#take shit so seriously and also don’t lecture me on my joke post

[bioshzrd]

this random ass guy who’s entire bit is that he can move like this is the only good wesker fan ever

[honeypiehotchner]

you look stupid (Gibbs x Fem!Reader) — one shot

Uhm…hi :) I’ve been watching NCIS a lot lately and Gibbs does something to me soooooo here’s this. Purely for my own entertainment, but I thought I’d share. ALSO! I don’t think it’ll be a series like a novel with a plot, but I might be doing a series of one shots with these two. Because this was SO fun to write (also it’s like 4.2k words mwah)

Warnings: bickering like a damn married couple, SMUT!, fingering, orgasm denial, semi-public, just in general Gibbs being sexy

Prompt: that one tumblr post that goes “you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid”

In all the years Ducky has worked with Gibbs, he has never known someone to piss Gibbs off as much as you do.

In all the years that you have been in the workforce, you’ve never had a boss that pisses you off as much as Gibbs does.

It’s a delicate balance, you think. He calls you a pain in his ass; you call him a bastard. You can’t think of one day where the two of you didn’t scream at each other until you got it out of your systems.

You still remember the first day McGee walked in on you fighting with Gibbs. Tony was at his desk, stuffing his face, per usual, completely oblivious to the empty paper coffee cups you were throwing at Gibbs’s head.

“Your aim is shit, L/N!” Gibbs yelled after he easily dodged the last one.

“Bite me!” You threw a pen at his head that time. It hit his forehead (sideways, thankfully) and bounced onto his desk.

McGee was frozen. He thought, any second, Gibbs was going to pull a gun on you and shoot you dead in the middle of NCIS.

But instead, Gibbs grinned. “Now that was a good shot.”

You gave him the middle finger in response.

McGee looked at Tony, and Tony only shook his head. “You have to let ‘em get it out,” Tony said.

“Where’s my list, Tony?” Gibbs called from his desk, clearly unamused that Tony thought he had downtime while the two of you argued.

Tony dropped the magazine quickly. “Coming, boss.”

“McGee,” Gibbs stared. “Do you want an invitation to your desk?”

“No,” McGee said quickly. “No, boss.” He scampers off to his seat.

“I have something,” you mutter.

“Do you now?” Gibbs turned toward you. “What is it?”

“You need a haircut,” you muttered, snatching a file off your desk. You nearly threw it at Gibbs, saying, “I’m getting lunch.”

McGee doesn’t remember when he was more shocked. Before you left with the arguing, or after you returned from lunch with a coffee and a cookie — for Gibbs.

+++

Ever since you started at NCIS, that is how it has been.

You don’t know when the switch flipped, all you know is that now, arguing with Gibbs doesn’t ‘blow off steam’ like it used to. You don’t feel better after it, and it doesn’t feel like an inside joke anymore. It feels real.

And that bothers you.

It bothers you especially because the heat is all coming from him. You noticed it when he threatened to fire you two days ago. Despite all the arguments, he’s never done that. Not once. Not to you.

But he seemed serious when he said it. So serious that you backed off immediately, genuinely worried for your job’s safety.

After a few days, though, it’s really starting to piss you off.

“Abby, I don’t know what it is,” you sigh. “But I’m ready to rip his head off. For real this time.”

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t be,” Abby shrugs. “Gibbs pisses me off sometimes, too.”

“This is different, though,” you murmur. “I can tell. It’s like he’s seriously mad at me, but I— I don’t know why.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“No, if I do that then I’ll get some Marine lecture about insecurity and honestly, I’m not in the mood for that today.”

“Yeah,” Abby frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry about what?” Gibbs announces himself in his usual way: by being nosy.

“That Y/N has to…” Abby looks at you for help.

“That I have a date tonight,” you cover. “A blind one. Friend set me up. They’re never fun. You know how it is.”

Gibbs’s expression is unreadable, even to you, and that’s troublesome.

“You’re talking about blind dates,” he says, taking a step closer to you, “when we have a dead Marine?”

“He’s not gonna get any deader,” you shrug. And you were helping Abby with some of the evidence while Tony and McGee were out interviewing.

Gibbs takes another step. “You think this is funny?” And another. His nose might as well be touching yours now.

“I think,” you pause, rummaging through your jacket pocket for a moment before you find what you’re looking for. “You need a mint.” In one swift motion, you’re popping a breath mint into Gibbs’s mouth, patting him on the cheek once its in. “Better.”

Instead of spitting it back out at you, like you expected him to do, he tongues it over to his cheek. “Are you done?”

“Depends,” you say. “How long are you going to stand there until you remember this tactic doesn’t work on me?”

It’s a joke, truly. You had told him once that the last time a man got that close to your face, he kissed you. You had this shit-eating grin on your face when you told him, too. Gibbs took it as a note to never get in your face the way he does with Tony and McGee.

Except today, apparently.

Reluctantly, though, Gibbs concedes, and steps away from you.

“I’ll be at my desk,” you smirk, walking past him. “Bye Abby.” She waves to you with a smile that turns into a frown when Gibbs scoffs.

“That’s where you should be anyway,” Gibbs calls out.

You throw him two middle fingers before you disappear.

Once you’re gone, Gibbs turns to Abby. “What have you got, Abs?”

Abby grins, staring at him with two raised eyebrows, tapping her toe against the floor.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she says. “I just don’t think green is your color, Gibbs.”

He knows exactly what she’s getting at, but he doesn’t reply.

+++

This continues for another week, and it gets worse.

Gibbs puts you with Tony every chance he can get, even though he knows the work takes twice as long when the two of you are paired. He makes you stay at the office with Abby while everyone else goes out. You’re barely around Gibbs for more than three minutes before he’s making some excuse to go somewhere else, to talk to some random person — clearly to be anywhere except beside you.

It’s exhausting, at this point. You’re ready to give up.

You have, honestly. You’ve stopped trying to talk to him. You stopped wishing him a good morning or night a few days ago. You’ve even stopped telling him when you’re going to get lunch, so when you disappear, he has to ask McGee or Tony where you went.

Every single time, McGee and Tony share looks before saying, “Lunch, boss.”

Gibbs doesn’t know why, but every single time he realizes you’ve left without saying anything, it hurts. 

You don’t even bring him coffee anymore.

“Tony, McGee, I want you both to go talk to our Marine’s parents,” Gibbs orders. “They had something to do with his disappearance, even if they don’t want to admit it. One of you, talk to them. The other, start snooping.”

You’re sitting at your desk, quietly mulling over the Marine’s file, and waiting for Gibbs to bark some order at you. Or, if he’s keeping up his act, he won’t speak one word to you since he’s already given you one order for the afternoon — and you’ve yet to complete it.

You almost want to make a bet with yourself about which it’ll be.

“Do you want coffee?”

You keep reading, not even sure if the question is directed at you.

“L/N,” Gibbs says. “I asked if you wanted coffee.”

Looking up from the file, you shake your head. “No thanks.” And you go back to the Marine’s background.

Gibbs sighs. You’re like him: you never turn down coffee.

You hear his chair squeak as he gets up, his footsteps against the carpet as he walks toward your desk. And then the file is plucked from your hands.

“Gibbs,” you mutter. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Don’t care,” he replies, closing the folder and tossing it on his desk. “Up. We’re getting coffee.”

“I said no thank you.”

“And I said, get up.”

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your anger that is already boiling. “No.”

Gibbs tries to control his face. “Agent L/N, if I have to drag you into that elevator, I will. It was not a suggestion. It was an order. Up.”

With a huff, you stand, walking around your desk and past Gibbs, knocking your shoulder against his on the way.

He’s ready to throttle you just for that, but he doesn’t.

You wait by the elevator with crossed arms. He presses the down arrow and waits, silently.

The doors open and you step inside first, grinding your teeth to keep from yelling at him. He steps in after you. A few seconds after the doors close and the elevator starts moving, he flips the emergency switch.

“Here we fucking go,” you roll your eyes, not caring about being polite anymore since he clearly isn’t going to either.

“Do you have a problem, L/N?”

“Do you, sir?”

Gibbs pauses. You only use ‘sir’ when you’re beyond pissed at him. You’ve only used it once before.

“I have a problem with your tone,” he says evenly. “What’s gotten into you?”

“What’s gotten into you?” You turn your body to face him. “You’ve been ignoring me for a week, you’ll barely look at me, and you leave the room every time I walk in. What the fuck is wrong with you, Gibbs?”

“I’m your boss, Y/N, I’m not supposed to be your friend.”

“But you are!” you yell. “You are and it sucks because right now I just want my best friend back! But he seems to have his head shoved too far up his ass to even give a damn.”

“And mine has been acting like something crawled up her ass and died for as long as I can remember!”

“Because you piss me off!”

“I’m a bastard! What else do you expect from me?”

“To man up and stop acting like you don’t want to kiss me!”

Gibbs scoffs, looking away from you. “Oh, please.”

“You want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid, Gibbs,” you say with no remorse. Because it’s true. And it’s about time he owns up to it.

“Do I?” He steps closer to you, backing you into the railing of the elevator.

“I think you do,” you reply, tilting your head back to meet his eyes, and to put your lips even closer to his than they were. One more step and he’d be all but kissing you.

“I think you’re forgetting Rule 12.”

“Rule 12 is the most bullshit rule you have,” you mutter. “Especially when you’re one inch away from fucking me right now.”

“You have no idea the things I’d do to you.”

“Try me.”

He thinks about it for a moment, smirks, then steps away from you.

You scoff. “Just as I expected.”

Gibbs flips the emergency switch with a laugh. “And what did you expect, L/N?”

“That you wouldn’t be man enough to do something about it,” you shrug. “Looks like I’ll agree to that blind date I have tonight. He might be nice. Maybe better than the last one. I could invite him back to my place—”

Before you have a chance to even think about continuing, Gibbs has flipped the emergency switch and slammed you against the wall of the elevator, both hands on either side of your shoulders, caging you in.

You smirk. “Problem, boss?”

“You have such a smart mouth you should consider yourself lucky that we have a missing Marine. Because if we didn’t have a job to do, Agent L/N, I’d fuck you right here in this elevator so hard you wouldn’t be able to walk out of it.”

Your eyes almost glow with lust. “Is that a promise?”

He stares you down, not blinking or moving.

Rolling your eyes, you finally take matters into your own hands and push your face forward, connecting your lips.

Gibbs is stunned for a moment, feeling your lips against his, and then he’s ravenous. You’ve pissed him off beyond belief, and he’s going to make you pay for it. Quickly.

Instead of teasing your lips with his tongue, he bites your lower lip, forcing you to gasp, and his tongue pushes between your lips with ease. Without looking, because he doesn’t need to, he unbuttons your pants, yanking the zipper down, and maneuvering his hand inside, only to be met with nothing.

You’re naked underneath these pants.

You smirk when you feel him falter. “What?” you murmur against his lips. “It’s laundry da—Ah!” The sneaky bastard.

“What?” he mocks you, smirking against your cheek, nipping at your earlobe while his index finger massages your walls. “I thought this was what you wanted, huh?”

You whine loudly and he shushes you, putting his other hand over your mouth.

“You’re going to cum all over my hand, and you’re going to make it quick.”

You nod dumbly, hips jerking against his movements, gasping when he adds a second finger.

“You’ve got two minutes,” he says. “Starting now. You either cum in two minutes or you don’t. Your choice.”

You’ve cum in less time, so you don’t see it as a challenge, especially not when it’s Gibbs who has his fingers buried in you, his body pressed against yours, whispering dirty things in your ear.

But two minutes pass quicker than you expect them to. Gibbs can feel your walls beginning to spasm, but the seconds are running out.

“Times up,” he says, pulling his fingers from your heat. He watches you, your eyes closed, standing right on the edge, but unable to go over it now that he’s left you. You look like a painting, mouth open, sweat glistening on your neck.

“Gibbs…” you murmur, nearly whine, opening your eyes when he only hums in response because he has his fingers in his mouth, tasting you.

He reaches behind him and flicks the emergency switch, causing you to scramble, your trembling hands fumbling with your pants. He swats your hands away gently, zipping you up. For someone who just fucked you with that hand, it’s incredibly steady.

“There,” he whispers. He kisses your forehead gently, hands resting on your shoulders. “I’m sorry I’ve been more of a bastard than usual lately.”

“You’re forgiven,” you smirk, “on one condition.”

He already knows what you mean. “Later,” he says.

The elevator dings and your eyes widen, wondering why Gibbs isn’t moving. The second these doors open, whoever is standing there will know. God forbid if Tony and McGee are back and standing there—

But Gibbs sent the elevator to Autopsy, and outside stands only Ducky, hat on his head and coat over his arm. It must be his lunch time.

Ducky smiles knowingly, looking between the two of you. “It’s about time, Jethro.”

Gibbs shakes his head, waving the doctor inside. “Thanks, Duck.”

Happily, Ducky steps inside, standing next to you. He nudges your arm gently. “I tried to get him to come to his senses months ago, Y/N. I’m truly sorry it took him so long.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Ducky,” you nudge him back. “It’s not your fault he’s a bastard.”

You and Gibbs share a look, and he raises his eyebrows at you, letting you know you’ll be paying for that later, too.

+++

Once the Marine is found — alive and well, though his career in the Navy won’t be any more — Gibbs doesn’t have to ask twice if you want to crash at his place.

Tony and McGee are long gone, not having to be asked twice about going home, either. But you stayed back a little at the office, waiting Gibbs out, wondering what it’ll be.

Eventually, he came over to your desk, turning off your lamp. You looked up at him with a tired smile. He nodded his head, said, “Come on,” and that was all it took.

Late at night, NCIS is barren, so Gibbs holds your hand as you walk out to his truck. Like a true gentleman, he opens the door for you and shuts it.

The ride to his place is quiet, but once you’re there, it all starts again.

“I can’t believe you talked to Ducky about me.”

Gibbs scoffs, tossing his keys on the counter. “I had to. Do you have any idea how hard you are to figure out?”

“Back at you,” you snicker, kicking your shoes off by the couch. “Abby has heard plenty about you pissing me off. I thought our bickering was a joke!”

“It is!”

“Until you threatened to fire me!”

“Because instead of doing your job, you talked about dating—”

You snap your fingers. “There it is.”

“There what is?”

“Your jealousy is showing, Gibbs. This is what I mean: you look stupid.”

“I look stupid, huh?” he fires back, once again getting right in your face. “Sweetheart, you have no idea how stupid you’re about to look.”

“Fucking try me.”

“Oh, believe me,” he grins, wrapping his arms around your waist. “I will.”

Before you have a chance to figure out what he’s doing, he’s already done it.

“Gibbs!” you squeal, beating your fists on his back. “Seriously?!”

He literally threw you over his shoulder, and now he’s carrying you to his bedroom. Like a sack of potatoes.

“I think I kinda like this view,” he muses, smacking your ass, earning another squeal from you.

“Bastard,” you chuckle, poking his sides.

“That is what they call me.” You can hear his grin.

Once inside his bedroom, he sets you down, grinning even wider when you glare at him.

“I could’ve walked.”

“Ah,” he shakes his head, pulling you back into his arms. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Damn him, you think. Damn him for being this good.

“Now,” he says softly, one hand cupping your cheek. “Where did we leave off?”

“You leaving me hanging,” you pout. “Your stupid two minutes.”

“We have all night tonight,” he says, but it sounds more like a warning. “I’m sure I can fix that.”

“You better.”

Clothes come off randomly, in between heated kisses and muttering from the both of you. Even making out can’t stop you both from bickering.

“Really?” Gibbs says disbelieving. “It’s laundry day, but you have a bra on?”

“Would you like my nipples to be out at work?”

He raises his eyebrows, no doubt considering it for a moment.

“Around Tony?” you add and immediately, Gibbs shakes his head. “That’s what I thought.”

Gibbs glares before unclipping your bra with ease, tossing it onto his dresser — definitely on purpose. You don’t know if you’ll be getting that back.

Left only in his underwear, you tug at the elastic and he kicks them off, now both of you bare, no more barriers between the two of you.

Carefully, he lays you down on his bed, making sure you’re comfortable against the pillows. He takes his time, kissing all over your face, then your neck, nipping and sucking and leaving marks that you’ll scold him for in the morning. But right now, it’s Heaven.

He begins to kiss down your body, to your chest, but you start to whine, clawing at his shoulders.

“What?”  

“I want you inside of me,” you whisper. “Please. Now.”

“Since you asked so nicely,” he smirks.

He crawls back up the bed, slotting his body in between your legs. Instinctively, you wrap them around his hips, hooking your heels together at the small of his back, pulling him closer.

“We’ve got all night,” he reminds you, kissing you all over, sensing how eager you are.

“I know,” you smile, running your fingers through his hair. “But I want you now.”

He decides not to tease you any longer, reaching down to guide his head inside of you. You both gasp when he slides in all the way, and you roll your hips immediately, wanting more already.

“Patience,” he warns. “I’m taking my time with you.”

And he does.

He starts out slow, barely pulling out at all before moving back in, rolling his hips against yours, savoring this feeling. He speeds up when he feels your walls beginning to convulse around him, unable to hold himself back from slamming into you.

“Gibbs,” you breathe, nails clawing at his head.

“Jethro,” he corrects lightly.

“Jethro,” you repeat, whimpering when he begins to slam into you with no mercy. “Oh my god, Jeth— Ah! I’m gonna cum—”

“Good,” he growls, moving his lips back to your neck, burying his face there. “Do it.”

A few more thrusts and you’re gone, tensing and trembling in his arms, crying out into his ear. The feeling is godly to him, and he knows he won’t last much longer.

“I need to pull out,” he warns, voice low.

You tighten your legs around him, pressing on the back of his neck, keeping him pinned right where he is. “Don’t you dare.”

You feel him grin into your neck and then he groans, lifting his head to kiss you, his tongue pushing past your lips with ease. He swallows your moans, relishing in the feeling of your walls already beginning to pulse around him again.

The second time you cum, the feeling makes him lose his bearings, and then he’s pounding into you, filling you with his load. When you feel him twitch inside of you, it’s like your orgasm doubles in size, and you’re clinging to him like you’ll float away if you don’t.

Gibbs puts nearly all of his weight on you, holding you down, holding him inside of you as he pants in your ear.

“Shit,” he mutters. “What are you doin’ to me?”

Chuckling, you pull him in for another kiss.

+++

After rolling around in the sheets some more, the two of you take a shower, and then crawl back in bed.

But you can’t sleep. You’re thinking about anything and everything, and it seems like Gibbs is, too.

A lot of what you’re thinking about, you don’t even know if it’s worth bringing up. Or if it doesn’t need to be brought up tonight, if it can be dealt with later. If you want to deal with it later.

“Are you awake?” he asks.

“Yeah.” You roll over and face him, loving the way he looks in the moonlight. “Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Wanna go work on the boat?”

His eyes light up. “Really?”

“I’ll get the coffee,” you grin, tossing the covers off of your body.

Gibbs meets you at the doorway, pulling you in by your hips, kissing you deeply. You almost think he’s going to take you back to bed before he pulls away, just staring into your eyes.

“What?” you whisper.

He shakes his head. “You know I don’t want this to be a one-night-only thing, right?”

Relief floods your body. “Me either,” you murmur. “I want it to be more.”

“I’m not good at marriage,” he blurts, like he needed to get it off his chest.

“Well, I know that,” you grin, patting his chest lightly. He laughs. “It’s a good thing I’m not the marrying type.”

He can’t help but kiss you again. All this time, he’s been holding back, because there’s been this voice in his head, telling him you’d want a husband. You’re younger, you’re beautiful, why wouldn’t you?

But then he thinks, you’re young, you’re beautiful, why would you?

“I decided a long time ago that marriage isn’t for me, Jethro,” you continue, wanting him to know the full truth, right now. “So you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Yes ma’am,” he smiles.

“So are we good, then?”

“We’re good,” he nods. “We’re good. Still wanna work on that boat?”

“You mean do I still want to watch you work on a boat? Absolutely. You probably look sexy as hell.”

“I’ll teach you a few things,” he says with a smirk.

You return the expression. “I’m sure you will.”

+++

At work the next week, Tony catches you and Gibbs walking in together, clearly having spent the night together as well. He says nothing when Gibbs is around (of course), but the second he leaves, Tony is nosy as hell.

“Something to share, Y/N?”

“Nope,” you shake your head, logging onto your computer. “You got something to say?”

Tony narrows his eyes. “You came in with Gibbs.”

“We got here at the same time,” you shrug. “Happened to get to the elevator at the same time. It happens.”

“What happens?” Gibbs asks, sneaking up on Tony like always.

“Nothing, boss,” Tony straightens up. “How’s your coffee?”

Gibbs stares at Tony.

“Right,” Tony heads back to his desk quickly.

You share a smile with Gibbs, deciding to keep up appearances as usual. “What? No coffee for me?”

“Get your own, Agent L/N,” he says, sending you a wink.

When you get up to do just that an hour later, Gibbs meets you in the elevator.

[wheezyandchesterwrite]

Daydreams and Tickles ~ Ruby Martinez

Summary: You get distracted while Ruby rambles. 

Word count: 3.3k

Pairing: Ruby Martinez x Fem!Latina!Reader

Warnings: Tickling, Kissing, Suggestive dialogue (Innuendos, dirty jokes, etc) If we missed something let us know!

A/N: Hiya, it’s been a while, we are going to try to post at least a monthly one shot, but won’t make any promises. Hope you all that read this enjoy this!

You were awoken by the sound of notifications going off loudly. You stirred around on your bed, trying to ignore the cacophony of dings your phone kept emitting. Groggily, you made a mental note to silence your phone from now on. When you could finally look at the screen without it blinding you, you scrolled through the seemingly endless string of texts Ruby had sent to the group chat, “The Gnomies”. Yes, Jamal came up with it. Yes, everyone tried to change it, but he just kept changing it back so they gave up. You groaned as you read the messages. ‘Be here at one on the dot,’ the last message read, ‘mandatory meeting’. That was less than half an hour from now. Lazily getting out of bed, you started getting ready. After brushing your teeth and making your hair look somewhat presentable, you threw together an outfit that resembled a picture you had seen on Pinterest after looking up ‘grunge aesthetic’. You liked trying out different styles constantly, feeling like every single one of them suited you, but none of them could get you to commit to them for more than a month. Satisfied with the way you looked, you left your room, grabbed your keys and skateboard, and started to skate your way to Ruby’s house. Midway, though, you decided to take a detour and get some food—junk food, to be precise—knowing that you would not be able to handle a hyperactive Ruben on an empty stomach.

You left the joint with two bags full of food, hoping bribery would get you out of being lectured by Ruby about punctuality. You balanced the bags on both hands like a scale as you focused on not falling from your board on the way there. Making the last turn to Ruby’s house, you miscalculated the speed you were going at and had to hop off the board, letting it crash against the curb. Though you fell on your ass, you made sure to hold the food up keeping it safe and sound. Holding both bags in one hand, you retrieved your skateboard and walked up to the door, but it flung open before you could even think about knocking. Ruby stood on the other side with a scowl. You smiled sheepishly, extending one of the bags to him. 

“You’re very late! Did you get me fries with that? Also where are the others?!" Ruby said all in one breath.

"First of all, I know I'm late, but I'm sorry to inform you that you are not more important than food.” Ruby scowled and was about to protest, but you kept speaking before he could utter a word. “Secondly, yes, I did get you fries, you impatient goblin. I mean, what do you take me for? A monster?” You pretended to be offended, but Ruby simply looked annoyed by the dramatic display. “Just know that when I win my first Oscar I will not be thanking you, Ruben.”

“Yeah, yeah if you say so—also don’t call me that. Can you get to the most important question now?”

“Damn, someone hasn’t had their daily handy.” You laughed in astonishment, amused by how much irritation Ruby had in him.

“Seriously, Y/N, this is serious!” His voice raised an octave, causing it to crack, and you had to bite back a laugh.

“A la jaula, bestia, a la jaula,” you began, laughter causing your words to come out like wheezes. Ruby spared you one death stare, and you somehow found your composure. “Look, I have no idea where everyone else is. I, honestly, thought everyone was already here and that you were waiting on me.”

“So, you thought they were here and didn’t think to bring them food?” Ruby questioned.

“Do I look like I have enough money to feed todos esos trogloditas? I brought you food with hopes of getting out of the ‘Punctuality Lecture’, but seeing as they aren’t here, guess that spares me.” You dropped the skate on the entryway, pushing past Ruby to sit on the couch.

“And here I was beginning to think you favored me from the rest.” Ruby sighed with disappointment before raising his voice dramatically. “When in reality, it was just BRIBERY!” he exclaimed, his voice cracking once more as he fake sobbed while clutching the food. You clapped as you opened your food, ready to dig in.

“Damn, man, I better watch out, otherwise you’re probably going to win that Oscar before me,” you said as you began stuffing your face.

“Are you calling me dramatic?” He placed his free hand over his heart.

“Oh, without a shadow of a doubt, now sit down and eat.” With your fork, you pointed at him then towards the couch. Instead of sitting, he started pacing around the coffee table, and you watched him as you munched on your sandwich and fries. He stopped for a second to place his bag of food down, yet he didn’t sit down to eat it. He kept going around the small table at a pace too quick for your eyes to keep up without feeling dizzy. “Wow, man, slow down. Me mareas con tus vueltitas.” He only huffed. “Ruben, seriously, I did not buy that for you to let it go to waste. At least breathe and stress eat.” He whipped around at the mention of his full name.

“I thought I told you not to call me that,” he reminded you exasperatedly. “Anyway, I can’t eat right now. I have many thoughts whirring in my brain, and it’s making me sick. Do you know why I called you guys here? Well, if you’re here, you must have read the messages—” Ruby was rambling on and didn’t even stop in between sentences to take a breath so you cut him off. 

“RUBEN!” He ceased all movement so abruptly that a skid mark could’ve possibly been seen in the spot where he stopped. “Could you get to the point,, please? You’re making my head hurt.” You completely ignored his previous statement and pressed the tips of your fingers to your temples. Rolling his eyes at you he sat on the other end of the couch and took his food out. After a few angry munches, he turned to face you, the grease of the food that was plastered on his mouth drawing your attention to his lips. 

“Alright, since the others aren’t here yet, I’ll just start telling you my new ideas for income.” He stopped eating and started chattering and chattering and chattering… 

You don’t know when it happened, but at some point, he stood up and began pacing around the living room again. You stopped listening about half an hour into his ramble, zoning out and staring blankly at him. Your mind got the best of you, and you started to remember why you liked Ruby. What brought this on? You didn’t know. Maybe it was how much passion he put into his pointless arguments, or maybe even that you found it totally adorable that he was practically unable to lie because he would start sweating like a pig on a stick. Maybe it was the way he smiled at you, the tendency he had to correct everything you said matter-of-factly, or maybe it was his dangerously absurd perfectionism. It could be one of his many qualities, good or bad, you didn’t care. Your eyes trailed to his lips once more. They were so full and pink it was hard not to stare—slightly chapped too, but that wasn’t a problem to you. You imagined running your thumb over them, pulling them close to yours and then just crashing them together. Your breath hitched in your throat at the thought of you and Ruby making out. It wasn’t an uncommon thought of yours, seeing as you’ve been dreaming about it happening almost every night since you discovered what hormones could do. 

There was always Cesar, you thought. He was the “face” of the group after all, but that got to his brain sometimes. Nothing more dangerous than a cholo who’s aware of his good looks. You grimaced slightly. Cesar’s ego was one of the many reasons why you never developed an emotional nor carnal liking to the boy. You’d rather leave him to Monse, plus you wouldn’t dream of getting caught in the middle of their toxic and manipulative games. But that’s beside the point. You were abruptly brought back to reality by Ruby waving his hands in front of your face, occasionally snapping his fingers. Shaking your head to shake out the thoughts, you noticed Ruby was now standing on top of the coffee table, being careful not to step on either of your foods.

“PAY ATTENTION TO ME, (Y/N)!” Ruby whined. You held back a chuckle at how funny he looked. His small body barely added to the coffee table’s weight. Deciding to play it cool, you shrugged nonchalantly.

“What’s your fuzz? I am listening to you. Have been for the past hour and a half.” 

Ruby squinted his eyes at you. “No, you weren’t. I know that face. You were very deep in your thoughts. What’s going on in that pretty, little head of yours?” You freaked internally. 

He’s onto us, you told yourself. “Yes, I am onto you, (Y/N), that’s why I asked. Keep up.” He looked at you like you were stupid. Wait how did he—Can he read my mind?  Blink twice if you can read my mind. Ruby blinked twice, and you felt like a rock dropped in your stomach.

“Oh shit,” you whispered under your breath.

“Before you throw up on my couch, I’ll have you know I can’t read your mind. You were just speaking out loud.” You threw yourself backwards unto the couch, grabbing a pillow to cover your face. After making a mental note to slam your head against the nearest wall later, you decided you were not going to make a further fool of yourself. 

