#yes. they only held hands. they didn’t kiss or confess their undying love for each other

[stratiotis-nth]

Ever since Cas came back and turned human, it would seem he’s stopped giving a shit about literally everything. When Dean noticed this new aspect of Cas’ colorful personality, he had made himself paranoid that Cas would suddenly start flirting with him on the regular now that his big confession was out in the open.

So while Dean was scared shitless, he was confusingly disappointed when Cas didn’t do that at all.

No. The first thing the ex-angel did after surviving another encounter with death was start a Shotgun war with Sam.

And no, not the bang bang kinda shotgun.

“Shotgun!” Cas practically bellowed down the corridor as the three of them were getting ready to get dinner.

“That’s not fair, Cas! I’m in the bathroom!” Sam complained through the closed door. Cas ignored him completely as he strode past and ducked into the passenger seat of the Impala. Dean, who had been desperately trying to stay out of this war, just gave Cas a sideways smile.

“Y’know, the rules are you can’t call shotgun until you actually see the car, Cas.” He told him, his lips tugging up in amusement and…just happiness that Cas was close.

“Until Sam demands to implement this rule, I will abuse his ignorance.” Cas replied, smiling softly. Once again, every time Cas won the passenger seat, Dean wanted to ask what was with his sudden obsession with it. It wasn’t like Cas hadn’t been stubborn enough to claim it before he became human. He wondered what changed, why Cas suddenly cared about seating arrangements. But, as he had been doing ever since they got Cas back (again), Dean bit his tongue. He didn’t want to overwhelm the newly human with the tsunami of questions he had.

Sam griped the entire way to the diner, grumbling about being squished even though Dean knew there was more than enough space. Cas sat next to Dean, watching the trees amble by with a serene, totally unaffected smile on his face. Pleased as a pickle. Dean was fighting his own internal battle between his burning questions and undying amusement at Sam’s plight.

At the diner, Cas sat next to Dean. That much was hardly anything new. The two just naturally gravitated towards each other, and after Dean caught himself drifting mindlessly towards Cas more times than he could count, he stopped giving him grief about personal space.

Cas’ thigh brushed up against his almost the entire meal. Dean pretended not to notice, but internally, he was melting into a puddle of bi panic.

In the parking lot, Sam was quick to call shotgun when Cas got distracted by their waitress catching up to him and giving him her phone number. Dean was too busy bristling and snapping at Cas to hurry up to even notice Sam was sitting next to him.

Cas sulked the entire ride home, the waitress’ number stuffed into one of his pockets. Dean tried not to think that maybe Cas was saving her number for another time.

On Saturday, it was Dean’s turn to go on a food run. Sam was busy working a ghoul case with Eileen, so when Cas wanted to come along there was no yelling match over the front. He ducked into the passenger seat and just about blinded Dean’s poor weak heart with a smile that crinkled his nose.

They fought over eggs for about twenty minutes in the diary aisle. Dean win by threatening to give Sam exclusive access to shotgun. Cas relented with a glower that could have smote demons if he still had his grace.

Eventually, Sam did implement the rule about only calling shotgun with the car in sight, and as the weeks went by and Dean’s silent journey is self realization unfolded, the war at escalated. Now, neither of them could call shotgun without all three of them being in sights of the car. It had gotten bad enough that Sam and Cas waited impatiently for Dean in the garage, staring expectantly for him to round the corner so they could have their yelling match.

Cas nearly blew Dean’s eardrums out, bellowing “SHOTGUN!” loud enough to drown out Sam. He angrily opened his mouth to argue when his phone started ringing.

“It’s Eileen.” He said, his back snapping straight and immediately answering the video call. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Can you give me a ride?” Dean could hear Eileen’s voice over the tinny speakers. “My car broke down and the nearest shop is two hours away.”

“Where are you?”

“An hour away from you? It was supposed to be a surprise.”

Dean saw Sam’s face soften, the tension of worry falling away. He butted in, sticking his face in view of the camera so Eileen could read his lips.

“Just tow it here. I can patch your ride.” He said. “Sam can take the tow truck.”

“Are you sure?” Eileen asked.

“Course. ‘Sides, those guys won’t give you a fair price anyway.” Dean flapped his hand dismissively.

“Thanks, Dean.” Eileen beamed, and oh, Dean knew that smile. Mischievous and damnit, she had planned this from the start, hadn’t she? Just to get a free repair out of him. Dean squinted suspiciously at her, and Eileen just wiggled her eyebrows.

“Cas and I can pick up the curse box and meet you two back here in a few hours.” Dean said. He saw Cas immediately brighten, having secured the passenger seat.

Cas was looking particularly triumphant as they drove, his knees rocking back and forth in a content, mindless sort of way. Finally, Dean couldn’t hold back the question anymore.

He had done his work accepting the fact that he wasn’t as straight as he thought, that it wasn’t very heterosexual to stare at Cas’ lips or pop an awkward boner seeing him all cleaned up after Purgatory, or completely shutting down every time he died or getting all prickly when waitresses give him her phone number. He was gay for Cas, and he had just gotten around to accepting this. Cas said he loved him, right? so Dean shouldn’t be afraid or rejection or anything. Yeah, no he was terrified.

“Hey, Cas?”

“Yes, Dean?” He turned to him with that soft smile that Dean wanted all to himself.

“I gotta ask, man,” Dean chuckled a little awkwardly and kept his eyes firmly on the road. “Why are you so determined about sitting shotgun? You’ve never been before.”

“Ah.” Cas hummed, turning back to the road too. “I suppose now I have the freedom to pursue the things I want. Chuck is gone and my deal with the Empty is null in void. I have time to…focus my attentions on other things.”

“The things you want? What, you got a better view up here or something?”

“Well yes, the windshield does allow more viewing space.” Cas agreed. “But it’s not my main goal in doing all this.”

“Then…what is?”

“Dean.” Cas said in that ever patient, you’re-being-dumb-about-this voice. “I enjoy being up here because it allows me to be closer to you. You are the view I most admire, Dean. I’m always so helplessly drawn to you.”

Dean’s mouth had gone a little dry and his grip on the wheel was suddenly sweaty. The silence that fell was deafening. Cas didn’t even look concerned. He just sat there waiting the road as if he hadn’t just said something so…so…soft to Dean.

Helplessly drawn. Like Cas couldn’t bear being away from him. Like Dean was this perfect, magnetic thing that Cas was enchanted by, something worth having around.

With a jerk of the wheel, Dean was pulling over on the side of the empty highway in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. He threw Baby into park before twisting around and staring at Cas.

He didn’t even look vaguely concerned, the fucker. He just gave Dean a patient look.

Dean opened his mouth, and closed it. Did it again, ready to tell Cas everything. Snapped his jaw shut.

Cas watched in cool amusement. Dean felt his cheeks get hot.

“Screw this.” He grumbled to himself, before lunging across the bench, grabbing Cas’ face with both hands, and kissing him square on the lips.

He felt Cas freeze for a moment, probably in total shock, before he started moving.

Dean nearly choked on a gasp as the chapped, warm lips started pushing and devouring, Cas was suddenly the one taking charge, shoving Dean back against his window as he clambered across the seats to get on top of him.

Twelve years of pent up emotions came crashing out in a sudden burst of unstoppable passion. And as soon as it started, it seemed to have stopped. They both were panting, Dean’s jeans were tight and his entire body screamed to have Cas against him again. But Cas had made to move away, putting space between him as he looked at Dean with wide eyes.

He didn’t get very far. Dean grabbed ahold of his jacket lapels and held on tight with an iron grip, keeping Cas hovering inches above him, basically sharing air.

“Wanna hear a secret?” He whispered between heavy breathes. Cas just blinked at him. “I’ve always rooted for you getting shotgun.”

Cas’ kiss swollen lips split into a dazzling smile, and he rewarded Dean with another intense make out session. When they pulled away, Dean found the words spilling out of his mouth.

“I love you too, Cas. You can have me. God, you have had me, for years you have. Can’t believe it took me so long, I’m sorry I made you think you couldn’t have me, I’m sorry it took me so long—“

Cas shut him up with another kiss, and Dean’s ramble faded into a helpless whimper that too was swallowed up by Cas.

“Does this mean I get exclusive shotgun privileges?” Cas asked a few hours later than they finally took the curse box off the poor shopkeeper’s hands. They had arrived nearly an hour late, not that Dean (or his dick for that matter) particularly cared.

“Honestly? Play it up to Sam and he might let you get away with it for a while.” Dean chuckled. Without even thinking too hard about it, his free hand slithered over the bench, grabbing Cas’ and entwining their fingers. Something so small and simple, yet made Dean light up like a sun.

If Cas didn’t manage to convince Sam, Dean sure as hell would.

[eisukevint]

Always You

Eisuke Ichinomiya

This one’s for you @leoamber66 - i should be ashamed of myself for taking this long but here we are! your graduation and your birthday gift. and a massive thank you to @cupidocherie for major help bec idek where i would be without her😭😭 anyways enjoyyy, i love you <3

»»»»

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

“You mean when you tripped and almost fell in front of everyone on your first day in elementary school?”

“No! oh my god, I told you to forget that!”

“Pftt, how can anyone ever forget that? I’m sure soryu and luke remember too”

“I hope they don’t haha, but really, we’ve come so far” Yuki commented, reminiscing about one certain day.

Eisuke’s POV

“So children, today a new student will be joining us. This is Yuki Freya. I hope all of you will be nice to her and welcome her warmly!” The teacher, Miss Hale as she introduced herself, addressed the class.

“Yuki, you’re going to sit with Eisuke. Please raise your hand so she can know where you are, Eisuke!” Miss Hale announced.

The clumsy girl, Yuki, made her way over to me earning several stares from both girls and boys present in the classroom.

“Hi, i’m Yuki!” She enthusiastically said extending her hand towards me.

I shook her hand, “Eisuke”

“Nice to meet you!” She said and then turned towards the teacher as she started her lesson, not giving me a chance to reply.

At least her smile is cute.

»»»»

Yuki didn’t follow me around like the other girls in my class did. Instead, she became friends with Luke and Soryu who happened to be my best friends. They seemed to like her a lot. Now that was rare.

It was P.E. and the teacher partnered me with Yuki despite the other girls begging him to partner them up with me. I didn’t complain considering she wasn’t annoying like the others.

“Are you ready?” She asked me tying up her left leg with my right one, preparing for the three legged race. Why is this even a thing? Couldn’t we just race like normal people?

“Of course I am” Eisuke Ichinomiya is always ready.

It didn’t take long for me to come off my high horse when Yuki couldn’t keep up with my fast pace and fell down, twisting her ankle.

Yuki groaned in pain and tried to get up but failed. The P.E. teacher came forth and asked me to carry her on my back to the infirmary as a punishment which was just across the field.

“But it’s not my fault that she fell!” I retorted back despite knowing it was partly my fault she fell since I was moving too fast for her.

“She was your partner Ichinomiya, it’s your responsibility.”

“Fine” I said when I realised there was no getting out if it. With that, i asked her to get on my back and carried her to the infirmary.

As the nurse tended to her injury, she turned towards me with that same cute smile “Thank you, Eisuke”

I instantly felt a stab of guilt.

“Hmph, I didn’t do it for you” I didn’t notice the blush that crept on my cheeks but I did notice the way my heart flipped. Just as she was about to say something, Soryu and Luke came looking for her.

“Are you alright?” Luke asked to which she replied with a grin and swinging her leg back and forth.

“Never better!”

Seriously how can someone be so cute.

»»»»

high school

The murderous intent was evident in my eyes as I gazed at Yuki laughing at something the principal’s cockroach son said.

In the beginning, Frank tried to befriend me but I felt something was off and eventually it became very clear to me that he only wanted me to be a handy tool in his pocket ready for emergencies, so I shook him off pretty quickly. Somehow, Frank’s always lingering around me. He’s always loved to single me out whenever I express disinterest in something, in hopes that others would join in. Instead, the girls that fawn over me often tell him to shut up and then they’re confronted by his fangirls and in the end, it’s just a massive cat fight.

He’s nothing but trouble. As the principal’s son, he’s quite popular, almost as popular as me, and he can pretty much get away with anything. Luckily for him, he’s very sly. Hiding behind his minions, he’s never once flat out done anything. Good with underhanded remarks, letting other people take all of the blame, coercing them into doing what he wants. His little groupies pay no heed to any of this, all because he’s handsome. But there’s a large group of people who don’t like him, but nobody has ever said anything straight to his face, thanks to his feared status.

There were rumours earlier this year that on Valentine’s Day, Frank asked Yuki out but she told him that she wanted to focus on school. I’m surprised Frank didn’t get angry at her and punch a wall or something. That sounds like something he would usually do. While I’m proud of Yuki for turning him down, part of me hopes that what she said was just a lie she made up so she could just get away from him. But now, Frank and Yuki are partners on this project, I’m convinced this teacher is trying to set those two up. Soryu, who was partnered with this over-zealous girl looked as if he would smash either his own head or the girl’s if she didn’t stop with her chattering. I’ve been paired up with Luke, unfortunately I’ve been neglecting our work because keeping an eye on Yuki has become too much of a priority. I hate how he gets too close to her, the way he continues to flirt with her and the smug look that’s plastered on his face when he realises that I’m watching. All Luke can do is sigh and shake his head at me.

“I’d gladly switch with Yuki if I didn’t have to put up with him, Eisuke...”

“Hey watch out, you’ll hurt yourself!” Yuki yells, pushing him away before she yelps in pain, drawing her hand back.

For a split second, it’s like I can only see red. I march right up to their desk, in close proximity to the two only to see a red mark across Yuki’s hand. It looks painful. If Frank hadn’t been so careless then Yuki wouldn’t have gotten hurt. What were you thinking!? Why do you need to care so much about everyone else!?

“Oops, I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

“No, I’ll take her.”, I sternly tell Frank. Yuki insists it’s not too big of a deal and that she’s fine.

“Hmph, alright. I’ll make it up to you another way then, Yuki.”

“You don’t need to. Stay away from my girl.” I felt Yuki tense up beside me the moment those words left my mouth. Thinking nothing of it, I took her dainty uninjured hand in my right one and pulled her along with me towards the infirmary. Yuki, being the obedient and polite girl she was followed without a hint of refusal.

Upon our arrival to the medical department of the school, the nurse immediately treated Yuki’s injury. As I gazed at the familiar scene before my eyes, a certain memory played in my head.

“What’s with you and infirmaries?” Were the words that came out of my mouth the very second the school nurse disappeared, probably went back to her office.

She whipped her head towards me, a tiny smile adorning her graceful features. Adorable giggles escaped from her mouth indicating that Yuki too was reminiscing about that particular day.

“You’re too amiable for your own good.” I chuckled, moving to sit into the chair where the nurse was not long ago and grabbing her hand with the nasty burn on it.

“How dare he ruin your precious soft skin like this” Placing a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, I held onto it as I stared deep into her gorgeous blue eyes.

“Is it true you rejected him?” She stared back, cocking her head a little bit to her left at the question, confusion etched on her face.

“On Valentine’s Day, I heard he confessed to you but you turned him down, saying you wanted to focus on your studies. Is that true?” Her face lit up upon remembrance but an almost gloomy expression took over right after.

“Ah...yes, now that you mention it” I squeezed her hand a little tighter but not tight to enough to hurt her as I waited for her to continue.

“That’s only half true though..”

What?

“I also told him I like someone else.”

Oh.

I immediately loosened my grip on her hand.

So that’s why. Heh, what were you even thinking Ichinomiya?

Yuki glanced over to me, fidgeting in her seat with nervousness.

“Won’t you ask who it is?” This time, she grabbed my hand and lightly tug on it preventing me from standing up, causing her to hiss in pain.

“Does it even matter?” I sighed, patting her hand lightly with that flicker of hope in my heart slowly diminishing. As I was about to get on my feet a second time, she said those words which haltered my every movement, completely catching me off guard. Words i’ve wanted to hear for the longest time now from a certain girl I adored more than anything.

“It’s you, Eisuke.”

Good Lord.

“It’s always been you.”

Will I survive if my heart continues to beat this fast every time i’m around her? I’ll have to ask Luke later.

“Eisuke?” Yuki peered at my astounded face snapping me out of my daze. When I look back at her, I thought I could resist just pulling her into my arms and claiming her as mine but boy, was I wrong. I immediately grabbed her chin and captured her silky lips in a somewhat soft and gentle kiss. Laying every emotion bare into our first kiss, Yuki loosely wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she kissed me back with equal passion. We parted and just sat there basking in the pleasure of being in each other’s arms until I decided to break the comfortable silence since a significant amount of time had passed and we needed to go back to the lab.

“You’re mine and I won’t allow you to leave me.” She hummed in response and with a little peck on her lips, I pulled her up with me and exited the infirmary.

Our fingers intertwined perfectly as we walked back to the class feeling oddly at peace - mind, body and soul.

»»»»

“And Soryu teased us so much when we went back to class! But no one was surprised, I mean we were kind of inseparable...” Yuki said bashfully, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. The diamond of her engagement ring caught the light of the setting sun.

“It’s because they knew you were mine.” Professing my undying love for her, I place a fierce kiss on her lips imagining a bright future with my one and only,

“Always have been and always will be.”

•••

[i-cant-handle-change]

There's hardly anything Inko would think was immoral such as being in love.

It played like a cheesy romance movie, she hilariously bumped into him when she carried way too much stuff in her arms. Dropping everything on sight she immediately apologized and hurried to pick up her stuff in the crowded street.

He helped her despite her assuring she could do it herself, apologizing yet thanking him for the help when everything was picked up. She had left with a nervous smile, thanking him for the help she left to get where she was headed, never noticing that he looked at her longer than he should have.

They met again, although Inko wouldn't know it, catching him when she nearly crashed into him with coffee in her hands. She was quick to grab her beverage back, he laughed about thinking that it was a small world that they would see each other again. Inko, with bits of coffee down her hand, had to agree, if she didn't she wouldn't know what else to say.

It was small talk then, full-on conversations afterward, and then a date or two that made both parties happy.

Inko was happy, thinking about how she would ever get the attention of a handsome man in her life. Mitsuki would say her own brutal opinions about him but still tease Inko about getting a man like that apart from hers. Inko would laugh about that, she still would, it wasn't like she wasn't going to laugh about Mitsuki and her husband’s antics.

The dating process was amazing, Inko would only dream to go into places that had the most expensive dishes in Japan. She asked him if he was rich, which in turn, he asked her if that would change anything in him if he was. She didn't have an answer to that but was offered another plate by a waiter while he smiled at her blushing face.

She wasn't used to getting gifts either so being offered gifts with too many zeros in price made her a nervous wreck to wear them. Inko didn't know what to give him, she asked what he wanted in exchange for all the gifts he’d give, and all he told her was to be herself. Once again, he laughed at her flabbergasted expression and kissed her with much passion.

When she was finally asked the million-dollar question, Inko didn't know what to say. Of course, she said yes and was just as overjoyed as he was to be closer than before, a final testament of their undying love of one another. A day she dreamed and feared finally came true, and on that special day, she married the man of her dreams.

After a wonderful honeymoon, Inko had relaxed in her new home, while her husband worked hard to keep everything together. Even when Inko insisted to work at her old job to help pay for the expenses, her husband rejected her offer, telling her that he will take care of everything. Not wanting to create an argument, Inko reluctantly agreed, another kiss was given to her with much love.

She had stayed home after that; other times she went over to meet friends, family, or even some mundane activities. And when her husband got home she had prepared dinner, his bath, and cleaned his clothes as a wife should do. On days off, the two would spend time together in a park, once again, being in love and laugh with joy in their hearts.

Before long, Inko had gotten ill, just some morning sickness that dawned on her before eventually calming down. She rested a bit more, eagerly waiting to see if what she had faced was what she had expected it to be. After two tests and an hour-long crying session, Inko found out the truth, she was pregnant.

Freaking out about the situation, she called Mitsuki for advice but was met with a booming voice of encouragement from the other line. Mitsuki herself was pregnant herself and she was more than happy to share the pain of carrying a living thing inside of her with her best friend. But the problem had finally come to light; how was she going to tell her husband?

Mitsuki was blunt about the answer, after getting her positive tests she just went up to her husband and blatantly confessed about her pregnancy. But Inko being Inko tried to think of other ways to tell her husband about her recent discovery. She was afraid of admitting the truth so early on that it might shock him as it did to her.

Small trinkets and jokes didn't deter her husband at the slightest, he would smile and think it was nothing. Days would go by and still, Inko struggled to tell her husband the truth even if she rehearsed it like a chant before he came home. She figured this night, this dinner she made of Katsudon for her and her husband will be the night she told him the truth.

She struggled like all those previous times, fumbling over her words as her husband looked up from his food in worry.

“Inko, what’s wrong?”

She held her breath, eyes scanning her barely eaten food she slowly let out her breath.

“Hisashi, dear, “she looked up at her husband, “I have to tell you something.”

[bureowo]

love confessions | stray kids headcanons (danceracha version)

how they would confess their love for you.

genre: fluff. | word count: ~2k total. | warnings: none.

. ⋅ ˚̣-:✧masterlist✧:-˚̣⋅ .

a/n: hi i’m back with a new hc post (❀◦‿◦) i’m trying a new format w this one pls let me know how we feel abt it! i really hope you enjoy it ( • ᵕ • )♡ i’ll try to post the other parts soon!! 💗

⊹ minho ⊹

❥ there’s not a chance minho is confessing until he’s absolutely, one hundred percent sure that his feelings for you are reciprocated. it’s just not happening, sorry luv. 😔

❥ that being said, though, he would definitely still dip his toe in the water.

❥ he’d flirt with you, very subtly at first, only to test your reaction; but overtime (and if you don’t show any signs of discomfort) he’d grow more and more daring.

❥ minho’s got a keen eye, taking mental notes of every single compliment or pet name that leaves you flustered or manages to draw out a bashful giggle from within you.

❥ however ! as much as he’s constantly and shamelessly batting his eyes at you, he’s also rather ‘hot and cold’ about it.

