#which range from being right next to each other and a ten minute drive away

[neonphoenix]

Thinking about how my high school was consistently one of the top three schools in the state the entire time I was attending it and yet we still had plaster regularly falling from the ceiling.

[pcvensies]

*.• what do the jjk boys do when you have a nightmare.

{ itadori yuuji, fushiguro megumi, gojo satoru, nanami kento + female reader }

Itadori Yuuji.

Your rooms are next to each other at the school, because of you both coming in last.

Because you two didn’t know many people there, and were the new ones, you had grown very close.

That was around a year ago, and now, you two were dating.

Yuuji knew you had nightmares sometimes, being a sorcerer wasn’t easy.

So when he woke up to your pained screaming, he rushed to your room as fast as he could which was very fast!

He opened the door, and found you in your bed, your sheets all tangled, and your palm pressed against your chest as you gasped.

Your teary eyes found his figure, and his heart shattered at the sight of your terrified eyes.

He rushed to your bed, holding you in his arms as he knelt next to you.

Yuuji’s hand held your head to his chest, as you sobbed, fists clenching onto his tshirt.

“Shhh... it’s me, babe... just me princess, you and me”.

His fingers combed your hair softly, lips pressed against the crown of your head as he cooed you.

“You’re safe, okay? I’m here now, I’ve got you”.

You held onto him like if he was going to disappear, or someone was going to take him away from you, and he noticed.

Yuuji let go of you for a second, hands cupping your face as he laid down, pulling you back with him.

You rested your head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around you, pressing a small kiss to your temple.

He held you in silence for a few minutes, humming little melodies in your ear, as your breathing started to match his.

“Yuuji..?” “Right here, princess”.

He looked down at you with those brown puppy eyes of his, and you felt warmth grow inside of you, calming you down.

You sniffed, and he wiped away a tear that rolled down your face, leaning down slowly to press a sweet kiss against your lips, then your nose.

His hands roamed up and down your back, his gentle touch grounding you again. He was here. Yuuji was here, and you were safe.

“I’ll always be here”, he whispered as he caressed your cheek, and your eyes closed again.

Fushiguro Megumi.

Megumi didn’t have a heavy sleep, he never has have.

So when his phone started vibrating at four in the morning, he woke up immediately.

Your name popped up in the screen, and he frowned, worry shaking away any kind of tiredness he could have in him.

“Y/n?” “...” “Babe, are you okay?”.

He was away in a mission with Itadori and Nobara, and anxiety started growing inside of his chest, knowing how far away he was from you.

His heart stopped when he heard you sob from the other side of the call.

“Angel, what’s wrong? Please talk to me, let me help you”.

His voice helped you to calm down a little, and you took a deep breath as you managed to speak.

“N-nightmare”.

Megumi sighed softly, relief filling his body, and he put the phone away from his ear.

You heard silence for a few seconds, before the Facetime screen appeared, and you picked up.

His face dropped at the sight of you, tears rolling down your cheeks and red eyes looking at him with panic.

“Do you want to tell me what happened, angel?”

You told him how you had dreamt of him dying in the mission, and your boyfriend sighed softly.

He turned on the small light besides him, and he gave you a small smile.

Your heart started beating normally almost immediately.

“Still in one piece, see?”, he reassured, giving you a soft look that was only for you to see.

You nodded slowly, arms wrapped around yourself, and he noticed you were wearing one of his tshirts.

“Smells like you... sorry I took it”.

“Don’t apologise, please. It looks better on your anyways”, he spoke softly, and smiled, “Why don’t you try to sleep again, huh? I’ll be right here”.

“You don’t mind? I don’t want to keep you awake, ‘gumi...”, you said shyly, worried that he wouldn’t rest well, and would be tired during his mission.

He shook his head, laying down again, as you did, resting his phone against the nightlight so you could still see him.

“I’ll sleep better if you’re with me, angel”.

Gojo Satoru.

Satoru sighed deeply, opening the door to your apartment and dropping his bag at the door.

It was late, almost three in the morning, and he had just arrived back from a week-long mission turned into ten days.

It got complicated, and the elders hadn’t allowed him any contact with home, as he ‘had to remain concentrated on the mission’.

He knew it was a punishment to him, but it angered him that you got some of it too.

He took off his shoes, followed by his blindfold, and he walked to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

That’s when he heard it, a soft whimpering coming from your shared bedroom.

He ran to the room, senses still in alert, and opened the door with a push.

Nothing was there, just you, twitching in bed as you mumbled in your sleep.

“No... No, no please... P-please don’t... Not S-Satoru...”.

Gojo walked to the bed, kneeling in front of you, and he shook you softly, hand in your forearm.

You opened your eyes at the unexpected touch, jolting up and screaming.

“Hey, hey... It’s me, little one, I’m home”, he spoke through your soft cries, as he took your hands, guiding them to his face.

Your shaky fingers caressed his skin in the dark, soon finding his hair, and then his shoulders.

A sob left your lips as you pulled him into your body, his weight making you both fall in the bed.

He turned you around, so you were on top of him, and he chuckled softly.

“Someone really missed me, yes?”, he asked softly, pressing a kiss to your head, “It’s alright, baby, really... I’m alright”.

You nodded against his chest, face buried in his clothes, and he caressed your hair gently, feeling your breathing slow down.

“They... I had a bad dream, and you... y-you... they had...”, you struggled to find the words, but Satoru already knew what you wanted to say.

His blood boiled with anger, rage for what those old bitches were putting you both through. But he simply clicked his tongue, pulling you from his chest so you could look at him.

“Here, look at me, Y/n. I am the strongest, remember?”, he asked, and you nodded slowly, “No one is taking me away from you, alright? No one, bunny”.

You nodded again, rubbing your eyes, and Gojo covered you both with the blankets as you kept looking at him, still shocked by his presence.

He looked down at you, a sweet smirk plastered on his face, and he held your chin with his fingers, pulling you closer to his face to kiss your lips.

“I’m sorry for being late, little one... I’ll make it up to you, ye-“, he started speaking, playful tone disappearing as he realised you had fallen asleep again.

“Sleep well, Y/n... I’ve missed you too”.

Nanami Kento.

It was 5 pm when Nanami’s phone rang, but he couldn’t pick it up.

He was in the middle of a mission with Gojo, fighting a special grade that had taken a school.

His eyes coloured with worry when, at seven, Ijitchi came to pick them both up, and informed him that you had called to ask for your boyfriend.

“Please, drive me directly home”, he asked, ignoring Gojo’s questions about what had happened, or if you were alright.

He knew the white haired man was being genuine in his worry for you, but he couldn’t think about anything.

When he got home, he called for you as soon as he opened the door, but you were already there.

Your frame was cuddled on the couch, a blanket over your shoulders as your head rested on your knees, which you were holding to your chest.

“Darling, what happened? Are you sick, is everything alright?”, he asked, walking to you.

You didn’t give an answer before throwing yourself onto his arms, your own wrapping around his neck as you started crying.

Kento knew what had happened as soon as you did that, and he held you gently, rubbing your back with one hand, as the other pulled your legs to wrap around him.

He walked to the kitchen with you in his arms, and with one shift hand, he put water to boil.

“Do you want to tell me what you saw, my love?”, he asked gently, looking at you as he sat you on the counter, his hands brushing some strands of hair away from your eyes.

You shook your head, and he hummed in understanding, hand now on the back of your head to pull you closer.

He kissed your forehead sweetly, fingers running through your hair as his free hand held one of yours, thumb running over your knuckles.

When the water boiled, he poured it in a cup, and threw in a bag of tea and some sugar.

Kento carried you back to the couch, sitting down with you in his lap, and he held the cup for you, as your arms were still wrapped around his neck.

He wasn’t much of a talker in this situations, knowing his words were not what you needed, but his presence and touch.

He caressed your back with his free hand, and pressed another kiss to your forehead as you rested your head against his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up, darling”, “It’s okay... You’re here now, and that’s what matters”.

He rested the cup in the table, wrapping his arms around you to hold you as close as possible, and smiled when you pressed a little peck to his shoulder.

“That’s all what matters...”.

[lucyintheskywithxanax]

Hidden (nsfw)

Pairing: Wilhemina Venable x Fem Reader

A/N: today is Easter Sunday, so I could not not post smut. Remember to honour the Lord, you sinners. x

Warnings: smut (vibrating panties, nothing too graphic really). As always, English isn’t my first language.

Word count: ≈ 3 000

“Ok ok, let me try it. I’m putting it on medium speed, alright?”

Wilhemina glanced up at you from where she was sitting at the vanity, brushing her hair. “Now don’t get too excited –“she started, but before she had time to finish you pressed a button on the remote control and her whole body tensed.

You bit your lower lip to hold back a smirk as a faint vibrating noise came from where Wilhemina was sitting.

Wilhemina’s eyes widened. “Fuck,” she breathed. She dropped her hairbrush and slammed her hands down on the vanity to support herself as her hips bucked.

“Does it feel good?” you asked, assuming an innocent tone.

Wilhemina’s only answer was a low moan as her hips bucked again; her fingers clenched around the edge of the vanity, her mouth fell open, and before you knew it she gasped, arched her back, and shook.

You stared at her, pleasantly dumbfounded. “Did you come already?”

Wilhemina shot you a look. Another moan escaped her. She unclasped one hand to gesture at her lap, eyes fluttering closed then opening again. Your thumb hovered over the stop button, but you were entirely too fascinated by the sight in front of you to dare press it yet. Wilhemina shot you another look. She made to stand up, but her legs were shaking and she fell back onto her chair. A chuckle escaped you.

“Y/N,” Wilhemina started. She cut herself off with a whimper as her hips jolted violently and her body bent at the waist. She supported herself on the vanity, eyes widening, and wriggled on her chair as if trying to get away from her own center as soft, breathless moans dropped from her lips.

You turned the vibrator off.

“Jeez, Mina,” you laughed. “That was only medium speed.”

She glared at you, eyes very dark and cheeks very pink. With a chuckle you crossed to her, cupped her face and kissed her lips.

It had all started with a joke. You had come upon an ad for vibrating panties on a streaming website, and bought them on a whim. Wilhemina’s expression when she had opened the package was one you’d never forget. Her cheeks and ears had turned pink, and she had shot you such a shocked, outraged look you hadn’t been able to stop laughing.

It had taken a lot of persuading for her to finally agree to wear them. On a work day to boot. You said it made it all the more fun. She scoffed, but didn’t argue.   

You made breakfast as Wilhemina finished brushing and tying up her hair. When you heard the sound of her cane in the kitchen you turned, met her slightly annoyed eyes, and smirked.

She scowled at you as she took the mug of coffee you handed her. “Why do I feel like I’m tied up to a time bomb?” she said in a sharp voice, but you heard the amusement in there, too.

“Relax,” you smiled, folding the dish towel and leaning against the stove. “It’s not going to kill you. I think.”

“Well that’s very reassuring.” She pressed her mug against her lips and gave you a look. “I’m not sure you’re mature enough to be given that much control over me.”

“I guess only time will tell,” you joked. You sat down at the table and lay one hand on her thigh. Gave it a reassuring squeeze, just in case.

When it was time to leave, you sat down on the passenger seat and Wilhemina took the wheel. The first few minutes of the drive were silent. You stared out the window at the pedestrians on their way to work, at the lights being switched on in shop windows, at the city slowly waking up in the bright morning light.

The traffic light in front of you turned orange, and Wilhemina pulled up.

You smirked at her. She turned her head to look at you, narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed.

You raised your eyebrows innocently. “What?” you asked. “I’m not doing anything.”

You reached into your pocket and wrapped your fingers around the remote control.

Wilhemina immediately stiffened as you pressed a button. Her grip on the wheel tightened, and she shot you a look, breathed, “Y/N…”

“Come for me before it turns green,” you cooed. “I know you can do it. You’re so sensitive, baby.”

Wilhemina mumbled something under her breath. She made sure to keep her face and posture as straight as possible, but a soft gasp escaped her, and her hips shook slightly when she came.

“See?” you teased. You had to clear your throat. Your voice was a little husky. “I was right.”

The traffic light turned green.

“I’m not sure it was a good idea,” Wilhemina muttered. “You’re having entirely too much fun.”

“Oh, and you’re not?” you laughed, but then your expression became serious again. “We can stop, if you – “

“No.” Wilhemina shook her head, a small smile dancing on her lips. “You’re right. I’m having entirely too much fun as well. Oh for God’s sake, speed up, asshole,” she growled at the car in front of you.

You rolled your eyes at her, chuckled fondly.  

Before getting out of the car, she turned her head and stared at you.

“What?” you asked.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Her voice was sharp, but you caught a glimpse of the nervousness in her eyes.

You took her hand in yours and gave it a squeeze. “I won’t. And remember, you can take them off anytime you want, ok?”

She nodded, leaned in to plant a kiss on your lips. You smiled giddily at her and gave her hand another squeeze.

You were met by a very grumpy Mutt who looked like he could use a good night’s sleep and three mugs of coffee. Apparently he had run out of coke again. Wilhemina made an annoyed clicking noise with her tongue. She looked down on him and said she would take care of his problem promptly.

You shot her a smile as you parted ways towards your respective offices. Excitement beat in your chest. You reached into your pocket and brushed your fingers over the remote control, just to feel it there. 

It proved incredibly hard to work. Your thoughts kept going back to Wilhemina. The amount of trust and power she was offering you was intoxicating. You wanted to run to her office and kiss her senseless.

You held on till 10:30am. Then you texted Wilhemina to ask her if she was alone. You beamed when she answered in the affirmative, and lost no time to turn on the vibrator.

Ten seconds later, your phone rang.

“Yes, darling?” you grinned as you picked it up.

“What are you doing?”

You bit your lip. “You sound a bit breathless,” you said, assuming a casual tone even though heat was quickly filling your head. “What’s going on?”

“Y/N I swear to God – “Wilhemina cut herself off, sucked a breath in.

“Yes?” you asked, voice a bit too high.

“This was the worst idea ever. You obviously cannot be trusted with this thi –“She let out a short, breathy moan that went right through you and made your whole body tingle with desire.

“Fuck, Y/N.”

“Give me another one, baby. I love hearing you.”

“What if I die because of this? Aren’t you going to mourn me?”

“You’re not going to die,” you chuckled.

Wilhemina sucked in another breath. “Y/N,” she rasped.

Your eyes fluttered closed. “Yes?” you breathed. You summoned her image behind your eyelids: her lips would be slightly parted, her brow pushed up, her eyes closed certainly; a delicate blush covering her cheeks, the soft brushing of her lashes against her skin.

You could hear her somewhat erratic breathing, the soft gasps that fell from her mouth and that made your core throb. You pressed your phone harder against your ear as if that would enable you to hear better.

Wilhemina whimpered your name, and then there was a noise as if she had dropped her phone.

“Mina?” you called. 

“I’m here.”

You shifted in your chair, wincing at the wetness that had gathered between your legs.

“Maybe we should take the rest of the day off,” you breathed. “Tell Jeff and Mutt we’re both sick.”

Wilhemina let out another whimper. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she hissed.

“Spend the rest of the day in bed,” you went on. “Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t you like that? Making love until we both can’t walk anymore.”

Wilhemina took a sharp intake of breath which made you press your thighs together. You were starting to think that maybe this whole vibrating panties thing was a bad idea. You weren’t sure you’d be able to wait till the end of the day to ravish Wilhemina yourself. Surely you should have thought this through better.

“Y/N,” Wilhemina said quietly, but this time it sounded like a warning. She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again her voice had regained its usual sharpness. “I’ll expect your report on my desk before noon, Miss Y/L/N.” You frowned, confused, but before you had time to speak Wilhemina went on: “Be one minute late and I’ll have you scrub the bathrooms with your tongue and teeth for the next two weeks.” And with that she hung up, but not before you had time to hear a loud chuckle. Jeff’s voice.

You slammed your thumb on the stop button of the remote control and sank back into your seat with a groan. You brought a hand up to your forehead to massage it, took a few deep breaths to help you relax.

About five minutes later, your phone’s screen lit up. A text, from Wilhemina, that only read Thank you. You smiled fondly at the screen, texted her back Of course. Love you.

You didn’t see her or hear of her after that until your lunch break. You two sat side by side as you ate in the cafeteria, your legs touching. You didn’t speak much, but you shot each other knowing glances, and you saw Wilhemina’s lips twitch with a smile more than once.

At 2:00pm you both had to attend a presentation given by Mutt on a new software you didn’t give a damn about. You exchanged a few words with some of your coworkers, then sat down at a table next to Wilhemina.

Mutt had been talking for a little over ten minutes when you started getting bored. You stopped listening to him, and shot a sideways glance at Wilhemina.

A small, wicked smile crept up your lips. With one hand you reached into your pocket, and you rested your other hand on Wilhemina’s thigh. You gave it a gentle squeeze, then pressed the slow speed button of the remote control.

Wilhemina’s expression did not change, but she stiffened on her chair almost imperceptibly. She shot you an offended look, and took hold of your hand on her thigh. You laced your fingers together, glad you had this silent way of communicating.

Someone on your left asked Mutt a question. You nodded at the answer, even though you had no idea what Mutt was talking about. Your heart was beating too fast, and you had to fight the smirk that tugged at your lips. You stroke your thumb over Wilhemina’s before you increased the speed of the vibrator.