“I wasn’t not paying attention; I was just—”

“I am the king of bad excuses, babe, so spare me your lies.” You blushed at the nickname and prayed he wouldn’t notice. “Now since there is obviously something more important on your mind, speak,” he demanded. 

You weighed your options. You could either try to lie and hope he’d let you off the hook, which was not likely, or you could tell him the truth and risk your friendship being awkward from now on if he didn’t feel the same way—and with your luck he most likely didn’t. A few more silent seconds passed before Ruby spoke once more, “Don’t make me take drastic measures on you, (Y/N). I will have no mercy.” He eyed you with determination. You scoffed in disbelief.

“What could you possibly do to torture me, Ruben?” You mocked him, stretching out his name. Ruby smirked.

“Oh, you’ve done it now.” He jumped from the coffee table, landing on top of you and successfully pinning you to the sofa. You giggled and tried to get away from his grip, but it was surprisingly strong. Ruby chuckled at your failed attempts to break free. “Now, you’re going to tell me what I want to know, or else,” he brought his lips close to your ears, “you’ll pay for it with your melodious laughter.” Your eyes widened in realization as his words sank in.

“No, not the tickles,” you begged him playfully. He nodded while mischievously smirking. 

“One last chance, are you gonna talk?” You shook your head.

“In your dreams,” you defied. 

“I was hoping you’d say that.” In seconds, his hands went to your sides and laughter erupted from your throat in loud cackles.

“Stop, Ruby—Stop!” you tried to articulate between laughs. He shook his head no.

“Not until I get what I want.” He said between laughs as well, since in retaliation, you had managed to start tickling him as well. The sound of his own laughter mixed with yours was like music to your ears.

“N—Never!” You still mutinied. His fingers only increased their pace and not in ways you’d like. Your stomach was starting to hurt and you were running out of breath, leaving you with just one option. Well, it was now or never. 

“I WAS THINKING ABOUT KISSING YOU,” you blurted; his movements ceased, “I have been since we were in middle school.” You closed your eyes, concentrating on catching your breath. Ruby released you and got off of you, running his hands through his hair in deep thought. You sat up and covered your face with your hands. “This is going to be so awkward now,” you muttered through your hands but it came out like an incoherent jumble of sounds. You moved your hands to sneak a peek at Ruby. Your muffled words didn’t even faze him.

“Ruby?” You looked over at him. His eyes met yours, and he struggled to bite back a laugh. Great, you thought, he thinks I’m a joke now. 

“About time.” He grumbled and sighed.

“What?” You were very confused. What could he possibly mean by that?

 “I said ‘about damn time,’ (Y/N).” His suppressed laughs turned to a shy grin. Still confused as ever, you tried your best to gather your thoughts and form a coherent sentence.

“Wait, YOU KNEW?” You felt sick to your stomach now. All this time, you thought you had been successful at keeping your feelings hidden and sealed away, but now it turns out even he knew.

“Well, yeah, I’ve known for a couple of months now.” He shrugged it off as if it were obvious. 

“Months?!” This was unbelievable. You abruptly stood up and faced him, hands on your hips. “So, you’ve known for months and you didn’t think for one second to tell me? At least, have the decency to confront me, damn it.” You found yourself feeling dumbfounded, feeling toyed with. Ruby reached out to you, holding on to your forearm and pulling you back to sit on the couch. You let him.

“Cesar and Jamal implied it once during one of our guy’s nights, and ever since then, I kind of started paying more attention. Ergo, leading me to the conclusion that you liked me,” he explained. “If it makes you feel any better, the clues to your feelings were very subtle so, I would have probably never noticed if it hadn’t been brought up.” Ruby was trying his best to cheer you up, but you still felt extremely embarrassed by the fact that your secret crush wasn’t so secret. 

“Why would they even bring that up, in the first place?” you questioned, annoyed.

“Well, I may or may not have made a comment about how I thought I was starting to develop feelings for you and the guys just jumped on that and told me that you liked me too,” Ruby admitted shyly, rubbing his neck awkwardly. 

“So, if you like me back, then why didn’t you say anything or make a move when you figured out I actually felt the same way?” You felt bad for interrogating him like that, but you were in dire need of answers.

“I just didn’t know how to bring it up, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have known how to say I liked you back without, probably, choking on my own saliva.” He chuckled lowly, afraid that if he laughed too loud, he’d set you off again. “You know I’ve never been good with the ladies, (Y/N).” You grimaced at the memory of all of Ruby’s failed love attempts. 

“Well, you already knew I liked you—it was a matter of saying three words, eight letters,, and I would’ve been yours months ago.” You pushed his shoulder playfully, the anxiety and embarrassment you had felt washing of and making room for the still-settling realization of having confessed your feelings. Ruby leaned back into you, your legs brushing, causing you to take notice of your proximity. Your hands fell upon each other’s, and you looked up to meet his eyes. You started leaning in, maintaining eye contact as you got closer.

“Ruby,” you started, but he shook his head. 

“Don’t think, act,” he said as he grabbed the back of your neck, crashing your lips together. All your late night fantasies crashed at once, the real thing surpassing each and every one of them. Kissing Ruby felt like a kaleidoscope of butterflies got loose in your stomach—it felt like your heart alone was running a marathon. Kissing Ruby was soft and messy, your lack of experience shining through-. Ruby kept pressing himself to you, making sure there was absolutely no space between you. You had to resort to lying down, pulling Ruby on top of you, not once breaking the kiss. Due to the new position, one of his hands made its way to rest on your waist and the other cupped your cheek. Your hands around his neck were pulling him impossibly closer, and in that moment, your body felt like it was exploding with fireworks, warm all over. You didn’t break away until you needed to  breathe, a goofy smile plastering itself on your face. Ruby held the same expression as you as he looked down at you. As you started leaning in for another kiss, the door burst open. You pushed Ruby off of you, causing Ruby to fall on the ground with a thud. 

“Uh, what’s going on here?” Jamal asked.

“Told you guys it would work.” Cesar had the biggest, cockiest smirk on his face. You and Ruby shared a confused look and stared back at the very late rest of the crew.

“Yep, just like you said. A couple of hours alone, and they were all over each other.” Monse said, trying her best to refrain from laughing.

“I think our little man, Ruby, just popped his cherry.” Cesar wiggled his eyebrows. Monse’s eyes widened and she broke down laughing. 

Irritated enough, you finally spoke up, “Slow your roll, Little Spooky, we’re not like you and Monse.” You shot at him defensively, and Monse choked on her laughter. “No offense,” you added, not wanting to stir up any drama.

“None taken,” Cesar assured. Ruby got off the ground and reclaimed his seat beside you.

Leaning over, he whispered, “Why can’t we be like them?”

“Keep it in your damn pants, Ruben.” You nudged his side and he raised his hands in surrender.  

In retaliation, though, Cesar sat between you and Ruby. You shared a look of annoyance before Cesar asked, “Are you going to finish that?” referring to the forgotten leftover cluttering the small table. 

“Go crazy.”

“Suit yourself,” you and Ruby at the same time.

As Cesar dug in Jamal spoke up, “Can we just skip to the part where Ruby yells at us for being late and starts talking non-stop?” 

“No, man, not today.” Everyone looked bewildered. “Cesar why don’t you take that home? Yes, okay, bye,” Ruby dismissed him.

“Wait, woah, the hell man?” Cesar questioned as Ruby used all his might to get him off the couch. 

“You can all come back tomorrow, on time, and we’ll talk about my idea.” He said shooing them all away. 

“Are you freaking serious?” Monse got angry quickly.

“Hey, not my fault you decided to play cupid and be late on purpose.” Cesar, Jamal, and Monse shared looks of pride at Ruby’s statement. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some wasted time to make up for with my new girlfriend so, bye!” 

“Whatever you say, man,” Cesar said as he opened the door with one hand, the leftovers in the other. When Jamal and Monse were outside he said, “Just remember sin gorrito no hay fiesta.” He immediately shut the door after himself, but that didn’t stop Ruby and you from yelling after him.

“Fuck off, Cesar!” You both yelled with smiles on your faces as you looked at each other. With everyone else gone, Ruby cupped your cheek once more and tenderly kissed you until you had to head back home. That night you slept peacefully, no longer having to dream and wonder about how kissing Ruby would feel like.

Taglist: @steveisherdaddy  @apotatoinabigfield @xlostinobsessionsx @izjustafaze @yourlocalwhitemanwhore​

[multi-fxndom446]

Forever

Gojo Satoru x Reader

Warning: angst to fluff I suppose. Also the fact I proof read this at 3am and thought it was good so I’m posting it now before I regret it and re-write it 6 more times to then give up ✌🏻😝 anways

Part 2? I have a good idea but it’s up to you guysXD (which I’m not gonna lie part 2 would probably help it make sense)

Summary:

~~

Out on our own

Gojo Satoru. Where do you even start to describe that man? Or how you fell for him?

That’s all you could think of when you looked towards him. Smiling softly at his feature that he showed proudly or the features he kept hidden away like his eyes. His eyes were something you could get lost in any day of your life and maybe that was one of the reasons you had fallen for him.

You smiled softly as he spoke to you, he was telling you another story of his students. You knew more then anyone how proud he was of them, even if others thought otherwise. That was another reason you had fallen so hard.

You had known gojo for many years and in those years you actually got to chip away at his god complex and get to who he truly was. He didn’t know you did it until it was to late and he suddenly couldn’t let you go.

If you had known falling for gojo would one day lead you to losing him, you still would’ve let yourself fall over and over.

Dreamin in a world that we both know

You sat by his side quietly, watching his smile brighten more and more. It was a rare chance the two of you got to be alone.

You glanced down at his hands as they gently and mindlessly played with yours. He must’ve caught onto your lack of attention because suddenly his hands were moving to your face to gently return your gaze to him.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked, rather softly. Something you had gotten used to. In these rare moments he liked to be his quieter self to relish in your presence rather then his own.

You took his hand from your face and gently kissed his palm before you looked out at the buildings that surrounded the school. You locked his fingers with yours and leaned your head on his shoulder.

“Just everything I suppose.” You chuckled, watching his thumb draw circles into your hand. “How was I able to get the infamous Gojo Satoru to fall for me?”

The question was more of one you were asking yourself but he kissed the top of your head and answered, “because you showed me love. You loved me for who I was and not just for my power or strength” he squeezed your hand, “I’ve loved you since we started highschool you know?”

Your head shot up to look at him, “seriously?!” He laughed.

“Don’t look so surprised,” his laughs died down and he brought his hand back to your face and suddenly the atmosphere changed. He used his other hand to pull down his mask, allowing his hair to fall and for you to see the sincerity in his eyes.

He brought you closer kissing you softly, you could feel his eyelashes tickle your cheeks with butterfly kisses as he closed his eyes to enjoy the kiss.

You melted into him, you always did and you were sure you always would.

Is out of our control

But if shit hits the fan we’re not alone

“I’m sorry y/n.” Shoko spoke softly as if scared you would break down at any point in time. “I can only do so much from here though, you should see a doctor.”

“Are you positive?” You asked, after you sat silently for a moment processing the information she had just given you. You looked to her with tears brimming your eyes and reluctantly she nodded. “So what’s the point of seeing a doctor? You told me everything I need to know.”

“Y/n maybe they could give you something to help, to keep you alive.” You got up from the chair with a sigh and looked at your friend with a small smile.

She wasn’t good with emotions especially when it was her friends. She went to say something else but stopped when you took a deep breathe, “in your opinion, do you actually think they could help?” Her silence told you everything you needed to know.

“How long?” You whispered out, still trying to keep your tears at bay.

She sighed, “I can’t give you an exact time but not very long. It’s progressing very fast. It’s already progressed so much since the last time you came in for a check up.” You we’re both silent refusing to look the other in the eye. “How has Gojo taken it?”

“I haven’t told him.”

“What?” She looked to you in disbelief but you just shrugged in response. “How have you been able to hide the symptoms this long?”

“I’m just good at covering I guess” some tears slipped unwillingly from your eyes.

“You have to tell him.” You nodded in response before bidding your goodbye, sparing her a thank you.

As soon as you were out the door Gojo was by your side with a curious head tilt, silently asking what you were doing but you just smiled at him. “Just needed help with a case.” Before he could complain about you only needing his help you spoke again, “you know you have me? Right? You know I’ll always be there for you.”

Cause you’ve got me and you know

“I know.” His confusion only grew but he gave you a soft smile, intertwining your fingers. “And you’ll always have me as well.”

And I’ve got you and I know

~

But if the tide takes California

I’m so glad I got to hold ya

As days went by your sickness got worse and it was getting harder and harder to keep it from Gojo, passing off every coughing fit as a dry throat to which he’d lecture you about drinking enough water.

You spent every last minute with Gojo which he wasn’t complaining about but something wasn’t right but he wouldn’t pry until you were ready.

You stopped participating as much in missions and even sat on the side lines for training which was never like you but you ran out of breathe easily now and those would throw you into coughing fits that would end with you coughing up blood.

So to save yourself from that exhaustion you stopped.

Shoko was the only one that knew until Nanami saw you one day and immediately he knew. He watched you from afar for a moment taking in the time to notice how you guilty looked at Gojo. He went to you and confronted you about it immediately, leading into a slight argument.

Gojo was stood on the field, his hands in his pockets as he watched. You were angry or more so frustrated and nanami knew why. He said one simple sentence to you and you were immediately falling to the ground in tears as Nanami tried to comfort you.

As soon as Gojo saw you fall he was by your side before the tears could hit the ground. “Y/n what happened?” You just shook your head so he looked to Nanami for answers but he was already turned away and walking the other direction.

He wasn’t gonna be the one to tell Gojo.

And if the sky falls from heaven above

Oh I know I had the best time falling into love

You looked over at Gojo with utter adoration and love as he trained his students, joking with them here and there.

It was nice, peaceful. To see him not worry over you. You almost just let him be and went to walk away until Yuuji pointed you out and Gojo cut the class short.

You tried to smile but it never reached your eyes and fell before he could even return the smile himself. When he was finally in front of you, he softly brushed hair out of your face and looked you over.

“Y/n” you hummed in response but your heart started sinking when you saw his frown. “Please tell me what has been going on.”

We’ve been living on a faultline

And for awhile you were all mine

You knew you couldn’t hide it forever but some part of you hoped that if you didn’t tell him it wouldn’t be true and you could live with him forever and be happy.

But the look in his eyes told you, you had to tell him. You had to tell him everything.

“I suppose it’s time to talk isn’t it?” You laughed in sadness before you took his hand in yours and lead him to a bench.

I spent a life time giving you my heart

I swear that I’ll be yours forever till, forever falls apart

“Gojo,” you moved forward hesitantly almost asking if you could remove his blindfold which he leaned into your touch allowing you to finally see the eyes that you loved so much. The ones that were filled with concern now. You decided it would be better to just rip the bandaid off so with a sigh you continued, “I’m dying.”

Till forever falls apart

“What?”

~

So this is it?

That’s how it ends?

“Gojo I already told her there’s nothing I can do.” Shoko told him, moving around to collect the things Gojo had carelessly knocked over in his frustration.

He watched her silently until she was finally done, “why not?” She went to respond but he wasn’t done. “Why the hell not?! Why can’t you reverse it?! That’s your power why can’t you do anything?!”

Her eyes widened slightly, she wasn’t used to him yelling. “Gojo,” she started softly. “I can’t reverse it because it’s not cursed energy, it’s a sickness. And even if I could, she didn’t come to me until it progressed to far.”

He was silent, his mouth slightly agape as he registered her words. “I’m sorry Satoru. I really am.”

I guess theres nothing more romantic then dying with your friends.

Gojo was leaning against the doorframe, hands in his pockets as he watched you and his students. You had gotten close to them very easily, it was like they depended on you.

As he watched them smile brightly at you he wondered if they knew. But by the way you tried to reciprocate there smile to ease them he knew they didn’t.

How could you hold this from him? There should’ve been something he could’ve done.

No, that’s wrong. He knew it too. There was nothing he could to help you especially if Shoko could do nothing.

Almost as if you felt his eyes on you, you glanced towards him and gave him a soft smile. He completely melted for you and he always has.

He knew there may have been nothing he could do but he sure as hell wasn’t gonna let you live out your days with no hope.

And I’m not sorry, for myself.

The next few weeks Gojo had been quiet, keeping to himself and you thought it was your fault. And tonight like many other nights, You watched Gojo walk from room to room and for a moment you were worried he was avoiding you but when he came into the bedroom with a soft smile you knew you were wrong. This was different then the other nights.

“Ready?” In his arms were a few blankets that took him forever to find, he needed to find the right ones.

You titled your head to the side slightly, “for what?” He held his hand out for you and as always you took it. He helped you up and kept your hand in his.

“You’ll see.”

The silence would’ve been deafening had you not been with Gojo, his silence was always something you found comfort in.

He glanced at you to see if you were okay and for a moment he felt at peace, at peace that you even decided to spend your life with him to begin with. Then he remembered, you didn’t spend your life with him. You spent not even half your life with him. He wanted you to spend every day with him until you both were old. And suddenly that fleeting moment of peace was gone.

“Gojo?” He turned his head towards you, “where are we going?”

He looked out toward the path again and smiled, “we’re almost there.”

Gojo guided you through the paths for a few minutes more before he finally got to his destination and he turned to you again with the biggest smile, a smile that always made you smile. “Here.”

When you looked out at where you were suddenly it made sense and you turned back to him, “is this-?”

“Where I first admitted I loved you? Yes.” He dragged you along the path towards a little patch of grass where he laid out the blankets before he helped you sit down.

“Wow I’m surprised you remember this place.” You joked bumping his shoulder. He gave you a genuine laugh but as it died down a feeling of sadness filled it’s place.

“I always remember everything that involves you.” You looked at him in disbelief so he continued, “I know you don’t believe me but I do. You stuck by my side for everything and it was always very easy for me to lose people because I cared about myself more then I did for others. Then you came in and suddenly I couldn’t even remember why I thought I was the most important thing in this world.”

You watched him with a gaze filled with love, “you know I had a crush on you for the longest time? I remember seeing you and saying I wanted to know you. Then I did get to know you and I fell completely in love with you.” You were silent. “Gojo.”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry I’m the one you fell for. That I’m the one who you finally opened up to.” He shook his head laughing at that

“I wouldn’t want to spend a minute loving anybody else.” You gave him a shaky smile and he was quick to wipe a tear from your cheek. “Don’t cry, please.”

He kissed your head and for once he didn’t remove his blindfold, just so you wouldn’t see the way his eyes glazed over.

Cause you’ve got me and you know

You both sat there for what felt like hours and if Gojo was honest he could have stayed there for hours to come but he could feel the way you were shivering next to him.

“We should get back.” He finally decided and when he turned to you he felt his heart break just a little more. You’re skin was pale, paler then it had been before. Or maybe it was always this pale he just refused to see it.

He stood up and grabbed your hand, helping you stand. As soon as you were up you had to grab onto his arms to keep you steady and after a deep breathe you stood up and gave him a soft smile. “I’m sorry, just light headed.”

And I’ve got you and I know

“Don’t apologize.” He told you and went to grab the blankets when he saw the way you gazed off. “Hey,” you didn’t look at him so he took your chin between his thumb and index finger and turned you to him. “You’ll fight this ok?”

“Gojo-“

“Trust me. You trust me don’t you?” You nodded and he held his hand up for a high five. “You will fight this.”

You laughed a little and went to return his high-five but right as your hand made contact with his your smile fell, and your knees buckled beneath you.

So if the tide takes California

I’m so glad I got to hold you

Gojos body reacted faster then his mind. One moment you were high-fiving him the next he was catching you before you hit the ground. “Y/n?” When he looked down at you his mind finally caught up.

“Stay with me please!” And he was zipping his way to a hospital, knowing Shoko couldn’t do anything the hospital was the next best thing. “You’ll be ok we’re almost there.”

You could only keep your eyes open enough to look at Gojo and the way the wind rushed through his hair. His hair, you loved his hair. You went to reach for it when a bright light stopped you. You almost thought you died right then but when you turned your head you saw the halls of a hospital and distinctly you could hear Gojo yelling at someone to help.

And if the sky falls from heaven above

Nurses and doctors were running to him the moment they saw him carrying you in his arms. They brought over a bed to have you laid down on but when they went to grab you he was hesitant.

When they were finally able to get you from his arms you kept your gaze on him and before they took you away you called out to him, “oh I know I had the best time falling into love.”

He felt his whole world falling apart before him, he found himself going over everything in his head. You were pale he should have paid more mind to that or the way you coughed he should’ve seen it sooner.

He stood resting against a wall, glaring down at the floor as his mind went through every possibility until he felt someone stand right next to him. “How is she?” Gojo turned to Nanami who was watching down the halls.

“Not good.” He replied before they fell back into silence. “Howd you know I was here?”

Nanami sighed, “I’ve been expecting it. I saw you on the way here.”

“I really was blind to it wasn’t I?” Nanami didn’t answer and Gojo was okay with that, it seemed to answer his question nonetheless.

We’ve been living on a fault line

And for awhile you were all mine.

They had been waiting for what felt like hours until finally a doctor came back to get him. “She’s awake now, you’re able to see her.”

When Gojo took a step Nanami stopped him, “give her my best will you? I’ll take care of your students.” Gojo nodded at him in thanks and then followed the doctor to your room.

The doctor stopped at your door and let him in. As soon as his eyes fell on you Gojo almost had to step right back out of the room to pretend this wasn’t real. But it was and you needed him.

You turned your head when you heard soft footsteps and smiled softly when your eyes landed on Gojo. “Hey.”

I’ve spent a life time giving you my heart

“How are you feeling?” You both knew you weren’t feeling great.

“I’m okay.” But you always wanted to reassure him and make sure he didn’t worry. But he was worried. He loved you, more then anything and now he was losing you.

Your life was literally just minutes away from being over and you both felt it and it terrified you. “Do you remember the first time I told you I liked you?” You asked him softly hoping to get a reaction from him but all he could do was give a short nod.

“I was in my last year of middle school just about to transfer to-to Jujutsu. I saw you walking and I-“ you got cut off by your own coughing and in a second he was by your side.

“You saw me leaving and your friends dared you to do it before we didn’t see each other for a few months.” He finished for you, making you drink the water the doctors gave you. “I ignored you at the time.”

He sounded regretful but you knew if he didn’t ignore you then he would never have fallen for you in the first place.

The room fell silent again after you took a few sips of water then pushed his hand away. “Can I see your eyes, please.” He was hesitant, but the pleading in your own outweighed his hesitation.

He pulled his blindfold down, trying to cover up the emotions he was feeling but when you smiled weakly at him he felt all the emotions flooding through him. “Do you remember what I said after you confessed to me?” You asked him but you didn’t wait for him to answer, “I swear that I’ll be yours forever.”

But you forgot what he said afterwords as a joke to lighten the intense mood he had put between you.

“Till forever falls apart”

“Don’t say that.” You frowned, machines starting to beep around you. “Gojo, I-I’m scared.”

He held your hand not even being able to give you a smile now. Instead he squeezed your hand and said the last words you wanted to hear, “I love you more then anything Y/N.”

Till forever falls apart

The next moment you smiled one last time and he felt your hand go limp in his. He almost went to call for help but hearing the deafening and unending beep he knew, he knew it was over.

He had lost you.

We never had it from the start

Till death do us part

Doctors and nurses flooded the room in an instant but still they were a second to late. So before they could push him out, he gave you one last kiss on your head and finally left.

The moment he stepped out of that hospital he felt as though he left a part of himself there and he wasn’t sure he would ever get it back. But for now he needed to be there for his students.

If the tide takes California

A year later Gojo found himself stood in front of your gravestone. Your name was written nicely across the top with the date of your birthday and the day you died.

He never let himself dwell on the memories of what he could have done. It was to late and he was done putting himself through the torture.

He turned from your grave and made his way back to where his students were waiting. Megumi seemed to be the only one to notice the slight shift in Gojos mood but decided not to speak on it.

Gojo walked behind his three students laughing as they joked and made fun of each other until he saw something pass by him in the corner of his eye, something familiar.

He felt like he was moving in slow motion as he found the person, no, as he found you again. You passed by him and were walking away from him. He couldn’t let you go, not again.

I’m so glad I got to know you

He walked towards you gently grabbing onto your wrist. You turned towards him quickly with shock written all over your face and for a second he thought you remembered him. “Y/n?” And then you spoke.

“Who?” He felt his heart break all over again. “I’m sorry do I know you?”

“No” he immediately let go of you and took a step back, “no I’m sorry- I-I’m sorry. You just look like someone I know.”

And if the sky falls from heaven above

I know I had the best time falling into love

You watched him take a step away from you and as you watched him, something felt familiar. You looked to who was waiting for him, the three students looked familiar as well.

“Gojo?” You asked yourself softly almost as if testing the name and suddenly you were stepping towards him as if allowing yourself to remember. “Wait! Gojo! I remember!”

Immediately Gojo turned right back around and stared at you to see if you were being honest and when he saw your smile he knew. He ran back to you, wrapping his arms around you as you did the same. “I-I don’t know how- I don’t know how I remember, I just did.”

“Shh it’s okay.” He reassured before he pulled away to cup your cheeks in his hands.

We’ve been living on a fault line

And for awhile you were all mine

He looked over you in amazement not once asking himself how or why you were here. You were supposed to be dead how are you here right in front of him?

I’ve spent a life time giving you my heart

All he knew was his heart was filled with relief and that’s all he needed. He leaned his head against yours, relishing in your warmth.

“I swear that I’ll be yours forever.” He whispered softly to you and you smiled in joy. But he forgot the most important part of that sentence.