❥ it’s not like he’s purposefully trying to keep you on your toes or anything like that, it’s just... sometimes you smile at him so brightly, or you look at him with such a gleam in you eyes..., that his heart feels like it’s being squeezed, compressed against his chest; so he needs to tone it down sometimes, just so he can catch his breath.

❥ it’s one evening when the two of you are hanging out that minho is being uncharacteristically quiet.

❥ you try to make up for his quietude, not wanting to push him if he’s not in a particularly chatty mood, yet, soon enough, you begin running out of topics to blather about.

❥ sure, he chuckles at the little remarks and facial expressions you make as you speak, but the way he’s looking at you makes the hairs all over your body stand on end; there’s just something about it you can’t quite put your finger on.

❥ so you suggest watching a movie. he agrees with a soft grin and you power on your laptop; you read out a few titles, summarizing the plot and commenting on the posters.

❥ but all you get in response is: “whichever you like, y/n.”

❥ you turn around to face minho, eyebrows furrowed slightly. “hey, is everything okay?” he seems taken aback by your question. “it’s just- i don’t know, you’re being kinda... silent” you trail off.

❥ “it’s okay if it’s just that!” you add quickly, your words almost jumbling together. “if you just don’t wanna talk- it’s alright, i just- i care about you, so... yeah...”

❥ your face feels so warm you think you could burst into flames at any given moment.

❥ minho looks down, gnawing on his lip and fingers fumbling with each other for what feels like an eternity; your stomach churns every time he sighs.

❥ eventually, he peers at you through his lashes, and you swear you catch a glimpse of a rosy blush ghosting over his cheekbones for the fraction of a second.

❥ “y/n, i-” he stalls, his hands still fidgeting restlessly on his lap. “i'm fine, i just- i love you.”

❥ all your motor functions seem to stop working at once (did he really just say that??).

❥ “what?” you gape at him, voice small and eyes doe.

❥ “i love you, y/n.” he repeats. “and i care about you too, a lot.” minho’s gaze pierces straight through yours and your heart rate raises to a hundred beats per minute.

❥ “minho-” your head is spinning so fast you don’t even know what you’re saying, but when you feel his fingers intertwining with yours, it’s like the words draw themselves out of your mouth. “i love you too.”

❥ and the way he beams at you so radiantly before leaning in to press his mouth over yours makes you feel a way you’ve never felt before.

❥ (you did end up watching a movie, although neither of you paid much attention to it, finding each other’s lips to be much more captivating.)

⊹ hyunjin ⊹

❥ poor little bub, he’d get so nervous once he actually commits himself to confessing his feelings for you, you’d end up thinking he’s purposefully avoiding you.

❥ but he just wants it to be absolutely perfect you know? like, straight out of a movie scene, so he just needs time to map out the perfect plan.

❥ and once he’s got it all figured out, it’s time to set ‘operation: steal y/n’s heart’ into motion. 👏

❥ it’s early noon on a sunday when you suddenly get a text from hyunjin – ‘it’s lovely outside today! do you wanna hang out at the park?’

❥ and, happy that he’s no longer seemingly evading you, you agree – ‘sure i’ll meet you there in ten!’

❥ but ! hyunjin wasn’t expecting you to accede so readily; still, he can’t just ask you, out of the blue, to wait half an hour before leaving, he doesn’t want you to get suspicious.

❥ so he hurriedly gathers his things, quickly double-checking that he’s got everything he needs to sweep you off your feet, before scurrying out the front door.

❥ you arrive at the park, and hyunjin’s heart begins hammering inside his chest the second he spots you amongst the people; you look so incredibly stunning as you glide through the crowd (ethereal, hyunjin thinks).

❥ you catch sight of him standing on a less populated side of the park, a blanket spread out over the grass beside him, and rush over to him, greeting him as soon as you reach him.

❥ “ooh, did you prepare all of this for me?” you ask him merrily, a playful grin on your face while you motion towards the picnic basket and multiple containers filled with various fruits.

❥ “yes” he wants to tell you; but instead he turns around, hoping you didn’t see the blush dusting over his cheeks. he sits himself on the blanket and you follow suit.

❥ for a bit, hyunjin relaxes, he even nearly forgets his true intentions, loosing himself in the way your eyes shine as you tell him what you’ve been up to and the hums you let out when you pop a particularly sweet grape into your mouth.

❥ you smile at him, tilting your head down slightly. “why are you looking at me like that?” you simper.

❥ hyunjin’s heart does a somersault all the way up to his trachea. “i just-” he clears his throat. “you make me so crazy.”

❥ he rubs his hands over his face, you cock an eyebrow, yet before you can retort he keeps going: “i’m so crazy for you, y/n, you make me forget where i am and what i’m doing. all i can do is think of you, and look at you, and love you. god, y/n, i’m so in love with you, sometimes i don’t know what to do with myself.”

❥ you feel warm despite the breeze licking your face, the butterflies inside your stomach flap their little wings so fast you just can’t help but let out a chortle at the sensation.

❥ his hand moves to encompass yours and you can’t get the words out fast enough so you lean across the soft blanket and plant your mouth over his own.

❥ his lips are soft, supple, and taste sweet, like the strawberries he’d been eating.

❥ “i love you too.” you mumble as your fingers entangle themselves in his hair.

❥ (hyunjin ended up forgetting about his original plan, and about the bouquet of flowers laying inside the picnic basket, though he did give it to you later after he walked you home; you held his hand the entire way there, and his heart beat frantically as he kissed you goodbye.)

⊹ felix ⊹

❥ it’s not that felix isn’t planning on confessing, on ultimately declaring his undying love for you with a grand, romantic display.

❥ he just kinda thought you’d know about his feelings by now? like, how could you not?? especially since he’s been acting more and more bold each time the both of you meet.

❥ he’s not shy about holding your hand whenever he feels the longing, or lingering for an extra second or two when he gets the chance to hold you.

❥ but if you’re not picking up on the very obvious seed trail he’s laying out for you, then it’s time to draw out the big guns. 😎

❥ and so, he texts you – ‘hey! wanna come over & help me bake?’ – and, of course, you agree.

❥ you arrive at his doorstep and felix greets you with a wide smile and a warm hug; the cozy feeling stays with you even after the two of you part.

❥ he ushers you into the kitchen and you don’t seem to notice how his hand remains on your shoulder as he follows behind you.

❥ all ingredients and utensils are set up and ready on the kitchen counter.

❥ “what are we making?” you question him with a smile so beautiful he actually has to stop and think about it.

❥ “uh-” he mutters, his eyes focused on you. “oh, yeah! cupcakes!”

❥ you lower your chin ever so slightly, evading his gaze for a split second (could you be... blushing?), and felix grins, pleased.

❥ the two of you start mixing the ingredients, chit-chatting as you normally would, except you could swear he’s flirting with you; he showers you in compliments for every little thing you do (“woah y/n, you’re so good at sifting the flour!”, “ooh, you cracked this egg so perfectly, y/n, look!”), his fingers encase yours every time he asks you to hand him something, and you keep catching him glancing over at your lips.

❥ your stomach rumbles, but you can’t tell if it’s from hunger or from the butterflies flapping their wings furiously inside it.

❥ you set the tray of cupcakes inside the oven before turning around and leaning over the kitchen table, gaze fixed pointedly on felix across from you; he just looks so dreamy, brows furrowed in concentration and arm flexed as he whisks the mix for the frosting, you could look at him all day.

❥ he gazes back at you and the corners of his mouth tug up into what you can only describe as a smirk.

❥ your breath catches in your throat at the very moment the mixer judders in his hand and you let out an audible gasp when frosting spritz all over the both of you.

❥ felix looks at you like a deer in the headlights, but you can’t help the giggles that bubble from within your chest.

❥ “this isn’t how i wanted this to go, but,” he scratches the back of his head (unconsciously smearing frosting all over his hair), a chuckle escaping past his lips and a toothy smile on his face. “i love you, y/n.”

❥ your digit glides over the table, scooping some of the mixture before gently tapping his nose. “i love you too.” you chirp.

❥ felix leans towards you, hand reaching out to caress your cheek; he gapes at you for a moment, completely enthralled.

❥ you get even nearer to him, your mouth opens (god, he can’t stop staring at your lips).

❥ “do you smell something burning?” you ask.

❥ “oh no, my cupcakes!”

❥ (although felix didn’t get to decorate the cupcakes with little frosting hearts, or spell ‘i ♡ u’ with the cupcakes, or even make cupcakes for that matter, he figured things worked out okay anyway; in the end, he got loads of cuddles and kisses out of it, and i love you sounded a whole lot better coming out of your mouth.)

[blvejeanbaby]

Play Ground | Jung Yunho

Pairing: Yunho x reader, mention of reader with other idols (but it’s still basically a non!idol au) Word count: 3.8k Warnings: mentions of sex, alcohol consumption Summary: Drunken words are sober thoughts... sometimes spoken at clubs and playgrounds

The pre-party was in full swing. Yeosang and San were over by the counter, preparing a second batch of mojitos, which you weren't sure you were going to drink (the previous one had contained far too much rum and you were not one to water down your drinks); Jongho was in charge of the music, arguing with your friend Ginny about the line-up (she wanted a certain sing-along Beyoncé ballad). Your eyes passed over Wooyoung and Mingi, who were a beer pong team against Seonghwa and Hongjoong, who were losing spectacularly. And finally, your eyes found Yunho. He was standing by the sliding doors leading into the back garden, watching the beer pong game over the rim of his red cup with an amused look in his eyes. Just then, your eyes met. You smiled, not wanting to appear suspicious by looking away too quickly. He smirked back at you, pushed off the wall and sauntered over to you.

He was drunk. It was quite clear now that he was walking (damn Yeosang and San's cocktail making abilities!) by the slight stumble in his walk as he passed the column in the middle of the room. He was rather clumsy as he dropped down onto the couch next to you. From up close, you could see his cheeks were slightly rosy and his eyes held a shimmer to them that suggested... something more. You weren't sure what. "You were sitting here all lonesome," he said.

"Lonesome?" You raised your eyebrows. "I was enjoying peace, quiet and voluntary solitude." You patted the throw pillow that lay in between you and Yunho. "I was considering taking a nap, actually. You know how alcohol makes me drowsy."

"Does it, now?" He held his cup out to me. "Sip?"

"Is it mojito?" But as you leaned to smell, it was a lot sweeter than the medicinal smell of the rum. "What is this?"

"Some Spanish liquor," Yunho said. "Mixed with milk."

Indeed, the substance in his cup was quite white. You wrinkled your nose. Even though his description suggested otherwise, the smell promised a sweet taste. "I think I'll pass." You leaned back against the couch, pulling your legs up under yourself. "Shall we play Never Have I Ever with the others? I'm bored."

“Sure. I’ll call them over.” You held your breath; Yunho leaned in as if to give you a kiss, but he only put his cup on the table behind you before getting up and rounding up the others. A pang of disappointment shot through you as you watched him gather your friends. Provided with newly filled cups of San and Yeosang’s mojito mix, everyone settled around you on the couch. You felt as though you were about to tell a grand story and everyone was gathering to listen. You were glad Yunho went to sit down beside you again, even if it was just to feel his body warmth.

“Who starts?” Hongjoong asked before taking a tentative sip from his cup. He made a face; evidently the mojito tasted bad.

“I will,” you said. After all, it was your idea. “Never have I ever... made out with anyone in this room.” You took a sip and winked at Ginny. You weren’t the only one to lift your cup: San and Wooyoung looked, rather suspiciously, away from each other as they drank, as did Jongho and your friend Yeeun.

“My turn,” Mingi said. You felt Yunho stiffen beside you. “Never have I ever had feelings for someone in this room.”

You lifted your eyebrows as you watched Yunho decidedly take a sip. You followed, as did Wooyoung. When no one else drank, you saw how Wooyoung’s face fell. You also saw Ginny throw you a wink this time.

Now, it was Yeeun’s time to think of a question. “Never have I ever... thrown up in my mom’s vegetable garden.” She looked at Jimin intently. Jimin laughed, taking a sip. She was the only one to.

The game continued for another while, after which the group split into two: those who wanted to smoke outside and those who wanted to play a round of truth or dare. You watched Yunho go with your eyes as he left to smoke, you staying with the group inside. You didn’t feel much for playing the game, but you stayed nonetheless.

It was Mingi who asked you your first question of truth. “I saw you drink just now... Who is it you had feelings for?”

Everyone’s eyes were on you. You were glad that Yunho, San, Wooyoung, Seonghwa and your girl friends weren’t there, but at the same time you missed Ginny. She would understand your inner turmoil at the moment. But you had had a bit to drink now and there was no denying it...

“Come on!” Mingi pressed you. “Tell us. You picked truth!”

“Fine,” you sighed. “It’s-”

“We need to go!” The sliding door to the garden was thrown open and Seonghwa burst inside, looking all sorts of frantic. “We needed to be queueing at the club ten minutes ago!”

Seonghwa had been right in trying to plan the evening. You should’ve arrived earlier to ensure not queueing for too long. But there was nothing to do about it now, as the line to enter the club passed down several other establishments on the road. You stood next to Ginny, who was chatting animatedly to San about something to do with university. You saw Wooyoung throw the boy many glances that were probably very meaningful, but you didn’t quite understand what was going on there.

You were just about to turn to him to ask if anything was wrong, when your eyes moved past him and saw... “Changkyun?”

Changkyun and his friend Jooheon immediately looked up. When Changkyun saw you, his eyes lit up, as if he was happy to see you. “Y/N!” He gestured for you to come closer, so you did, stepping past Ginny to get to the barrier in order to hug Changkyun. You two had had a casual thing for a while, but it had ended a few weeks ago because he got himself a girlfriend. Finally, you had thought when he announced to you via text that he couldn’t see you anymore. Although you knew via Ginny that the girlfriend had up and left already. “It’s been so long.”

“I know,” you said. Being back in Changkyun’s arms felt so familiar, you almost couldn’t breathe. “Come on,” you drew back from his embrace and tapped the top of the barrier. “Come stand with me.”

Changkyun and Jooheon didn’t have to think twice; the line was so long already. Because of your history of hooking up, Ginny had often been left with Jooheon. She spun to talk to him as Changkyun cornered you against the wall. It was clear that this was perhaps one of the first few times he was going out again after breaking up with his short-term girlfriend. He wanted a rebound, apparently... “What have you been up to?”

You started explaining something completely irrelevant about your past week - you had been rather cooped up inside trying to study for an important exam and had seen very little alcohol and very little night life. You didn’t ask for details on Changkyun’s week, fearing it would be awkward to talk about the ex-girlfriend, but he started talking about her himself.

As soon as you entered the club, you felt excited. The buzz you had felt during pre-gaming had worn off a bit, so you instantly dragged Changkyun with you to the bar. He paid for your drink, which told you quite clearly what his intentions with you were for tonight. You weren’t about to say no, not to the drink and not to his plans.

Until you spotted him. Yunho stood with his back against the wall, listening to Yeeun telling what was possibly a great story about her favourite activity in life (flower arranging; oddly enough she always found a way to sneak it into conversation). He ought to be looking at Yeeun, but he wasn't. Instead, his eyes were trained on you.

You quickly looked back at Changkyun, feeling suddenly awkward, as if Yunho had caught you in a very compromising position with Kyun. But it was nothing like that, not yet at least. You tried to smile at Changkyun, to appear normal, but you could feel it wasn't at all convincing. You felt a sudden urge to tell Kyun to fuck off (he didn't deserve that rudeness, he was perfectly gentlemanly in every way), push Yeeun out of the way and confess your undying love for Yunho. But that was madness.

So you excused yourself to the toilet instead. Luckily, there was a long line and, unlucky for you, it caused you to have time to overthink. Would you have hooked up with Changkyun any other night? Definite yes. He was hot, good in bed, had a good personality and always treated you with respect. His friends and roommates were amazing and you liked sleeping over there, even if only to appreciate the view from his apartment and the softness of his bed. But tonight was different.

Perhaps it was because you had admitted it, if not to others than at least to yourself; you liked Yunho. You had a crush on him. You thought of the way he had sipped at the question (he was in love with someone!), the way his eyes were on you and not on Yeeun. He couldn't be in love with Ginny, you told yourself. If it was Jimin, that was just immoral; Mingi had a massive crush on her. No, it was none of them... so it had to be you. Or had he just been playing around? Had he misunderstood the question?

You quickly did your business at the toilet, wanting to return to the club’s main area to dance. You passed by the bar, which was void of Changkyun. You found him a moment later on the edge of the dance floor, his front stuck to an unknown girl’s backside. On the hunt for a rebound, as you had suspected. You smiled at Jooheon as you passed by; he was dancing with Ginny. They were always platonic, but you weren’t sure if they would remain that way.

Instead, you found Yeeun, Yunho, Hongjoong and Jongho a little further into the mass of bodies on the dance floor. Jongho was looking wistfully at Jimin, who was a few metres away, dancing closely with San. Behind him, Seonghwa and Wooyoung were just returning with drinks in their hands, the latter looking at San with a similar expression as Jongho at Jimin. You, however, turned your attention to Yunho. His was already on you.

You decided to test your theory. For Ginny’s birthday last year, you and the girls had all arranged for her to have both a pole dance lesson and a lesson in burlesque dancing. If there was one thing you had learned from that, it was to feel comfortable and confident. It was that feeling you summoned as you adjusted your movements to the rhythm of the music, attempting to make yourself as sexy and appealing as possible. You suspected you needed little effort to get Yunho’s attention, as he was already looking at you and only you, but you could aid the situation this way. If you wanted something to happen... this was the way to accomplish it.

The music was loud, the bodies around you sweaty. You were way too alert of everything that was happening around you, but at the same time you were oddly focused on Yunho only. And that’s when something snapped in him.

He was by you in a second, accidentally shoving Yeeun out the way and into Seonghwa’s arms, in an attempt to get to you faster. He was intoxicated, very clearly so. He would never be as bold as to touch you where he touched you now; his right hand was on your hip, his left cupped your face. He tilted your face upwards and bend over. Your breath hitched. Was he going to kiss you? But no, he bend a little further to speak in your ear: “I thought tonight you would be with Changkyun.” He spit his name, angrily. You had never heard Yunho talk of anyone that way.

“Not if you’ll be with me,” you said, feeling bold. You wanted to reach up and touch Yunho, but it was always you taking the lead. He had never been this way before, always taking a backseat to everyone else. Oh no, don’t mistake him for not having personality or confidence. He wasn’t shy, he wasn’t reserved. But he was careful, sometimes near calculating. Yunho knew what he wanted and how to get it, but he would prefer to wait and see. And there you were, answering his unspoken calls, finally. Finally forgetting about Changkyun.

“Let’s leave,” Yunho said.

“Leave?” And leave our friends behind? you wanted to ask.

“I have something I want to show you,” he said.

You pulled back a little so you could see his eyes. He was drunk, yes, but not so drunk that he could not think clearly. “Okay,” you heard yourself say.

Five minutes later you had said goodbye to your friends (Ginny already congratulated you on your catch, even though nothing had happened yet; Wooyoung had looked sourly on as he promised to tell San you had said goodbye; San was pressed against a girl’s backside; Changkyun and his girl were getting thrown out by a security guy for him fingering her in the club’s bathrooms), you had collected your coats from the wardrobe and you were on your way to whatever Yunho wanted to show you.

The night air sobered you up significantly and with a tentative peak at Yunho, you could see that it had the same effect on him. Your hands swung in between you two, occasionally brushing against each other. You bit your lip, gathering all of the courage inside you to reach out just a little bit and -

His hand was warm in yours.

You couldn’t help but look up at him and smile. He was staring straight ahead, but by the bulging of his cheek, you could see he was smiling too.

After a few minutes of walking, Yunho led you into a park. There were no lights on inside, there was only the glow of the street lights a little ways away. You had frequented the park when you were younger. Every day after school, you would go there to hang out, unaware that you were scaring the younger kids away. You hadn’t been to the park in months now, years even. You didn’t think Yunho would be so sentimental as to take you here.

The park’s center piece was a large playground, complete with every playset you could imagine: slides of different heights, seesaws with an animal theme, an array of different swings. And there was a relatively big, wooden playhouse. It was the playhouse you had had your first kiss, the playhouse where you got drunk for the first time. It was that exact playhouse that Yunho started climbing into - he had to let go of your hand to do so.

You followed him inside. The interior was warmer than outside, despite the many holes in the wood. Even though the floor of the house was covered in sand, you didn’t mind sitting down, because it meant sitting next to Yunho. In honesty, he was all too big for the playhouse. He had to pull up his knees to be able to fit his legs and he had to slump down a little bit to not hit his head, but he seemed comfortable nonetheless. And more importantly, he seemed to be staring at you.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” you asked, getting shifty under his gaze.

“Oh!” Yunho said, as if he’d forgotten. He shot up a little, hitting his head on the roof of the playhouse.

You laughed softly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, rubbing his head.

You sat up a little, taking the hand that was rubbing his head in yours and softly pulling it away to reveal the damage done. There was nothing to show for it, although you imagined there would be a nice little bump the next morning. You bent over and pressed a kiss on the sore spot. “There.” You swore Yunho blushed.

He moved on quickly, saying: “This is what I wanted to show you.” He took out his phone, using it as a flashlight. Yunho pointed it at the wall of the playhouse, revealing a drawing. It was a heart, shot through with an arrow. On the left side stood YH, on the right YN.

You moved closer, taking out your finger and stroking the drawing. “How long has this been here?”

“Remember when we came here the night before graduation? We played truth or dare.” You nodded, remembering how, at the end of the night, everyone was escorted out of the park by police after ignoring noise complaints and being drunk in public. Luckily, because you were underage, the police had settled for contacting your parents and sending you home with a warning. “I hid in the bushes when the police came. I managed to sneak away. I figured they’d only be warning us for the noise, so I came back when I saw their cars drive away. Only, everyone had gone. I didn’t know if others had managed to escape the police, so I climbed in here to wait it out for a moment. When no one returned...” Yunho shrugged. “I thought it was going to be the last time we would all be here together. And I wanted to leave a trace of us behind.”

“A trace of us?” you said, tracing the outlines of the heart. “Of Yunho and Y/N.”