It was incredible, how blank she managed to keep her face. The only indication that something was going on was the slow, gradual tightening of her grip on your hand.

Mutt started a video and sat down at one of the tables. You shot Wilhemina another glance, wondering if you should dare. Probably you shouldn’t. But heat was filling up your head again, and adrenaline was flowing in your veins and in the thrill of the moment, you pressed the high speed button.

Wilhemina’s hand squeezed yours so hard you thought she would crush your bones. You crossed your legs, forcing yourself to keep your face as straight as Wilhemina’s. A few seconds later you felt her thigh tremble, her nails digging into your skin. You switched the vibrator to medium speed, but didn’t turn it off.

The video ended – how long had it lasted? what had it been about? You had no idea – and Mutt stood up again, asked if anyone had questions. A woman at the back of the room raised her hand.

Wilhemina’s thigh trembled again. This time, her hips jerked slightly, but when you glanced at her, her face was as unreadable as ever. She met your eyes; hers were dark and heated.

You licked your lips. Wilhemina’s eyes flicked down to them. You stroked your thumb over her skin to help her ground herself and glanced at her in awe as her hips jerked again. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she came off her latest high, and she shifted uncomfortably on her seat, so you reached into your pocket and turned the vibrator off. Her hand gave yours a weak squeeze.

You noticed how her legs were slightly shaking when she stood up at the end of the presentation. You lowered your head and smiled to yourself. When you looked up again, she was already walking off, leaning a bit more heavily than usual on her cane, but when she reached the doorway she paused. She cocked her head to the side, as if she were making up her mind about something. Then she disappeared down the corridor.

It was even harder to focus on your work for the rest of the day. You kept glancing up at the clock on the wall. You barely got anything done, legs bouncing, heart beating too fast. More than once you had to force yourself not to run to Wilhemina’s office and lock her door behind you. When finally it was time to leave, you rushed out of the building and to the car park, where you and Wilhemina would usually meet to drive back home.

She arrived five minutes later, and your eyes devoured her body as she slowly, regally, walked up to you. You checked the place was empty before you slipped one arm around her waist, pulled her close and crashed your mouth against hers.

You kissed her until her hand came up to tug at your hair, hard. You pulled away with a gasp, met her eyes. Her pupils were blown wide, and her gaze was so wild and predatory it sent a shiver of delicious fear down your spine.

“You drive,” Wilhemina rasped. She leaned in, licked a trail up your neck with the tip of her tongue. “Be sure to make it home in half the time.”

The front door of your house had barely closed behind you two when you heard the sound of her cane as it hit the floor and then she was all over you, one hand cupping your face and the other pressing you against her as her lips and tongue and teeth claimed dominance over yours. Her nails dug into your cheek, her mouth planted hot, wet kisses down your neck that made your legs go weak. There was only heat and lust and love in your brain, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to resist her, knew she would take revenge on you now if you let her; so you grabbed the remote control and pressed the high speed button.

Wilhemina let out a loud moan, hips bucking into yours at the sudden sensation. Her eyes opened wide, and she gasped into your mouth as her hand clutched the back of your shirt. “Not fair,” she hissed. She nipped your lower lip, swallowed another moan. You wrapped your arms around her waist to support her as she climaxed, the tremors of her body running through yours as if you were one and the same.

Wilhemina’s hips shook violently, making her wince. “Turn it off,” she hissed weakly. “For God’s sake turn it off.”

You quickly obliged. She sank into you, your grip on her the only thing keeping her on her feet, and pressed her forehead against yours. You touched your nose to hers as she struggled to catch her breath.

After a few moments, her eyes fluttered closed.

“Sleepy?” you whispered fondly. “Or do you have enough strength left for another round?”

Wilhemina shivered. “Lord, have mercy,” she breathed. She opened her eyes, looked at you with a soft, adoring smile.

You made her dinner, helped her undress and lathered her body in the shower, careful to avoid touching her overstimulated core. You dried and combed her hair, and she insisted she did the same for you. She grazed her nails on your skull, pressed delicate kisses on your temple.

The sun had not yet set when you both settled in bed. Wilhemina lay on her back and you rested your head on her chest, slipping one hand under her shirt to feel her skin. It was way before your usual bedtime, but you couldn’t care less. Happiness was holding her.

You turned your head to kiss her collarbone. “Are you very sleepy?” you asked with a grin.

“Wait for your turn,” Wilhemina mumbled. “I’ll make you cry. You’ll be so embarrassed.”

You chuckled, caressed the soft skin just below the swell of her breast. “Whatever, babe.”

There was a quiet, comfortable pause. Wilhemina draped one arm around your waist.

“Do you have any idea what Mutt’s presentation was about?” you asked her.

“No.”

You chuckled again. “I’m so impressed by your poker face.”

“Took years of practice,” Wilhemina mumbled.

You blinked at that, at the hidden implication of her words. You couldn’t think about it for too long without becoming angry, so you took her hand in yours and brought it to your lips.

She opened her eyes as you pressed two kisses on each of her knuckles. Then you rested your linked hands on her stomach, and nuzzled her skin.

“I’m glad we can put that skill of yours to good use now,” you whispered.

Part 1  / Part 2 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

Tag list: @mssallymckenna @supremeinlilac @pluied-ete @rainbow-hedgehog @pearplate @angelxsarahp @paulawand @asktammyr @peggycarter-steverogers @coconutlipss ​ @saucy-sapphic @thesupremewife @paulsonpills @notokpaulson

[lubdubsworld]

Better Man. ( Taehyung x OC)

Chapter 1    Chapter 2

Rated 18 +

Post Divorce, Getting Back Together, Second chances, Angst.

Chapter 3 ~ The problem with marriage is this  : it isn’t worth the pain of divorce. 

Denial isn’t healthy.

 But sometimes it helps you stay sane , at least long enough to get your act together. When you’re in denial, you kind of keep yourself together a bit. You process things a bit more slowly. Take your time examining the facts. 

It helps you make a delayed but possibly more informed decision.

 Impulsive decisions never end well.

 So it’s good to stew in denial for a while ( a short while) and then slowly begin processing what happened, think about it, think how its gonna affect you and then make a choice. 

Unfortunately for Taehyung and I... I wasn’t in denial. 

Maybe I should have been.

 The time between Taehyung turning up drunk and the me leaving the house was less than twelve hours. Taehyung showed up drunk and I just told him I was leaving. That we needed a break and I didn’t know when I’d be back. 

Terrible choice.

 In the first twelve hours, the hurt is so potent and strong , the wound so raw and fresh that you can’t think beyond the pain . Your instinct is to repay the pain, to retaliate and make the other party feel exactly what you’re feeling. So you think of the thing that would hurt them the most and you go ahead and do it. 

Like move out of your shared home of eight years, take away the son he adored and possibly rip the ground right out from under his feet. 

And then after the first twelve hours, reason begins to catch up. 

I had wanted to go back. 

I had wanted to go back to him but I was scared. 

Scared that I was being weak.

 That if I didn’t stick to the choice I made, Taehyung would forever see me as a pushover. That he would take it as some sick permission to do it all over again. That he’d just think I was too weak to walk out on him. 

And i couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have him hurting me and not facing the consequences of it. I just couldn’t.

So I stayed away. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I worked on the seventh floor of a high rise in Gangnam, probably a twenty minute drive from Taehyung’s agency. It was an electronic/ tech company that dealt with everything from mobile phones to home fittings . As the  assistant director of Marketing I dealt with branding and keeping up the image of the company. Annual budgets, endorsements, campaigns and what not. 

I was good at it and i enjoyed it . everyone agreed that i did a good job because the numbers spoke for themselves. But I think the main reason I got the job was because I was married to the biggest brand ambassador in the country. 

“ I need the reports on consumer trends for this month and I want to meet with Social media team before lunch. There’s a drop in our web traffic and that needs to be fixed.” I told my assistant, accepting the hot coffee and muffin that he held in his hand before moving to the corner office, my strides faltering just a bit when i noticed that  someone  was already inside. The figure had his back to me but I could vaguely recognize the broad shoulders and muscular arms. 

“Mr. Jeon’s been waiting for about ten minutes now.” Mingyu said with a smile and I nodded. 

“That’s fine , I’ll handle him.” I waved my assistant off and moved to the  door, unlocking it and stepping in. 

“Morning, Jang Mi.” He smiled, eyes flashing with ill concealed delight and I inhaled to calm myself down. . 

I could already feel a headache coming on. 

“Jungkook.” I said curtly. “ To what do I owe this very early visit?”  I glanced at my table finally taking the bottle of champagne in the small ice bucket. 

“Thought we’d celebrate you finally being free.” He grinned. 

Jeon Jungkook was handsome, intelligent , and annoyingly good at everything he did.

At 34,  He was one of the youngest CFO’s in the industry, and everything he touched turned to gold. I didn’t report to him and he had zero reasons to be in my office at any given time. But , unfortunately he had never gotten that particular memo. 

“I’m not in the mood, Jungkook.” I sighed, moving to the back of my desk and dropping my bag on the small ottoman on the side and my keys in the desk. I plugged my phone into the cable on the side and then went to open the blinds. 

“Come on... You know how sick I’ve been of two years of  hearing ‘ I’m sorry, I’m married.’ .... you’re gonna have to come up with  a better excuse the next time i ask you out.” 

“No. No is a whole entire sentence that you should be able to accept.” I said evenly, fixing the cushions on the couch only to have him plop down on them immediately after. 

“One date. Dinner anywhere you like. i can fly you to Paris if you want.... Macua? Jeju Do? Tell me what you want and I’ll get it done. ?” 

i stared at him. 

“I want you to fire Kang Yeseul from the Social Media team.” I said with a shrug. 

He frowned. 

“The new girl? Why?” 

“She’s been posting nudes that she took in my office when I was on leave last week. My name plate is literally visible.”

“Jesus fuck...these bitches get dumber by the minute.”

I couldn’t even deny it.

“I’ll take care of it.” He said swiftly. “ Anything else?”

“Web traffics gone down and I’m gonna find out why. It’s probably time for us to work out the budget for the Christmas Carnival. I think we should go for something new this time. If you can set up a meeting with all the department heads we can brainstorm a few ideas...” 

“I can’t forget about that night.” 

I froze. 

God. 

i turned around to stare at him as he lounged on the couch. If Kim Taehyung was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, Jungkook was definitely the second.

 He was disconcertingly good looking and where Taehyung’s image was always the clean cut gentleman with the perfect character, Jungkook had a reputation as a bit of a delinquent. Simply because he had a penchant for leather jackets and liked to ride around Seoul on his motorbike on days off. 

Which was ironical because in truth, Taehyung was far from a saint and Jungkook was relatively more put together 

He was also a divorcee and a single parent. His daughter Jennie was easily the cutest two year old on the planet.

His wife and him had fifty fifty custody but she had cheated on him with his best friend. Jungkook had no patience for her. They had a very volatile relationship but he was fighting for full custody and rumor was that he would most certainly be granted it, soon. 

A marathon runner ,  he didn’t drink or smoke.  

Jungkook liked to paint and volunteered at an animal shelter once or twice a month because he loved dogs but couldn’t keep one because of his busy schedule. 

So all in all , a pretty solid candidate if I was looking for a guy. 

Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that I was completely and utterly done with relationships for the rest of my life, I would actually give the guy a chance. 

But , it is what it is. 

“That sounds like a  you  problem. “ I shrugged. “ It was supposed to be  one  night  with no strings attached. And by string I meant awkward conversations three months later .” 

Jungkook groaned and sat up straighter, legs spread and shirt sleeves riding up to show a very sparkly watch. Rich men and their vices. I smirked a little. 

“Come on... its just dinner. I want to get to know you, that’s it.” he held his hands up. 

“There’s nothing to know Jungkook. I’m actually more boring than i appear, which is saying something. I’m not going to be the girl in the leather jacket clinging to your waist when you’re joyriding that motorbike of yours through Seoul. That’s not me. I would hate something that” 

He chuckled. 

“Are you sure? You ever tried it?”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“That’s not the point.”

“I’ll buy you a jacket. Join me this weekend. We’ll go a ride. Then you can make a decision.” 

I opened my mouth to argue when the phone rang. I grabbed it quickly.

“Hello?” 

“This is Lee Taemin from the Advertising Department.”

“Yes?”

“We have a Mr. Jung from HYBE on the phone. They want to talk to us about a possible candidate for our Christmas Campaign.... “

I blinked, surprised. 

“We haven’t even decided on a theme yet. “

Choosing the right actors to endorse stuff was usually the last step. 

“I know but he’s saying they want to talk about Mr. Kim Taehyung as a possible candidate?”

I felt my entire jaw come unhinged. 

I turned to Jungkook stunned. His eyes widened at the look on my face and he mouthed a ‘ What’ 

“Please tell him I’ll call him back in fifteen minutes.” I said quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Jungkook demanded. 

“Taehyung’s manager...he... he wants to make him the face of the Christmas Campaign.” I said dully, mind ringing. I was utterly stupefied. 

Taehyung was the face of Gucci and Versace . He was so far out of our company’s league it wasn’t even funny. 

Jungkook stared at me in disbelief.

“No.” He said quickly.

I gaped at him.

“What?” 

“No... we can’t have that. He’s.. he’s obviously doing this to get back with you...”

I shook my head.

“that can’t be it. He’s the one who gave me a divorce. He’s the one who wanted to end it. “ 

It was the shock of what I’d heard. There was no other explanation for why I said that to Jeon Jungkook. 

Jungkook gave me a look.

“Really? But you wanted one too right?”

“Of course I did.” I lied easily, waving him off. “Anyway that doesn’t matter. We can’t say no to him, Jungkook. Our sales would skyrocket if we get him onboard.” 

Jungkook swore.

“Fuck, you’re right. The Ceo will probably piss himself in excitement. You sure you’ll be okay with it?”

Jungkook looked worried. 

“You forget that Taehyung and I are actually quite good friends.” I said gently. 

He grimaced.

“That's just unnatural. If you can stay friends with an ex it clearly means that either you’re still in love with each other or....”He shrugged. 

“Or what?” 

“Or you never loved each other in the first place.” 

I swallowed the remark hitting a little too close to home for comfort. 

“Schedule that meeting Jungkook. We’ll come up with a campaign theme that would fit Taehyung’s image. I’ll take to Hoseok and Taehyung.” 

“You’re going to call Taehyung?” Jungkook asked casually.

“Hoshi’s with him today. I’ll probably go over to his place after work and talk to him in person.” 

“Lucky bastard. He gets to hurt you and yet  still have you.” Jungkook said bitterly. 

I rolled my eyes.

“He doesn’t have me.”

“Doesn’t he? Why else would you turn down dates with anyone who asks? its one date.. a dinner... If you’re not still hung up on your ex husband why wouldn’t     you just go on one date with-”

I’d really had quite enough of it. I threw my hands up in sheer exasperation. 

“Alright fine.” I yelled, “  I’ll go to dinner with you...can you just stop psycho analyzing my relationship with my husband?” 

Jungkook’s smile told me that I’d been played like a fiddle. 

“excellent. Go see your husband after work and I’ll come pick you up at eight.” 

“What...no wait...”

“I know where he lives. Don’t worry about it. I’ll schedule that meeting and maybe after lunch we can go over the kind of budget you’ll want. Okay?”

I felt a little like I’d stepped into quagmire. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn’t go see Taehyung after work. 

I didn’t have to. 

An hour before I was due to finish my daily report, he turned up at the office with my son. My assistant let him in and I could only gape at him.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked , completely thrown. 

“Mama I had ice cream with strawberries and sprinkles in a hundred colors.” Hoshi looked excited, eyes shining the way they usually did when he was with Taehyung. 

“That sound incredibly exciting....”

“We missed you mama....can we go again?” He said excitedly.

“I’m sorry honey, Mama’s a little caught up with work...”

“Why don’t we wait?” Taehyung said cheerfully, “ Mama likes blueberry scones so we can get those for her...” 

I stared at him.

“Okay...” I sad carefully, staring him down. What was he doing really?

“Okay... Can I go see the fishies....” Hoshi waved at the large fish tank built into the wall in my office and Taehyung laughed, letting him down.

“Sure bud.. go see how many of the fish you can identify...” He said brightly. 

“ Since when do you pick me up for blueberry scones after work?” I asked briskly and he shrugged.

“Let the kid be happy , Mia. I heard Hobi hyung already spoke to you.”

“What is that all about, Tae?” I said tiredly. 

“All the other offers i got are out of Korea. I want to stay with Hoshi during the Holidays so i thought this way , we could spend some time together..”

“By we, I hope you mean you and Hoshi.” I said drily.

“Of course. I could’ve picked another mall or something but i thought it could be a good thing if we worked at the same place... we can keep Hoshi with us and there wont be all the commuting back and forth nonsense....” 

I nodded. 

“I suppose you’re right. “ I sighed. “But be warned, you’re probably not going to have a very exciting time. 

“I’ll enjoy it nonetheless.” 

I nodded. 

“I won’t tell you how to live your life And I most certainly won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. My Ceo might just give me a huge pay raise for this. He’s been waiting for it since the time he hired me.”

Taehyung gave me a smile.

“I would have done it the minute you asked. You never asked.” 

I shrugged. 

“Like I said, I won’t tell you how to live your life.” 

“Jang Mi?” The knock on the door made us both look up.

Jungkook stood framed in the doorway, jacket off and slung over his arms . He looked bigger than usual, muscles straining against his button down and hair mussed. 