Till forever falls apart

~~~

[eternally-writing]

chain reaction 02 | jjk

genre: fluff and angst 

rating: PG 

pairing: Jungkook x reader

theme: college!au , enemies to lovers, series 

word count: 4.6k

warnings: light swearing

synopsis: A semester with your mortal enemy, Jeon Jungkook, as your lab partner was bound to be an experience to remember. 

banner by me!

read part 1 here! 

 If you want to be tagged in future parts, send me an ask! 

--♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡--

When you had imagined what Jeon Jungkook’s apartment would look like, you had definitely thought it would look something like an evil lair (except messy, because Jungkook definitely struck you as the messy type). 

However, upon stepping into his surprisingly well-finished apartment, you found the exact opposite case. Before this, you had planned to make a ton of jokes based on whatever you would find in Jungkook’s apartment. And the truth was, you still could. 

Jeon Jungkook was an absolute neat freak. You watched the way he subtly shuddered as a fleck of dirt from your shoes travelled off of his doormat and you took note of how his kitchen counter was so clean you could probably eat directly off of it (which was especially rare from someone in college). If he had a roommate, there was no trace of him right now, as the apartment pretty much looked like a showhome.

“I didn’t know you were such a clean freak, Jeon,” you said with a smirk.

For the first time, you saw Jeon Jungkook look the slightest bit timid. 

“I like to keep things tidy, I guess,” he said while rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. 

He gestured for you to enter his quaint but somehow spacious living room as he sped to the kitchen to grab you a glass of water (he may not like you, but he’d be damned by his mother if she found out he let a guest into his place without giving them a beverage).

You had a very clear game plan when it came to entering Jeon Jungkook’s apartment: Enter. Talk about the project (and nothing else). Grab the chemistry notes from the class you missed on Monday. Leave. 

It definitely seemed like an easy peasy 4 step plan  -  except that all seemed to flow out the window once you saw the photo Jungkook kept on his coffee table. From what you could decipher, it looked like a high school aged Jungkook in a music studio, right in front of the mic, with some of his friends around him. You had never seen Jungkook smile as big as he was in that picture, and it even managed to pull at your heartstrings.

Before you could open your mouth to ask about it, Jungkook had already come over to you and slammed the picture to be face down on the table, leaving smiley high school Jungkook out of sight. 

“An invitation into my apartment isn’t an invitation into my private life, Y/N. Don’t get it twisted.” he said coldly, dropping the glass of water hashly onto a coaster by the picture frame. 

To be fair, you kind of deserved that (and looking into Jungkook’s personal life definitely wasn’t part of your 4 step plan to seeing him today), but he didn’t have to be that mean.  As a peace offering you moved as far away from the photo frame as you could.

“Let’s just get this over with, Jeon. I have a pilates class in an hour on the other side of campus.”

Now Jungkook couldn't pass up that opportunity to make a joke. 

“Pilates, mmm.”  He let out an overexaggerated moan to make his point. 

“ Think you can slip my number to the hot girls there Y/N,” said Jungkook with a smirk. 

“In your dreams Jeon. You’re lucky if any girls will still want your number if you fail organic chemistry, which is what you’re going to do if we don’t work on this project.”

“I think you’re forgetting Y/N.” he said as he bent down, bringing his lips to your ear - “if I go down I’m taking you with me sunshine”. 

Ignoring how his close proximity to you was making your heart race (it was probably due to anger, right??), you jumped away from him and pulled out your macbook.

“Our group contract is due tomorrow so let’s just finish that up and then I’ll be out of your hair okay?” you said with an air of desperation and potentially sexual frustration.

For the most part, you and Jungkook worked in silence besides the occasional sound of you typing or clearing your throat. Looking at the live google doc in front of you and the progress you both were making, you were starting to think that working with Jungkook might not be the worst thing in the world. 

Jeon Jungkook and Y/N L/N : CHEM 251 LAB PRESENTATION CONTRACT

Topic - Green Chemistry 

1. Answer all communication from your partner (emails, messages) within 24 hours

2. Complete all portions of assignments at least 1 day before it is due. 

3. Any changes to your availability should be communicated to your partner. 

4. Y/N will handle the background literature and introduction of the presentation. 

5. Jungkook will look for future applications of Green Chemistry and direct applications of course material in the field of Green Chemistry. 

6. Don’t fall in love with your partner. 

As soon as you saw Jungkook type the last point on the document, you glared at him beside you on the couch. 

“Seriously Jeon? I forgot you have the mindset of a 13 year old boy,” you muttered as he looked at you cockily. 

You took a deep breath as your internal monologue started to run: 

Okay, Y/N. you’re not here to let Jeon Jungkook mess with you. 3 strikes and you’re out of here - there’s no reason to need to keep up with his bullshit (especially since at least the first part of your project was over).

Jungkook had then had to add more rules to your group contract. 

7. Y/N will give out Jungkook’s number to any hot girl at her pilates class. 

You groaned and hastily deleted off the document. 

That was strike 1 for Jungkook. 3 strikes and he’s out. 

Jungkook was still relentless in his attacks. 

“Seriously though Y/N, do you really not think I’m attractive at all? You really don’t want a piece of this?,” he said as he wiggled his eyebrows and gestured to his body all too suggestively. 

“Cut it out Jeon, I’m not dealing with your shit today,” you hissed, your eyes shooting metaphorical lasers into Jungkook. 

Strike 2: He’s getting close. 

“C’mon Y/N, what’s the chance that you’ll ever be able to bag someone as hot as me. I mean, look at me and look at you!”

Strike 3: you were DONE  with Jeon Jungkook today.

Not even stopping to put on your shoes fully, you took one last glance back at him before you walked out the door. 

“Fuck you, Jeon Jungkook.”

The glass of water he got you sat untouched on his coffee table, drops of water spilling onto the photo frame beside it due to his apartment shaking from you slamming his door.

Mirroring the new droplets on his coffee table, you found tears starting to drop across your face as well. 

--♡--

Even though you loved your chemistry lecture, you’re not sure why chemistry labs had such a bad vibe to you. The most obvious explanation for this would be having Jeon Jungkook as a lab partner (especially after your last meeting, the situation speaks for itself). But what could be is probably at least part of the reason is because of what happened in your first year 8AM chem lab. After getting through a grueling 3 hour titration (that you messed up and got no results for in the end), you walked back to your dorm to find your (now ex) boyfriend Jimin in bed with your roommate, Soomi. 

Needless to stay you left that day with one less friend, no boyfriend (and you had also gotten 16/30 on that lab… yikes), so chemistry labs did leave a little bit of a bad taste in your mouth. 

It had been months since that incident, but even after getting a new lease and cutting any ties you remotely had to Jimin, you still carried the insecurity that Jimin instilled in you by cheating on you with someone who you thought of as a sister. 

You had yet to run into Jimin against post-breakup, and had managed to successfully avoid him, until now.

“Y/N?” 

You knew that voice all too well. Turning around, you were met with the sight of your ex, Jimin. As if that wasn’t bad enough, as you looked him over you noticed your old roommate, Soomi, hanging off of his arm. You had no clue that they were still together (you had lost all contact with anyone remotely related to Jimin), and somehow seeing them together hurt you even more. 

Jimin looked even prettier than you had last remembered him; his prince-like hair shone in the afternoon sun, his charming smile seemed even brighter. Knowing Jimin was still with Soomi made you feel that he didn’t even feel a pang of regret for cheating on you, like he didn’t need to take some time by himself to reflect (like you definitely did) or stop to grieve your relationship. From your point of view, it seemed like you never even mattered to Jimin. 

You suddenly felt self conscious of everything under the judgmental gazes of Jimin and Soomi. Those baby hairs that you didn’t bother to pin down with a bobby pin this morning now felt like they were sticking straight out of your head and the pimple that was poking through your concealer on your forehead suddenly felt like a volcano. In your mind, compared to Soomi, you looked like a hot mess.

Your brain was on autopilot for all the small-talk you made with the two of them, and you didn’t snap out of your trance until you heard these words from Jimin. 

“I only wish the best for you Y/N”

You internally scoffed at this statement. Who the fuck was Park Jimin to say that he “wishes the best for you”. You took months to get over him and the hurtful words he said to you. Every mean comment and snarky comparisons he made to you felt like it was tattooed onto your skin and stuck with you forever. But now he was standing in front of you like nothing was wrong?

In a different world, you probably would’ve slapped Jimin across the face. But instead you rose above like your mom taught you to. 

“You as well Jimin.” you said courtly with a nod, trying to stop the tears that were pricking at your eyes from escaping your tear ducts. 

After receiving a small nod from Jimin as a response, you turned around as if you had somewhere to be (in reality, you didn’t have class for another 2 hours).

Getting as far away from Jimin was all you could think about at the moment, and you moved as far as your legs could take you in whatever direction you thought would take you out of your college’s quad, even as the tears falling from your eyes blurred your vision.

You didn’t know how to feel. You had imagined what seeing Jimin for the first time after the break up would look like; maybe he would grovel at his knees and beg to have you back (it’s not that you wanted to date him again or that you had feelings for him, but it would feel nice to feel wanted), maybe you would just throw a drink in his face and walk away like a bad bitch, maybe you could’ve flashed a new boyfriend in front of his face. 

All of a sudden your phone started to ring.  Your first fear (and somewhat hope) was that it would be Jimin calling you, but little did you know that it was something so much worse.

Incoming Call: Jeon Boy 

“as if this day couldn’t get any worse,” you thought to yourself as you pressed decline. You had yet to talk to Jungkook since that day at his apartment (you didn’t even call to congratulate him on his 

Incoming Call: Jeon Boy 

You groaned and hit the decline but at the speed of lightning again.

Incoming Call: Jeon Boy

Seriously, could this guy not take a hint? You were tempted to turn your phone off all together, but settled for hitting the decline button again.

Incoming Call: Jeon Boy

You realized that for whatever reason, Jungkook was not giving up, so you either had to answer him or listen to your ringtone of “Love Killa” by Monday X play every 10 seconds. Praying that your voice wouldn’t betray you, you took a deep (albeit shaky) breath and tried your best to wipe your tears before clicking “answer”.

“Look Jeon, I’m - uh - sorry but I really can’t do this right now okay? I’ll call you later.” you choked out, your voice obviously wavering as you tried to be as professional as possible. 

Before you could press the “end call button” you heard Jungkook’s concerned voice through the speakers.

“Y/N, wait, you don’t sound too good. Are you okay?”

Ah yes, “are you okay” - probably the most loaded question a person could ever ask. 

You probably could’ve kept it together if he had asked any other question, but his “are you ok” truly pulled at your heartstrings.

You felt your chest tightening but you tried your best to help the feeling subside. You had yet to show weakness about how Jimin had affected you to anyone, and you sure as hell weren’t going to start with Jeon Jungkook. Clutching at your chest and taking a few deep breaths in an effort to calm your racing heart, you continued on. 

“Is that genuine concern I’m hearing from you Jeon? Be careful, you’re losing your bad boy persona,” you said as you tried to make a joke to distract him. 

“Y/N, no. I’m serious. are. you. okay.”

You couldn’t handle it anymore. Sobs broke free from your chest and you heaved into the phone, your whimpers and whines striking Jungkook on the other side of the phone. 

“I, I can’t- I just-“

The words barely broke through your sobs. Your chest was tightening and you could barely hear Jungkook through the ringing in your ears. 

“Y/N where are you, I’m coming’” said Jungkook. You could hear the jingling of his car keys and the rustling of him putting on shoes. 

As if mother nature felt your pain, the rain started pouring down on you at the same time.

You barely got out any more words to Jungkook,  but he didn’t hang up on you. He just kept whispering comforting phrases, trying to calm you down from afar as you could hear his car engine roaring in the background (in another world, you definitely would’ve yelled at him for using his phone while driving). You barely even registered that Jungkook was there at all. Every memory of you and Jimin seemed to reopen like a fresh wound, and you couldn’t feel anything except the pain. All you could do was sit on a random curb by the edge of campus, your wails probably reaching the sorority houses nearby. 

You felt broken. The sound of the thunder overhead mixed with your cries as the rain pelted you, soaking your thin sweatshirt. You don’t know how much time passed there. In your head, it felt like time was frozen, while for Jungkook it felt like he was wasting hours zooming through campus (he truly was zooming - a month later he found out that he had accumulated 3 speeding tickets trying to find you, but he would never tell you that).

“Oh, sunshine,” he murmured, voice laced with pity and concern as he pulled over his car on the curb in front of you. 

You and Jungkook hadn’t even said a word to each other since the feud at his apartment, and you had absolutely zero clue how he even managed to figure out where you were through your jumbled phone call. But all you knew is that right now you needed him. You needed someone to give you a bit of comfort, and Jungkook was somehow here to do that for you. Despite everything between you twom you couldn’t hide the feeling of relief that ran through your body as you looked up and saw Jungkook in front of you.

Coming to your side, Jungkook crouched beside you. 

“Jungkook”, you wept as he pulled you into his chest. It was probably one of the first times you had actually addressed him by his first name, which came as a surprise to him. 

Holding you closer, Jungkook couldn’t help but feel protective over you. He couldn’t help but hurt with you as he saw your fragile figure shaking in his arms. 

“You’re gonna be okay now Y/N, okay? I’m here. I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere.”  

And in that moment, on a dirty curbside off campus, you weren’t Jeon boy and little miss sunshine,  mortal enemies and chemistry lab partners. Instead, you were just Jeon Jungkook and Y/N., and nothing else seemed to matter at the moment.

--♡--

To your surprise (and the surprise of anyone else who knows you), you and Jungkook had not been stepping on each other’s toes as much. What had started out as extreme, extreme dislike had turned into a mild dislike (maybe even a very slight enjoyment of his presence, although you weren't about to admit that anytime soon). And of course, you both refuse to acknowledge the “Jimin incident” that had occurred a week ago and you both refuse to believe that it may have had something to do with you and Jungkook not hating each other. Your emails stopped being signed off with “do your part Jeon, or else” and instead now usually started with “Hey Jeon!” and “Thanks, Y/N”

That brought you here, in your apartment on a Friday night, eating old pizza in an old sweatshirt, no bra, and some comfy shorts that had definitely been through the wash one too many times. Researching for your chemistry project, you chuckled at how much of a londer you would look to an outsider. Sending off the articles you found on Green Chemistry to Jungkook, you closed out the email with some casual pleasantries and then turned to continue rewatching episodes of your favourite kdrama. You definitely weren’t expecting a response from Jungkook until Monday. You were sure that someone like him was at a frat party (was he even in a frat? You had no idea). Either way, Jungkook probably was lounging around in some party house with like 6 girls on his arms, while you were doing quite the opposite. 

Surprisingly, Jungkook was actually doing quite a similar thing to you. Instead of watching kdramas, he was watching Iron Man (for what was probably the 50th time), and was huddled under a makeship blanket fort like a child and scrolling through reddit. Don’t be mistaken though, Jeon Jungkook was definitely a partier, but he also knew when he needed to give his head (and liver) a break.

He saw his phone chime with a gmail notification. He took a brief scroll through the articles you had sent over to him (those were definitely work for another day since there was no way he could digest academic jargon without at least 3 cups of coffee in him), but he was pleasantly surprised with what you had come up with. 

At the same time, the Facebook tab he had open on his Macbook also lit up. 

It’s Y/N L/N’s birthday today! Leave a message on her wall to celebrate!

Jungkook’s jaw dropped. 

It was your birthday and you were sending him chemistry research papers?? Jungkook chuckled because he could already think of 1000 bad jokes to make fun of you, but he also felt some other feeling that he couldn’t quite place.  

Jungkook’s mother had always taught him that it was important to celebrate birthdays, and that is was bad luck that it was  He wasn’t sure if it was just a farce that his mother had come up with to make sure that he still attended those family-wide facetime birthday celebrations once he went to college, but either way, he still believed it to some extent. 

He had no clue why he was doing this, or how he even got here, but somehow Jungkook found himself in sweatpants and a hoodie in front of your apartment door at 10pm on a Friday night, cake in tow in one hand, his other hand out ready to knock on your door. 

On the other side of the door, you were equally astonished. It almost felt like you were seeing a hallucination, as if your email to Jungkook had somehow summoned him to your door. You couldn’t help but rub your eyes in disbelief, just to make sure he was actually there. 

“Jungkook?”

Bashful Jungkook seemed to make an appearance again as he tapped his feet in anxiety. And before he could stop himself, words were already tumbling from his mouth”

“Happy birthday?” he said as a question , posing it as if he didn’t know whether facebook was just playing a prank on him (which he honestly didn’t know). “Can I come in?”

You didn’t even really know how to process this situation, but all you could mutter was a “uh, thank you?” in a similar inquirable tone and gesture for him to step into your apartment. If Jeon Jungkook showed up at your door at 10pm on a Friday night, he probably deserved to be heard out.

“You can make yourself comfortable on the couch. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting company otherwise I would have cleaned up a bit.”  You were sure that Jungkook’s neat freak brain was probably frying itself into overdrive based on the empty now-empty pizza box sitting on your coffee table and stray utensils and crumbs on your kitchen counter. You felt a little embarrassed that he had to see this.

Mirroring Jungkook’s hospitality last time you were at his place, you brought him a glass of water and hoped that this evening would go a LOT better than the last time you and Jungkook were alone together in an apartment. 

Jungkook’s cake was still held in his hands. It was a little cake from the 24/7 cafe on campus; he could only find one that said “happy” with little sunflowers and smiles, so hopefully the “birthday” part of it was implied. 

“I, um, I brought cake - for you. I mean your birthday.”

You sat down across from him. 

“Oh you didn’t have to Jungkook, uh that’s really nice but you didn’t have to do that,” you said as you leaned further away from the cake, as if it was an item that scared you. “I’m not big on birthdays anyways, just usually me chilling in my apartment!” 

However, Jungkook was not planning on taking no as an answer. He tried his best to plead with you, but was still getting nowhere. 

“you… you have to do it for my mom!” he said as he thrust the cake even closer to your face. 

You tilted your head in confusion at his statement. 

“I mean uh-, my mom says that it’s bad luck if you don’t blow out candles on cake on your birthday and that if you don’t do it then you won’t live to your next birthday. And um- i know we’re not friends Y/N but I’d rather see you alive next year”.

 Jungkook tried to look as nonchalant and cool as possible, and when he realized his statement was a little too thoughtful he followed it up with a “i mean you could do whatever you want i don’t care it doesn’t matter to me”. 

You were beginning to like this side of Jungkook, the one that was more thoughtful than he was a selfish, inconsiderate dude.

Taking the cake softly from his hands, you muttered a soft “thank you”. At this point Jungkook didn’t know whether you took it from his hands to throw it on the ground or actually use it for its intended purpose. As you leaned over to grab the lighter by your candles on your coffee table, Jungkook let out a breath of relief. 

Throwing open the cake box, you lit the candle in the cake and stared patiently in front of it. 

“Well Jungkook, I believe if I am going to be blowing out candles there should be singing too, no?” You joked with a silly smile on your face. 

Knowing he had no way out of this (and to be honest, he secretly wanted to anyways), he began to sing. 

You had never heard a more beautiful rendition of happy birthday in your life. Jungkook turned the most mundane song, one that you didn’t have many happy memories with, into a tune that made your heart start to swell with joy. You wished the song was longer, because as he stopped to sing you wanted nothing more than for him to keep going. 

“Make a wish, Y/N” , he whispered. 

You didn’t know what to wish for. There were a lot of things that needed to be fixed in the world, and lots of things that you needed too (like a new toothbrush, or the experience of true love). It seemed fitting that since you were only blowing out these candles because of Jungkook, you should at least dedicate the wish to him. So all you wished for was for you and Jungkook to get along just like you were in this moment. 

You looked up at Jungkook from the cake, and from there all you could say was a sincere “thank you”.

The moment was all too sincere, and you and Jungkook could feel the atmosphere shift to one that was all too intimate and friendly for your relationship. As moving away from a hot flame, you both picked up your phones and mumbled excuses to move away from the situation. 

Jungkook was the first to break the ice again. 

“I don’t know how good this cake is going to be, the expiry date was at least a week and a half ago”

“Well Jeon Jungkook, if you brought an expired cake into my apartment, it feels like a right of passage that you have to try this cake with me.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from picking up a piece of cake on a fork and shoving it into his mouth. Immediately, his face scrounged up in disgust, and you could pretty much see him gag. 

“That cream is… very creamy to stay the least,” he said as he thickly swallowed it down, grimacing the whole time. 

His expression made you chuckle. There was something about the way his naturally fluffy hair seemed to move as he swayed like a piece of seaweed on your couch (a mannerism that you had picked up on quite quickly), that made you feel warm inside.

“Considering me sacrificing myself to this cake as a birthday present to you, Y/N” 

The laugh that bubbled out of your chest almost made that gross cake worth it to Jungkook. And some words of sincerity slipped out before you could hold them in. 

“Best birthday present ever, Jungkook, thank you.

--♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡--

Taglist: @apollukee , @mrcleanheichou , @monvieesdaebak 

If you want to be tagged, please send me an ask! 

 If you liked what you read, please interact/follow! Thank you for reading♡

- Emily

[jamaiskookie]

bangtan headcanon: OT7 IN HIGH SCHOOL 📓✂️

☞ genre; fluff, crack

☞ warnings; excessively stupid

masterlist  u wanna talk to highschool!bangtan?

《KIM SEOKJIN》

class clown

always manages to sneak kimbap in class, and stuffs his face despite being in the front row. 

he’s alarmingly good at sneaking food into places. 

cafeteria ladies love jin so much. 

and every christmas he brings in his perfected sugar cookies and never shares them.

(he’s in the cooking club)

((he’s the only one in the cooking club))

will interrupt the teacher to make a bad joke. 

“yes so helium is the fo- oh yes seokjin?“

“i was reading an excellent book about helium, i couldn’t put it down!! ahHAHAHHYUKHYUKAHHAHAHHA“ 

nobody’s?? really sure?? if he’s dating namjoon or not?? it’s the schools biggest mystery, there’s currently a betting pool going on worth about $500

likes to annoy namjoon and yoongi about holding bake sales. 

is surprisingly good at planning parties?? but never hosts them?? hoseok always gets him to plan his parties and he even planned prom!!

he’s particularly proud with the theme he came up with. 

‘zombie meets elegance‘ 

it was actually pretty nicely pulled off (much to the shock of the entire student body) 

《MIN YOONGI》

student council president 

takes his job very!! seriously!! 

fights with the principal on funding daily. 

doesn’t come to school without coffee and resting bitch face.

even the teachers are afraid of this short little emo boy. 

is the only one who actually wears the school uniform properly with the little tie and jacket because that’s how you show school spirit. 

definitely that closeted gay in high school who thinks nobody knows about his homosexuality when in fact, everyone knows.

(nobody has the guts to bring it up to him though)

“hyung why are you staring at jimin’s as-“

 “-NO WHY GET BACK TO WORK” 

actually enjoys doing morning announcements. 

“make sure to check out jin’s dumb bake sale i think he’s selling brownies for some charitable reason anYWAYS time for min’s advice column!!“ 

min’s advice column is yoongi’s free therapy. namjoon suggested adding an advice column to the school paper so now yoongi just judges his classmates’s decisions gives subpar advice. 

“i personally think you have no chance with this girl, but you’re clearly hell bent on asking her out. it’s a dumb choice. good luck.“ 

《JUNG HOSEOK》

fuckboy

throws obnoxious parties at his parent’s huge ass mansion. 

somehow?? is?? the nicest? playboy??? evER??

will respect your girl’s boundaries but also would 300% hit on her when you’re not looking. 

aftercare king wILL cuddle with you and help you clean up or whatever until jimin eventually comes in screaming. 

his school id says “hobi 💦👅” ... noone knows how he managed to do it (taehyung thinks he seduced the secretary) 

surprisingly good at romance even though he deTests dating

“it’s a waste of time, money, and ass.“  “- what?”

gives everyone dating advice whether they want it or nOt- he lives his *shhh very secret* romantic fantasies through his best friends. 

once helped taehyung ask out his girlfriend... they’re still going strong!!

defo has daddy issues that he never talks about,, maybe if a girl finds it sexc™️ in that kind of messed-up-bad-boy-she-could-fix vibe he’ll bring it up

kinda failing science lmao he probably needs a tutor.. but will never admit he needs a tutor for sake of his pride. 

most definitely has had sex in the janitor’s closet a couple times, up until yoongi caught him once, reported him to the school board and got him suspended... for a month. 

(yoongi has no regrets, that was the best month of his life.)

《KIM NAMJOON》

student vice president

honestly would probably be the council president and is the most qualified for it but can’t be bothered.

plus he hates public speaking and the president has to speak at assemblies.  

genuinely enjoys learning!! bUT HATES GROUP PROJECTS

because every single fucking time taehyung and jimin pester him about teaming up and he ends up doing like 75% of the work.

not because anyone forces him to or anything.

it’s because jimin and tae are such dumbasses every time they finish their work namjoon has a sudden uRGE TO REDO ALL OF IT BC THEY GOT IT WRONG.

tries to take all AP subjects.

gives up and drops half of them by the second semester.

great student but also will “no yoongi i don’t want to fucking play basketball i've been awake for thirty hours trying to finish this goddamn essay that’s due tomorrow. wHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY DIDN’T I DO IT EARLIER I WAS BUSY TAKING CARE OF MY BONSAI TREES.“

started the school paper!! it’s called “persona post”

writes about actual relevant things like political events and global problems, but everyone else just writes about school gossip *sigh*

although that one column examining hobi’s sex and dating life was a pretty fun piece of writing to read through. 

he sits in the back of the classroom and never raises his hand even though he knows the answer like 95% of the time.

definitely has a crush on seokjin

《PARK JIMIN》

the one everyone has a crush on

and when i say everyone i mean everyone, even hoseok has had a crisis over park jimin. 

(jungkook is definitely president of his fan club) ((in case it wasn’t clear, he’s dating jungkook))

school’s golden boy, basically gets away with everything with a bat of an eye... and the most infuriating thing is he doesn’t even realise it. 

“omg jimin!! you’re so cute!! this shirt looks sO good on you, can i touCH?” “omg thank you i didn’t think it fit well because it’s my boyfriends but that’s so sweet!!” “boy... hm?”

mom friend: sweetest bitch alive and is always worrying about his friends but everyone knows he’s secretly really fucking kinky.

(again, jungkook has no comment)

the kind of person who celebrates christmas in june. 

literally- he starts putting decorations in his locker and around the school mid june. by november, he’s wearing reindeer ears to school.

*lowkey kind of a nerd* genuinely enjoys studying with namjoon.

“well, studying with anybody else is just too stressful!! plus, namjoon’s so chill. he doesn’t look like it but he actually is super sweet and nice!!!“

“... please take those reindeer ears off, it’s embarrassing.“ 

half of the school would probably cut off an arm to sleep with him. seriously, he gets offers like everYDAY it’s kinda getting tiRING

is considering starting a youtube channel where he just takes videos of all the dogs and babies he meets throughout the day. 

“idk i think vlogging would be fun“

《KIM TAEHYUNG》

art hoe

nEVER FUCKING STUDIES OR PAYS ATTENTION BUT GETS DECENT GRADES.

the definition of bisexual mess, WILL trip when he sees hot people.

exclusively wears wired gold glasses and soft neutral sweaters to school. if it’s a good day he’ll wear a beanie. on special occasions he’ll maybe throw in some fUN loafers.

dyes his hair to match ~the vibes~ of that season. the most recent wild hair colour is cool toned teal. 

jungkook said he looks like leprechaun shit, but tae really likes it. 

tried to go vegan countless times, failed each and every one when he passed by a mc donalds. 

carries his sketchbook wherever he goes. he has that thing around 24/7, 100% would not be surprised if he slept with it under his pillow.

really quiet until he has a point to make;; like that time where he launched into a three hour screaming lecture on how phineas and ferb is an animated masterpiece.

drinks tea purely for the aesthetic of it. 

goes to hipster coffee shops to pretend to study... ends up watching barbie movies and critiquing them on the writing blog that he thinks nobody knows about. 

watches anime in class (he recently rewatched all of ATLA for the third time,, failed his econ class but worth it!!1!!1)

《JEON JUNGKOOK》

preppy jock

once again, everyone is attracted to him, but he’s so whipped for jimin everyone’s crush fades away once they talk to him because-

“oh it’s so cool that you have a dog!! you know, i think jimin kind of looks like a pomeranian sometimes it’s sO CUTE- hm? oh jimin’s my boyfriend.“

... it’s disgustingly adorable. 

plays almost every sport and is somehow always the team captain. not out of obligation or with leadership skills or anything, everyone else just votes for him. 

mess with his friends and he’ll put a stink bomb in your locker. 

his nickname is “golden baby” because he’s good at everything, teachers love him so much. 

grades? sTELLAR. sports? he’s done them ALL. creativity? pAINTED THE SCHOOL MURAL. service? volunteers at a pet shelter whenever he can (the bunnies love him for some reason) 

everyone either is 

a) in love w him, wants to fuck

b) jealous of him but is also secretly gay for him

pretends to not know how talented and cool he is and plays it off super cool

proceeds to fail, the only thing he’s bad at is humble bragging. 

“wow omg lol i got a 100 on my bio test and yesterday i got a hole in one in golf, my first time playing it but it’s chill i guess hahhah day in my life amirite.“

**this headcanon is the start of the bangtan school series, stay tuned**

wanna be tagged in school series or my writing? here or send me an ask

[missmonsters2]

About You || Part IX

Gif by: giuliacommissions (please check her out if you’d like to commission her for gifs and other work 💞)

PAIRING: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader/OFC

Summary: Wanda had never known loss like she has until she lost Pietro. It’s debilitating. She can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t even leave her house. Life is fading fast, and she’s not sure if she even wants to hang on. Enter you, a stranger that reconnects her to the daily things that makes life beautiful.

