m already there Dan, I already love you. Now kiss me.”

[triptuckers]

Initials - Kaz Brekker

Request: nope! just a lil something in between the parts of two homes :) Pairing:  Kaz Brekker x reader Summary:  for as long as the crows can remember, you’ve worn a ring with initials on it, and they’ve been trying to figure out what they stand for ever since Warnings: language, spoilers for people who haven’t read soc Word count:  1.4K A/N: ok I got this idea a while ago and I thought it was the cutest :’) enjoy reading! TAG LIST (grishaverse): @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15 @dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha @story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs @daliareads @meiitanoia @itsnotquimey (if your name is in bold it means I couldn’t tag you) add yourself to my tag lists here TAG LIST (Kaz Brekker): @mufnasa

You absently twist the ring on your finger as you’re lost in thoughts. You’re tired, but it’s still too early to go to bed yet. Nina is telling you a story, but you’re not really paying attention. 

Eventually, Nina notices you’re not listening to her. She waves a hand in front of your face to get your attention. You blink a few times and turn to look at her.

‘Did you listen to a word I just said?’ she says.

‘No, sorry.’ you say. ‘It’s not you, though, I’m just tired.’

‘I can start over.’ says Nina. 

You open your mouth to answer her, but yawn instead. ‘I don’t think I have enough energy to pay attention.’ you say.

‘Then go to bed.’ says Nina. 

‘Can’t.’ you say. ‘It’s too early, I don’t want to fuck up my sleep schedule. Besides, I’m waiting for Kaz and Jesper to come back.’ you say.

Nina looks at the door behind you. No matter who would be away on a job, or just to run errands, you are always the one to wait for them to come back. Everyone knows of this habit of yours, not really thinking much of it.

It didn’t really have much meaning to it. At least not now, but it used to be important to you. When you first joined the Dregs years ago, you had a period of time in which you would always be anxious about Kaz. It was before Nina or any of the others had joined the crows. 

When Kaz would be away, you’d wait up for him. No matter how late it got, you always waited for him. Countless times he had told you that you could just go to bed and get some rest, but you refused. You just needed to make sure he was alright.

You used to be anxious about Kaz, but once the others joined, you were nervous about them as well. Soon, you stayed up, waiting for each of them to come home. 

Sometimes, like today, others joined you. It was nice to have some company. 

You lean forward and rest your elbows on the table and you chin on your hands. Today had been a very busy day and you wanted to go to bed. You briefly close your eyes, allowing yourself to rest for a short while. 

‘You need coffee if you want to stay awake until they get back.’ comes Nina’s voice from across the table. 

With your eyes still closed, you nod. You hear how Nina gets up and walks away. As you focus on the sounds you can hear, you can’t help but to concentrate if you hear a door opening and closing. 

But the only sound you hear is that of people talking, and Nina shuffling around behind the bar.  A few moments later, you hear her footsteps and how she sets a mug down in front of you.

You open your eyes and see the steaming coffee. ‘Thanks.’ you say to Nina, who is sipping a drink of her own. 

‘What’s with the waiting up?’ she asks you. ‘I mean, I know you wait for them to come home, but there’s got to be some deeper meaning behind it.’

You shrug. ‘Not really. It’s just when it was just me and Kaz, he was all I had. I got terrified of losing him, of him not coming home. That’s all. And then you guys all came along, and I got scared of losing you too. So I wait for you to come home safely.’ you say.

‘But we’ve been in many tight spots, and we always made it out. Why do you still worry so much?’ says Nina.

‘A habit, I guess.’ you say. 

‘It’s sweet, you know. When we’re out, we know you’re waiting for us. And you’re always happy to see us arrive.’ says Nina.

You smile. ‘Yes, I am.’ you say. 

The two of you talk about a number of things as you finish your drinks. Just as you move to get up to get another cup of coffee, you finally hear the door open behind you.

You turn around and see Kaz and Jesper entering the room. You sigh softly and smile as they approach you.

‘Evening, girls.’ says Jesper. ‘Missed us?’

‘You know I always do, Jesper.’ you say. ‘How’d it go?’

‘Splendid.’ says Jesper.

‘After you nearly gave away our position.’ says Kaz, sitting down on a chair next to yours.

‘That wasn’t intentional.’ says Jesper, also sitting down.

‘Still, we couldn’t have afforded a mistake like that.’ says Kaz.

‘But we didn’t make a mistake.’ says Jesper.

‘We could have.’ says Kaz.

‘Oh, cheer up, Kaz. It went well, you got back, which means Y/N can finally go to bed.’ says Nina.

Kaz looks at you. ‘You waited again?’ he says.

‘You know I always do.’ you say, yawning again.

‘Y/N, I told you many years ago, if you’re tired, you can just go to bed.’ says Kaz.

‘And I told you in response that’s not going to happen.’ you say. ‘Besides, I had nice company.’

‘We made coffee.’ says Nina. ‘Do you guys want some as well?’ 

Both Jesper and Kaz nod, and Nina gets up to grab two new mugs. She sets them down and fills them with coffee. You slide them over the table to Kaz and Jesper. 

When you give Jesper his coffee, he grabs your hand and pulls it toward him, looking at the ring on your finger.

‘Say, Y/N, are you finally going to tell us where you got this ring?’ says Jesper, smirking at you. ‘Because I’m dying to know whose initials are on it.’

‘You know I’m not going to tell you, Jesper.’ you say. ‘You’ll have to figure it out on your own.’ 

Jesper scoffs and lets go of you hand. ‘For years I have been trying to figure out what those letters stand for, yet you won’t tell me if I'm even close to guessing it.’ he says.

You smile. ‘It’s really not that hard.’ you say.

As Jesper takes another sip of his coffee, you look at the ring. It’s a simple one, silver with the letters “K.R” engraved on it. If Jesper would just start thinking of everyone he knows whose name starts with a K, he’d figure it out. But then again, you were the only one who knows Brekker isn’t Kaz’ real last name.

You look to your side at Kaz and see he was already looking at you. One gloved hand resting on his cane, the other curled around his mug. Though his lips don’t move, you can tell he’s smiling at you through his eyes. No one could read Kaz as well as you could.

You turn back to Jesper, smirking. You could give him a little hint. Besides, if he figured out Kaz got you that ring, he’d connect the dots. And he’d be so stunned, it would take him a while before he started asking questions again.

‘How about we bet on it.’ you say, getting up.

‘On what?’ says Nina.

‘On my ring.’ you say. ‘You want to know what those letters stand for, so bet on it.’

‘Alright.’ says Nina. ‘Maybe this night can get exciting. I think it’s a lost friend.’ 

She pulls out some money and throws it on the table. Jesper does the same, looking at you and squinting his eyes.

‘I think it’s a lover. That looks an awful lot like a wedding ring. Or a promise ring. Either way, it’s a lover.’ says Jesper. 

You pull out some money as well and put it on the table. ‘I’ll bet as well.’ you say.

‘You can’t bet.’ says Jesper. ‘You already know the answer, that’s not fair.’

You shrug. ‘No one told me I couldn’t bet.’ you say. ‘I bet it’s a wedding ring. And I bet it’s Kaz.’

With widened eyes, both Jesper and Nina turn to Kaz. He looks at them, and gets up. Kaz then at you, and gives a short nod.

You smile and collect your money from the table. Nina and Jesper are both too stunned to say anything. Nina is stuttering something, confused expression on her face. Jesper is not making a sound at all, his mouth hanging open as he looks from Kaz to you.

Meanwhile, Kaz had started walking toward the stairs, to go to his room. After safely putting the money in your pocket, you follow him.

‘It was a good bet!’ you say over your shoulder.

Right when you walk through the door, Nina and Jesper have found their voices again.

‘That’s a joke right!’ yells Jesper. ‘It can’t be Kaz!’

You smile to yourself as you follow Kaz up the stairs, leaving Jesper and Nina to figure out you spoke the truth on their own.

read part two here <3

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

[noforkingclue]

Hey hey how are you? I was wondering if I could please request a dhawan!master x reader request where he's tying to put the reader under his control and the reader tries to fight but he tell the reader "Don't underestimate the allure of darkness. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it"

I'm alright. I'm a bit stressed because we have a restructure going on at work and my Head of Service is being an utter cunt. I'm keeping myself destressed by writing, crocheting, knitting and cooking!

Apart from that I'm ok!

Hope you're alright anon and that you like the fic :)

Title: Corrupting Hearts

Dhawan!Master tag list: @agentmalfoy24601, @b-bae-27

Doctor Who tag list: @v4n1r, @queerconfusionthings, @yourneighbourhoodclown, @love-of-fandoms, @emilythezeldafan, @fabulous-jj-style, @theseeker945, @im-a-muggleborn, @startrekkingaroundasgard, @mythandmagick, @geocookie21, @zerocanonlywriteshit, @thewinterpoet2, @anteroom-of-death, @night467

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary, @imjustassaneasyou, @spngingerbread21

“Why won’t you just leave me alone?” you said through gritted teeth.

Your hands curled into fists as you glared up at the Master. You were currently collapsed on the ground, the manic timelord standing above you. He gave you an amused smile as he bent down and said,

“Because you’re interesting.”

“How?”

“Because you resist me.”

The Master knelt down to your level and trailed a finger along your jawline. You shuddered at his warm touch but when you tried to break free you found yourself locked in place. It was as though your body had been turn into a statue. Something under the Master’s complete control. You had never felt as vulnerable as you did when his tilted your chin so you were forced to lock into his eyes.

“Even now,” he said, “I’m still not in complete control.”

“Let me go.”

“Never. I know what you really want.”

Suddenly he stood up and pulled you straight into his arms. He wrapped his arms around your waist and rested his head against your shoulder. He hummed a random tune as he forced you to waltz with him around the room. You closed your eyes, feeling comforted in his arms. They were warm and you felt safe. You knew that he would never harm you, that the Master would fight the entire universe to keep you safe. All you needed to do was to-

“Stop.” You said weakly

“Ah,” he was amused, “There’s my clever human.”

“I don’t want this.”

“Yes you do,” the Master’s voice became quiet, “Don't underestimate the allure of darkness. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it.”

“Pure? You think my heart is pure?”

“Compared to the Doctor and her little pets, yes.”

“The Doctor is purer-“

“Love,” the Master leant closer and bumped his nose against yours, “The stories I could tell you about her. The things she’s done to planets, universes, other companions before you and even me. Do you want me to tell you the things she’s done to me?”

“No.”

“Ah, so you’d rather remain ignorant.”

“Don’t talk down to me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

The Master’s hand moved to you lower back. You let out a gasp as you were suddenly pulled tightly against his body. Fuck, you could so easily get lost in his eyes. How deep and expressive they were. A million untold stories lay behind them begging to be told. The Master was alone in the universe, a traveller without a companion to show the horrors of the universe to. The Master let go of your chin as he brushed your cheek with his knuckles. How could someone who committed so many atrocities be so gentle?

“So pet?” he asked, “Given up yet?”

You blinked, suddenly dragged out of the soft cloud you were falling under. As you mind cleared you glared at him, still unable to move your body.

“No.” you spat

“Good,” the Master rested his cheek against yours and you shuddered as his beard scratched your skin, “I’d be disappointed if you were. I’m looking forward to corrupting your heart. Soon you’re going to realise just how beautiful we’ll be together.”

As he pressed a kiss against your cheek, his lips lingering for a fraction longer then you were comfortable with, you knew that it wouldn’t take much. You were halfway there already after all.

[solar4seekstron]

Transformers One x reader: Awakening Chapter Four

Chapter 4: Especially when he was unconscious!

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Five, Chapter Six

Transformers One x Cybertronian!GN!reader

Tw/Tags: non?? D trust reader a bit more, it was hard to add Elita and B scenes I’m trying. That should be all

(Chapter 4 is here! I had a little more fun for this episode I knew what I wanted to have happen between D and Y/N and yes he’s my favorite (Besides OP and B shut up) and i wanted to show the bit of change we witness in D before his fight with Starscream,. Figured it’ll be right to add it where I did.. I will go back to writing more for Elita but it’s hard to write without it taking out of the story much since honestly Elita feels a little too less developed then the other three. I’m trying guys. I did add that small moment with Shockwave and Soundwave with thee reader just to add something there with the two. Hopefully in the second movie that I’m sure we’ll get eventually will follow the]m and starscream a bit more so fingers crossed. Anyway that should be all I hope you all enjoy this long chapter.)

“They found us!”

The five looked around scared.

“Oh yes, time to fight back!”

”D wait we must-

“No! You must return to Iacon City and alert everyone! Embedded in this are the records I have shown you. Use it to reveal the truth.”

“We will.”

“This tunnel leads to the mountains. Cybertrons future is in your hands.”

“We’re out of time. We gotta move!”

The three of them start running. Orion would follow but then stop to look back at Trion

“Wait! Wait! We can’t just leave you here!”

”Come with us!”

“Your fight will come my friends. Primus has a purpose for us all. But this fight. This fight is mine. Now go!”

The five would then continue their run as Trion stands and waits for the fight. His back to them. Soon parts of the cave collapses and soldiers of sentinel appear with guns. Soon causing smoke then pointing their guns at Trion

“Stand down. Old timer.”

“Ah. Old you say?”

Trion would then use his powers. Transforming and attacking th the guards giving Orion and the others time to escape

“Not too old for you.”

But when he looks up he is then attacked by Airachnid who pins him down

“We need to hurry!”

“I still think we have better odds fighting than out running them.”

“Wait! We have cogs! We can transform now.”

“That’s right! Everyone ready?”

“I was born ready!”

“On three! One-“

From there they fall. The gang then struggling with parts of their bodies transforming. As the others struggled Y/Ns blades started spinning which caused them to trip and spin side ways because of the blades down the hill. Going up and down in short and hard bumps. Their body spinning along.

“Hey I got- woah! Help HELP!!!!”

“How do we use these things?!”

“I don't know! Just try!”

“It’s working haha! It’s work- My head. My head! Help! Help!”

“This is not faster!”

“Come On!”

“Aaaand- Transform!! Wheels! I need Wheels!”

Once in the forest deeper three guards would stop in front of them shooting. The five then keep running then once in mid air they all transform hitting the guards. Bee would then hit a rock breaking his stop being in vehicle mode still

“Oh yeah we’re alive!”

The four would then talk to each other super excited. Not noticing the guard behind Orion pointing their blaster until the guard is then shot and flown back. D coming in and landing on the guard as he laughs

“Yes!”

“Hey woah buddy. You ok?”

“I’m great! Are you kidding me? We can transform! We. Trans. Form!”

“Wait I-I- I know. I know.”

“We’re wasting time. We have to get back to Iacon.”

“Looks like the fastest way back to Iacon i-“

“Here I got it!”

“Woah hey what are you doing?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah but our proof is inside and you’re spilling it everywhere.”

D would then turn to face Orion and in a low voice speaks as he stares Orion down and stares closer. Elita and B watching in shock as well.

“I. Got. It.”

“Ok.”

D would look at Orion for a moment more. Looking at the map and then the others. D and Y/N making eye contact. Y/N was unsure as they then look down and a bit of fear in their eyes. Then looking back at Orion. Satisfied with Orions answer before heading forth

“Follow me.”

Orion and the others would start follwoing him after a second

———————————————————————————

As they continue to walk as the sun starts to set. Orions face shows that he’s worried about his friend. Elita and B can tell as well. Y/N then gets the idea walking past Orion and stood next to D who was a lot further ahead then the others.

”Hey D look when we get back we will take down sentinel.”

”I don’t want to kill sentinel i want to-“

”I know what you want to do. I know how you’re feeling because I am feeling it too!” This catches D off guard bit as the two keep walking. Y/N would then sigh

“I want sentinel to suffer just as much as you do. But we must also think smart. If he has been in power for this long then surely we’re just walking into a trap. A web.” The two wold stand and face eachother. D grumbling and sighing as he looked to the side. The three stoppping and just watching staying at the same distance.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to stay stronger. With th help of the people I know I can only trust.” D would put his hand on their arm as he stepped a bit closer with a smile that isn’t as in concept as it use to be. Y/N looked at him still unsure and looked down for a moment

”D strength isn’t always-“

”I can trust you to be there….right?” His hand squeezing their arm a bit and pulling them a bit closer

”….Always.” They say finally looking at him. His smile still there and he pats their back and starts walking forward again. Leaving them there as the others start walking to them

”You tried…Thank you.” Orion stand next to them. They would pt their hand on his shoulder and just nods. Orion, Elita and B start walking as Y/N Stoof there for a second. Their expression changing from sort of sad to angry then to unsure

*Back at Sentinels Tower———————

“Alpha trion! You are still alive? Won’t you look at that! You look horrible.”

“Traitor. You are a disgrace. Primus will surely-“

“Uh-huh yes shut up. I seized an opportunity to take control of my future. Anything to get out of working for you and that boring council of elders. Seriously I would watch you primes spend half the day losing a war and the other half sitting around waxing poetic loyalty and honor. But now look at you.”

“Hear my words! You will fall and a new prime will rise-“

“There you go again. I don't want to listen to any more speeches. There was others in the cave with you. Who are they?”

“They are to be your undoing you’ve lost Sentinel. Nothing can-“

From Trion would kill Trion

“Ugh didn’t I just say no speeches. You heard me right? This is what I’m talking about. Unbelievable. All of them were like that. So disrespectful. Given that friend of the miners Y/N didn’t visit. My money is it has something to do with them and whomever else with them. A real shame really.” He would then sigh then look over at Airachnid

“Ok hunt down the others.”

“With pleasure.”

———————————————————————————

*Back to the others-

The group are walking after transforming. Y/N having sitting on the end of Orions truck. Their helicopter would make too much noise. Once they transform Y/N made sure to get off to let Orion to transform as well.

“Hey buddy!”

“Yo.”

“Hey…You've been a little quiet. Are you alright?”

Orion walks next to D as the other two stay behind

“All I can think about is Sentinels' smirking face. He must pay for what he’s done. Someone has to do something.”

“We are! With Alpha Trions proof inside that device we will show everyone the truth.”

“You honestly believe it’ll be that easy? Iacon doesn’t want to hear the truth. They worship sentinel. There’s got to be a better way to bring him down.”

“We just have to trust that everyone will believe what we show them-“

The two would stop for a moment

“I trusted sentinel! With everything! I will never trust a so-called leader ever again. There’s only one bot I know I can-“

The five are then attacked and knocked out cold by a device

“All right. Wake them up!”