“I was in love with you. All throughout high school.”

You felt your heart contract. “You were?”

Yunho nodded. “I know you didn’t, don’t, feel the same way.” He shrugged. “You had a massive crush on Jeon Jungkook when he was still in school with us, right? And then, the year of our graduation, you suddenly shifted your focus onto Moon Kevin! I was so upset.” He laughed a little, as if it was funny. “And then you got with Changkyun.”

You saw all of the faces of the boys he mentioned in your mind. Jungkook, whom you indeed had had a crush on, but so did the entire school. That was never serious. And then Kevin... It had been a little bit more serious, but you found out he was dating some ulzzang and you had given up. And then Changkyun...

“None of that was ever serious,” you said. You thought of Changkyun. You had only been seeing him for about a year or so - way past graduation. You jerked your head up. “When you said you were in love with me... You are not still, are you?”

Yunho didn’t respond, just looked away to his phone, turning off the flashlight.

You figured he wouldn’t respond at all, unless prompted by you... “Because if you are,” you started, gulping. Were you really about to do this? There was no turning back now. “...then that would be really fortunate. Cause I- Cause I’m in love with you too.”

Now it was Yunho’s turn to jerk his head up quickly. “You’re just saying that.”

“No!” Your eyes, used to the dark, searched his face. “I mean it.”

There was a long pause, and then a smile broke out on his face. “You do?”

You couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “I do, Yunho.” You wanted to reach out and take a hold of his hand, but he had something different in mind. He grabbed your face, in a rather rough manner that revealed the alcohol had not made its way out of his system entirely, and pressed his lips firmly against yours.

It felt so different from every single kiss you had had before. Where before, you had not been able to stop comparing every partner to the previous, you were now only focused on Yunho. On the way his grip on your face softened as his other hand found purchase on your waist. On the way he made a little yelping sound as he pulled you closer - so close that he lost his balance and toppled over backwards, you following him without breaking the kiss.

You didn’t want the moment to ever end. You were far too content just lazily dragging your tongue against his, his hands exploring your body. After what felt like an eternity, you pulled away from him, Yunho’s lips following yours needily. But you sat up a little, too far away for him to reach. “We should head home,” you said.

“Nah,” Yunho said, pulling you by your hands so you fell softly on top of him. “I don’t want us to face drunken Mingi.”

Your heart burst at the thought of what he meant - he thought you had wanted to come home with him. There was no way you would suggest taking Yunho home to Ginny and Seonghwa - the latter of which seemed to be permanently crashing at your place after being thrown out by his partner two weeks ago. And so instead, you shuffled down a little bit so you could lay your head on Yunho’s chest and close your eyes.

You could feel Yunho’s heartbeat, as well as his chest rising and falling with every breath. The soothing atmosphere (the birds of the park slowly coming back to life, chittering away) made you so sleepy, you didn’t know where the night ended and sleep began. At least you knew when the morning came.

You opened your eyes, groaning a little. You were hungover; you felt the headache as soon as you opened your eyes. Your eyes were met by another pair and -

“Argh!” You shot upright, your scream causing Yunho to wake up too. He shot up, hitting his head on the roof of the playhouse once again. In scaring you, the little kid seemed to be scared himself; his eyes disappeared from the entrance of the playhouse, followed by a thump and a yell: “Mom! Mom!”

Yunho rubbed his head, muttering angrily under his breath.

You wiped the sleep out of your eyes, not caring that you were wiping your makeup off as well. “We should go.”

“Before they call the police on us,” Yunho agreed.

But even if the mother would have called the police, it wouldn’t ruin your day. Instead, you figured it would have been a perfect full circle moment.

[anika-ann]

The Winter Tale (S.R.)

(Of Snowflakes, Hard Fallings and Soft Landings)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader    Word Count: 3900

Summary:

Scoring a date with Steve Rogers is not easy. One’s gotta be patient.

Fall might blend into winter before you get to go out with him, but know one thing; Steve Rogers makes things worth your while.

Warnings: swearing and tooth-rotting fluff (no really, it’s strong with this one, and it’s me saying that, so...)

A/N: Sequel to The Fall Tale, works as a standalone too I guess

The Fall Tale (previous one-shot)

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Fall was reluctantly letting winter take over, as it usually happened towards the end of November, and you were still painfully single. Technically at least, because you yet had Steve Rogers to take you out on your first date.

How was that possible? Glad you asked. It was because fate was a bitch, to put it eloquently. Steve had got your number with almost a scout’s-honour promise to call you soon, and then he didn’t. He lied. Like a liar.

To be fair, after three days of you being mad at the embodiment of truth and justice for all, Steve Rogers did call you, awfully apologetic and sounding truly regretful and either he was that good of a liar who even hired foreigners to be his alibi, or he really was on a market somewhere in Eastern Europe, catching his breath in a middle of a mission.

Being angry with him got considerably harder after that, especially since two days later, you read about a major showdown in his supposed current location and saw a brief footage of him protecting innocent civilians.

Because Steve damn Rogers just had to get more perfect.

The thing was, right after that mission, there was another one, this time lasting twelve full days. You were incredibly pissed at the circumstances – and maybe a little bit angry with Steve too – but mostly mad at the circumstances that didn’t want you to get romantically involved any time soon.

Sure, you could have just told Steve off, bid him goodbye and find someone else, but you couldn’t.

Because Steve tried his best to stay in contact whenever time and safety measures allowed it, texting, calling and on one precious occasion, even facetiming. And once he relaxed a bit – which seemed to be always happening rather soon into the communication, allegedly because you made him feel like a normal guy – Steve could be an entirely nice guy and you couldn’t make yourself let go.

Steve Rogers was kind, charming, witty, which was a cocktail you would never say no to, but on top of that, he was panties-dropping gorgeous. So even if the chances were that eventually, after the date actually happened, you might only end up like friends due to the immense distance between your league and his, you would feel like an idiot if you didn’t try to make it work, hence waiting for him to have a damn day off.

And you didn’t regret it; the date was totally worth the wait.

Yes, the weather sucked, so your clothes was perfectly damp just like your hair just from walking from your door to the cab due to the wildly swirling snowflakes, but Steve held the car door open for you, standing right there in the cold just to be a gentleman for you. He also reluctantly took your hand once inside the cab and even dropped a shy kiss on its back, his demeanour and bright blues reminding you exactly why you had been patient.

The restaurant was nice but not too fancy, which didn’t prevent Steve from opening doors for you, pulling out your chair, letting you order first and generally doing swoon-worthy things that made you feel both touched and aroused. The less posh environment didn’t make either of you feel bad for laughing and being entirely unsubtle, as the conversation varied from light to serious, laughter blending into chuckles and need to touch each other’s warmth for comfort. There was teasing, there was touching, there were unexpectedly dropped lines that made your heart flutter and there was inevitable falling deeper into the pit labelled ‘adoring Steve Rogers.’

“You really are going for the whole shebang tonight, aren’t you?” you teased him lightly when he helped you put on your coat and informed you that he made a reservation to a cinema.

The blush that crept up his neck caused you to feel even giddier than before. The wine you had both ordered might have not affected his brain as he had told you, but it had definitely coloured his cheeks rosy – and yet, now they grew even hotter.

“I mean, we don’t have to-- I don’t-“

You took his hand and squeezed, which shut him up effectively, his expression puzzled and hesitant.

“I would love to spent more time with you, Steve,” you assured him and he smiled sweetly as the cold air from outside caressed your face.

Your breath caught in your chest at the sight you were offered. Yes, New York never lasted long as a winter wonderland, but right now? Now it seemed almost magical as the freshly fallen snow proudly displayed its silvery white.

“Is the reservation paid?” you blurted out, your head snapping to Steve’s only to see disapproval on his face.

“I don’t want you to worry about that-“

“Not an answer.”

“… it’s not,” Steve replied, frowning a bit. “I wasn’t sure how long we would need for the dinner or if you’d even like to go. So… you don’t? Want to go?”

You wondered how Steve did not see the child-lie enthusiasm radiating off you with how perceptive he appeared to be so far. He missed it altogether, apparently, because he sounded disappointed.

It dawned to you that he didn’t get many chances to just go and see a movie and you instantly felt bad for rejecting something he kept his hoped up for.

You couldn’t have Steve sad, even if he was barely showing it. Not to mention that he had been treating you almost like a princess, you sure as hell wouldn’t treat him like you were the evil queen.

“Well, if you really do want to go, we can…”

He only shrugged his broad shoulders, charming a small smile for you.

“It’s up to you. I can cancel the reservation if you have something else in mind. Whatever to keep that beautiful smile on your face,” he offered and your stomach actually flipped as butterflies filled it for the hundredth time that day.

That was your thought exactly about him, but nope, of course he beat you to it and on top dropping a line like that, he was the embodiment of perfection when delivering it.

Steve looked so hot and adorable at the same time that you had to fight yourself not to jump to his arms and kiss him senseless. Pink plush lips, slightly red cheeks, gorgeous blue with a drop of green of his eyes twinkling and he wore such a kind expression that it made your heart simultaneously weep and race.

He kept complimenting you so effortlessly and was so considerate the whole evening too and you weren’t sure how much more you could take before you forgone all self-control and pinned him to the nearest wall; or casually confessed your undying love for him.

“Steven, you are a dangerous man. You should wear a damn warning,” you grumbled insetad, smiling so widely your mouth might actually tear.

He pursed his lips a bit, head tilted to side a fraction, looking like a confused kicked puppy.

Jesus, Steve, stop it or I’ll have to kiss you and I want you to kiss me, so please, be considerate of my lack of self-restraint.

“What did I do?”

“You’re being annoyingly perfect-“ oh now he was frowning hard, “-not like annoying annoying, but—you know. Just… I have a hard time believing this is actually happening. I really like you, Steve Rogers.”

The lines of his forehead smoothened out at your admission, his expression softening as did his gaze.

He helped you put on your gloves, fingers skimming over the first bare and then clothed skin tenderly, small sad smile playing in the corner of his lips.

His eyes met yours, the twinkle in his eyes you which already learned to love dimming. “Well, I did sort of make you wait for almost a month. Not so perfect. No warning needed.”

You had to physically fight yourself so you wouldn’t snort unattractively at the remark; yeah, the said waiting did nothing to protect your heart now. Sadly, your brain-to-mouth wasn’t fully functioning, still letting out more than it was appropriate for a first date.

“Steve, even with that, you’re making it very hard not to fall for you.”

Well, shit. The first admission had been playful. This one sounded pretty clingy. Now he was about to run off and think you a crazy girl-

But Steve didn’t. His face lit up with gratitude and affection and then a smirk found its way to his lips.

“That’s good to know. But I happen to recall a particular moment when you have already fallen-“

A surprised exasperated laughter erupted from your throat, and you actually had to gasp to gather both air and your wits. That little sh-

You yanked your hands free from his, raising your index finger towards his face.

“You know what, forget it, I’m taking it back!” you exclaimed, taking a pointed step back as Steve chuckled. “You are not perfect, you are a jerk and I think I should go home-“

“No, no wait-“ He reached out for you, but you took another step away, squinting at him playfully.

“I wanted to walk with you in the park, taking in the romantic sight of clean New York snow, but you know what? I don’t think I wanna anymore-“

Steve made a lunge for you and grabbed your hands, raising it to his face to drop kisses on your gloves- well, damn, now you regretted that he had so kindly put them on you.

“No, wait, doll, let’s walk. Unless you’re going to be cold-“

“There are some thermal microfibres in those tights or whatever, I won’t be,” you grumbled and he beamed as you unwittingly showed him that you weren’t really mad even despite his little-shit display earlier.

You said won’t be not wouldn’t have been and Steve appeared to be entirely content with you yielding so easily.

Well, damn it, it was really hard to keep up with Steve’s wits and humour; you loved it.

“Very well then. May I offer you a walk in the park, ma’am?” he said, holding out his elbow in invitation – the one farther from the road, of course, gentleman – and you chuckled, unable to help yourself.

“It was my idea, you know. Also, depends – are you going to be a jerk?”

“You wound me, miss,” he clutched at his chest theatrically, but definitely tugged you a bit closer when you slipped your arm through the loop of his own just in case you were about to change your mind when another of his jokes inevitably arrived.

“Sure I am.”

You barely made few steps without a word, when his gaze fixed on your face for long enough for you to get nervous.

“…what is it?”

He smiled, gently tugging at your joined arms, and looked you dead in the eye. “I really like you too.”

Oh. Oh. Okay. Where did all the oxygen go? And when did your heart started pounding so loudly in your chest?

“And for the record, I find it impossible not to fall for you.”

You lowered your gaze under the intensity of his, watching your feet walking in tandem as your cheeks burned and your head spun.

“A friggin’ warning,” you muttered under your breath darkly, drawing a breathy chuckle from Steve, followed by his ‘I mean it.’

Truth was, a warning wouldn’t have helped, probably. Because Steve Rogers was impossible not to fall for; but he was definitely worth it.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

You weren’t sure what possessed you; must have been the wine, lowering your inhibitions.

Once again, you couldn’t contain your child-like behaviour.

One moment, you were walking in the park, dim street lights causing the snow glow brighter, fluffy and pure, as not many people were here to disturb the peace. Even the city fell almost silent in the first snow’s honour, as if grateful for the good two inches it was given.

The next moment, you freed yourself of Steve’s warm hold and hurried from the path to gather enough of the wet delight to make a snowball – and hit the pole nearby streetlamp with a surprising precision.

You turned to Steve with a grin, finding him mirroring your expression and clapping, a sound muffle by his own thin gloves.

“Very good aim. I’m impressed,” he assured you and you curtsey for him like the child you were and went to try again.

Before you could finish making a perfect ammunition, three balls hit the very same pole in quick succession, causing you to gasp and swiftly turn to Steve – who winked at you with a shit-eating grin on his face.

It was a justified display of smugness, because he stood almost ten feet behind you, the distance from which he hit the pole actually impressive.

Wow.

“Show-off,” you called out silently, drawing a shrug from him. You went to try your aim again to settle the unofficial score and whined when you missed. “Okay, you win, Rogers.”

Steve, on the other hand, continued his strike and hit three more; you noticed him bending for more snow, making a quick and very dumb decision as an idea popped up in your mind.

As he was busy showing off his skills, you got your own two bullets ready and shot-- one of them did hit your target, which just happened to be Steve’s chest.

His mouth formed a theatrical ‘o’ and you couldn’t but double over in laughter despite missing with your next attempt.

“You didn’t!” he gasped, clearly genuinely shocked that you in fact had hit him with a snowball. “Now you’ll get it!”

In hindsight, you should have known that it was like waving a red cloth in front of a bull; you should have realized that Steve would take it as a challenge to a snowball fight.

And it was very obvious from the start that you stood no chance, even if he was blatantly holding back as you tried and failed to hide behind a bench, behind a tree and anything in your reach, your and his laughter carrying through the park as if you were damn children, both of you. You hadn’t felt so alive in years.

Steve however stepped up his game upon you hitting a point of him so high that some of the snow clearly got behind the collar of his coat. The hiss he let out and the flames in his eyes when they met yours after your perfect hit made you run away with all you got, your heart thumping in your ribcage frantically as you knew all too well that there was no escaping a supersoldier.

You tried and failed to speed up as you heard him closing in; perhaps it would be much easier to catch your breath to run faster if you weren’t laughing at the expression of pure shock that had been on Steve’s face when the snow tickled the sensitive skin of his neck.

A yelp escaped you as he grabbed you a tackled you to the ground, spinning you to he would take the brunt of the impact and only then he rolled you over – trapping you against the cold wet ground, making you squirm at the biting sensation on your own neck.

“No! No, Steeeeve,” you whined miserably, but your cheeks were hurting from the laughter and he was a solid mass on top of you to keep you warm, so you didn’t have any reason to complain. You in fact enjoyed the feeling and the intimacy of it a little too much, considering that this was still only your first date.

How? You felt like you knew him for months now; it was like having an unfairly handsome best friend you not-so-secretly had a crush on.

“You brought this upon yourself,” Steve exclaimed, grinning down at you and for the first time, it dawned to you that not only his torso way lying on you and that his hands were caging your head as he tried not to crush you with his weight, but also his gorgeous face with his tempting lips were in dangerous proximity to yours.

Dangerous to him – if he wasn’t careful, he might get kissed very soon.

You stared up at him, lost in the beautiful colour of his eyes and you were only mildly ashamed to find your gaze wandering down to his red lips.

“I—I suppose,” you whispered as your laughter died down, your breathing still heavy and only growing heavier with each second spent mesmerized by Steve’s face so close to yours.

“You suppose right,” he whispered back, voice slightly hoarser than a moment ago, his gaze roaming your face with intensity that had your heart stumbling in your chest. “This is a nice trip down the memory lane.”

“I-uhm… I remember it being the other way around.”

A smile grazed his mouth, still so damn tempting and you really found yourself barely noticing the snow melting into your clothes when—him.

“You complaining?”

You smiled right back when he lowered his head a fraction, so so painfully close you would barely have to move to finally taste his lips.

“Well, the snow is cold, but-- you know how it is… I had worse things happen to me than having a handsome fella land on me.”

Steve chuckled, the vibrations of his chest sending liquid fire through your veins, especially when his eyes seemed to brighten despite the dilatation of his pupils.

“You remember that, huh?”

“You kidding?” you mused quietly, wondering if Steve decided to torture you; if he wasn’t about to kiss you in the next thirty seconds, you might actually combust. His gaze was now more on your mouth than anywhere else and if you were honest, you might have been trembling with anticipation a bit. “That was the line, Steve. I thought you were so smooth.”

An inch. One damn inch, if not less of a distance remained between his lips and yours, practically touching, his radiating warmth and begging for yours to lick at their sweetness.  

And yet, Steve still spoke, words you could almost taste: “What do you think now?”

“I think that I’d really like you to kiss me.”

This time, his lips brushed yours, a soundless ‘kay’ tickling deliciously, your eyelids fluttering shut.

Your hands automatically gripped the lapels of his coat, using them as leverage when he withdrew, giving you space to breathe and process what happened. Too bad you didn’t want to, you needed more right in that moment; you tugged at the fabric, chasing after his lips and lifting your head without even opening your eyes.

You could feel his smile as he kissed you again, lingering this time, a tender dance of lips, parted a fraction to breathe in each other’s air. Your head was spinning, your tummy tingly and you truly felt like you could fly, not even ashamed if Steve was grinning at your eagerness – he seemed pretty board on with continuing to kiss you too.

So you smiled back, happy to let him take the lead as long as he stayed-

A discontent hum rambled in your throat when Steve retreated again, even if he caressed your icy-cold nose with his, dropping a kiss there too to warm it up.

You met his eyes, heavy lidded, misted with emotion and you found yourself smiling wider.

“Can’t have you catch a cold, doll,” he rasped and before you realized what was happening, before you could as much as frown in confusion, a silent yelp left your throat as Steve rolled you over again, one arm secured around your waist, keeping you on top of him.

You might not be lying on the snow anymore, but your wet back was exposed to the cold night air now, which wasn’t much any better.

But you were too busy to care, because Steve lost one glove, cupping your cheek for a better angle and he sank his lips into yours again, causing you to see and feel the stars.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

If Steve walked you all the back to your apartment and you invited him in to dry off, only for him to end up spending the night, well, no one needed to know – even if you kept each other warm with nothing but tea and cuddling under the covers.

Whether things got a little more spicy than sweet in the morning… that was only for the two of you to know.

Either way, you decided that while the fall, early or late, had its serious downsides… you were willing to put up with it, because it had brought someone as amazing as Steve into your life.

Which got even more handy when you ended up catching cold from your snowy adventures.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️BONUS❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Blissfully wrapped in each other, not you nor Steve (which was more of a wonder) noticed two pairs of eyes focused on you and your shenanigans in the snow. Neither of you heard Bucky sigh under his breath either as he lowered the night-vision binoculars.

“Thank God, I thought for a minute that the punk wasn’t going to go for it,” he muttered under his breath, handing the device to his field partner.

Sam took one glance through the binoculars before rising his hand for a high five, which Bucky instantly complied with.

“With the way they eye-fucked in the restaurant, I would have to rip him a new one if he didn’t,” Sam stated.

“You’d have to get in the line behind me,” Bucky retorted, but grinned, truly happy for his friend.

“More like get ready for being ripped a new one,” a voice behind them opposed, causing both soldiers to nearly jump out their skin in surprise – and literally jump to their feet in fright, ready to face their enemy.

Their enemy seemed harmless to an untrained eye: the one and only Black Widow, watching them with her arms crossed on her chest and a raised eyebrow.

“We knew you were there,” Sam blurted out instinctively, earning an eyeroll from the redhead.

“Sure you did,” she scoffed and nodded in the direction of the pair still rolling over in snow in the distance. “Now that you know that Rogers still got some game, you going to stop stalking him or do I have to keep an eye on you?”

“Please. You were just curious as we were, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Bucky smirked and Natasha shrugged with one shoulder dismissively.

“Maybe. Maybe I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t crash their date to ‘help’,” she said, taking care to make air quotes with the last word. “Now let’s get out of here. If you really want to help, you can start looking up some chicken soup recipes to cure her inevitable sniffles.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky replied dutifully with only an edge of irony, while trying hard to remember the recipe for the soup Mrs. Rogers or his ma used to cook back in the day when the always sickly Steve Rogers refused to take normal (disgusting) medicine.

The thought of Steve not being on the receiving end of that treatment and instead being the caretaker had his lips curl up in a smile.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

S.R. masterlist

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Thank you for reading!

I don’t often write sequels to one-shots when asked, but inspiration struck this time (I went to a wedding and caught very mushy feelings). I hope you enjoyed. Don’t sent me your dentist bills, you’ve been warned.

[mha-academia]

Todobaku: Jealousy & PDA

Jealousy

Katsuki's jealousy is incredibly contradictory.

One moment he's fuming because Shouto's talking to some fuckwad he doesn't like. Then, being the arrogant asshole he is,  he's showing Shouto off because he's dating him and nobody else can.

His jealousy definitely depends on the person interacting with Shouto.