He stepped in casually, holding a hand out to Taehyung.

“The golden boy of Korea. in the flesh. A pleasure to meet you Mr. Kim. I’m Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook” 

The pair of them shook hands and I felt that I would rather be anywhere in the world than there. 

“ Nice to meet you Mr. Jeon.” Taehyung smiled politely. 

“We still on for tonight?” Jungkook asked casually, turning to me with a bright smile. 

This is why i hated men. 

Taehyung’s eyes snapped to me so fast that i was sure he must’ve got whiplash. 

“Sure. I’ll call you.” I said shortly. 

“What’s tonight?” Taehyung smiled, face neutral and smile still in place but his eyes flashed and his voice carried a knife edge to it. 

“Business dinner. We’re going over the budget for the Christmas campaign.” 

“Oh... where?” Taehyung asked with the same smile and I frowned.

“We’ve not decid-”

“I thought I could cook for you. i make a mean steak dinner and I thought I could pick up a bottle of your favorite wine on the way. You have my address right? ” Jungkook smiled. 

Taehyung went still next to me, his entire body taut . 

“A little inappropriate for a business dinner, don’t you think?” he snapped.

Jungkook glared back at him, eyes narrowed. 

“Well, you know what they say about all work and no play-” he began but I’d had enough. 

“I think this conversation needs to end now.” I said loudly. 

They  both shut up but glared at each other.

“I’m gonna make a reservation at the Hyatt for tonight. I’ll meet you there at seven thirty. “ I said, glaring at Jungkook. 

He nodded.

“Pleasure meeting you Kim Taehyung.” He nodded curtly at my ex husband before moving away. 

The silence he left behind was pretty awkward. 

“Bit too much of a douchebag than your usual type.” Taehyung said casually. 

I groaned.

“Don’t start.” 

“ I won’t if you don’t date him.” 

I opened my mouth to argue but then stopped. 

“Lets just get that ice cream ? “ I said tiredly. Hoshi reappeared from the inside room, looking excited and happy and I smiled despite my weariness. 

I could use a little sweetness in my life after a bitterly exhausting day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s note : Feedback is welcome . Probably going to be a long , terribly angsty fic with a lot of pain for everyone involved. I still haven’t decided who ocs going to end up with so we’ll see... what do you guys think? 

[amelee23]

Fool | J. YH

Genre: Fluff

Tags: Best friends to lovers, Suggestive themes and sexual jokes, Wooyoung is an accidental wingman, Nerdy gamers having at it, A lot of Need for Speed references

No. Words: 3.5k

⭐⭐⭐

She always loved when they got completely absorbed in their little bubble - engrossed in what was making them tick in the most passionate of ways. Since Yunho came to pick her up and take her to the dorm, she didn’t even realize when they got there - or even that the house was empty -  because they were too caught in a conversation about the new-coming video games of 2021. The small task of taking off shoes or their jackets, the walk to Yunho’s room and the struggle to get comfortable in the gaming chair; these were not memories in her mind. All she could remember was the way he smiled without stop and the sparkle in his eyes as excitement took over his entire being.

Only after Yunho told her he’s been playing old games lately - specifically racing classics, of the Need For Speed series - had she realized the house was too quiet. Yunho then informed her they all left to eat at a restaurant with the manager team, but he asked to be left behind so he could spend time with his best friend. She couldn’t help the warm smile raising her lips at the sweet sacrifice this man made for her.

A few minutes later and she felt the usual competitive side of her kick in, seeing Yunho with a controller in hand, playing Need for Speed: Underground 2, a game she remembered dearly from her childhood. She couldn’t help but feel she could do so much better than him - and that’s how the challenge came to be.

“Yeah, you want to bet?” Yunho suggested, his cheeks raised in a cheeky smile, but his lips expressed something a lot more smug. 

“2 out of 3: sprint, Street X and drift.” The boy laughed at his best friend’s confidence, finding her determination very charming, like always.

“Deal.” He announced, raising his hand so she could high five the deal to completion. It never failed to amaze him, how gentle her high fives felt to him, even though she’s the only woman he’s ever seen break a controller before. “What are we betting on, money?”

“Money is boring.” Taken aback, Yunho had a healthy laugh at her statement. He couldn’t wait to say this sentence again, out of context, and turn it into both teasing material and an inside joke.

“Okay, then what do you suggest?” He asked, still cackling with a half lidded eye smile.

“Let’s do something more… daring.” Trying to act surprised, Yunho opened his eyes in curiosity and hummed. They both got to thinking for about a minute, then she snapped her fingers exaggeratedly to show she had an idea. “Let’s randomly ask Wooyong to give the loser a punishment!”

“Like, with no context?”

“Exactly! After one of us loses, we ask Wooyong to give out a spicy punishment-! No one would be better than him at coming up with something totally ridiculous that one of us will regret for a lifetime!”

“I mean, you’re not wrong. But I’m starting to think you’re a masochist.”

“It’s a 50/50 gamble, so who knows?” She rebutted, wiggling her eyebrows at Yunho suggestively. He could feel his ears heating up so he pretended to need to face his computer for a while. “So, what do you say?” She questioned him, moving closer to where he was, probably intentionally, because she knew how to tell when he was turning shy. 

“I say you’re both crazy and a genius … a crazy genius. But I’m all on board.”

“Yas, leggo baby!” Yunho shook his head as he took in the image of his best friend leaning back into her chair, controller in hands, legs somewhere in between the right armrest and the air. Her enthusiasm dripped from the way she was grooving to the OST of the game. Warmth and an electricity-like feeling began filling his chest.

It took them perhaps a little too long to decide on the first track to play. Eventually, after long minutes of bickering, they chose a winding long race and swore to not try to mess the other up.

Yunho was the first one to drive, his engine roaring as he continued to hold his acceleration button. He had some lucky escapes from running into traffic - and easily overcame his competition. Now in front, he was taking short cut turns, but to her, they looked too time consuming. Yunho was trying to drive as properly as possible, and it was affecting his time; she couldn’t help but puff up as she realized it would be an easy win against him. With a record of 2:27:34, Yunho rolled his chair away from the screen and let his best friend take over.

Hands grasping the controller, she took a deep breath to overly-dramatize the situation even further.

“Eat my dust.” She mumbled, and Yunho gave her a curious side eye.

Swiftly she overtook all the NPCs, climbing up to first place. She wasn’t even worried about them to begin with. As the turns approached, Yunho realized she wasn’t showing signs of taking her fingers away from the acceleration button - not until the last second, at least. Her turns were either taken with the help of crashing into a wall or into a stylish, speedy drift. Yunho was baffled, thinking that crashing on purpose to finish faster should be considered as cheating. But he accepted his defeat as her time was 2:14:58, over ten seconds less than him.

Cracking her knuckles, she wore a smug smile as she let Yunho choose the next race for them to play. It was 1 to 0 currently, so he decided he should spice things out now - by choosing a ‘random’ Street X race. He probably forgot to mention to her that Street X were his forte in this game.

Yunho put his focus face on from the moment the cars showed up on screen. For most, this Street X race was difficult to even beat on first place - but he knew what he was doing. 

“I hope you had your fun.” He threatened, hands moving effortlessly on the controller to take him through the sharp, abrupt turns which were in Street X - a race type specifically made about taking those turns right, not about speed. Raw talent was dripping off of his fingers, but she didn’t want to feel discouraged just yet. Perhaps her method of using walls to take turns could work here, too-

Now that it was her turn, she realized it wasn’t the case - in here hitting walls was the worst thing you could do. Eyes dashing in between her car and the timer non-stop, she realized she was losing a lot of time correcting her direction if she didn’t brake properly before a turn. By the last lap, she already lost hope, as she reached Yunho’s record and wasn’t done with the race yet. 

“Tight game.” She stated, trying to ease the thick competitive air in the room. Yunho just smiled, a sparkle of something naughty in his eyes.

“Would you like to do the honours?” He asked, referring to choosing the drift track, the last race of their competition. He looked so sure of himself, to even offer that she chooses the track; she couldn’t help but feel even more frustrated by that cockyness. 

“Yeah.” She answered, not even looking him in the eyes. She knew what track she wanted - the one on the actual streets of the city, which had two off road areas - those were bomb in doing drifts over 50.000 points. 

Yunho was surprised she chose such a difficult track, but didn’t really complain. He had recently unlocked this track since he was nearing the end of the game, and so he knew the trick of the off road areas too, especially because he failed them enough times. He collected small drifts here and there on the way to the first special area, then he made sure to catch enough speed to send the back of his car in a beautiful curve, following the form of the turn. He didn’t need to, but he took the risk of connecting that turn to the next one that followed and gathered around 74.000 points in that area only. She was biting her lip, wondering if she still had the nimbleness to beat that.

The next special area gained him about 37.000, and with all the other points collected from smaller drifts, he was able to gain over 130 thousand. 

She was already pinching the bridge of her nose, knowing that she would probably lose. It’s been a while since she played this game, and the special drift areas were always a gamble. Yunho couldn’t help but laugh at the tension in her back, giving her a friendly pat to brighten up.

“You got this!” He cheered, because even if he wanted to win, he didn’t like seeing her so discouraged. He often times also got mad when he realized he was being too competitive and not giving anyone a chance to win against him.

She started out just like Yunho, gaining some small scores on the way to the main attraction of the race. As she saw the goal in her eyes, suddenly she struggled to regain control of her car in the midst of the big drift. She was headed straight for the edge, meaning her score would be neutralized if she hit it - so she was forced to stop her car. The special area unfortunately only brought her 55 thousand, a weak number compared to Yunho. She brushed it off and continued on her way, towards the second special area. She had a better feeling about this one, as her car was being much more responsive, and even if the space was smaller, she gained another 50 thousand there too. 

But unfortunately, as she hit the finish line, she realized - they both scored in the range of 130 thousand - but hers was exactly that number. Yunho was closer to 140.

With a little dance celebration, Yunho announced he was the winner of the tournament. Seeing him act so goofy, she couldn’t even bring herself to sulk. It’s not like it was unusual for Yunho to win their dumb little competitions, but it would’ve been nice to win one anyway.

“I acknowledge your driving skills, Mr. Jung.” She said with a smirk, offering him a hand to shake. 

“You weren’t so bad yourself, well… except the part of taking turns with your face.” Now that the tension was lifted, they were back to being all smiley and supportive of each other.

“What can I say? I like using my head.” Yunho chuckled, grabbing the controller to quit out of the game so he could find some movie to watch while they eat. Remembering that he needed to order some food, he pulled out his phone - and read Wooyoung’s name.

“So… do I need to ask Wooyoung to give you a ‘daring’ punishment?” He used air quotes to express the idea of something naughty. For a while he forgot that this was the penalty of losing, the thought completely slipping his mind as he focused too much on doing well in the game.

“I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders, secretly hoping that he had forgotten and she could’ve avoided doing something so embarrassing. 

Hesitant, Yunho opened the messenger app and tapped on Wooyoung’s name. He didn’t know if he was excited about what was about to come.

[Yunho]: Hey Wooyoung, can you come up with a ‘daring’ punishment a girl could do for a guy for losing a game?

[Sent 18:46]

A thick silence enveloped the two as Yunho stared at the screen, waiting for Wooyoung to see his message. They were both hoping the resident jokester of the group would go easy on them this time.

[Seen 18:51] 

Five minutes later, Wooyoung saw the message and Yunho watched the three dots dance for a very short amount of time. And, as it turned out, Wooyoung didn’t ask any questions - he gave a straightforward answer.

[Wooyoung]: Oral

His answer had Yunho opening his eyes in pure shock. He glanced at his best friend, who was looking at him expectantly, and then back at the screen. 

“Uhm…” He couldn’t even bring himself to mutter such a word to her. Before he knew it, he let his phone down and stared into the distance like a deer in the headlights. 

Yes, asking Wooyoung was a bad idea. 

“Uhm? Did he answer?” She pressed on, and Yunho couldn’t do much more than nod. 

“Look for yourself.” He showed her his phone, and she felt as if she just got hit with a soccer ball in the stomach. Blinking at Yunho in disbelief, she let out a confused puff of air.

“I mean, I expected something like a sexy dance…. But not this. Wooyoung really is another level.” She complained, suddenly looking as lost as Yunho. They both looked like ghosts, the colors drained from their faces. 

In truth, both of their heads were racing at that moment - imagining what could happen if they went through with it. Yunho’s face heated up and his body grew heavy, and she was biting her lip. But a common thought was keeping them both grounded; that they were just friends, and nothing more.

Moments later, Yunho was able to collect himself and focus his vision again. She was in distress, even in a haze. He pulled out his phone again, texting Wooyoung to rectify the situation.

[Yunho]: How about something a little bit… more decent. This is my best friend we’re talking about.

Wooyoung read the message instantly after, his fingers fast on the keyboard.

[Wooyoung]: Oh my God it’s her! Why didn’t you tell me! I thought you were finally scoring a lady with those video games of yours!

[Yunho]: I told you guys I was spending time with her today

[Wooyoung]: You did? OOPS

[Yunho]: Yeah, oops. You almost gave me a heart attack

[Wooyoung]: *boner

[Yunho]: DUDE

[Wooyoung]: Okay okay I’m sorry, but you’re the one who asked me outta the blue

[Wooyoung]: Something a little more tame… HMMM

[Wooyoung]: You’re a tall dude, right? How about you have her wear one of your shirts for the rest of the day… but like only your shirt. I bet she’d look cute ;)

[Yunho]: That doesn’t sound that bad, thanks

[Wooyoung]: I can’t wait to get home :P

She dragged her voice suddenly, bringing Yunho back to reality. He didn’t realize how focused he was in his conversation with Wooyoung.

“Uhm, so, yeah! Wooyoung gave you a more tame challenge. He said you should wear one of my shirts for the rest of the day… like, as a dress type thing.” Yunho tried to explain, but he was still nervous from the previous shock and tripping over his own words.

“So wear a boyfriend shirt.” Yunho felt his being vibrate once again at the mention of the word ‘boyfriend’.

“I… guess so.”

“I can do that! That sounds more like a prize than anything, to be honest. You know I have a fixation for your clothes.” She said with a laugh. She seemed to be back to her cheerful self, already walking her way to Yunho’s closet. “Can I choose any shirt?”

“Sure, go ahead.” Still no intonation in his words, Yunho’s mind was not present in the conversation at all. It wasn’t long before he zoned out again.

He couldn’t possibly be attracted to his best friend in such a way. They had a strong spiritual bond, for sure, but it was never anything physical for them. They appreciated each other for who they are, so he never asked himself questions like these before.

Or at least that’s what he wanted to believe. He heard the door handle move and then saw her come back in, legs bare and sexy, her small frame basically swimming in his large shirt. She sat down on her chair and melted back into it without a care in the world. She looked comfortable, even.

“So, are we ordering that food?” She asked, but in Yunho’s daze, he missed the smirk playing on her lips. If only he knew how much she was enjoying this.

Forcing her to stay put, Yunho was the one to receive the food at the front door. He sighed in relief when he managed to put a blanket over her, as they nestled up in bed to watch a movie and enjoy their food. Out of sight, out of mind, they say.

His torture began again as soon as they got back into gaming -  this time choosing to do their usual foolery - playing Minecraft together, one being in charge of the mouse and the other in charge of the keyboard. No wonder they never made any real progress on their world, since they could never be in sync with each other to actually defend themselves from zombies. ‘

Time flew by as they laughed and played, but the rustle of keys at the front door still managed to startle Yunho out of his mind. Panicked, he got up to throw her pants back at her, words leaving his mouth a little too fast.

“How about you put those back on now.” Cocking an eyebrow at him, she hung them on the chair, clearly refusing to do so.

“Why would I? The punishment says for the rest of the day - or as long as I’m here.”

“Yes, but-” Yunho pursed his lips to the side. He didn’t know how to word his thoughts. To add more pressure, the door to his room swung open and San came inside to throw his phone on the bed. He glanced at Yunho’s best friend briefly and they exchanged hellos before he went back to the living room, where the boys were being loud over something.

Yunho breathed out in relief that San was nice enough not to stare. Something about other men seeing her like this irked him, even more so that she was wearing his shirt. 

“But?” She urged him to continue speaking, getting off of the chair to stand in front of him. Being the tall guy Yunho was, it wasn’t often that she had the opportunity to stare him down like that. Yunho gulped as he felt his throat dry up, taking in the image of his friend - no, an attractive woman - looking at him with such a suggestive expression.

“I don’t want anyone else to see you like this…” He mumbled, the beauty before his eyes already making him breathless.

“Why not?” She teased.

“Because…” There wasn’t any logical answer in his mind, or even a concrete idea. “I think we need to reevaluate our relationship.” Letting out a healthy laugh, she wasted no time to climb in his lap. Yunho was happy, perhaps the most relieved he’d been the entire day. He didn’t know there was such a sexual tension in between them until it finally dissipated. 

“Finally!” She exclaimed.

“You think so too?” She hummed in response, eyes locking with his lips as she did. 

The kiss itself felt good - like two magnets clicking into place. What felt even better though, was being able to accept all the feelings he’s been burying deep inside himself. He was wrong in thinking something more wasn’t possible between them.

A loud knock echoed from the door, and Wooyoung’s voice could be heard screaming from the other side.

“You two decent?” 