Warnings: Deals with loss & grief and the spectrum of emotions and depression that comes with it. Please note there is no glorification in any of this. Loss, grief, and depression are nothing beautiful. Also, please don’t hesitate or reach out for help if you are in a dark place. Love you, lovelies 💘

Genre: Angst & Romance

NOTE: One more chapter after this. YES I KNOW I’M LATE IN POSTING AHH.

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII || PART VIII

PART IX of X

Count: 2562

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Moving into the new place is a whirlwind with you.

You let her paint all over the walls for decorations, and Wanda's never had so much fun picking a couch before.

Wanda is currently flushing red as Natasha is over, and she had caught the two of you amorously loving each other.

You had to go to work, so Wanda was left to face the embarrassment alone.

"You certainly have a lot of energy," Natasha comments, and Wanda drops her paintbrush.

"I can't help it," Wanda mumbles.

"Oh, it's fine. At least you're doing it in the name of love. Loudly, but for love."

"You could hear us?"

"We can hear you every time," Natasha deadpans.

"We?" Wanda emphasizes.

"My only advice is that you pick better times to do it if you can. Clint had to wait outside for an hour and a half last time he came over."

Wanda flushes, her ears a hot red while she tries to resume painting.

She can't help it if she wants to have you when she does.

"So, was Clint right?"

"About?" Wanda mumbles.

Natasha stares at her friend and frowns.

"That she's the top?"

Wanda slams her paintbrush down.

"No one is allowed to be friends with Clint anymore."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were weird on the phone today.

A little skittish in Wanda's opinion. You said you wanted to take her somewhere after work. 

She couldn't help but worry that maybe you were regretting everything, but then you showed up at home at 7 PM with flowers in your hands.

"Would you go somewhere with me? I have something to tell you."

A look of worry passed over Wanda's face, but she nodded as she grabbed her jacket.

The ride was quiet. You were tense as your hand would grip the steering wheel before relaxing, the cycle repeating.

"Where are we going?" Wanda asked. 

"I wanted to show you the person who made sure I wasn't alone," you tell her. 

Wanda is surprised because she wasn't aware that your friend was in the same town. She thought they were out of your life, as you had indicated.

But then, when you pull up into the cemetery, Wanda's heart dropped.

"Why didn't you say so?" Wanda looks at you, heartbreaking at the sad smile on your face.

"It doesn't change that people do come and go."

Wanda doesn't say anything and lets you lead her. She feels a little on the edge because she knows this cemetery too well by now, and the route is familiar.

The two of you come to a stop, and Wanda looks at the gravestone she's seen many times before. She used to spend hours every day sitting here.

You put flowers down before standing up and looking at Wanda with wet eyes.

"I have something to give you," you quietly say, your hand fishing in your bag before you pull something out and put in Wanda's hands.

Her yearbook. 

Wanda looks back at the gravestone, the words searing on her eyes.

Pietro Maximoff.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Flashback...

You were in a bit of tizzy. You and your business partner just recently bought the space to open your own psychology clinic. 

You had just hired a marketing firm to help you with your advertising for your grand opening. He would be arriving in a couple of minutes with his advertisement plan.

"Hello?"

You shoot up from your office, putting down the boxes as you rush to the front.

"Hello!" You say breathlessly, feeling a little shame at what a mess you look like.

The guy standing there looked equally of a mess with his blond hair with dark roots in an array. He looked a little breathless, and you guessed he was running late.

The two of you stand there, looking at each other before the two of you start laughing.

"I'm Pietro, your marketing manager."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"Pietro, the job had been done weeks ago. Why do you keep coming here?" You quirk your brow.

You and Pietro had hit it off quite well, getting to know each other as he helped you with advertising your clinic and services.

But it was professional. Except Pietro had kept coming even after everything was finished.

Monday it was coffee, Tuesday was lunch, Wednesday was dropping off a coffee and a bagel, and now it was Thursday, and he had come on his lunchtime again.

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to go for dinner," he smiles. 

You stand there, brow still quirked as you assessed him.

"Alright."

"Cool, how about 8 PM?"

You nod, and Pietro smiles and runs out the building again.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Dinner is a pleasant affair. 

He is flirty but respectful. He holds doors and chairs open for you but doesn't make a move to grab your hand or try to get closer.

Pietro is talking about his plans to see his sister next weekend when you interrupt him.

"Do you keep coming by my office because you're interested in me?"

It's blunt, but you rather be straight forward about it.

Pietro stops his story, mouth still open before closes it sheepishly.

"No," he admits, "I actually wanted to set you up with my sister."

"Pass," you say immediately.

"What!" Pietro says. "C'mon, you guys would be a perfect match."

"Not interested in dating," you tell him as you eat your food, more relaxed that it's not a date.

Pietro groans and you laugh a bit before he starts eating again.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Even after your blunt rejection, Pietro still comes by the office to pester you into getting lunch.

He lectures you that you can't skip it even if you're busy and lists all the things that could happen to you if you don't eat.

"Cancer? Really?" You say to him.

"Everything causes cancer," he tells you seriously.

"Wouldn't that mean that even eating can cause cancer?" You argue back at him.

"Exactly," he says seriously, "If we're all going to get cancer regardless, you should eat and have a full stomach at least."

You laugh, a weird familial warmth filling the pit of your stomach.

"You seriously haven't changed," you tell him.

"What do you mean?" He asks you.

You roll your eyes, but you don't expect him to remember.

"Pietro Maximoff, track and field captain, while also the student council president. The guy everyone wants to be friends with."

Pietro's mouth dropped.

"We went to the same university?" He says excitedly. "You do know my sister too then!"

"Yeah, she's really nice," you say while you look down at the ground with your hands shoved in your pocket.

"Nice?" Pietro snorts. "No one ever says that about her."

You chuckle.

"She beats up bullies, so she's automatically nice even if she seems like the equivalent to a cactus."

"So, you're saying you will go on a date with her!" Pietro says excitedly.

"Are you deaf? Nowhere in what I said says I'll go on a date with her."

"But you just said she's nice!" Pietro whines. 

"I also said she's the equivalent to a cactus."

"Wanda's really wonderful, trust me."

You merely hum.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

It's a little weird, you admit. Having someone like Pietro who goes out of his way to spend time with you.

People ask all the time if you're dating, but Pietro always laughs it off and says that you're like family to each other.

"I'm her big brother!" 

"You're only two months older," you would always say in response.

"God, you're like Wanda. Older is older," Pietro would joke. 

He talks about Wanda a lot. You can tell he clearly adores her. You're not sure you really understand sibling bonds because of your own brother.

But Pietro talks as if he would move mountains for her, and talks like Wanda wouldn't hesitate to take a bullet for him.

"Is that piece of shit calling you again?" 

You look away from your phone screen to Pietro's scowling face. 

He knows everything about you.

He knows that your brother has been trying to get back in touch with you.

"Yeah," you sigh as you put your phone down and sit back in your chair. You have 30 minutes to relax before your next patient comes.

Your brother had seen you in an online advertisement and has been calling your workplace. You picked up the phone one, talked to him briefly before he started saying how he needed cash.

You haven't picked up the phone since.

"You should just let me pick up the phone and tell him to fuck off," Pietro glares at the offending phone.

"You have a lot of free time," you say to him in response. 

"I'm a director now, hell yeah, I have lots of time," Pietro laughs. 

The two of you banter some more when the receptionist tells you your appointment is here.

Pietro smiles at you before he walks out of the office with you following him.

Except, at the front desk, you see your brother standing there.

"What the hell," you mutter under your breath.

"What are you doing here?" You say to him.

"Miss, that's your appointment," the receptionist tells you. 

"My appointment is supposed to be with a Leon--" You groan because he used a fake name to book the appointment.

"You need to get the hell out of here, Jake," you glare at him.

"I just need 5 minutes to talk, don't you want to talk after all this time?" Jake frowns at you.

You want to make a scene, but this is your workplace, so you drag Jake into your office with Pietro right on your heels.

"No, I don't want to talk or catch up. Why would I want to catch up with someone who left me at an orphanage?" You hiss at him.

"I was 18!" Jake defends himself. "I couldn't even take care of myself, let alone you. I left you for the best."

You scoff at the response.

"And what? You want to catch up now? Or is this about the cash you said you needed."

Jake is quiet.

"I just need a loan," he says instead.

There's a scoff in the background.

The two of you look over to see Pietro there looking at Jake in disgust.

"What's your problem?" Jake glares at him. "Get out of here, this is family business."

"I am family," Pietro says in return.

"With family like me, she doesn't need your ass around here," Pietro pulls out his checkbook from the inner chest pocket of his suit jacket.

"Take this, and get the fuck out of here. If you ever come back around here without her wanting you around, I'll sue you," Pietro threatens, ripping out a cheque and shoving it into Jake's hand.

You catch the numbers as your eyes widen.

It was $10,000.

Jake's eyes are wide too, but he looks at Pietro once more before looking at you.

"Deal," Jake says and leaves.

"Fucking dick," Pietro mutters as Jake leaves the building.

"What the hell, Pietro!" You yell at him.

"Why did you give him $10,000?"

"Because jerks like that will keep coming around until they get what they want. Or until their legs are broken, but I don't know anyone who can do that for me. Yet."

You stare at him in disbelief, but he just laughs and pulls you in for a hug.

"$10,000 is nothing to make sure my little sister isn't hurt."

You denied it when Pietro asked you later if you were crying.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"You should show up here. At 7 PM."

You look at Pietro.

"Are you trying to set me up with your sister again?"

"No. Yes. Maybe," Pietro answers.

"Give it up, man," you shake your head at him.

He talks about Wanda all the time. You admit you're a little intrigued by her. But only because Pietro spins her in such a wonderful light, even when he tells you stories of when she's being an asshole.

"My sister is going to die alone with a cat, have some sympathy, and meet her. I guarantee you'll want to lock her down. I'm convinced she's your soulmate," Pietro determinedly keeps going.

"Why are you convinced of that?" You quirk your brow.

"Because she's prickly, you're super nice and patient, and I can't explain it anymore, just meet her!" Pietro whines.

You laugh.

"Well, I'll actually be traveling to Europe next month for a volunteer experience there for some less fortunate kids who need counseling. But, I'm not opposed to meeting her when I'm back. No guarantees, though, and on one condition."

"What's that?" He asks you excitedly.

"I want her yearbook, and when I meet her, I'll give it back," you tell him.

"Why do you want her yearbook?" He asked confusedly.

"I never got to write in it," you tell him.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"That was the last time I got to see him. He died while I was in Europe."

Wanda knows because she was in the car accident too.

She opens her yearbook and sees an added message on the back, the only other writing in it other than Pietro's.

Wanda,

You may not recognize me, but I wanted to say thank you, for all those years ago, for sticking up for me and getting my things back.

Sincerely,

The girl you saved.

There was a picture there, and Wanda flipped it over. She sees a picture of you back in university, with a familiar dirty backpack.

"When I saw you at the bridge...I just couldn't let you die. You were someone Pietro loved so much. I--"

"Did you blame me?"

Wanda saw a flash of guilt through your eyes.

"I did at first. I hated you at first. You were his family. He loved you so much, he loved me like family, and now he's gone."

Small things over the past few months pass through Wanda's head. Like how you talked as if you new Pietro, trying to get her to not blame herself.

She listened to the words, a dull ache in her chest because the truth felt like you had blamed her too, and she deserved it.

"But...Pietro was right. I met you, got to know you, and everything Pietro told me about you was right. I couldn't blame him for trying to set me up with you."

What a small word, Wanda thought. 

And you were begging.

"Please don't hate me."

But Wanda merely closed the yearbook and opened her arms so you could dive into her comfort.

Because even though you had blamed her, hated her at first, you still saved Wanda. You still stuck around, cleaned her mess up, loved her even when she was awful to you. 

You took in all her imperfections, loved her, and let her love you.

"You are my soulmate," you confess her to, lips quivering.

"Pietro always had a way of taking care of his family. I asked him at the funeral for help, and he gave me you," Wanda whispered.

Your tears stopped at Wanda's calming words. She pulled back, cupping your face as her thumb wiped your tears.

"I love you," she insists. "I'm never letting this hand go."

She holds up your hand, pressing her lips to the painted red string around your wrist.

"I was lost, but you found me. I'm never letting you go."

PART X

[apenapaperandadoofus]

SKKSKSKS your new post gave me an idea! hear me out, ok so MC is a STRUGGLING college student. Anyway, the rfa (plus jihyun&saeran) finds out MC is opting to get a sugar daddy 😳 (MC's fellow broke friends says try it out lol!) And so, MC is meeting SD for lunch. Turns out it's a weird disaster. Which of them will be spying & ready to fite, or drag MC away before she even gets her ass to the seat? i feel like jumin will go 👁👄👁 with this whole thing. just curious how they'll react oop-

I love it and I love you lmao this is the best thing everrr, I had so much fun writing it ASKFBDJ

I’m going to save Jumin for last because I just loved writing his head cannon lmao

RFA + V and Saeran reacting to an MC that gets a sugar daddy/mommy:

Zen:

So Zen found out about your little sugar daddy plan

He was LIVID

He will cancel every single thing he has today

And he will go and spy on you

Zen will literally have everything he needs, he’ll have a disguise and he’ll be hiding in the bushes watching your date

If he sees your SD trying to touch you he will tackle him

And then he’ll grab your hand and lead you away, no matter how much you complain

When he brings you home he will sit you down and oh boy, get ready for the biggest lecture of your life

You see him BECOME your mother

He will talk with you for about an hour

“Y/N seriously! Why didn’t you tell any of us, we could have helped you, YOU LITERALLY ARE FRIENDS WITH TWO RICH ASSHOLE WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?!”

But then Zen will calm down and sit next to you, his face a bit red

“I just...I’d like you to depend more on us...on me. I will do anything for you so please, promise me you won’t go dating old guys for money again?”

And how could you say no to those puppy eyes?

Zen will work hard so you don’t struggle so much alone

Yoosung:

He will be an angry boio

He’s like a mad chihuahua

When he figures out your plan he will drag Seven down with him to spy on you

Of course Seven will make fun of him, and he won’t help with shit lmao

But Yoosung will take it seriously

He will be watching you from the shadows, and you know what? He will try to even screw up your date

The next time you see him he will be all pouty and won’t talk to you for a while

He won’t even look at you

So Seven gives up and tells you that Yoosung found out about your sugar daddy adventure

You will come up to Yoosung and talk it out with him

“Sorry Y/N...it’s just...I got...mad! I could’ve helped you, you know? You don’t have to date gross guys like him to get money. The RFA is here for you! Also...I may have also gotten...a bit jealous. Just. Don’t do it again. Please...I’ll help you!”

Aw he’s so adorable so you agree

Now Yoosung won’t have to go and murder that guy

I mean, what, Yoosung and murder? WhaaaaAAAAA- he had everything planned who am I kidding pft

Jaehee:

Honestly, when hears you got a sugar mommy she’s a bit jealous and worried

But who is she to tell you what to do?

I mean don’t get her wrong, she wants to slap that woman for looking at you like that and for abusing your need for money

So she will slowly help you without you noticing

She will bake something so you can go an sell it at school

Or she’ll lend you some money

If she sees you struggling she will do everything she can so you don’t need to get a sugar mommy again!

One night, when you are finally able to have enough money for some other things, you invite her out to dinner to thank her for everything she helped you with

“Y/N...I have to tell you something. When you were, well struggling, I found out you saw a woman...older than you so she could give you money. And I- well...I’m not someone who should tell you who to date or not, but it just made me feel very strange inside. I wanted to be the one holding your hand, to help you go through that rough patch...”

You smile warmly at Jaehee and caress her cheek.

“Thank you Jaehee. Really, you helped me through so much. And now I want to repay you for it! So I bough you front row seats to one of Zen’s latest musicals!”

Jaehee squealed and gave you a hug

Then you spent such a great time during Zen’s performance

Saeyoung:

Ok he may have maybe read one of your text messages

And then maybe a few more

He didn’t mean to you know?!

But he found out you were struggling at college because it had become super expensive

The first thing he did was help you by paying some things secretly

But then he found out when you were meeting with your SD

And guess what? He freaking set up a double date

You were confused when your SD had brought a friend of his to he cafe, but it all clicked when you saw a very beautiful woman with long red hair and very familiar mischievous yellow eyes come in the restaurant.

You quickly stood up and grabbed the woman who had come in saying a quick sorry to the other men and then dragged her to the bathroom

Honestly Seven thought you would yell at him, but then you started laughing maniacally

“Se-SEVEN!! What in the-HOW?! This is the best thing ever-pftt HAHAHAH I CAN’T SEVEN WHAT THE HELL”

He of coursed, laughed along with you but then he cleared his throat and spoke in a high pitched voice

“My name is Samantha, thank you very much! You’re not the only one who can get a sugar daddy you know?” He winked and grabbed your hand, leading you to the table. “Now lets go get us some money! I can’t wait together a new baby! I just found one online and fell in love with it so I have to get it as soon as possible!”

The both of you spent the evening flirting and acting all cutesy the whole time

Although Seven would intervene if he saw your sugar daddy getting way too comfortable with you, or if he saw him trying to touch you somewhere else,

He will fight your SD tried anything on you

Apart from that you two end up buying tons of shit you don’t need lmao

V:

One day he saw you hanging out with a really old dude

He didn’t think anything of it, maybe he was your dad or something

But then he saw he was getting kind of flirty with you

Then he remembered that one night you had complained about how expensive your college tuition had become and how you were going to get a sugar daddy

Well Jihyun thought you were joking Y/N, HoNeY pLeAsE

He watched from the sidelines for a bit but then he felt sort of...jealous

So when the date was over and you waited outside for your taxi with your SD, V got on his car and called out for you

You will blush and get on the car with him, your SD was actually pretty confused since V had a very expensive car

While he’s driving V will give you a huge lecture

“Y/N, I know you are having problems but you can’t go and start dating a guy just because of money. I mean, who knows what he could’ve done to you, he could’ve abused your situation and everything. If you need help please tell me, and we’ll figure something out, but don’t go out with guys like that. They’re bad news.”

You’re heart warmed at the thought of V caring so much for you

He made you promise to be more truthful when you were having problems, and you had to reassure him that he shouldn’t worry, but V insisted

If he can he will get you to model for his pictures and pay you a very large amount of money, which you WILL have to take of Jihyun could become angry for the first time in ages

Saeran:

Oh no

Oh boy

He heard from your friend that you had found a sugar daddy

She wasn’t joking you actually found a goddamn sugar daddy

Saeran will be kinda shocked and sad

So he will hack into your phone (he’ll apologize later) and find out where you’re meeting the guy

As soon as he saw your SD getting kind of handsy, and you being a bit uncomfortable, he will run over and punch him I’m not kidding

He will be ready to fightttt

You’ll have to pull him away and apologize, dragging Saeran to your car and quickly driving out of here

“Saeran! What was that? Why did you punch him?!”

He just stayed quiet the whole time, and when you finally drove him to his home, he turned around and cupped your face in his hands, squishing

“You were clearly uncomfortable. Why didn’t you tell me about the college problems? You know I could’ve been more than happy to help you. That guy...he didn’t give off a good vibe. And he was starting to grab you and you looked like you didn’t want to be there and I just- I got mad. Because I don’t want to see you with another guy, and I don’t want to see you getting used for some money.”

Saeran was blushing, but he wouldn’t take back what he just said.

You were red too, and before you could reply Saeran quickly kissed your forehead and ran into his home

Of course later the RFA found out about your SD plan and they all nagged you lmao

Jumin:

He was eating at this very expensive restaurant, he just had a super important meeting and it had just finished

As he was about to leave he saw a very familiar face come in with this guy. A really old guy, who was smiling in a very creepy way.

Like you said, my dear anon, Jumin is just : 👁👄👁

You had sat in the table beside him, so he will try to hide by covering his face with the menu

Jumin was actually really confused as to why he was doing it, since if were any other person he would’ve awkwardly said hi and left as quickly as possible

But he wanted to stay...to see what you were doing, why you were going out with a guy that could be your dad

“Thank you for the meal Mr. Lee” He heard your sweet voice say.

The man, Mr. Lee laughed, -a really horrible laugh by the way- Jumin thought

. “Y/N, sweetheart, you know you can just call me Ju-won, I won’t mind.” The man’s almost hoarse voice said.

Ju-won Lee...Jumin thought the name was very familiar, but he was too busy looking at you two that he didn’t think much of it.

“Hehe, well alright!” You giggled and looked at the menu

“Y/N. How are those earrings I got you? Did you like them? They were the most expensive ones I could find, and I got them only for you.”

You slowly looked up and gave Mr. Lee a forced smile. “They were great Ju-won, thank you again!”

He got you..earrings?

Jumin figured out what was going on, and he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of his lungs

Later, when the both of you ordered some food, you asked Mr. Lee how his day was

Jumin was still in the same spot, overhearing everything you said

He didn’t know why he was feeling so conflicted, so mad. He hated seeing you with that man, he even felt a bit disappointed.

“Ah, well work was the same old, same old. The boss suddenly decided that he wanted to do yet another cat project. I honestly don’t know how he has that job, you know if it were me, I would make sure the company actually worked better. He does an awful job.”

“Ah. Umm, Ju-won, where is it that you work again?” You asked

“It’s a big company, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s called C&R International, but honestly work is such a pain. If it weren’t for Chariman Han I would’ve gotten the executive director spot, but just because Jumin Han -I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but the Chariman is his father- and just because of that he got the job! I’m sure they didn’t even have to interview him, that brat. And he thinks he’s so great just because of his father, psh I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”

Jumin for the first time every, felt really mad. He was finally about to say something but then he heard you slam the menu down.

“Mr. Lee, I’m sorry if I sound kind of rude, but Ju- I mean, Mr. Han actually does an amazing job. C&R has grown so much because of him, and I’m sure that he’s one of the people that works the hardest. He probably got the job because he earned it, not just because of family connections, so please don’t spread false rumors.”

When he heard you say that...

Jumin couldn’t help but blush

Before Mr. Lee could even utter another word he stood up and walked over to your table.

Mr. Lee instantly stood up, his face filled with panic, and you looked up at him with a blush in your face

“Mr. Lee, how are you doing this evening? If you’d excuse me for a moment I have to talk with your date for a bit. I don’t think I’ll bring her back, but don’t worry I’ll pay for the food, that way you will save that bit of money. You will probably need it, since I don’t think you’ll be able to afford these sort of activities any time soon. If you think working at C&R is such a pain, then I suggest you leave the company. I want your things gone by Monday. Have a good night.”

Me. Lee’s mouth was wide open, and he looked ready to get on his knees and beg, but before anything came out of his mouth Jumin grabbed your hand and dragged you to the roof of the restaurant, where no one was around.

“Jumin what-” before you could say anything Jumin pinned you against the wall and kissed you

The kiss was rough, and when he pulled away you were left a panting mess.

“Y/N, why were you eating with him. Please explain to me why he bought you a pair of earrings, and why he was flirting with you the whole time. I don’t want you to lie to me.”

Oh shit he was mad

You looked up at Jumin, your face red and your lips swollen, but then when you saw his cold expression you looked down

“I’m sorry Jumin...it’s just....recently my college tuition went up. And I, I couldn’t pay it. I got as many jobs as I could, but it still wasn’t enough. And then Abby, the girl I met at one of my classes told me that she knew how I could get quick money, and she gave me the number of this guy, who was willing to pay a lot for a woman that went out with him, and I was just so desperate! I, I didn’t want to bother anyone and I didn’t know what to do and I just- I panicked Jumin!”

You bit your lip as tears slowly fell from your eyes, and Jumin’s cold expression slowly faded as he grabbed your chin so you would be looking up at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you.” He whispered

“I-I didn’t want to. I-I know how you feel about people, especially women asking for money. I know you could’ve helped, but I didn’t want you to think I was friends with you just for that! I mean I like you Jumin, I really, really do, and if you suddenly felt, I don’t know, betrayed or hurt and if you ended up never speakingto me again I don’t know what I would’ve done, I didn’t want that to happen. I’m..I’m sorry. I know how you feel about this type of stuff, and I understand if you don’t want to be around me anymore...” you sniffed.

Both of you stood in complete silence, until Jumin slowly moved a strand of hair away from your face and smiled.

“Y/N. I would never, ever get mad at you because you asked me for help. I’m sorry for snapping at you. Honestly, I hated seeing you with that man. I don’t know how to describe it, but when I saw him there with you, I felt sort of mad, which was surprising since Indint do that often. And I realized hay I got angry because I don’t want you going on dates with other men because I want you to only go out with me. And I didn’t know why I felt that way. But when you defended me, it all started to make sense. The reason why I felt that way it’s because... I love you, Y/N”

Jumin kissed you, and after you both calmed down he got Driver Kim to give you a ride home.

If Mr. Lee had bought you anything Jumin made sure to buy them from you twice the amount, and then he may have gone and thrown away, or something, but you never saw them again.

Even though you insisted that it was alright, Jumin still helped you with your college fees, he was more than happy to!

And then a few days later, when you were both eating at his home, he asked you out.

Of course you said yes! And everyone in the RFA was honestly pretty jealous of your relationship lmao

Also when they found out you got a sugar daddy they teased you AND nagged you (multitasking lmao)

[ask-the-riders]

One in the Same (ending scene with Nightmare and Nyx)

I wanted to at least post the ending of this fic here, for anyone who might be interested in it but didn't wanna read the full thing (since it's a smutfic and all ^^")

Night's a very overprotective dad and has to make sure Nyx isn't running off to go do certain things (if you catch my drift) with a guy, so yeah, it might be just a smidge suggestive in terms of the subject they really briefly discuss, but if anything, it's more or less her saying "ew gross why would you even think that"

Also,, pretty much anytime they refer to Connie, they call her Chimera (since that was her name before she became a rider)

In his castle, Nightmare sat in his personal library, nestled on one of the end cushions on his sofa. With a book sitting open on the coffee table in front of him, he sighed deeply, his teeth upturned into a wicked grin. That was certainly an eventful "meeting" he'd just witnessed. Now that he knew how easy it was to make Conquest cave, he was beginning to consider going to visit her dreams again, sometime in the future. Thanks to Shattered, he now knew that she could give him the exact combination of negative feelings he'd been searching for, and now he had no real need to pursue anyone else for it.

"Father, I thought we agreed that you wouldn't bother any of my followers." 

Upon hearing the unannounced female skeleton's voice, Nightmare lifted his gaze to the doorway, finding his daughter staring at him with cold violet eye lights that were ringed with grey. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and by her posturing, she was genuinely irritated with him. He arched a brow bone, attempting to feign ignorance, "Oh, I'm sorry, she was one of your followers? I had no idea." Nyx narrowed her sockets at him and scoffed, "Bullshit. You had an ulterior motive, and for your own benefit, you ignored our agreement."

Nightmare hummed, entirely unapologetic, "Well I wouldn't say I 'ignored' it... It was more like I 'forgot'." Nyx invited herself into the library, sitting in a chair across from her father, "Oh, please. You? Forgetting something? I highly doubt that." The guardian of negativity snorted in amusement, "Well I mean... I've been around way longer than you. I'm allowed to forget things sometimes." Nyx rolled her eye lights, not even the slightest bit convinced, "Father, don't. Don't even start. This is coming from you, someone who remembers nearly everything he reads in almost full detail. You also happen to be the one that swears up and down that he remembers everything about the first shadow I gave life to, back when I was only four years old." Nightmare couldn't help but chuckle softly; Despite not looking as monstrous as him, what with her clear lack of black goop and all, she was definitely his child. That snarky attitude was recognizable anywhere. 

He sighed, his smile almost pleasant as he tilted his head and looked at her, "And I do. It was just a tiny little thing. No bigger than my hand. It had free will, too. It wasn't like the ones I made." Nyx stared at him intently, her arms folded neatly in her lap, "You didn't allow them to possess free will. That's why. My followers though. Chimera. How about we discuss her some more?" Nightmare's pleasant smile fell and he let out an exaggerated groan, his tentacles swaying and flicking in agitation, "Fine, fine. What all do you plan on lecturing me about today?" 

His daughter chose to ignore the tone he spoke in, responding in as flat a tone of her own as she could manage, "Chimera is mine. She follows me for a cause completely different than yours. For someone who has no problem invading territory that belongs to others and helping himself to their personal belongings, you're possessive, and you always throw a fit when someone invades your space and touches your things. A bit hypocritical, don't you think?" 

Nightmare blinked, surprised at how she'd so casually called him out. Trying to force back the surprise and remain neutral, he rolled his eye light, "And? This castle and the surrounding land is mine. Everything within these walls is mine. All the staff I've gathered? They're mine too, and I'll do as I please. Chimera is a reincarnation of Dream, and anything pertaining to him has nothing to do with you." 