He likes people looking at Shouto with nothing but want because he's unobtainable to them except Katsuki himself. 100% a pride thing.

And he does show Shouto off because who wouldn't? He's like the prettiest person alive. If he didn't show him off, is he really being a good boyfriend?

Now the showing off stops when people start getting touchy with Shouto. Katsuki will break someone's fingers if they touch Shouto too much. And what can you do about it?

And he will start fights over Shouto if it comes to it. He's done it before and he won't stop.

It's not like he has competition because he's great and knows Shouto is incredibly faithful. But he has to let the wannabe competitors know that they have no chance!!!!

Deep down, Shouto loves it. He likes the attention Katsuki gives him from it.

When Katsuki actually does feel threatened by someone, he'll become all pouty. And the fear of Shouto leaving him for someone else comes from his own insecurities, not by him thinking Shouto will be unfaithful.

Shouto can usually tell when Katsuki is sad jealous. He will not rest until he's reassured Katsuki in their relationship.

When it comes to Shouto, it's easier to rile him up. And he does have reason.

The reason being Katsuki's fans...

Honestly, all his fans are absolutely feral and have no boundaries. 96% of his fans are horny messes that have both anger and daddy issues (that sounds suspiciously like Shouto...). Almost every fan has confessed their undying love for Katsuki in many... unique ways. And it has Shouto feeling a lil jealous.

Shouto doesn't show his jealousy outwardly like Katsuki does. At least to an extent.

If there's press around, Shouto will stand closer to him and wrap his arm around his waist so people know Katsuki is his.

He'll also force more of his wardrobe into Katsuki's so blasty boy is wearing Shouto's clothes most of the time.

Everyone's gangsta till Katsuki asks Shouto about it and Shouto's first instinct is to dash. Katsuki teases him about it to no end which has Shouto flustered. But Katsuki also reassures him that there's nobody else he'd rather be with.

Then the next day, Katsuki makes a show of kissing him stupid in front of the press.

PDA

When they first began dating, they were super uncomfortable with affection, let alone PDA. It's not that they didn't want to show affection to each other, they weren't sure how.

Once they did get the private affection down, it took a while for them to move onto public affection.

It started out slow. They held hands - making the mistake of Katsuki holding Shouto's left hand (they figured out soon enough that Katsuki's nitroglycerin and Shouto's fire were not a good match in a casual setting).

Then whenever Katsuki was cooking, you'd always find Shouto hugging his back, Shouto would use Katsuki as a personal pillow whenever, and whenever they sat next to each other, one of them was basically in the other's lap. Class 1-A was in awe and nearly died seeing them act so cute!! They just had to make sure they didn't let Katsuki hear their cooing because he would've fought them all <3. Only the brave stupid soldiers dared to do that.

So soon, PDA became the norm for them.

Kind of relating to the jealousy thing, Katsuki likes people to know that Shouto is his. So he's very forward with public affection.

He wants people to look at them and know they're a couple.

Katsuki will keep an arm around Shouto's waist whenever he's able to, kiss his cheek, play with Shouto's hair, quick neck kisses, and heavily make out with him if it comes down to it.

And Katsuki will kiss the back of Shouto's hand like the true romantic he is!! And it flusters the hell out of Shouto. (I'm sorry, but that's my favorite personal hc)

It does not bother Katsuki whatsoever. And if someone makes a snide comment about it, they're gonna get their faces blown off. Then Katsuki will proceed to make out with Shouto right in front of them. And that's a personal problem for the person, not Katsuki.

However, when it comes to work, he's strictly non-PDA to stay professional. Although, that really only counts if he and Shouto are patrolling together. He thinks holding Shouto's hand makes him look incredibly nonthreatening.

Other than that, he's up for PDA whenever. Not that he'd ever admit it, but it calms him down and makes him happy. Shouto knows though.

Katsuki hands down initiates anything 70% of the time. He doesn't mind and neither does Shouto. Whenever Shouto is the one to initiate, it always has Katsuki flustered.

Shouto is in love with PDA. He loves it with everything in him. It may not seem that he's ecstatic about it, but it truly makes him happy. Yet, he's a lil shy about it.

Shouto's kind of PDA that he initiates is softer than Katsuki's go to.

He kisses Katsuki's forehead (putting that height difference to good use), rests his head on Kat's shoulder, gentle and chaste kisses, etc.

AND Shouto was the one to introduce slapping each other's asses. Was it because Kaminari told him to do it and Shouto just did it because Kaminari said it was a normal couple thing? Yes. But did he keep doing it cause he liked seeing Katsuki flustered? Yes. (I'll be taking this hc to my grave)

With Shouto using Katsuki as a personal pillow, he does it all the time. And what is Katsuki gonna do? Move and wake Shouto up? Alright buddy, have fun with that. Katsuki is actually the person that shushes anyone passing them if they're breathing even a bit too loud. If one of his idiot classmates or whoever wakes Shouto up from his nap, they'll have hell to pay from both of them.

You better believe each and every member of Class 1-A has a picture of Todobaku cuddling or doing something cute. And so what if they distribute those pictures around to each other like drugs! That's their own business. Neither Katsuki or Shouto know. They may be training to be heroes that risk their lives every day, but they'd rather not immediately die :)

The only people that dare to tease Todobaku about their affection with each other are Kaminari and Mina, with a side of Sero and Kirishima. So basically the Bakusquad.

There is no way in hell are they gonna see the big, mean blasty boy blush and not say anything about it!

Kaminari will verbally announce, very loudly, how adorable they are together! Mina will do the same.

Actually, Mina goes the extra step to start one of the first Todobaku stan accounts. Deku was the first one.

Whenever Sero catches Todobaku kiss or something, he legit will stop everything that he's doing to giggle and point at them like some school girl.

If Kirishima comments about Todobaku's PDA, he's not meaning to make them uncomfortable or anything. In fact, he tries to make them feel proud about it. So what does he do? Smiles widely and gives them a thumbs up, "That's super manly of you guys!" It does not achieve his goal of comfort...

you can find more of my tdbk hc's on ao3: here

requests are open. and i’ll probably do any ship lmao

[scapegrace74-blog]

Mister April

A/N I had an angst-ridden update to the Metric Universe all queued up, and then I thought, nah.  The sun is shining, people are getting vaccinated.  Angst can wait.  So this little ficlet fits into the Metric Universe after The Second First Christmas, but before Calculation Theme.

The entire Metric Universe, now chronologically ordered, can be found here.

March 16, 2019, Spittalfields, London, England

“Wait.  You mean you’re actually Mister April?!”  Several bottles into the six-pack of Tennant’s lager that he had brought home after work, Claire’s exclamation was too incredulous for Jamie’s liking.

“Aye.  Every year since I signed on, save one.  At first t’was flattering, but now, weel...” He peeled the label from the bottle held between his knees, cursing the trajectory of their late night conversation.  The idea had been to take advantage of the fact they were both off tomorrow to spend some time with his girlfriend, listen to a little music, get a bit sloshed, then hopefully fall into bed together.

“Can I see?” Claire interrupted his momentary sulk.  “I mean, I’ve been dating a veritable calendar boy for almost two years, and I’m only just now figuring it out.  Seems a bit unfair, don’t you think?”

“Seems to me ye’ve seen me wearing far less, Sassenach.  But fine, look yer fill.”

Grabbing his laptop, Jamie entered his name and London Fire Brigade Charity Calendar into a search engine.  A stream of results filled the screen.  Claire’s eyes goggled and she grabbed the computer, opening the first image.  A much younger Jamie appeared, rugby shorts hanging from the graceful arcs of his hipbones.  He reminded her of a Thoroughbred race horse, not an ounce of flesh to spare, kinetic energy in masculine form.  She checked the date: 2012, before they had ever met.

Further clicks brought her to subsequent years.  Each showed a beautiful man in the prime of youth, fit, cocky, a devil-may-care gleam in his cornflower eyes.  She knew it was her Jamie, but she barely recognized him.

He was missing from the 2015 calendar.  Claire did the math and realized that he would have been in the hospital when that year’s pictures were taken.  Instead of primping and smoldering for the camera, he had lain in an ICU bed for weeks, before undergoing painful rehabilitation and numerous skin grafts.  The brash young man of the earlier images had disappeared, erased by an industrial explosion in an instant.  In his place, the Jamie she knew had emerged. More cautious.  More prone to sadness, but with a limitless capacity to spread joy.  Would she had fallen for him, had they met before his transformation?  She honestly couldn’t say.

By 2016, the pictures had changed.  Jamie posed in a shirt, sometimes unbuttoned to the waist, but always with his shoulders covered.  The gleam in his eyes had dimmed, and instead of an infectious grin, his smile was forced.  She was certain no-one buying the calendar would notice.  He was still a beautiful man, with his burnished curls and Nordic bone structure.  But she could see what those photos cost him.  She knew.

“Dougal wanted me tae show my scars.  Figured t’would be good publicity, I reckon. Heroic firefighter burnt like a human candle comes back tae fight fire ano’er day. I told him I wasna some charity case he could trot out when it suited him.”

She fetched his hand from his lap, giving it an understanding squeeze.  Jamie had once confessed that he felt comfortable bearing his scars to her alone because she had already seen him at his worst, and that left no room for pity.  He was a proud, stubborn fool, and she loved him.

“You know what this means, don’t you?  There’s only one way to make this right.”

Not waiting for his response, she rose, sought her balance for a moment, and went to grab her phone.  Connecting it to their TV audio, she scrolled her music library, looking for a suitable choice.

“Aha!” she exclaimed, pressing play.  A synthetic tambourine and clap bass filled the room.  He recognized the opening lines of OutKast’s Way You Move.

“What are ye on about, Sassenach?”

“You’ve been sharing your glorious body with the Greater London area and god know who else on the Internet for years, Jamie.  As a philanthropist, I applaud you, but as your girlfriend, I’m a tad perturbed.  I am hereby re-asserting my rights to exclusive content.  Now stop lollygagging and get your fine ass off the couch.”

“Sassenach...” he laughed, starting to grab hold of her meaning and feeling a shot of adrenaline course through his veins.  Even before his accident, he had never...

“Don’t make me put it on repeat, Fraser.  Oh, look, here comes the chorus!”

Claire sat back on the sofa, her legs tidily crossed on their coffee table.  The room was dark, except for the undying city lights outside.  No-one was there to see except the one person he trusted to look without staring, to laugh without mocking, to understand without judging.  He’d never known Claire to ask for something she didn’t truly want, and he wanted to give her everything she desired.  Even if it came at the expense of his dignity.

“Ye ken I canna dance fer shite, right?” he said as he stood, taking an extra long pull on his lager.  He was going to need all the liquid courage it could offer.

“I’m well aware.  But as the woman who shares your bed, I can testify that there’s nothing the matter with your sense of rhythm.  If it helps, don’t think of it as dancing.  Think of it as upright simulated sex.”

His face was already hot from the alcohol and embarrassment, but with Claire’s words he felt the heat spread downwards across his chest and towards his groin.  Almost without willing it, his hips began to twitch in time to the beat.

“Now we’re talking!” Claire exclaimed with a grin, leaning back like the only patron at a very private strip club.

He was still dressed for work.  The navy shirt he wore beneath his jacket had no buttons, so he began by easing it from under his belt, baring his navel briefly before sliding it back down.  Claire sulked dramatically, making him laugh.  

With the song’s next horn flourish, he reached behind his neck and lifted the shirt clean off in a single tug, shaking out his hair afterwards.  When he next glanced at the couch, his girlfriend’s smug smile was gone, replaced by a blatant leer that sent shivers down his spine.  She wasn’t even pretending to look at his face anymore, spending her time somewhere between his shoulders and his waist.  He wasn’t really sweating, but he made a point of wiping his pecs before letting the shirt fall to the ground.

“Enjoying the show?” he asked, already a tad breathless.

“Immensely.  Don’t stop now.”

Fortunately, his boots and socks had already been removed, so with the next verse he made a show of unbuttoning and unzipping his blue trousers.  Claire’s eyes followed the movement of his fingers like she was memorizing them for the exam.  He could feel his cock grow heavy.

With a shake of his ass for good measure, the pants hit the floor.  Only a tight pair of boxer-briefs stood in the way of utter nudity.  They were doing a poor job hiding his belated enthusiasm for Claire’s request.  The fact that her eyes were now glued to the bulge of his erection only encouraged his excitement.

As the repeated chorus faded away, he carefully slipped the waistband over his now-rigid cock.  The material slid down his legs and he stepped free.  If someone had mentioned his scars in that instant, he would have no idea what they were talking about.

In the ensuing quiet, Claire sat up and very deliberately began to disrobe.  Once naked, she came at him like a heat-seeking missile, one hand reaching around his back to pull him tight and the other dragging him into a kiss.  They collapsed to the floor, rolling around on the area rug in a fight for dominance.  He let her win, because feeling her rise and fall over his length like a cresting wave was the best runner-up prize he could imagine.  

The sex was torrid, and frantic, and not at all polite.  The kind that left bruises and invoked daydreams for days.  Afterwards, they lay in a sweaty heap, trying to catch their breath.

“See?  I knew you had it in you,” Claire muttered into his clavicle.  “A bit more practice and you’ll be as good as the pros.”

“I didna realize I was auditioning fer a second job.”  He brushed Claire’s curls away from where they were tickling his nose.

“Oh, I have no intention of sharing your talents, lad.   Never fear.  But I wouldn’t object to a repeat performance.   Besides, I was so distracted by the show, I completely forgot to film you!”

Jamie groaned, pulling her tighter against him as sleep called him away to dreams.

[p-artsypants]

I’ll Handle This (10)

In Which Marinette Says the Thing

I was the most excited about this chapter and had most of it written already. :)

Also, I bumped up the rating a bit because there’s extremely mild nudity in this chapter. 

(Ao3 | FF.net)

—

She looked fierce. Nails done, a cute, white skirt (that she hadn’t spilled her breakfast on!) and a red and white polka dot blouse. She was cute, she was hot, and she was ready to nab her man! 

Said man walked into class wearing...

Oh boy. 

A leather jacket, with no shirt underneath, a kilt, and knee high combat boots. There was not a single person that didn’t stare at him. 

“Sup nerds?” 

Nino entered with him, slightly chuckling, like he had heard a very funny inside joke. 

Marinette gawked at him. “Adrien...” 

“Aww! Pooh Bear! Look at how cute you are!” 

Marinette’s initial horror in his appearance turned into excitement. He called her cute! 

“Adrien, do we have to have this dress code talk again?” Miss Bustier sighed. 

It turned out he did have a shirt on under the jacket. A black button-up. He untucked the flaps, and buttoned them, unevenly, to cover his sweet sweet bod. “Better?” 

Miss Bustier shook her head, but urged him to sit down. 

“Soooo,” Alya asked, with a wiggling eyebrow. “Are you wearing that kilt...properly?” 

He grabbed the hem, squeezing his knees together to shuffle shyly. “You wanna see?” 

Marinette burst into color. “Adrien!” 

He laughed, “oh, I’m just kidding. I’m wearing boxers under this.” 

“Alright everyone, get in your seats, it’s time to start!” 

—

Marinette tried to do her very best to stay calm. But the very idea that a confession to Adrien would be happening today kept her distracted. 

She stared at him, watching as he scrawled notes...in Chinese? He really was an overachiever! 

The day passed in a crawl, Marinette fretting every minute. 

Then the lunch bell rang, and students began to pack up for break. 

“Adrien?” She blurted, her hands shaking. 

He turned and looked at her, grinning, and lowering his sunglasses to flash her half-lidded eyes. “You rang?” 

“Um...can we talk together? Er, go somewhere together to talk? I have something I want to tell you.” 

His grin turned into a full tooth smile. “Of course! Where to?” 

“Um...mom’s got stuff for sandwiches, if you want to come over.” 

“Sounds wonderful!” He packed up his bag, and then held out his hand for her. 

He wanted to hold her hand! Ah! 

Nervously smiling, she put her hand in his, and let him lead her from the room. 

At the risk of having a horribly awkward lunch, she took the lead, and led him upstairs to the slowly emptying third floor. 

“What’s up here?” 

“I...can’t wait anymore. If this makes things weird, you could probably catch up with Nino or the guys...” 

He very gently touched her cheek. “I told you I wanted to have lunch with you, and I will. So say whatever you have to say.” He took his sunglasses off and put them on his head. 

Marinette took a huge breath. “Now, I just need to know...who is the real you? Are you...is this who you are, and you were suppressing the rebellious, chaotic side? Or are you putting on a show?” 

He blinked at her, eyes wide. “Whatever do you mean?” 

“I mean...I support whoever you are. I want you to feel free to be you, and celebrate what makes you special, but...” she tucked some hair behind her ear, a nervous motion. “I just miss the boy I fell in love with.” 

“Marinette...” 

“I love you no matter what, though! I promise! I just...your kindness, your shy sweetness and honesty really captivated me. That day when you gave me your umbrella, and you went out of your way to apologize for the misunderstanding. You didn’t have to. I was the one that jumped to conclusions, but you wanted to make friends and get on the right foot with me. Your laughter, your smile...I was a goner.” She hugged the strap of her purse. “So this new version of you has been jarring, but...if I’ve been reading your signs right...?” 

He pulled her into a hug. “Oh Marinette. Sweet, kind, thoughtful Marinette. You’ve figured me out. This is all an act. Except my attitude towards you. I feel the same.” 

“You...love me?” 

“Yes. More than I can express.” 

She raised her head, tilting her chin and slowly closing her eyes. 

The gag kiss during truth or dare was one thing, but Adrien would kill Plagg if he kissed Marinette in earnest like this. 

Instead, he pressed a finger to her lips and smiled at her confused look. “Not yet. The timing isn’t right. If I could give you the world, I would. In fact, anything else, I’ll give it to you. You have my heart, and that will be yours as long as you want it. But I don’t think you want a relationship right now.” 

“I’m confused...” Marinette said, her lips trembling. 

“I want to protect you from my father and Lila. If I make you my girlfriend, they will try to hurt you to get to me. I’d hate to ask you to wait for me, since you’ve finally gotten the courage up to confess...but would you wait?” 

Marinette reached up to hold his face, letting her thumb pass reverently over his cheek. How had she gotten so lucky to fall for a man so thoughtful? So loving? 

“Adrien, I’d wait a hundred years to be with you. It’ll be our secret for now.” 

He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted more from the conversation-“ 

“Just knowing my feelings are returned are enough. Thank you.” 

He took her hand again. “You still want to feed me sandwiches? Do I still deserve it?” 

“Of course you do...My Prince.” 

Plagg almost retched, but he schooled his face into an adoring grin before he faced her again. “That’s adorable!” 

“You like it?” 

“I love it!” It was just cheesy enough for Adrien. 

“Then that’ll be your nickname...in secret. No one else will know.” 

“I think you’ll come to find that our little secret will be so much more fun between us.” 

—

After lunch, Plagg and Marinette returned to school. They stopped holding hands as they approached the building, but they stood close and bumped each other coyly. 

The behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Alya or Lila. But Alya was the only one to confront them. 

“You two seem close,” she asked, twinkle in her eye. 

“Oh, we just had a very funny lunch together.” 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yep. Some great inside jokes. You had to be there.” Plagg sent a wink at Marinette and she seemed to swoon on the spot. 

Plagg let her go back to her seat, ignoring the whispering from the girls behind him. 

They thought he couldn’t hear them. He could. 

Nino bumped his elbow. “Everything cool dude?” 

“Absolutely. I’ll tell you later.” 

—

Later came after school, of course. The second Plagg and Nino were away from school property, Plagg blurted out, “I’m a genius. I got Marinette to confess her undying love for Adrien. Boo-yah!” 

“What?!” Nino shrieked. “Dude! She’s been trying to get that out for months! How on earth—no, wait. I know the answer.” 

“Confidence.” 

“And obvious flirting.” Nino scoffed. “Adrien always threw out the line, ‘you’re such a good friend’ in front of her. It was like wearing a big sign that said, ‘I will reject you!’” 

“I’m right here, you know,” Adrien said, poking his head out of Plagg’s jacket. “And to my defense, I was trying to be faithful to—“

Plagg covered his mouth before he could accidentally reveal Marinette as Ladybug. “No excuses, lover boy!” 

Thankfully, Adrien seemed to realize the mistake he almost made and nodded. “Fine, fine. I appreciate that you didn’t kiss her...again. So now what? Have we fulfilled that part of the contract yet?” 

“Not quite.” He held up the ring. A paw print with three pads faintly shone on the surface. “Once a condition is met, you’ll hear the ring give its telltale beep and a pad will disappear. Once the paw print completely vanishes...well, you’ll be back in your own body anyway.” 

“So...what do I need to do? She already confessed to me.” 

This was a conversation better had without Nino involved. Of course he was a bro, and would be helpful for things. But Ladybug’s identity should still remain a secret. 

“Nino...” Plagg began, with a drawl. “How much do you know about the birds and the bees?” 

Nino sputtered. “HA! BYE!” And he made an about face and hurried towards home. 

“Wait Nino!” Called Adrien. 

“We’ll meet up with you later!” Plagg sang after. 

Adrien looked to his body. “Please tell me you don’t have to...get up to some nasty stuff with my lady. Sure, it’s my body, but you’re like a bazillion years old and I was rather hoping to wait until marriage—“ 

“Calm down, Romeo. No, there’s not any hanky panky involved. I just needed to get Nino to leave without saying, ‘hey leave’. If he’s going to be suspicious, I need him on a whole other wavelength.” 

“Okay, so if there’s no horizontal tango happening, then what are we doing?” 

Plagg slipped the ring off his finger. “You need to spend time with her. Tell her or don’t. Just spend time with her outside of school and akumas and get to know her better. For an alibi, tell her that you haven’t been feeling well and you need to be in proximity of the Miracle Box. Then have her send her earrings to me so things stay even.” 

“Will she go for that?” 

“Probably. You know her better than I do.” 

“What about the ring? Don’t you need to wear it because we’re switched?”

“Nah. It should be alright for a little while. It should stay with my body though.” 

“Okay...I guess...I’ll go see Marinette.” 

“Have fun!” Plagg wiggled his fingers in a farewell and started walking to where Nino had disappeared. 