“No!” Yunho yelled back. They certainly weren’t a sight he’d want his bandmates to see - his shirt was hiking up on her thighs, their arms tangled around each other’s bodies. 

“What do you mean ‘no’??!” This time it was HongJoong’s voice, and Yunho knew he messed up. Almost effortlessly, he got up with her still around his hips and grabbed her pants on the way to the bathroom. 

“Okay, but seriously get dressed now.” Yunho said, and only got a wink from her in response. He rolled his eyes and went back into the room to let her change. 

He really was a fool to think this wouldn’t work out - he already loved every second of it.

[plsimsuchasimp]

being followed

ft: Oikawa x fem!reader

warnings: being followed, sexual harassment, catcalling, cursing, fear

genre: fear to fluff

wc: 1800+

side note: you’re aobajohsai’s manager

You hurried along the sidewalk after school, hugging your book bag to your chest as your knuckles whitened slightly. You were still twenty minutes away from home, and the three guys that were following you were getting closer.

Trying not to panic, you pulled out your phone, scrolling down the list of contacts. You couldn't call your parents- you knew they were both working right now, and they were both too far to come pick you up anyways. None of your friends saw your texts, and you were forced to turn to the volleyball team you managed, Aobajohsai's male team. You had their numbers, of course- when you were watching recorded tapes, you'd often call them to discuss their skills and actions in the match. 

You were tempted to call Iwaizumi, knowing that he would come pick you up without a moment's hesitation, but he lived across town and probably wouldn't get there in time. There. Oikawa Tooru, the captain of the team and their cocky, handsome setter. You sighed, not wanting to call him of all people, but you had no choice. He was the closest. 

As you forced yourself to keep looking straight forward, attempting to ignore the approaching footsteps and raucous voices of the men behind you who had been following you for the last five blocks, you began to shake. This was the worst thing that could happen right now, when you were already on the verge of an anxiety attack. Your eyes were blurring with tears, hands shaking so violently that it was difficult to see the screen of your mobile phone. Struggling to maintain steady breathing, you tapped on the icon next to his name in your phone, waiting for him to pick up as the phone's dial tone played.

***Oikawa's POV***

When he slumped onto his bed, opening his laptop to start on late schoolwork, he was distracted by his phone buzzing beside him. Looking over, he was startled to find your name on the screen, two buttons telling him to accept or decline the call. You rarely called him, despite the obvious crush he had on you (although you were too oblivious to see it, and he was too oblivious to notice that you might, just maybe, feel the same way), and he eagerly accepted the call.

"Hey, (y/n)-chan, how's it going?"

"Oikawa, I wouldn't normally call you on this, but I need you to come pick me up." Your breathing was clearly faster than normal, signifying there was something off. 

On the other end of the phone, you were speeding up your pace, trying to hold back the sniffles that threatened to reveal themselves. "Um, I'll explain why when you get here. I'm at the corner of (street name) and (street name.)"

"How soon can you get here?"

He was already heading down the stairs, slipping on his shoes and grabbing his car keys before starting the engine and beginning to drive to where you were. "I'll be there in three minutes. Is that okay?"

"Y-yeah." He heard muffled voices coming from your end of the phone as well as some noise as it slipped out of your hand, landing in the grass by the sidewalk. Unknown by him, the chase was about to come to an ultimatum.

***(Y/n's POV)***"

Hey girl!" called a voice from behind you, followed by laughter and remarks about your body. You tried to keep walking, tuning out their voices as the pattern of your feet became rougher. Your stomach was clenching harder now, breathing coming in short, unsteady gasps, barely hearing what Oikawa was saying on the other end of the phone. "I'll be there in three minutes. Is that okay?"

"Y-yeah," you muttered. 

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" yelled the voice, a bit louder and more aggressive this time. Your phone fell from your grasp, landing in the grass, and you slowly turned around to face the group. They were all tall- they towered above you, malicious grins on their faces as they walked closer. "Turn around so we can see that ass!" You stood your ground, staring defiantly back at them, even though you were shaking so hard you could barely stay upright. 

"Leave me alone," your voice rang out, catching them surprised by the tone of it.

"Ooh, girl's got some spice to her, eh boys?" the middle one smirked, clearly enjoying your discomfort. He moved to put a hand on your waist and you flinched, moving backwards only to realize that another man was already behind you. Shit. Hoping against hope that Oikawa would arrive soon, you hugged your sides and looked at the floor, hoping that they'd leave you alone if you acted helpless. You didn't want to fight against three of them at once. Of course, you knew they would continue harassing you, but you were trying to buy time.One of them put a hand on your back, causing you to immediately shrink away. "I said leave me alone." 

"What are you going to do about it anyways?" taunted the third boy, reveling in the power of harassing an innocent girl. Just as he was reaching for you and you prepared to punch him in the face, you heard a car door slam, startling all of you. 

"Hey!" said the voice of Oikawa Tooru, something which you'd never been so happy to hear in your life, "Leave her alone or I'll break your arms." Clearly they weren't impressed, looking him up and down before judging he wasn't a threat. They just started chuckling, backing away from you with their hands raised mockingly to reveal tears streaming down your face and you hunched in the middle. 

"Protecting your girlfriend now are you, pretty boy?" The tallest one glanced at you, still smirking, and said, "A girl like you deserves better than this loser. Spend the night with me sometime," eliciting wolf whistles and laughs from his friends. After this, they retreated down the block, sneaking glances back at you a couple of times. 

Oikawa was standing there, murder in his gaze as he glared after them. You picked up your phone and bag, gathering the books that had spilled in the conflict. Oikawa tried to help, but you were already done by the time he came over to you.

"Shit, (y/n), are you okay?" 

In response, you just sniffled and went over to the passenger side of the car, opening the door and getting in. He followed your lead, getting into the driver's seat. He noticed you shaking, trying and failing to wipe the tear marks from your cheeks as you sat hugging your book bag in the seat. He'd never seen this side of you before- you were always the confident girl who could stand up for yourself. He had never seen you act like this before, which told him that something was really wrong. 

Oikawa drove in silence until you reached his house, where he unlocked the door and brought you in. Sneaking worried glances at you, he led you up the stairs to his bedroom.It was nice in there, cleaner than you had expected, with a gray down comforter on his bed. He motioned for you to sit down, and you did, eyes glued to the floor. He leaned against the door, closing it in the process. 

"(Y/n). Talk to me." Although he didn't dare to touch you yet, he came closer, sitting on the floor in front of you and trying to catch your eye. 

When you lifted your gaze to meet him, he was surprised by the intensity and darkness in your gaze. You couldn't stop it now- the sobs were escaping, your shoulders shaking silently as your intakes of breath were the only noise in the room. You were still shaking, harder than before, which prompted Oikawa to take a seat next to you. Hesitantly, he put his arms around you, drawing you into a hug. Surprisingly, you didn't stop him. 

You let him hold you until the shuddering subsided, raindrops beginning to patter on his roof as you melted in his touch. You buried your face in his chest, not wanting him to stop holding you this close. His eyes were wide, staring over your shoulder, as he realized what it was like to have you in his arms. Slowly and reluctantly he pulled away, leaving you instantly missing his warmth and tilting your head ever so gently to face him with his index finger. His eyes were heavy with concern, examining your face and staring deep into your eyes.

"Did they hurt you?" Oikawa uttered, voice barely above a whisper. "If they did, I'll kill them with my bare hands."

"N-no," you replied, voice raspy, "I'm okay."

"Thank god," he sighed, "You scared the shit out of me." Staring at your face and noticing how your eyes curved away from his, he quickly deduced there was something more going on. Almost unconsciously, he reached up to trace your face, cupping your chin in his large hand and running a finger along your cheekbones. His touch was light as a feather. 

Opening your mouth, you struggled to get the words out. "It's one of my biggest fears, being followed," you said, and he sensed there was more to come. "It happened when I was ten. I had no one to help me, and I almost got kidnapped. I'm always so scared of walking alone now- I thought I'd gotten over it, but I definitely haven't." 

You can't look at him anymore, your voice dropping to a whisper. Oikawa feels your pain so acutely it's like he was in your body. His hand finds its way to your shoulder, asking permission to pull you into another hug. You nod a little, and he hugs you, resting his head on yours and drinking in your scent. He pulls you close, and you let him, seeking the affection you never knew you needed. Your head is against his chest, so you feel the vibrations when he speaks.

"I'm so sorry." 

"Yeah, well, there's not much to be done about it now." You let out a half-hearted laugh into his chest, causing his heart to twinge at the sound of the bitterness it carries. 

He never lets go of you through the whole time you talk, later into the afternoon and into the evening. Eventually, you both end up lying on his bed, facing each other with your body close to his. It's not sexual, this thing you have- it's something both of you needed: comfort. When you fall asleep in his arms, Oikawa just cuddles you closer. 

When you wake up later, entangled in each other's arms, to Iwaizumi standing awkwardly at the foot of the bed, nonplussed, you spring out of Oikawa's arms and hurriedly say, "It's not what it looks like!" 

Meanwhile, Oikawa wishes you had stayed cuddling him, close to him forever. That's when he realized he was truly in love with you. 

a/n: the being followed when you were ten thing is actually a true story, and i kind of wanted to build off of some trauma. (writer shit)

[milkbread420]

do you think you could write something(hc, drabble, etc 😂 take your pick) where one of the boys(kuroo or suna(idk if you write for suna) where the reader is “heather”. like the boys have girl best friend that likes them but the boys have a crush on the reader...yk? let’s flip the switch 👀 but only if you want to, no pressure.

Pairings: Kuroo x f!reader, Suna x f!reader

I kinda got carried away and just did all of the above bc I couldn’t pick but I hope this is what you were looking for! :)

(Also sorry this took a while, I’m a little busy, I hope you didn’t think I was ignoring you hwbxjowsgoih)

Warnings: Swearing, angst??

Kuroo

Kuroo talks about you all the time

Like so much, that she’s told him to shut up more than a few times.

When she does, he teases her about being jealous.

Little does he know

He has her talk to you, and makes her tell him everything just so he can find out little things about you here and there.

That’s how he’s learned your favorite color, your favorite food, and some of your hobbies.

He would smile and blush as she talked about her conversations with you

Every time she’d die a little inside.

He asks her for advice almost every chance he gets

Definitely cancels his plans with her just to spend more time with you

She wants to hate you so bad

Like so bad

But you’re just so perfect and kind, he absolutely adores you, and she swears that you were made for him.

You even laugh at all of his terrible chemistry jokes.

She used to be the only one.

He always takes her out to buy little gifts for you because he needs “a girl’s input” on what would be a good gift.

“Maybe buy me a gift,”

Girly really hoped you were a passing fad

Secretly hoped you’d reject him and he’d realize that she was the one for him

Life is not ‘You Belong With Me’ by Taylor Swift :

All her hopes are crushed when she sees him kissing you after a game in front of all his teammates

Kenma: Yikes

“Did you see how pretty she looked today?” Kuroo sighed, letting his body collapse onto his bed. The girl sitting upright beside him nodded stiffly, “She’s like an angel or something,” his lips curved upward into a smile, “I can’t believe someone like her even looks in my direction,” he ran his fingers through his hair, “She’s fucking perfect,” “Shut up for a second,” the girl snapped. Kuroo’s eyes shot open and he dragged himself up into a sitting position, “Sorry, it’s just, she’s all you ever talk about anymore, I want to talk about other things to ya’ know,” she huffed, folding her arms over her chest. 

Kuroo quirked a brow, sending her a devilish smirk, “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you,” he joked, a boisterous laugh escaping him; she frowned, “Aw come on, I’m just messing with ya’,” She knew that, but without even realizing, he’d struck a chord that shouldn’t have been played, “You think you could do me a solid?”

“Not a liquid or a gas?” She giggled. 

Kuroo laughed for just a second, “I’m serious,” he said. She swore he could have heard the shattering of her heart, the Kuroo she knew would never brush off a good science pun; he really did like you. 

She swallowed hard, “Yeah what’s up?”

“Well I was thinking you could talk to her for me, you know? Girl to girl or some shit?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s just I get all stupid around her, so I was hoping you could help me out,”

“Sure,” The girl replied before he could even really think about it. How pathetic. She thought. 

“Thanks, I owe you one,” Kuroo sighed, “How about I set you up with one of the first years on my team?” he smirked, standing up and walking out of his room; she followed close behind, “Have your pick, I’ll put in a good word,” by the time he finished talking, they were standing right next his front door. The girl shot him an inquisitive look, “I told her I’d call her around this time,” he said.

“Oh!” she understood, “Got it! Well, have fun!” he wanted her to leave.  “I most certainly will,” he smiled, waving her off as she opened the door for herself.

“See you tomorrow then,”

“Yep,”

-

“Excuse me, y/n?” the girl tapped your shoulder and you stopped in your tracks, turning to face her, “I’m sorry to bother you on your walk home, it’s just, I was wondering if we could talk? Like get to know each other,” you recognized her from how much time she spent with Kuroo. They were friends, and you knew that, so you jumped at the opportunity to get acquainted with one of his friends.

“Of course!” You said with a kind smile that she was certain you couldn’t have faked, “It would be an honor actually!” you continued, making her want to rip your throat out, but also thank you profusely; she opted for neither, “You’re so cool and collected around Kuroo, I’m a little jealous,” she admitted. If only you knew, she thought to herself. “I wish I could be that way too, but i just get all flustered and red whenever he’s around me,” 

She forced a smile onto her face, “Well I’ve known him long enough not to be flustered anymore,” her eyes fell and she recalled all the times he’d made the butterflies in her stomach flutter like nobody’s business.

You giggled and nodded, “You’re so pretty, too!” 

The girl almost stopped dead in her tracks, “Thank you,” but you’re perfect.

You smiled and nodded.

-

“Hey,” Kuroo said, turning around in his desk to look at the girl, “Do you wanna go to the mall with me after school?” She stared blankly for a moment, thinking this might be everything that she’d been waiting for, “It’s y/n’s birthday next week, and I wanna get her something nice,” he said with a lovestruck smile that wasn’t for her. 

“Oh!” she nodded, “Yeah, sure!” 

“Cool,” Kuroo gave her a thumbs up, “I could use some advice, I don’t really know what girls like,” he shrugged, “Meet me in the schoolyard after our last class,” the girl nodded and he turned back around. She cursed herself for even thinking it could be about her.

After the last bell rang, she stood and waited for him in the schoolyard, more than a little disgruntled by the fact that he was nowhere in sight. She checked the time. It had already been ten minutes since the last class. 

“Sorry!” she heard a him holler as he ran towards her, “y/n didn’t have enough for a water at the vending machine, so I went to buy her one from the cafeteria,” he said, panting as he caught his breath. 

“It’s fine,” she said, looking down.

Kuroo hesitated, “You okay?” 

She smiled, “Yeah,”

“Look, I’ll make it up you okay?” he sighed. Her heart beat faster for just a moment, “I’ll bring you a piece of the cake you like from that bakery,” a smile graced her features, I’m going with y/n tomorrow,” she should have known better. 

“You don’t have to,” she shook her head, hoping he’d tell her that he wanted to.

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged and started walking. 

She stood there for a moment, collecting the pieces of her heart.

-

“You did great, Kuroo!” the girl said, smiling as the boy chuckled, just barely turning his head to look at her. 

“We all did great,” he said, brushing some hair out of his face and turning back to high five his teammates. She smiled and stood there idly as he chattered and messed around with his team. 

“Kuroo!” she heard a voice that had become all too familiar, and she immediately noticed the way his ears perked up at the sound of it, his whole body jerking around in the direction it came from; he smiled when he saw you, “You were amazing!” you said, grinning from ear to ear, “You’re so talented!” 

He took one of your hands in his, “Thank you,” he smiled, his other hand brushing over your cheek, “I’m glad you could make it,” 

The girl watched, fighting back a scorn. 

She made it to every single game what the hell was just one in comparison? 

The difference, she concluded, was that she simply was not you. 

“Hey, who’s the hottie and why have you been hiding her from us?” Yamamoto complained, wiping sweat from his forehead as he shot you a charming smile.

“This is my-” Kuroo coughed, and the girl was almost sick right then and there. Even if just by mistake, he was about to call you his girlfriend, “This is y/n,” he said, wrapping his arm around your waist, “And don’t get any ideas,” he huffed. You giggled and flung your arms around him. For a moment he looked taken aback and the girl silently prayed he’d shove you away, but instead, his slender fingers made their way beneath your chin, tilting your head upwards ever so slightly. Your face was red and his was just a few centimeters away from it. 

The girl turned away as he kissed you. 

It was soft and innocent and filled with so much love she could be sick. His eyes were closed gently, so were yours, and you both looked like you’d found water in the middle of a desert. She wondered how long he’d been waiting to do that, how long he’d wanted to kiss you instead of her. 

Kenma blinked, “y/n what is he bribing you with?”

“Nothing,” you laughed, “I really like him, that’s all,”

Kuroo smirked, “I really like you too miss y/n,”

“Gross,” 

Kenma took the words right out of her mouth. 

___

Suna

When Suna first started talking about you, he didn’t use a name so she thought he was talking about her.

Then he was like “yeah y/n is really something.” 

Girl became hella toxic after that

He kinda stops talking about you, because when he does, she’s really mean 

Has the AUDACITY to call you toxic

Knows deep down that you’re everything he’s ever wanted and genuinely feels happy for him, but will never say it.