Nyx arched a brow bone, "She's not a reincarnation of your brother, though. She's an alternate. Therefore, she's technically not the Dream you've been trying so hard to murder, all these years. Also, Father, consider: I met her before you. She followed me before she knew you even existed. She would dismember a thousand people if I told her to. She has no personal ties to you, which means the agreement we made was broken, thanks to you." 

The guardian of negativity scowled; There had to be a loophole to the agreement. There HAD to be. Without giving him a chance to argue, she spoke again, "If you touch her, be it real life or within the dreamscape, I'm taking one of your staff as my own. Touch her child, and I'll take them all. Maybe you don't take me seriously because I'm your daughter and I'm quite a bit younger than you, but I'm warning you. What I lack in experience, I make up for with my resources. You rule a castle, and have control of... what is it, seven people now? I have an entire kingdom, with a population of more than ten thousand."

Nightmare gawked at her, in shock that she'd even consider threatening him. He wanted to be outraged and he wanted to snap at her, but his anger quickly fizzled out and he burst into hearty laughter, a wide grin plastered on his face as he leaned back in his seat, "Shit, Nyx. I think you might've watched me a little too closely when you were a kid. Not that threatening me was a good idea, but I'd expect no less from you, at this point." 

Nyx couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at her teeth, shattering the dead serious look she'd just been wearing only moments ago. She shook her head and sighed deeply, "What can I say? Nobody in the multiverse can yell as loud as you. It just made it easier for me to listen and take notes." Her father beamed, almost appearing proud, and she fought the urge to laugh at how ridiculous he looked.

She stood from her seat, taking a moment to smooth out her dress. Quickly piecing together that she planned to leave, Nightmare almost seemed disappointed, "Leaving so soon, are we?" Nyx merely nodded, offering him an apologetic smile, "Unfortunately, yeah. I've got followers to look after, a kingdom to rule, business in the dreamscape, all that good stuff." The guardian arched a brow bone, watching her curiously, "Business in the dreamscape? You never use the dreamscape. What kind of business could you possibly have there?" 

The princess sighed, shrugging her shoulders, "Oh, nothing too important. I just have some cleaning up to do, since you decided to go and make a mess of everything." He stared at her intently, "Nyx, how do you intend to access the dreamscape? She's awake now." Nyx arched a brow bone, wearing the smallest of smiles, "Who said I was going to see her? I had someone else in mind." Nightmare pushed further, almost intrigued, "Such as...?" His daughter offered him a completely innocent smile, her tone teasing, "Oh, no one important. Mmmn... let's see, I think his name was Retribution." 

Nightmare's stare hardened and his tentacles flicked again, the tips sharpening, "Of all people, why him? You could pick literally anyone else." Nyx hummed, "Um... Because I want to?" She started making a beeline for the doorway but stopped as one of his tentacles wrapped around her arm, "Nyx, I need you to swear to me that you're not planning on doing something weird." 

Nyx hissed, swatting at his tentacle as if trying to make it release her, "Like what? You honestly don't think I'd have sex with him or anything, right?" Nightmare growled, "Nyx, swear to me right now that that's not what your plan is." Nyx threw her arms in the air dramatically and groaned, "I SWEAR that's not what I was gonna do. To be honest, it's gross that you would even think that, Father. He's another version of you, so ew, no, I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole." The guardian's grip on her began to loosen and she scoffed, "And besides, he's not even my type." 

Nightmare sighed deeply, "That's right, I forgot. I'm assuming your type consists of idiots named Killer." Nyx's cheekbones gained a faint purple blush and she rolled her eyes, "Oh please, don't insult me like that. I wouldn't touch Killer with a ten foot pole either." Her father hummed, clearly not believing her, "Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say, my little hellion." Nyx let out an irritated huff, her cheekbones still flushed a faint shade of violet as she opened a portal, vanishing through it without looking back. Nightmare was silent as the portal closed behind her, feeling pretty at ease until he heard someone rapidly approaching the open doorway, calling out, "Nyx... Nyxie, hang on a minute, you forgot your-" Killer appeared in the doorway, immediately freezing in place as he noticed Nightmare staring at him, his voice much softer, "...Garter." 

He quickly stuffed the lace garment into his pocket, praying his boss hadn't seen it. Judging by the scowl he was wearing, however, he had seen it. Just great. Nightmare growled lowly in agitation, a clear warning that he wasn't in a joking mood, "Tell me, Killer. Do you want to die?" Killer shook his head, "No, Boss." He'd usually pick and tease a little, but when it came to the guardian's daughter, he was completely serious. There was no room at all for any sort of joking, and if Killer tried, the consequences would be deadly. Nightmare hissed, "Then toss that in the trash and get out of my sight." Killer was quick to pull the garter out of his pocket, dropping it into the nearest trash bin before shortcutting away.

[andie-cake]

i cannot think of anything good i apologise but perhaps just emma and anya Hanging Out?

Right so this made me remember a joke I've been wanting to post about Anya being Omega from the Sonic 06 real-time fandub, so this is going to be very stupid. Also, I've never smoked A Weed before, so this might be Completely Incorrect.

It had been a rather long day, for both Emma and Anya. On top of dealing with shitty customers all day, Hidgens had nearly set the lecture hall on fire during a rather... ambitious demonstration. And Anya? Well, she just had nothing to do today. Staying in Emma's apartment all alone wasn't particularly exciting. Though considering Emma's air of irritation when she arrived home, Anya decided it was probably best she didn't complain about her boredom.

The two hadn't made much conversation once Emma had returned home. Emma had simply thrown two Ramen cups in the microwave for the two roommates to feast on, turned on her laptop, and let Netflix play in the background while she poured over her college textbooks.

It wasn't until Emma had finished studying and lit up a very strange looking cigarette that Anya said anything of note.

"What's that?" she asked as Emma blew a puff of smoke from her mouth.

"Huh?" Emma huffed out as she looked to Anya, who simply gestured towards the lit bundle between her fingers. "Oh, this? It's a joint."

"A joint?" Anya echoed, unenlightened.

"Y'know," Emma said, waving the 'joint' around and sending trails of smoke flying through the apartment. "Like for weed?"

At Anya's befuddled silence, Emma's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Anya, do you not know what weed is?" she asked.

"I know what weeds are," Anya replied incredulously. "Are you smoking dandelions or some shit?"

Emma snorted before taking another puff of the joint. "No, it's not dandelions," she snickered, amused. "It's just something you smoke to take the edge off, y'know? Like cigarettes, but with more... flavor, I guess?"

"I guess that makes sense..." Anya muttered, standing up to go open a window, and possibly turn the ceiling fan on. If Emma was gonna be blowing smoke everywhere, then they had to get some fresh air in the place.

When Anya sat back down on the couch, Emma held the joint out for her. "You wanna take a hit?" she asked.

Anya eyed the smoking stick suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, if you don't wanna try it, I'm not gonna force you," Emma said with a shrug. "I just figured I'd let you give it a try."

After a moment of careful deliberation, Anya gave a shrug of her own. "Ah, what the hell?" she decided, taking the joint from Emma's hand. "I'll give it a shot."

"Alright, Anya!" Emma exclaimed, enthused. "Just a heads-up, the feeling takes a bit of getting used to, it might hurt a bit at first. Oh! And don't inhale too fa-"

Before Emma could finish giving her expert advice, Anya took a rather aggressive hit from the blunt. Emma shot up, expecting her double to go into an equally aggressive coughing fit. But instead, Anya simply exhaled the smoke from her mouth with a spaced out expression. She didn't say anything. Emma eyed her identical roommate with concern.

"Anya?" she piped up. "You okay, pal?"

It was at that moment that Anya's eyes suddenly widened. "Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

Anya continued to hold the syllable, her voice completely monotone. A disbelieving grin spread across Emma's face.

"What the fuck?" she asked in bemusement.

"-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

"Keep holding it, keep holding it!" Emma egged her double on, busting out into delighted laughter when she did, in fact, keep holding it. "Yes! Yes!"

"-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit," Anya finally finished, causing her roommate to double over with hysterical laughter, no pun intended. She looked over at Emma, and tilted her head to the side in bafflement at the sight of her pretend sister lying back on the futon as she howled with laughter. "What's so funny?"

"I have never, in my entire life, seen somebody react to weed like that!" Emma cackled, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, trying and failing to compose herself. "Oh my god, I wish I'd been recording that!"

"Recording what?"

"I-it's nothing," Emma stammered out, still giggling despite her clear attempts to stop laughing. She took a deep breath, finally managing to calm herself down. "You can keep the joint, pal, you've earned it."

"Oh! Okay!" Anya complied with a very 'surprised, but not complaining' look on her face. She looked back down at the joint between her fingers with a curious glint in her eyes. "But seriously, what did I do?"

"Hopefully something that'll happen again..." Emma murmured in reply, subtly readying her phone's camera in hopes of capturing another one of her roommate's... unique responses to weed.

[melodious-madrigals]

we should just kiss (like real people do)

hi @misha-winchester, i am your wondertrev secret santa! i hope you had a lovely christmas season/whatever holidays you may celebrate, and i hope you have a very happy new year.

Pairing: Diana Prince/Steve Trevor Words: 8′609 Rating: T (swearing) AO3 tags: Modern Setting/No Powers, co-workers, Fake Dating, ‘and there was only one bed’, Hallmark-movie-esque midsunderstandings, Happy Ending Summary: Etta just invited Steve’s significant other along on their group holiday vacation. The only problem? He made said significant other up to get out of a series of set-ups six months ago, and forgot to set the record straight. Enter Diana, his newest co-worker and real-life crush, who doesn’t have any holiday plans and is somehow offering to help him out.

i have been derelict for too long, but no more! i’m so sorry that it took me so long, and i hope you enjoy this trope-packed fic, because i couldn’t decide on just one, and then it sort of ballooned!

Read it on [AO3] or below the cut.

***

“Shit.” Steve’s head thunks against his desk.

“Problem?”

He looks up to find Diana Prince, the newest legal consultant at their NGO standing in his office door. She’s intimidating and smart and beautiful and possibly also the kindest person he’s ever met, and even though they’re friendly, she’s the last person to whom he wants to admit what’s wrong. But she’s also looking at him with such genuine concern that he spills his guts anyways.

“The last time my friend Etta tried to set me up with someone, I told her I was already dating someone, and now she wants me to bring them on our annual holiday trip to one of our friend’s cabin.” Steve kneads the space between his eyebrows, trying to get rid of the tension headache that’s starting to form.

Diana tilts her head, confused. “That’s kind of her.”

“I’m not actually dating anyone,” Steve clarifies. “I just said it to get her off my back. And now I have to either say I lied—which will not go over well for obvious reasons—or say that I broke up with the person and get all sorts of ‘holiday pity’.”

Diana leans elegantly against his doorframe. “People go their separate ways all the time, no? Besides, maybe it’s a bit soon for a weekend away with friends.”

Steve winces. “It’s possible that I told her this almost six months ago and never corrected the record.”

“Ah,” says Diana, taking the liberty of moving into his office and sitting down across from him. “So it’s rather a large deception then.”

“I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand? It was just so nice to not have my friends nagging me about my dating life. They’re well intentioned but a little too insistent sometimes.”

“Okay, so telling them is out of the question,” Diana says, very seriously. And—uh-oh, she’s going into problem-solving mode. He’s absolutely mortified that his very capable and very attractive co-worker is taking time to talk with him about this when she’s a literal international human rights lawyer and university lecturer with plenty of other things to be doing. “Hmm. Isn’t that what Craigslist is for?”

“Ha,” says Steve. “I’m never going to be able to get someone to come with me over Christmas on such short notice.”

“Not everyone has plans on Christmas,” Diana argues.

“Yeah, I get that; I’m not even Christian,” says Steve. “But a lot of people still go home because it’s a long holiday.”

“I’m not Christian either and I don’t have any family here in the States. We exist,” Diana jokes.

“Want to be my fake date, then?” The words leave Steve’s mouth before his brain can catch up and tell him what a massively stupid idea that would be, to fake date his real crush, for lack of a better word.

“Yes, alright: if you can’t find someone on Craigslist, I’ll do it,” says Diana, and then before Steve can process: “Anyways, I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. I just dropped by to give you a hard copy of my revisions. She hands him the legal brief, shoots him a quick smile, and saunters out of his office, apparently unaware of the dazed state she’s left him in.

I’ll do it? Is she serious? For a second, Steve’s mind runs away from him before he shuts it down. She was just being polite; he’s certain of it. There’s no way she wants to give up her days off to go to a cabin in the middle of nowhere with people she doesn’t even know.

Steve reluctantly writes up a quick wanted ad on Craigslist and hits post before he can overthink it. He can definitely do a fake date for the holidays, right? That’s something normal people do.

**

Three days later, he’s gotten a dozen responses to the Craigslist ad, but most of them are variants of either “is this some weird sex thing?” or “can you please post this story on reddit’s r/relationships with an update on how it went because i’m 2000 miles away but very invested in this”. None of them are a real live person that he can take on the trip to meet his friends.

His brain has also been playing Diana’s I’ll do it on repeat pretty much constantly, so on Tuesday evening, after most people have already gone home for the night, he steals himself and wanders down to Diana’s office. If she’s in, he’ll ask. If she’s gone, it’s a sign, and he won’t bring it up.

She’s still there, illuminated only by the glow of her computer and a small desk lamp—the overhead light is turned off and her coat is on, like maybe she was in the process of leaving and then went back to her desk to dash off one email that turned into several.

He taps on the doorframe.

“Steve!” she says, smiling when she sees him. “What a pleasant surprise! Have a seat, I’m just finishing something up. It’ll only be a moment.”  

He smiles nervously and takes one of the chairs opposite her desk, patiently silent as she taps away at her computer.

Three minutes later, she folds her laptop closed and turns the weight of her attention to him.

“Thank you for being patient. What can I do for you?”

“I just—were you serious?”

“Hmm?”

“The other day—were you serious about being my fake date if I couldn’t find someone on Craigslist?”

“I—yes, I was.”

“Wait, really?”  

She shrugs elegantly. “I have no holiday plans.”

“You’re sure.”

She tosses him an amused expression. “I am. It’ll be nice to meet some new people.”

“Right. Well. Can I, uh, buy you dinner or something while we go over the details?”

Diana considers him for a moment. “How does Thai takeout at my place sound?”

“Like a fantastic idea.”

**

On Friday, Steve is extremely antsy. He’s taken a half day, and he and Diana are driving up to Charlie’s cabin after her lecture lets out.

She’s in a good mood when he picks her up, and the ensuing discussion crosses a half a dozen different topics. He doesn’t think they’ve ever had a boring conversation, and they’re more than halfway there before Steve remembers that he wanted to run through the basics of their fake-dating mandate again.

“I’ve never really been much for PDA,” he says, “so they won’t be surprised if we’re not particularly demonstrative. A little hand-holding and casual touching here and there and we’ll be fine.”

“Yes,” replies Diana, amused rather than annoyed. “You mentioned this the other day.”

“Did I? I guess I’m just nervous.” He’s already feeling a little guilty about lying to his friends (again), and he’s suddenly wondering if he’s capable of pulling it off.

“They asked me to invite you—er, my significant other—to a dinner in October. I don’t think it’ll come up, but—”

“I spent a week of October in Europe, and have plenty of university functions to attend,” Diana reassures him. “Saying I was busy that night probably isn’t even a lie, and besides, that was months ago. Take a breath; this will be okay.”

“I’m just rethinking this,” huffs Steve.

“You’re welcome to tell them I’m just a friend that needed a place to stay for the holidays,” Diana offers calmly.

“No. No, I’m committed to the lie now.”

“Okay. Then let’s do this. I’m here for you, you know.”

“Yeah,” says Steve, glancing over at her in the passenger seat before turning his attention back to the road. “Thanks.”

**

They’re the last ones to arrive to the cabin, because everyone else was able to take the full day off, so they walk into a full house.

“Oh, it’s so lovely to finally meet you!” exclaims Etta, pulling Diana into a hug before they’ve barely gotten in the door.

“You must be Etta,” Diana says, once she’s been let go. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hey, Etta,” Steve says, pulling her in for his own hug.

“Everyone else is in the living room.”

They make their way down the hall, towards the sound of all the voices.

“Steve!” yells Sameer from across the room when they round the corner. A cheer goes up—it’s possible that some of them have already had a glass or two of wine—and Steve pulls Diana forward to introduce her.

“Everyone, this is Diana. Diana, this is Napi, Charlie, Etta’s wife Adrienne, Sameer, and Sameer’s fiancée Noor.”

“It’s so lovely to meet all of you,” says Diana, moving forward to shake hands and give hugs, along with Steve.

“You’ll want to drop off your luggage in your room, I’m sure,” Etta declares forcefully, shooing them back out of the room once they’re done with the greetings.

“Alright, alright, we’re going,” acquiesces Steve.

“Well, dinner will be done shortly, and I’m sure you’re hungry. Best get settled in before you go into a food coma.”

“Stop making sense,” he snarks, but they all know he’s joking.

“Second door on the left!” calls Etta after him, as they traipse up the stairs. There’s a niggling in his brain about this room, because he’s been in it once and it’s—

“Shit,” says Steve under his breath upon entering the room, because it’s one of the rooms with a single queen bed instead of two twins.

“Is there something wrong with the room?” asks Diana, a step behind him. “I’m sure we can fix it, whatever it is.”

“No, it’s just—I didn’t even think about this,” says Steve, gesturing at the bed. “Usually when I come, I’m in a different room with Charlie or Napi.”

Diana surveys the space in front of them. “You mean the bed?” Her nose wrinkles. “Are you really that uncomfortable sharing?”

“I—no, of course I’m not. I just didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Well then, that’s settled. I am not uncomfortable. Which side do you prefer?”

Of course it’s not a big deal. Right. He’s making too much out of this because he might—possibly—have feelings. But for Diana, it’s just two adults sharing a bed, which is perfectly natural. But now she’s looking at him expectantly, which makes him realize—“Uh, left, I guess.”

The way she smiles, he gets the distinct impression that his answer has pleased her, that he’s chosen correctly, if such a thing is possible. (He thinks, stupidly, that he would do quite a lot to chase that smile.)

Meanwhile, Diana drops her duffel on the right side of the bed.

“Do you mind if I change quickly before dinner?”

“Yeah, no, of course. I’ll just be downstairs.”

Steve heads back downstairs and pauses in the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.

He can definitely share a bed with Diana. They’re adults. It’s not strange, and it’s not romantic. It’s just two people sharing a sleeping space because there are not enough beds.

He reenters the living room to find Charlie and Sameer in the middle of an argument about who’s the better cross-country skier while Noor, Adrienne, and Etta chat over a cup of tea and Napi watches over several pots in the kitchen.

“The answer, of course, is neither of you. Noor is the best skier here.”

Charlie squawks indignantly, and Sameer laughs. “That she is.”

“Can someone set the table?” asks Napi. “Dinner is about to be ready.”

Steve, as the closest one to the kitchen, pulls out the plates and silverware and starts setting up the table, while the others slowly drift towards the dining area.

And then there’s a gentle pressure on his elbow. “Can I help with anything?” asks Diana, softly, and when he turns, he feels the air knocked out of him.

Diana is all comfort, in simple black leggings and a chunky winter sweater instead of her usual pristine business wear, but she’s all the more beautiful for the casualness. Her face, too, is wiped clean of standard makeup and her hair is down, and he realizes that she has freckles. They’re faint, just the slightest smattering over her nose and cheeks, but Steve is close enough to see them, and for a second he wants to touch them, trace them into constellations.

Then he realizes he’s staring and jumps a little, moving to rearrange the plate in front of him.  

“You could, uh, fold the napkins, I guess? There isn’t really a whole lot to do.”

They work in tandem as the rest of the crew files in, loud and boisterous as they dish out their meals.

“So, Diana,” says Etta, once everyone is settled in their seats, “tell us all about yourself! Steve’s been so tight-lipped about you that I was starting to think you didn’t exist.”

Steve almost chokes on his wine, but Diana doesn’t so much as flinch, simply smiling at Etta and saying, “Well, I’m not sure what you’d like to know, but I’m originally from one of the Grecian islands and I completed my studies in the UK. Right now, I’m splitting my time between the US and the Netherlands.”

“Oh, what part of the Netherlands?” asks Noor. “Sameer and I both lived there, at different points!”

“Just the Hague, I’m afraid,” says Diana ruefully, because it’s not known for its charms.

“Diana’s on a prosecutorial team at the International Criminal Court,” Steve clarifies, which prompts a number of impressed looks all around the table.

“We’re in between cases right now,” Diana says, “and we’re only just starting to file some pre-trial motions for the next thing on our docket, so I took a position as a guest lecturer here in the States. A friend of mine convinced me to take the consulting position at the ARGUS Foundation since it’s not full-time.” When Diana pauses, she notices a number of raised eyebrows around the table. “I think the expression in English is ‘I wear a lot of hats’,” she jokes.

“She’s a wonder,” interjects Steve easily, and he doesn’t even have to work at the soft look that he gives her. (He’ll interrogate the fact that it’s just how he looks at her later, when he’s alone and can have a nice little panic about it.)

“I just like to have purpose,” says Diana, and then Noor asks her about her last case, and the conversation takes on a life of its own.

Diana, as he suspected, gets on well with his friends, fitting in as though she’s known them years instead of hours, and they migrate into the living room after dinner, talking and laughing into the late hours of the evening.

“They are all lovely,” Diana tells him the moment the door to their room has closed behind them.

“They’re okay,” says Steve, but his face is pulled up in a smile, and Diana just laughs. He’s spent all evening getting to look at her whenever he wants, and even though they’re alone, even though there’s no need for his eyes to keep finding her, he doesn’t want to pull them away.

“They’re all so interesting!” Diana exclaims. “Sameer and I talked about linguistics for a full half an hour, and Etta and Adrienne’s stories are incredible!”

That makes him laugh. “Yeah, Etta’s something else.”

They talk a little more as they get ready for bed, and finally there’s nothing more to do but turn out the light and get under the covers. Steve’s tired enough that he thinks he has a decent shot at falling asleep, but he feels a little awkward as they both shift carefully on their respective sides.

“Hey,” he whispers into the deepness of the silky black night. “Thank you again for being here.”

“It is my pleasure.”

He listens to Diana’s breathing quickly even out, and though it takes him a little longer, he too falls asleep without too much trouble, despite her nearness.

**

To his great relief, or maybe to his great disappointment, they wake up in almost the exact same positions that they fell asleep in, on completely opposite sides of the bed.

“Good morning,” says Diana softly, hair slightly mussed and eyes still a little heavy with sleep, and frankly Steve’s not sure how he’s going to make it through the rest of the trip, because he likes her so much and also doesn’t want to impose his feelings.

“Good morning. I hope you’re ready for another insane day.”

“Once I’ve had some coffee, absolutely.”

“Well then,” says Steve, “let’s get you some coffee.”

Coffee is followed by breakfast, which is chaotic because everyone is up at slightly different times and traditionally, they fend for themselves for breakfast which means in practice that half a dozen people end up doing things in the kitchen at the same time.

The rest of the day is no calmer, as they all pack themselves up and spill outside for a snowy hike that lasts most of the afternoon. Diana, Etta, and Napi establish themselves as the fastest hikers early on, and they sort of naturally split into two groups. The whole group meets back up at one of the lookout points, where the faster group has lingered to let the rest catch up.

Steve uses the viewpoint to check in with Diana. “You doing okay?”

When she turns to him, her cheeks are rosy with exertion, her breath is coming out in silvery puffs in the cold air, and her eyes are dancing. “Excellent, you?”

“Really good.” They take in the snowy view in front of them. “Hey, I didn’t mean to leave you on your own,” Steve says, suddenly feeling a little awkward.

Diana snorts. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I was the one that walked ahead of you. If I’d been bothered, I wouldn’t have split off with Napi and Etta.”

“Right, of course.” He feels a bit stupid; she’s never struck him as the type to do something she really didn’t want to.

“We should probably walk back together though. For appearances.” She winks at him, and before he can respond, Noor is at his elbow.

“Can I take a picture for you two?”

“That would be great,” says Diana, handing Noor her phone as she slips her arm around his waist.

Pictures are snapped, and then they’re headed back down the trail. Steve ends up so engrossed in his conversation with Diana that the rest of the group fades away, and on the last straightway after they’ve descended, Diana reaches out and casually links their hands. Even through their gloves, it’s a giddy feeling.

**

That night after dinner, Steve steps outside for a moment of respite from the noisiness of the cabin. He breathes deeply, and stares at the patch of sky not covered in clouds, picking out a familiar constellation.

“Diana’s wonderful.”

Steve looks up from where he was leaning against the balcony railing to find that Etta has joined him outside.

“Yeah, she’s pretty great,” Steve agrees.

“I’m sorry you didn’t feel comfortable introducing us earlier,” says Etta so sincerely that Steve feels a squirming guilt welling up. “But if this was the pace you needed to go to be sure of your relationship, to make it solid and lasting, I’m glad you took the space to do so.”

“Right,” Steve echoes.

“Seriously, Steve,” says Etta, touching his arm, so that he’s almost forced to look at her. “You and Diana are so well-suited, and she’s good for you—I’ve never seen you like this.”

“What’s this?”

Etta contemplates him a moment. “You’re happy,” she says simply, and Steve rolls his eyes, because if Etta thinks just being in a relationship equates to—“but it’s not just that. You’re…still. Calm. You’ve usually got this frenetic, discontented energy, and with Diana it’s quieted.”  

It makes Steve pause, but before he can say anything—refute her or maybe, heaven forbid, agree with her—Diana herself is bursting onto the balcony.

“There you are!” she exclaims, wrapping her arms around him from the back, and fuck, maybe it is his instinct to relax in the split second before he remembers that this is all an act. “Charlie says we’re roasting marshmallows over the fire, and I’m told that you have the technique perfected,” she says, with all the exuberant glee of a child.

Steve pointedly ignores the knowing, indulgent look on Etta’s face as he turns in Diana’s arms to face her, a small but unquashable smile on his face. “That’s a classic holiday tradition for us—I was wondering when Charlie was going to break them out. Have you ever had a s’more?”

“No, but I’m looking forward to it!”

“Well, then we can’t let Sameer or Etta roast yours; they always burn them.”

“It’s meant to be eaten with a little char,” says Etta.

“Absolutely not!” Steve doesn’t have time to say any more, because Diana has laced her hand in his and his gently tugging him toward the interior.

“Right. This is an American classic and you’re gonna love it.”

After making her the perfect marshmallow—gold and toasty, and soft all the way through without being burned—the rest of the night is spent roasting increasingly silly things over the coals and drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate and eggnog that are optionally spiked, utterly warm and cozy.

“Tell me something about yourself,” requests Diana, when they’re tucked into bed later, still on their own sides but far closer together than they were the night before.

“Like what?”

“Something—well, not something secret, if you don’t want to. But something that most people probably don’t know.”

Steve considers her for a moment, shifting so that he’s facing her, the moon providing just enough light that he can see the contours of her face. “I wanted to be a pilot.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I wanted to be a fighter pilot.”

Diana grins. “I can see that. What stopped you?”

“I decided I wouldn’t really be helping people, and helping people is what I wanted to do. What about you?”  

“What did I want to be?”

“No, just—anything.”

“Hmm,” says Diana. “My favorite childhood memories are those of my aunt, Antiope.”

“Was she the cool aunt who spoiled you rotten?”

“She was the aunt that got me up at six in the morning every day to train.”

“Wow, that’s neat, I guess,” Steve deadpans, and Diana laughs in the darkness, rolling onto her side so that she’s facing him, so that they’re almost nose to nose.

“She was also more indulgent than my mother, yes.”

“I think we have very different definitions of indulgent,” says Steve.

“Perhaps,” says Diana, and despite how late it is, they spend another hour or two trading secrets in the darkness before falling asleep. Steve learns, among other things, that she loves cherries more than any other fruit, that she’d rather take the metro than a cab any day of the week, that she played the harp for a while and misses playing music but not playing the instrument itself. When they finally drift off to sleep, it’s still facing each other, fingers inches apart.

**

Steve wakes up feeling incredibly comfortable and very cozy. It’s only when he stretches a little that he realizes that the warm weight against his chest is not his blanket, but Diana. During the night, they must have migrated into each other, because now that his brain is coming back online, Steve realizes that not only is Diana tucked into his chest, but their legs are twined together. His shifting causes her to stir a little, but only to nuzzle against him a little before settling.

This is fine; he’s not freaking out. Not about how they’re accidentally pressed together, or about how much he likes her, or about what any of this means. Not about lines blurring and becoming harder to make out, not about lying to his friends. He’s fine.

Taking a breath, he weighs his options. He can wait for Diana to wake up and pretend he’s still asleep, and let her figure out how to react, or he can try to extricate himself now. Although it might wake her up, and then it would be doubly awkward, and—

And he’s waited too long in deciding, because Diana stretches a little sleepily and then blinks her eyes open, looking up at him.

“Good morning,” she says, apparently unbothered by their position. It’s making him spiral in confusion, and want, because it would be so easy to lean forward and kiss her, but neither has she directly expressed interest in him romantically, so he’s not about to actually do it.

“Did you sleep well?” asks Diana, gently untangling herself and sitting up.

Now that Steve thinks about it, he realizes that he’s slept better than he has in ages.

“Yeah,” he affirms a little hoarsely. “You?”

“Very well.” He’s considering saying something else—anything else, maybe apologizing for how closely they slept or, alternatively, telling her he adores her—when she continues, “How do you think everyone would feel about quiche?”

“Quiche?”

“One of the few reliable things I can cook,” says Diana, “but I have a good recipe, and I’m quite certain we have everything I’d need.”

Steve blinks. “I think it’d go over well.”

“Perfect!” Diana slips out of bed, sliding across the room with more of her infectious energy as she gathers her clothing for the day.