Orion and the others would then wake up. Orion closer in the front as D was beind him on the right. And D and Elita on his left a bit further. Y/N was in front of the two but a bit further from Orions left

“Now. Are you spys? Or just incompetent lackeys?!”

“We’re not spys.”

“But he is incompetent.”

”Elita.”

“Scanning electrical impulses. He’s telling the truth.”

“That just means he believes himself! Like any spy would.”

B would try to speak

“Uh why is he gagged?”

“He wouldn’t stop talking!”

“Even when he was unconscious?”

“Especially when he was unconscious!”

“Enough! Two options for you! One. We slowly dismantle each of you one bolt and screw at a time. And really make sure you feel it. Or two. An exchange for a quick death you give us and tell on the energon trains. Access to mines. Or anything else that could hurt your boss' sentinel prime!”

“Who exactly are you guys?”

“The Cybertronian high guard!”

“I told you it wasn’t tight enough!”

“Prestigious defenders of Iacon!”

“Prestigious?”

“Wait, he's right. I read all about you in the archives! You were the most legendary warriors of all of Cybertron.”

“Look! Look! Look! There’s Starscream and you’re Shockwave and Soundwave! Guys raise your hand if there’s a wave is in your name there’s a lot of waves.”

“Silence! The yellow annoying one is correct.”

“WOAH!”

“We were once the high guard. We witnessed sentinels betrayed. Saw the primes fall. Since that day we’ve been fighting from the shadows. Doing whatever we can to sabotage sentinel.”

“That’s great! We’re-Oh ok ok! We’re good! Everyone relax. I’m just saying we’re allies. We were on our way back to Iacon and now with your help. We can unify Cybertron against sentinel prime.”

“The idea of a unified Cybertron is a myth. All that counts is the strength of one bot over another!”

“Ok so these- these guys are a little intense.”

“Yeah. Just a little.”

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“I'll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not cowering inside some busted ship playing king of the throne. I’m not pretending like I’m making a difference by throwing in one punch and then running away to hide! I found out that sentinel is rotten today and I’m going to make him pay for it. Today!”

“You think you can insult me and just walk away? No one leaves here unless I say so.”

“Is that right? Well how can you say so. With my head in your teeth?”

“D!”

“D would hit Starscream with his head. Causing Starscream to get irritated and fly in the air to kick D. Only for him to block it. Starscream would then fly and grab D. Flying him to the ceiling and punching him only for D to transform his leg and kick him. Starscream would fall back D landing on his feet over him and starts throwing punches at Starscream face

“Hit me! Do it! Come on! Hit more!”

Shockwave would then be seen taking a step to walk to them but Soundwave would stop him. The two looked at each other before looking back at the two. D would then notice the other bots cheers causing D to look around surprised, confused, but now given with pride

“You want to see the strength of one bot over another?!”

“Is that all you got, tough guy? Lets go! Come on! “

D would then gain a canon. He stops to look at it for a moment before looking back at startscream. Orion and Y/Ns face shocked

“Please! I beg you!”

“Stop! D! He’s not the enemy!”

“Bare witness! This is the last time I show mercy. Decide right now! You can stay here in hiding. Bowing before your pathetic leader or follow me as we march on Iacon and I take down sentinel once and for all!!!”

From there D shoots up as the other bots cheer and walk to D. Shockwave and Soundwave doing the same as the bots walk around Elita, B, and Orion as D is soon surrounded. Orion would then look at D as everything seems to slow down. D would look back but his eyes only passing Orion as he looked at the other bots around him having an angry look. D would then make eye contact with Y/N you looked at him with worry and sad eyes. The stare going only for a second as Y/N grows scared but more so worried. From there, there’s a huge explosion causing many to fly back. The hidden base now attacked my sentinels guards

“B! Come on!”

B and Orion fight together shooting at the soldiers. Y/N and Elita join together and start fighting showing off their fighting skills.

“Engage all hostiles. I got the bridge.”

The fight would commence and after a minute the fight was over. B and D were taken as Elita and Orion are left behind. During the fight, Y/N would be cornered. They would then look at the blades of their alt mode and sigh.

”Well better then nothing.” Choosing to use them as swords until they realize most of the blade was a cover up for their swords. They then start fighting at their swords were like sabers and they start slicing up the guards. The fighting continueing

”Elita get down!”

Y/N was thrown by an explosion to the side behind the ship. From there they would grab a gun and wait to ambush one of the soilders. Only to hear one of them com Airachnid that Orion and Elita were gone. With everything Y/N starts to panick saying quiet. Then hearing they got B and D-16. They would then wait until the soilders to leave then once they’re far enough. They are successfully able to get away transforming into their helicopter not noticing the remaining guard. Y/N was so fueled with anger and sadness. That all they can think about is to just save their remaining friends being D-16 and B-127.

———————————————————————————

*Later that morning-

“I feel like someone dropped a cliff on me. Where are the others?”

“Sentinel troops took as many prisoners as they could carry. They got D-16 and B….there’s a chance they could’ve taken Y/N but when asking one of the captured guards he said they didn’t tale Y/N and their body. Isn’t anywhere….”

“Oh no.”

“And half of those high guard nut jobs.”

“Our proof. It’s gone.”

“So what do we do now?”

“D was right.”

“About what?”

“Everything! Look at it. Look around. This is a disaster. It’s all my fault I should’ve stayed on protocol.”

“Listen to me, I really want you to hear this. Are you listening? I’m better than you.”

“Yeah ok. I’m hearing you.”

“I’m better than you in every way except you have hope. You always have. You went into the mine to rescue Jazz. You snuck up into the surface to find the Matrix of Leadership.”

“Yeah, and how did that work out?”

”My point is that your instincts tell you to break protocol for a reason. This blind optimism that you have is why you make such bold and courageous choices. That are extremely stupid.”

“First time giving a pep talk?”

“You’re inspiring. You can envision a better future that no one else can see. And if we ever wanna see B and D-16 and possibly Y/N again. That. That is the Orion Pax that we need right now. Listen to me, we can do this.”

“Those energon trains will be heading back to Iacon. If we intercepted one-“

“Hell yes. I can reroute it. What else do we need?”

“Well my bold instincts tells me we have to recruit some nut jobs.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

“Uhh Shockwave, Soundwave. You in the back. In order to save our captured friends we have to act now.”

“How about I blast you back to Iacon- Ugggh she punched me in my eye!”

“Everyone shut up! All of you! Listen to him!”

“Most likely our friends are being held captive at the top of sentinels tower. A surprise attack will give us a chance to rescue them.”

“Impossible. We do not have enough soldiers or a way inside.”

“Elita will get us in. And I will get more troops.”

‘Why should we follow you?”

Elita threatens him again with the show of her fists

“We will follow you.”

“Attention High Guard. Prepare for battle. What is our first move?”

“We roll out.”

“What?”

“Louder.”

“Transform and Roll Out!”

I couldn’t really find a right place to add anything for the high guard with the reader. But that’s what my other series Before and So Forth is for lol. Hope y’all enjoyed this chapter

[runnning-outof-time]

Enough is Enough | Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: yes by anonymous

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: A gruesome killing in the kitchen of their family home makes both (Y/N) and Tommy realize that they need to put their current lives behind them...for the sake of their children.

Warnings: blood, violence (typical to series), smoking, weapons, character death, season 4 spoilers

Word Count: 3148

A/N: I switched up the request a little bit, I hope that’s ok. Also the words that are italicized are from the show. Enjoy! :)

I’D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! - YOUR COMMENTS & REBLOGS HELP ME WRITE!

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in stories similar to this one!

It was late at night and (Y/N) had just finished tucking in her children. They were all extremely excited for Christmas morning to come, and couldn't quite get to sleep. All they wanted to do was sit up and wait to see if the cookies they'd placed out by the fire would get eaten in exchange for presents. It took a good bit of tries, but eventually they were all asleep. Now she was ready to spend some time with her husband...she just had to find him first.

The first place she looked was in his office. She was surprised when she entered it to see that his chair was empty and that no one was inhabiting the room. Then she made her way up to their shared bedroom in hopes that maybe he'd retired for the night. A frown formed on her face when she found that room to be empty as well.

Instead of going into all of the rooms Arrow House had and checking to see if her husband was occupying them, (Y/N) went down to the foyer, where Frances was, thankfully, putting some finishing touches on the Christmas decorations.

"Mrs. Shelby, you're awake rather late," she commented on the woman's presence as the lady of the house came to a stop in front of her.

"It was tough getting the kids to sleep," (Y/N) remarked with a smile before getting to the more pressing matters, "have you seen my husband, Frances?" she asked, silently hoping that she'd get an answer.

"I believe he was going to the preparation kitchens. He wanted to see how tomorrow's dinner was coming along," the older woman answered, her response making (Y/N)'s eyebrows furrow slightly. Why would he be going into the kitchen at this time of night?

"Ok. Thank you, Frances," (Y/N) nodded her head, deciding to take the lead and go investigate it rather than question the randomness of it. Sometimes you never knew what Tommy Shelby was getting up to.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Shelby," Frances nodded before going back to her previous tasks, leaving (Y/N) to make her way to the kitchen.

She walked down the corridor that led to the preparation kitchens, seeing that there was a single man sitting on a stool, working on cutting what looked to be different vegetables. She smiled politely at him and continued on her way to the main preparation area. If Tommy wasn't in this smaller area, she figured that he had to be in there.

The second she made it to the hallway that would take her to the main prep kitchen, she heard a man scream in agony. Hearing it made her heartbeat quicken. That very well could have been Tommy. But before she could take another step in the direction of the hall, an arm wrapped around her waist.

"You don't want to go in there, sweetheart," a man spoke in an Italian accent behind her. As he said his threat, (Y/N) felt something move along and settle against her throat. Upon glancing down, she saw the glint of the overheard lights coming off of what could only be a kitchen knife.

Swallowing thickly, she tried to think of what to do. She could hear Tommy yelling indistinctly through the walls, and it didn't seem like he was the one in pain. Now she had to fight to get herself free. She first tried to move against the man, but all that did was make his grip on her tighten. "You make a move and you're dead," he continued, his words sounding like they were coming through gritted teeth.

His arrogance annoyed (Y/N) and slowly but surely, she reached down so that she was able to retrieve the small knife that she kept in her low stockings for moments like this. "You really don't know who you're dealing with, buddy," she said, and in one swift motion, she brought the knife up and plunged it into what she hoped was the man's side.

The man screamed out in pain and went limp, his grip on (Y/N)'s stomach making her fall down with him. The knife he was holding in his other hand clattered as he fell to the ground, and (Y/N)'s gaze immediately fell onto it when she realized that she was still ok.

Immediately she tried squirming out of the man's grip in attempts to grab hold of the knife. The man, knowing what she was doing, also began to move in hopes that he would stop her advances. They grappled for the knife before (Y/N) was able to gain an advantage and move over top of his body with the knife in her grasp. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth before bringing the knife down and striking the man in the chest. As she opened her eyes, she saw the man's mouth gape open, as if he was letting out a silent scream. His body then became limp underneath her as life left his eyes.

She took a couple deep breaths to steady herself before she managed to stumble off of the man's body and rise to her feet again. Her fear wasn't able to pass though, because a gunshot rang off the second she was standing. Hearing it made her heart leap to her throat before she ran into the main preparation kitchen to see what had just happened.

Upon entering, she saw Tommy letting go of a man that he was holding against a table. As he removed his hands from him, the man sunk to the ground; lifeless. Tommy tried to wipe the blood from his face, but to no avail, as he then pointed the gun in the direction of the cook cowering in the corner. (Y/N) was able to see the animalistic look in his eyes and knew that there wasn't much holding him back from shooting this man as well. So she quickly moved over to him in attempts to get the firearm out of his hands.

Tommy didn't know who had approached him because his sights were zeroed in on the cook. He was able to feel soft hands reaching out for his extended arm, but he couldn't think of who they belonged to; his brain was in survival mode. He tried to fight back against the person that was attempting to take his weapon from him, but upon turning to see who it was, his eyes fell on his wife.

"Put the gun down, Tommy," she reasoned with him, hoping her words would pull him out of the haze he was in. "No one else needs to be killed."

Listening to her words, Tommy dropped his arm and set the gun back into his holster before his eyes snapped back in the direction of the cook. (Y/N) stayed by his side as he began to address the man who was still cowering in the corner with his hands held up in surrender. "Black hand means kill or be killed. You go back to London, you tell Darby Sabini he picked the wrong side in this war. Once we've dealt with the Americans, we're coming for him..." he paused, taking a deep breath before he waved the man on towards the door. "Go on, go," he ordered, and the man needed not to be told twice before he began scrambling towards the door. But Tommy wasn't done with him yet. "Oi!" he exclaimed, pulling his gun out of its holster again so that he could point it at the cook once more; hoping that it would help get his point across, "you tell anyone else, I'll come and find you."

"Yes, Mr. Shelby," the man nodded his head vigorously before he hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Tommy and (Y/N) alone.

Tommy let out a sigh as he dropped his arm to his side. He took a few deep breaths before reaching up to try and once again wipe some of the copious amount of blood off of his face, but he was not successful. Between a few more breaths, he slotted his revolver back into its holster before finally looking over at (Y/N).

She watched as his eyes widened slightly, and within seconds, he was standing in front of her. "You've blood on you," he pointed out the obvious, making her look down to see that her light pink house dress was now stained red.

"I killed a man in the hallway. He had a knife to my throat and stopped me before I was able to come in here," she told him, her voice calm despite what had just happened in front of her. She'd grown used to things like this; having come from a family that delved into crime before marrying into, and assuming joint leadership of, the Shelby empire. "I used the knife in my stocking. Thankfully I didn't change before coming down here."

Tommy only nodded his head and breathed a sigh of relief to know that his wife was ultimately unharmed from the incident that occurred. He then stepped forward and wrapped his one arm around her neck, pulling her close to him. (Y/N) returned the embrace, uncaring of the blood that had stained Tommy's face and upper body. She knew what this was; she'd heard of the black hand before. The man who was lying dead several feet from them had been sent to their home to try and kill her husband. The man whom she encountered outside the main room could have also been someone sent with the same orders. But they were dead now, and hopefully the remaining cook had been scared into compliance.

The couple held onto each other as they came off of the adrenaline rush they were experiencing from the events that had unfolded just moments ago. They held their embrace until a soft voice came from the entrance to the room: "mum...dad...wha-what happened?" It belonged to five-year-old Matthew Shelby, their second eldest child who would often wander around Arrow House in the evening. Upon pulling away from Tommy and turning to face him, (Y/N) was able to see the fear in his eyes.

"Nothing's happened, sweetheart," (Y/N) spoke to him in a calm voice as she stepped away from Tommy and moved closer to the child, "just...just go back to your room, alright?" she tried to reason with him, but the boy stayed frozen in his spot, his eyes darting from his mother to his father and back again. "Matthew..." she tried again.

Frances came into view before (Y/N) was able to say anything more. "I'm so sorry that I let him come down here, Mrs. Shelby. He must've snuck past me in the foyer," she quickly said as she put her hands on the shocked child's shoulders so that she was able to begin walking him backwards.

"It's ok, Frances. Please make sure he gets to bed," (Y/N) responded in a calm tone, and Frances nodded her head before leading the child out of the preparation kitchen. Then (Y/N) turned back to Tommy, who had moved closer to her while she was speaking to their son. She looked up at him and blinked a few times, feeling tears starting to brim in her waterline.

"C'mere," Tommy whispered, knowing she was on the verge of a breakdown, and she listened to him. The floodgates opened as she fell into his arms, her sobs being silenced by the blood-covered fabric of his waistcoat. Still, he knew she was crying because her body was shaking. "Everything's alright, love," he told her, his one hand cradling her head against his chest.

“Everything’s not alright, Tommy,” (Y/N) said, trying to regain her composure as she pulled herself away from his body. “Our son has just witnessed the terrible side of the business that we run,” she called to attention what had just happened moments ago as she also motioned to the mess that surrounded him.

“He’s only a child. He surely won’t remember it,” he tried to reason with her, and also with himself.

“He’s five. He’ll remember a sight as gruesome as this,” (Y/N) sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose while training her eyes on the floor. She then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before looking up at her husband once more. “I need to wash this terrible night off of me,” she told him, sniffling slightly after she spoke. She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes before she turned and exited the kitchen area for their master suite.

(Y/N) was in the bath with her eyes closed when she heard footsteps coming into the bathroom. Her eyes snapped open, but she was able to let out a breath of relief when she saw Tommy entering the room. His face was wiped clean now, but he still had rememants of blood on his shirt. “I phoned Johnny Dogs. He’s coming to take care of the bodies,” he said as he went through the motions of stripping the clothes from his body so that he could step into the shower on the other side of the room. (Y/N) only nodded, hoping that the whole ordeal would leave her head quicker if she didn’t speak about it.

They went about their business in quiet, and only decided to talk to each other when they were both toweling off. “We have to change something here, Tommy,” (Y/N) was the first to speak as she slipped herself into the nightgown she’d chosen to wear that evening.

“We’re going back to Small Heath. The Changretta’s will find it harder to fight us there, where we control everything around us,” he laid out his plan, and (Y/N) couldn’t help but sigh when she heard what he had to say.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” she said, her eyes focusing on Tommy through her vanity mirror as he worked on getting himself ready. Instead of his sleep clothes, he was getting dressed in an outfit that he’d wear out. This confused (Y/N) slightly, but she had more important things on her mind.

Tommy stopped buttoning up his shirt when he heard what she’d said. His eyes found hers in the mirror and he held her gaze as he spoke cautiously and in a confused manner, “what do you mean?”

“We can’t continue on like this. There can’t be violence occurring in our own home; for our children to stumble upon,” she continued on with her previous concerns. “We need to make a change here,” she said as she stood from her vanity seat to move over to where Tommy was now sitting on one of the loungers, an unlit cigarette perched between his lips.

Tommy sighed, taking a moment to light the cigarette so that he’d be able to take a long drag. He finally spoke once all of the smoke was cleared from his lungs: “‘s a bit hard to step away from violence when we’ve been dealt a black hand, love,” he reminded her of the circumstances they’d found themselves in.