She hates you and she wants you to know it 

B word

He always defends you whenever she’s rude which totally pisses her off even more

At one point, mans gets sick and tired of her shit and tells her she can either act like a decent human being or find a new best friend

Girly shut up after that

Reluctantly

He definitely knows that she likes him and he highkey uses it to his advantage because he knows she’d do pretty much anything for him

Including driving you down to one of his away games when you’re out of money for the train.

It’s a very awkward ride. 

She’s listening to some shit music

Will not hand you the AUX

He’s really touchy with you after that particular game and she just knows he’s about to do something that’s gonna tick her off 

Atsumu also knows she likes him and he’s just like “Lmao, sucks,” cause he also knows the man is about to ask you to be his girlfriend.  

When you hold Suna’s hand and he smiles she loses her marbles. 

She knows he’s not one for PDA, so when he doesn’t brush you off, it makes her absolutely furious.

He drags you away to a more secluded place

Girl almost screams when she realizes he’s kissing you.

ATSUMU SAYS SOME DUMB SHIT TO HER I JUST KNOW IT 

“She’s really a great person,” Suna said, writing in the answers to his homework as he sat with his friend in the school’s library, “She’s smart, and nice, and she’s really pretty,” he continued to move his pen and the girl next to him blushed.

“Really?” she asked, smiling as she got her hopes up, almost certain that he was about to confess his love for her.

“Yeah,” he said simply, “Her name’s y/n, she’s in our english class,” 

Her face fell and she swore her heart stopped, “y/n, huh?” she sighed, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, “Never heard of her,”

“That’s too bad,” he said, his eyes not leaving the paper, “She’s really amazing,” 

You must have been something if you had Suna praising you so highly. The thought in and of itself made her blood boil with jealousy.

“So do you like, have a crush on her?” she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to know, but her curiosity prevailed. 

“Yeah,” he said, nodding softly, finally looking up from his homework. 

She nodded and bit the inside of her cheek.

God did she wish she knew who you were, just so she could make your life a living hell. 

-

“Your mascara smudged,” the girl said, rather loud as she tapped your shoulder from the desk behind you, “You should fix it,” 

“Oh!”you turned around, face red from embarrassment, “Um, thanks,” Her voice had alerted some of your other classmates as well, making their heads turn towards you. 

Suna scowled at his friend as she smiled fakely at you, “It’s okay, y/n, you look fine,” he said, his eyes not moving from the girl. She shrugged and looked down at the assignment on her desk. She heard Suna whisper something to you, but she couldn’t make out what it was, but you giggled. Her fist balled up and she almost snapped the pencil in her hand. 

After class he left the room without her, walking with you by his side instead. She frowned and jogged to catch up to the two of you, forcing her way in between you and Suna. He sighed to himself.

“Suna!” she said with a pout, “You didn’t wait for me after class!” 

He nodded, “I was gonna walk y/n to her next class,” the girl frowned and then looked over at you, “She’s a big girl, she can walk by herself!” you tilted your head, unable to tell whether or not she was joking. 

“You can go Suna, I’m sorry if you felt like you had to or something,” you said, nervously fiddling with your fingers. 

“No,” he said waving a hand in front of him, “It’s okay, I enjoy our time together,” the girl grimaced as you smiled at him and he smiled back. 

-

“So how’s y/n?” the girl asked in a venomous tone, looking over at Suna from the other side of her living room sofa. 

He shrugged, “She’s good,” the boy visibly tried to retain a smile as he answered. 

“Oh what? All of a sudden you don’t wanna talk about her?” she asked, irritated by the shortness of his reply. She should have been happy, glad even that he had finally shut up about you, but she couldn’t help herself from being just a little disappointed that she couldn’t hear any more of his voice. You were all he wanted to talk about after all. 

“I don’t feel like listening to you complain about her,” he said, glancing down at his phone and smiling. You must have been messaging him.  

The girl folded her arms, “Not my fault she’s ruining our friendship,” she mumbled and looked away. 

Suna looked up with confused expression, “She’s ruining our friendship?” he asked with a raised brow, “You’re the one sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,”

She scoffed, “See! She’s got you wrapped around your finger, right where she. wants you! Wake up Rintaro! She’s a manipulative bitch! How many times did you willingly go out to the movies or to the mall before you met her?” 

“It’s Suna,” he said in no particular manor, “And join the hurdling team if you’re gonna jump to conclusions,” he grumbled, grabbing his jacket before heading towards her front door, 

“Wait!” she hollered.

“What?” he replied, looking bored as ever. 

“Look, I’ll stop being so mean to her, okay?” she rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest.

“Okay.” he said simply, letting himself out. The girl wanted to beg him to stay, or even better, she wanted him to want to stay, all on his own with no encouragement from her; but as long as she wasn’t you, it would never be that way. 

-

The girl’s phone rang, just as she was about to leave her house and head to the gym across town where Suna would be playing that afternoon. She let out a disgruntled sigh as she reached for her back pocket, clicking the ‘answer’ button.

“Hey,” it was his voice on the other end, “You’re coming to the game right?” A smile spread across her lips and she silently cheered; that must mean he wanted her there, “Hello?” 

“Sorry!” she said, “Yeah, I’m just about to leave, I’ll be there in like twenty minutes,” 

“Oh good,” he mumbled, she nodded as if he could see her, “you haven’t left yet,” 

A horrible feeling brewed in the pit of her chest, “No,” she really didn’t want to ask, “why?”

She could hear his smile through the phone, “y/n’s out of money for the train I was calling to ask if you could bring her,” 

Of course.

“Of course,” she said through her teeth, feigning a cheerful tone, “Send me her address,” 

“I just did,” he said.

“Great!” she replied.

“Thanks,” he sighed, “I really want her here,” 

“Of course,” 

Of course.

It wasn’t her he was looking forward to having cheer him on, it wasn’t her hand he wanted to hold, and it wasn’t her who has stolen his heart, like some thief in the night. 

It was you. 

The girl arrived at your house around five minutes after the call, she honked a few times to get your attention; she couldn’t have been bothered to go knock, step into the house where you’d probably made out with her best friend a million times. 

You tapped lightly on her window to get her attention. She shook herself and unlocked the door, “Thank you so much!” you said as soon as you sat down, “I’m so sorry, I feel so bad making you go out of your way, but thank you, really,”

In truth, her house was actually on the way to the stadium, “Yeah, just don’t expect it to be a routine thing,” 

You nodded, “Of course not!” she flashed you a forced smile then turned on the radio. It was some music by an artist you absolutely hated, and she was quick to notice the momentary flash of disdain on your face. 

“Do you not like this?” she asked though the answer was quite obvious.

You shook your head politely, “No, it’s alright!” she grinned almost evilly and turned up the volume. 

After the game, you and the girl stood together awkwardly, both of you waiting for the same boy to come out of the gym.  The doors opened a few moments later and the first person to appear was not Suna, but Atsumu Miya, “Suna, your fanclub’s here,” he chuckled as he continued walking, discreetly tugging the girl’s arm as he brushed past her.

“Hey-!” “Shut up for a second wouldja’?” he said lowly, looking back as Suna approached you, “I know yer’ gonna try some dumb shit, and this is important to Suna, so I needja’ to lay off,” he said. 

She frowned, “What are you talking about?”

“He’s gonna make it official with y/n,” he rolled his eyes at how oblivious she was, “jeez are ya’ stupid?” 

“He didn’t tell me,” she said with a scowl, “Let me go Atsumu I need to-”

The girl struggled in his grip, but his strength prevailed, “I don’t think so,” he said with a raised brow, “you’ve been causin’ nothin’ but trouble for them,” the setter explained, “so I ain’t lettin’ ‘ya go ‘till he’s done what he wants to do,” 

She peeked over the setter’s shoulder and watched as  your face turned a dark crimson, one of your shaky hands reaching for his. He didn’t jerk away, hell he didn’t even tense, his entire body just relaxed when your hand made contact with his and it was unlike anything she’d ever seen him do. In all the years she’d known him, all the times she’d touched him, he never once looked the way he did now. 

He pulled you away, behind a wall near the bathrooms. Atsumu had finally let go and she quickly followed the path you and Suna had taken. The setter clicked his tongue and followed her to make sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

She would have too. Done something stupid that is, if she hadn’t seen the look on his face just before he kissed you; absolute content. It was like you’d made all his other thoughts and feelings just disappear, and she knew that even if she managed to tear them apart and get him to be with her, Suna would always wish she were you. 

“I think I’m gonna go now,” she squeaked. 

“See ‘ya at the wedding,” Atsumu said snidely. 

She silently wondered if he was joking. 

=

Ahh those were so fun to write ;-;

[mochiusagifanficchaos]

Sherlock x Mute!Reader •Part 7•

Metal crashed against metal as you yanked wildly at the handcuff around your wrist until you felt warm blood running down your ice-cold hand.

Silently sobbing you sank back on the bed. The sudden lack of noise made the dark room even scarier.

How have you ended here? What happened and why the hell can't you remember?!

These thoughts got stuck in your head, drove a rollercoaster, and made you feel sick.

Helpless you tried to remember what had happened, tried to puzzle everything together but the last thing you remember was going to bed alone in your flat.

Alone.

The word echoed in your head.

Something in the back of your mind told you that this wasn't right.

There was this feeling, this feeling of being watched. You had it right before you fell asleep.

Suddenly you remember that something was being pressed on your face. You couldn't breathe anymore and smelled something sweet. Panicking you had woken up and saw someone standing next to your bed. He was pressing you down and covered your mouth and nose with a piece of cloth.

It was Jonathan.

You screamed inside your head, wanted to punch yourself for your stupidity of trusting a man you barely knew instead of trusting Sherlock.

Your eyes darted to your left as a door was opened with a loud squeaking sound and bright blue light fell into the room.

A man was standing in the frame and threw a large shadow on the ground.

"Finally awake?", a deep voice asked with a sarcastic undertone and his heavy steps resounded through the room as he walked towards you.

"Oh, it was so easy to twist you around my little finger", he hummed as he tugged on his black curls, pulling down the wig from his head and revealing short blonde hair.

He chuckled as he saw the scared look on your face.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm not gonna harm you.", Jonathan pulled a phone out of his pockets and stood there for a while, typing something, before he sat beside you on the bed and turned the camera on, holding the phone away so that you both were visible on the screen.

"As long as Sherlock does what I want."

"Let's play a game, Sherlock.", the man in the video said and grinned evilly.

Watson heard this sentence for at least the 20th time in a row now since Sherlock kept restarting the video which he received 10 minutes ago on his phone.

"Watching it over and over again won't get (y/n) back here.", Mycroft said, trying to bring his little brother back to his senses but Sherlock completely ignored him, restarting the video again.

Annoyed Watson stood up from his chair and snatched the phone out of Sherlock's hand: "That's enough now."

"I should've stayed with her.", Sherlock mumbled under his breath and ran his hands over his face, his black shirt stretched over his back and arms as every muscle in his body tensioned.

Suddenly he stood up and threw his hands in the air: "For god's sake I should've stayed with her!"

"It's not your fault.", Watson tried to calm him down, shook from his unusual behavior.

"Don't fool yourself, Watson, of course, it is! That lunatic is just kidnapping her because of me."

On Sherlock's phone popped up a message from an unknown number and Watson gave it back to Sherlock. He swiftly opened it, just to nearly drop it as he saw the content of the message.

It was a picture of you sitting on the bed, a blanket half over your shoulders and your right hand was laid over the left. It was dark but Sherlock still noticed the handcuffs and the bloody strains underneath them on your skin. Your hair was parted to both sides of your face and you had a smile on your face. A forced smile, your lips were curled up but your eyes showed fear.

The phone rang loudly and Watson jumped.

Sherlock answered the call with a cold expression.

"Such a pretty girl, don't you think?", the man on the other side chuckled darkly.

Sherlock's hand tightened around his cellphone: "Don't you dare to touch her.", his voice had a deadly sound and even Watson needed to gulp since he never heard him talk like this.

"Oh, I won't, what are you thinking of me? But you should hurry.", the man made a dramatic pause. "It's getting really cold in here."

He chuckled again before he hung up.

Slowly Sherlock lowered his hand with the phone and stared blankly out of the window.

Watson didn't dare to speak and waited for Sherlock to tell him what was up, but he stayed silent and the only noise was the beeping of the disconnected phone call.

Without a word, Sherlock turned around, threw his coat over and rushed with fast and heavy steps past Microft and Watson and down the stairs. Watson followed him to the street and just about made it into the cab in which Sherlock had hopped in.

"Where are we going?", Watson asked as the car started driving.

"The national gallery."

Your shaking ice-cold fingers were wrapped around each other, your knees were tugged under your chin and your arms were pressed at your body to keep the warmth inside.

Your teeth silently chattering was the only sound in the room, beside the rattles of your handcuffs around the bed frame sometimes when you shifted your weight.

Jonathan had left you alone hours ago, he said that he needed to prepare something for Sherlock and you were scared of what he had planned, scared of what he might do to him.

His evil laugh still echoed in your head and made you shiver more than the cold air around you.

"If you're ever scared, my love, then count to three and think of me, count to ten and think of a friend, count to a hundred and your fear will be tamed"

You remembered your mum saying this to you whenever you were scared after what had happened to you as a child. After you lost your voice.

Warm tears rolled over your cheeks as you counted to three and thought of her smile and laugh, her warm embrace and her soft voice.

More and more tears rolled down your cheeks and you began sobbing as you thought about Sherlock.

1

Thought about him taking care of you on the day you had burned your hand in the café.

2

Thought about this proud smile he had on his face when you kept the keys for the register.

3

You remembered the day when he got you out of the hospital to eat some chips together.

4

And then took a ride with you on the London Eye. You knew that he had watched you and had a smile on his face as he saw you being so amazed by the night view.

5

You thought about the days you had tried to ignore and allure him since he wouldn't talk to you about the case and ended up being followed by a slightly sad and jealous Sherlock. Now you were sure that he hadn't understood his own feelings at this time and probably was really confused why you made him feel like this.

You chuckled slightly. When you would get out of here alive you would try to seduce him even more, you loved the look on his face when he was too confused about his own feelings.

6

The picture of you sitting on Sherlock's lap, both of you sleeping, popped up in your mind.

This was the moment you got aware of that you really loved him. You never felt so safe and like home before, then in his arms.

The thought of this brought a warm feeling back and you noticed that you had stopped sobbing and shivering.

7

You remembered him entering the café after not having seen or heard from him for over three months and that smile that crawled on his face as he saw you.

8

He had pulled you in this tight hug instead of saying hello and made your heart melt.

9

A loud bang ripped you out of your thoughts and brought you back to the dark and cold reality.

You held your breath and listened to if there were any other noises but everything remained silent.

Just as you gave up on listening a bright light suddenly flooded the room and you had to cover your eyes, pressing your face into the stinky mattress.

Blinking you tried to get used to the lack of darkness and it took you some seconds to see the big tv on the opposite wall.

It showed Sherlock and Watson who just came running into a big white room with paintings on the walls and you immediately noticed that it was a room from the national gallery.

"Will you tell me now why we needed to go here?", Watson asked out of breath as he watched Sherlock examining every painting in the big room.

"The picture.", Sherlock just answered and walked into the next room. "He made her look like the Mona Lisa and where do we usually find paintings?"

"The national gallery", Watson sighted.

Suddenly Sherlock's phone rang and he hesitated for a second to pick up.



"Where's (y/n)?", he asked straight out.

"Oh Sherlock, I'm not gonna make it so easy for you. Don't you remember that I wanted to play a game?", the voice on the other side said with amusement.

Sherlock tried hard to keep a straight face: "I already solved your little puzzle to get here and I don't want to keep on playing."

A loud laugh suddenly echoed out of the speakers from every corner of the room and Watson whirled around.

"If you don't want to play the game then you won't be able to safe (y/n). Aren't you having fun? I thought you liked puzzles, Sherlock."

The voice filled the room with a dangerous atmosphere.

Sherlock remained silent, grinding his teeth.

"I see, good choice.", the voice chuckled. "You know, I'll give you something to think about: she's here, somewhere, and I already told you where."

Sherlock narrowed his eyebrows, he couldn't think of anything right now, the feeling of fear for you had crawled into him and wouldn't let go anymore.

He took a deep breath and placed his hands in a praying position to his lips.

His eyes darted fast over the paintings on the wall to find anything that would show him where you were captured.

But he couldn't find anything.

"There got to be something!", Sherlock muttered and ruffled his hand through his hair in frustration.

A chuckle echoed out of the speakers again: "Oh Sherlock, don't make it so hard for yourself. I said that I already told you where she is."

Sherlock stopped in his actions and his eyes widened.

"Stupid!", he suddenly scoffed. "My god, Watson, why didn't we notice that earlier?"

"What? What didn't we notice earlier? Sherlock!"; Watson shouted after Sherlock who already ran down the hall.

A swear escaped Watson as he chased after Sherlock's flapping coat...

Next chapter will be up next weekend!