By the time Steve gets downstairs post-shower, Diana’s got the crust rolled out and blind-baking and has a number of veggies sautéing.

“Oh, good, you’re here! Can you pass me the mushrooms?” she asks, and he obliges, then takes it upon himself to crumble the cheese for her.

“Do you cook a lot?” he asks, and then curses himself, glancing around to make sure they’re alone and that nobody heard what was clearly a question that he, by all rights, should know the answer to. Blessedly, the only other person up is Napi, and he’s out on the porch.

“Not if I can help it,” says Diana. “You?”

“I enjoy it,” says Steve.

“Enjoy what?” asks Sameer, who’s just come down the stairs.

“Passing me ingredients when I tell him to,” teases Diana, successfully covering up what may have been a slip-up, because Sameer just rolls his eyes.

“You two are ridiculous.”

“More like adorable,” says Etta, who has apparently also been summoned by the smell of brewing coffee. “By the way—how did you two start dating? I’ve been meaning to ask since I never heard the story from this one”—she gestures at Steve—“and I’m sure it’s equally adorable.”

Steve can’t believe they’ve come this far without being asked, and that they didn’t do a better job of anticipating this question. He’s about to bumble his way through a response, but Diana, who is now pouring the egg mixture into the pan, has it covered.

“It’s sweet to me because it is ours, but I think you’ll otherwise find it quite boring. My third day of work, I came to his office by accident, looking for another colleague, and we traded a couple of jokes. Two days later, a bunch of people from the office went out for drinks after work, and I ran into Steve again. We spent a lot of the evening chatting, and when we left for the evening, he walked me to my train, and as we were waiting on the platform, he asked me out. He was kind and funny and handsome; there was no reason not to say yes.”

For a moment, Steve feels like he’s been hit by a train, because that’s actually how they met. They did spend an evening chatting, and he did wait on the platform with her. The only bit that didn’t happen was the asking out, and now he wonders what might have happened if he had. Then he reminds himself that it’s all an act, and she’s supposed to be acting like she likes him. He’s getting reality confused with the little mirage they’ve created.

“—it is sweet though,” Etta is saying when he snaps back to attention, unsure of just how much he’s missed.

“Yes, Steve is very thoughtful,” says Diana fondly.

He doesn’t really get a chance to ask her about it, because soon everyone is crowded around the table for breakfast, and that quickly turns into a card game, where they get separated by a few seats. It all somehow blends into lunch, as people swap in and out, Sameer and Noor doing the cooking, this meal, with Adrienne flitting in and out to help as she puts up a few extra lights for tonight’s Christmas eve celebration. He tries not to think about it too much, because Diana looks like she’s having a good time, and he is too, and eventually he gets swept up in the game, focusing on counting trump and keeping track of tricks and arguing genially with Charlie about who may or may not be cheating.

**

“Steve.” Diana pulls him aside after lunch, tugging him into their room.

“What’s up?” She looks entirely too serious, and it worries him. Is this about their story? Is something wrong?

“First kisses are always a bit awkward,” she says bluntly.

It’s so out of the blue that Steve’s brain doesn’t even short-circuit. He just blinks. “Yeah, usually.”

“Well, I just saw Adrienne putting mistletoe up. Your friends are wonderful people, but if we don’t get caught under it naturally, they’ll make sure we do.”

She’s got his friends pegged; that’s absolutely how they operate.

“They’ll recognize something is off if we’ve never kissed. I think we need to practice.”

Now Steve’s brain short-circuits.

“Practice.”

“It’s the only way to make sure it’s not during an ambush.” Her eyes are wide and she’s very close, so close that one of them could erase the distance without even taking a step, but she’s paused, waiting.

Waiting to see if it’s okay, if she has his consent.

His thoughts flick back, inexplicably, to this morning. (Was it really just this morning that they woke up tangled together? It seems a week ago already.) Knowing what it’s like to kiss her will probably explode his brain, but not knowing is worse. He nods, just a fraction, words caught in his throat, and then she’s closed the distance and pressed her lips to his.

Fireworks are for dramatic novels, but the world still shifts on its axis. It’s soft and slow, exploratory, but the pressure is somehow just right, and it consumes him. It’s everything he never let himself imagine it would be, and more. When she eventually pulls away—seconds, minutes, hours later, he’s not sure—he chases her lips for a moment before remembering himself, marshalling his reaction and pulling away in equal measure.

“Right, so. No mistletoe first kiss,” he manages, because seriously, what the fuck, he’s never had a first kiss feel that natural, that right.

“Mission accomplished,” says Diana faintly. “I think we’ll be fine.”

“Fine,” Steve echoes, and he thinks he sees Diana’s gaze flick back to his lips, dark and heavy, but then there’s the pounding of feet on the stairs and shouts outside their room.

“Steve! Diana! Are you in for another round of cards before we start the movie marathon?”

Diana startles, and takes three steps back, smoothing down her hair, her shirt, before opening the door to find Adrienne there, looking at them expectantly.

“Yes, of course,” says Diana.

“Oh,” smirks Adrienne, giving them a once over. “I can come back.”

“No, it’s alright. I’ll come down now; I want to get a cup of tea before we start up again. Steve?”

“I—yeah, a cup of tea would be great. Black tea—”

“—with a dash of honey, I know,” she says fondly, as if this is old news and not something she’s clearly picked up in the last day and a half.

“Thanks.”

When he collects himself and comes downstairs a few minutes later, he spots Diana across the room, head thrown back in laughter as she chats with Napi over the kettle.

She fits, he thinks. He’s seen her in professional settings, being diplomatic even when she doesn’t want to be, but here, she’s relaxed, and from everything she’s said, she likes his friends as much as they like her. Isn’t it sort of everyone’s dream that the person they like gets along with their friends?      

He takes another second to try to untangle his thoughts before he gets ushered back into the fold and has to pretend that everything is uncomplicated.

**

Christmas day dawns bright and cold, and sees, for the second day in a row, Diana snuggled into Steve. Despite another meandering conversation in the dark—in which he absolutely chickened out of asking her about the backstory she created for them, or the kiss—and starting the night on different sides of the bed, they seem to have rolled together in their sleep, and if he didn’t wake up with an absolutely parched throat, Steve would’ve probably gone right back to sleep, enjoying the warmth. Instead, he extricates himself gently, and by the time he gets back to the room a few minutes later, Diana is up and dressed, dashing any plans he might’ve been entertaining for a bit of a lie-in.

As with most things on their holiday trips, the day is centered around food. There’s a huge brunch, and then a little foray outside—nothing like the hike the day before yesterday, just a little walk that turns into a snow angel contest—and then it’s back inside to start cooking Christmas dinner. It’s Etta and Charlie taking point, because, as Steve explains to Diana, the group rule for any and all holidays is that those who observe do the traditional cooking, and everybody else takes care of the clean-up.

At one point in the afternoon, a trivia game gets pulled out, and in a classic showdown of boys (Steve, Sameer, Napi) vs. girls (Diana, Noor, Adrienne), the ladies trounce them thoroughly. There’re plenty of mimosas and someone starts a Christmas playlist, and honestly, Steve can’t think of a better Christmas in a long, long time.

They don’t really exchange ‘real’ gifts, but they do have a long-standing tradition of an intense game of White Elephant, which happens after dinner.

No less than 4 items (a succulent in a corgi-shaped pot, a coffee mug with some gratuitously dirty language on it, a pair of wool socks with Munch’s The Scream emblazoned on them, and an umbrella patterned with cartoon gentleman amongst the raindrops so that it’s always raining men) get stolen so many times that they hit the limit. (Diana walks away the proud owner of the socks, thanks to a strategic steal by Steve, which sets her up to steal them for the last time.)

The mood is so light that Steve has almost forgotten that this isn’t quite real, that he’s lying to his friends and sort of lying to Diana, too. That comes crashing down when they bump into each other coming back into the living room.

See, Steve and Diana had managed to casually avoid the newly strung up mistletoe all of Christmas Eve and most of Christmas day—at least together, that is; at one point Steve finds himself under the mistletoe with Sameer, and they both dramatically grip each other for a theatre kiss—by sheer luck, but their luck runs out after White Elephant. Steve has gone into the kitchen to deposit an empty tray of food, and Diana is on her way back from the bathroom, and they collide in the doorframe.

Instinctively, Steve puts a hand out, touching the small of her back lightly to anchor himself and steady her. It’s just a casual touch, but he lingers a second too long.

“Oooh, look! Steve and Diana are under the mistletoe!” sings Adrienne, pointing from across the room.

Steve glances up automatically, as though maybe Adrienne might be wrong, even though he knows damn well that there’s mistletoe hanging there.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” chants Etta, clearly a little tipsy, and the rest of his asshole friends join in the chant.

Steve’s eyes flick to Diana’s, and she raises an eyebrow, inclines her head almost imperceptibly. It’s permission, so he leans in and gives her a quick kiss, their lips barely touching. He’s not sure he can handle more in front of his friends right now, not with all of the emotions pooling in his stomach.

“Boo!” yells Charlie. “You and Sameer had a better kiss than that!”

There’s general clamoring of assent, and Diana reaches out and cups a hand to his cheek, to a great whoop from someone in their little peanut gallery. “If you are uncomfortable, we do not have to do this,” Diana murmurs, low and close enough that only he can hear it.

The real problem is that Steve wants little more than to kiss her again, but he feels guilty about it.

“It’s okay.”

She searches his eyes for a moment, and then closes the rest of the distance, kissing him properly. He sinks into it, and relishes in the little gasp he elicits when he deepens the kiss just a little. It’s the catcalling that splits them apart, and he’s sure he looks a little shell-shocked.

“That’s a kiss!” hollers Adrienne.

To his surprise, Diana doesn’t immediately move away from him, but stays tucked into his side, blushing a little.

“You’re all just a little too invested in our love life,” she admonishes lightly, but the point is missed as Etta launches into a bit of a ramble about how Steve introduced her to Adrienne by accident and how she’s been looking to return the favor, but that she’s glad Diana is here.

Steve watches Diana go a bit pink again, and wants to pull her aside, try to clear some things up, but then there’s another round of mulled wine, and they settle in for one last Christmas movie before the day ends.

Diana goes to bed before Steve does, while he stays back to have another round with Charlie, and by the time he realizes that he wanted to talk to her alone, she’s fast asleep.

**

The morning of the twenty-sixth is chaotic from the start; Diana’s up and out of bed before Steve wakes up, and then everyone is scrambling to pack up before they all drive back to the city. This time, Diana and Steve have got Sameer and Noor with them, because they came with Napi, who’s leaving directly to visit some extended family, and Etta and Adrienne don’t have enough room because they’re Charlie’s ride. It’s a pleasant ride, and Noor, Sameer, and Diana spend a solid half hour swapping in and out of Arabic to tease Steve, who does speak three languages himself, but doesn’t count darija as one of them.

They drop Noor and Sameer off with promises of seeing them at Etta’s party on New Year’s Eve, at the very latest, and suddenly they’re alone again.

“Thank you again for doing this,” says Steve. “You were the best fake date I could’ve asked for.”

“It was my pleasure,” says Diana. “I had a really good time, and a fun holiday.”

“And you really don’t mind putting in an appearance at the New Year’s Eve party?”

“Not at all. I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“Good; I think everyone is looking forward to having you there.”

They’re quiet as they pull up to Diana’s building.

Before Diana can move to get out of the car, Steve takes a deep breath. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, anything.” Her wide eyes are trained on him, and he almost loses his nerve.

But it’s now or never; he has to know if this is just him or if she feels something too. “If I had asked you out, that night on the platform, would you have said yes?” It feels like the safest version of the question he wants to ask.

Diana doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

It knocks the wind out of him and is simultaneously one of the best things he’s ever heard, because maybe that means there’s still time to make a proper go of it.

“Do you—”

He’s cut off by Diana leaning forward and kissing him sweetly, and he instinctively pulls her a little closer, deepens the kiss without consciously thinking about it.

“Sorry, I interrupted you,” says Diana, biting back a smile when they eventually pull apart, breathless. It makes Steve laugh, and he can’t fight the grin that’s also building. There’s no one around to fool, no one around even to prepare for; this is just them.

“Do you want to come to mine for dinner tonight?” Steve asks, bubbling with a profound sort of happiness. “For a real date this time?”

“I would love that,” says Diana, grinning. “No tricks, no fake backstories. Just us.”

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”

“Just give me a couple of hours to shower and change and answer a couple of emails?” Diana says.

“How does seven sound? I’ll cook.”

“I can’t wait.”

He watches her go, almost floating from how giddy he feels. As he drives home, he mentally goes over what he’ll need to get for the meal he wants to make. Truly, it was the best fake date ever; he might, he thinks, even consider posting the story of it to the r/relationships thread like one of the Craigslist messages asked, because it’s so wonderfully peculiar.

**

“Right on time!” says Steve with a grin when Diana knocks on his door that evening for their date.

His smile falls when he notices her face, tired and serious, despite how light it had been only hours ago.

“Steve, I have to go,” she says without preamble.

“What?”

“I’m flying back to the Netherlands tonight.” What? That can’t be right; she’s not due back for several months, and even that’s only a trip. Steve’s brain lags a second and then realizes she’s still talking, dark eyes all apologies. “—straight to the airport from here, actually. I just came by to say goodbye. It seemed like the sort of thing that should be done in person.”

“But what—”

“You know who Patrick Morgan is, yes?”

Of course he knows who Patrick Morgan is; he’s a war criminal who was only caught and extradited recently. It made waves when jurisdiction was given over to the ICC, at least among the relevant international communities.

“The war criminal?” he asks, just to confirm.

Diana nods. “That’s the one. Look, I’m not really meant to be talking about my cases, but I’m on the prosecutorial team and his lawyers are good. They’re trying to file a pre-trial motion that would—well, let’s just say it would be bad if the judge ruled in their favor. We’re scrambling and I’m needed back at the office, in person.”

“Shit.” There’s nothing else to say, really. She’s the one who can make sure Patrick Morgan doesn’t hurt anyone else, and that’s that.

“It’s awful timing,” whispers Diana, and there’s true regret in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. You’re doing what has to be done.”

“I wish it didn’t,” says Diana. “I wanted to—I don’t know, go on a proper date and go to your friends’ New Year’s party with you, and this has just—it’s mucked it all up, hasn’t it?”

“An understatement,” says Steve, laughing wetly. Maybe—

“I have to call the ARGUS Foundation from the car, get everything squared away in regards to my commitments there. Gods, this is such a nightmare.” Diana’s pacing now, and Steve can see all their possibilities slipping away, now that she’s returning to the Netherlands. It’s not the most important thing, this casualty of what could have been, but it still breaks a little piece of Steve’s heart all the same.

“I wish we had more time,” says Steve, a little bittersweet, because there’s not much else to say. Diana sends him a sad smile and nods.

“I really have to go. I might even miss my flight as it is.”

“Right, of course.”

She looks at him hesitantly for a moment, like she’s going to say something more, and then pulls him into a hug. As she pulls back, she kisses him softly. It feels like goodbye more than any words could.

Then her phone rings, and she looks at him apologetically one more time, a quick, “I’m sorry,” before taking her leave and answering it. He hears her frustrated Dutch echoing down the hall as she walks away.

After she leaves, he feels a little aimless, and a little numb. It doesn’t quite sink in that Diana is gone, but he does think, absently, that something bad was bound to happen, because nothing catastrophic happened over the holidays—no real fights, no disastrous weather; it all went too smoothly.

**

The next few days are a slog: he’s back in the office, technically, but everything has slowed down substantially in between the holidays, just enough to not really keep him occupied.

It scares him a little how much he misses Diana. They were sort-of friends before the fake-dating charade, more friendly-coworkers than anything, but he got used to her being a part of his daily life absurdly quickly and is having a hard time adjusting back. They could have been something spectacular, he knows, if circumstances hadn’t made it impossible.

She texts him when she lands, and he’s glad to know she’s made it safely, but it ignites a fresh wave of ache such that he’s almost glad she doesn’t answer his text back, or text again. He ends up ignoring his phone, mostly, trying to distract himself from thinking about what wasn’t meant to be. (It’s bad luck with fate: if they’d had more time, if they were something real, he might consider moving, but it’s too soon, too early, even if he thinks he might already love her.)

On New Year’s Eve, he spends most of the day cooking, Netflix on in the background, whiling away time before the party Etta and Adrienne are throwing.

“Where’s Diana?” asks Etta, when she opens the door and finds Steve there, alone, carrying three tiers of Tupperware and a bottle of champagne, because of course she does. All his friends adore Diana too.

“She had to fly back to the Netherlands for a case,” says Steve morosely, unable to say anymore because he might choke up, and crying is fine but not during a New Year’s Eve party.

“Oh, what a shame she’ll miss New Year’s! When is she coming back?”

The fresh, stricken look on Steve’s face tells Etta everything she needs to know. “Oh, luv, I’m so sorry. I know long distance isn’t easy.”

It’s the perfect excuse presenting itself, really. In a month, Steve can say that the distance was too much, and Etta will understand, and that will be that. He’ll be out of this lie, too, with no one the wiser that it started as a fake thing. But right now, Steve is still mourning the fact that it never got to be anything real in the first place.

“It is what it is,” says Steve, trying for a smile.

“Well,” says Etta, also going for something resembling cheery. “We’ve got plenty of alcohol and a place for you to crash tonight, if you want it.”

“Thanks, Etta.”

He whiles away the night nursing a glass of wine and floating amongst friends and acquaintances, trying to enjoy the merriment. Etta, bless her, must spread the word that Diana had to leave for work, because only Noor asks after her, right after he gets inside. After that, he doesn’t have to answer any further questions, and instead focuses on the laughter and brightness radiating from his friends.

At a few minutes to midnight, he slips off to a quiet corner, not quite ready to face the rowdy, kissing couples.

Somewhere behind him, the apartment door slams, and there’s something of a commotion, but he doesn’t bother to investigate until—

“Did I make it in time?” asks a breathless voice.

Steve turns, and there, standing in front of him, a vision in a bright red coat, is Diana.

“But how—?” She’s meant to be in Europe, but she’s very much not. She’s here.

She’s here.

“We finished a little early and I got the first flight out. I took a cab from the airport to get here as fast as I could.”

“You hate cabs,” says Steve helplessly, fixating on something that’s very much not the point because it’s one of the many strange things they talked about, and because it’s somehow easier to focus on than any other part of it.  

“I wanted to be here.” Her eyes are twinkling, and Steve can’t quite believe she’s here, on New Year’s Eve, and—shit.

“But what about the case?”

“We got the motion thrown out,” she exclaims, delight lacing her words. “We’re proceeding as scheduled. I’ll have to go back for a bit starting in May, but—”

That phrasing catches Steve’s attention. “Wait, you’re not moving back to the Netherlands permanently?”

“What?” asks Diana, looking genuinely perplexed. “No! It was just a business trip, inconveniently timed. I was never moving back. Did you think—”  

“I thought—” says Steve, at the exact same time.  

There’s a look of recognition on Diana’s face, as if she’s doing the maths, going back over the conversations they had once more in her head. She bites her lip, shakes her head. Laughs.

“We are both a bit stupid, I think,” she says. “I was never going to be gone more than a week or two, but I suppose I didn’t make that clear enough. I thought it was just bad timing, since we were starting something, but you—”

Steve shakes his head, incredulous. “I thought I might never see you again, but you’re really here.”

Diana reaches out and ever so softly touches his cheek. “Yes. So, did I miss the countdown?”

Steve stops fighting the smile that’s building. “Nope. And you know, they say whatever you’re doing at midnight you’ll be doing for the rest of the year.”

“Do they? You’d best choose wisely, then.”

“I’ve got an idea.” The countdown hasn’t started yet, but he leans in slowly anyways, because he figures they’ve wasted enough time. She meets his lips eagerly, and in the background, Steve can hear Etta’s whoop of excitement, but really, the only thing that matters is Diana, and the feel of her lips underneath his.

It’s just as earth-shaking as it was the first few times, but they break apart momentarily as the countdown actually begins from the other room. When midnight hits, they kiss again, a little shorter this time, their smiles too wide to make it a proper kiss.

“Happy New Year, Steve,” whispers Diana, forehead pressed to his.

“Happy New Year,” he echoes. An endless plurality of shifting possibilities stretch before them, elastic and hopeful, and very real once more. From the other room, the chords of a piano start, a telltale sign that Charlie has started his traditional rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

“You know, eventually people are going to realize our anniversary isn’t in July.”

That elicits another giddy laugh, because somehow, he’s gotten lucky enough that this is his reality. “Yeah, but that’s a pretty good problem to have, all things considered. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“No,” says Diana thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t either.”

***

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Legend of the band; AU Ghost! Queen x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well this is a story that's been going through my head for a few days. I was originally gonna save this before Halloween but I figure I just go ahead and post this now in case I lost it amongst all my other writings in the near future. So background on this story it takes place in present day and the band members of Queen are ghosts.  Now I want to also put this out, I've inspired the ghosts designs from Guillermo Del Toro's film Crimson Peak. So just type in how the ghosts look and you'll see just why I've made the boys ghosts different colors.

Warnings: Swearing, death, slight attempted of assault (ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION BEFORE YOU TRY TO KISS SOMEONE), some horror elements?, fluff and angst.

*EDIT 7-27-20* NEW PARTS DOWN BELOW!!!

Part 2

Part 3

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@platawnic​

@geek-and-proud​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queendeakyy​

@queensdivas​

@kairosfreddie​

@eileen-crys​

_________________________________________________________

It started off as a dare-pact that my friends wanted to do.  Every year around Halloween we try to do some sort of Halloween dare together whether it was going to a graveyard, using a Ouija board, or crashing a Halloween party in one of the upper class neighborhoods dressed as monsters and scare the shit out of them.

It was either one person or we would do it as the entire group and this year we decided to do our next Halloween dare as a group.  The ringleader of the group Aaron gathered us up in our private clubhouse (his basement) and we were all gathered around to discuss just what we were going to do.

“Right, I call this meeting of the Halloween dare to order.” Aaron proclaimed.

“So what’s the plan for this year?” asked Brandon.

“How bout we go downtown and scare the little kids at the daycare during their Halloween party?” suggested Jake.

“No that’s just cruel even for us.” Said Amy.

“I agree.” I added. “Besides you just want to do that cause you’re little brother’s gonna be there, right?”

“So what? The little asshole got me into trouble last week. He deserves some payback.” Jake hissed.

“Alright Jake settle down. Okay so we had Amy and Susan do the Ouija board last year.”

“Which I still don’t forgive you guys. I swear I think my house is still haunted.” Susan said.

“Oh I’ve got it!” Proclaimed Brandon.

“Lay it on us Bran.” Aaron said.

“Three words for you guys. Rockfield. Farm. studios.” At that point everyone went silent.

“ARE YOU INSANE!?!?” exclaimed Amy.

“Yeah Brandon do you want to commit suicide or something!? Do you hate life!?” Jake snapped.

“Brandon, why in the fuck would you suggest that?” I asked.

“Oh come on! We’ve done practically the same stupid shit every time. Yeah sure the Ouija board could do some serious things but never have we actually tried to go to a real haunted house. So why not Rockfield farm?”

“Wait, I don’t get it. What’s Rockfield farm?” Susan asked.  Susan was the recent member to join the horror crew when she moved here from Michigan. Almost no one wanted to speak that was until I finally told her the legend.

“Rockfield farm was used as a recording studio a long time ago. Like back in the 70’s. Anyway there was this up and coming band called Queen. You know the ones who made the song Killer Queen?”

“Oh yeah my mom still has her vinyl record of that album.” Susan said.

“Well anyway, in the summer of 1975 they went to record their next record. Legend says it would’ve been their greatest album yet. It could’ve really made them even more famous than they were. But—an accident occurred at that farm.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“Well that’s where the story gets a little iffy. There have been several theories throughout time on what happened.” I explained.

“One theory is that an electrical fire happened while the band was in the studio, and they couldn’t escape in time and ended up being burned alive.” Jake said.

“Another theory is that someone broke into the property and slaughtered the band mates in their sleep.” Amy said.

“A slightly different version to that theory is that it was actually the band’s assistant that killed them in cold blood. Apparently he was in love with the front man. And in rejection he slaughtered the whole band before killing himself.”

“Whichever story you choose to believe in, it is said that the ghosts of the band members still haunt the property to this day. And anyone who has entered inside, is never seen again.” Aaron finished.

“Which is why not even I will go there.” Jake emphasized.

“Oh what’s wrong Jake? Don’t got the balls to make a drive up there and spend the night in the haunted farm?” teased Brandon.

“Shut up arsehole! At least I have balls.” Brandon was just about to pounce on Jake when Amy stopped the two of them by pushing Brandon back onto the floor and I said.

“Look, I thought it was foolish enough to go to the graveyard at night. But this—this is foolishness. No way am I gonna be possessed by a ghost or anything like that.”

“You know what you guys are all chicken!” Brandon exclaimed. “We’ve done almost every single Halloween dare known to man and you lot are scared to go to a little haunted house in the country and spend the night there.”

“He’s right.” Aaron finally spoke up.

“I’m sorry what?” Amy snapped.

“He’s right. We’ve been pulling out the same stuff every year but with different people. There’s no real haunted places here in the city but Rockfield is the closest thing we can get to.”

“Thank you!” Brandon exclaimed.

“Aaron, I swear to god if you make me go to that place we are finished! Do you hear me finished!” Amy snapped as she walked right up towards her boyfriend of 3 years.

“Sorry babe, I’ve made my mind up. We’ll leave in 2 days. Meeting adjourned.” Oh god what has Brandon done?

Later that night I was staring up at the full moon from my window when my nana came in.

“I thought I had told you to go to bed sweetheart. You’ve got school in the morning.”

“Couldn’t sleep nana.” I said solemnly.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” she said as she came up and sat down next to me.

“Just something my friends want me to do.”

“Those troublemakers that always make you trespass on private property? Or crash a party? Honestly (y/n) I don’t know why you hang out with kids like that.”

“They’re my friends nana. They always got my back when I need them.” She sighed and surrendered.

“Alright, alright. But what’s gotten you so rattled up?” now I couldn’t really tell her just what was going on.  She’d never let me go on a road trip to Rockfield farm so I had to think of something.

“They—they suggested going on a trip and…..I don’t like to leave you alone.” She smiled at me and tucked a strand of hair.

“Oh poppet. I maybe old but I’m not frail. How long are you planning on leaving?”

“It’s just for Halloween. We’ll be back the next day.”

“Okay then. Now even though I don’t approve of your friends behavior, I can’t stop you from going out Halloween night. Just promise you’ll stay out of trouble.”

“I will.” That’s a promise that not even I know how to keep. “And you’re sure you’ll be fine?”

“Yes, yes. And don’t worry, your father won’t hear a thing from me.”

“Really?”

“I’m his mother. I don’t have to tell him anything.” She winked at me. “Now go to sleep.” She lectured me before giving me a kiss goodnight and we both told each other I love you.

Two days later it was time.  Right after school, we all piled in Brandon’s RV and we drove the long drive to the country side to Rockfield studios.  Just as the sun was about to set, we finally arrived at the farm.

God it looks even more desolated and frightening than the pictures.  The entire housing was swamped with vines, weeds, and any other ounce that Mother Nature could throw at it.  The bricks at certain spots were chipped away or even rotting away (how that’s possible I don’t know).

We slowly walked up towards the main house and we just stood before it fearfully.

“Whose gonna go in first?” Amy asked.

“I vote our raining president of this idea Brandon.” Jake said.

“I second that.” Amy replied.

“Ditto.” Said Susan.

“Fine I’ll go in first.” Brandon said as he walked up the steps of the deck before standing before the front door.  He just stood there, still as a statue before Jake cried out.

“Well go on smartass and go in already!”

“I’m going I’m going!” Brandon snapped back.  He took the door handle and slowly opened the door which made an eerie creaking sound. He took one small step into the house before he was suddenly pulled in.

“BRANDON!” we all cried out.  Soon we all piled into the house and it was so dark you could barely make out what was in front of you.  The door suddenly slammed loudly behind us which made a few of us jump.

“Come on Brandon, this isn’t funny!” Jake called out.

“Brandon?” Aaron spoke up.

“Brandon seriously if this is a joke it’s not AHHH!!!” Amy spoke before suddenly screaming as something grabbed her.  We all soon began screaming before a laugh rang out.  Coming out from underneath a white sheet was Brandon.

“You guys should’ve seen your faces!” he laughed.

“You sick fuck who does that!?” Amy said as she began to punch him as hard as she could.

“That wasn’t funny Brandon.” I scowled.

“It was pretty funny!”

“Guys I think I found the light’s switch.” Susan said as she then flipped a switch on and soon the lights came on.

“Okay so we’re here now. Why not have a look around?” Brandon suggested.

“Man do you not know your horror film goofs!? If we split up, the ghosts will hunt us down one. By. one. Starting with the good looking comedy relief guy, me!” Jake proclaimed.

“Get a grip Jake! We’ll split up into pairs. Amy and I will go together and take the barn. (Y/n) you and Susan…..”

“Oh hell no. I can’t even stand to be near Brandon right now!”

“Oh what you a wittle scaredy cat Jakey-wakey?” Brandon teased.

“SHUT UP!!!”

“Alright! Jake you and (Y/n) go take the living room, and Susan you and Brandon can take the upstairs.” Aaron said breaking up the fight with the boys.  I rolled my eyes cause I knew Jake was gonna try to flirt around with me (he’s been doing that since the start of secondary school).

“I can dig with that.” Jake said as he came right up beside me.

“Do you seriously hate me Aaron?” I muttered before we finally split up.