Just the mention of it made (Y/N)’s stomach twist up in knots. She needed to take a few calming breaths before she could think up a plan. “We’ll send the kids to my parents,” she started to explain her plan, “the Changretta’s shouldn’t know about my family, as I’ve been a Shelby for years, but in the chance that they do, they’ll still be protected there,” she paused for a moment, but continued when she saw Tommy start to open his mouth and give his reply. “I don’t want my babies around anymore violence. They don’t deserve to be dragged into this because of some careless actions of the adults in this family,” she stressed to him, her serious eyes boring into his.

Tommy nodded his head. “They won’t be around it then. I have no doubt that your parents will keep them safe,” he agreed with the plan that she laid out.

But (Y/N) wasn’t finished. “Once this vendetta is over, we are finished with this type of business. We will focus our efforts on our legitimate endeavors and throw all of the bad blood and the violence into the Cut,” she said in a definitive tone, “enough is enough, alright?” she then ended with a question, her eyebrows raised slightly.

“Enough is enough,” Tommy agreed, “the business will move its focus to legitimate endeavors and we will not have any more problems like this. I will promise you that,” he told her, his eyes not straying from hers.

(Y/N) couldn’t help but smile as she heard his words. “You’d better keep that promise, Tommy Shelby,” she said to him, leaning over so that she could nudge his shoulder with her own.

“I promise that I will always keep you and the kids safe,” he continued, a smile turning the corner of his lips upwards as he moved himself closer to her so that their shoulders were now touching. “And I will keep these promises for as long as I live,” he assured her, his voice lower now as he leaned in to close the gap and press his lips against hers. (Y/N) smiled into the kiss and savored the feeling of his lips on hers. Even after what had happened a short while ago, he still managed to make her feel safe when she was tucked in his grasp.

“I love you, Tommy,” she whispered against his lips once they’d pulled away.

“I love you, (Y/N),” he repeated the phrase, moving away to press a kiss to her forehead before they were sitting straight once more. He searched her eyes for a moment before he spoke again: “we need to wake the kids and go to Small Heath now. The Italians won’t waste a second once they hear of their failed attempts here,” he told her, and within a second, they were off the chair and grabbing what they needed.

Once everything was packed up, they managed to wake the children up and told them that they were going on a surprise trip to their grandparents house. Of course they were excited about this news; they knew nothing about the underlying reasons of why they needed to make this sudden trip.

As they drove down the dark roads and back into the city that they ‘owned’ and once called home, (Y/N) reflected on what was happening. She knew that things had to change once this war was settled. She couldn’t have her children be that close to violence ever again. Enough was enough, and soon, they’d be on the course to a new life.

Tagged: @alreadybroken-ts @magicalxdaydream @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @golden-hoax @elenavampire21 @peaky-cillian @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @easilyobessedbutflighty @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole

MASTERLIST

[pearlsephoni]

Under the Lights of Paris

Can also be read on AO3!

Rating: Explicit

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Pairing: AsaNoya (Asahi/Nishinoya), background DaiSuga (Daichi/Suga)

Characters: Asahi Azumane, Yu Nishinoya, brief appearances from Daichi Sawamura and Koshi Sugawara

Word Count: 18,479

Summary: In a desperate bid to reintroduce some adventure and excitement into his life, Asahi tags along with Nishinoya to the next stop on his Great World Tour: Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world. But a trip to the City of Love with his high school crush ends up reintroducing something else into Asahi’s life. Maybe this time, he’ll have the courage to see things through.

Written for @hqtimeskipbb!

A/N: Thank you so much to the moderators for organizing this event! And all my love and gratitude to my incredible team! Myeu (@myeuphorio) drew an absolutely stunning piece of art to accompany this story, and Andie (@fireheartaw) has been the world's kindest beta reader throughout this process. This story couldn't have happened without your hard work and endless support.

Asahi Azumane was feeling stuck.

“I’ve been feeling stuck.” His announcement received dead stares from Suga and Daichi. “What?”

“You? Have been feeling stuck?” Suga parroted back at him.

“…Yes?”

“You? Ye of glass heart, who managed to move to the Big City and pursue his dreams despite nearly bailing several times out of sheer anxiety?”

“‘Ye,’” Daichi snorted into his coffee. “Ok, Mr. Literature Teacher.”

“To elementary schoolers, and that’s not the point.” Suga waved away Daichi’s grin before pointing an accusatory finger at Asahi. “You feel stuck? Mr. Fashion Designer in the big city? You’re telling this to us? The guys who stayed in our hometown?”

“I’m proud of my job,” Daichi protested.

“So am I.”

“And I like our life here.”

“So do I, but that’s not the point,” Suga sighed with a fond smile and a squeeze at Daichi’s hand. “The point is that Asahi took the biggest risk out of us, and now he’s the one who feels stuck?”

“That’s not— I didn’t mean—” Asahi shoved his hair behind his ear with a frown. “I like my life, I do. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. It’s just…I worked so hard to achieve what I have, and now it’s just…just…nothing’s changed!”

The couple’s brows raised with unnerving synchronization. “What do you mean?” Daichi asked.

“Like…you guys moved in together and got a cat. Hinata came back from Brazil and is playing like some sort of volleyball god now? Kageyama went to the Olympics and he’ll probably end up going again, because that’s just the level he’s at. Noya hasn’t stayed in the same country for more than a year, he’s already planning his next stop after Italy.”

“Ooooh, where?”

“Not the point, Koshi.” Daichi looked far too pleased at the chance to fling Suga’s words back at him.

“The point is,” Asahi declared, “that nothing’s changed for me since I landed this job. No promotions, no new apartments, I haven’t even dated—”

“You could, you just don’t want to.”

“Suga.”

“I’m just saying!”

“Just…I dunno,” Asahi sighed. “I think I need a change of scenery. Mix things up a little, just for a bit, y’know?”

Silence fell over the table, broken only by the sounds of quiet sips of coffee and tea. It was a fair response. Asahi wouldn’t have known what to say if either of his friends had brought up a similar problem to him.

Which was why the sight of Suga suddenly straightening with a twinkle in his eye made both hope and dread crawl up Asahi’s throat. “Why don’t you tag along with Nishinoya?”

“...What?”

Suga was probably the only person in the world who could weather a unified exclamation and stares of disbelief from two grown men. “What? Why not? Asahi, you said you’re feeling stuck. What better way to escape that than to go overseas for a bit? Do some traveling! I’m sure Nishinoya would love to have you join him, and that way you won’t have to stress out about doing all the planning and traveling by yourself.”

“I…I…” Asahi found himself at a loss. The idea was crazy, but it also made sense. Par for the course for Suga, honestly.

And yet…something about the idea made a nervous reluctance settle in Asahi’s belly like a rock. It must’ve shown on his face, because Daichi frowned and said with quiet authority, “Give us one good reason it wouldn’t work.”

“I…” His fingers tightened around his paper cup, and the bustle of the cafe blended in with the buzzing in his ears until he could barely hear his own words. “I’d just hold him back.”

Suga’s lips pressed into a thin line as a soft sigh huffed from his nose. “Just ask him, Asahi. You know Noya doesn’t mince words. If he’d rather keep traveling by himself, then he’ll say so.”

“Yeah…yeah, I guess.”

He appreciated his friends’ advice, he did. But when he bid them goodbye and got on the train back to Tokyo, he’d already decided he wouldn’t take Suga’s suggestion. And when he answered a video call from Nishinoya that night and was greeted by him looking luminous on the shores of Italy, his decision turned into certainty.

“Asahi-saaaaaan!!” Nishinoya shouted, a blinding smile stretching across his face. “It’s not too late over there, right?”

“Hey, Noya,” Asahi laughed as he toed off his shoes. “It’s a little late, but I just got home. How about you, what’ve you been up to? More marlin fishing?”

“You go marlin fishing one time…” A dramatic sigh huffed out of Nishinoya, before a sheepish grin tugged at his lips. “Ok, maybe a little. But I’ve mostly been getting ready for my next stop!”

“Really? Do I get to know where? Or are you going to surprise me with a video of you bungee jumping from the top of the Eiffel Tower?”

Nishinoya blinked in surprise. “How’d you know?”

“Know what?”

“That I’m going to Paris?”

It was Asahi’s turn to blink. “You…you are?”

A laugh burst out of Nishinoya. “Yeah, man! What’re you, psychic? Yeah, I’m heading over there next month.”

“Done with Italy already?”

“It’s been a really good couple of months…but I’m ready for the next.”

“Paris, huh…” The city of lights. One of the fashion capitals of the world. Full of some of the prettiest architecture Asahi had ever seen. He’d never mentioned it to anyone, but he did nurse an impossible dream to visit one day.

Except maybe it wasn’t impossible. Here was a chance, staring him right in the face: a trip to Paris with an old friend, a friend he missed.

“Asahi-san?” The quiet call of his name tugged his attention back to his phone, and he felt his cheeks warm at the concern lining Nishinoya’s face. “You okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, just…thinking…” Ask him. Just ask him. “Hey, Noya?”

“Yeah?”

“I have…I have an idea. And you can say no! Please don’t feel like you have to agree to just make me feel better, I don’t want—”

“Asahi-san.” The concern on Nishinoya’s face was replaced by an amused grin. “I don’t even know what you want to ask.”

“Right. Sorry.” He winced at his automatic apology, and he could see Nishinoya’s smile broaden. “Just…well, not ‘just,’ it’s kind of a big ask, but…” If he doesn’t want to, he’ll say so. Just ask. “Can I come to Paris? With you?”

All emotion drained from Nishinoya, leaving him with only wide eyes and parted lips. “You…you want to come to Paris?”

“Yes? I mean, yes, yes, I do.”

“With me?”

“Yes…unless you don’t want me to, I know you’re used to traveling by yourself, and I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’d probably hold you back—”

“Asahi-san, what?”

“What?”

“Yes, of course I want you to come!” Asahi’s hand shot out to hold his phone away, Nishinoya’s shouts ringing loudly through the apartment. “Dude, what the hell?! Why were you so worried? D’you have any idea how much I miss you?”

A breathless laugh escaped Asahi, relief and excitement bubbling up in him with every word from Nishinoya. “Really?”

“Yes! Holy shit, ok, let’s plan this now, when would you want to come over? Will you be good with work and everything? How long do you want to stay?”

“I, ah…I hadn’t planned that far ahead.”

“So let’s plan now! I’m not gonna give you a chance to get cold feet on me, we need to figure this out ASAP. I’m getting close to my hostel, hang on—”

The next thing Asahi knew, he was shooting off emails to work requesting time off, looking at the cheapest flights he could find, asking a coworker to take care of his plants and keep an eye on his apartment, and making sure he actually had the money for a last-minute trip like this. The only thing Nishinoya insisted on taking care of himself was their accommodation. “Leave this part to an expert!”

By the time they hung up, the call had lasted well over two hours and it was later than Asahi had been up since college. But he didn’t feel tired. When he went to bed, he laid awake for another hour, exhilaration buzzing under his skin. He’d done it. He’d asked. And Noya said yes. And now he was going to Paris with him.

“Oh my god,” he whispered to the ceiling. “I’m going to Paris.”

————————————  ————————————

The next month felt like it both lasted forever and passed in a flash, a confusing blur of excitement and dread as Asahi muddled his way through packing, then unpacking, then repacking-but-less-this-time-for-real, then looking at travel recommendations and tips and tricks for Paris. Yes, Nishinoya was going to be there as his guide and companion. But he wouldn’t have felt true to himself if he didn’t needlessly stress over something that was supposed to excite him.

By the time he was on the flight to Paris, he’d been talked out of bailing on the whole trip at least three separate times by Daichi and Suga, and then an extra time by Nishinoya, presumably because the couple had snitched on Asahi. “If you don’t get over here, I’m going to fly back to Japan just to kick your ass myself.”

“You say that like it’d be a bad thing.”

“Try me, Asahi-san.”

So he got on the flight, despite the heavy weight of anxious dread in the bottom of his stomach. It was nothing new - he’d felt the same weight when he made his move to Tokyo - but he hated the way it robbed him of the joy these experiences were supposed to give him. He was only going for two weeks. This wasn’t a drastic life change. It was a trip with an old friend who he missed very much.

Well…Nishinoya wasn’t just an old friend. A fact Asahi did his best not to dwell on too much. A fact that ended up rearing to the front of his mind when he emerged in Arrivals and saw Nishinoya in person for the first time in…he didn’t know how long.

Seeing him over video call for the past two years couldn’t have prepared him for the moment their eyes landed on each other and Nishinoya’s face split into the brightest smile Asahi had seen since high school. Just like that, the weight in his stomach vanished, and his breath finally came a little easier. “Asahi-saaaan!”

Asahi barely had time to drop his backpack to the floor before Nishinoya barreled into him, arms wrapped tight around him and head tucked perfectly beneath his chin. When he spoke, his words were muffled by Asahi’s sweater. “Holy shit, you’re really here.”

“So are you,” Asahi breathed on a soft laugh, arms tight around Nishinoya’s shoulders. They felt much broader since the last time he’d held them, during their last team huddle his third year. “It’s so good to see you, Mr. Worldwide.”

“You too— wait.” Nishinoya pulled away with a small frown. “Did you just give me Pitbull’s nickname?”

His eyes widened in horror. “I…not on purpose?”

A laugh barked out of Nishinoya, and his bright smile was back on his face as though it had never left. “Man, I’ve missed you. Is this all you brought?”

“I brought a checked bag, but otherwise that’s it. Wait, you don’t have to—”

Nishinoya was already swinging Asahi’s backpack over his shoulder and making his way to the luggage claim, leaving Asahi to sheepishly run after him. “I wanted to get us a nicer place than a hostel for your big trip abroad, so I found a little apartment around the corner from Notre Dame,” Nishinoya was saying when Asahi caught up to him, “but I kinda fucked up and got us a place with one bed and one fold-out bed? You’re getting the actual bed, of course, but I just wanted to let you know before we got there.”

“Wait wait wait.” Asahi caught the handle of the backpack and made Nishinoya slow down with a small tug. “I’m not getting the bed. You planned out this whole trip, you should get the bed.”

“I’m used to shitty beds, Asahi-san!”

“So you agree the foldout’s a shitty bed.”

“That’s not—”

“And stop calling me Asahi-san, I’m only a year older than you.”

“Then should I call you Azumane?”

“What? No, call me Asahi!”

“That feels weird!”

“What do you mean— oh hey, my bag!”

Without him realizing it, they’d made it to the luggage carousel, and the bags from his flight were already drifting past on the conveyor belt. Before Nishinoya could get the chance to grab his bag, Asahi leapt forward and tugged the bright green suitcase off the belt. He couldn’t help the proud grin that tugged at his lips when he turned back to his friend. “Alright. Ready to go?”

There was a strange look on Nishinoya’s face, his eyes sharp over flushed cheeks, but at Asahi’s words he grinned back. “Sure. Taxi, bus, or train?”

“Huh? Ah—”

“I’m kidding, let’s get a taxi. My treat!”

“Oh no you don’t—”

When he’d planned this trip, he didn’t anticipate the first hour of it to be so full of arguments. They argued over who lifted the suitcase into the taxi trunk, who paid the driver, who lugged the suitcase up the stairs to the apartment, and who got the better bed again. Yet through it all, he couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Bantering with and getting teased by Nishinoya was so much better in person, when he could really watch those brown eyes flutter open after being squeezed shut in laughter, and feel the gentle shove of his fist against his shoulder.

“When did you get so assertive, Asahi-san?”

“I can’t be that assertive if you’re still winning our arguments.”

Nishinoya grinned from where he reclined on the fold-out bed, legs propped up on the stack of couch cushions beside it. “Aw, c’mon, I let you carry your bag up here, right?”

“After you paid for the cab.”

He waved off Asahi’s words, though his grin looked a little more proud. “I’ll let you pay for dinner. Let’s head out after you take a shower! You can’t waste your first night in Paris!”

A playful frown curved over Asahi’s face. “Shower? Are you saying I smell?”

“I’m saying I still feel gross after long trips, and I’ve been doing this longer than you.” Nishinoya’s eyes turned a little mischievous as he reached up to rest a gentle hand on Asahi’s shoulder. “And you do smell like stale planes.”

A surprised laugh burst from Asahi, and he gave a soft smack to Nishinoya’s hand. “Point taken, you jerk.”

He was right, of course: a shower was exactly what Asahi needed after the long flight, waking him up from his jetlagged drowsiness and making him feel a little more human, even though the tight space of the bathroom made the shower feel more like contortionist practice to him. He had no choice but to escape to the bedroom to have enough space to change, though the trip took him through the living room and past where Nishinoya was still lounging on the fold-out bed. “Hey, Asahi-san, what did you want for— oh.”

Asahi froze, his damp hair making a small puddle form at his feet and creating trails of water along his body that soaked into the towel wrapped around his waist. “Ah, sorry, the bathroom—”

“You’re fine, go get changed.”

He was more than happy to obey, but as he tugged on a light sweater and khakis and did his best to towel off his hair, he couldn’t stop thinking about Nishinoya’s wide eyes and pink cheeks. His own cheeks warmed, and he could only hope his flush wasn’t too obvious when he stepped back into the living room. “Sorry again about—”

“It’s fine, dude, I get it,” Nishinoya interrupted with a small smile. “Now. How about some dinner?”

Asahi didn’t realize his shoulders were tense until they were relaxing, and a relieved smile pulled at his lips. “What’s good for a Parisian dinner?”

A low whistle blew out of Nishinoya’s lips. “Don’t ask that outside of these walls, you could do some real damage!”

They ended up deciding on a small restaurant with outdoor seating that treated them to a beautiful view of Notre Dame. The view came with a price, but— “It’s fine cuz you’re paying, right?”

Asahi sighed at Nishinoya’s teasing grin. “Yeah, I’m paying.”

Dinner was delicious, a starter of escargot and olives followed by a small steak and roasted vegetables, and finished with a shared creme brulee. They sipped at a dry red wine throughout the meal, and by the time their dessert spoons fell into the empty ramekin, Asahi felt a steady warmth settle over his body like an extra sweater. He wasn’t used to the way red wine made him feel, like he could both fall asleep on the spot and run the entire length of the Seine off the energy buzzing through him. His eyes slid to Nishinoya and found him blinking slowly at Notre Dame with a rosiness over his cheeks, and fondness spread soft through him when those dark eyes found his. “You doing alright?”