Nervous as all get out, Adrien fled to the bakery, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Marinette. 

When was it appropriate to come clean? How long should he wait? Should he blab at all? 

Soon, he was hovering above her trap door, and peering inside. Marinette sat at her desk, music playing as she worked on homework. Her head bobbed to some tunes. 

“Okay, she thinks you’re Plagg. So she’ll welcome you in and listen to what you tell her. And if she finds out you’re Adrien, then she loves Adrien and everything will be fine. Right? Right!” He psyched himself up. 

Using his poorly practiced phasing powers, he entered her room and came to float by her desk. “Hiya pigtails!” He chirped, in the typical Plagg style. 

She jerked, before turning to him. Her eyes landed on the ring and widened with surprise. “Why do you have that?! Is Chat okay?! What’s wrong?!” She stood, and nearly knocked over her chair. 

Even Tikki looked surprised. 

“Everything is fine!” He rushed to rectify. Then he remembered Plagg’s crafted lie. “Mostly. I haven’t been feeling very good, so I think I need to be closer to the Miracle Box for a little bit. I brought the ring for you, if you would send Tikki to Chat for a little while. That way he’s covered in case there’s an Akuma attack.” 

Luckily, she bought his dirty fib and started to remove her earrings. “Oh, well if you aren’t feeling well, that means Chat won’t be in top form. We can’t have that! Of course we can trade!” She took the earrings off and handed them to Tikki, before putting on the ring. 

Adrien felt a tingle down his spine as the black metal turned rose gold on her dainty finger. 

“Is he at home?” Asked Tikki. 

“No, come with me, I’ll tell you.” And he escorted her up to the balcony. 

“Did Plagg put you up to this?” She asked, once outside. “This seems like one of his hair brained schemes.” 

“I mean...he came up with the excuse...but I thought Marinette’s confession today would fulfill one of the conditions of the contract, but it didn’t. Plagg said I should just spend time with her.” 

Thankfully, Tikki was the nice one. She patted his paws. “I’m sure you miss her too. I won’t say anything. But I will be having a word with Plagg about this whole thing. He should know that body swaps don’t always work!” 

“Don’t tell me that! I’m struggling as it is!” 

“Sorry!” She giggled. “Why don’t you go on in. Be prepared though. She’s been all sighs since ‘Adrien’ returned her feelings today.” 

If he could blush, he would have. “Oh boy...” 

“Where am I going?”

“Oh, Plagg is staying with Nino now. He left home. And uhhh...Nino knows. About me, not Marinette.” 

She scoffed. “That rascal.” 

“Thanks for understanding, Tikki.” 

“I’m understanding with you, because you’re the victim of a manipulative, chaotic creature of destruction and havoc.” 

“He can be a bit of a turd.” 

“What am I doing? You could be spending time with the love of your life! Now, go on!” Tikki pushed him towards the door before flitting off to Nino’s. 

Suddenly faced with seeing Marinette again, and continuing to lie to her face, he sheepishly returned to her room. 

She had ducked out for the moment, and he found himself alone. 

Alone, but surrounded by dozens of pictures of himself. 

Knowing about her crush put these photos in a different context, for sure. 

“Just a fan” she said. She was a big fat liar too! 

“Adorable, isn’t he?” Her voice grabbed him while he was off guard. 

“Uhhh...I guess? For a human?” 

She giggled, and set down the plate of cheese danishes onto her desk. “That’s Adrien. He’s kind of my boyfriend. It’s not official yet, but he loves me.” She smiled widely. “He told me just today.” 

“‘Kind of’ your boyfriend? You’re okay with that?” 

“He can’t date right now because of his father. But he asked me to wait for him. I’d wait a thousand years for him.” 

His heart hammered in his chest. “What about three years? What if he can’t date until he’s 18?” 

“That’s fine.” She said nonchalantly. “We can still hang out. We can focus on school and drama doesn’t have to come between us...” 

“And if someone else available comes along?”

Marinette couldn’t know the real reason he was asking that question. She just fondly patted his head. “Sorry Plagg. I know you care a lot about Chat, but Adrien...Adrien means the world to me. I love Chat too, but in a different way. And he’s not available, not to me.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Chat will always just be my partner. Can only be my partner. We couldn’t date if I wanted too. It would be too difficult.” She sat back at her desk and sighed. “It would hurt too much.” 

Adrien was struck speechless. How was he even supposed to respond to that? Was that an admission that she actually did have some feelings for Chat Noir? 

It didn’t matter. Not now. “I didn’t mean to put you on the offensive. I was just...curious, is all. I’m happy you’ve found someone who loves you.” 

She smiled at him then, scooping him out of the air and scratching his cheek with her finger. “Thanks Plagg. I hope I didn’t come off as snooty. I know you care about Chat. But he can fight his own battles.” 

Her words made him feel like garbage. She had no idea, of course. Because up until the body swap, Adrien’s battles were not being fought. They were purposefully not being fought, because he was too chicken shit to upset anyone. 

“Yeah...he’s brave alright...” he muttered. 

Marinette settled down at her desk and continued on her homework. 

What was a boy to do? He sat on the desk, and helped himself to the cheese danishes. 

They were almost worth the trip over here by themselves. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Marinette asked, eyebrow quirked. 

At that, Adrien realized with thinly veiled horror that he had been moaning. 

Eek. 

“These are the most delicious things I’ve ever had!” Or maybe it was because Plagg had only fed him Camembert until now. Sure, Plagg’s taste buds were attuned to the foul stuff, but after a while, the same foods over and over get old. 

Marinette just smiled at him fondly and continued with her work. 

Would it be odd to look at her? Would she notice? He certainly found it hard to look away. He couldn’t stare at her during school. Not as Plagg, and not as Adrien from now on. 

She tapped her pencil against her perfectly kissable lips, scrunching her nose and narrowing her eyes as she studied the page. It was adorable, but more so, it was the same face she made as Ladybug, when she was trying to solve her Lucky Charm. 

Was it hindsight? Or if he saw Marinette making that face, would he have realized it? 

Would he have cared enough to look at her?

Of course he would! He argued with himself. Marinette was always special, and her being Ladybug only elevated her in his mind. It was a match that made sense. Of course she was Ladybug. No one else could be so…wonderful. 

But faced with her, and not knowing what to say or how to begin to explain the truth, he had to ask himself the tell tale question:

Did he like Marinette now because she was Ladybug? Or did he always like her, and was only in denial?

He begged it was the second. It had to be. 

Her qualities were the same. There was nothing about Marinette that made him recoil or actively deny her identity. 

Scratch that, Marinette was ridiculously clumsy. 

But besides that, they were the same. 

“Thinking about something tough over there?” Marinette asked. 

“Huh? Oh. Uh...yeah. You know how it is.” Like that made any sense. 

“Right. Like I could understand the problems of a Kwami.” She teased. “If you need to talk, I’m all ears.” 

Soon. Soon he’d explain everything. But right now, he was just too nervous and scared of her wrath. “Thanks Marinette. I appreciate it. But I don’t want to distract you from your homework.” 

She shrugged a little, not wanting to pry, before going back to work. 

Adrien and Marinette shared the cheese danishes, and occasionally talked as she worked. When she got severely stuck, he would throw her a few hints. 

Then she stretched, finished. “Oh thank goodness! I’m so tired, and I could use a lazy evening.” 

“Marinette! Dinner time!” 

“Well, after dinner, I’d like a lazy evening.” She scratched Adrien’s head. “Let’s just hope there’s no Akuma attack.” 

“Fingers crossed!” 

“You’ll be fine up here alone?” 

“Of course. Have fun with your parents.” 

“Oh,” she wilted. “Should I tell them about Adrien?” 

“Why not?” 

“I’m just scared that my nosy parents will ask a hundred questions. And we’re not even official.” 

“Maybe by mentioning it now, when it becomes official, it won’t be much of a shock.”

“And maybe we can avoid another disaster like when my dad got akumatized. You’re right.” She couldn’t help but sigh. “Well, I’ll tell you how it goes!” And she went downstairs. 

Adrien sat on her desk, scanning the walls and taking in all of his pictures. She really loved him, didn’t she? 

And how long had that gone on, and he never noticed? 

Was it okay to snoop? Of course morally and ethically, no, it wasn’t. But he was technically her sort of boyfriend. It couldn’t hurt. 

Right?

So he snooped. Just a precursory glance through her belongings. It was all very innocent. 

Until he found the pink half-circle book. Her diary. 

Maybe it was the influence of Plagg’s magic in him. Or this whole experience was turning him into a rascal. 

But he opened the book and started to read. 

The entries were pretty innocent too. Day to day things, balancing life as a superhero and a student. She mentioned him a few times. Using phrases like, ‘golden hair’, ‘handsome face’, ‘emerald eyes’, and ‘abundant kindness’. She wrote about the times they interacted. From him catching her when she tripped, to the glances they shared. Just the smallest interactions between them, she cherished. 

It almost made his heart hurt with how moved he was. 

And then there was an entry whose content made him feel a different sort of pain. She recounted a day he had not experienced. Her encounter with his akuma, Chat Blanc. 

He read the pages, soaking up every heart breaking moment. All the cruel things he had said to her that he would have never known. Why hadn’t she said anything? Was it too painful? Or did…

Did she think he didn’t need to know?

The diary slammed shut as he was finishing the entry, and a very angry and embarrassed Marinette stood over him, glaring. “Little snoop.” 

“Yeah yeah, cats and curiosity and all that. So sue me.” 

She took the book away and put it in a box with a lid. “Remind me never to leave you alone in my room ever again.” 

“Aw, you’re no fun.” 

She walked away, heading to her dresser. “Are you like this with Chat, too?”

“Oh, I’m much worse. You have no idea.” 

She laughed at him, and took her pajamas out of her drawers. 

Then without warning, she took off her pants. 

And Adrien’s mouth went dry. He watched as she slipped on her pajama pants, and then took off her shirt, and even her bra, before putting on a loose t-shirt. 

He was not going to get that image out of his head for a long, long time. 

She turned to him and started talking like nothing had happened. “So what do you want to do? I’m all done with homework, and so as long as there’s no Akuma attack, I can do whatever I want. What do you and Chat usually do?” 

Adrien didn’t know how to tell her he didn’t really have free time. Plagg just looked up cheese blogs on his phone, or watched a movie while Adrien worked on homework. 

“You pick. I’ll just watch if you want to play video games or design.” 

“I’m actually kind of tired. I might just watch videos in bed.” 

“Sounds fun! Can I join?”

“Sure! Whatever you want, Plagg.” Marinette climbed her ladder up to her loft and settled against her pillows. She pulled a fuzzy blanket around her legs and sighed in content. “Just what the doctor ordered!”

Adrien hesitated a moment, trying to decide where to sit. Her shoulder? Her stomach?

But Marinette took the choice away and patted her chest, just above her heart.

Eagerly, he settled, curling his tail around his body, and absorbing her body heat. She scratched between his ears and made him purr almost instantly. 

This was heaven. When he got his body back, he’d lay his head here. Hopefully, she’d scratch his scalp just the same. 

The videos played on her phone, just memes. Every time she chuckled, her chest would rumble with the noise, and fill him with joy. 

He could hear her heart beating. The heart she had opened for him just today. A heart that he lived in. 

And then her phone started flashing with a red light. And akuma alert!

“Uh oh!” Marinette clicked on the alert, checking out the details. “It’s a sentimonster! Come on Plagg, we can’t leave Misterbug out to dry!”

As she scaled the ladder to her balcony, he panicked. How was this going to work? Was she going to notice once they transformed? Would he be able to hear her thoughts like he could when Plagg transformed?

Would he look through her eyes?

She raised the hand with the ring on it. “Alright! Plagg, Claws out!” 

Nothing happened. 

“Um...Plagg, Claws out?” 

“Oh.” Adrien gasped, “oh no.” 

“Oh no what? Are you broken? Do I need to fix you?” 

“No! I mean—sort of, but you already did your part! I’m just...” 

“Plagg, what’s going on?” 

He sighed, screwing up his lips and unintentionally showing his fangs. “Um...I’m not...I’m not actually Plagg.” 

She stared at him, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing. “Then...who are you?” 

“Promise you won’t be mad?” 

“No guarantees!” 

“Well, okay.” He gulped. “I’m...Adrien?” 

She blinked. “Adrien? Like...no. No no no not like Adrien Agreste, my new supposed boyfriend?!” 

“That’s me! Hi P-Pooh Bear?” 

“What?!” She shrieked. “How?! When?! What—“ she snatched him out of the air with firm hands. “HAVE YOU BEEN ADRIEN THIS WHOLE TIME?” 

“I mean, I’ve been Adrien my whole life,” he awkwardly chuckled. 

“No, no don’t joke with me right now.” She sniffed. “How long have you been like this?” 

“Um...about two weeks now. Since that day he came to school in a crop top.” 

Marinette shut her eyes tight, a few tears slipping past her cheeks. “That long...” 

“Marinette?” 

“So it was all a lie? Plagg’s just—messing with us? With me? You don’t really—“ she squeezed her eyes shut and started crying in earnest. 

“No! No Marinette! Of course I love you! I’ve always loved you, you know that! The second I learned you were Ladybug, everything made sense! I was so happy and I told Plagg he had to win you over. Please Marinette, this was never supposed to be malicious.” He nuzzled against her fingers, offering up a purr. “I promise.” 

With her free hand, she wiped her face. “Alright, well suppose I believe you. What happened? Why are you like this?” 

“I made a deal with the devil. Plagg, specifically. He said he was tired of me complaining all the time. So he said he could solve all my problems if I just agreed to it. Then I woke up in his body.” 

“What problems?” 

“Well...my unrequited love for you, for one.” 

She blushed. 

“My relationship with my father for two, and the third is Lila’s harassment.” 

“Oh, I get it now.” Marinette sighed. “That’s why he was doing all those things...” 

“You mean dressing like a moron and messing with Lila?”

“Yes. And flirting with me.” 

“To be honest,” he scratched the back of his head. “I would have flirted with you earlier if I had known you were Ladybug. I liked you before, I was just trying to pretend I didn’t, because I wanted to be loyal to...well, you.” 

She held him softly in her hands. “We’ve made a mess of things, haven’t we?” 

“It was for our own good. Secret identities and all that.” 

“You almost sound like you just repeat that to yourself, but you don’t believe it.” 

“I had to repeat it to myself,” he urged. “Every day. Because I so desperately wanted to be with you, to spend time with you out of the suit. I was so lonely and I thought, if there was one person I could trust with my identity, it had to be you. But I wanted to honor your wishes. I just hoped to wear you down, eventually.”

She passed her thumb over his cheek and whiskers. “I had been thinking about it, ever since I became the guardian. I wanted to keep you safe, but if something happened to Plagg and you couldn’t transform, no one would know. I’m not upset with you, Kitty. Though I wish this reveal had happened a little more...mutually.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “What are we doing?! We have a sentimonster!” 

“Aw let him fight on his own! He deserves some sort of punishment for this and I have yet to come up with a good one.” 

She chuckled. “Alright, fine. We’ll give him a few minutes and see how things are going.” 

“You’re taking this better than I expected.” 

“I’m in shock.” She chuckled, a little hysterical. “It took me so much courage to confess…and it wasn’t even to your face. That would happen to me.”

He floated out of her hand and nuzzled her face. “All that matters is that I know. We can’t be together quite yet, but the second I get my body back, I plan to make you mine.” 

“Really?”

“Absolutely, Bugbear.” 

She kissed between his ears. “Okay, My Prince. I look forward to it.” 

The ring on her finger beeped, and a paw pad faded out. 

“What was that?”

Adrien sighed with relief. “The condition has been met.”

“Condition?”

Just then, a swath of Ladybugs rushed over the city, righting whatever the Sentimonster had ruined. 

“Well, looks like he didn’t need our help after all.”

Marinette laughed slightly. “They have been doing this a long time. It probably only took them this long to get it because of travel time.” 

Adrien nodded. “So, just to clarify, you aren’t mad at me?”

“Of course not! It sounds like Plagg tricked you. Though I am mad at you for reading my diary…and watching me change!” 

“In my defense, I was not warned you were going to change.” 

“Still you could have turned around!” She blushed. 

“Sorry, Bugaboo, I guess I was just a little star struck.” 

She bopped him on the nose. “Now don’t try to flatter me to get out of being caught.” 

A yoyo wrapped around the chimney above their heads, and Misterbug made his appearance. His very jarring, ancient appearance. He wore black leggings with a red loincloth around his waist. His shirt was cropped and had billowing sleeves. The mask was just a cloth that tied around his lower face. 

“Well well well, I figured if you weren’t on the battle field, you were busy having a lover’s quarrel.” He smirked, the smile only creasing his eyes. 

Marinette looked to Plagg. “Dearest Sunshine, do you mind terribly if I abuse your body?”

“Be my guest.”

Marinette wound up a punch and socked Plagg right in the shoulder. 

“Ow! Hey, that actually hurt.” 

“I hope you, you monster! How could you hurt my poor, sweet, innocent Adrien!?” She cuddled him close to her cheek.

Plagg scoffed. “Puh-lease. There is nothing innocent about that boy. Spots off.” 

The pink light faded, and Adrien’s body remained. It was almost hard to look at him, even though she knew it wasn’t really Adrien. 

“Oh, now she gets all shy~!” Plagg taunted. “I should have retransformed when I landed. Maybe she wouldn’t have punched me!”

“You deserved it.” Tikki said, flatly. 

“Yeah, whatever. So? How’d it go?” 

Marinette held out the ring. “It beeped?”

“Excellent!” He took it off her finger. “Two to go!” He slipped the ring on and took off the earrings. “Now I just have to focus on Gabriel and Lila. I think Gabe’s getting ready to crack. Lila though, I might have to push a little harder.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Marinette added. “It makes me feel better that I might not have to put up with her for much longer. So I can take a little damage.” 

Adrien frowned. “Can’t I stay with Marinette a while longer?”

Plagg huffed. “I mean you could…but then you couldn’t see the absolute chaos that I planned.”

Adrien winced. “Ugh, fine. I’ll go with you.” He turned to Marinette, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Bye Bugaboo. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay Kitty. I love you!” 

Adrien’s heart nearly burst with love. “I love you too!” 

“Gross.” Plagg gagged. “Alright, time to go! Adrien, Claws Out!” 

—

Chat Plagg Noir returned to the Lahiffe residence, and swung in through Nino’s window. 

Nino for his part, was nearly dancing in panic. 

“You good, my man?”

Nino shook his head frantically. “There’s a policeman here for you! I tried to stall as long as I could, and said you were asleep and a heavy sleeper! But I think he’s about to burst down my door!”

“A policeman? What for?”

“I don’t know! He just said he had to talk to you!” 

“Claws in.” Plagg walked over to the door, and exited, pensively watching the uniformed man in the living room. 

“Did you have a nice nap?” The man asked, arms crossed. 

“I did, until I was shaken awake. Is there a problem officer?”

“Adrien Agreste, you are under arrest.”

[slygirl666]

lack of self control pt. 2 (F.W)

a/n this took soo long. summery in part 1

warnings: gets dirty, 18+, blah blah

word count: 2,984

https://slygirl666.tumblr.com/post/632831780023631872/strawberry-lipstick

*

*

*

You woke up with an exceptionally bad headache and a pair of freckled arms around you. Looking up you could see Fred Weasley sleeping peacefully. You took a moment to drink in the sight, his strong freckled chest that had scars from experiments and the war. Your fingers trailed them before you untangled yourself from him. Quickly collecting her dress and underwear.

“Not leaving without saying goodbye are you?” Fred sat up in his bed with a satisfied smirk.

“Merlin,” you jumped. “I was. I wanted to get home so we don't have awkward conversations.”

“Love, you work for me,” he laughed humorlessly. “We’d just have to do it tomorrow.”  

You didn’t think of that. “Okay, well that was enjoyable but we really shouldn't go it again.”

He smiled at her moving to get up letting the blanket fall. You covered your eyes for your sake more than his. “You've seen it all, haven't you?”

“Don't be a dick.” you uncovered them, thankfully he had pulled some sweats on. He led you to a kitchen where he made coffee. He handed you a mug of coffee and some milk.

“I’m not being a dick, what happened wont leave here.” he gave her cheeky smile.

“I work in ‘this place’ so it won’t leave the apartment,” she glared at him. “One time thing.”

He held his hands up, “one time thing.”

One time thing, right? Of course not. Because that's exactly how a week later you ended up in the back of the shop after a busy day with Fred’s lips on your neck and his hands up your skirt.

His hand traced her underwear while she growled at him. “Don’t tease me Fred.”

He laughed bringing his lips up to yours pulling the lace to the side. You moaned into his mouth as the pad of his finger circled your clitoris. He thrived off of your sounds as he moved his hand down to your entrance he started with one finger. Pumping it in and out.

“Your Dripping aren’t you? Have you been thinking about the way it felt to fuck me.” you nodded you really had been all week. Everytime you lie in bed the only thing you thought about was him between your legs, behind you even under you. “Because I've wanted to feel you all week, love.”

You shivered as he entered another finger, earning him another breathy moan. “Freddie please,” you slid a hand from his neck to the growing erection in his pants. His breath hitched as you palmed him.

He took his hand out from under your skirt reaching for his wand, a moment after he leaned down to kiss you there was a lout cracking sound and you were in his apartment. He was quick to remove your clothes mouth nipping and sucking at the exposed skin as you fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.

You gasped out ‘merlin’ when his mouth found your nipple. Unlike the last time when you were both completely sloshed, Fred wanted to commit everything about you to memory to take his time and he did just that.

* * *

An hour later you were on Freds bed, legs twitching slightly but feeling satisfied.

“So much for this can’t happen again,” you rolled your eyes moving to get off the bed, Only to be stopped by his arms winding around you to pull you onto him.

“It didn’t have to be,” he whispered into your ear. “It still doesn’t have to be.”

You moved to straddle him. “You’re right, I mean we're two healthy adults. Were obviously attracted to each other, we can just keep fucking, I guess, casually.”

You bit your lip, you could feel how much you were blushing. He licked his lips nodding at you. “Casually.”