Thank you all so much for reading and your nice comments 🥺 ❤

Tag list ❤

@misselsbells06 @fictionalhoomanofnowhere @a-paper-cut @viviace

[clynnra]

Strongest Together

After that disappointing last ten minutes of the series finale, I didn't think I would ever write for my beloved boys again. But, thanks to binging lots of episodes of the show on ion since it started airing there (happy to post this story on one of ion's Five-O Fridays) and reading many fix-it fics, I had to do this for Danny. I will be forever bitter that our last glimpse of him ever was hurt (physically and emotionally) and alone on Steve's beach. So this is my way of fixing that sad image. There's background (literally, just a few minor mentions) Steve/Catherine and Danny/others, but this is a McDanno story. I didn't want to vilify Steve, since he should take care of himself and find peace, so I hope that comes across. Finally, eternal thanks to my beta PhoebeMiller for making my story way better than it was with her fantastic feedback about story line, diction, and all the grammar. She's an awesome writer in her own right - go read her wonderful stories! And always thanks to SheppardMcKay for inspiring me to post fic.

Steve and Danny. Danny and Steve. Steve left Danny. Danny was alone.

Sighing, Danny knew he had his kids, his family and the team. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt so fucking much. Days like today, it still hurt to breathe.

Danny didn’t begrudge Steve finding his peace. Or his taking care of himself. Hell, he tried to instill self preservation in his Neanderthal time and again. But when Steve finally took his advice and put himself first, it had ripped Danny’s heart to shreds.

It still hurt so damn much because of the way Steve left. The timing sucked. Just out of the hospital, Danny could barely walk even with his cane. This proved Steve was hiding the depth of his own suffering. Normally, he'd never leave Danny when he was injured. Danny smiled and remembered Steve raiding his house for cookies after he'd been shot in quarantine. The fondness bubbling up just about killed him.

More memories of this year from hell came back, and Danny had to sit down. He'd moved himself into Steve's house after Doris died because he sensed Steve needed him. The loss was just too much after Joe's death. When Joanna had died, Steve was there for him, cooking him eggs most mornings, claiming routine was good. Danny knew Steve was talking about himself, too.

They'd fallen into something Danny dared call a relationship when he was awake late at night, insomnia raging. He and Steve lived together. They ate meals together most nights. They walked Eddie, locked up the house and said good night like a couple.

A couple of idiots, Danny grumbled now. Or was he the biggest idiot? He'd made this huge leap into what proved to be a lonely abyss.

What hurt the most was Steve pretty much rejecting the idea of the two of them growing old together on that beach. Danny didn't know for sure when his best friend would return from his Kung Fu adventures. He'd only counted on Steve coming home at some point. Now, when he replayed their last conversation, the dagger twisted in his chest even more.

The sad fact was - Danny loved Steve. Not just like a friend. He loved him like I want to spend the rest of my life with you even though you drive me crazy, you caveman. He never told Steve he was in love with him. Danny was scared and convinced such an admission would be suicide. Because he feared their friendship would be over, was so sure of it, in fact, that he kept all of his feelings locked away. He didn't want to fuck up the best friendship he'd ever had.

Not to mention, Steve was straight. He'd never given Danny any hint that he was interested. Unless you counted Steve's octopus arms and his total disregard for Danny's personal space. Which Danny did not dwell on. No way could he let himself go there. That's why he'd pushed Steve into dating. First Brooke and then the vet. Neither had really worked out, and Danny did not allow himself to question why. He would have kept on searching for the perfect mate for Steve, too, if he hadn't left. Even though Danny wanted it to be him.

No one knew Danny's secret. Although he mostly dated women, he had a few relationships with men while at Seton Hall. He kept his attraction to men close to the vest. He'd thought his college experiments were in the rearview mirror until the giant goof stole his crime scene.

To distract himself from the heartbreak over Steve’s dating, he’d focused on reconciling with Rachel in a vain attempt to stitch his family back together. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, it just didn’t work since he was in love with Steve. When they finally figured out they were better as friends, Rachel shocked him with advice to stop dithering and tell Steve. He was so taken aback by Rachel’s accurate insight into his heart, past all his bullshit, he’d gone to that bar and met Joanna. Like so many other things in his life, hooking up with her to forget Rachel and Steve had ended all kinds of bad. Spectacular didn't even cut it. Joanna's death wasn't his fault. This he knew. But he couldn't stop feeling guilty. She was with him in the car because of how he'd chosen to mend himself, and she'd died after everything he'd done to try to save her.

And of course, there was Catherine. He envied her for having Steve the way he wanted. She knew every inch of him. She knew so many more secrets.  Steve had opened his heart to her - and what had she done? She'd pulled a Doris. More than once. And the idiot took her back.

Weren't they a pair? Danny knew he was a hypocrite for being angry with Steve about getting back with an ex time and again. He didn't care. He couldn't help feeling upset that Steve was with Catherine (probably this very minute) and not him.

+++++++

Three months had passed since Steve left, and Danny’s PT was coming along well. He texted Steve a few times a week to check in, while Steve returned his texts within a couple hours. They’d spoken on the phone a few times, and Danny lost himself in the comforting cadence of Steve’s voice. Their calls ranged from about 20 minutes to almost an hour, and their talks were nice. But during one of their conversations, as he listened to Steve chatter on about what he did in whatever destination he was currently staying, Danny realized that Steve’s journey to find himself didn’t include him. Steve didn’t need him like Danny needed him. And that revelation punched the breath out of him. He tried to cover it, but Steve, with his keen SEAL senses, heard it.

“Danno, you okay?” Steve interrupted his story about what he saw in Scotland.

“Yeah, babe, I’m ok. Just still get tired sometimes. Had PT this morning and energy kinda zapped. You mind if we pick this up some other time? I’m gonna have a lie down.” Danny chewed his lips as he lied. It was a white lie, but still.

“Ok… you take care buddy. I love you.” Steve said with a note of concern.

“You too.” replied Danny. He couldn’t tell Steve he loved him on their calls because he didn’t want Steve to hear how in love with him he was. Texting “love you, too” was fine, but when he said it, he felt his heart in his throat.

Putting his phone down, Danny glanced around himself. He was still at Steve’s house sitting on his couch. Eddie was laying on the floor nearby. And Danny came to a decision. Steve was out finding himself, and Danny really needed to do the same. He had spent so much of the past ten years being part of Steve and Danny that outside of being a father to Grace and Charlie and being on the task force, he‘d kinda lost himself. He felt like his life wasn’t making sense after deciding to just be friends with Rachel and then the tragedy with Joanna. He knew that in order to move on with his life, he had to make a change. He would always be there for Steve, but it was time he was there for himself.

A few days later, Steve called again. This time he was in Ireland. He told Danny about the beautiful scenery there, and after he was done, he asked, “So, what are you up to now, Danno? PT almost done right?”

Danny took a deep breath and started. “Funny you should ask that. I, um, I’m gonna move back to my place, Steve.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.

“Why? Danny, is something wrong?” Steve replied, trying to keep a lock on his emotions.

“No, babe.” Danny grimaced and continued. “I just, uh, think it’s time to move back. You know, you’re out there trying to find yourself and your peace without me…”

Steve gasped, “Danny…”

Shaking his head, Danny kept going. “and that’s fine, Steve. I’m not trying to make you feel bad. You deserve to find the peace and happiness you need. I just need to find myself again a bit. After Joanna died, I felt sorta lost. And I was starting to make sense of my life again before Daiyu Mei swooped in…” He didn’t mention and when you left me. Danny shook that thought from his head.

“So, I need to do this. To remember who I was before I was part of Steve and Danny…” he finished with a fake chuckle.

“Danno, are you sure?” Steve asked, a note of sadness in his voice.

Danny nodded even though Steve couldn’t see him. “Yes.”

There was another moment of charged silence.

“Ok, Danno, I got it. You need this, so I got your back. Whatever you need. Hey, I gotta head out, but I’ll call again, alright?” Steve sounded like he was happy for Danny but wasn’t quite believing it.

Danny replied, “Sure. Bye, babe.”

Steve said clearly, “I love you, Danny.”

“You too.” Danny croaked out. When the call ended, he dropped his phone next to him and covered his face with his hands taking in a few deep breaths.

It was time to find who he was again without Steve.

+++++++

Danny finally completed his eight weeks of PT, and his doctor okayed his return to light work aka paperwork. He still had to check in each month since it was his second gunshot wound in his chest in two years. As part of his process to return to Five-O, the governor mandated Danny to complete visits with his therapist since he survived such a traumatic experience. At first, he was annoyed he had to go to therapy again; he’d rather eat pineapple on his pizza. But during the couple of months of sessions about his kidnapping and near death at the hands of Daiyu Mei, he found himself working through various issues including the death of his partner Grace, his guilt over Matty, his complicated relationship with Rachel, Grace’s kidnapping and almost fatal car accident, Charlie’s paternity and medical condition, as well as other work related stresses and traumas. The governor’s directive for Danny’s therapy was once a week for two months, but he continued past that, and for a few weeks, he was going twice a week. He just unloaded whatever was burdening his mind and heart. He felt stronger for it. He even told the therapist about his feelings for Steve, and she suggested that to find closure or peace about it, he should consider discussing his feelings with Steve. Danny knew she was right but wasn’t ready yet. However, talking things out gave him the perspective he needed.

With the end of PT and his ongoing therapy doing well, he told the kids first he was moving out of Steve’s house. They were shocked, Tani near tears while Junior took the news stoically. But once Danny told them why, they were very supportive and helped Danny move to his now renovated place over two weekends. Lou, Quinn, and Adam also chipped in their time to help with Danny’s move. Since Junior moved in with Tani, they figured out a schedule of who would check on Steve’s place and when including the upkeep of the grounds. Junior and Tani told Danny once he was cleared for regular work, he could share some of the maintenance duties. They'd take care of it for now. Tani joked that maybe they could get Kamekona to hire some of his family. Danny rolled his eyes and smacked her. None of them had enough money for that enterprise.

Eddie was another story. Poor guy was just adapting to his master being gone. Now they were relocating him. Danny decided Eddie would live with him, and Junior would take him as time allowed since he loved Eddie, too. It was a good arrangement, as the loyal dog loved each of them. And he enjoyed the extra attention he was getting.

Danny felt like things were starting to get back to the new normal without Steve while he was at work doing paperwork and running point for any cases from HQ if needed. He surprised himself that he got the hang of the HQ computer table after getting lots of help from the team. Quinn was especially patient, and he appreciated it.

While Danny settled back at work, he still kept in contact with Steve. His best friend would mostly text him to check in with how things were going and send some pictures of gorgeous landscapes and appetizing food. When they did talk on the phone here and there, Steve would catch Danny up on things with him. Danny winced when Steve spoke about Catherine, but tried to sound as supportive as possible. He had to keep reminding himself that if Steve was happy with her, he would just have to accept it. And during one of these phone calls, Danny promised himself that he needed to start dating again. He may be in love with Steve, but he also owed it to himself to move forward and not spend the rest of his life pining after his best friend who was happy with the love of his life.

In a bold move, he asked Adam to be his wingman, explaining he needed to shake things up. He wanted to reclaim who he was before Daiyu Mei and even before his last disastrous attempt to get back with Rachel. What he left unspoken was his need to reinvent himself without Steve.

Adam didn’t even raise an eyebrow and had replied, “You got it, brother. You were there for me when I was lost without Kono, so I’m here for you.”

Danny was so grateful. They went to nice bars, the types professionals patronize. Danny did score dates with some doctors, lawyers, and accountants. He surprised Adam by dating both men and women, but after that initial shock, Adam supported his choices, even offering to set Danny up with friends. He even went on a few double dates with Adam and Tamiko. The companionship was nice, and the sex even nicer, but Danny didn’t feel like any of these people would help him get over Steve. At least he felt like his life was more balanced and not just focused on Steve all the time.

When he first mentioned to Steve that he was dating again, there was a silence long enough that Danny thought the call dropped. He could easily FaceTime Steve but just could not find the courage to see his beloved face again. The phone calls offered distance, a buffer. And Danny needed it so he could continue to support Steve and survive his updates when they included Catherine.

Just when Danny was ready to ask his best friend if he could hear him, an exaggeratedly upbeat Steve jumped back in.

“Hey, buddy, I’m glad you’re getting out there again. You deserve to be happy, too.” His voice cracked on the last bit.

After that last odd tone from Steve, they continued like normal when Danny filled him in on the latest with Grace and Charlie. The rest of the call was pleasant with some of their usual teasing.

But on the next call when Danny mentioned how he and Keith went on a double date with Adam and Tamiko, Steve choked and started coughing on the phone.

“Hey, babe, you ok? Don’t choke on the butter in your coffee, alright?” Danny joked.

Steve got his breath back and said, “Sorry, went down the wrong tube. Wait, so you’re dating guys now, Danny?”

Danny didn’t care for Steve’s tone, but answered, “Well, I did date a few guys back in college, but just stopped once I met Rachel.” He didn’t mention and once I met you. “Is that gonna be a problem for you, Steven?”

Steve quickly responded, “Of course not, Danny. I’m just shocked you never told me this in the over ten years we’ve known each other. And for the record, it’d be hypocritical of me if it was.”

Now it was Danny’s turn to gasp. “Wait, when the hell were you dating guys, Steve? In all the years we’ve been together, you’ve only talked about women.”

Sighing, Steve said, “Well, I didn’t really date guys, Danny. When I was deployed, I helped my teammates out like they helped me. So to be more specific, I’ve had sex with guys, but not actually dated them. I enjoyed the sex and was even attracted to some of the guys, but DADT kept me from being open about being sexually attracted to men.”

Danny couldn’t help himself. “Did Cath know?”

Steve chuckled briefly. “Of course, man. I told her I slept with several men and was attracted to some. She was cool with it since she had some bi friends and family.”

Danny admired Steve’s honesty, and he wanted to be honest, too.

“Steve, dating these men and women - it’s nothing serious. Don’t get me wrong, the company and sex are great, but they don’t compare to you.”

It sounded like Steve sniffled on the other end of the line. His voice was slightly hoarse. “And just so you know, partner, no one will ever replace you. No one can. Hey, we gotta grab some food…”

Danny teased, “Try not to ruin your food with pineapple, you animal. Enjoy your meal.”

Snickering, Steve added, “Copy that.”

Steve’s voice became sincere again. “I’ll call you again soon, Danno. I love you.”

Automatically, Danny replied, “You, too.”

Steve’s breath hitched before saying, “I miss you, Danny. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

Danny exhaled, “I miss you, too. Bye, babe.”

Once Danny placed his phone down, he was like, good going Williams. You almost told him you’re in love with him while Cath was right there. Don’t be an idiot next time.

+++++++

It had been a week since that eye-opening phone call and about six months since Steve left, Danny had been back to regular responsibilities at work for about a month. His therapy sessions were twice a month now. He was still seeing people but didn’t feel the desperation to date like when he first started a few months ago. He felt confident in his own skin again, feeling better both professionally and personally. But he was still in love with Steve. Danny finally decided. Fuck it. I’ll always love the maniac, I just have to live with it.

And it came to a head during one of their phone calls almost two months later.

Danny couldn’t keep himself from asking, “You happy with Cath, Steve?”

There was a pause before Steve said, “I wouldn’t know. She left about two months ago on another CIA assignment. She offered to come back when her job was over, but I told her that I need stability and consistency and her work didn’t provide that. I said I was proud that she found her way and happy for her that she loved her job. I told her that I would always love her, but she deserved someone who was in love with her.”

Danny’s heart sped up with hope. “So, what are you saying, Steve?”

Steve pushed air through his nose. “I’m saying that I couldn’t commit to her because I’m in love with you.”

“Steve…?” Danny’s voice shook with emotion.

“Danny, every time I told you I love you when we ended our calls, I meant it as I’m in love with you. You never repeated it to me so I assumed you didn’t feel the same way. But once you told me you dated guys, I got hopeful again. And after that phone call, I stopped sleeping with Cath. And she knew something was up with the no sex but never called me on it. That’s just not what we do. Things are easy for us, and when they’re not, we still pretend that they are. But my heart couldn’t just be satisfied with what was easy and familiar anymore. I needed the challenge and passion. I need you.”

Danny confessed, “Babe, I’m in love with you, too. I just couldn’t tell you since I thought you had your happily ever after with Catherine. When I figured you guys were permanent, I dated to move on without you. But it’s no use, Steve. I want you. I want everything with you.”

Choked with emotion, Steve whispered, “Danny.. I’m coming home.”

“I’m so glad, babe. I love you.”

+++++++

Two days later, Danny was at baggage claim. He spotted Steve immediately, tall and gorgeous with a full beard and short but longer than military regulation hair. Steve saw him too, and his face lit up with a huge smile that crinkled his eyes. They moved quickly through the crowd to each other. As he got closer, Danny spotted the specks of white in Steve’s hair and thought it just made his big goof even more handsome. Finally, they were in front of each other. Dropping his duffel, Steve wrapped his arms around Danny hugging him tightly. He tucked his face into Danny’s hair and inhaled deeply.

“Danno, I missed you so much.”

Danny just squeaked out a “me too” while he hugged Steve. He was too busy inhaling the travel worn scent of Steve. He couldn’t get enough of the man he loved. He rubbed his face into Steve’s chest, reveling in the physical presence he had wanted so much all these months and at long last had.

They moved so their foreheads were resting against each other. Breathing the same air, not aware of the bustle of the people around them.

Danny broke their peaceful bubble by moving his face away so he could look into Steve’s eyes. “Did you find the peace you needed, babe?”

Huffing and licking his lips, Steve shook his head. His left hand held Danny’s face as his gaze never wavered. “Not yet, but I’m working on it. I know I’ll get there with therapy and what I need most.”

Danny tilted his head questioningly at Steve.

“You.”