“Mm…yep!” Just like that, the haziness left Nishinoya’s eyes, and he straightened in his seat with a sharp grin. “It’ll take more than wine to take me down for the night! What about you?”

“I think wine after a long flight wasn’t my best idea,” Asahi hummed, “but I’m doing alright.”

“Good. I want us to go on a walk after this!”

“Now?” Asahi could hear the start of a whine enter his voice. “Isn’t it a little late?”

“The night’s still young, Asahi-san! And we need to get you adjusted to the time zone.”

Asahi could’ve sat at the table and looked up at Notre Dame for the rest of the night, but after he paid for their meal, Nishinoya led him to a nearby bridge that would take them to the plaza in front of the cathedral…only to run ahead and strike a pose in the middle of the bridge.

“Bienvenue a la ville de l’amour!” Nishinoya loudly announced in what was, as far as Asahi could tell, nearly-flawless French, earning some bemused glances from passersby.

Asahi could only laugh. Here they were, in one of the most beautiful cities he had ever seen, and somehow Nishinoya’s presence still couldn’t be contained. The lights of Paris were warm, covering everything in a golden glow and creating glittering reflections in the Seine, and in the center of it all was Nishinoya, smiling almost as widely as his flung-out arms, as though he were presenting his own creation to Asahi.

He looked…beautiful. His hair had been blown loose by the nighttime breeze, his cheeks were still rosy from the wine, his smile was huge and goofy, and he was standing in the center of the bridge, unintentionally forcing passersby to skirt around him. Notre Dame shone just down the river, and Asahi still thought Nishinoya was the prettiest sight in the city.

Maybe it was the jet lag speaking. But he didn’t think that jet lag could make that observation settle firm and warm in his chest. He didn’t realize he was standing there, silently staring at Nishinoya, until the other man blinked with a small, confused frown and called out, “Asahi-san?”

“Hm?”

“You alright?”

“Ah, yeah, just…admiring the view.” The words slipped out before Asahi could ponder the wisdom of saying them. And just like that, Nishinoya was rendered speechless. His eyes widened and a blush colored his cheeks, just faint enough that Asahi couldn’t be sure of what he was seeing under the Paris lights. “By the way,” he said as he stepped up to Nishinoya’s side, eager to change the subject, “since when do you speak French?”

“Oh, I don’t!” The question snapped Nishinoya out of his surprise, and he grinned at Asahi’s raised eyebrows. “I mean, I know the basic phrases and stuff, and I try to at least get conversational in the language when I stay somewhere. But for the first few weeks, I’m stuck with English. At least my English has gotten really good!”

“I thought the French didn’t like speaking English.”

“Look who did his research.” Nishinoya grinned up at Asahi’s pink cheeks and gently rocked into his shoulder. “Yeah, they don’t love it. But Parisians are used to tourists, and as long as I lead with a ‘Bonjour’ or something, they don’t tend to mind too much.”

“Are you planning on staying in Paris?”

“Mm…nah, not really. Honestly, I was just going to stay for a week or two, but I decided to stay longer for your trip!”

“Really?!”

“Yeah!” Nishinoya shrugged. “Adjusting my trip by a week is nothing compared to having you here.”

“I…wow. That…that really means a lot, Noya, seriously.” The words didn’t feel like enough, didn’t properly convey the surprise and gratitude welling up in Asahi. But the smile Nishinoya gave him told him the meaning behind his words had reached him.

“Like I said, it was nothing. I’m just excited to share a piece of my life with you, y’know?” He finally came to a stop, and when Asahi stopped beside him, he looked up and found the iconic face of Notre Dame looming above them. His breath caught in his throat, the sight of an image he’d seen his whole life finally standing in front of him rendering him speechless. “Well?” he distantly heard Nishinoya ask, “What do you think?”

“I…I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he murmured.

He heard Nishinoya let out a deep breath, the movement making their sleeves brush against each other for the briefest moment. “Yeah…me too.”

———————————— ————————————

Having a crush was different from feeling doomed. Asahi hadn’t understood that until the Tokyo training camp his third year, when he’d still thought his crush on Nishinoya was something that would just pass.

Then their first morning in Tokyo came, and Asahi had woken up to Nishinoya’s face looming over him with an impossibly sunny smile and a loud, “Wake up, Asahi-saaaaaan!”

And for a moment, for a small, sleep-addled moment, Asahi had thought he was still dreaming, and he could only smile drowsily back. Why else would he be waking up to Nishinoya’s smile, if it wasn’t a dream? It was only when he felt hands pushing him upright that he realized - oh. This was real. As real as the bemusement furrowing Nishinoya’s brows.

It didn’t happen again that week. One week couldn’t make him an early bird, but when he saw Nishinoya smiling down at him each morning, he didn’t make the same mistake. He knew he wasn’t dreaming - Nishinoya was real, and so was the heat in his cheeks and the pounding in his chest.

Now, laying in the apartment’s nice bed in the heart of Paris, Asahi wondered again if he was dreaming. His jet lag had made him wake up earlier and feeling more alert than he was used to, just in time to see the golden light of the sunrise begin to stream into the room, and he could hear Nishinoya humming loudly in the shower. He didn’t know it was possible to feel pleasantly sleepy, but that was the best way he could describe how he felt. Maybe jet lag wasn’t as bad as he’d always heard.

For the first time in…maybe ever, Asahi didn’t feel like drifting back to sleep. He actually rolled out of bed and began getting dressed instead of scrolling on his phone for an hour. When Nishinoya knocked on the door, his call of Asahi’s name was quickly choked off by Asahi himself opening the door, fully dressed and hair neatly tied back. “Woah. You’re awake!”

The genuine surprise in Nishinoya’s wide eyes made Asahi feel strangely bashful, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. “I guess the jet lag is kind of helping?”

“Just wait until you go back. It’s always worse going east.” Nishinoya was still toweling off his hair, and when he jerked his head towards the bathroom, Asahi couldn’t help noticing a drop of water trailing down his neck to soak into his shirt collar. “Bathroom’s yours.”

“Ah! G-great, thanks.” He didn’t let himself linger long enough to see if Nishinoya had noticed his wandering eyes.

Breakfast was a small sandwich with a shot of espresso, much less than Asahi was used to having in the morning, yet much more filling than he’d thought it would be. The espresso cup was as small as the tea cups back home, but the tiny handle threw a wrench in the way he held it, and Nishinoya was visibly biting back a smile at the way he struggled to maneuver the cup around. “Please don’t laugh at me.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You didn’t have to.”

That made a snort escape Nishinoya, but he didn’t respond beyond making a show of the way he pinched the handle between his finger and thumb. Asahi tried to follow his example. It didn’t help much.

The espresso cup ended up being an omen for the next few days. Paris was beautiful, full of stunning art and architecture and fashion that made Asahi’s fingers itch for his sketchbook, but it also made him feel off-balance. His English was passable at best, his French was nonexistent, and the culture found him blushing more than once at the couples on the street.

He felt like he was back in high school, anxious and easily flustered and in quiet awe of Nishinoya’s easy confidence. Noya moved through the city as though he had been there for years, not a week or two, navigating the metro and asking for guidance in both basic French and incredible English. He could draw smiles and laughs from the locals with just a few sentences, and sometimes he would say something that would direct a smile at Asahi too, though the latter never understood why.

Nishinoya had been traveling for years now. It made sense that he could get adjusted to new countries and cultures and languages so easily. But that didn’t stop Asahi from feeling a strange mix of admiration and insecurity rise in him as days passed.

Still, though…for all of Asahi’s inexperience, Nishinoya never once made him feel like a burden, or like he was holding him back at all. He was determined to make this the best trip possible for Asahi, indulging his requests to see the typical tourist traps and letting him take his time at each one. Even if that meant spending a whole day at the Louvre, slowly winding their way through the palatial museum.

“I didn’t know you liked art,” Asahi remarked when they took a break on one of the benches.

“I…appreciate it. I don’t care about the paintings, honestly. But these…” He waved a hand at the sculptures that surrounded them, all smooth white marble that shone in the sunlight streaming in. “There’s something about sculptures…I dunno what it is.”

“It’s being in the same space as them.” Asahi’s gaze drifted over the sculptures, over the graceful limbs and the fingers that pressed into stone flesh, before they landed on Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. Their arms encircled each other, Cupid’s fingers gentle on Psyche’s face as they gazed at each other. The tenderness in the piece made something bittersweet lodge in Asahi’s throat, and his voice came out as a murmur. “There’s a tactility to sculpture as an art form that makes it feel a little more real than paintings…at least for me.”

“Is that tactility why you went into fashion?”

His eyes jerked from the forms of Psyche and Cupid to find Nishinoya looking at him with the unflinching gaze that always made him feel uniquely exposed. “I…I guess. I never thought about it like that before, but…yeah, I guess that was part of it. There’s something about creating something that people wear and use on a daily basis, too. Art is always surrounding us because of fashion, no matter where we go. It’s kind of cool, being a part of something like that.”

“‘Kind of,’” Nishinoya echoed with a snort. “It’s really cool, Asahi-san. Seriously.”

The instinct to wave away the compliment was driven off by the genuine admiration shining from those brown eyes. “Thanks,” Asahi ended up laughing with a shy smile. “But I’m still a long ways away from anything I design being worn by anyone.”

“You’ll get there. I know you will.” Before Asahi could say anything, Nishinoya was standing and making his way to Cupid and Psyche. “Is there a story behind these two?”

There was, in fact, a story behind them, a story that Asahi happened to know and was happy to share. He had shared a number of stories during their time in the museum, because Nishinoya always noticed and asked about any pieces that caught Asahi’s eye. Art and mythology weren’t areas that Asahi thought Nishinoya would have any interest in, but that didn’t stop Nishinoya from being an attentive audience, eyes only ever leaving Asahi to peer at details that he pointed out in the pieces.

By the time they left the Louvre, the sun was just starting to set, and their stomachs were demanding a large meal to make up for missing lunch. Asahi tried to apologize for taking so long in the museum, but Nishinoya shrugged his apology off. “Nah, man, it was cool! Listening to you talk made it way more interesting.”

“Still—”

“This is your trip, Asahi-san. I want you to see and do everything you want in Paris! If that means endless museums, then we can visit endless museums!”

Asahi rolled his eyes, though he felt deeply touched by the sentiment. “There’s one more museum I really want to see, and then we can be done with them. No endless museums.” He let Nishinoya finish snickering before he continued, “I came to see you too, Noya. This is a trip for both of us.”

The amusement slid off of Nishinoya’s face, replaced by a startled happiness. “...Alright. But I’m still gonna get you to that other museum.”

For all Nishinoya’s grandstanding, the trip wasn’t all sightseeing. Paris was a big city, and sometimes they had no choice but to use the metro to get from one site to another. But whenever they could help it, they walked, chatting quietly as they wandered along the cobblestone streets and the banks of the Seine. Sometimes they planned their next few stops or the next day, and sometimes they just…caught up, talking about everything and nothing.

Those were the times that Nishinoya’s expertise shone. Any question that Asahi asked, Nishinoya seemed to have an answer, whether it was on the differences in architecture or city planning or the smaller pieces of arts that were sprinkled around the city. He was a far cry from the boy who could barely pass his finals.

“I like to do my research before I travel somewhere,” he said with a shrug when Asahi voiced his amazement. “The locals open up much more when you can show that you have an appreciation for their language and culture, even if you don’t speak the language super well.”

“This goes a little beyond ‘appreciation,’ don’t you think?”

Nishinoya’s sheepish smile was betrayed by the proud glimmer in his eyes. “Well…maybe I wanted to impress you a little, too.”

“Me?”

“Sure. You’re the first person outside of my family to travel with me. I wanted to make sure you had a good time.”

“But…Noya, I…” A shy laugh huffed out of Asahi. “It’s just me. You know I’m easy to please.”

“It’s because it’s you, Asahi-san.”

Every so often Nishinoya would say something like that, something that made Asahi’s heart jolt and eyes widen. But he said it so casually, already talking about the next topic by the time the words fully sank in for Asahi, leaving him no chance to try and clarify their meaning.

Not that he would’ve anyway. Asking for clarification would’ve felt too close to admitting that he still felt something more than friendship for Nishinoya, which he didn’t. He didn’t. He hadn’t since he’d graduated high school, and he certainly wasn’t going to rekindle those feelings now.

Nishinoya did eventually end up leading them to the other museum on Asahi’s wishlist, despite his insistence that they didn’t need to go. It was the Palais Galliera, the most important fashion museum in Paris, a hefty title to bear in one of the fashion capitals of the world.

“Here’s what we can do,” Nishinoya proposed on their walk to the museum. “I want you to enjoy yourself and take as much time as you want in there, but I know if I go with you, you’ll be worrying about me getting bored.”

“Because you would get bored.”

Nishinoya shrugged at Asahi’s raised brows. “Yeah, well…that’s why I was thinking that while you get your inspiration on, I could go and get us some groceries and plan some more ‘local’ activities for us to do. Deal?”

It wasn’t a bad plan. They’d decided to take advantage of their apartment’s tiny kitchen to try and cut down on their food costs, treating themselves to simple breakfasts and dinners that were the closest approximations to Japanese cooking that they could manage in Paris. They still ate out the majority of their lunches and dinners, but it still made a difference.

Asahi had no doubt that Nishinoya would prefer hunting down illusive ingredients across grocers and markets over being cooped up in a museum, but there was that stubborn guilt pricking at him. He fiddled with the strap of his messenger bag as he thought, the weight of his sketchbook and pencils comforting on his shoulder, before he sighed in acceptance. “Alright. But I’m paying you back for half the groceries, and you plan stuff that you want to do. Don’t just plan around what you think I’d enjoy. This trip—”

”—is for both of us,” Nishinoya finished with a crooked grin. “Let me pay for the groceries and you pay for lunch. Then we’ve got a deal.”

He held out his hand as if they were actually making a business deal, and as Asahi took it, he couldn’t help letting out a small laugh. “Deal.”

Nishinoya was right, of course. Asahi would’ve preferred having his company, but by himself, he was able to take his time in each exhibit, pencil moving over the pages of his sketchbook the entire time. He worked entirely in shades of black and grey as he walked through an exhibit, and pulled out his colored pencils when he found an empty bench to work at. He didn’t realize how much time had passed until he received a text from Nishinoya announcing that the groceries were in the apartment, along with the address of a restaurant they could meet at nearby.

It was easy enough to find Nishinoya sitting at a table on the restaurant’s terrace, and when Asahi plopped into the seat across from him, he assumed his raised brows were because he still had his sketchbook out. But instead Nishinoya said, “The man bun’s back!”

“Huh?” Asahi’s hand automatically reached to touch the haphazard bun he’d swept his hair into. “Oh, yeah, it keeps my hair out of my face when I’m working. Does it look bad?” He hadn’t checked a mirror, so it wasn’t hard to imagine how messy it may have looked.

He didn’t expect the smile that crept across Nishinoya’s face. “Nah, not at all. It just takes me back to high school.”

“In…a good way?”

“Always.”

Asahi didn’t know what to say to that. His eyes just widened, and his fingers started fiddling with his sketchbook, reminding him of the unfinished sketches he still had. The reminder was a relief in a way, something to pull his mind away from the sudden bout of shyness he felt. “Oh, would it be rude for me to keep working on these in a restaurant?”

Nishinoya’s fond smile suddenly sharpened into one that reminded Asahi of the way he looked before games in high school. “I’d like to see anyone try to say something.”

Which was how Asahi spent the first part of lunch hunched over his sketchbook, balancing it precariously on his lap while his coloring pencils were spread on the table. He worked quickly, sketching out ideas and scratching color samples next to the sketches to save time, but he was still scrambling to clear away his pencils when the waitress brought their food.

After a week in Paris, he was used to the waiters being spare with their words, with only a few being receptive to Nishinoya’s attempts at starting conversations and getting recommendations. So when this waitress gasped, “Wow!”, Asahi couldn’t stop himself from jumping a little in his seat.

The waitress didn’t seem to notice, her attention fixed on his sketchbook where he had set it on the table. It took a moment before she looked up at Asahi and said something in French.

“I…um…”

“English?”

“A little.”

She smiled in understanding, then said, “Did you draw these?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You are a designer?” Her English was easy to understand despite her accent, but somehow that just made Asahi feel more nervous with his own English.

“I…I am trying to be.”

“You are very good!”

“Thank you.”

She flashed another warm smile before she walked away, and Asahi practically wilted over his bag as he finished packing his pencils…only for him to stiffen in suspicion at Nishinoya’s snort of laughter. “What?”

“She was flirting with you.”

“What?! No, she wasn’t!”

Nishinoya rolled his eyes. “Parisians don’t just strike up conversation with people, not like that. Not unless they’re interested in them.”

“She…she was just being nice!”

The laugh that escaped Nishinoya wasn’t mean-spirited. If anything, he sounded bewildered by his response, though Asahi couldn’t understand why. “How does anyone flirt with you?”

“They, uh…they don’t.”

Nishinoya’s eyebrows raised at that, before a small smile tugged at his lips and his eyes narrowed just enough to make Asahi feel like he’d said the wrong thing. “Nah, they do. You just can’t tell.”

“You sound like Suga,” Asahi scoffed, a little too focused on sliding his sketchbook into his bag.

“Which means I’m right.” Nishinoya met Asahi’s frown with a knowing smile. “You told me yourself, you’ve been so focused on work that you don’t really get out as much.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Dropping everything to come to Paris is different from going out on the town for a night. And besides,” Nishinoya’s eyes dropped to Asahi’s bag, “you haven’t exactly left work behind.”

Asahi couldn’t really say anything to defend himself. Without his sketchbook out, his fingers could only fiddle with his wine glass, and he took a sip just to distract himself from the probing gaze on him.

“When was your last relationship, Asahi-san?”

The question shouldn’t have startled him, coming from Nishinoya, but Asahi still barely kept himself from choking on his wine. “Huh?”

“Sorry,” Nishinoya laughed, sounding almost nervous. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“No, it’s just…why do you ask?”

“I just kinda realized you never mentioned anyone to me. Not since we got back in touch.”

“Because there hasn’t been anyone.” He expected to feel a pang of embarrassment or the burn of shame that usually came any time he was forced to discuss his love life, or lack thereof.

Neither came. Something about the steadiness in Nishinoya’s warm eyes made him lift his chin as he spoke, though the words still stalled on his lips. “Dating these days…it feels more like job hunting than finding someone I really enjoy spending time with. It’s just hard for me to genuinely like someone enough to want to date them.”