Jake and I came to the living room and saw a small piano right there in the middle of the room, and jointed next to the living room was the kitchen.

“Pretty spooky huh? Just imagine if this piano started playing on its own. But no worries (Y/n), if you get scared you can hold onto me and I’ll protect you.”

“My hero.” I muttered sarcastically.  It was then something caught my eye.  I walked towards a table to see what looked like an old photo album.  I blew away the dust and wiped the cover to see the writing say.

PROGRESS ON LATEST ALBUM

“Whatcha got there?” Jake said as he came up to me and shined his phone flashlight down on the photo album.

“It’s an old photo album book.” Jake scoffed.

“Wow. The only person who has stuff like that are my parents. Man thank god we have technology nowadays. Otherwise no one would get to see my handsome face.” Why does this man even exist? Seriously I don’t see why all the girls on the cheer squad go for him?

“And what a shame that would’ve been.” I muttered as I opened the book up.

“I know right?!” I turned the next page and there were a few photos of Queen inside a recording studio of sorts and below it a caption that spelled,

AT HARD WORK WITH THE LADS. R.M.T.

“What does RMT stand for?”

“I don’t know. Could be some sort of acronym or something. Maybe initials for a name.”

“Well you’re an expert on all those old guys that existed back in the Medieval ages. What were the names of the band that died here?”

“It wasn’t the Medieval ages Jake. It was 40 years ago. And I don’t really know their names. I just know them as Queen.” I flipped to the next page to see a man with long black hair at the piano and the caption under that said.

FRED AT PIANO - Bri.

“Fred huh? He doesn’t look like a Fred to me. And who signs off with Bri?” I shook my head and continued to flip through the pages.  Each picture were of the band doing certain things while recording or just being around the farm, and each picture was signed with initials RMT, JD, FM, or BRI.  Finally the last picture was all four of them together.

“Check out the date.” I said.  In the picture it read 8-13-75. “This was taken the day when the band died.”

“Holy shit you’re right. They must’ve taken this picture just before whatever happened, happened.”

“They look so young.” I said solemnly.

“Yeah. But if they had lived they’d be like—our grandparents by now.” Suddenly I heard a voice.

No wait it was—singing.  I looked around trying to find out where the singing was coming from.  It was—beautiful. Hypnotic almost.  It was the most beautiful sound I ever heard.

“(/n). (Y/n)! Oi (Y/n)!” I was snapped out of it by Jake. “Jesus you looked like you were in a trance or something.”

“Was I? Sorry I….”

“No need to apologize. Hell if it was all about me, then maybe I’ll let it slid.” He said as he stroked up my arm.

“Jake! I’ve tried to let you down easy but please for the last time. I don’t like you that way! So stop with the flirting!”

“Oh c’mon (Y/n). What is there about me that you don’t like?” Gee where do I begin? “C’mon just give me a chance.” He walked closer to me but I tried to push him away.

“No Jake stop! Back off!” suddenly the fireplace just a few feet away from us ignited.  The flames reached as high as they could and call my crazy but I thought I could see someone’s face in the fire.  Jake jumped away from me and that’s when we heard the piano being played.

Play video

It was a random play on the keys at a very fast pace on the upper keys while also hitting a couple of the lower keys every now and then.  

“What the f—” the piano then hit a single key for a couple of beats before finally changing tune to that of a marching tune.  Like someone was coming towards you and you could just hear the beat of their footsteps.

Getting freaked out by the piano, Jake ran screaming out of the living room while I was just frozen in place.  The fireplace suddenly turned off but there was still some sort of light.  I slowly turned around and saw a yellow light ball shining right there.  But it wasn’t just some random ball or something.

This was some sort of spiritual ball because I could see smoke slowly dancing around it as it floated before me.  I wanted to run but I was either too scared or stunned by what just happened.  It was then I heard the singing come back, and it was coming from this spiritual matter in front of me.

And I don’t know how or why but—it made me feel safe.  Listening to the singing that came from this ball, it was like being wrapped up tightly in a warm hug.  Or sleeping in your own bed, like the weight of the world has been dropped from you.

I soon found myself walking towards the yellow spirit ball.  It moved backwards as I walked towards it.  It floated towards the fireplace and I wouldn’t have known if I weren’t in my trance-like state once again, but the fireplace opened up to reveal a long corridor.

*3rd Person POV*

As Jake ran on ahead he soon tackled into someone and that someone ended up being Amy.

“What the hell Jake!? Get off me you perv!”

“Guys! Guys! Guys! P-p-p-p-pi….pi-gh…..(y/n)…..”

“Stop your blabbering and tell us what happened!?” Aaron said as he forced Jake off his girlfriend and helped her up.

“Piano……playing itself. Fireplace……flames go up.”

“What’s he blabbering about?” Brandon’s voice soon spoke up as he and Susan came around the hallway.

“Where’s (Y/n)?” Susan asked worriedly.  They all looked at Jake who still had a look of fright on his face.  They quickly raced towards the living room and they all gasped to see (Y/n) just about to turn right of the long corridor that stood them.

“What the hell!”

“Why did you leave her you dumbass!?”

“(Y/n)!” her friends tried to run after her but the fireplace soon closed back up and the flames were once again fully ignited.  Soon coming out of the flames was a pure white figure.

His hair was all curly and long like a poodle.  He wore a few necklaces 2-3 which were wrapped around his neck while the other one draped over his bare chest due to his shirt having a few of the buttons undone. But what had the kids most horrified was that this man was transparent.

Gentle wisps of smoke flowed from his hair, fingers, and even the cut along his cheek which seeped out small amounts of ghost blood.  His eyes which were a pure dark grey stared right at the young teenagers and he let out a haunting whisper.

“She belongs……to us!” at that phrase the teens all screamed and ran off.  The girls ran towards the backway while the boys ran up the stairs.  The girls raced out towards the barn and hid underneath a hay cart.

“Was that a……” Susan started off.

“No! It couldn’t have been! It’s impossible!” Amy exclaimed in denial.

“Oh it’s entirely possible.” A male voice soon spoke up.  They slowly turned their heads and saw another ghost.

Unlike the one they saw earlier, this one was a blue spirit with haunting ocean like eyes.  His hair was long and flowing and he wore a smug grin on his face.  Susan and Amy were in gawk at this ghost. “Now, now ladies I know I’m a looker but there’s no need to stare.”

They then screamed as they tried to get out but just before they could leave the barn, the doors suddenly shut.

“Leaving so soon? Oh that’s not fair. Not before I’ve had the chance to know your names. God it’s been so long since female company have come to this farm.” Susan and Amy were terrified at the point.  They tried to get the doors open but it was all in vain.  

Suddenly they felt themselves being levitated up in the air and the ghost appeared before them and said in a low, haunting tone.

“And the three of us are gonna have such fun together.” Only the piercing, terrified screams of the girls echoed through the barn.

Back in the house, Brandon, Jake and Aaron all headed for the basement in one of the tightest rooms the house had.  They all panted heavily and Aaron said.

“Did—you guys see what I saw?”

“You mean that curly haired ghost that just said (Y/n) belongs to them. No.” Brandon said.

“Same.” Jake said. The room suddenly got colder than it was, so cold in fact that the boys could now see their breath.  It was then Jake suddenly felt something pick him up by his throat.  He squirmed in the grip of the invisible force.

“Jake!” Aaron called out but then suddenly he and Brandon were pushed up against the wall and they couldn’t move.  No matter how much they squirmed, they couldn’t budge an inch.  Suddenly Jake was thrown down onto the small rickety bed and that’s when he appeared.

A fully black ghost with long hair.  He looked younger than the last ghost they saw but there was something about him that felt—angry.  The young black ghost turned to Jake and his voice which was a soft, honey like tone say.

“If I remember, No always means No. No matter who it is.” He slowly crawled on top of Jake pinning his arms down. “But since you can’t seem to understand what it feels like to be in such a vulnerable position, maybe I should show you.” by the end of his statement his voice suddenly got lower, darker.  Almost sinister.

Through Jake’s eyes he saw as this ghost’s face actually morphed into the Devil himself. Burned and scarred with pure red and black eyes.  Jake screamed in pure terror.

*My POV*

I kept following the light as well as the voice.  The beautiful, soulful, most angelic voice.  God it was—almost inhuman of how this voice could sing.  With such gentleness but also control it when he belted out a note or a phrase.

The light ball quickly faded away and had now become a record player with an album that stood right up against it.  I slowly reached out for it and it read.

QUEEN

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.

As I held it in my hands there was a moment where I heard screaming.  Wait my friends? They were……

“Play the record darling.” The voice soothed me.  I felt a gentle caress under my chin.  I closed my eyes and took out the record and placed it on the record player. “Play it, play it. You know you want to.” The voice continued to coo.  I turned the record on, lifted the needle but just before I could place it at the top the voice whispered to me again, “Lower.”

I adjusted the needle as the voice continued to whisper lower again and again softly in my ear.

“There!” it suddenly hissed out which frightened me and forced me to let go of the needle and soon a quartet of voices soon began to sing with no instrument backup.

Play video

My god. This……this really was Queen.  I mean I’ve only really heard a few of their songs but this was definitely them.  The way their voices melded together in perfect harmony.  The piano soon came in and I sat down by the record player and just took in this song.

I literally felt like my soul was being sucked out as the vocals took me on a trip.  Then the bass picked up as the leading front man started singing the song, the very voice I’ve been hearing from the spirit force earlier.

As the song continued to play and went on a brief instrumental break, I looked at the record to see just what this song was called because I hadn’t heard a single word that stands out except Mama.  I then saw a finger point to the second to last song.  I looked up and shocked to see one of the band member’s ghost right there with me.

His entire ghost form was the same yellow color as the spirit ball from earlier, his wild hair went down to shoulders and he had an overbite but somehow it worked on him. He looked pretty exotic (by that I knew he wasn’t from London, maybe India or something).  He nodded and gestured to the song again.  I looked down at it and read it out loud.

“Bohemian Rhapsody?” he smiled happily and soon a guitar solo came on.  But along with that, I heard the same guitar playing the same notes, almost as if—holy shit!

A curly haired pure white ghost soon held a red guitar and began playing the exact guitar solo right there.  I turned to the ghost beside me who was still smiling devilishly and he gestured for me to look back at the guitarist.  As I watched the white ghost play the guitar, I was amazed and mesmerized by how he played the guitar.

As a Classic Rock fan I’ve seen the greatest guitar players such as Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, and Eddie Van Halen, but this guy—this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen a guitarist do or even play.  It was like his guitar was actually singing a solo, instead of just being an instrument.  Like it was a person, and she sang beautifully.

The song then went quiet as the lights went out and only a single piano note was now playing over and over.  Soon the silhouette of the ghost that led me here stood before me as a single spotlight hit him.  And I don’t know whether the vocals suddenly turned off or whatever but I could actually hear singing right there.

Next thing I know, the yellow and white ghosts are now joined up with a soft blue and pure black ghost.  The four of them standing together in like a diamond shape patter with the yellow and white ghost at top and bottom respectively, the blue ghost was on my right while the black was on the left.  

The four of them once again jointed in a quartet harmony before suddenly their voices boomed out like a canon firing.  And I know it sounds crazy but I swear I think they duplicated themselves about a dozen times to get that full powerful choir sound.  The blue ghost then started to sing in a really high falsetto tone while the yellow ghost backed him up on the lower range before making his voice waver.

This pattern continued as the front man sung again softly and then the other three ghosts (or copies) backed him up.  Wow this song it’s—literally unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  The way it started soft before BAM exploding right in your face. Just like an Opera.

I bopped my head along to the beat softly to the beat and then when the rock out section came on. I’ll admit I banged my head as hard as I could (may come to regret it later but I didn’t care).  The setting soon changed to an actual rock and roll concert stage and I saw all four of them up on the stage.  

The black ghost on bass, the blue playing the drums, the white playing his guitar and the yellow one center stage, well more like everywhere as he strutted around and sung as loudly as he could.

I smiled and stood up and couldn’t help but jump up and down as I rocked out along with them. The yellow ghost soon went back to the piano and began playing it and as the four ghosts vocalized softly, the song slowly died off the hard rock and grew soft once again.  The yellow ghost sang the last verse as the piano solely took over now just before the white ghost played his guitar for the last time.

Then when the soft bang of a gong, the song ended and the room went dark once more.

“That’s it? Oh come on please that can’t be the end of the song!” the lights soon came back on and I now found myself in a recording studio.  The four ghosts all standing there.  The yellow one came up to me with a soft smile and gently touched the center of my forehead with his index and tall fingers and I felt this warmth come over my yet again.

“We’ve got more songs than that dear, believe me. But this is the one we’re most proudest of.” His normal voice spoke to me.  

“It was either that or I’m in love with my car.” The white ghost groaned out.

“I told you before Brian it’s a metaphor!” the blue ghost snapped.

“After all these years Roger it’s still unusual. What exactly are you doing to that car?” the black ghost sassed.

“Ignore him darling. He’s just a little peeved that after all the fussing and locking himself in a cupboard, his song didn’t get the chance to go on the B side to our single. Which is my masterpiece.” The yellow ghost told me.

“Umm…..not to sound cruel but, I mean I know you guys are Queen but uhh—what are your names?”

“Oh yes that. Silly me. You my darling may call me Freddie Mercury.” The yellow ghost introduced himself with a twirl.

“Brian May. Thank you again for giving us a chance to show you our hard work.” The white ghost introduced himself.  Wow he sure was polite.

“Roger Taylor. And I must say my dear, you are quite adorable, especially when you let loose and rock out.” The blue ghost gave me a wink.  Normally I wouldn’t give flirting a second glance, especially after Jake’s insistent flirting, but for some reason I couldn’t help but blush at his compliment.

“Please forgive him. He always goes crazy over a pretty girl. John Deacon it’s lovely to meet you.” The black ghost said as he gave me a greeting bow of his head.  Freddie, Brian, Roger and John, these guys were the men behind Queen.

“It’s—an honor to meet you four. I’m (Y/n). So—all the times people have been coming into the studio, all you wanted was for someone to listen to your album?”

“Yes, but no one would stick around. All because we’re ghosts.” Freddie whined as he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

“And you were the only one who had any sense of musical taste.” Roger pointed out my Hendrix shirt.  I rubbed the back of my neck and said.

“Yeah, kinda a music geek. Mostly through classic rock. But none of my friends—oh my god my friends! What did—those screams from earlier. What did you guys do to them?!”

“Take it easy lovie, your friends are safe and unharmed.” Roger assured me.

“Really?”

“Yes. I mean minus the fright we might’ve caused them, they’re completely fine. They’re passed out in that van of yours outside right now.” Brian said.

“Though Deacy dear, I must admit you truly traumatized that one young boy earlier. I could barely keep my hold on (Y/n)’s mind to bring her here cause of the screaming you had that boy doing.” Freddie said.

“Who? You mean Jake?” I asked.

“What he did to you back there. It—wasn’t right. If a woman says no, it means no.” John growled softly.

“Thanks John. I’ve tried telling him for years I never once liked him like that, but any chance we’re alone he tries to come onto me. I was getting sick and tired of it.”

“Well not to worries dear, I think from what John did to him, he’ll never bother you again for a long time.” Roger said as he ruffled John’s hair up.  John pushed his hand off his head and he came up to me and asked.

“You sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m fine, really. I’m okay.” He sighed in relief.

“Hey guys,” they all looked at me giving me their full attention. “I—I don’t mean to get personal with you all. But uhh……How did you guys…..forget it. You don’t have to answer it. It’s probably none of my business.”

“It’s not? Then why so interested?” asked Brian.  He didn’t ask it out of annoyance, I could genuinely hear the concern in his voice.

“Well I was gonna ask, how did you guys—you know……”

“Die?” they all said together.  I nodded.

“Well dear as much as we would like to tell you, we can’t.” Freddie said.

“Yeah I get it. I mean if I were in your shoes I wouldn’t either.”

“It’s not that (Y/n).” John said.  I looked at him confused, “See while we remember some parts of our lives as humans. The day we died—that part’s fuzzy.”

“For decades we’ve tried to remember what had happened but every time we try it just—doesn’t come around.” Brian finished.  Oh wow I never knew that that could happen when you become a ghost.  Not knowing how you die and have to remain here on Earth.

“Tell us dear, what all has been said about our deaths?” Freddie asked me as he leaned sat down on the chair and rest his chin on his hand.

“Well there are several theories. The ones I know about are an electrical fire in this studio and you guys being trapped inside.”

“Sounds boring.” Freddie bluntly stated.  The other three looked at him questioningly.

“What else?” asked Roger.

“Well another theory is that someone snuck in and massacred you guys. Some people even go into detail about the homicide and what happened to each of you. I—I was honestly heartbroken hearing that and cried.”

“Aww you sweet thing.” Freddie and Roger cooed.

“A slight alteration to that theory is that it was a—day to day manager you guys had was the one to kill you guys.”

“Oh him. Well we’re proud to say he’s no longer with us anymore.” Roger said.

“I think I remember that he also died along with us. And if he did, he’s right where he belongs cause we haven’t seen him since our death. Thank god.” said John.  I softly smiled before letting out a soft yawn.

“It’s getting late, you should get some sleep.” Brian said to me.

“Where can I sleep at?” I asked.

“You could pick one of our old rooms.” Roger suggested.

“Just hope you don’t mind sleeping on rickety old beds.” Brian softly laughed.  I softly laughed and said.

“Okay uhh…..John do you mind if I take yours?”

“Not at all. Follow me.” I followed behind him and we walked out of the recording studio and back to the main house.  He walked down the steps to the basement and he said, “Just a word of warning, it’s small and it gets colder than the other rooms. You sure you still want it?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” We came to the bottom of the steps and I saw that it was indeed a tiny room. Kinda reminded me of my childhood room when my parents and I were living in a small flat.

“Again I apologize, I didn’t choose this room. Yet I’m bound to it for all eternity.” He said as he placed his hand on the dresser but it went right through it. “Kinda the price for being the youngest and most forgetful member of the band.”

“I never thought that.” He turned towards me. “From the songs I’ve heard on your three albums, your basslines are unique and easily recognizable. Especially this one song uhh—god it’s been awhile since I listened to it what’s it called…..Lies?”

“Liar?”

“That’s it! That solo is phenomenal.” He softly smiled and thanked me.  I walked towards the small bed and tucked myself in suddenly feeling tired than I was before.

“Thanks again for allowing me to take your room tonight John.”

“Anytime. Sleep well (y/n).” I then shut my eyes and finally fell asleep.

*John’s POV*

I don’t know how to explain it.  Normally I’d never allow anyone to try and sleep in my room.  All the humans that have entered this farm whether on a dare or trying to discover the secrets of this place, I’ve made sure to keep out anyone by frightening them away.

But this young girl there was something—familiar about her.  Was she—no. No that’s impossible.  I’m crazy for even suggesting it, there’s no way that’s possible.  It’s a one in a billion chances.  I sat there in the corner of my room and watched her sleep, while trying to make sense on why I’m feeling this strange pull towards her.

*My POV*

2 weeks after that night, the guys actually gave me the Night at the Opera record and I was just amazed by all the songs it had, but my favorite song will always be Bohemian Rhapsody.  But there was another song called ‘You’re my best friend’ (written by John) that had a special connection with me.

Right now I was helping my nana with some reorganizing in the attic when I came across an old box of stuff.  I opened it up and was first greeted with some dust.  I let out a sneeze as I wiped the dust out of my face before pulling out a beautiful wedding dress.

“Nana! What’s this?” she climbed up the stairs and when she saw me, her face grew solemn. She walked up towards me and knelt down beside me.

“Now this is something I haven’t seen in years. This—was my wedding dress.”

“It’s beautiful.” I said as I stroked through the fabric.

“Yeah. But oh did I look like a balloon in it. I was pregnant with your father at the time I got married.” She went through the box and soon pulled out a photo album and opened it up. “See, this was me on my wedding day with—with your grandfather.” I looked down and I was shocked.

There was her and John standing together.  The two of them smiling as the picture was being taken.  Her back to John’s chest and his arms wrapped around her pregnant stomach.

“It was a surprise, the pregnancy. And we were incredibly young but—John praised about becoming a father. But then…….” She stopped and wiped away her tears.

“Nana are—are you okay?” she sniffled and dabbed her eyes and said.

“Yes. Yes poppet I’ll be okay. Sorry. It’s just—so hard, even after over 40 years. He was my best friend, the love of my life. I wish your father talked more about your grandfather to you. Oh he would’ve loved you soo much dear. Spoiled you rotten probably.”

Oh if only she knew. Wow so—my grandfather is John Deacon. Wow that’s—not everyone can say something like that.

“What….what was grandfather like?” I asked her.

“Well, we met way back in 1974 at a Disco club. My friends and I were out for a girls night out when—” she then proceeded to tell me the entire story of how she and granddad met and fell in love.

Hearing it from her own voice, it was like something out of a fairytale.  She and John really did love each other and it seemed like they would’ve stayed together forever had what happened to Queen not occurred.

“Did—the police ever tell you what happened?” I asked her.

“For years I tried to get them to give me an answer. But the case went cold and they just ruled it as accidental. I had to live with that heartbreak ever since. So I raised your father as a single parent because there wasn’t anyone like John Richard Deacon.” I leaned against her shoulder nuzzling her arm.

She wrapped her arm around my head and gave me a soft kiss to my head.  Together the two of us sat there and she told me as many stories as she could remember between her and John.

[asgardianthot]

Hunting Season (sambucky) – Part 1

Fake Dating AU

Series Masterlist

Summary: The Barnes family is your average rich people circus. With Bucky’s post-breakup financial depression, and a literal treasure hunt at stake, his best friend Sam finds himself in a mad situation in order to help him. They sure can pretend to be together, but that’s just the easy part.

A/N: You want some clichés? I’ll give you some clichés! Fake Dating, friends to lovers, asshole ex-boyfriend, only one bed, mutual pinning, slowburn, you name it :) Also rich!Bucky headcanon because I can.

Words: 3944

The night before.

"What is it this time?" Sam answered the phone, preparing for the rant he was about to hear.

On the other end, Bucky sighed heavily.

"Everything?"

Sam kept his chuckle in as he poured the freshly cooked spaghetti on a plate.

"That's a new one." He rolled his eyes, "Is he still calling you or something?"

"Yeah, and... God, I think I might take him up on his offer."

Although his friend's tone was extremely off-putting, Sam knew him too well and was certain that Bucky wasn't being serious. He was just saying it to be dramatic because he felt trapped. Still, he needed to be reminded that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Wilson placed the phone between his ear and shoulder so he could take his meal to the table which was a few steps away from the actual kitchen zone.

"No, you won't." Sam reminded him.

"I might!"

Bucky didn't sound honest, but he sounded desperate. He had broken up with the world's biggest, most monumental jerk a hundred times before, yet for various financial and emotional reasons, Bucky had also returned to the man too many times. Sam knew there was an emotional bond, a toxic one, but never asked to what extent, he just made sure Bucky didn't fall back into his webs. Recently, though, it seemed as if he had come to his senses; hadn't picked up the phone when the devil's name came up on his screen for weeks, didn't even mention the master manipulator in a long time.

Sam sat at the small table and put his phone on speaker, next to his food.

"You can't just go back for his money, man."

"Well, I can't keep crashing at my parents’ house, either." Barnes replied with more anguish than Sam had expected.

He sounded like he was fed up with the whole living situation. Although the Barnes weren't necessarily bad, they were inherently overwhelming and controlling people with whom Bucky had already spent eighteen miserable years; Sam understood how downright exhausting it must be to go back to them for help, and he understood why he hated it there. He probably had just gotten into an argument, but Sam still felt empathy towards his poor friend, because Sam's parents were the nicest people on earth- sure, they pried and judged from time to time, but only the normal parental amount. He couldn't imagine growing up in the Barnes' house.

So instead of spurring out laments and empathic hums, he focused on finding Bucky a solution, reminding him there was a way out of the mansion-trap.

"What about that job?"

"I didn't get it." There was a hearable stop, followed by a groan, "I don't know what else to do, I don't know how much longer I can stay here!"

As he worked his brain, Sam shoved a forkfull of spaghetti into his mouth, using the time he was chewing to concoct a quick solution. His friend just needed some caring aid, and Sam was good with home finances, he's good at being responsible and setting down instructions. He's a college professor after all, so giving orders and helping people in confusing times was wired into his bones.

He swallowed before speaking, "Tell you what, why don't you come over and we'll figure something out?"

-

Sam was just finished doing his single dish in his single apartment when Bucky got there. He opened the door and found the resemblance of a lost puppy.

"Thank you."

The host ushered him inside, and while Bucky closed the door behind him, Sam returned to the kitchen to finish putting everything away.

"Don't thank me yet. We need to come up with a plan." He turned to him with a mildly disappointing glance, for he was expecting a disappointing answer, "Just to be clear: no savings?"

"Nope." Bucky popped his 'p' with exaggerated defeat.

"Remind me to call you an idiot later."

"Will do." He nodded.

While Sam put away the now clean pan on the bottom counter, James found himself shame-walking to the table. He sat down, extended his arms over the furniture and let his head drop with self-pity.

"What about your folks, are they really not willing to help out?" Sam tried.

"They won't give me a single penny."

"Can't say that I'm surprised."

As soon as Wilson headed towards his friend, he noticed Bucky was waiting for him to be able to stay one hundred percent attentive. He was fidgeting with his fingers and bouncing his leg up and down, looking way too nervous for being around Sam, his best friend whom he trusted more than anyone. So, Sam got the severity of the issue and sat down on the table with him.

"Listen..." Bucky began, although he missed Sam's eye contact on purpose, "I was thinking... and I know that you've already supported me enough, but maybe... you could, uh... Lend me some money?" Suddenly, his face contorted in anguish as he was clearly embarrassed to even ask; before Sam could respond, he started rambling, "Just to get my own place, and I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I get some stability."

Sam tilted his head with sympathy.

"Of course I can lend you some money. But it's still a risky shot, dude."

Seeing him shrug, Sam noticed the evident sadness and surrender in James' face, and Sam wondered if it had been the devil ex or the Barnes who had sucked the hope out of him.

"It's all I got. I can't stand my parents any longer."

Sam nodded, and they fell into some silence. The discomfort coming from Bucky's end of the table was palpable, so Sam attempted to ease some of the tension.

"You can always just leave the country and go live with your sister." He joked.

The way Bucky looked at him with a small smile, Sam could read the gratefulness in his eyes.

"Nah, I could never leave you." Barnes taunted back, "You'd crumble."

"Yeah, that's it." Sam looked away with lifted, disbelieving eyebrows, "Definitely not the other way around."

He got a chuckle out of his best friend, and in comparison to the glim aura that had been surrounding him the last minutes, it was a relieving sound

" 'sides, she wouldn't get off my back either." Bucky added, "Rebecca's not an option."

Once again, silence dropped on them, only this time it was a pensive one. It didn't take long for Sam to have the best idea he'd had yet.

"Drink?" he offered.

"Please."

-

"I'm telling you, I can't seem to do anything right." Bucky admitted in between sips of wine, "The more I try to fix my shit, the more I mess it up, and that's Brock's cue to jump right back into the picture and offer an easy way out."

"You can't let him control you." His friend reminded him, "You're better than that."

Bucky had heard that speech a hundred times, and a hundred times he had lowered his head with shameful agreement, like a toddler being reprimanded and responding with the generic You're right, I'll do better. However, this time, Barnes was honest. Too honest, for Sam's taste, actually. Staring into nothingness as if illuminated by some divine realization of disappointment, he clacked his tongue.

"See, I don't know that I am."

Sam, on his part, was having none of that.

"Yes, you are. You've just made some very questionable choices." He slurred, and only then did Bucky realize how drunk his friend had gotten over the past hour, "And you wanna know why?"

With the last question went a very unpreoccupied hand gesture, employing the hand which held the glass of red wine like he'd forgotten the wine was even there, and therefore almost spilling it all over his carpet.

Bucky cringed and reached for the now turned dangerous beverage.

"I think that's enough wine for you." He laughed, trying to pry the glass away.

"Because you never listen to me!" Sam ignored him, which was Bucky's cue to effectively grab it and leave it on the coffee table, "I told you not to let him pay for stuff in the first place. Told you if he owns everything you share, he owns you."

The words, Bucky remembered from many times prior. The harsh tone, though, was relatively new.

"It just sort of happened." He shrugged, "I lost my job and suddenly..."

As Bucky lost his trail, Sam filled in with amusement, "You became a housewife from, like, the 1950's."

Barnes smirked in an attempt to lighten the mood, and escape the current lecture he was receiving, "Why is that bad?"

Unfortunately for him, Sam was not playing along.

"Because you can't hand them your independence. Not to your parents, not to Brock Fucking Rumlow, not to anyone. You know what's worth more than money?"

"Let me guess, my freedom?"

"Your dignity." Sam laid out the words with much more seriousness any drunk man should be able to convey.

Silence followed the rough declaration, and Bucky sat back. He pursed his lips at the ground, feeling even more judged in that apartment than in his parents' house. At least, they nagged about things that were insignificant to him, but what Sam had just dropped was a truth-bomb that resonated with his deepest concerns.

"That hurt." He admitted.

He wasn't upset, and even less with Sam. This was what he needed to hear, after all, and he could always trust Sam to be responsible and hones, but that didn't mean he would sleep on that sentence until he made some real changes in his life.

"It's just the truth." Sam grinned with somewhat lament as he reached for more wine.

-

The day of.