You could feel your stomach sink slightly at his lack of protest, you half wanted him to confess his undying love for you right then and there.

So that's how a heated affair started, after the shop closed the two of you couldn’t keep your hands off each other. In the back of the shop, restocking the shelves, in his flat, kitchen counters, his bed, couch but his personal favorite was to have you in his office. Actually his and Georges but that didn’t matter while he was away.

It was almost exactly two months since the wedding, you and Fred were still going at it constantly.  

The two of you were finishing restocking the snack box display when Fred grabbed your waist, pulling your back to his chest. You placed the last box on the shelf as his hands started to work the buttons on your shirt, lips finding your neck.

“You know Freddie, I think the only reason you hired me is so you could fuck me.” you breathed out a laugh. You could feel the cheeky smirk on your skin.

“Oh, absolutely Princess.” his mouth found your ears nipping at it, “It was all part of my plan, first I hire you, next I get you naked.”

You laughed turning in his arms to kiss him. “This is probably the last time we can be up to no good in the shop.”

“Ah, yes, Georgie will be back,” he sighed dramatically. “He always ruins my fun.”

“I’ll let you choose how and where you want me first, Mr. Weasley.” you gave him an innocent smile, though what you were talking about is anything but.

“Office,” he growled. “Now.”

You grabbed his hand, bringing him upstairs opening the door to his side of the office. He quickly lifted you onto his desk. Kissing you as he took your shoes off sliding his hands up your thighs, discarding your stockings. His hand reached up your skirt, instinctively you moved your legs apart to give him better access. His fingers tracing the lace to find your clit.

His hands giving you all their attention, as his lips found the spot on your neck that never fails to make you moan.

“You make the most beautiful sounds,” he murmured. One hand pulling you panties off as the other went straight for your core. “Already so wet for me.”

His lips found yours once more, reaching for his pant button and zipper. “How do you want me Freddie? It’s your choice.”

His hazel eyes were clouded with lust and adoration. “Get off the desk.” You did as he commanded shivering at the loss of touch. “Clothes off.”

He tugged at his own as you pulled the skirt down, finishing off the buttons he hadn’t undone. Both left I'm your undergarments. he smiled, eying you as blushed. “Gorgeous, now Princess, I’m gonna bend you over and fuck you on my desk so hard you can’t say a full sentence.”

You giggled and squealed as he turned you around. With a tug your panties were off, one hand on your hip with a bruising grip the other on your spine guiding your chest flat against the wood.

You felt his length line up to your entrance, the tip teasing you, making you whimper for more.  “Just say please, princess…”

“Freddie, please I need you…” you whimpered with want. Truly, you did feel like you needed him. Fred made you feel like no one you’ve had sex with ever had. The way he filled you, the way his hands guided you. He was everything.

He entered you with a low grunt, his own name dripping from your lips. As he started at a slow pace, basking on how you felt around him. He still had the fim hand on your hip. As the other one went for your hair, pulling it lightly making you arch your back.

“Freddie, harder… please,” you know sometimes he liked to take it slow. But right now you wanted more.

“Because you asked so nicely,” he pushed himself into you harder, going at a rather brutal pace. You gasped the noise quickly turned into a needy moan, at the sudden movement. “There we go princess, such a pretty noise just for me. Right Y/N?”

You couldn’t focus, the slight growl of his voice and the feeling of his skin moving against yours left you in a daze. The hand on your hip found its way down to your clit.

“Fuck Freddie,” a loud moan came out of you.

Fred stopped completely inside of you, “you can still speak.” his hand went to your waist to pull your body flush to his. A hand finding its way around your throat.

Your brain short-circuited, he'd never done anything so aggressive. Hagged breaths and half moans were all you were capable of making.

“That’s better, isn’t it love?” he purred in your ear before his lips sucked on your neck. You nodded the best you could.

You felt the familiar pull of an orgasam, body twitching, Fred felt it too. His hand going back to your clit to circle the sensitive bundle.

“You can let go, cum for me princess.” he whispered.

With his hands working you it was seconds before you were undone with loud gasps and needy sounds. You finished seeing stars. Fred kept you upright as he thrusted into you as he climaxed.

He pulled himself out of you.

“That was intense,” you giggled, going to pull your skirt back on.

“Too much?” he looked a bit flustered, putting on his own clothes.It was slightly adorable to see the bold and sexy Fred Weasley get shy.

“It was perfect, in fact we should explore that side of you again.” you grabbed his collar bringing him to your height for a soft kiss.

“I think we should too,” he smiled. “Want some dinner? I'm going to make some pasta, maybe watch a movie before we try to explore a little more.”

You nodded and the two of you went up to the flat another floor up. This was the part of your arrangement that kind of left hope for something more. Often the two of you had dinner together and your lunches were always spent in his office joking. A few days a week you would even stay the night, he would say ‘it's convenient  you work right here.’ but nothing more than the sex ever came up no announcement of his love for you.

You sat on his couch looking at the small selection of movies he had. Finding a movie you considered okay. Fred was in the kitchen putting water in a pot setting it to boil on the stove before joining you.

He sat on the opposite end the two of you made comfortable conversation about anything you could think of with in the next hour the two of you had eaten and were on the couch watching an older movie about a young woman in new york. Not that the two you were paying any attention to the movie.

He had you in a heated kiss, laying on top of you. You had a leg around his waist, your hands tugging at his hair.

“So Princess, want to experiment some more?” that cheeky smirk told you tonight would be trouble.

“I was the one who suggested it. “

“How do you feel about being tied up?”

* * *

Waking up next to Fred was something you enjoyed, the way his bare chest rose and fell with his rhythmic breath, how the sun reflected off of his red hair, and his slightly parted lips. You felt him against your backside. You grinded against him, his perfect parted lips letting a groan slip out.

One thing you had learned about Fred these two months is that the man had a neerly impossible sex drive. You couldn’t always keep up but were more than willing to please. This was one of those times you would please.

His eyes twitched, and his mouth lifted into a smile, “good morning to you too.”

“Hi Freddie,” you twisted into his arms, letting him flip the two of you over for a kiss. You smiled into his kiss letting your hands explore. The few mornings you spent in his bed you learned they will always be slow and sensual.

The two of you were so caught up you didn't hear the loud ‘CRACK!’ in fact the two of you didn’t notice anyone was in the room until a loud “Oh shit!” was heard through the room. Fred got off of you, luckily you were still in one of Fred's sweaters but kept the blanket around your legs.

“Well isn’t this a surprise hello Y/N,” George laughed loudly as red got up and shooed him out of the room. You got up extremely embarrassed, you got up pulling on your skirt that had been discarded last night.

You walked out into the kitchen to see Fred and George sitting at the small table with a cup of coffee in each of their hands. Fred handed you a mug as you sat awkwardly,

George cleared his throat, “so how long have you two been together?”

“Well-

“We aren’t-”

You and Fred started at the same time, you nodded at him to continue, “we aren’t together, we’ve just been-”

“Screwing?” George supplied.

“Yes,” you cringed at the vulgarity. “I’m going to go home, get ready. I'll see you in two hours.”

The boys nodded at you as you got out your wand and apperated out of the room.

“So when are you going to tell her?” George stared his brother down.

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Fred couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Fred, don’t be daft, you are absolutely smitten with her and you know it.” George rolled his eyes, “you were taken  with her at Hogwarts and now you're absolutely done for. Why haven’t you said anything?”

“We don’t really talk much if i'm being honest,” Fred smirked, and then sighed while sipping his coffee. “I just don’t want to ruin this now, I’ll take being with her the way she’ll let me.”

“You two are idiots.”

* * *

And George was correct.

You spent time away from Fred for the most part, your heart ached to be near him, but he didn’t want attachment and you would do what you could to respect that. But the man was infuriating he would put a hand on your waist to steady you when the latter shifted slightly. His strong hands when he rolled his shirt sleeves up, and his lover lip between his teeth. Oh how you wanted to have his lips on yours again.

Fred caught you looking, he sent you a wink causing your face to heat up. You continued to talk to the woman and young boy looking at the more child safe products. You smiled as you recited the information. Once the woman left it was time for your lunch break.

“Y/N?” Fred called from his office. “Could you please join me in here?”

You walked up to the stairs, it had been five day since George caught you two. You saw the two of them at their desks, George was engrossed in paper work as Fred sat back in his seat looking deep in thought.

“Freddie, what did you need?” you leaned against the door frame. “I was going to pick up lun-”

“We ordered in from that sandwich shop down the alley,” Fred gestured to the seat across from him. “George was just about to go pick it up.”

“Oi! What are you-” Fred threw him a glare. It seemed like something registered to George as he got up and put on his coat. “I’ll see you in a bit, have fun.. Maybe not too much.”

You let out a humorless chuckle, “so did you have a question? Or did you just want to-”

“Why are you avoiding me?” he caught your eye, you stayed silent. “It's just frustrating Y/N, I miss you, and i haven’t seen you outside of work in days.”

“We’ll i just thought that what you would wa-”

“Why would I want that, If the fact that I couldn't leave you alone for a single day.”

“It’s just George-”

“I don’t give a shit about George Y/N,” he rose his voice knuckles white from hanging on to the edge of the desk.

“no , but George catching us made this completely real. And that is scary Fred its so scary because what we were doing was just for fun we both said, but I don’t want it to be-”

“And you don’t think I want it either. That I didn’t feel like the luckiest man on earth everytime i woke up with you in my arms, or that it’s not absolutely ridiculous to have you ten feet away from me and not be able to say how I feel.”

By this time the two of you were standing shouting. “And you want me to believe that you Fred Weasley don’t feel more than lust and attraction-”

He cut you off putting his mouth to yours heatedly. “I am absolutely taken with you Y/N Y/L/N.” He leaped over his desk to continue in his embrace.

“And I'm most definitely taken with you.”

The door slammed open loudly and there stood George with his hand dramatically over his eyes a takeout bag in the other. “Nobody’s naked right?”

“No, were completely decent.” Fred’s arms stayed around you swaying slightly as George went to his desk to decide whose food is whose. “Y/N why don't i take you on a proper date? Tonight, I can pick you up.”

“Think that would be lovely.” you gave him a small peck on his lips.

“You two horny basterds I got food, can we please eat before we have to open back up” George barked at the two of you.

The three of you burst into laughter. Applying for a job at the joke shop was easily the best thing you've done.

[rattyoakenbitch]

the hobbit: “the fear of rejection” ₊˚ ⸝  thorin x reader

❝no, you don't think of me like how i think about you. and it sucks, the way things change so fast.. it sucks, and it hurts so bad.❞

gif credit: n/a song: princessbri - i hate that i can only write music about u

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

pairings: thorin oakenshield x reader

warnings: angst, violence

summary: not much of a summary but more of an a/n? anyway, i’ve read a lot of fan-fics where thorin is the one always avoiding the reader because he’s insecure and unsure of the reader’s feelings. i thought i’d turn the tables for this oneshot. (also this is kinda the situation with this guy i’m crushing on so---)

“So, Y/N, when are you finally going to confess your undying love for our uncle?”

You groan at the sound of Kili’s teasing as he jogs up beside you, along with his older brother, Fili. You ignore them and walk faster, your cheeks burning red.

“Aw, c’mon, Ki! She’s shy! Leave the poor girl alone!”

“I’m not shy, I’m just..” you sigh and look at the ground as you trail behind the rest of The Company. “It’s not that simple.” Kili & Fili exchange a look, knowing this was going to become serious.

“You’re afraid, aren’t you, Y/N? Afraid of Thorin pushing you away?”

You solemnly nod, avoiding the brothers’ sad smile. 

“Oh, Y/N, it’ll be okay. You know it’s not good to keep your feelings bottled up.” Fili pats you on your shoulder, “We know our uncle. He wouldn’t think any less of you for taking a liking to him.” 

You frown. “I know that.. But if he rejects my feelings.. Well, I don’t know how I’d handle it.” You space out, the thought of The Company mocking and teasing you in your mind. They’d never let you live it down, that’s for sure. Just as Kili was about to speak, Thorin’s booming voice stopped him.

“Fili! Kili! Catch up!” 

The brothers sent you a final look before keeping up their pace, catching up with the rest of The Company. 

“You too, Y/N,” Thorin commanded, his piercing blue eyes never leaving yours. His stare was harsh, causing shivers to run across your whole body. You felt yourself sink under his cold gaze.

There was no way you could confess to him.

That day, you kept your distance from Thorin. And the day after. 

Days turned into weeks and you haven’t spoken to Thorin at all. If it was something serious concerning the journey, you would turn to Gandalf about it instead of Thorin. 

Thorin was quick to catch on. He suspected you were avoiding him on purpose. But why? You’d grown close to Thorin over the journey, so why would you suddenly ignore him? 

He was soon to find out.

One night, The Company, drained and exhausted from the traveling, headed to sleep early. You offered to take the first watch as they all rested quietly, save for Bombur’s loud snores.

You too, found yourself drifting off to sleep, but the sound of a branch snapping shook you awake. You jumped to your feet and spun around, scanning the woods surrounding the camp. 

You caught the glimpse of something rustling between the bushes. Maybe an animal. You whipped your dagger out of its’ sheath and cautiously approached the sound, stepping in the dark woods where the light of the fire did not touch.

You walked around for a good five minutes, checking between every bush or where you thought the sound came from. 

“I’m just being paranoid..” You whispered to yourself, rubbing your eyes. “Bifur should be taking the next watch.” Just as you were about to walk back towards the camp, a rough hand pulled you back, causing you to lose your balance and fall onto the ground. 

You couldn’t see through the dark very well, but judging by the animalistic growls and smell, you knew you were being ambushed by an Orc. Maybe several. 

Just as you let that sink in, you instinctively reached for your dagger. You pulled it out of its’ sheath, only for it to be kicked out of your hand.

The Orc towering above you kept your arm down with its’ boots as it bent down, its’ rotten breath fanning your face. You struggled to get back onto your feet, but another Orc by your side held you down and placed its’ slimy hand on your mouth, keeping you silent.

The two Orcs yelled at each other in Blackspeech. You couldn’t understand what they were saying, but after an exchange, they looked down at you, a malicious grin on their faces.

Oh, you were so dead.

The first Orc unsheathed its’ blade, pointing it to your neck. 

The Orc raised its’ blade in the air, ready to take your head off, when it was suddenly tackled to the ground by an unseen person.

The other Orc by your side was caught off guard, and you took that chance to grab your dagger, get to your feet and kill it.

Just as you finished, a familiar voice, that both scared you and comforted you called out.

“Y/N! What were you doing? You almost got yourself killed!”

Judging by Thorin’s voice, you knew he was furious. But his demeanor softened when he saw the terrified look your face. He said a curse in Khuzdul under his breath and lead you back to the camp where he could get a better look at you.

“Did they hurt you? Are you wounded?” He inspected you from head to toe, looking for any wounds or blood. But you quickly backed away from Thorin.

“No, no, no, I’m fine, I’m not hurt,” you reassured him. “I-” Your words got caught in your throat as you locked eyes with Thorin. He approached you, but this time held you in place before you could avoid him this time.

“Why are you so nervous around me, Y/N?” You broke eye contact, looking down, away from Thorin. “Do I scare you? Tell me, Y/N. It hurts me to know you want to distance yourself from me.”

“Thanu-men,” you whispered. [my king] 

“You may address me by my name, Y/N. It’s just the two of us.”

“I.. You misunderstand..” Thorin raises an eyebrow. You continue, “I have been feeling unwell and it wasn’t my intention to avoid you..”

“Do not lie to me, Y/N. I’m not easy to fool.”

You stay silent after that, still refusing to make eye contact with Thorin. 

“.. Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell me?”

Your heart skips a beat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about..”

“Then are you telling me my nephews have been lying to me?” 

Damn it, Fili & Kili.

You feel Thorin’s hand tug at your chin, forcing you to look up at him. 

“All this time, Fili & Kili have been telling me about your feelings for me.”

“I-”

“I didn’t believe it at first.. And I still don’t. So I want you to tell me, Y/N,” Thorin says lowly into your ears. “Tell me it’s true.”

Your face is now inches away from Thorin’s, your noses nearly brushing up against each other. You feel his heated breath fan your face and neck, causing your heart to flutter. You suck in a breath.

This was your chance.

Hesitantly, you cupped Thorin’s face. By the look of his eyes, he was taken back. 

Without giving him the chance to properly react, you pressed your lips to his. He was quick to kiss you back, snaking his arms around your small form to deepen the kiss. 

You broke away briefly to get a look at Thorin’s face. His expression said nothing but happiness, his eyes filled with light and joy, and his cheek red with blush. 

You giggled lightly and pulled Thorin closer to pepper kisses all over his face, his nose, his forehead, and the top of his head. 

You felt him hum in satisfaction.

“So, does that mean yes?”

[crookswithbooks]

How To Seduce A Talking Cat

Day Ten - Bean helps Elfo come up with strategies on how to seduce their favorite demon and Elfo himself continues to be awkward and terrible at most everything.               

Waking up in a pool of sunlight was usually an enjoyable experience for the demon, but in the wintertime the reflections off the snow were enough that he was practically blinded when he first opened his eyes. Luci slowly uncurled from his position on the windowsill, stretching out his back. What he was not expecting was to be met with the waiting eyes of Elfo, head tilted slightly as he watched him.

Luci stifled a strangled yelp, quickly straightening out. “Okay dude, super creepy.”

“You know you look just like a cat when you sleep,” Elfo told him as the demon hopped off the windowsill. “I half expected you to start purring.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you I’m not a cat,” he grumbled, his tail curling in annoyance. “I’m a demon and I’d kill your parents for half a corn chip.”

“But you don’t like corn chips.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t get it.”

Teasing Elfo was a gamble each time. Sometimes it was as easy as calling him short and sometimes the meaning of his words flew completely over the elf’s head. “You know Elfo, it’s amazing how you’re even less fun in the morning than all the other times of the day. It’s almost impressive in a way.”

“Thank you!”

Luci scampered out the door to go find some drunk scholb to torment, grumbling something about early mornings and annoying elves.

Elfo sighed, flopping back down on the bed. Bean was curled up on her side, having passed out soundly after last night’s shenanigans. Her hair formed a tangled mat around her head and she snored quietly. There had been moments when the sight of her would have set Elfo’s heart aflutter. It still sort of did. Now though, he found his attentions were held by another, more antagonistic force.

“Have you ever been in love?” Elfo asked her distractedly, watching the doorway where Luci’s form had been moments before.

“Mmm… love…” Bean’s murmurings were almost unintelligible, her barely conscious mind slurring her words. “Warm hands… why yes I will join you in your chambers tonight…”

“Like, genuine love,” Elfo continued, oblivious to the fact that Bean was clearly not listening. “Love where you would do anything just to get them to notice you?”

“Do anything…” Bean snorted, pulling her pillow in close so that she was practically straddling the material. “You can do whatever you want to me…”

“But the thing is, the person in question’s not good for you. Like, objectively speaking, just a terrible influence and not a good person to boot. Yet all the same you can’t help falling for their infuriating charms.”

“Boots…” Bean muttered, finding herself more and more awake with every second. “Am I wearing boots in bed?” She kicked them off, groaning as she sat up.

Elfo’s eyes widened with realization. “Oh my goodness. I’m in love with Luci.”

“What?”

Elfo slid off the bed, pressing his hands to the side of his head. “I can’t believe I never realized it before. I just assumed those fluttery feelings in my stomach were hatred, but then I realized they were the same feelings I used to get when I looked at you and I just—”

“Hold up a second,” Bean interrupted, holding up a hand to stop him. This was not the kind of news you wanted sprung on you while dealing with a hangover. “You’re in love with Luci? Luci? The demon? My demon? In love?”

“I think so!” Elfo gnawed on his lip anxiously, not interpreting Bean’s distress. “I mean, now that I think about it, the signs are pretty obvious. I love hanging out with him, whenever he makes fun of me I get all hot and bothered, and sometimes when I look at him I find myself thinking he’s… cute? Like, these aren’t friend feelings, are they?”

“How long have you been in love with Luci?” Bean exclaimed, lost and bewildered at the turn the conversation was taking. “How did I miss this? And why Luci? And why you?”

“I don’t know, a couple months now,” Elfo said in answer to her first question. “At least I think so. It’s hard to pin down. I mean, I’ve always sort of felt this way, if I really track it back, but it’s only recently that I started to be fully aware of it.”

“Am I losing my touch?” Bean gasped. “My best friends were in love and I never realized. I can’t believe it.” She grabbed Elfo’s arm, momentarily pulling him out of his funk and forcing him to look at her. “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

Elfo shrugged uncomfortably, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “I don’t know… I was thinking I would just pine endlessly now that I know how I feel and prolong the inevitable rejection.”

“No, no, no!” It was possibly due to the seven beers she had drunk last night, but Bean found herself weirdly invested in this newfound realization of Elfo’s. She had always found it difficult to navigate her own love life so focusing on someone else’s was a welcome distraction. “You have to tell him.”

Elfo snorted, a derisive noise that shot down any possibility of acceptance. “Please. There is no way that he feels the same way. Luci’s a demon. I’m… well, me. It wouldn’t work.”

Bean folded her legs under her, gripping her hands in concentration. “There’s got to be something…” She racked her brain, digging through her hangover for ideas. After a couple minutes of her doing this and Elfo waiting unimpressed, her eyes shot open with excitement. “I got it! Mistletoe!”

“What?” Elfo frowned. “You want me to grow mistletoe?”

“No stupid.” She stood up, pacing back and forth. “You find a way to get both you and Luci under the mistletoe at the same time, and then once you’ve kissed him you can confess your undying love for him. It’ll be perfect. It always works in those books Derek is constantly reading. I only know because sometimes I use the pages to smoke drugs and accidentally catch glimpses of the words.”

“I don’t know…” Elfo said skeptically. “Who’s to say Luci will even follow the rules of mistletoe? He doesn’t seem like the rule-following type.”

Bean waved a hand, dismissing the idea before it could even take form. “He will.”

“How do you know?”

Bean didn’t answer and Elfo reluctantly followed her as she continued to go through several ideas for their plan.