“How many times have you felt that strongly for someone?”

Asahi shrugged. “There was almost someone last year, but we wanted different things”— charming Sanada, with chestnut hair and a bright smile and smooth words that made Asahi feel more attractive than he’d ever felt before —“there was one in college”— sweet Makoto, Asahi’s first and last real relationship, someone he could’ve seen a future with if the future hadn’t come so fast —“and then high school, but that was just a crush.”

Nishinoya suddenly straightened. “High school?”

“Ah. Yeah.” Shit.

“Who did you like in high school? Kiyoko-san?”

Asahi snorted. “No. She was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but no. My being gay kept that from happening.”

“Oh, true. Who, then?”

He didn’t know why he felt so embarrassed over it. High school was ages ago, and Nishinoya wasn’t the sort of person to hold anything from then against him.

Still, his fingers found their way back to his glass, making the dark wine swirl with his fiddling. His cheeks warmed, until they were so hot he wondered if they matched his drink. “Um…you.”

Nishinoya stilled, his eyes widening and making Asahi remember the quiet focus he only ever had on the court. “…Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Me?!”

“…Yes?”

Energy began to creep out of Nishinoya, from his fingers grabbing at his hair and his leg jiggling under the table. Asahi could tell that if they weren’t sitting at a restaurant, he would’ve been running from the nervous energy crawling through him. “Why didn’t— you— why didn’t you say anything?!”

“To you? Co-president of Shimizu’s fan club? And risk making things awkward on the team?”

“That was— I just—” Nishinoya waved at the air. “Suga-san and Daichi-san made it work! And the Kiyoko-san thing…that was more moral support for Ryuu than anything. I would’ve leapt at the chance to date you, are you kidding?!”

He looked so earnest, so genuinely shocked by the news and disappointed by the missed opportunity. Something warm kindled in Asahi’s chest, and a nervous laugh bubbled out of him. “I didn’t even know you were bi back then.”

“That’s—! That’s…yeah, that’s fair.” Just like that, Nishinoya stilled again, his eyes looking distant. Asahi could’ve sworn he could see his belated confession fully sink in, until Nishinoya huffed a deep sigh and ran his fingers through his hair one last time. “Damn. Our ace had a crush on me. Future star designer Asahi Azumane had a crush on me.”

Asahi had expected him to be surprised and maybe laugh off the news, not…whatever this was. The warmth that had started in his chest was rising, creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks, and to his continued surprise, he could see a matching flush on Nishinoya’s cheeks. “It’s not…I wasn’t that big a deal. You were the Guardian Deity, is it so strange that I had a crush on you?”

“Not strange, just…wow.” A small smile finally tugged at Nishinoya’s lips, the sight making relief wash over Asahi. “The Guardian Deity and Karasuno’s ace. What a pair, huh?”

“Who would’ve guessed we’d be in Paris together?”

Nishinoya let out a delighted laugh, and just like that, the tension that had swelled between them popped like a balloon.

But something lingered. That conversation had changed something between them, and while Asahi couldn’t find the words for it, he could still feel the difference, like everything in their relationship had shifted just a little off-kilter. Not uncomfortable, not bad, just…different.

He could especially feel it later that day when they walked along the Seine, the banks of the river rising around them to let them feel like they were somehow separate from the rest of the city. There were always couples sitting along the water, but Asahi never paid them any mind. He didn’t feel the same bittersweet loneliness that he was used to feeling when he saw couples back home. It was impossible to feel lonely when Nishinoya was at his side, laughing at his quiet jokes and watching him with that focused gaze. Something about those eyes made Asahi feel like he was the only person in the world to Nishinoya, making him feel both deeply flattered and uniquely exposed. After his lunchtime confession, Asahi could feel something else in Nishinoya’s focus, something that he couldn’t find a name for.

“Where are we headed now?” he asked, trying to keep his apprehension out of his voice. “This isn’t the way back to the apartment.”

“Hey, look at you, already learning the city!” The grin Nishinoya shot him didn’t make him feel any less nervous.

“Not well enough to know where we’re going.”

Nishinoya rolled his eyes when he realized Asahi was lagging behind him, before he hooked their arms together and forced him to match his speed. “If you could get out of your head and take a look around, maybe you can figure it out.”

Rude. But Asahi followed the advice, letting Nishinoya cart him along while he looked around at the buildings looming over the riverbanks. That’s when he noticed one building in particular that seemed to be getting larger with every step they took.

“Are we going to the Eiffel Tower?”

“Yep!”

“But…why?”

Nishinoya raised a brow at him. “You’re in Paris and you don’t want to see the Eiffel Tower?”

“I do, but…we’ve been seeing the Eiffel Tower. We can see it everywhere we’ve been going.” He didn’t know how it was possible, but it seemed like some part of the iconic tower was visible no matter where in the city they went, even if it was just a distant view of its top.

“Okay, fair,” Nishionya laughed, “but there’s a light show that happens every night, and we haven’t stopped to really take it in yet, so…figured the light show was as good a time as any to do that.”

Nishinoya used “we,” but Asahi couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going to see the light show for his sake. Nishinoya wasn’t really one for seeking out the typical tourist traps, but in the time that Asahi had been there, they’d been to one almost every night. The thought made guilt start to rise bitter in his throat for the umpteenth time that trip. “Noya, do you want to see it?”

The sigh that left Nishinoya told Asahi that he could detect the guilt behind the question. “Yes, Asahi-san. I want to see it, and I want to see you see it. I like seeing the city through your eyes.” He squeezed the arm that was hooked with his and met Asahi’s eyes, and with that alone, Asahi knew there was no space for questions. They were seeing the lights of the Eiffel Tower.

The sun had begun to set as they walked, and by the time Nishinoya steered them to a staircase that took them back to street level, night had fallen over the city. The Eiffel Tower was glowing, and even though it had been a constant companion throughout the trip, Asahi could still feel his breath catch at the sight of it towering over them, lit up so bright his eyes stung. Or maybe that was the threat of tears.

“Asahi-san.” His eyes jerked away from the tower to find Nishinoya watching with a small smile. “C’mon, let’s get out of the way of the stairs.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry.” That smile tilted down a bit, enough for Asahi to catch himself. “Or…not sorry?”

Nishinoya just snorted and led them down the wall that blocked off the river banks below. He didn’t seem to have any intention of unhooking their arms, and Asahi didn’t, either. It felt natural to be this close to him, arms looped together and shoulders brushing with every step.

“Here,” Nishinoya eventually announced. “How’s this view?”

There were still some people milling around them, but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the pseudo-festival area at the base of the tower, and they could see the full spread of lights without anything getting in the way of their view. “It’s perfect.”

“Good.” Asahi didn’t need to look at him to know he was smiling, and he could feel a smile spreading across his own face. How could he not smile? For all his anxiety and overthinking, he was still here, in Paris, with one of his oldest and best friends, looking up at one of the most iconic buildings in the world.

And then the lights started flickering, a series of bulbs blinking up and down the entire tower. It was glittering, sparkling, the lights creating a dance that was almost a visual siren’s call. Without realizing what he was doing, Asahi moved forward, and he distantly noticed Nishinoya’s arm falling from his as he leaned against the wall.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, gazing up at the light show and unable to look at anything else. The world felt like it was just him, the glittering tower, and the warm presence of Nishinoya at his side. Eventually, the blinking bulbs slowed, going from glittering to slow flashes, and then, finally, stilling completely. Only then did Asahi realize his view of the lights was blurry from tears.

His hands shot up to wipe at his eyes, and he could hear a soft laugh escape Nishinoya. “Did you like the show?”

“Clearly,” Asahi murmured with a wavering chuckle. “It was beautiful.”

“Yeah…it was.” Asahi lowered his hands and found Nishinoya watching him with a small smile again.

They’d just watched one of the most iconic buildings in the world light up in a stunning light show, and yet…looking at Nishinoya now, Asahi felt like he was looking at a work of art. Something about the way the lights softened the curves of his face reminded him of the sculpture of Cupid and Psyche, of the lovers’ tenderness that had left something aching in him.

He didn’t ache now. There was something else blooming in his chest as he watched a few blonde hairs touch Nishinoya’s eyelashes and make him blink rapidly with a confused frown, and before he could stop himself, Asahi was reaching out to brush the stray strands out of his eyes.

Nishinoya’s eyes widened just as Asahi’s fingers froze, barely grazing the tip of his ear. “Sorry!” Asahi gasped, jerking his hand back. “Your hair was just— you looked uncomfortable, so I— sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I appreciated it.” Nishinoya’s smile was reassuring, and there was something extra in the warmth of his eyes that made something in Asahi’s gut jolt.

Despite Nishinoya’s reassurance, Asahi could feel a strange energy buzzing through him as they walked back to the apartment, and he thought it was buzzing in the air between them too, but he couldn’t be sure. He didn’t feel sure of anything - ever since lunch, he’d felt slightly off-balance, like he was trapped in the moment of panic when he missed a step on a staircase. Except this felt better, somehow.

It didn’t make sense. He didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense.

———————————— ————————————

The next day marked one week since Asahi had landed in Paris, which meant it was time for them to leave tourist mode and enter Nishinoya Mode.

“I can’t believe you guys laughed at me for ‘Rolling Thunder’ when that is the sort of name you can think of,” Nishinoya scoffed.

“What? We’re gonna be living more like how you usually do, right? So…Nishinoya Mode.” He was partially joking - it was surprisingly fun to tease Nishinoya.

“You’re so lame, Asahi-san.” His words didn’t sting, not when they were accompanied by such a sunny smile.

Nishinoya Mode wasn’t as exciting as the name may have suggested. Instead of hunting down a tourist site and seeing iconic landmarks, their days were filled with errands and wandering around the city, occasionally splitting up for Nishinoya to look into gigs and Asahi to start to catch up on work. At night, they did still look for new places, though now those places were restaurants and bars, not once-in-a-lifetime sights.

On the third night of Nishinoya mode, he managed to convince Asahi to sit right at the bar, chatting easily with the bartender, who looked at Asahi’s red ears with clear amusement.

��She’s saying we might need something stronger than beer to loosen you up,” Nishinoya murmured with a grin.

“I thought beer was this place’s specialty?”

“It is. That’s how you know you look tense.”

Asahi frowned at the clear fun Nishinoya was having with teasing him, though he couldn’t begrudge him, not really. “I can’t believe you’re ganging up on me with the bartender.”

A delighted laugh barked out of Nishinoya, before he said something to the bartender in a mix of English and French. Whatever he said made a similar laugh burst from the bartender, and she replied with two glasses of beer and a gesture at Asahi.

“She said not to worry, it just means we’ll be good business for them…or something like that, I’m not sure.”

Asahi chanced a look at the bartender, and found her waiting for him with a smile and a wink before she moved on to the next customer. “...Ah.”

“You’re gonna make half the waitstaff of Paris fall for you at this rate,” Nishinoya scoffed. He didn’t mean to be mean, Asahi knew him better than that, but it was still startling to see the bitterness lining his smile, along with…was that jealousy? No. It couldn’t be.

“Who knew an anxious grown man would be such a hit?”

That made a genuine chuckle leave Nishinoya, melting away the harsh lines on his face. “You’d be surprised.”

The bartender was quick to realize Asahi didn’t return her interest, but she was still friendly and generous with the beer. There was a reason the beer was the bar’s specialty - it was surprisingly refreshing, and went down smooth, without leaving behind as much bitterness as Asahi was used to.

Time seemed to melt away as they sipped at the beer and chatted, somehow still not running out of things to talk about after over a week together. The few times the bartender chatted with them, she taught them a random French vocab word or two. Maybe it was because of the beer, but Asahi’s embarrassment over his butchered pronunciation felt worth it to hear Nishinoya’s giggles.

They didn’t realize how much beer they’d had, nor how late it was, until Asahi glanced at his watch and was met with wavering numbers. “Noya,” he murmured, getting his attention with a clumsy hand on his shoulder, “Noya, we should go. It’s late.”

The beginning of a pout started forming on Nishinoya’s lips, before he caught sight of Asahi’s watch and his face changed to surprise. “Oh! Shit, yeah, let’s go. I think they’re closing soon.”

Asahi slid out of his stool first, and was pushing it in when he heard a cry from behind him. He turned just as Nishinoya began to fall, and his hands managed to shoot out and catch him before he hit the floor.

“Holy shit.” The words left Nishinoya on a gasp as he clung to Asahi, staring wide-eyed at the stool.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, my foot just got stuck on—” Nishinoya’s eyes left the stool to look up at him, and Asahi suddenly realized how close their faces were.

Time seemed to slow for a breath, as he became aware of everything at once: his arms secure around Nishinoya, the hands holding his shoulders, the brush of their chests against each other with each breath, the rosiness of Nishinoya’s cheeks, the slight sheen of sweat over his face that made him look like he was glowing in the bar lights, and his lips…his lips were still parted from his gasp, looking as soft as Asahi had always imagined.

And he realized, in a flash of clarity, that he wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss Nishinoya so badly, he thought he could pass out from it. It would be so easy. There were only a few centimeters between them, it would be nothing to close that space, if he just—

“Asahi?”

The soft voice was all he needed to come back to himself with a jolt. “Ah! God, sorry, I don’t— I just—” He lingered just long enough to make sure Nishinoya was stable on his feet, before he pulled away. “Sorry, just…the beers, and…sorry.”

“Why’re you apologizing?”

“Because—” What could he say? How could he explain himself? How was he supposed to admit that his past high school crush turned out to be very current, that he wanted to kiss Nishinoya and…and more?

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. His stupid feelings weren’t worth ruining the trip.

But that just meant he couldn’t say anything at all. He just stood there, hands hanging at his sides and grasping at nothing, face so warm he thought he might catch on fire.

“Asahi-san?”

“Nothing,” he finally choked out. “It’s nothing. Just…the beer messing with me.”

Nishinoya looked confused and worried and…almost disappointed, though Asahi wasn’t sure if his own wishful thinking was making him see that. “Are…are you okay?”

“Yeah, just…ready to head back.”

“Okay.”

That was it. No questions, no prying. Just Nishinoya paying for their drinks and batting away Asahi’s hand when he tried to pitch in.

A silence fell between them as they left the bar and made their way back to the Seine, their steps sounding unusually loud on the stairs down to the bank. As uncomfortable as the silence was, Asahi preferred it to the conversation he’d thought they would be having.

He should’ve known Nishinoya wouldn’t leave his behavior unaddressed.

“Asahi-san.”

“I’m okay, honestly.”

“That’s not what I want to ask.”

“Noya, please—”

“Asahi.”

There it was again. He’d thought he’d imagined it when Nishinoya said it before, but now he knew he’d heard it right: his name, just his name, no suffix attached. His name, pure and simple, said with a soft concern and entreaty that sounded foreign coming from Nishinoya.

A helpless laugh escaped him. “Now? You’re dropping ‘-san’ now? When we’re fighting?”

“We’re not fighting.”

He shot a look of disbelief to his side…only to find it empty. He had to look over his shoulder to see that Nishinoya had stopped and was staring hard at him. Those brown eyes, usually so warm and open and excited, were now filled with that strange look that Asahi noticed every now and again, though he could never figure out what it was. “...Noya?”

“We’re not fighting,” Nishinoya repeated, voice firm. “I’m trying to ask you a question, and you won’t let me.”

Asahi’s shoulders sagged. Nishinoya was right, but that just filled him with dread. “Because I’m scared of what you’ll ask.”

“Don’t run from me, Asahi. Not again.”

You ran first. You left for Europe. But no amount of anxiety or beer would make those words come to his lips. The only words he could muster were, “Ask, then.”

“Were you going to kiss me?”

Blood rushed to his face, making his cheeks burn and his ears ring. “Noya—”

“It’s a yes or no question. Were you going to kiss me?”

He could lie. It would be the easiest thing to lie, to say “No” and leave it at that. But he knew Nishinoya, knew any lie he told would be caught and strain the trust between them. And even if he could get away with it, the look on Nishinoya’s face made him feel so…helpless. So incapable of hiding from him.

So he told the truth. He sucked in the deepest breath he could, and exhaled a soft, “Yes.”

Nishinoya’s eyes widened, and he was silent for a moment. Asahi could almost see the instant his answer had fully sunken in, before Nishinoya nodded slowly and asked, “Why didn’t you?”

“Because I was scared.”

“Of what?”

“Of scaring you away.” Nishinoya didn’t say anything, didn’t move at all, and that was all Asahi needed to know he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “...Of you not feeling the same way. Of me crossing a line.”

“You could’ve asked.”

“I was scared of what you’d say.”

“Thought you were past letting your fear stop you.”

“Not with this. Not with you.”

Nishinoya’s face softened at that, and he finally stepped closer to Asahi. Just those few steps were enough to make Asahi’s breaths come easier. “Ask me now.”

“Ask you what?”

“Ask to kiss me.”

All his lovesick teenage daydreams hadn’t prepared him for this, for Nishinoya standing in front of him on the banks of the Seine, golden under the lights of Paris, speaking words Asahi had never dreamed he would actually say to him. He didn’t know if he could breathe, much less speak, but he managed to find his voice lodged somewhere next to his pounding heart. “Noya—”

“Yu.”

“Yu,” he breathed, voice trembling, “can…can I kiss you?”

“Yes.”

One word shouldn’t have been able to nearly bowl him over. It took everything in him to keep speaking. “Do you want me to?”

“Asahi.” Nishinoya’s fingers were cold against his face as they brushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear, but it felt like they left a trail of sparks in their wake. Then Nishinoya’s hand was resting on his cheek, and Asahi thought his face would burst into flames. “Kiss me.”

There it was again, that strange look in his eyes. Except now Asahi understood: it was a mix of longing and desire and fondness, all settling into the quiet focus he’d only ever seen from Nishinoya on the court.

And just like on the court, it pushed Asahi into action. His hands came up to cradle Nishinoya’s face, thumbs brushing over the smooth curve of his cheekbones the way he’d always imagined. Then he was leaning in, eyes fluttering closed as he felt Nishinoya’s breath ghost over his skin…only for him to stop when their foreheads leaned against each other. “Are you sure, Yu?”

“Asahi.”

“I can’t…I can’t go back to how we’ve been if we do this.”

“I don’t want us to.”

That was the final push he needed.