Sam woke up the next morning with the smell of fresh breakfast, and a hangover. When he managed to get on his feet, he walked down to the living room, where he found Bucky preparing something in the kitchen. Last night's events came back to him at the sight of his face: his cry for help, one late night talk and lots of wine. That's pretty much all that came to mind, which made him wonder what his drunk persona had put Bucky through.

"Morning, pal!" the voice made him jump a bit.

Bucky seemed cheery, which meant that he'd woken up hangover-free, and that drunk Sam hadn't been a pain in his ass. Sam felt he could relax.

"Did I really pass out on red wine in my own couch?" he groaned, scratching the back of his head.

Walking closer, he recognized what Bucky was preparing as french toasts, and his rumbling stomach felt grateful.

"Like a grandpa." Bucky confirmed with a mocking tone.

"Jesus Christ." Sam sighed.

"Don't let your dad hear you say the Lord's name in vain."

The warning reminded Sam of Bucky's parental situation. Bucky was one of Sam’s few friends who knew Sam's parents, and they'd gotten along many times, whereas Sam had never even met the Barnes. He knew Rebecca, but that was about it, and he figured they must be real characters if Bucky kept them away from him.

Sam let his body fall flat onto the couch, and covered his eyes with his arm rather dramatically, "I'm slowly spiraling down into a mediocre professor's life."

"You're not a mediocre professor and you don't have a mediocre life." Bucky denied him the right to self-loathe.

"I disagree. Your problems are the highlight of my week."

"Stop moaning and eat up."

As Sam raised his arm to peak, he found a plate of french toasts and a cup of orange juice being offered to him.

He gave Bucky a look of ultimate gratefulness as he mumbled a thank you and received the food.

Suddenly he appreciated more than ever that his friend was good at cooking, even though it probably came from a tragic backstory like his many childhood maids taught him in order to replace the absence of his parents or something.

"Least I could do." Bucky reckoned, meaning the fact that Sam had welcomed him into his home and offered to help him with his financial situation, "This, and dragging you to bed last night."

Sam visibly cringed before taking a big bite, "Did I say really dumb stuff?"

Bucky reflected on that idea for a hot second. Sam had, as a matter of fact, spilled out some truths, but Bucky didn't want to embarrass him, so he simply let it go.

He chuckled instead, "Nah, just the usual stupidity."

On his way to prepare some coffee, he checked his phone and noticed he'd received a text: we need to talk.

-

He knew what this was about. Which was the reason why he told his parents to meet him for lunch, some place they would approve of, after he'd had time to tidy up and borrow some of Sam's clothes. All just to minimize the judgement he was about to endure.

As soon as he sat down on the restaurant table, Barnes father hit him with that familiar severity.

"Where did you spend the night?"

"A hotel room." Bucky replied.

"You can't afford one."

"And I have you to thank for that." The tone quickly shifted to one of mutual accusations, "You're the one who cancelled all my cards."

"James." His mother joined the conversation in an attempt to get Bucky to lower said tone.

"It’s fine. I'm gonna crash at a friend's house.” Bucky directed the eased words to his mother, "Until I get on my own feet- which I will."

"A friend?" the dad interrupted, "Is that what you're doing now to pay for a roof over your head?"

Bucky raised his eyebrows, unamused, "Are you calling me a whore?"

"James, your father and I are worried." The woman reached over the table for her son's hands, "We want you to get yourself out of this... low spot. And last night, you proved your immaturity to us by throwing a tantrum and running away."

"Wasn't a tantrum." James retrieved his hands from his mother's grasp, "Look, if you're not going to help me out financially, then I see no reason to indulge your criticism. Otherwise it's just free abuse."

The older man rolled his eyes, "Always the drama king."

A cloud of silence fell upon the three people, thankfully soon joined by a waitress who took their orders. After they all delivered their monotone words and handed the lady their menus, Barnes father went back to the same topic.

"So, who's paying for your stuff?"

Bucky sat back on his chair, "Oh, we're still on that."

"Just wanna know how much I owe the poor soul. You keep forcing your financial situation on people, you're gonna run out of friends."

Eventually, James found himself in a tight spot. Whatever answer he gave his father, the man wouldn't be satisfied. His own son begging for money was beyond simple disappointment. The only time George Barnes had approved of Bucky depending on someone was when Brock Rumlow owned his life, because Brock was a family friend and a fine young man. Naturally, an opportunity popped into Bucky's head.

"Well, he's not a friend." He announced, earning attentive looks from both his parents, "He's, uh... we're a couple. He's not lending me money, we're sort of... living together."

Something in their eyes told Bucky they weren't buying it.

"Since when?" the mother asked.

"It's been sporadic. But we're stable."

George Barnes narrowed his eyes, "I take it it's not Rumlow."

"No, I told you, that's over." Bucky shook his head.

"Then I wanna meet this guy."

"Oh, invite him over to Nana's." The woman clapped her hands together.

The simple thought of the upcoming family vacation made him lose his appetite. Every year during spring break, the Barnes would get together for some quality time at their grandparents’ lake house. Bucky figured that this year, he probably would spend one or two weeks there before he could manage an excuse to leave. That was before he made up a fictional boyfriend, though, and the biggest problem was he didn’t have a boyfriend to bring.

"He has plans for the break." He lied.

Winnifred gave him a look that yelled incomprehension, as if she was incapable of fathoming the idea of someone not wanting to join their plans. "He can cancel them, he'll have more fun at the lake house anyways!"

"It's just that-"

"He'd love it.” Her voice began doing that thing where she sounded like she was genuinely begging, instead of simply manipulating, “And maybe you two could win Nana's hunt this year."

Now that caught Bucky’s attention. That actually made him reconsider everything. The Barnes had some very odd traditions, some Bucky loved and some he despised; but there was one in particular he had very mixed sentiments about, and which now presented itself like lifeboat.

"Right. The hunt." He trailed off, contemplating the possibility of participating in the godforsaken annual hunt.

"So what's he do?" his father’s words snapped him back.

"Huh?"

"Your boyfriend. What does he do?"

Bucky swallowed hard. In a moment of complete panic, his blank mind went to the easiest way out: the person who had actually offered his house to him for the night. Sam’s occupation was the only thing that popped into his head.

"He's a... professor.” He blurted out without much thought, “University."

"That's lovely." His mother approved.

Shit. It only then occurred to him that he was effectively making up a boyfriend, job and all, which meant he certainly couldn’t get away from it now. And it would only get worse as he dug into his lie deeper and deeper.

"What do I call him?" the older man asked.

Once again, Bucky found himself gulping.

-

"You told them what?!" Sam exclaimed.

Bucky sat with his head down in shame, while Sam paced around his own apartment, furiously.

"I'm sorry." Barnes said truthfully.

"You could've dragged anyone along with your dumb plans.” Sam ignored him and continued scolding him. “Why me?"

The appellee sighed, "It was an ambush, Sam, you should've seen it."

"I don't care!"

"They were asking me all these questions, it felt like a fucking quizz!” Bucky’s lamenting state turned much more hectic as he tried to explain his actions, “I panicked, I don't know, it just came out."

A big breath of disappointment shook Sam’s chest. Of course, he tried to understand Bucky when it came to his family. He did his best. But this was too much, for now that pressure had been transported to Sam. The weight relied on Sam’s shoulders as a whole. Still, he figured there was no way out of the hole Bucky had dug for the both of us. If the Barnes thought Sam was their son’s boyfriend, then that’s what he was. At least, until Bucky found an exit for both of them.

Reflecting on how this would be the last favor he would ever do for his friend, and at the same time acknowledging that was just a lie he told himself, Sam sat next to Bucky, who seemed expectant of more judgement. Much to his surprise, Sam’s words weren’t harsh.

"I take it they wanna meet the boyfriend." He said, a lot more nonchalantly than either of them expected.

Bucky looked at him with wide eyes, "Shit, are you serious? Would you do that for me?"

"Yeah, wouldn't be the first time I get you out of trouble." Sam ran a hand down his face.

"Sam, you’re-“

"The best, I know.” Wilson glanced up at the ceiling for strength, laying back on his couch, “So when do we have to put on a show?"

There was a brief silence, only interrupted by the sound of Bucky’s fingernails scratching the back of his head, which dropped another wave of tension upon the pair.

"That's the thing." Bucky cringed.

"What's the thing?"

"You know my family's lake house?" he tempted.

"No. No, no, no!” Sam found himself standing up at the mere thought of what he knew he was being asked, “I am not going to the middle of rich nowhere with you and your folks."

"It would only be a week.” Bucky raised his voice with a plea, earning a look of disbelief from Sam who felt like a week was not worthy of being introduced by the word ‘only’, “But, with a bunch of family members."

Samuel shook his head, clear disbelief plastered on his features.

"You don't realize how insane you sound right now."

"Hear me out, this is a good thing. Just... listen.” Bucky raised his hands in defense, “You know how my grandfather left his fortune to Nana?”

Doing his absolute best to stay open-minded, Sam nodded. Perhaps Bucky was headed somewhere with his explanation.

“Well, she has this... odd way of getting rid of it."

"The hell you talking about?" Sam frowned, growing inpatient.

"I never told you ‘cause it made me sound even more of a trust fund baby."

"Which you are."

"Point taken.” Bucky tilted his head with acceptance before he continued, “But this is good for both of us. She hates giving out her money, but she has no use for it, so she... makes it into a game every year."

Sam remained quiet, becoming more and more upset because he started getting an idea of what this was about: money and his family’s eccentric behaviors. And of course, Bucky meant to bring Sam into both of those things.

"I hate your family."

Bucky couldn’t hold back a tiny smirk, "You won't when you find out how much the prize is."

Suddenly, Sam found himself considering the offer. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm listening." He said, unprepared for the number he was about to hear.

"Four million dollars.” Bucky laid out like he was pitching him a job offer, which, in some twisted way, it was, “We split it, I can get back on my own feet, gain my independence... and you get two millions for being such a good friend."

The amount of money was too much for a family game. The idea sounded too ridiculous for any normal family. But then again, these were the Barnes. Therefore, while Sam was having a hard time processing the information, he blinked fast, maintaining eye contact with Bucky, almost as if waiting for his friend to break character and reveal that this was all a joke.

"Two million dollars?" Sam confirmed.

"Two million each." Bucky nodded, expectant.

Sam had to sit back down, but not next to Bucky this time. He sat on the coffee table, still digesting it. The prize was more than what he made in a year. And it really seemed like this was Bucky’s best solution to all his problems.

"And it's a game?" Sam asked with that same cautious tone.

"Yeah, it's a... treasure hunt.” Barnes shrugged, “With, like, challenges and stuff. She cooks up the entire thing in her twisted little mind."

Sam nodded, at nothing really, but just as a manner of expressing that he had processed everything properly.

"But we'd have to pretend for a full week and actually win the thing."

"Nana loves me, 've always been her favorite. You butter her up, she'll give us the cheats. Make it easy for us."

The man nodded again, this time with purpose, "Okay."

"Okay?" Bucky raised his eyebrows with hope.

"Okay." Sam raised his voice before he could regret the choice, "Let's get this prize."

[gleekto]

Summary: College AU/Famous!Blaine and Fanboy!Kurt - Kurt POV

Kurt really doesn’t have time to figure out the dating world between being a freshman at prestigious theatre school, LAADA,  and his active but secret blogging life in the Sing!Fandom. So what if Sing! ended last year? There are still fics to read and actors to follow. Especially the uber talented heartthrob lead, Blaine Anderson. He can act. He can sing. He can even dance. He’s gay. He’s out. And he’s only 24. Kurt is willing to twiddle his thumbs and click refresh until Blaine Anderson’s next project.

He just didn’t expect the next project to be on his roommate Rachel’s new TV show.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Even Better Than the Real Thing (4/15)

It takes Kurt until the following afternoon for the haze to lift and for his feet to land back down on the ground after spending the evening floating. He finally logs on to his tumblr and to the entirely unsurprising 13 messages, all anonymous, all asking him if he heard about whether his source met Blaine. He deletes all of them and clicks on his direct message from Mercedes last night.

From LimaBlaineFan to MercedesSing! : Guilty as charged. You found me out.

MercedesSing!: So let me get this straight - Your roommate and close friend is literally working with Blaine Anderson?!

LimaBlaineFan: He’s her love interest. They kiss.

MercedesSing!: Please don’t tell me you’re jealous because you know that’s all acting and you have suddenly gone from number one fanboy to real life acquaintance overnight and there are a good few hundred followers who would be intensely jealous of you if they knew.

LimaBlaineFan: They don’t. And they won’t. But no, I’m not jealous. Blaine is indeed gay, and you know, he doesn’t have a boyfriend right now. Was too difficult to meet someone while on a show like Sing!

MercedesSing!: He did not tell you that.

LimaBlaineFan: He did. And we commiserated about growing up in Ohio - two gay kids. We’re like peas and pod, Blaine Anderson and I.

MercedesSing!: Shut up. You had a heart to heart with Blaine Anderson. 

LImaBlaineFan: Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But I can confirm that he  is even more beautiful in real life.

MercedesSing!: This is nuts. I’m happy for you. Hell, I’m happy for me. Do you think he can hook me up with Jo Johnson for some music lessons? Kidding. No not really. Anyways. You met Blaine Anderson. And shit got real.

Kurt and Mercedes plot out just the right amount of info to post publicly on his blog from his “source”. 

My source confirms that Blaine Anderson is a genuinely nice guy, but you’ve all heard that before. He did find out that Blaine sang in his high school Glee club, and oh, he’s single right now. Don’t get any ideas though, fandom, because Blaine knows there’s a difference between a fan and a friend. Anyways, sounds like Blaine Anderson was as cute as ever - oh and he was wearing cherry red shoes.

...

“Let’s go, Kurt. Off your laptop, put away your homework, we’re going to the cast open mic night.” 

Kurt looks up over his computer skeptically. “Open mic night?”

“Oh come on. You don’t even have to perform if you don’t want to. And Blaine asked if you were coming-”

“He did? We talked for like five minutes. How does he even remember my name?” What.

“Yeah. I know it’s weird but I think you’re a good excuse not to have to be networking the whole night. For me too,” Rachel emphasizes. “Come on.”

Kurt nods his head from side to side, feigning indecision but of course he’s going. Blaine Anderson asked for him to come. Or asked if he was coming. Or whatever. He’s obviously going.

...

As he and Rachel are whisked into the Limelight - closed for a private event - by the security guard at the door, he’s sure he has accidentally fallen through a portal into the world of Sing!, with Blaine’s character, Roy Royson, up on stage as usual, serenading his on screen love interest with an unplugged version of an 80′s rock ballad. Today it’s Jack and Diane. 

Only Roy Royson would be wearing a plaid flannel shirt and not a fitted red cardigan with tight dark blue jeans and a navy bowtie. And man, Blaine Anderson can rock a bowtie. 

“He’s good, right?” Rachel gestures to Blaine on the stage, who sees them and gives a wink and smile. What a showman. “Talented.”

“He was on Sing!, Rachel. Not a shock that he can carry a tune,” Kurt shrugs. No way is he letting Rachel know how captivated he is. He’s seen Blaine as Roy perform on screen countless times and then on repeat, but something about seeing the real Blaine, all styled and a touch deliberately flamboyant but also very boyish singing classic 80′s rock, completely holding the live audience in his hands. He’s hard to look away from. By the time Kurt catches himself staring slightly open mouthed and manages to turn around to get a drink, Rachel already has a drink in hand and is sitting at a table with Jesse St. James and a few of the others he met the other week.

Kurt orders a ginger ale with one lime (can’t be caught drinking underage with the high profile cast), and turns towards Rachel’s table where Blaine is now conveniently sitting. Kurt would not have normally dared to sit beside him for fear of spilling his drink from shaky hands, or worse being tongue tied when being asked a mundane question, but it appears that the chair beside Blaine is the only empty one and Kurt is not sure if it’s a punishment or a reward. So it’s facing his fears or cozying up to the showrunner at a separate table. Awkward.

“Great performance,” Kurt starts as he sits down beside Blaine.  “I can appreciate a strong stage presence despite the strange choice of music genre.”

Blaine looks up and his smile widens amusedly as he shifts his chair over to make more room. “Thank you,” Blaine nods and then leans in to Kurt’s ear. “Well, despite the choice of genre, I may have caught you staring.”  Blaine winks. Did he just-

Kurt is mortified but Blaine just elbows him in the side and takes a sip of his beer.  He was caught. But Blaine doesn’t appear to be mad, or embarrassed, or irritated - In fact, he seems happily entertained . Cocky bastard. “Well, my dad is a big Mellencamp fan, and I can’t say I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching a classic performance where the lead is in anything other than stone washed jeans and flannel.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Oh it’s a compliment.” Kurt turns to him. “I did try to do Mellencamp once in a Glee club assignment in my junior year - complete with the flannel. But somehow I couldn’t pull it off. My dad even called me out.”

Blaine laughs, eyes sparkling and staring right at him. Man, that eye contact. “Too forced?” 

“Too straight,” Kurt answers and Blaine laughs again like Kurt is both funny and entertaining. “I think I got a lecture about not trying to be someone I’m not just to impress him. That he loves me just as I am blah blah blah.”

Blaine’s face turns serious. “That’s lucky.”

Kurt stares back. “I know.”

“So you were out?”

“Yeah. And maybe thanks to my dad and my Glee club, I survived Lima. But it wasn’t fun. Guess Lima’s just too narrow for all this fabulousness,” Kurt jokes, gesturing at today’s outfit - lime green tight army jeans with a purple button down and scarf. And of course a heart shaped broach. 

“Lima’s loss,” Blaine says seriously, reaching out to touch Kurt’s arm. Kurt jumps and then Blaine’s hand is gone again. “Well, you’re in LA, now. The fun is only just beginning.” Kurt’s jaw drops slightly and he can feel himself staring at Blaine, again, and trying to stop being drawn to that impossible magnetism.

“Let’s go, Kurt! It’s our turn.” Luckily Rachel pulling at his arm against the magnetic force rescues him.

“What?”

“I signed us up, of course. Defying Gravity. Let’s go.” Kurt normally loves performing. Loves performing Broadway hits. Loves performing with Rachel. But performing in front of his celebrity crush - that was not on his agenda. “Come on!” She pulls him up on stage. Ah well. Good thing he’s a good actor. Game face is about to be in full force.

When they take their bows, the room full of appropriately enthusiastic applause, Kurt lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “That was great, Kurt!” Blaine seems genuinely excited. “You’re a countertenor - You have an amazing voice!” Kurt beams. He has an amazing voice.

Before he can second guess himself, Kurt turns to Blaine and whispers, “Thank you. And I assume your love of Broadway is why I caught you staring.” 

Blaine laughs and chinks their glasses. “Guilty.”

...

When he gets home that night, high from all the performances, from the performing, from talking to Blaine Anderson again, he closes his door and screams silently into his pillow. He grabs his phone and texts Mercedes who is of course asleep in New York City.

Kurt: Mercedes, I’m back. We talked. Again. A lot. He kind of stared at me through my whole performance with Rachel. Which he admitted. And laughed. He even likes my voice. I think we’re friends. Like actually friends.

In the morning, Kurt wakes up to Mercedes’ reply. 

Mercedes: Of course he likes your voice. You’re epic. And friends? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[amairainherlilbubble]

Hii,

Today I'll be talking about my favourite topicccccccc that isshh JIMMMMINNN. I'll be talking only about JIMIN here. I seriously have hugeee amount of respect towards him. I don't know him personally and I'll never know him too. But I'm glad I got to know his existence. Aawwww he's such a cutie pie🥺. But that's not the real reason for me to admire him.

Yeshhh!!! He is called cute, pretty, sexy, mochi, etc etc☺️. I don't know howa person can be cute as well as sexy. And he's so handsome😍. He has got ethereal beauty. In addition, I feel he is a perfect example for sincerity + hard work + dedication. He was and is always tough on himself. As he himself said, he doesn't believe in predetermined fate concept. Because he doesn't wait for the fate to create magic for him rather he himself creates his own magic. Just imagine joining a group just 6 months before debut with not knowing much about singing. Think about the challenges he might have faced.

~ completely new people.

~ need to work on your skills.

~ need to work on your dynamics with your bandmates.

~ need to take of your studies.

~ fighting over your insecurities and many more.

It's too much for a teenager to endure. He has successfully overcome everything and has conquered millions of hearts now but it really pricks my heart when I get to know these things about Jimin (I know every successful person have their own shares of struggles in life and I respect it but Jimin holds special place in my heart).

I also remember him telling in a interview, how hard he tried, how he thought he might not able to make it to the group, and his promise to his father of making him proud which he has fulfilled, how he said to his parents that everyday he has to pay a price for making new friends. Those compromises, sacrifices, he made, hardships he endured, everything made him what he is now. He is truly a inspiration for everyone. There's a reason afterall why he is called as rookie's bible, idol's idol.

Despite everything, he always have his cuteeeee and chweeeet smile. Oh my god!!! He's so adorableeee. I just love him. I respect him as a person with such adorable personality. To be honest, he is one of the mature members in BTS. He truly is.

I personally find JIMIN very attractive not just his looks and charms but also his personality(JIMIN effect is no joke). He is not less savage than SUGA to be honest😂. This guy can be sassy sometimes. At the same time, he is too kind hearted. To be honest, my personality is kind of mixture of JIMIN and JUNGKOOK and I'm a Virgo, so I can relate to them in more personal level.

Caring JIMIN SSHII

If you ask me why jimin is your bias, then my answer would be this "BECAUSE HE IS AN ANGEL" Or should I just say he is a rare specie? As I said earlier, I have similar personality and sometimes I can really relate to his words and actions. Coming back to the original point, yes!! he's an angel 😇 and I can give you a day lecture if you deny it😂. He is so beautiful inside out.

Jimin not only consoles/comforts people but he knows exactly how to console/comfort them. And that is the reason why he stands out the most for me. Different people find comfort in different things. For example, some might get comfort by hugs, back hugs and some just by sweet words and some just by someone's presence. And again some people like me find comfort in ourselves. We don't want anyone around us. We just want to cry and vent out our emotions and come back with a huge smile. And this guy knows this. So he treats everyone (not literally everyone only his near and dear ones) the way they want to be treated. Hahaha not everytime. Sometime he treats the way he wants to treat people which is pretty common considering the fact that he's a human being too.

If you observe he knows how to deal with and every member. For example,

During BV4, Jimin and Suga had to climb to the top of the mountain, and we all know how interested Suga is in activities like this (though enjoys afterwards), Jimin knows it so he said Suga to wait and he just ran to check whether the mountain is too steep or not. He literally went by running. He also got the snow to finish their mission successfully. He was so considerate.

During one of the run episodes, he even offered Jin for a piggyback ride in a uphill road😳. It was so sweet gesture from him. (Later jin also offered piggyback ride to jimin which was sweet too)

Again during one of the run episodes, when Jungkook was sad for not getting playing top of his choice, Jimin readily offered his and took rock bison instead. (One of the legendary episodes after lachimolala, where rock bison became famous😂.)

Well I'll just stop here because list just goes on....like an echo in the forest.......like an arrow in the blue sky..... sorry I just went to life goes on😅😅 and I can only remember English lyrics. I'm definitely not saying he's like a fairy from wonderland who won't refuse anything and sacrifice every single thing for the sake of others which is literally impossible for anyone. But he does it mosssssssst of the times which makes him so special, which makes people say "everyone wants a JIMIN in their life". He is one of the members who can goof around with every members.

Misconceptions about the charming boy

1. He's a natural flirt.... oh my my seriously peeps? He's a flirt?

See I understand flirting isn't a bad word if it is used in a right context. I'm not completely denying the fact he flirts but not to the extent people hypes it. And yes, he don't flirt with every random people on earth. Like common people, there's a difference between being friendly and being flirty and also being awkward. I think many people often mixes these things. To be honest, sometimes, I feel lot of others try flirting with him. And yes, just because he's Libra you can not just label his extroverted behavior as flirty behavior.

And he's not completely extrovert he's kind of extrovertly introvert.

2. He is a king of fan service??????

Like I kind of understand fan service is like vital part of KPOP. But I believe, that would be only till some extent and done by all the members accordingly. Once your group is well settled, you don't have to do fan service and stuffs. The only fan service I can remember from JIMIN is showing his abs during "no more dream" performances and also during some shows. And yes, BTS as a whole have participated in fan service but that was during early days. But blaming Jimin alone is not a good idea, you bummers. When I watch videos from those times, I feel like JIMIN's abs were extensively used may be to attract fans? Or whatever. Not every thing he does on stage is to please the fans, he can also do because he loves the stage and love performing the way he does. By now, they all have realized their fans (ARMYYYYYYYYYYY) love them and their performances and don't have to do fan service to lure them.

4. Jimin was fat during/before/after debut????

Like what????? Dude I agree he had this puffy, squishy face which was too cute but he was not fat. (Not Jimin not any BTS members were fat or ugly during their debut days. They were all handsome in their own way.) And I find it really annoying that a person with abs and toned muscles was body shamed???? Does that even make sense....He was cute and he is cute. He was a baby back then.

There's something I want to address here....

I don't know how I ended up there, but I had seen a post somewhere telling Jimin is alcoholic, he just throws himself on other members, he's a home wrecker, he makes people feel uncomfortable and what not.

I'm not part of Jimin's life so I can't really tell how much he drinks. But that honest soul had himself said that, he used to drink a lot to deal with stress then kinda became a habit but now he's not drinking as he used to instead he's sharing his problems/stress with the other members. I'm not saying he's not drinking at all like we all know he, Suga, Jin and Jungkook are all drinking buddies. They are all grown up men. They know what is good to them. So we are no one to judge and we should not judge them because we don't know them. (Believe it or not I just love the way he opens the champagne, pours in to the glass and gulps down in a single go. He looks damn sexy!!!!)

And no, Jimin does not throw himself on anyone. Literally no one period. He will not touch you if you are not comfortable with his touch. He will never interfere in your business if you don't like it. He will never make fun of you, if that makes you sad. He never did and he'll never do anything which can make anyone uncomfortable. Not even with JUNGKOOK. There's no way one can resist jimin's cuteness (again there will be exception like brainless, heartless, thoughtless people) dude.... I can for sure tell you Jungkook was never once uncomfortable with Jimin. Jimin is such a pure soul who can get along with anyone if he wishes to. No members including Suga is uncomfortable with jimin's touch.

Like keep every shipping shits aside and think, they have literally lived together for more than 6-7 years now. There's no way they can be uncomfortable with each other. They themselves have said multiple times, they are all like family. How can you be uncomfortable with your own family member??

Okay then that's all for now.... Yes I know I did not talk about his talents here because I just wanted to talk about jimin as a person here. We all know how amazing he is as an artist. No one can doubt his singing and dancing skills.

I would love to talk about JIMIN as an artist but NOT TODAYYY (go listen to that song).

Thank you for making upto this line.

Bye until next time,

Amaira💜

[thingsandtrichotillomania]

Not A Joke Anymore

I am seriously behind on school work now. It’s already Friday somehow and I have so much shit to do. What makes me mad is that my focus is completely gone, but it’s because I’m telling myself I can’t focus??? It’s like, ofc you don’t want to do school work, you’re telling yourself you don’t want to do it. But it’s because I don’t!

What do I have to do you may ask. Let us see.

For Japanese 102, I have my first Test today at 1 pm. That covers grammar from lesson 5, something I haven’t studied all that much other than the classwork given. I haven’t even studied the vocabulary for lesson 6 (what we did this week) let a lone I’ve got very minimal knowledge of vocabulary from lesson 5. So basically I haven’t been studying at all. Also I have to help my partners write a script, and probably record it tomorrow? Today? I have no idea. I think the recording is due tomorrow. We haven’t even started on it. Oh and I can’t forget that I haven’t even taken the notes I needed to for last week. Haven’t even looked at the grammar lessons for this lesson. So I’ve basically done nothing in this class. Idk how I’ve managed. I haven’t. I failed my first Quiz.

For Psychology 302, I have to do my Library Project #2, this is due on Monday, aka I have 3 full days to do the entire thing. Then I also have Connect #16 due the day after that, meaning I have to read chapter 16 to do the assignment. I haven’t watched ANY of the lectures since the 1st week, and someone told me that those are more important that the chapter readings. So I’m fucked there since those are about an hour a piece and I’m 3 behind. The day after the connect assignment Rpex 1 is due and I have not a damn clue what that’s about, she’s probably already gone over that in her lectures. 

For Psychology 335, I still have to finish the work I have in front of me right now. So the rest of this power point, I have to read 3 chapters (they should be short) and then I have the weekly assignment. This class shouldn’t be too hard to finish.

I’m a dick year behind in Philosophy 315. I didn’t do the reading for Monday, nor did I watch the video. I have to watch whatever was assigned on Tuesday. I think I did Wednesday’s reading, but I could be wrong. I haven’t done Thursday’s reading, haven’t watched the videos, and didn’t do the assignment. Today I have reading, even more videos, and another fucking assignment. I basically haven’t done shit for this class because he wants us to be working on something every single fucking day. I don’t have the time for it.

And I’m completely behind in Philosophy 321. I haven’t done any of the reading for this week, and he said to take extra time on it as it’s a hard read. And I’m pretty sure I have a test in that class too that’s due soon, but it covers shit from this week as well and I haven’t done the reading.

So I’m drowning in school work. And here I am, making a post about it, wasting time. I’m so sick of school. I’m over it. I want to quit. I don’t want to deal with it right now. 

In other unrelated news

I finally got my $600 stimulus check yesterday, it’s going to be going to fix my car’s power steering pump. Then school is giving me $1,000 for some Relief Aid thing, but I still owe them $617 so once that gets done pending, I will pay that. I’m so stressed right now with everything going on.

February 5ht, 2021