Then Steve kissed Danny. Eyes fluttering closed, Danny returned the kiss. Like this thing they were doing happened every day.

Feeling a surge of joy, Danny broke the kiss with a smile. Smiling himself, Steve opened his eyes.

“I think I need you to repeat yourself, I didn’t quite hear you,” Danny said with a smirk as he pulled Steve down again. This time, the kiss was firmer. Danny nipped Steve's bottom lip and he opened his mouth. Always the control freak, Steve cupped Danny's face so he could move him where he wanted. He hummed contentedly as he tasted Danny. A couple times, their teeth clacked, but their tongues soothed the minor mishaps. The frantic exploration continued until they needed air.

Eyes opening and panting a bit as their lips parted, they grinned at each other goofily.

“I think we gave the airport enough of a show, babe.” Danny joked.

Steve chuckled. He sobered a bit and said, “Danny, I love you.”

Danny smiled brightly as his heart thudded happily. “I love you, too, Steve. Let’s go home.”

“And where is that exactly?” Steve asked mischievously.

“Wherever you and I are together.” Danny replied quickly.

Appeased, Steve grabbed his bag and slung it on his left shoulder. He pulled Danny under his right arm as they walked to the car.

Danny with Steve. Strong on their own. Strongest together.

FIN.

[mediocre--writing]

what if when neil found out steve and billy are dating, instead, he goes and beats the shit out of Steve to teach billy a lesson

“billy, shut up or i’m telling steve!”

the pause in the air was so pregnant that nobody dared to move.

billy felt his pulse shoot up so high he was sure he was going to vibrate off of the chair he sat on. he could see the fork in his hand wobble more and more violently as he willed it to stay still.

this was exactly what happened last time.

being too joke-y and playful, max saying something just incriminating enough, and the whole universe coming to a pause, just to jeer and laugh at poor billy hargrove.

the dinner was nice, one of the better ones susan had made, and everyone in the house was smiling.

max and billy were closer than ever, even before the move out to indiana, and felt like true siblings, much to the delight of both parents.

neils nose scrunched. he looked back and forth around the table before raising his steel eyes to meet max’s.

“who’s steve?”

max knew she’d done it this time. she was cornered and her face was burning with shame for what she brought on billy, what she brought on herself, what she brought on the house.

“one of billy’s friends. he babysits dustin sometimes. drives him around, ya know?”

max sounded causal. and it wouldn’t have been suspicious had the room not had a tense air that hadn’t been present prior to the move.

“friend?” neil moved his eyes over to billy, who instantly straightened his posture and set his face as blank as possible. “billy, you’re finally making good friends here?”

billy’s eyes scanned up and down his fathers figure before nodding, “yes, sir,”

neil smiled, “well, that’s great to hear,” and continued eating his vegetables.

billy didn’t move. this seemed like a trick.

there is no way that neil hargrove had so easily brushed off a comment like that without causing a fit or threatening to kill.

billy could still feel the phantom pains that came with the beating after neil had found out about harry.

billy had never experienced that much pain, never felt so fearful for his life as his dads boot pressed into his neck.

how bad it hurt when neil ripped out his original earring and pulled out his hair.

how he couldn’t sit straight for weeks, but still forced himself to in order to seem proper and kind and sweet, like the good son he is.

billy remembers the crunch of his ankle when he fell down to the floor. he remembers the threat on his life if neil even found a trace of billy acting the way he did.

worst of all, he remembers the way his heart ripped itself in half, every string connecting it being brutally ripped and burned on the ends to ensure there was no connecting it back together on the night he told harry he was leaving.

told him not to stay in touch, not to find his new number or his new address. not to even so much as think about billy for too long, in fear that neil would just know.

how he sat in the johnson’s backyard sunroom in the late afternoon and sobbed in harry’s arms.

how he had his right leg on the side of the couch, a big blue cast making it heavier and the splint he had on his wrist making it hard to grab at harry’s shirt.

how harry stroked at his hair and never mentioned the patch in the back that was gone, completely bald in that one spot. never mentioned how billy’s earring had moved sides and how there were three small stitches holding the other ear together.

and, now, billy having to see neil sit at a table and act like nothing happened, he almost felt more afraid than he did then.

monday morning, after billy’s weekend from hell. and no, it’s not what you’re thinking.

billy didn’t get hit once. didn’t get any dirty looks or obsessive nagging from neil.

of anything, neil seemed to smile at billy more that weekend.

billy didn’t dare step out of line, though. he offered to do dishes every night and did everyone’s laundry. he sat in the family room at night and was kind and sweet. didn’t leave the house once, nor did he make any phone calls.

and he was more on edge than ever.

driving him and max to school that day was like a breath of fresh air. even if it was kinda cow-shitty air, it wasn’t neil’s air.

billy pulled up to the middle school curb to let max out, but she didn’t move.

when billy turned to look at her, he saw her staring, slack jawed at something in the high school parking lot.

when billy turned his head, he wished he hadn’t seen it.

steve.

steve with his arm in a cast and sitting in a sling. steve with his face bloodier and more bruised than billy had ever made it look. steve waking with a limp as he got into the school doors.

“you don’t think—“ max couldn’t even finish her sentence before billy felt rage take over his entire body.

“get out. go to class. if i don’t pick you up today, go home with one of your friends. do you understand?”

max quickly said yes and got out of the car, billy whipping into his usual parking space before getting out and running, yes running, to steve, who was still trying to get through the front door.

“steve—“ billy stopped a few feet away as steve finally got the door open and walked into the halls.

billy chased after him, which wasn’t hard (steve was limping) but the sheer amount of people in the halls was hard to get around.

“steve! steve, stop!” billy forced himself through the hallways, never remembering them being this crowded before, or maybe that was his anxiety talking.

“steve,” billy finally stopped as he got in front of steve.

“billy, i really don’t want to talk to you right now,”

steve’s eyebrows did that weird thing where they scrunch in the middle and make the ends push down. they make him look more tired than he already is.

“no, no!” billy was freaking out. even without looking, he knew his hands were shaking worse than they ever had before.

“just—“ billy looked around before seeing the boy’s bathroom, gently pushing steve through the doors before locking the two of them in there together.

“bil—“

“is anyone in here!?” billy asked as he peaked under the stalls and checked every inch of the bathroom.

“this is my fault, but you gotta tell me what happened, steve,”

“i—i don’t even know!” steve looked around the bathroom as he leaned, defeated, against the wall next to the towel dispenser.

“you don’t know!?” billy was shouting, “did he come to your house? was this like an ambush thing? did he say anything to you? you have to give me something, steve!”

“i—i,” steve was floundering for the words to tell billy.

“he just— saturday night, i was coming home from dustins and i had to stop and pick up some milk from the 24-hour store and i came out and three of my tires were slashed.

“so i set down my stuff at the car and go back in to ask to use a phone, but someone yanks me back to the alley behind the store and beats the shit out of me, billy!”

billy was rubbing his hands over the stubble on his chin as he tried to process steve’s story.

“told me to stay the fuck away from his son and that he’d kill me if he found out i even looked at you again, alright! all while he’s shoving his foot into my elbow, but not before he pulls up on my wrist and breaks my arm!”

“oh my god,” billy stumbles backwards until his back hits the wall between the sinks, then he starts to slide down until he’s sitting on the floor, forcing himself not to cry.

steve huffs out something that sounds like “yeah” before moving to sit down too.

“did you tell anyone?”

“i didn’t know if i should,”

“you didn’t tell anyone!?”

“what was i supposed to say!?”

“that a psycho jumped you in the alley! what did you tell the hospital?”

steve was quiet for too long.

“you went to the hospital, right!?”

“not... exactly,”

“you fixed your own broken arm?”

“no.” steve looked down then around at the stalls, “i had jonathan help me,”

“steve!”

“well i needed someone to pick me up and i knew he wouldn’t ask questions!” steve admits. “would you want me to tell people?”

yes.

billys first thought. of course steve should have called the cops or gone to a hospital. neil hargrove should be arrested for what he did to steve.

no.

the logical part of billy’s brain says. if they take him to court over something like this, it could have too many repercussions.

for one, neil could tell everyone that his son and steve harrington are gay and fucking each other.

plus, it would force neils... home tendencies to come up at some point, and if it didn’t work out in a pretty liberal cali, then nobody in conservative indiana is going to berate neil for ‘taking care of’ his gay son.

it’s a lose-lose situation.

“billy?”

his blue eyes snap back to steve’s face: still kind and reassuring with the huge, grotesque scabs and swelling scattered everywhere.

“it’s why he didn’t do anything,”

the comment, said mostly to billy himself, caught steve’s interest, “what?”

“max... talked about you at dinner friday, and he didn’t do anything. i was waiting all weekend for him to snap and he never did, smiled more, even. now i know why,”

they sat together in thought for a while, a good ten minutes after the late bell rang, before billy cleared his throat.

“you said he slashed your tires?”—steve nodded—“you get ‘em replaced?”—steve nodded again—“did you drive yourself to school today?”

“yea—billy where is this going?”

before steve even got a read on billy’s face, the bathroom door was unlocked and swinging open, billy racing out.

steve, crippled as he may be, managed to get off the floor with his bum leg and broken arm, walking after a brief glimpse of billy as he turned corners before leaving out to the student parking lot.

billy was at steve’s car before he was, reaching through the open windows and popping the trunk, bitching about how steve needs to roll his windows up because people are gonna steal his car.

he reached into the trunk and grabbed the nail bat he knew steve would have there (the bat goes where steve goes).

“hey! billy!” steve is yelling to an empty parking lot, the only response being steve’s trunk slamming shut and billy marching over to his own car before getting in and screeching out of the lot.

steve was still standing there, speechless, as he watched the quick blue car shoot down the road.

steve, ever being the hero, limped back to the school, rifling through his pockets for loose change to push into the phone before dialing the byers house.

joyce picked up after two rings.

“hello, byers house,”

“is hopper there!?” his voice came out scratchy and worn.

“steve?”

“joyce! is hopper there?”

“he’s about to leave for work, why do yo—“

“put him on the phone! now!”

“o—ok,”

there’s rustling and muffled voices on the other line before steve hears hoppers gruff voice ask what he needs.

“i need you to do me a cop-like favor but as hopper, not a cop,”

“kid—“ hopper sighed and steve could just imagine him running a hand down his face. “i’ve gotta get to work and i don’t have t—“

“i think someone may be getting really hurt but i’ve been asked—well, not asked, but it’s been implied—that i shouldn’t get cops involved but i need you to do this for me, hopper!”

“is it... lab stuff?”

“no! this is like—halfway murder stuff!”

“who and where?”

“billy’s house. i think,”

hopper sighed and was quiet for a moment before giving a quick ‘i’ll go check it out,’

“not as a cop!”

“not as a cop,”

and steve felt useless. he knew he wouldn’t be able to go into class and feel ok.

hell, even if everything turned out alright, steve wasn’t sure when this fluttery, anxious feeling in his stomach would go away.

so, as a sane person would do, steve started slowly driving to billy’s house. not slowly, but the speed limit. just to give billy and hopper time to do something and steve wouldn’t get yelled at by billy for ‘getting in the middle of it.’

but when steve does get there, boy oh boy!

there’s a truck that’s got holes and dents all around it, windows smashed in and the wheels all flat, billy panting with the nail bat held limply in his hand.

neil, however, was standing on the porch, dressed ready for work, holding a shotgun at billy.

steve was parked a bit down the street, but the screaming could be heard with just his windows rolled down.

nothing sounded like anguished yells of pain, just hurtful jabs and ruthless words being spat back and forth.

steve couldn’t have wished harder for hopper to hurry the fuck up.

steve was intently watching the two men, both seeming to think they had the upper hand, when he heard the cocking of a gun taken off safety.

he sees billy’s blond hair start moving backwards, away from the house right as he catches a glimpse of a tan truck in his rear view mirror. hopper.

neither of the hargroves have noticed hoppers truck.

neil shoots a warning shot, one that goes a foot above billy’s head and into the wooded area in front of their house.

billy backs up quicker.

hopper turns his sirens on.

billy’s head shoots left to see the two cars.

neil’s finger lifts off the trigger.

hopper parks the truck, having already called for backup the second he saw neil holding a gun at his son.

he gets out, has that intimidating air about him that makes everything else quiet.

“we doin’ alright here?” hopper asks, hands resting on his belt, close to his gun.

“everything’s fine,” neil grits out.

“‘everything’s fine’ but you’re holding a gun at your boy. explain that to me,”

“listen here, pig, i don’t need you tellin me how i can raise my kids!”

“not questioning your parenting, just your choice of punishment,”

“he broke up my car!” neil yelled, hopper looked over to the (absolutely demolished) truck. “i told him, i told him he ain’t messin with what’s mine and the boy didn’t listen! so i’m just showin’ him how the real world is gonna come at him!”

“the real world is going to shoot him?” hopper asks with a quirk of his eyebrow.

billy has backed up all the way to the end of the driveway, behind where hopper was standing, and steve has gotten out of his car and was walking across neighboring lawns to get closer to billy.

he finally reaches billy.

“what the hell are you doing?” billy asks with wide eyes at steve, trying to keep quiet and not alert his dad and hopper.

“i—i’m not really sure,”

“jesus, you’re an idiot,” billy grumbles as he watches hopper and neil get closer as they talk.

the men are getting within ten feet of each other when hopper gets neil to put the gun down, even closes the part on his tool belt that has his gun.

neil comes off the porch, he and hopper are close, like two feet.

they’re talking quietly, and as much as steve and billy want to know what they’re saying, they don’t dare move any closer.

“—that boy!”

they only catch the end of the sentence, but neil is pointing at steve and hopper has his head turned with a disappointed look at steve.

“you couldn’t have waited in the car?” hopper groans and neil looks outraged.

“you’re telling me you support this abomination!? this is your doing, isn’t it? you allow things like this in your town? do you!?”

hoppers face looks calm.

“yeah, yeah i do,” he smiles, the mustache lifts with the rest of his face. then neil takes a swing at him.

they get into a brawl, but neil, however easy it is for him to beat up teenagers, can’t take hopper. not even on his best day.

hoppers backup shows up soon after, neil getting shoved into the back of a cop car with handcuffs (god, billy wishes he could get a picture of that).

hopper gets statements from steve and billy and susan and max. even mrs. garibaldi, the neighbor whose window looks right into the hargrove house and has written down dates and descriptions of what she sees (what a godsend, that woman is).

hopper has friends with high positions, good lawyer friends who don’t mind doing a good thing for a bad situation.

everything works out in the end.

plus, steve has a gnarley scar along the side of his neck, leading to his ear that billy enjoys kissing all the time. (and a lifetime of aches from waiting three days to do to the hospital for his backwards arm!)

[rachaelswrites]

Breakups are Hard

Sebastian Stan x daughter!reader

Word Count: 1,595

Requested by: Anonymous 

A daughter reader fic (u choose) where they help reader through her first breakup?

A/N: I loved this idea! please send keep sending in more requests.

Warnings: language, men are trash 

You thought today would be a good day. You and your friends were going on a group date during school at lunch. You were really excited because you and your boyfriend were approaching your six month anniversary (which is kind of a big deal for teenagers). You were expecting something nice from him, but what you got was a lot worse. 

You had met up with some of your friends in front of the school, waiting for everyone else. You spotted them and waved them over. You ran and hugged your boyfriend. He was your first boyfriend but you were genuinely in love with him. You found it hard to meet people who really wanted you, not because of who your dad was. Since starting high school, you made a bunch of friends freshman year and then a boyfriend sophomore year. You hadn’t told your dad, worried that he would give you the “Be careful honey. He might only want you for x,y,z” talk. You knew it was a possibility, but your boyfriend assured you he truly wanted you. 

“ Hey y/bf/n! How has your day been so far?” you asked him, kissing his cheek. 

He wrapped his arm around your waist, “It's ok. Could be better I guess,” he shrugged. 

“I know what’ll cheer you up,” you pecked him on the lips. You saw him smile a bit and you grinned. You grabbed his hand and led him to the subway. You two sat next to each other but he wasn’t engaging in conversation. The ride there was silent and awkward. You tried making small talk but he wasn’t interested

  The group was heading to a café that a lot of kids in New York went to. It was always busy during lunch time, but you called ahead and reserved spots for all of you. It was only a short five minute ride from school. You all got off and headed inside. The group sat down and ordered. You all made small talk until your food and drinks arrived. 

You noticed your boyfriend being distant, so you pulled him away from the table to talk to him. 

“Hey are you feeling okay today? Do you wanna talk about something?” you asked him. 

 “Um yeah. There is something I want to talk to you about,” he mumbled. You urged him to continue, “Look. Y/n. I really care about you but, I don’t think we’re working out. I think we’re just too different. I’m sorry,” 

You looked at him in shock. “What do you mean? I thought we were fine? We were having fun. At least I thought so,” tears started to fill your eyes and spill down your cheeks. All your now-ex did was shrug and go back to the table. You were still standing there, while he acted like nothing happened. 

You wiped your tears and joined your friends. Everyone knew what happened. You ate in silence and waited until you all had to leave. You would have left early, but you didn’t want everyone to worry about you. 

Eventually you were back on the subway. You sat across from your ex and saw him flirting with a new girl already. You rolled your eyes. Sadness now turning into anger. 