The first brush of their lips made him gasp, sending a feeling like electricity prickling through him. The second brush turned into a proper kiss, their lips fitting together with a soft warmth that made him melt with each press.

He was out of practice, and he was sure it showed, but for once, he didn’t care. How could he care, when Nishinoya was kissing him with such tenderness? How could he care, when the feeling of Nishinoya’s tongue gently licking into his mouth was making him feel dizzy with happiness?

He could sense Nishinoya holding back, could feel it as vividly as he could feel the fingers stroking up the back of his neck and into his hair. A part of him was grateful for it - he wanted to relish this first kiss, use the slow pace to properly soak in the sound of the soft groans escaping Nishinoya’s throat and how he felt curved against him, his body somehow still just as strong and lean as it was in high school.

But a different part of him, a part that liked to take control after a few drinks, didn’t want Nishinoya to hold back. He’d already wasted so much time holding back, and now he wanted everything, wanted Nishinoya to pour all his passion and want and focus into him.

He didn’t mean to act on that. He didn’t expect himself to nip at Nishinoya’s lips and pull a surprised grunt from him. Not that he regretted it, not when Nishinoya’s response was to lightly tug at his hair and trace his tongue along his lip.

“Asahi-san,” he distantly heard, “Asahi.”

“Hm?” He felt drowsy as his eyes blinked open, and he could see that mirrored in Nishinoya’s heavy gaze.

“I want you.”

Just like that, desire socked Asahi in the stomach, stealing his breath and making his blood flow red hot. It was all he could do to breathe, “Me, too,” but it was enough. Nishinoya’s eyes, already so warm, looked like they could make sparks fly as his fingers trailed from Asahi’s hair to wrap in the front of his shirt. “I mean I want all of you, Asahi.”

“I know,” Asahi huffed with a soft laugh, “Me, too. I’m all yours, Yu.”

A quiet growl rose from Nishinoya’s throat before he brushed a kiss to Asahi’s lips. “Let’s get back to the flat before I jump you in the street.”

————

Nishinoya managed to behave himself on the walk back to the apartment, settling for tangling his fingers between Asahi’s and letting his thumb trace patterns on the back of his hand. But the moment the apartment’s door closed behind them, Asahi found himself being pressed against it, hungry lips covering his own and chilly hands stealing under his shirt. He didn’t have the chance to feel self-conscious about his figure, which had softened considerably since he stopped playing volleyball. He was too busy trying to keep up with the tongue licking into his mouth and the fingers making his muscles jump with their touches.

“Yu,” he gasped when he managed to pull away, “Yu, wait for me.”

“Can’t,” Nishinoya groaned, already pressing kisses down Asahi’s neck. He could feel teeth scrape lightly at his skin, right where his pulse was jumping, and a moan escaped him before he could bite it back. “Sure you want me to slow down?” Nishinoya’s words were colored by a laugh, and it was all Asahi could do to nudge him away.

“I want to enjoy this.” Asahi punctuated his words with a kiss, just in time to feel the way they made Nishinoya’s breath hitch. “I want to enjoy you. I don’t wanna rush.”

“Okay…okay.” Nishinoya kissed him slow and tender, his focus now switched from frantic urgency to licking deep into Asahi’s mouth and carefully tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. It was both exactly what Asahi wanted and a little too much, desire spreading warm and sticky through him. He was glad, now, for the way Nishinoya still worked urgently at his clothes. Every brush of his fingers against his skin made his pulse leap and made him work a little faster at Nishinoya’s clothes in return as they clumsily made their way to the bedroom.

By the time Asahi fell onto the edge of the bed, they were both shirtless and Asahi’s pants were practically falling off his hips. With every bit of skin that he exposed, Nishinoya had groaned and brushed either lips or hands against the new expanse, until Asahi’s cock was straining at the thin material of his boxers.

“Fuck,” Nishinoya breathed against Asahi’s ear when he traced the curved outline through the fabric, “you’re so hot, Asahi. Wanna swallow you whole.”

The feeling of those fingers against him combined with those words dragged a ragged groan from Asahi, his breath beading against Nishinoya’s neck. He couldn’t form words. He just wanted, and wanted everything. He wanted to pull Nishinoya into his lap from where he stood between his legs, wanted to feel all of his weight against his body. He wanted to continue sucking marks into the lines of Nishinoya’s collarbones, lick at his dusky nipples, stroke his fingers through the downy hair of his thighs, trace the lines of his lean muscles and bite the curve of his ass. He wanted to learn every part of his body until he could perfectly imagine the way he felt in his hands when he was alone again.

But first, there were hands coaxing his face back and fingers trailing along the sides of his glasses. He could see Nishinoya consider sliding them off, and his hands covered his wandering fingers, making them still against his face. “Leave them,” he murmured, “I want to see you.”

Nishinoya’s eyes widened, and he practically whimpered, “How do you keep saying the most romantic things?”

“Does it help if I tell you I don’t know how I’m saying them either?”

“Not really,” Nishinoya laughed, “but it is flattering.” He brushed a sweet kiss to Asahi’s lips before whispering, “What do you want to see me do?”

Ideas flooded Asahi’s mind, but it was hard to focus on any specific one when Nishinoya was pressing his lips and teeth down his neck. “Anything. Everything.”

“Gotta be more specific.”

Fingers stroked down his body to run along the outline of his cock again, making his hips and breath stutter. A single idea finally settled in his mind. “What was that about swallowing me whole?”

A huff of air hit his throat, and when Nishinoya pulled away, Asahi could see mirth glittering in those brown eyes. “That’s more like it.”

Now that he knew what Asahi wanted, Nishinoya moved as though all urgency had left him. He was slow as he moved down Asahi’s body, pressing slow, languid kisses to his skin and lingering at any spot that made him jerk or moan. Teeth pressed against his collarbone, a tongue curled around his nipples, nails drew a line down his spine, and fingers lingered at his waistband. A shuddering breath shook out of Asahi when Nishinoya met his eyes and flashed a smirk before hooking his fingers into the fabric.

Anticipation and lust were clouding his head, making him feel strangely weak as he lifted his hips for Nishinoya to slide his pants and underwear down his legs. He didn’t know if the feeling of his cock being freed made that fogginess better or worse. But as he watched Nishinoya kneel between his legs and take his cock in his hand with a careful reverence, Asahi felt like he was in a dream. He had to reach out and let his fingers stroke into Nishinoya’s hair before he could feel sure this was real, that this incredible, fierce man was gazing up at him from beneath his lashes.

“You with me, Asahi?” The quiet words sent the lightest gust of air over the head of his dick, and Asahi could feel his breath stall in his chest for a moment before he could answer.

“Yes. Always.”

Those dark eyes softened, and Nishinoya pressed a sweet kiss to Asahi’s thigh, before he parted his lips and licked a long, firm stripe up his cock.

A moan escaped Asahi before he could slap his free hand over his mouth. The movement made Nishinoya’s eyes flicker up at him as he continued to tease him, letting his breath huff over the crown of Asahi’s dick only to go back to licking and kiss up and down his shaft. It felt good, of course it did, but it also made Asahi get even harder, until the only thing he could think about was how badly he needed more: more pressure, more suction, more something.

“Noya…” he finally pleaded, his hand leaving his mouth to clutch at the sheets, “Yu, please, I need…I—”

“Then let me hear you,” Nishinoya ordered quietly. His hand fell on Asahi’s, pressing it a little more firmly into the bed as though he wanted to make sure he couldn’t cover his mouth again. “I want to hear how good I’m making you feel.”

“But the neighbors—”

“—have heard worse.” The smirk on his face was almost wicked as he held Asahi’s gaze and brushed another kiss to his aching length. “Forget about them. Focus on me.”

He already was focused on him. He was practically putty in Nishinoya’s hands after all of his kissing and caressing. But he couldn’t muster the air or words to say that. It was all he could do to nod desperately and breathe, “I am, please— ah!”

As soon as he agreed, Nishinoya closed his lips around Asahi’s tip and sank down. It took everything in him to keep himself from thrusting further into Nishinoya’s mouth. After all of his teasing, the warm, wet suction of his mouth made Asahi feel like he was drowning in bliss. His hands tightened, one in the bedsheets, the other in Nishinoya’s hair, and the groan it pulled from Nishinoya created delicious vibrations around Asahi.

He knew Nishinoya wanted to hear him, wanted to hear the pleasure he was bringing him, but Asahi could barely get enough air to breathe. His mouth hung open, desperately gasping for air, only for it to escape him on a groan when Nishinoya curled his tongue around him and gently cupped his balls. It didn’t make sense, how such a soft touch could make electricity zip through him, but just the swipe of Nishinoya’s thumb over the thin skin was enough to make his muscles seize up from pleasure.

At some point he couldn’t keep sitting up, his body sagging back until he was being held up by his elbows. He felt a hum vibrate through him, before the sweet suction was replaced by a firm hand sliding effortlessly over his wet length. Nishinoya’s mouth stayed busy, pressing messy kisses to his hip, then up his stomach, until his lips could close around one of Asahi’s nipples. The combination of the pressure on his cock and the tongue flicking around his nipple made Asahi’s head fall back with a guttural moan, and then there were lips mouthing wet o’s along his jaw, tracing a path to his ear.

“That’s it,” Nishinoya whispered, his hot breath sending shudders down Asahi’s spine. “I got you.”

“Yu,” Asahi whined, “Yu, I— you’re—” His words got lost in another moan, and he distantly noticed the soft groan that escaped Nishinoya. He’d known that the other man was enjoying reducing him to a shaking, moaning mess, but it was one thing to know that, and another to hear it.

Satisfaction flashed hot through him, only to be quickly followed by pure need when Nishinoya said, “Tell me when you’re close. I want to taste you.”

It was as if he’d summoned his orgasm. The moment he whispered those words, Asahi could feel a pressure building, threatening to pop if Nishinoya kept up his work.

“Now,” he was just barely able to gasp. His orgasm washed over him without much more warning, but Nishinoya worked faster, kneeling back down and sealing his lips over Asahi’s cock just in time to catch the first spurts.

Maybe Asahi was groaning, maybe his mouth was hanging open in a silent moan - he couldn’t hear himself over the blood rushing in his ears, and he didn’t care. His whole world was narrowed down to the feeling of Nishinoya sucking him dry, lips and tongue and hand working at him until oversensitivity made him gently push Nishinoya away.

His eyelids felt heavy when he blinked them open and met Nishinoya’s gaze. He looked like sex incarnate, kneeling between his legs, licking at his lips, eyes glittering in the golden light that snuck in between the blinds. He pressed a soothing kiss to the inside of Asahi’s knee, and rested his cheek there when he murmured, “How are you feeling?”

How did he feel? He felt like every muscle and fiber of his being had been replaced with molten gold, making him feel heavy and fluid at once. He felt like he’d never felt that good before, and would never feel that good again. He felt…he felt… “I feel like I need you to kiss me.”

Nishinoya moved like he couldn’t scramble up his body fast enough, one knee sinking into the bed outside of Asahi’s hips in his rush to press their lips together. Asahi responded with just as much urgency, mouth immediately opening under Nishinoya’s as his fingers stroked into his short strands. He moaned at the taste of himself on his tongue - it was strange, but addicting, making him chase the taste as he licked into Nishinoya’s mouth.

Nishinoya was whimpering into him, short, desperate sounds escaping him with each kiss, and he kept pressing forward, pressing closer, until he was straddling Asahi’s lap. The position made his still-erect dick brush Asahi’s stomach, and reminded him that it was his turn to get to work. He gently nudged Nishinoya’s face away, and the sight of his eyes blearily blinking open to look confused at him made fondness chase away the post-orgasmic haze that had fallen over him. “Get naked and come here.”

Nishinoya was suddenly much more alert, almost falling off of his lap in his haste to shove off the rest of his clothes while Asahi kicked off the fabric at his feet and pushed himself up the bed. His body still felt weak, but the sight of Nishinoya’s cock springing out of his boxers, so hard it looked almost painful, brought his focus back to him. He stacked some pillows behind his head until it was propped up when he laid back, and he could watch as Nishinoya crawled up his body until he was straddling his hips. “How’s this?”

Asahi shook his head, a smile threatening at his lips. “Come closer.”

Nishinoya’s brows furrowed, but he obeyed, letting Asahi’s hold on his hand coax him further and further up. Only when he was kneeling over Asahi’s chest with his knees practically tucked under his arms did his eyes widen with understanding. “Oh.”

The only thing keeping the tip of his cock from brushing Asahi’s lips was the deliberate way Nishinoya tilted his hips back, but that was the opposite of what Asahi wanted. His hand left Nishinoya’s to curve around his waist and nudge his hips forward, while he licked his other hand and wrapped it around the stiff length bobbing in his face. That alone was enough to pull a shaky groan from Nishinoya, one hand bracing himself against the headrest and the other sinking fingers into Asahi’s hair. “Asahi…Asahi, are you sure?”

It was sweet, the way his concern contradicted with the fingers twitching in his hair. Nishinoya’s desire was written plain on his face, in his flushed skin and parted lips. His eyes were heavily hooded as he gazed down at Asahi, and while, yes, it was strange to have to look up at him for once, the view made Asahi’s dick twitch almost painfully.

But he’d already had his turn. He needed to focus on Nishinoya now, needed to focus on licking at the precum almost dripping onto his lip and craning his neck to press kisses up and down Nishinoya’s length. He could hear a gasped swear, and even though he wanted to look up and see the look on Nishinoya’s face, he had to focus on opening his mouth to welcome him in.

The moment he felt his weight on his tongue, Asahi groaned with relief. All of his senses were narrowed down to the way Nishinoya’s arousal tasted and smelled and felt, and it all simmered down into pure want. He wanted nothing more than to sink down until his nose was buried in the dark hair waiting for him at the base, but he couldn’t do it, not in this position. He had to settle for pulling his hand along the length while he pushed his head forward, letting his lips meet his fingers before pulling them in opposite directions.

Maybe it wasn’t enough for him, but he could hear the noises spilling from Nishinoya’s lips, could tell he was doing the job right. His eyes fluttered open to look up at Nishinoya while his tongue swirled around his tip, and another groan rumbled from him at what he saw.

Nishinoya looked wrecked. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips were wide open, slick and red from their kisses and his teeth sinking into them. His hair was loose, falling over his forehead and sticking to his sweaty skin. The light of the city snuck between the blinds of the bedroom window to create golden stripes across his skin, making him glisten like a god, a god Asahi was more than happy to worship.

Then his eyes opened and met Asahi’s, and he could feel the shudder that ran through his body. “Oh, god,” Nishinoya moaned, “oh, fuck, you look so good, you’re so good, holy shit—”

His words broke off with a cry, fingers tightening in Asahi’s hair to pull his face forward. Asahi gagged around the length pressing at the back of his throat, did his best to open up as much as he could at that angle, his hand stroking at what his lips couldn’t reach. The back of his neck ached, unused to this angle, but he was too focused on the incoherent mess he was making of Nishinoya to care about his own discomfort.

He hollowed his cheeks around him, and Nishinoya wailed, his entire body curving over Asahi’s head as he babbled, “So good, Asahi, you’re so good, oh my god, that’s it, right there—”

Asahi groaned at the praise, and at the thickening taste on his tongue. It only took one more curl of his tongue before Nishinoya was coming with a shout, sending hot spurts down Asahi’s throat as he worked to swallow it all. He sucked him dry and licked him clean, until Nishinoya finally let go of his hair and pulled his softening dick out with an almost-pained gasp.

In the time it took Asahi to clear his throat, Nishinoya had fallen to his side on the bed, one leg still draped across his body. Not that Asahi minded. Despite the exhaustion weighing at him, he still wanted to press as close to Nishinoya as possible, wanted to tangle their legs together and wrap their arms around each other.

So he did, pulling him close until he could press his nose to his sweaty, messy hair. He could feel more than hear Nishinoya’s soft laugh, his breath brushing against his neck as his arms tightened around him.

A few silent seconds passed, before Nishinoya broke it with a murmured, “Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“That was…”

“...Good, right?”

Another laugh puffed warm across his skin. “Good? That was amazing, Asahi. You were amazing.”

Asahi hadn’t thought his skin could get any warmer, but somehow his cheeks managed it. “So were you. Yu, you’re so…so…”

“Sexy?”

“Beautiful.”

Nishinoya stilled, and for a breath, fear flashed through Asahi. Had he said the wrong thing? Was that emasculating for Nishinoya to hear? He hadn’t meant it to be, maybe he should’ve—

Then there were lips on his, pressing deep, tender kisses that made him melt against Nishinoya as certainty chased the fear away. No, no…he’d said the right thing.

They didn’t say anything else. They just kissed until they couldn’t fight against their exhaustion anymore, and they had to pull away to tug a pillow in place for Nishinoya and place Asahi’s glasses on one of the bedside tables. When sleep finally pulled Asahi under, it was to the feeling of hair tickling his chin and his arm pinned under Nishinoya’s weight.

———————————— ————————————

Asahi woke slowly in the morning, as he always did. Awareness came in steps - he could feel the soft covers on his skin, could hear the morning bustle of the city outside, and when his eyes blinked open, he could see the stripes of sunlight that crept in through the blinds.

Those details were normal. What wasn’t normal was the realization that he was naked under the covers, that there was an extra weight in the bed, and that there was something, or someone, warm at his back.

The memories came creeping back as he slowly, carefully rolled onto his back and looked to his side…where Nishinoya was fast asleep on his stomach, face half-covered by the pillow.

So the previous night was real. His confession, their first kiss, the delirious pleasure and borderline desperation to press skin to skin…Nishinoya’s mouth covering him with perfect, wet suction, and the way he tasted when Asahi returned the favor…it was all real.

Holy shit. Now what?

That wasn’t something he could decide on his own. For now, he could get his glasses on, and shower, and maybe even have some breakfast ready when Nishinoya woke up. He didn’t know what conversation awaited them, but he assumed food would make it easier.

His hand reached for his glasses, only to land on the wooden surface of the bedside table, right where they usually sat. “Shit,” he muttered, squinting at the table, then at the floor, then patting at the covers carefully, not wanting to wake up Nishinoya.

“They’re over here.”

Well. So much for not waking him.

Excitement and anxiety and disbelief all clashed in Asahi when his eyes landed on Nishinoya and found him smiling sleepily up at him, his hair a loose mess over his face and his cheeks slightly flushed from the warmth of sleep. When he spoke, his voice was just a touch rough, adding confused arousal to the cocktail of emotions swirling through Asahi. “G’morning.”