A day later, Elfo sat at the table in the grand hall with a glass of beer and a stomach full of nerves. Operation Luci-Under-The-Mistletoe was ago, or LUTM as Bean has so affectionately named it. Above him was a mistletoe tied to the rafters. The beer had been Bean’s suggestion, the idea being that Luci would be unable to resist the alcohol and would be forced to sit next to him.

He had been waiting there for nearly fifteen minutes before Luci finally wandered back into the castle. He slipped in through the crack in the doorway, eyes widening as he caught sight of Elfo nervously gripping a glass of shoddy beer. “Oh. Elfo. Hey.”

“Luci!” Elfo exclaimed a bit too loudly. Now that he had named his feelings he found it harder to be around the demon without being awkward. Luci raised an eyebrow and he flushed. “Hey there... bud… how’s your day been?”

“Great. Set two children on fire in front of their parents.” Luci crawled onto the bench, far enough away that he wasn’t technically under the mistletoe. “They screamed for a long time. A couple of times the fire went out and I had to re-light it which was troublesome, but such is the sacrifices I make for art.”

“Geez,” Elfo muttered, queasy just at the thought of it. Of all the people he had to fall for, it had to be a demon. “That sounds… terrible.”

“It was,” Luci agreed dreamily.

“Hey,” Elfo said casually, twisting the bottle on the table in what he hoped was an inconspicuous motion. “I was just getting ready to down a couple of cold ones if you wanted to maybe join me?” He threw in the maybe despite himself, nerves getting the best of him.

Luci examined the cracked bottle containing clearly not cold beer. “Yeah… so, as fun as that sounds, I’m actually good. I was getting ready to go get baked and yell at people in the streets, though, if you wanted to come with me?”

“Sure,” Elfo agreed miserably, setting the bottle back down a little too hard on the table. Plan #1 was a bust, which meant it was back to the drawing board for him.

 A couple days later and Elfo sat loosely tied to the throne with a mistletoe hung directly above him, waiting for Luci to come back from breakfast. The plan now was that Luci would try to help him out and as soon as he was close enough Elfo would slip the knots and kiss him. Elfo was skeptical about the plan as it required Luci wanting to help anyone, but Bean was confident in this one so he went with it. He twisted against the chair, the hard wood digging into his back uncomfortably.

Luci’s amusement when he finally found him was unending and Elfo almost wanted to die right then and there, mistletoe be damned.

“Wow,” Luci whistled appreciatively, circling him. “Just wow. Who did you say did this to you again?”

“The kids from the village,” Elfo muttered under his breath, repeating the words Bean had instructed him to say. It was all the more embarrassing due to the plausibility of the situation. “Could you possibly help me out of here?”

“And you’re really stuck?” Luci clarified, just standing there and, more importantly, not helping him. “Like, you can’t get out at all?”

“No,” Elfo assured him in what he hoped was a convincing lie.

Luci examined him for a moment longer, clearly deciding the truth of the statement. Finally he shrugged, walking towards the still open door.

“W-Wait!” Elfo cried out in a panic, wanting to rush after him but not wanting to give away the fact that he wasn’t really stuck. “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to help me?”

“It seems like you’re really stuck in there,” Luci said over his shoulder, strolling out the doorway. “Why would I ruin such a perfect oppurtunity?”

Seconds later he was gone and Elfo slumped against the rope, defeated yet again.

 His third try was a last-ditch attempt and one that he wasn’t proud of by any definition of the word. Tied to the front of his hat was a sprig of mistletoe, making it impossible for anyone to get close to him without being in range of the plant. It was obvious and mortifying if anyone saw him—which, if Bean’s plan was to work, they would have to. Specifically Luci.

Luci took one look at him and burst into laughter, doubling over in amusement. Elfo blushed furiously, bristling at the reaction. “Oh my god, Elfo, man, this is just so desperate. What lady is ever going to want to kiss you with that on your head?”

Elfo didn’t even bother to come up with a response, ripping the hat off and throwing it to the ground. He stormed off, Luci’s laughter echoing down the halls after him.

 Eventually, Elfo was forced to resign himself to the facts. Luci didn’t want to kiss him; that much was obvious. And no amount of tricks, clever ploys, or traditional plants were going to change that. The sooner he allowed himself to accept that, the sooner he could get over the stinging phase of rejection.

He sat curled up in the windowsill of Bean’s room, the place where this whole stupid charade had begun. His knees were pulled up to his chest and in one hand he held a piece of mistletoe, glaring at it with as much hatred as he could muster.

“Stupid plant,” he muttered angrily, crushing it between his fingers. “Stupid Bean, stupid Luci, stupid feelings—”

“Are you talking to yourself again?”

He jumped at the sound of Luci’s voice. He shoved the mistletoe behind him quickly; there was no way he would be able to deal with the embarrassment of Luci catching him holding it.

“No,” he protested, wishing for once that Luci would just go away. As always, Luci ignored his wishes and hopped up on the windowsill opposite him, examining him curiously. “Why are you here? Don’t you have more important things to be doing?”

“Not really. I just finished poisoning the local drinking water, so my schedule’s clear for the next couple hours.” Luci watched him for a moment before his tail snapped out suddenly and snatched the mistletoe from behind Elfo’s back. Elfo gasped, shooting out a hand to retrieve it but it was already too late. Luci smiled, holding up the mistletoe in both their line of sight. “Thinking of kissing someone, huh?”

“I…” Elfo struggled to come up with a convincing story, but between all the plans he and Bean had come up with lately, not to mention his inherently guilty conscious, he found himself all out of lies. “I was, yeah. But they don’t want to kiss me back.”

“How do you know that? Did they tell you?”

“No,” Elfo admitted. “But they don’t have to. They’re super cool and mysterious and I’m… you know.”

“Elfo?”

“Exactly.”

His head drooped in misery. A couple seconds later, however, he felt a soft hand grip his chin and tilt it upwards. He found Luci standing next to him, the mistletoe held squarely over them by his tail. Elfo gaped at the sight, glancing between it and Luci’s face. “But—I thought—”

“I knew what you were trying to do,” Luci admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ve known since the beginning. I just thought I shouldn’t give the win to you that easy. And I have to say, it was fun messing with you. Sorry about that. by the way. Bad habits, demon and all that.”

“So then you…” Elfo struggled to deal with the information he was being handed. “You knew that I liked you and you weren’t disgusted?”

“Of course not,” Luci snorted. “Do you know how many things I’ve been with on this planet? You’re hardly the most revolting thing.”

“Thanks,” Elfo said dryly.

“You know what I mean.”

“So you, too…?”

“Don’t make me say it,” Luci snapped, and if Elfo didn’t know better he could have sworn he spotted a faint blush on the demon’s cheeks. He wiggled the mistletoe then, a mischievous look entering his eyes. “Now, I believe I owe you something?”

Kissing Luci was never something Elfo would imagine in even his wildest of dreams, but life, as he quickly found out, was full of surprises. Normally, Elfo was not that fond of surprises, but in this case he decided to make an exception.

[oatmilkslytherin]

children’s games pt. 2 (d.l.m)

description: part two to my first post: children’s games !

requested: yes / no

warnings: none

a/n: feel free to send in requests for imagines (people, situations, etc.) and lmk if you want me to add you to my taglist:))

y/n’s pov:

the days were growing awfully cold and lonely without draco’s company. most days i was able to avoid him entirely, always arriving to and leaving meals early, residing in the common room during my free time, and assuring i always had someone by my side during and after lessons. 

still, the pain in my chest was unbearable. it felt like a relentless cruciatus curse that spread through my veins into the tips of my fingers. whenever i did see him, i felt my eyes growing blurry with tears and a distinguished pang in my chest. as angry as i was with him, i couldn’t live without him.

it didn’t dismiss the fact that his treatment towards me was slightly cruel. one would’ve thought that after all this time, draco would’ve had half a mind to swallow his pride and reputation and confess his undying love for me. the thought that i was nothing more than an embarrassing secret absolutely wrecked me. draco not doing anything to mend what he broke only confirmed the ill-consuming thought.

i couldn’t help but think he seemed better without me. after the night i broke it off, he was still laughing with his friends and antagonizing first-years the next day. he was still the same draco, only a bit colder and meaner if he could even end up that way. 

as i walked through the courtyard, i couldn’t help but notice how the fall-winter chill ran down my spine. it seemed fitting considering how i’ve been feeling these past few days. it was the first time i’ve been alone outside my dorm or common room since draco and i separated. i was dreading every minute of it. 

although i’ve failed to cry outside of my dorm room walls, my façade faltered slightly whenever i caught a glimpse of him. i couldn’t let him know, however. it would just be one more thing he could use against me when he spoke maliciously upon my name with his friends. 

i held my robes closer to my body as i wandered aimlessly through the courtyard. despite the cold, it was a rather nice day outside. a day that i thought i would be able to enjoy alone. when i turned the corner, however, i knew that i was wrong.

very wrong.

there he was. sitting alone on a bench with his head buried in his hands and his body shaking in attempt to muffle his cries. seeing him like this only made me want to wrap my arms around him, hold him close and whisper sweet words of affirmation until his sobs turned into soft kisses and appreciation. 

but i knew i couldn’t. we were no longer together, he was no longer mine to comfort. merlin, i didn’t even know what he was crying about. i questioned why i felt bad when it wasn’t my business in the first place.

still, the sight of him quietly sobbing to himself in the lone corridor made my heart pang. of course, i still love and care about him.

i attempted to walk past him, hoping i could dim the patter of my feet into noiseless steps as i headed back to the common room. much to my dismay, i crunched a leaf under my footing right when i was walking past, making his head snap up and his eyes fall upon me. i froze in my spot, my shoulders tensing as i felt him staring holes into my back. i thought i could just walk away, run perhaps. just as i took my next step, he called out to me. 

“y/n...” his voice croaked out. i knew there was no way to avoid him now. the sooner we both get closure, the better. 

i turned on my heel to face him, keeping my distance as i stared at him emotionlessly. he, on the other hand, looked like a wreck. his hands were still shaking, his eyes glistening with tears and they looked absolutely bloodshot. i never noticed it before when i saw him in the halls, but he had dark bags clinging under his eyes. had they always been there?

i swallowed the lump in my throat, nodding at him slightly in acknowledgment. 

“i’m sorry...” he spoke again. his voice was hoarse as he spoke. i nodded once more, my eyes moving from his to the flooring between us. 

“you have what is important to you, and so do i. i was simply just tired of being put second,” i stated, my voice threatening to break as tears welled in my eyes. 

“you were never second. you were always first and i’m so... so sorry that i never treated you like it...” draco trailed off once more. from the tone of his voice, he sounded sincere. but at this point, i didn’t know what to believe from him anymore. 

“it’s fine, draco. it just simply wasn’t meant to be and that’s... that’s fine,” i stated. it took everything out of me not to run up to him and hold him, or perhaps let him hold me; for us to cry everything out in each other’s arms. i wished things were different. 

draco sniffled at my words, cries threatening to leave his mouth as i spoke.

“you really believe we weren’t meant to be?” his voice cracked as he questioned this. i looked back up at him briefly to see fresh tears streaming down his face, his lips pressed together as he never took his eyes off of me. 

“i wanted us to be,” i spoke truthfully, “but i refuse to let your reputation come in between us.”

draco opened his mouth once more to speak, but i silenced him quickly as words spewed out of my mouth. 

“you were never proud to be with me. you could never boast to your friends that you had me, because they would ridicule you. you wanted me, but only when it was convenient for you. i was not made for your convenience.” my words were cold and harsh, but every bit i said was true. every word i spoke was fueled from months of hiding, secrecy, and insecurity. all things that i hid only to make him happy.

tears now streamed freely down both of our faces, my heart beating rapidly as i felt everything begin to crumble around me. all the tears i shed, the progress i made, it was all apparating out of thin air.

“please... please y/n. please let me show you that i can change,” draco stood up quickly, now closing the gap between us as he moved towards me. he took my hands in his own; i could still feel him trembling. “i want you, and only you. i should’ve never let anyone or anything get in the way of how i truly feel about you.”

i stared up at him, his blue eyes piercing into mine with hurt and regret. seeing him in this state, i wanted to believe him. i wanted to believe that he could change and fix the things i needed to be fixed. the feeling of him holding me in this way was something i’ve longed for in these short few days of loneliness.

before i could say anything else, he spoke once more.

“i haven’t stopped crying these past few days. life without you is a place i don’t want to know. in the short few days i’ve experienced it, it’s killed me. it’s killed me not to see your smile and hear your laughter. i’ve never known a pain like the one i’ve felt since you said we were done. you cannot look at me and say that we weren’t meant to be because i know you feel the same way...” draco pleaded incessantly, his eyes boring into mine as he rubbed the smallest of circles into the back of my hand. 

hearing him speak only made me cry more. not because i was upset and angry, but because he was right. it’s always been him; it will always be him. i can’t truthfully look at him and tell him we weren’t meant to be because it’s not true. 

the sight of him in front of me was a draco i have never known before. sure, we’ve shed a handful of tears together from jealous fights and plaguing insecurities, but this was different. draco was not the type of person to break down and beg for forgiveness; he didn’t need it. but, i truly believed in this moment he needed me. and in the same way, i needed him. 

i slowly withdrew one of my hands from his, caressing the softness of his cheek and wiping stray tears away with my thumb. he melted into my caress, biting back tears and sighs of relief as i inched impossibly closer to him. 

“i love you,” i stated, my voice barely above a whisper. draco mustered up a smile despite his bloodshot eyes and incredibly paled face. he brought his hand up to mine, holding my hand against his face lightly.

“i love you,” he replied. he pressed a petal-light kiss to my forehead, making a soft smile creep onto my features. he dropped our hands, embracing me into a tight hug with his chin resting on top of my head. i wrapped my arms around his torso, allowing my head to rest on his chest and letting my previously tense state dissolve under his warmth. 

“i promise i’m going to make it up to you. i promise things are going to be different, love,” he murmured into my hair. i nodded against his chest, sighing outwardly as i relished in the feeling of his arms wrapped around me. it had only been a few days without him, but merlin, did it feel like an eternity. 

before we could even fully reminisce in the moment, however, a familiar voice piped up from behind us. 

“oi, malfoy! why are you letting the hogwart’s scum touch you?” blaise’s voice shot daggers through my ears and chest, making me tense once more under draco’s touch. draco pulled his arms away slightly, only to turn over his shoulder and shoot blaise a menacing glare. 

“don’t talk about my girlfriend like that, you git,” draco spit back at his friend. blaise’s eyes widened in surprise before his eyebrows furrowed into pure confusion. he scoffed audibly, crossing his arms over his chest as he paced towards us. i cowered from his stare, allowing my arms to droop back to my sides. 

“girlfriend? mate, what are you on about?” blaise asked, clearly thinking the entire situation was a joke. half of me expected draco to play along with blaise’s insults, but the other half of me reminded myself of his promise. 

“yeah, girlfriend,” draco spoke, his face etched in entire seriousness. he took my hand in his own. “for the past year and half now may i add. if you have a problem, you can take it up with me later, but you leave her the hell alone, zabini.” 

my face reddened in pride at draco’s side, a small smile tugging at the corner’s of my lips as he stood up for me, for us. 

blaise looked taken aback by draco’s words. instead of retaliating, however, he only nodded and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. he quickly walked away from us, turning the corner out of our sight. as soon as he left, i let a soft laugh escape from my lips as i turned to face draco. he was staring back at me, smiling widely as he squeezed my hand tighter. 

he embraced me once more suddenly, his arms wrapping around my waist as he lifted me. a loud laugh erupted from my mouth as i clung to his shoulders. his face was buried in the crook of my neck, placing soft kisses and murmuring the sweetest ‘i love you’s’ into the skin of my collarbone. i pulled his face towards mine, leaning down and allowing our lips to meet between muffled laughter. it was a dream, a dream that has now consumed my entirety as it came true.

all seemed right in the world once more.

taglist: @killiansawyer

[labyrinthof-fan-fiction]

The Man That Got Away

Steve Rogers x unrequited!Reader

Bucky x Reader

Summary: You had held a candle for Steve for so long, but he went back to Peggy. And you missed your chance. Steve would forever be your man that got away, at least that was what you thought.

A/N: Inspired by Judy Garland’s “The Man That Got Away” Yes, listen to this when you read it. 10/10 recommend. This idea has stemmed from my recent obsession with Vera Lynn, there’s a good chance there will be many writings from me centered around 40s, 50s, 60s songs.

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 1,492

You stared up at the night sky, the stars speckling the darkness seemed dimmer somehow. You had found yourself on a bench in Brooklyn, overlooking the bridge. The chill in the air caused you to pull your jacket tighter around your body. He was an old man now, he had found happiness. You were happy for him. He got the chance to return to the love of his life, and you would hate to admit it but you were jealous of him. But the years had passed quickly for you, and you had to wonder. Was this the curtain call on your love life? Sure, you were young, but not as young as you had been when you first met him.

As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, your first mission had been his retrieval, that was in Times Square, not from the ice. He had run from the facility causing mass panic and chaos. Fury was able to talk him into coming back with S.H.I.E.L.D. You had been assigned to help him to acclimate to the future. You smiled fondly at the memories of this time.

“Y/N!” You heard his voice call, running up to you in the hallway.

“Captain Rogers,” you greeted, “What can I do for you?”

“I was wondering if you could help me with this list of things I have missed? I don’t know where to even start. I thought I was caught up, but I just got more.” He stated, running a hand through his blonde hair, pulling his notebook from his pocket and handing it to you.

You looked at the extensive list he had handed to you. He had missed quite a bit since the 40s. You held your hand out to him, at this point you had developed a routine. He took his phone from his pocket as you started typing and tapping the touch screen. You handed the phone back to him. “I’ve created a playlist of all the music for you. Just hit this button,” You reached over and pointed to the screen so he could see. “And it will open the music for you.”

A smile crept onto his face, “Thank you. So what do we do about the films?”

You chuckled, “Lucky for you, I have an extensive video library.”

“Tomorrow?” He asked.

You nodded, “Text me.”

The memory faded away, leaving you, alone on the park bench. Every movie night you had hoped would end in a different way, but they always ended with Steve bidding you good night and leaving you alone in your apartment. Each time you felt a piece of your heart break off. Just once you had hoped that he would stay, kiss you, but without fail, he always returned to his own apartment. You should have known then and there that he had no feelings for you beyond friendship. But you had always hoped.

Seeing him on the lake, handing the shield to Sam sealed the deal for you. How could he leave all of you? How could he abandon the group, the Avengers? He was the First Avenger for God’s sake. What had happened when he returned to the 40s? What did he see that caused him to stay forever? To give up his friends, to give up the life he had built? The confusion brought tears to your eyes. As your vision blurred you missed Bucky’s eyes turning to you. You missed the concern in his eyes as you turned from the trio of men. You missed Steve whispering “Go get her.”

An emptiness filled you as you walked away. Sure, you had been pining after him for years. So why didn’t it hurt more? You knew that no man would ever replace Steve for you, the Golden Boy. He had always been the man you had dreamt of, but now with him gone, you felt empty. Unsure of what the future would hold for you. Would you find love? Were you destined to remain alone forever? You hoped that would not be the case, but you knew that love would not be the same.

It had been three years since the day he had gone back to the past. You glanced back at the stars. Good riddance, goodbye. You thought wryly. This is what had lead you to this bench tonight. And now it was time to let go. Time to say goodbye to the love that never was, and never would be. That was why you were in Brooklyn, to lay the ghost of your feelings to rest.

The first year had been hard, lonely, unrequited love had left you raw and broken. You had found yourself denying this reality for a few weeks after the lake, hoping that he would turn up, pulling you into his arms and confessing his undying love for you. But that never happened. That never would be.

You sighed, fidgeting with the cuffs of your jacket. You had been a sight this whole year. Broken and sad, a shell of the person you had been. All for one man. You doubted any of your friends had seen a sadder sight than you. But you had pieced yourself back together and realized that there was another man who had gotten away from you that day. That day you refused to turn back and drove yourself into solitude. A man who won your heart the first day he said your name. But you had deluded yourself into a love story, too blind to see him standing in front of you. You mind took you back to the moment he had cemented himself into your life.

You had been in Wakanda for training. Steve felt that it was the best option for you. But he had asked a favor of you. “Look after my best friend.” And you realized the true reason for you being in Wakanda.

That was when you met James Buchanan Barnes. At first he had seemed a sad man with his goats. Broken and lost. He hardly spoke to you each time you visited his hut. Trying to form a bond with the man, you inserted yourself into his daily routine. Helping him rebuild the fence that the goats had torn down, going to the market at the same time to gather supplies, inviting him to dinner with you.

Eventually you had worn him down and he accepted your invitation. The dinner was filled with small talk, but somehow it was not uncomfortable. When you were finished, he left your hut, a small smile on his lips.

“Thank you.” He said, leaving. Then a pattern emerged, James asking you to join him for dinner. Sharing meals, sharing stories. Him insisting that you call him Bucky. The two of you growing close, but not too close. Until you finally became each others companions.

Then Thanos appeared and ripped him from you. Your heart had broken. So you turned to the only person who was feeling your pain. You and Steve pieced the messes of your lives together to help others post-snap. You had stayed close with Steve, but something had always been off about your relationship after your time in Wakanda. You felt so stupid, it was Bucky. That was what had been different. You had no longer been in love with Steve. You were in love with Bucky.

It had taken you three years to sort out your feelings, which had been more muddled after those lost to the snap returned. And it took you those three years to realize, you were in love with James Buchanan Barnes. This realization is what lead you to the bench in Brooklyn tonight.

You heard light footsteps and raised your head to meet those all too familiar blue eyes. He was nervous, his eyes quickly scanning your form. Finally, he broke the silence.

“What brings you to this part of town, doll?” He asked, his metal arm reaching back to rest on the nape of his neck.

“You.” You answered boldly. You had spent too long in silence.

His eyes widened a bit as he sat in the space next to you, his flesh hand reaching out to grasp yours. You turned to face him. His blue eyes searching your E/C eyes. “Please tell me that you mean it. Doll, I can’t take it if you don’t.”