“Ah…morning. Could I, um…” He gestured lamely at the blurry outline of his glasses on the table at Nishinoya’s side.

A hoarse chuckle rumbled out of Nishinoya as he reached for the glasses. But instead of placing them into Asahi’s waiting hand, he straddled his covered lap and slid them onto his face, punctuating their return with a gentle kiss. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now,” he murmured when he pulled away, hands still cupping Asahi’s face.

“Oh,” Asahi breathed. Disbelief was still looming in his mind, but it was settling into something a little sweeter as his hands rested on Nishinoya’s thighs. He couldn’t believe that the previous night had happened, that Nishinoya wanted him back, that he was waking up next to him all warm and naked and smiling.

That disbelief must’ve made its way to his face, because when Nishinoya pulled away, there was a bemused tilt to his brows. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just…”

“Don’t say you ‘can’t believe this is real’ or something.”

“But I can’t!” Asahi laughed helplessly. “Noya…Yu, I…I never thought this could happen, that you would ever feel the same way about me that I feel for you. But it did, and it’s real, and it’s amazing, you’re amazing, and now I…Yu, I don’t know what’s next.”

And there it was. The worry had been lurking somewhere in his mind, but now that he’d said it out loud, his anxiety came roaring back. “I don’t know where we go from here. I’m going home soon, and you’ll still be here, and I would never want you to stop traveling, not for me, but missing you is going to be so much worse now. But I don’t want to go back to just being friends, and I don’t want this to be some sort of one-time thing. This trip has been…so much more incredible than I could’ve ever imagined, but I…I don’t know what happens to us when it ends. I just…I don’t know.”

Nishinoya had been quiet as he rambled, hands coming to rest against his collarbones and thumbs tracing light patterns into his skin. When Asahi fell quiet, he felt those hands cradle his face and tilt it up, before he was being kissed with a tenderness that made him feel like he might cry.

“Here’s what I know,” Nishinoya murmured, breath ghosting over Asahi’s lips. “I know you like me, and I know I like you. I know I don’t want us to go back to being friends after this. I know I don’t want this to be a one-time thing. I know our lives will have us across the world from each other. I know long-distance is hard. But I also know that we’ve managed to keep in touch so far, and I know that what we have is worth the work.” With each sentence, he brushed a kiss over Asahi’s lips, nose, forehead, cheeks, jaw - it was as though he couldn’t bear to be more than a breath away.

Asahi let a hand trace a light path up and down Nishinoya’s back as he spoke. The feeling of his skin warm beneath his palm and the slow, quiet sound of his words helped Asahi’s thoughts stop racing, and his voice didn’t waver when he breathed, “What are you saying?”

Nishinoya finally pulled away just enough to look at him, and Asahi felt a delicious shiver run up his spine at the look in those eyes. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to being on the receiving end of that desire. “I’m saying I want to be your boyfriend, and I want you to be mine.”

Words failed Asahi. Nothing he could think of felt like enough. He didn’t want to just say “yes,” he wanted to climb to the top of the Sacre-Coeur and shout it to the entire city.

Words failed him, but actions didn’t. He kissed Nishinoya like his life depended on it, like his heart would stop if he didn’t pull a gasp from him and trace his tongue along the top of his mouth. He pressed Nishinoya against the bed, and he could feel Nishinoya’s fingers running through his hair and his body arch against him as he trailed kisses from his lips down his lithe neck.

He felt something nudge at his hip, and his hand dragged down Nishinoya’s body to stroke at him…when a loud rumble erupted from between them. Asahi pulled away and caught a flush spreading across Nishinoya’s face as his eyes widened, and a laugh burst from him before he could stop it. “Hungry?”

“We had a busy night!”

Asahi couldn’t stop laughing as he slid out of bed and pulled Nishinoya upright. “Let’s get some breakfast in you.”

He moved to step away, only for Nishinoya to use their tangled fingers to tug him back until he was standing between his legs. “Hey…is that a yes?”

It was strange, seeing even a hint of doubt lingering in those eyes, and guilt immediately pricked at Asahi. He pressed a chaste kiss to Nishinoya’s lips, before murmuring, “Yes. If I could shout it to the whole world, I would.”

A soft whimper escaped Nishinoya before he stole another kiss. “Stupid breakfast. I want to stay in bed with you all day.”

“Bed will be here after we eat,” Asahi laughed, craning his head back before Nishinoya could keep kissing him and coax him back into bed. “Come on.”

Asahi did make breakfast while Nishinoya showered, but only because he scrounged up every bit of self control in him to resist the other man’s - his boyfriend, he corrected with a thrill - attempts to get him into the shower as well. “That shower is barely big enough for me by myself,” he mumbled against Nishinoya’s insistent kisses. “I’d squish you if we went together.”

“What a way to go, though.”

He only got Nishinoya into the shower by steering him into the bathroom while he continued kissing him, then shutting the door as soon as he disentangled himself from his arms.

Breakfast was simple, just sunny side up eggs and some toast with coffee. One of the slices of toast was a little burned on one side, which had nothing to do with Asahi getting distracted by the sight of a freshly-showered Nishinoya, clad only in a towel, grabbing a change of clothes from his bag.

The rest of his trip in Paris was strangely, wonderfully domestic. True to “Nishinoya mode,” the last few days were filled with simple errands and keeping an eye out for gigs he could pick up and getting deliberately lost in the city to see where they’d end up. The main difference was that they were much more reluctant to split up, now that those last days were their only chance to explore their new relationship before Asahi had to leave.

“I always thought your life was full of exciting adventures everyday,” Asahi mused as they wandered through one of the more residential areas, ambling along hand-in-hand.

Nishinoya’s laugh sounded a little weary. “So does everyone back home. My travels are great, I wouldn’t trade them for the world, but I do still have just…a regular, daily life between all the adventures.” His eyes looked cautious as he watched Asahi, who could feel his gaze with a prickling awareness. “It’s not always exciting.”

“No…but I’m glad it isn’t. This is nice, Yu, honestly.” The relief that washed over Nishinoya’s face melted Asahi’s heart. It really was nice, more than nice. It startled him, how easy and right those days felt, just living with Nishinoya without hurrying to the next big destination of the day. The days weren’t boring, of course they weren’t - Asahi was becoming more and more certain that wasn’t possible with Nishinoya - but they were much more relaxed.

He didn’t want to say it out loud, not now, not after just a few days, but he could feel the truth of it settle warm in his chest: he could picture their future together like this.

A soft sound pulled him out of his thoughts, and he looked down just in time to see Nishinoya burrow into his arm. “It’s gonna suck, being alone again,” he mumbled into his sleeve, just loud enough for Asahi to hear. “You’ve made two weeks feel better than the full years I’ve spent in other countries.”

It took Asahi a moment to reply, only trusting his voice once the lump in his throat went away. “These have been the best two weeks of my life. I really, really wish I could stay longer, make them the best month of life, maybe more. But…”

“Duty calls.”

“Not ‘duty’ so much as my regular old job,” Asahi chuckled, “but…yeah. You’re not going to be alone, though. You’ll meet new people, make new friends, just like you have been this whole trip. You have a way of drawing people to you. I know that better than anyone.”

There was a light flush on Nishinoya’s cheeks and a pleased glint in his eye, but there was also a small frown on his lips. “It’s not gonna be the same as having you around.”

“It’s not. But if you miss me so much, I guess you’ll just have to come back to Japan to see me.”

“I guess so,” Nishinoya said with a playful roll of his eyes. “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Would you want to travel with me again?”

Asahi grinned. “Just try to keep me away.”

Paris still took his breath away. Two weeks was far from enough to make him get used to its beauty. Even the sight of Notre Dame just around the corner from their flat made him pause and wonder at the fact that he was really there, in Paris, with the first man he’d ever wanted now pressing a kiss to the back of their held hands.

But what really made him feel impossibly lucky were the nights he fell asleep with his sweaty skin pressed against Nishinoya, and the mornings he woke up with nimble fingers brushing his hair behind his ear and lips whispering his name between kisses along his shoulder. It was the sound of Nishinoya saying his name with no formality and all tenderness, the feeling of his arms wrapping tight around Asahi’s waist, their fingers tangling together, and their lips parting against each other.

Nishinoya had never been a shy person, was never one for concealing how he felt. In hindsight, Asahi should’ve been prepared for how passionate he was in a relationship, how plainly he wore his heart on his sleeve. Nishinoya wasn’t shy about holding his hand or ducking under Asahi’s arm so that it draped across his shoulders, and while they never recreated their dreamlike first kiss along the Seine, Asahi always obeyed the unspoken request of Nishinoya standing on his toes with his chin raised, even when his cheeks were burning.

It all fit so easily into the rhythm of his last few days in Paris, but there were moments where time seemed to blessedly come to a pause. They were quiet moments, but still ones that Asahi couldn’t believe he got to be a part of, moments like Nishinoya twirling himself under Asahi’s hand when they walked past an accordion player on the street, and the first time Asahi tried a La Duree macaron to the sound of Nishinoya laughing at his awestruck face, and Nishinoya quietly singing along to the music they played while cleaning up after a meal.

Then, on Asahi’s last night in Paris, Nishinoya presented a tube of lube and a condom packet with red cheeks and his lips pressed in a determined line. Asahi understood immediately - it was a hard message to get wrong - but he still had to ask, “Yu, are you—?”

“You can say no,” Nishinoya said, “of course you can. I just…wanted to feel you in me before you left. And your flight is kinda late tomorrow, so it should be ok for me to tire you out tonight.” Despite his red cheeks, there was still a devious slant to his grin, and strangely enough, that was what made Asahi’s initial nerves ease a bit.

“Of course I want to,” he said with a nervous laugh, “but I just…it’s been a while for me. I might be a little rusty.”

“So am I. But I’ll talk you through it. I know you’ll listen to me, and I’ll listen to you.”

With those words and a deep kiss, Asahi was ready to give Nishinoya anything he asked for.

If their first night together had been fast and desperate, then their last night was slow and tender, gentle fingers and soft gasps and moans pulled from deep in their chests. The image of Nishinoya straddling Asahi’s hips while he sat back against the pillows was one he wanted to save for the rest of his life. He never wanted to forget the look of those dark eyes fluttering closed and those lips parting with quiet noises as he carefully spread Nishinoya open on his fingers. He wanted to save the sound of his moan when he found his prostate, wanted to hold onto the feeling of him clenching around his fingers and his breaths against his neck when he fell forward.

It still felt surreal that he could unravel Nishinoya like this, but if this trip had taught him anything, it was to not question the joys life had given him. He certainly wasn’t going to question whatever had led to him laying there and guiding Nishinoya onto his cock, groans dragging out of both of them at the slow, tight, slick slide inside. It took everything in him to hold still when he bottomed out, focusing instead of pressing soothing kisses along Nishinoya’s shoulder as he trembled against his chest.

“Are you okay?” he whispered into his hair, and it took an extra beat before Nishinoya nodded and pulled away enough to meet his concerned gaze.

“Yeah. You can move.”

“Are you su—?”

Nishinoya silenced him with a kiss, before slowly lifting himself off Asahi’s cock and letting himself fall again. An embarrassing sound ripped out of Asahi at the clenching tightness around him, but any embarrassment he would’ve felt was chased off by the satisfied smirk on Nishinoya’s face and his hands being guided to Nishinoya’s hips. A tentative thrust pulled a shuddering gasp from Nishinoya, and that was all Asahi needed to continue moving.

The rhythm they found was different from the ones they’d fallen into during previous nights, slow and drawn-out in a way he didn’t expect from Nishinoya. The younger man was deliberate with the way he moved his hips, bracing himself against Asahi’s chest as he worked himself up and down his length. Asahi’s fingers twitched where they held onto Nishinoya’s waist, but he let himself follow the same speed, even though it was killing him slowly. It felt like he could feel every ridge of Nishinoya’s walls clenching around him, and he could see the effect of his slow thrusts in the flush that worked its way down Nishinoya’s chest.

It didn’t take him long to figure out how to aim for Nishinoya’s prostate, but even the moans that fell from Nishinoya’s lips didn’t convince him to pick up his speed. “Yu,” Asahi finally breathed, “Yu, you’re killing me.”

“Good.” Nishinoya’s smile was downright wicked, even with the haze of desire that covered the rest of his face. “I want you to remember this when you’re back home.”

“Like I could ever forget.”

He spoke without thinking, but he couldn’t regret his words, not when they startled the smile off of Nishinoya’s face. He would never get tired of the way Nishinoya looked whenever Asahi surprised him with heartfelt words. Even in the middle of riding Asahi so well he thought he might die from it, Nishinoya’s eyes widened and his lips parted in a silent gasp. “That’s not fair,” he whined, “I’m trying to make you miss me more.”

“There was a contest?” Asahi laughed, before a moan cut his laughter short.

“Nah. Just making sure you miss me at least as much as I'll miss you.”

The playfulness lining his face made affection bloom in Asahi’s chest, and he rocked forward to capture Nishinoya’s lips in a kiss. When Nishinoya eventually cried out with his orgasm, his lips were parting against Asahi’s and his arms were draped over Asahi’s shoulders, holding him close as he made a mess on both of their bodies. Asahi followed soon after him, unable to hold out for much longer with Nishinoya’s walls clenching around him. His arms tightened around Nishinoya’s waist, and he could feel the precise moment Nishinoya wilted against him, boneless with his release.

Asahi was careful with Nishinoya as he cleaned them both up, gently easing him onto the bed and wiping him clean with a towel he’d wet in the bathroom sink. He was rewarded with a contented sigh and a sweet, sleepy smile, and when Asahi pulled the covers over them, Nishinoya didn’t hesitate to burrow into his chest. “Do you have to go tomorrow?” he murmured.

“Unfortunately,” Asahi sighed. “But I’ll call you as soon as I’m back, and I’ll bother you every day that I can.”

“It’s not bothering me when I want that,” Nishinoya scoffed, before pulling away enough to gaze at Asahi with eyes brimming with longing. “Asahi, I…I…”

Concern pricked at Asahi as he brushed messy blonde strands away from Nishinoya’s forehead. “Is something wrong?”

“No, just…I…” Nishinoya’s lips twisted as he searched for the right words, only to wilt around a sigh. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

“Don’t say that, Yu. Don’t hide from me.”

“I’m not hiding, I just…” Nishinoya began tracing nervous patterns into Asahi’s skin. “I know it’s only been a few days, and maybe you’ll think I’m crazy, but I…Asahi, I…I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“...Oh.” The word left Asahi on a breath.

“Yeah. You don’t have to say anything, I know it’s soon—”

“I think I’m falling in love with you, too.”

Nishinoya’s words died as he stared up at Asahi. “Really?!”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s because we’ve known each other for so long, and I already loved you as a friend, and maybe as more than that, but…I’m feeling it, too.”

“Wow.” Nishinoya let a hand rest against Asahi’s face, his thumb tracing along his cheek. “Wow.”

None of the words Asahi could think of felt like enough, and his only response was to take Nishinoya’s hand from his cheek and press it against his lips. But it was enough. A smile spread wide across Nishinoya’s face before he burrowed back into Asahi’s chest, arms tight around him, and they ended up drifting to sleep holding each other close.

———————————— ————————————

Waking up the next morning felt like the hardest thing Asahi had ever done. He stubbornly ignored the sunlight pouring in, turning his back to the window in favor of pulling a willing Nishinoya close. But it wasn’t long before Nishinoya was leaning up to whisper, “Asahi.”

“No.”

“You gotta get ready to go.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I don’t want you to either!” Nishinoya’s laugh sounded unsteady, and when Asahi finally opened his eyes, he was stunned to see tears threatening to spill onto Nishinoya’s cheeks.

“Oh, Yu…” he breathed, hands immediately cupping his face and tracing his damp lash lines.

“I’ll be okay,” Nishinoya murmured with a wet sniff, “but you won’t be if you miss your flight.”

Asahi whined, but after a sweet kiss, he relented and let Nishinoya tug him out of bed.

It was almost too easy to pack up his things. He hadn’t bought much in the way of souvenirs, just an Eiffel Tower keychain he’d bought to make Nishinoya snort and a magnet for Daichi and Suga. The rest of his stuff was folded back the way they’d come, and before he knew it, his small suitcase and backpack were sitting at the apartment door. They were left quietly looking over the tidy apartment, now only sprinkled with Nishinoya’s few belongings.

“Let’s eat out for breakfast,” Nishinoya eventually declared. “Make your last morning in Paris a little special.”

“Any day in Paris with you is special,” Asahi said, smiling at the pink that rose to Nishinoya’s cheeks, “but alright. My treat.”

Despite all their best efforts, breakfast passed too quickly. No amount of tiny sips at their espresso or picking at their breakfast sandwiches would stop their plates from slowly becoming empty, leaving them no excuse to keep dodging the impatient looks of their waiter.

So they passed the time on the bridge to Notre Dame, watching the sun creep along the sky while Nishinoya told Asahi about his plans for his next stop in his tour of France. Asahi was still a little in awe of the way his boyfriend was able to prepare himself to build a new life in a new city every couple of months or so. He’d always had a special talent for drawing people to him with his boisterous charisma, but that didn’t stop Asahi from being impressed by him.

“It would be better with you,” Nishinoya countered his compliments with a wistful smile.

“Anything would be better if we were together.” Asahi looked at Nishinoya, watched his hair get tousled by the breeze and his eyes trace over the lines of the Notre Dame and the Seine. His brows were set a little lower than usual and he was chewing his lip, telltale signs of his dread over Asahi’s departure. The bright sunlight didn’t soften Nishinoya’s feature the way the warm golden lights of Parisian nights did, but it did highlight the lines that had grown sharper since he’d left for his travels and the alert awareness of his eyes, and Asahi felt his heart ache with longing for more time with him. “Paris wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

The dread melted off of Nishinoya’s face as he met Asahi’s eyes, replaced with that look of startled adoration that Asahi had come to look forward to. He took a moment to brush a stray lock of hair behind Asahi’s ear, visibly settling himself before he said, “Hey. Kiss me one last time in Paris?”

It was Asahi’s turn to be driven to silence, though his silence was thanks to a lump that had lodged itself in his throat. He just nodded, and obeyed the fingers that had wrapped into his collar and led his face down to Nishinoya’s.