You rested your forehead against his. “I mean it. With my whole heart.” You answered.

His hand released yours and moved up to your chin. His eyes met yours for a brief moment before he pressed his lips to yours, deepening the kiss as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You broke apart, a comfortable silence surrounding the two of you, broken only by the sounds of your breathing. Your foreheads still touching you came to another realization.

Tonight, you had found the man that got away.

[elentiyawhitethorn]

Sneaking Around | Chapter Fifteen

Lysandra’s caller ID showed up on Aelin’s phone, which she had in fact retrieved from Rowan’s earlier in the day. After a round of sex with Rowan, Aelin had eaten breakfast and walked over to pick up said phone (Rowan was too lazy to come with her), and driven back in her car.

Despite wanting to know what the hell was going on with Lysandra and Aedion, Aelin decided to wait until one of them said something to her. Which was happening now, at half past three.

“Hey Lys. Have a fun night?” Aelin couldn’t help but tease.

“Good gods yes. It was amazing.” Lysandra sounded out of breath.

Aelin answered with her usual snark, “Well good for you, darlin’, but seeing as you slept with my brother, I’d rather not hear the details.”

“Right. But holy fuck Aelin, guess what happened!”

“You two had sex. Woke up the next morning and confessed your undying love for each other. Raced into the bathroom to call me.”

Lysandra gasped. “What the hell, Aelin. Are you stalking me?”

Aelin giggled. “Oh, shit, I got it right, didn’t I? You are so predictable.”

Lys sighed. “I woke up next to him, and I laid there for a few seconds trying to figure out what the hell had happened, and then I remembered. And I looked over. And fuck, Lin, I didn’t know what to do. I debated running away, but I thought of what a coward I’d been for so long, so I poked him.” Aelin snorted here. “And he woke up and was all bleary and then he was like Oh! and then I just blurted, “I love you!” And he said it back! Fuck, who knew?”

“I know that’s supposed to be a rhetorical question, but everyone. Everyone knew.” Aelin was smirking.

“Whatever. And so I squealed and ran to the bathroom and called you. Like you said. Are you sure you don’t have cameras in here?” Lys asked.

“Yes, I do. To watch my best friend and my brother going at it,” Aelin responded dryly. “And seriously, you didn’t wake up until a few minutes ago? It’s after three.”

“Hush, I had a lot to drink. And now that I am aware of your relationship with Whitethorn, I need the details. Every freakin’ detail.”

“Maybe not on the phone when you’re camped out in my brother’s bathroom. Did you even put any clothes on?”

Lysandra snorted. “I’m too pretty for clothes.”

Aelin chuckled. “Go tell my brother he’s dumb for not making a move sooner. And shit, I owe him twenty bucks. Don’t mention that part, okay?”

A giggle escaped Lysandra. “I can’t believe you had to get him drunk and bribe him just to kiss me.”

“We Galathynius folk are always stubborn. I’m braver, though.”

Lys snorted. “You’re not wrong. Alright, thanks for the chat. Have a nice time with lover boy.”

“Oh trust me, honey, I will. Bye.”

The sound of the shower Rowan had been running stopped and a minute later he walked out in a towel. Aelin’s eyes drifted to his muscular chest. She’d had plenty of chances to look at it before, but there really was no limit to gazing at that chiseled glory.

“Like what you see?” Rowan asked teasingly.

She shamelessly replied without looking away, “Yep. And hate to break it to you, but I’m allowed to check you out; we’re dating.”

Rowan snorted and sauntered into Aelin’s bedroom. He came out a few seconds later in sweatpants and a t-shirt, basically the only thing in his wardrobe. He had brought a change of clothes with him a few days prior, and Aelin had done the same at his apartment.

“What’s for breakfast?”

“Whatever you make, dear,” Aelin replied sweetly. “And hurry, would you? I’m hungry.”

“You are wicked. But it’s Christmas Eve, so I’ll be nice.”

Aelin grinned. “For once.”

He just rolled his eyes at her and started looking through the cabinets, muttering about her abuse.

The “Christmas party” had taken place on the day before Christmas Eve, as most people didn’t want to spend Christmas Day with a bunch of drunken friends. Of the friends who didn’t travel for the holidays, Aelin and Aedion would be spending part of Christmas together as siblings. The rest Aelin would be with Rowan for. Hopefully Lys would see Aedion, but who could tell at this point? Manon liked to go out to bars on Christmas. “My favorite type of gay girl is the one who ditches everybody on the holiday to get a drink,” she always said. “The holidays are my favorite opportunities.” Everyone else always laughed at Manon’s antics.

Now, though, Aelin had a whole day to herself of Rowan.

-

After cereal for lunch (Rowan made a mean Cheerios bowl) and a Halloween movie (yes, on Christmas Eve - don’t judge), Aelin demanded Rowan take her on a walk.

“It’s snowing, Aelin.” Despite being late December, it hadn’t been very cold lately. Now, however, it was snowing in earnest. There was already an inch and a half on the ground and it was still going.

Aelin frowned. “That makes it even better. And remember, we need to work on your courage issues.”

Rowan scowled at her. “Enough of that.”

“It is enough when I say enough. Need I make a list of all your cowardly deeds? Let’s see; not wanting to go out in the snow now like a little baby, not telling Remelle to fuck off that one time, oh, and not asking me out for three fucking years? Also, jumping in the middle of Silence of the Lambs and-”

“Okay, that’s... we can go on a walk.”

“Yay!” Aelin brightened.

Rowan snorted. “You say that like you’re surprised. Did you ever have any doubt you’d get your way?”

“Of course not. It’s still exciting, though.”

Aelin dug through her closet, grabbing a coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. She got an extra of everything for Rowan except for the coat. Then Aelin pulled out one of her largest jackets, which happened to be neon pink, and held it beside Rowan’s towering figure. “Um, close enough?”

He sighed. “Better than freezing. I’ll take it.”

They walked down the stairs and outside. Aelin immediately started jumping around and squealing as she was pelted with snow.

“Who knew the fire-breathing bitch-queen turns into such a child in the snow?” Rowan was chuckling.

“Who doesn’t? Snow is fucking awesome.” Aelin grabbed Rowan’s arm and yanked him farther down the sidewalk and toward the park.

-

They spend the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening throwing snowballs and tackling each other into the snow. It was late when they entered Aelin’s apartment, took off their snow things, and ate a quick meal of pasta (neither could cook anything else). Finally, food was eaten.

“Rowan, darling,” Aelin purred.

“Yes?” he responded, a smirk on his face and an eyebrow quirked.

Aelin grinned. “It’s so cold. I was only wondering if you could be so kind as to warm me up?”

Rowan chuckled. “Anything for you, dear.” He hooked his arms under Aelin’s thighs and she instinctually wrapped her legs around his waist.

Aelin sucked on Rowan’s neck as he carried her to her bedroom. She felt satisfaction knowing it would definitely leave a mark.

Rowan placed her on the bed and climbed on top. Aelin smiled against his lips as he kissed her. “Not tonight,” she whispered, grabbing his hands before he could pull her pants off. Aelin then rolled over, pulling him with her. “I’m going to ride you tonight,” she breathed against Rowan’s neck. He let out a groan at the thought.

Rowan helped Aelin slide his sweatpants down, his underwear going with them, and he lifted his shirt off himself as Aelin stripped. Finally, they were both naked. Aelin leaned over to the nightstand and grabbed a condom. She expertly rolled it onto Rowan. He gripped her thighs and she lowered herself onto him. They both let out a groan.

Aelin started rocking her hips, drawing more noises out of him. “Oh, Aelin,” Rowan moaned. “Aelin, I love you so much.”

“Everybody does, darlin’.” Rowan just growled and slammed his hips up to meet hers.

Aelin moaned loudly. “Oh, Ro.” She braced her hands on his shoulders and kept riding him.

She was soon climaxing. He flipped them over as she moaned his name. Rowan drove his hips into Aelin several times, hard. Before long, he also reached his peak, growling as he thrust into Aelin one last time.

They lay in a pile of tangled limbs, panting. “Fucking gods,” Aelin got out between breaths.

Rowan chuckled breathily. “Damn straight.”

-

Aelin woke up to darkness. She glanced over and checked her phone. 5:00 am.

“Rowan, wake up!” Aelin yelled.

He jolted. “What? Aelin, what’s wrong?”

She grinned at him. “It’s Christmas!”

Rowan frowned. “That’s all? No fire? No burglar?”

She frowned as well. “What’s wrong with you? It’s Christmas,” she repeated. Aelin climbed out of bed, wearing only a t-shirt she’d pulled on the night before. She dug through her drawers for a snowman shirt to change into, as well as pants and a pair of reindeer socks.

“What time is it?” Rowan grumbled.

“It’s five.” Aelin ignored his groan at this. “Which means it time to get up and celebrate.”

“I pity whoever raised you. You must have been even worse as a child. And it’s kind of hard to celebrate when it’s the early hours of the morning and I’m trying to sleep.”

Aelin scowled. “Whatever. I’m going to go make hot chocolate.”

-

She did indeed make hot chocolate. And sit by the window happily reading a book. By eight o’clock, Rowan shuffled into the kitchen.

Aelin grinned. “Merry Christmas.”

He snorted. “Merry Christmas, Aelin.” He came to where she sat and wrapped an arm around her. “I love you.”

Aelin hugged him back. “Me too, Ro.”

-

They had a few more hours to spend together before Aelin put on a pair of snow boots, grabbed her gift for Aedion, and tromped to his apartment.

“Why are you walking, Aelin?” he asked when she appeared on his doorstep. “Did you lose your car?”

“It’s Christmas, dear brother. It’s nice outside. And don’t even comment on my pajamas, they’re comfy.”

Aedion rolled his eyes at her and let her inside. Lysandra was sitting at the counter. She turned and grinned at Aelin. “Hey, Lin. Merry Christmas. I’ll leave you two to spend your sibling time together, but I have something for you first.”

Lys had gotten Aelin a box of chocolates, making her Aelin’s new favorite person. She in turn gave Lys an expensive lipstick Lysandra had been admiring a while ago, saying she had a feeling Lys might be here.

Hugs were exchanged, and then Lys went to a back room to give the siblings some space.

“Aed, you’re my favorite brother ever,” Aelin said, giving him a hug.

Aedion snorted. “Also your only brother, but I’ll take it.” He squeezed her back.

Aelin gifted him a pair of socks with little reindeers on them (to match her own socks), getting a new series of books in return. She was an avid reader, and loved adding to her collection. Aelin stayed for several hours, then said goodbye to him and Lysandra, who were shyly smiling at each other every time their eyes met. Good grief.

Finally, she made it back to her own apartment. Upon opening the door, Aelin was greeted with Christmas lights strung all along the walls and a minature plastic tree in the middle of the room. Aelin gasped. “Ohmigosh, Rowan, did you do this?”

He was leaning against the counter smirking. “No, it was the elves.”

Aelin walled over to him and punched him in the bicep. For once, he didn’t say ‘ow.’ They were making progress. He did complain, though. “Um, you’re welcome? Also, I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to do under mistletoe.”

Aelin looked up. Taped to the cabinet above him was indeed a strand of mistletoe. She rolled her eyes at his antics, then leaned forwards and placed a gentle kiss upon him lips. He tried to pull her in for more, but Aelin just backed away and said, “You’ll get the rest later. Now, I’m going to give you a present.”

She went to her room, put away her new books and candy, got a wrapped gift out from under her bed, and walked back into the living room. Rowan was waiting, a gift of his own on the counter next to him.

Grinning, Aelin handed him the present. He looked suspiciously at it, then unwrapped it.

And rolled his eyes at what was inside.

“I thought you needed to spice your wardrobe up a little,” Aelin said with a devious grin. He snorted, holding up the red sweater with a Christmas tree on the front. Actual minature lights were strung around the torso. They lit up when you pressed a button.

Rowan chuckled. “I love it.” He slung it on over his t-shirt and pressed the on switch. Suddenly, the light bulbs were glowing, making him look like he tripped and got tangled in a pile of Christmas lights.

He handed Aelin her present. She opened it to reveal a box of chocolates. Lys had given her the same thing, but there never was enough candy. She squealed.

Rowan smirked. “I take it you like it? Look inside.”

Curious, Aelin opened the lid to find... chocolates. And then seeing the custom order sticker on the lid she realized: “Rowan, you got me all my favorites! How did you even know which chocolates I like?”

He grinned. “Milk chocolate, pecan, almond, caramel. I’ve been paying attention. Also, the extra five dollars was worth not seeing you scowl at all of the assorted coconut.”

Aelin smiled. “They always put so many coconut candies in there and I hate them. They’re disgusting. Thank you so much, Ro. I’m warning you, though, they aren’t going to last very long.”

“I didn’t think they would,” Rowan said with a smirk. “I’ve seen you devour a large KitKat in seconds. I’ll admit, it was a little frightening.”

Aelin snorted. “I got you something else, too.” She pulled a smaller gift out of her pocket, wanting the extra one to be a surprise.

He opened it and pulled out an ornament with the inscription A + R. Aelin smiled nervously. “Perhaps a little presumptuous, but...”

Rowan looked up at Aelin and smiled widely. “Thank you, Aelin. It’s great.” He leaned down and kissed her softly. She tried to deepen the kiss, but Rowan pulled back and said, “You’ll get the rest later,” mocking her words from earlier.

Aelin tried to scowl, but it faded as Rowan walked over to the mini tree and carefully placed the ornament on a plastic branch. “Where exactly were you planning on putting this? You didn’t know I got you a tree.”

She grinned. “Planning that would have required forethought, which I do not have.”

Rowan snorted. “At least you admit it. I got you another present too.” He picked up a small box off the counter that Aelin hadn’t noticed before.

Aelin opened the box to find a necklace. She opened the locket on the end to see A + R. “We got the same inscription,” Aelin said, laughing. “It’s beautiful, Rowan.” She handed it to him and turned, pulling her hair over one shoulder.

She heard Rowan unclasp it and then he gently placed the necklace around her neck, clipping it in the back.

Aelin turned back around and lifted her hands to his face. “Merry Christmas, Rowan.”

He placed his hands on her waist and gazed lovingly into her eyes. “Merry Christmas.”

[spookymultimedia]

A Summer to Remember Ch 3

CW: brief talk of sex and more explicit sexual themes

I sat inside by the fireplace with Neddy at sundown, still a bit wet from the lake. My hair dripped onto my green shirt that I had put back on. Ned told me green looked nice on me. It really did; when I wasn't wearing warm reds or pinks I liked to wear more earthy tones like orange, green or brown.

              I was making smores with him while Tim and Helen were somewhere outside. 

Something about a tree or something.

I knew they were probably making out.

We had our own special way of making them. 

He roasted the marshmallow while I got the little 'sandwich' bits put together for him. He was a good toaster. He knew how to get the marshmallow a nice toasty gold. We were both sitting criss-cross on the floor near each other. I watched his face as he cooked with a small smile. I felt this pressure to be more. . . .affectionate to him. But, wasn't making smores together already affectionate enough? It felt like it to me, but the longer I thought about it, it really wasn't. It was sweet but not affectionate. I sighed as quietly as possible. I want to second guess myself now. We had always been like this. Maybe change would do us good.

      I put my hand out and pet his arm. He glanced at me and made a small smile. "Hi."

He relaxed slightly. 

    "What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"Us . ." I frowned a bit and took off a nice golden marshmallow from his prong onto a smore. He put the prong away now that we both had two smores. 

      "Yeah. . ." He sighed out. I smiled at his s'more and giggled in joy after taking a bite.

      "Oh I missed these." He then playfully booped a dot of chocolate onto my nose. I giggled and attempted to lick the dot off my nose. He laughed at me failing.

        "Here let me help." He then leaned forward and licked at my nose. I grinned while humming a giggle and pecked his cheek. He sat up again and we snacked quietly listening to the fireplace crackle.

      There was still the lingering elephant in the room of what Timothy had talked about that afternoon. We didn't bring it up. It was like we quietly agreed we just wanted a break from that. It was probably important. . .just. . .not now. Right now we wanted nothing but peace and s'mores. I leaned on his shoulder. When your husband is a leftie you learn to sit at his right if you lean on him. Otherwise it would be just awkward. After he finished eating he pressed a kiss on my head. 

        "I love you Maude." 

"I love you too Neddy."

      I heard the sound of a screen door open and shut. I looked over at Timothy and Helen walking inside, hand in hand. Tim's hair was a bit messier than before he left. There was no doubt they had made out at the tree. Based on the look on Helen's face I could even say they might have even gone further than that. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

     "Ned, can you help me with this firewood?" 

  "Certainly Reverend." I sat up and Ned left to help Timothy. 

       Helen sat next to me and hugged me from behind. We touched like this alot. We were just friendly that's all, but it always made me feel weird when she did. My chest felt all warm inside. It wasn't at all the same way I felt with Ned. I placed a hand on her arm. Her arms were around my neck and her chin rested on my head. I smiled at her. 

      "Maude, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way today. . . Tim and I agreed that we might have been too pushy on some. . .things." I sighed and frowned.

     "No I understand . . .you both meant well."

              Why were they so curious? Was there something wrong with us? Was there something with me. . . Was it me? I stared at the fireplace and thought. Why didn't we have sex? Why didn't I want to? Why did I never kiss him so deeply as Helen had with Timothy. Why wasn't I a good flirt? A scary realization came into my head. . .

               "Helen. . ." I muttered.

       "Yes?" She lifted her head and looked down at me. She pet my forearm. I felt myself melt. Were friends this close?

            "I'm not attracted to Ned . . ."

She let me go and I nearly fell. I caught myself and looked at her face. Her eyes were wide. 

    "What?"

        "I just… I don't feel anything for him."

"You don't love him anymore??"

       "No! I do. . .I love him so much."

"And you don't feel.  . .that way?"

         I shrugged. I hugged her again. I wanted to hold her. I was so upset. I felt so confused. This was supposed to be a good time! She hugged me back. 

          "Oh. . .oh Maude. .so what are you gonna do?"

        I didn't say anything and burrowed my head in her shoulder. I cried.

      "Are you going to tell him?"

        She then noticed me crying and petted my back. I didn't want to be anywhere else but her arms. 

   "Shh." She held me as long as I needed. 

[Ned pov]

       I sat on the bed of our guest room. It was a small room. There was a bed that had brown gingham covers and old pillows from home. There was a dresser with a mirror, a rug by the bed, and at the wall across the bed was a window that was currently covered by a long canvas curtain. The crickets hummed outside along with the hum of the air conditioner.

      I was waiting for Maude to come back from the shower. She ran to the showers when me and Tim came back with the firewood. 

        I couldn't stop thinking about him. I didn't want to but I was. "I'm glad to have help like you." I remember he had said and patted my back. I remember a chill or something ran down my spine at the touch. My body had reacted to it. I couldn't seem to stop it. To put it frankly, I felt horny and hard and wasn't sure what to do.

         Feelings and impulses weighed in my head before they were growing harder and harder to ignore. I wanted to grab his face and kiss him. I wanted to touch his hand and kiss them and I wanted his hands. I wanted them on me. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted to feel him. I wanted to bridge the space between us. I was struck with a stunning realization. .

       Before I could even come to terms with my fantasy Maude walked into the room. I sat up from laying on the bed. It was a little obvious I was flustered by something. It was a bit embarrassing. She made a small smile at me that looked bluntly fake. I was about to speak before she did first, "I guess we might as well. . .just. You know." I sat there confused.

        "What?" She glanced at my crotch and then at me. Oh. Well I felt silly. Of course, what else? Sex. 

    "Oh, oh yeah."

             "If you're up for it of course."

"I am." I sat up and took off my shirt. Why did I take off my shirt? I didn't actually know what to do. She crawled into bed. She was wearing her red flannel pajamas. We sat there not sure what to do. She looked sad. She wouldn't look me in the eye. Was it obvious I was looking at Tim like that? Could she tell? 

"Maude?"

      "Hm?" She looked up at me. She looked tired. I looked at her worried.

"I'm fine." She took off her pants and set them aside. 

      "Okay. Come here." I patted my lap and she sat down facing me. Her legs at my sides. I felt confused. I suddenly forgot how it worked. 

"Can I kiss you?" She asked. I nodded. She placed her hand on my cheek and pecked my lips. It was a soft and gentle kiss. She pulled out yawning and rested her head on my shoulder. I smiled at her. "Tired?"

      "No." She hugged my waist and I hugged her back. 

"Do you want me to lay down or-?"

           "Oh, uh sure."

     I leaned back a bit more on the bed and slipped down my pants and undies. She laid over me and kissed me again. My hand rested on her back supporting her. It was just lips. It was only surface affection. Nothing felt deep. 

      She sat up and stared at me. I wasn't that hard anymore . . . I blushed embarrassed.

     "Sorry."

     She started to cry; her hand covered her mouth. "I can't-." She got off of me. I pulled up my pants and looked at her, sitting up. 

        "I don't want to." 

"It's okay. No, it's okay. I don't mind." She hugged me and sobbed. I never liked hearing her cry like that. I held her and closed my eyes. "We don't have to do anything. Not if you're unhappy." She just cried. 

      "What's wrong with me?" She whimpered.

       "There's nothing wrong with you." I kissed her head. "There's.  . There's just not."

She pulled away and I let my arms go limp. 

     "Ned. .I- I'm not attracted to you." 

I nodded, "Okay." Was I supposed to feel upset? I really wasn't. I felt nothing about it. 

       "I'm ruining everything." 

"No. . .you're not." Her tears started to calm after a minute and she hugged onto my arm. I sat still, my mind still wandering to Timothy. I stared down at my hands and pet my own palm. 

     "I'm not attracted to you either." 

". . .oh?"

        I stared at my hand. I felt dread. A looming truth I couldn't run from. A desire that I was scared of. I wanted him; my mind, heart and spirit knew it, but he wasn't mine. Yet, I had to confess to someone. My eyes brimmed with hot tears . 

        "I'm attracted to Reverend Lovejoy."

She looked up at me with wide eyes, still holding onto my arm.

       "Are . . . are you?"

"I think so. ." 

    There was a pause before she just held me.

    "Me too."