He didn’t know how long they kissed each other on that bridge, lips parting for gentle tongues and soft sighs. All he knew was that it wasn’t long enough, would never have been long enough. Only the sound of Notre Dame tolling the top of the new hour could make them break apart, newly aware of the trip they still had to make to the airport.

They took the metro instead of a taxi, using the longer commute as an excuse to steal extra minutes with each other. It was a bit of a struggle, holding his suitcase still while keeping their balance on the rocking train, but it was worth it for the moment when Asahi had to crowd Nishinoya into a corner to avoid the people leaving and entering the car at different stops.

“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much,” Nishinoya grumbled with a badly hidden grin the fifth time it happened.

“Me? Never.”

The metro announcement of each stop felt like a countdown that Asahi hated, listing each stop that brought them closer and closer to the airport. And then, finally, they reached the end of the line, leaving them no choice but to step off the train and face the entrance to the airport.

“Well…” It was strange and heartbreaking to hear such resignation from Nishinoya, especially when Asahi knew there was nothing he could say to make things better. No matter what he said, he’d still have to leave his side and return to Tokyo.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try. “Yu…I meant it, when I said you made the last two weeks the best weeks of my life. Even if we’d spent them as friends, they still would’ve been incredible.”

“Yeah…but I’m really happy I made you confess.” Relief washed over Asahi when Nishinoya flashed a cheeky smile. “I think that made the past week even better.”

“Me, too,” Asahi laughed.

The smile faded from Nishinoya’s face as he stared at Asahi, and he finally took his hand with a squeeze as he said, “Call me when you get back. It doesn’t matter what time it is here, I want to hear from you.”

“Of course.”

“Tell Daichi-san and Suga-san I say hi.”

“I will.”

“And…come back sometime, okay? There’s a lot of places I want to take you to.”

“Okay. But you have to come back first.”

Nishinoya rolled his eyes with a smile. “Fine.”

They stared at each other for another beat, before they met each other in one last kiss. It was slow, and tender, and made love spread warm through Asahi like a hot cup of espresso. When they parted, he murmured, “Hey.”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

Nishinoya’s eyes widened, and he pressed another kiss to Asahi’s lips with a soft whimper. “I love you, too. Now go, don’t miss your flight.”

“Alright, alright.” Asahi let Nishinoya gently shove him towards the escalators that lead into the airport, but he paused at the bottom to look back at Nishinoya and call, “Hey! I’ll see you later.” Not a goodbye, this wasn’t a goodbye, he’d make sure they stayed in even better contact than before, if it was the last thing he did.

Even at a distance, he could see understanding settle over Nishinoya’s features, before a bright smile lit up his whole face. “See you later, Asahi!”

[itsallyscorner]

For Tom x

Pairing: Tom Holland x singer!reader

Summary: You have a surprise for Tom:)

Warnings: none, just pure teeth rotting Fluff:)

A/n: Hello my loves! This is literally a rewrite because I accidentally deleted the original version of this story on Tumblr RIGHT before I was gonna post it😭 Anyway here it is, I hope you all like it! Ally x

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

look at my sunshine🥺

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

Your giggles filled the hallway as you lead Tom into your makeshift studio. Since you were quarantining with him and his mates in their shared home in London, you were miles away from your crew and studio. Which, yes, made it difficult to record an entire album on your own—but it did give you the creative freedom to do whatever you pleased for the album.

The boys had their own creative outlets; for example putting together a puzzle or having a movie marathon. While you found those activities enjoyable, the inner singer in you couldn’t stop thinking of beats or coming up with lyrics in your head. You needed the studio—you needed to bring those beats and lyrics to life before you could forget them. So with the help of the houses’ tech lord himself, Harry made it possible for you to have your own little studio in the spare guest room of the house. There, you spent endless days writing and recording things like harmonies and building melodies. Little did you know that this would lead to the creation of your sixth album. Now a couple months later, your latest album is currently in its final stages and would soon be released to the world.

Tom adoringly watched your figure, which was drowned in one of his oversized jumpers, excitedly skip towards the guest room. As soon as you were both inside, you rushed to close the door and eagerly pushed him to sit on the edge of the bed.

“What have you been up to, lovey?” He teasingly asks you. He knew you were up to something, he just didn’t know if it were bad or good.

Your figure was bent over the desk where your laptop was located. Turning over your shoulder you tell him, “It’s nothing bad, I promise!” You’re met with an amused grin on his blush pink lips.

Gathering your laptop into your arms, you move to sit beside Tom on the bed. He curiously leans forward, trying to get a glance at what’s on your screen.

“Nuh uh, it’s a surprise, Thomas.” You playfully scold him and gently push his face away from your laptop. He responds with a pout against your palm before pressing a kiss onto your skin. You continue to click around on your laptop, looking through your documents for the specific file.

Meanwhile, Tom shuffles further up the bed, getting comfortable. He notices the new distance between you and him and decides that he’s unsatisfied with the additional inches. He choses to snake his arms around your waist and lifts you up, happily placing you on the empty and lonely space on his lap. Laying down on his back, he takes a moment to admire the way you look in his jumper. It was a few sizes bigger than you and stopped right above your knees. The jumper may have looked good on him, but it looked absolutely perfect on you.

“You look so cute in my jumper.” He hums, hands lazily rubbing up and down your thighs. Your nose scrunches up as you lightly slap his chest; your silent way of saying “shut up” whenever Tom would say something that made you blush.

You finally find the file you were looking for and place your laptop on your lap. You nervously glance at your screen, biting down on your lip out of habit.

“Ok, so I did something.” You started. Tom squints his eyes at you, “That sounds like the beginning of a really bad something.”

You huff, “I just told you it wasn’t anything bad! Do you want your surprise or not?”

Tom chuckles and grasps onto your thighs, “Yes—yes, sorry, keep going.”

“So you know how I’ve already finished my album?” You question him. Tom nods, staring up at you while you sit on his thighs.

“Well, I wrote a few more songs that were supposed to be on the album. But I don’t know, I felt a bit greedy and decided to keep them for myself.” You explain. Tom raises a brow at you, “Baby, you don’t have to feel guilty about keeping songs to yourself. If you don’t want to share them, you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s just that, they’re about you.” You pause, staring down at your fingers that fiddled together. “Like I wrote them specifically for you to listen to. I wanted to include them on the album, but it just didn’t feel right to share something that was meant only for you.”

You place your laptop on the bed and turn it so the screen is facing Tom.

“So...as a solution, I made you your own album.” You were too busy avoiding his stare, that you missed the twinkle in Tom’s coffee colored orbs. He carefully sits up, his arms around you getting tighter, as he pulls you closer into his chest. Tom ducks his head down to yours, nudging your nose with his to get you to look at him. When your eyes finally meet, the lopsided grin on his features grows wider.

“You made me my own album?”

“Yeah.” You shyly answer. Tom softly coos at you, cupping your face and pressing a chaste kiss onto both of your cheeks.

“You are the most precious thing in the world, sunshine, I swear.” He squishes your cheeks together and began to cover your face with butterfly like kisses. Sweet laughs erupt from you, the sounds making Tom’s heart swell.

You stuff your face in the space between his neck and shoulder, using it as a place to hide from his lips. Instead, Tom opts to lay his kisses along the side of your face, your neck, and your shoulder.

“Lemme kiss you!” He whines. You chuckle at him, finally moving away from his neck. His attention darts towards your lips more than once, prompting you to lean forward and connect them with his. Tom’s lips were soft against yours, like clouds or cushiony pillows. The kiss was short and sweet; though it didn’t prevent you from feeling the adoration and passion he felt for you in that moment. In fact, he felt it all the time, but right now, his love for you was coursing through his veins.

He finally pulls away, leaving the taste of him linger in your mouth. “Can I have a listen?” He motions his head towards your laptop beside him.

“Go ahead.” Tom’s arms unravel from your waist, the area they once occupied left cold and yearning for his warmth. He uses one of his elbows to hold himself up and the other to control the touchpad. His eyes scan the file.

For Tom x

someone like u

test drive

worst behavior

main thing

He glances at you, “I start with ‘someone like u’, right?” You reply with a quiet “mhm”.

Tom clicks on the link. The opening notes of ‘someone like u’ begin to play followed by your angelic voice. You hear him release a content sigh, making a small smile to form on your lips. His arms make their way around you again, this time holding you closer against him. He rests his head on your chest and sneakily presses a kiss onto your neck. You fondly run a hand through his curly hair and rest your chin on the top of his head, listening to the songs you’ve made for him.

The two of you listen through the album in one go with no stops. You found joy in Tom’s reactions towards every song. Sometimes he would make little comments or sounds of shock whenever he heard you hit a certain note. He nodded along to the beats of ‘test drive’ and ‘worst behavior’, dancing around in his seat and making you join him. This time, you didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes when he listened closely to the lyrics. ‘Main thing’ got him the most, leaving him with a goofy-lovesick grin plastered onto his face.

When ‘main thing’ came to a close, the room became silent, leaving Tom enough time to process the four songs you wrote about him and the meanings behind them.

You were the first to speak, “So did you like it?” You scan his face looking for any signs of dislike.

Tom’s eyes widen, “Are you kidding me? That was bloody fantastic—that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard! I’m obsessed with it, oh my god!” He expressed, arms moving around as he spoke.

His face was radiating with happiness, “You are the most talented and loving woman in the world. And I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve you or your love—but I just love you so fucking much.”

“I love you so fucking much too, you dork.” You laugh, pecking his lips.

“No, but seriously, thank you so much. I know you’re used to writing songs, but the fact that you actually took the time to write songs about me means a lot. They’re just a bunch of songs, but they mean the world to me and I cherish each and every one of them.” He admits, taking one of your hands and placing it onto his heart. Your palm feels the faint rhythm of his heart beating against his chest.

You tilt your head at him, mirroring the smile on his face, “I’ll always write songs about you. You somehow manage to inspire them anyway.”

Tom smirks, “Well I am Tom Holland.” You snort and roll your eyes at his humble brag.

“You’re still a dork, Tommy.” You comment.

Tom shrugs, “I’m a special dork because I’m your dork. Therefore making me superior to the other existing dorks—there’s a difference, darling.”

“And where did you come up with this hypothesis, Mr. Holland?” You question him, playing along with his antics.

“It’s Tom’s Theory.” He answers with feign seriousness. You burst out laughing, “Oh is it?”

Tom leans down to your laptop and restarts his album. “Yes, and now Tom’s Theory, believes that we should listen to the album again until I learn all the lyrics to every single song.” He proclaims.

“Babe, you don’t have to—” Tom stops you, “I’m dead serious.”

It was going to be a long night.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

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[its-me-im-coraline]

Consequenses // Thomas Raggi

words // 1590

warnings // smut ahead hehe and not even a full smut, just a snippet honestly

pairing // Thomas Raggi x F!Reader

author's note // if you want to be on the tag list let me know. ok please let me know on the taglist link if you have asked me to tag you and i havent right now... I lost some of the user names so yeah im so sorry 🥺

request // yes

summary // Reader has been breaking Thomas’ rules by teasing him for days. Thomas eventually is fed up and shows Reader what happens when you disobey.

tag list: @bieberhoodforever @tabi-toast @ginny-lily @moriro-da-regina @the-killer-queenie @makapaka11 @bidet-and-legolas @atremendousstrawberrycollection @otaculo @selenophiliaxx

Music, throbbing lights and booze was the way Thomas and his partner decided to spend his weekend off. An average gathering made to feel like a party amongst the closest friends of the band and everyone’s partners. Of course the guitarist couldn’t resist bringing his lover along. He had not seen her in a while, traveling around and working on new music had made the relationship hard for the two of them, things only becoming harder when they started being unsatisfied with their more intimate relationship. The longing did not help much, instead it brought anger and anxiety, both resulting in ruining both of their moods.

The suggestion came from Y/N in the afternoon after Thomas took a break. They were sitting on the couch watching some tv show neither cared for, slowly trying to relax and potentially do more than sitting on the couch. The thought had occurred a few days ago, while the man was still not there, when his lover was maybe watching a bit of an erotic movie. “Maybe we should… switch,” was all she said. No explanation, no details, nothing.

Not much convincing was needed so here they were. Y/N being dominant was finding it a little hard to just sit there and listen. Thus the dom turned into a brat, choosing to tease the man during their first night together.

It was rather simple to get Thomas all riled up this fine night. They happened to have a small fight before the party (a disagreement over minimal things truly) so they were both in a very tense mood while at the party. Thomas was on the one side of the yard, talking with some of his friends, while Y/N was on the other, revealing clothing and lingerie (with certain movements it was visible to the man - and anyone else that paid attention, but not many did). The man was unable to take his eyes off his partner. See, she knew that the result would be pretty good.

“Keep this up and the result will not be very nice for you, amore,” he whispered in her ear when he finally approached her. His hand right above her ass, face too close for comfort.

“I am not sure I want to stop,” said Y/N, an evil smirk decorating her face. Her hips moved side to side, making sure the man could see. Back on her plotting she was.

At first things went smoothly: a bit of seductive dancing, a bit of drinking… The casual. But soon that would change as well. Ethan was sitting on a pool chair, joking about Y/N’s dancing, having a playful back and forth with each other until Y/N sat on his lap. It was nothing unusual for the two, it had happened plenty of times before, but both Thomas and her knew that this time was different.

By now Thomas is fuming. If he was in a cartoon his face would have gone comically red, smoke coming out his face in an exaggerated way. The cigarette and drink in his hand did little to help restrain him. For that, he downed the rest of his drink in an instant, smashing his cigarette on an ashtray and moving to his friends and partner. “Sorry to cut your fun short,” he smiled, trying to keep it together, “but me and Y/N need to go. Honestly, I’m feeling very tired,” he finished, taking Y/N’s hand in his and pulling her up and towards him.

Their friends did not say much, but rather voiced their goodbyes allowing the pair to leave the party.

Getting in the car was now the easy task, but one of them was dreading it. She knew that this would be so fun, but she was undeniably afraid of what could potentially happen that night. “What do you think you have been doing, dolcezza?” He all but growled, roughly turning her face towards his with his hand.

“Me? Nothing. I was just trying to have fun with my friends.” Oh, the innocent act. If Thomas wasn’t hot and bothered (more of the later) already, he certainly was now.

“I don't think so, baby. I think you have been very very naughty. I think you need a punishment.” His tone was playful but his eyes told a different story. Y/N was in for a long night, and they were still in the car. Thomas’ hands had already begun to travel all around his lover, faces dangerously close. And like that the vigorous kissing started.

“You shouldn't have acted like that tonight, amore,” he commented before he started driving back to their shared apartment. The ride was quiet but the tension and anticipation was loud as hell.

Patience was out the window the moment Y/N opened the door to their home. Thomas pushed her to the wall, attacking her neck with kisses. “I warned you enough times, my love, now it’s time for actions,” he commented, hand slowly traveling up to her neck, lightly squeezing, blocking the blood flow lightly making her lightheaded but so much more desperate for him. “Turn around and put your hands on the wall - just like that, good girl! Now, ass perked up.”

She was very well aware of what was about to happen and saying that she did not want it would be a lie. She was rather used to serving spankings to the man whenever he disrespected her - rather lenient - rules, taking such an adrenaline rush every time, but oh did she get a rush now, too. Thomas was getting more and more confident by the minute, Y/N getting rather aroused from it.

Thus she obeyed his demands, pushing her ass back, all there for him to do what he wanted. Thomas quickly got to work moving up her tiny little skirt to have her exposed to his will. Her ass looked amazing in that white lace thong she wore, making the man undeniably hard. “You know what you’re doing, don’t you? You planned for this to happen-” slap, “you knew I would not be able to hold back, didn’t you, puppy?” slap. “Answer me!”

“Yes, daddy,” Y/N responded very timidly, slightly flinching every time he struck her cheeks.

“Good, good. Now count for me, and you will thank me for each slap.”

“One. Thank you, daddy,” she began with his rhythm getting quicker and his force bigger by each slap of his palm. They reached around twenty five before Thomas decided on his next move. He said nothing but roughly turned Y/N around, pulling her towards their shared bedroom, lightly. After closing the door behind him - more out of habit than any actual practical reason- he pushed her to the bed, legs automatically falling open as he stared with lust in his eyes.

“Just sit there and do nothing,” he ordered, “no touching, or there will be consequences.” He did not go far after that, he only undressed and picked up the condoms and the lube, just making sure that she was entirely ready (not that he truly needed it at the moment - just a safety precaution) and knelt in front of his lover.

“Mhm,” he moaned, “you are looking delicious, but I’m not sure you can handle it. Maybe we should do this anoth-”

“No, no! Please, I can handle it! I can handle anything! Please, please!” she exclaimed, or more so whined, making Thomas smirk like a cheshire cat and proceeding with his actions.

“Anything, you say? Hm, we’ll see about that.” Oh boy was she about to regret those words.

His tongue started to tease her immediately as he finished his sentence. It was small short licks and little pecks on her clit, featherly but was agonizing in this case. The pace was slow, timid, really, all in an attempt to show his love in the most painful way possible. Her eyes were shut tightly, mouth hung open releasing heavenly (or rather sinful) noises - a pleasing confirmation of Thomas’ plan working perfectly. Y/N’s back was arched up as her head hung behind, chest bouncing in the attempt to gain more pleasure by Thomas.

“Thommy, please,” she whined, earning a slap on her thigh.

“You are being ungrateful, amore. I shouldn’t be giving you any pleasure at all. You’ll take what you can.” The lack of contact for the few seconds he spoke was enough to cause another fit of whines, but his breath on her heat made far worse ‘damage’.

He wasted no time moving up and away from his disheveled lover, moving to the dresser. Y/N simply sat there, mouth falling open, but this time due to confusion. It was clear that frustration had already started to pick up. Thomas on the other hand was enjoying the situation fully, finding it rather entertaining how he could make her melt so easily.

“Thommy. Come back,” she uttered in her usual dominating tone. Nothing. “Thomas, come back here-”

“What did you just say to me, puppy?” If he was pissed before, now he was livid, and it was clear as day. If this were some weird cartoon his eyes would’ve glowed red - a thought that did not help Y/N’s pleasurable fear. His hand had swiftly reached Y/N’s neck, not tightening up, yet making his stance threatening. “I think you have forgotten how things are going on around here, my love. You are not on the lead right now. I am. And you will pay for that.”