The rest of the school day was horrible. By now, news spread of your breakup. People would look at you in the hallway and whisper. You were sick of it. By the time the final bell rang, you wouldn’t have been surprised if there was smoke coming out of your ears.

You slammed the door of the apartment shut, making your dad jump. When he asked how your dad was, you only huffed in response and stomped upstairs. Sebastian has never seen you this angry before. You slammed the door to your room as well. He knew he needed to address whatever happened with you. “Y/n? Can you please come back down here for a sec?” 

You were flopped on the bed when your dad called. You groaned and decided to listen. Sebastian was never strict with you, but he could definitely put his foot down when needed. “What!” you yelled from the top of the stairs. 

“Down here sweetheart,”

You stomped down the steps and stood in front of him, arms crossed over your chest, “What?” you asked, a little nicer this time. 

“What’s going on? Why are you so angry today?” he was concerned. Normally, you would have already told him, You were very open with him about this stuff. 

“Nothing. It’s fine. I’m fine. Can you just leave me alone please?” you pleaded. You knew if he kept pressing you, you would spill. 

“There’s something going on. I want to know and I want to help you please,” he looked into your eyes, searching for any signs. 

“You can’t do anything anyway. So don’t even bother,”

“I can’t help because you aren’t telling me,”

“Stop! Leave it the fuck alone already!” you screamed.

Sebastian sat there stunned. You never raised your voice at him and you never cursed in front of him like that. Before you could turn and go back upstairs, Sebastian stood up and grabbed your arm. You tried to pull out of his reach but he pulled you into his arms and held you tight. You didn’t even bother trying to fight. You had broken down into tears now. Sobbing into your dad’s chest. “Shh. Shh. It’s ok. Let it out. I’ll stay here as long as you need me to ok? I’m here for you baby. Let me know when you want to talk,” he whispered. He kissed the top of your head while you continued crying. 

“He broke up with me,” you hiccupped. Sebastian looked down at you, confused, “I don’t even know why. We were doing so well,”

“Who broke up with you?”

“Y/bf/n. You met him a few times. We were together for six months. Well… almost six months,” you stepped out of your dad’s grip and wiped your tears, “and he did it in front of our friends. It was horrible,” 

“I’m sorry baby. That’s awful. Breakups are hard but, I know you’re strong enough to get through it,”

“You think so? I’m just a mess,” you sniffed. 

Sebastian laughed and placed a hand on your shoulder, “Sweetheart. Look at me! I’m a mess. It’s just genetics,” he teased, “Tell you what. Go take a shower and change into some comfy clothes,” 

You nodded and he kissed your temple. You ran back upstairs and did what he told you to. You took a nice, long, hot shower and changed into sweatpants and one of your dad’s old sweatshirts from high school that you stole from him. You met your dad downstairs, keys in his hand. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, extending his hand out to you. You grabbed it and walked downstairs to the car with your dad. You didn’t notice he had a backpack with him until he tossed it into the back seat. He started driving out of the city. He pulled into a gas station and parked the car. “Stay here. I’ll be right back,” he said. He put on some sunglasses and got out of the car. You saw him walk into the store and disappear in the aisles. 

About ten minutes later, you saw him at the register. You tried to see what he was getting, but a magazine stand was blocking your view, He came out and put his sunglasses on his head. He opened the door and tossed the bag next to his backpack. 

“Whatcha get Dad?” you asked him. 

“You’ll see in a bit,” he responded. He turned on the radio and you looked out the window watching the rest of the buildings and cities disappear. 

An hour had gone by and you were getting concerned. It was a school night and your dad always told you how important it was. “Hey where are we going? We’ve been driving for awhile and I have school tomor-”

“Hey. Don’t worry about it. You need to relax Y/n. Besides we’re almost there,” he said. He took an exit off the highway and drove a little farther. He ended up driving to an empty field. He parked the car and got out. You stayed and watched him open the trunk. He moved around and grabbed the bags and pulled the back seats down. He opened the backpack and pulled out a white canvas and a blanket. He set up the canvas so it was hanging from the top of the backdoor. He pulled out a small movie projector that you had no idea was in your house. He climbed onto the folded down seats and patted the spot next to him. You got out of the front and sat down next to him. 

He handed you the blanket and pulled out food and drinks from the gas station. He also pulled out one of your favorite movies. “I know how much you love Chris and how you love early 2000s movies, so I got you Not Another Teen Movie. I figured it would cheer you up,” 

“Thank you dad!” 

He put the movie in the projector and you snuggled up to him. The movie finished just in time for you to watch the sunset and see the first stars appear. You helped Sebastian pack everything back up and head back home. You fell asleep on the way back. 

Breakups are hard, but you found a way to make them better. 

Taglist

@ssebstann @peachyprincessss @emmy-writes-sometimes @teenage-incompetence

[harryspet]

dark peter parker x innocent naive reader (or ofc it doesn’t matter) non-con fic?

CAMP KISSLESS | peter parker

[WARNINGS] dark peter parker x reader (Y/N), virgin reader, noncon sex, outdoor/car sex (public?), peter isn’t very friendly neighborhood spidery in this

A/N: I’ve wanted to do a camp au for a little while so that’s why I chose this setting! This ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Read at your own risk.

In which your the new camp counselor and you’re excited to start your job but Peter has other plans for your summer.

word count: 2.7k

It was gonna be a great summer. 

It wasn’t your first summer at Camp. No, your parents drove you to upstate New York every summer since you were eight and you stayed at Camp Moonfall for three weeks out of the summer. You always made the best memories there but, now that you were older, you were saving up for college next semester. Now that you were eighteen, you felt responsible enough to get a job and of course, Peter put in a good word for you. 

You remembered the summer before, all the counselors had let you join them around the fire since you were older. That’s when the game of never have I ever happened and that’s when you changed the way you looked at Peter. You always thought he was cute but with him smiling around all his friends, the firelight illuminating his skin, you developed a small crush. He was a year older than you and you remembered saying how you were going to miss him during your Senior Year. 

He smiled at you, of course, and your heart fluttered. 

It was in that game that everyone learned your secret about how you hadn’t even had your first kiss yet. They looked at you, shocked, and you would’ve preferred if they had just teased you rather than pitied you. You didn’t care that you hadn’t had your first kiss because you were waiting for magic. You wanted to settle for nothing less. 

“So who’s first on your list?” Peter had asked you and you raised an eyebrow. He turned his marshmallow over the fire, letting it brown, “Your kiss list? Who’s your dream first kiss?”

“Thor, I think,” You joke to Peter and he only rolled his eyes. 

“Haha, Y/N,” He spoke sarcastically, “But I’m serious, who’s number one?” For a moment, looking in his eyes, you could’ve sworn he wanted you to say him. 

“I don’t have one,” You slouched back in your chair, “Whoever it is, I want them to be the one I marry.”

All of their eyes turned to you, even Peter as if you had said something offensive, “What?” you asked. 

“You should save it for as long as you can, Y/N?” MJ said across from you, easing the tension, “High school boys are Satan's spawn. And I hear college boys aren’t far off.”

+

For the first day of camp, your outfit consisted of a tie-dyed t-shirt and a pair of running shorts. You had dreamed of carrying the clipboard you now possessed. Along with the wooden whistle around your neck, you felt complete.

MJ pointed at a gray minivan parked in a long line of cars where parents were unpacking their kids, “Y/N, can you check them in?” You immediately nodded 

She remembered her training, all eight hours of it, and took a deep breath as she approached the family. The Dad was lugging things out of the trunk and the mom was rustling around with her triplets. 

“Good morning, campers! I’m Y/N” You greeted them with a wide smile, hands tight around your clipboard. The kids didn’t seem to care much about you but you could get used to that, not every child was gonna fall in love with you, “Hope you all are excited for the best three weeks of your year. Can I get the last name?”

“We’re the Nelson’s,” The woman muttered, clearly not excited to hear your chipper voice this early in the morning. She pointed to each child and named them off. 

You looked down the long list of names and easily found the three Nelson’s. You took a look at each boy, knowing you’d have to remember all of them, “There, found ya! Are these all of their things?”

The father nodded, three suitcases and several pool noodles on the ground, “You got a bellhop, Betty?” He spoke, clearly not bothered to know your name. 

You looked down, still trying to smile wide as you crossed off the names, “Uhm, if you carry your things over there, someone will be there to carry their things to their cabin. Someone will also be there to take the boys down by the lake and they can join in the welcome festivities. You guys can say goodbye there and that’s when your vacation begins, Mom and Dad.”

You expected a smile or a nod of approval but you got cold stares, “We want to make sure they get settled in and see where they will be living. You can’t expect us to say goodbye now.”

Your smile fell a little bit but you kept your composure, “Well, here at Camp Moonfall, we want to keep the goodbyes short. When you took the tour, you were able to see the campsite. It’s very safe. We just find it’s easier for kids to adjust without the big, emotional goodbyes. It helps the homesickness when you start the fun right away,” You thought your smile would somehow lift their spirits but it only crushed yours. 

“Could you stop smiling like an idiot? You’re an adult, aren’t you? They must be hiring the mentally incompetent here, Diane,” The father said to the mother. 

Your heart sank and your lips parted to say something but the words didn’t leave, “I’m going to that cabin, sweetheart. Do you know what it’s like to give birth to triplets? I spent nine months with these kids and you aren’t gonna rip them away from me. I was in labor for twenty hours!”

“I-I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m just telling you the camp policy. We just find that it works best-”

The dad interrupted, mimicking your voice, “We just find that it works best. God, Diane, I told you this was a bad idea.”

“My mother said this would be a good experience for them!” The Mom yelled back at the husband, she held her boys closer to her, “The boys are not staying here. It seems like there’s something in the water here anyways …” The woman scowled at you. 

“I-I can g-get my supervisor-”

“And now she’s stuttering,” The father rolled his eyes, starting to grab their things and put them back in trouble, “Get in the car boys.”

How could your first time at this have gone so wrong? You clutched the clipboard to your chest, tears stinging your eyes. 

A second later you felt a hand on your shoulder, “What’s going on, Y/N?” He looked at the family then back at you. 

You just shook your head. He could tell you were about to start bawling, “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Go back to your Cabin and collect yourself,” You nodded and instantly walked away. 

You heard Peter talking to the family, hoping to solve the issue so that the boys didn’t miss out on camp because of their crazy parents.

+

“I did it. I saved the triplets,” Peter entered the girl counselor’s cabin, a soft grin on his face. He saw where you were laying on your twin bed and sat down on the edge, “I might regret it later because the funny looking one with the mo-hawk looks like a biter.” 

You didn’t laugh, just pressed your face further into the pillow. Peter’s hand rested on the small of your back. You felt him start to rub circles there and that level intimacy enticed you as much as it scared you.

“I suck,” You spoke but it came out muffled. 

“You don’t suck,” Peter insisted, “They sucked, hard,” That made you laugh. You turned your body to look at him and his hand moved to your waist, “You’re gonna have a good rest of the day. You’re gonna go swimming, eat hotdogs, and play way too many rounds of hide and seek. It’s gonna be awesome and you’re gonna have to perk up if you want to steal my title as everyone’s favorite counselor.”

You snorted, “Really? I recall Ned being everyone’s favorite last year.”

Peter faked a frown, “The man can make a mean s’ more.” 

Absentmindedly, your hand touched his and you moved it away quickly. Too quickly, “You’re right,” you coughed awkwardly, “Today will be good.”

Something clicked, you could see it in his eyes that something had shifted. 

“Do you want to come on a drive with me tonight, after everyone’s in bed. I have a view I want to show you.”

“Isn’t that not allowed?”

“I’m head counselor, Y/N. Plus, I’m Spiderman. Who’s gonna fire me?” 

You rolled your eyes, “Fine, but we’re back before midnight.”

+

For such a techy guy, Peter’s car was more run down than you expected, “What? She’s a passion project,” He said, touching the dash as if he believed the car was actually a person. 

Peter was right, you had a great day. The kids loved you and you even had one of Ned’s famous s' mores. You had a feeling the night might even get a little better. The way Peter was looking at you was how you’d always wanted to be looked at by someone. 

The car turned on onto a dirt road and it seemed you were on it for ten minutes before suddenly a valley opened up before you. Peter parked the car so the trunk was facing an amazing view. You got out of the rusty truck with your flashlight shining for extra light. You really didn’t need it because the moon was full and the stars were shining so bright.

They illuminated the valley and the beautiful mountain range in front of you, “Wow,” your mouth formed an ‘o’ shape and Peter looked at you as if you were the cutest thing in the world. 

“Just wait,” Peter opened up the back of the pick-up trunk and there laid a bunch of blankets and pillows. He kicked off his shoes, climbing in and setting the lantern down. He patted the spot beside him, “You can see the stars better if you lay down.”

You would’ve thought this idea was the most romantic thing in the world if you didn’t get so terrified at that moment. This was like … a date. At least, to her, these weren’t things normal friends did. Not when they held your waist and looked at you like that. 

You played with your fingernails, “Uhm..” Your voice trailed off. 

Peter had already laid down, expecting you to join him. He sat up on his elbows, “Y/N?”

You could do this. 

You climbed up into the truck, crawling beside him but leaving a few feet in between you. You let the small lantern keep you separated, “D-Did you only bring me here because of what happened earlier, Peter?”

You looked up at the stars and it was breathtaking.

“No,” Peter laughed nervously. “I just … It just made me realize something.”

“Realize what?”

You turned your head and realized he was already looking at you, “That I wanted to get to know you. You were still nice to those people even after they were so rude to you. It made me …” His voice trailed off and his eyes shut as if he didn’t want to admit what was next, “It made me want to protect you.”

Was this it? The magic you always wanted. 

“You don’t … y-you, don’t have to protect me, Peter.”

He laid his hand out and you surprise yourself when you pressed your hands to his, “But I want to,” He said. 

“I don’t know how to do things like this,” You admitted. 

“It’s okay, I can show you,” Peter said quickly, “Not that I’m super experienced either. But, as you can see, I’m pretty good at choosing romantic locations.”

You blushed and he interlaced your fingers. 

You laid there for a while, pointing out constellations and making jokes about the new ones you made up. 

“There, I found it!” Peter pointed up but there were so many stars that you couldn’t tell which one he was looking at. 

“What is it?”

“It’s you, can’t you see it?” You shook your head, leaning closer to him so you could try to see from his perspective. As you moved closer, Peter turned his head towards you, “Take my word for it, it’s as beautiful as you look right now.”

You looked at him too and you stared until Peter leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on your lips. Magic. This was magic. You weren’t sure how to move your lips but you just pressed yourself further into him. 

As you pulled away to catch your breath, you smiled, “Was that good?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah,” and he pressed his lips against yours again, his hand on your waist, “I’ve wanted to do that since last summer.”

You pulled away, “You’ve liked me for that long?” 

He tried to kiss you again, pulling your body into his, “Of course, you’re so beautiful … and innocent.” And naive, you thought. You didn’t want him to think of you as innocent. You didn’t want that to be the reason he liked you. 

You pressed a hand to his chest, trying to create distance, “Peter, maybe we should go back now. What if someone notices we’re gone?” He held you tighter and your heart raced, “Peter, I-I think we’re moving too fast.”

“This is what people who like each other do, Y/N?” He buried his head into your neck and began to kiss the skin there, “You don’t like me?” His breath on your neck sent shivers down your spine. 

“P-Please, please, Peter,” You begged, struggling against him. He soon was on top of you and, as you tried to escape his grasps, he pinned your arms above your head. You screamed for help and Peter only frowned. 

“No one’s gonna hear you,” He sounded annoyed. Who was this boy above you? Was he always a wolf in sheep’s skin? All these years? 

“Peter, you saved me today,” You tried to reason with him, “Don’t do this.”

He held your legs down as he ripped off your shorts with ease, “White panties? I should’ve known,” This was what he wanted. To steal your innocence and to hold that title forever. He spread your legs with his own. 

His eyes hovered above your own, his eyes staring right into, “What do you think people will believe? This story or that an innocent little girl like you wanted to lose her virginity with the boy she’s always had a crush on. Who do you think they’ll believe, you or me?”

You cried out but he shushed you by forcing his lips on you. You bit his lip and he pulled away, fuming and his grip on your wrist tightened, “We’re gonna have fun these three weeks,” He pulled off your panties next, stuffing them into your mouth to muffle your screams, “I’ll be gentle if you stop struggling, Y/N. I know it’s your first time.”

He positioned himself between your legs, pulling down his own shorts before feeling your sex with his fingers. He tested your reaction, watched you flinch as he stimulated that foreign part of your body, “I bet you haven’t even masturbated,” Peter growled, “Jesus.” He could probably finish just with the idea of you being so tight. 

He positioned himself at your entrance and you felt just how hard he was. You closed your eyes tight but they shot open as he slowly entered you. You struggled but that only made it worse. You were still, the pain ripping through your lower region. Tears were spilling out of your eyes. 

He didn’t need to hold you down anymore, his body was pressed against yours now and you felt too helpless to fight it anymore, “You’re gonna be mine, Y/N,” Peter whispered in your ear, tasting your tears with his tongue, “Only mine.”

As he rubbed your sensitive area and moved in and out, you hated that you were getting used to it. You hated that it was starting to feel pleasure. Peter noticed that you were getting wet and that only made him start to thrust his hips faster. 

Something began building in your core and you thought you might explode. Your body convulses and your breathing becomes even more rapid. You tightened around Peter’s member, milking his climax out of him as you did the same but against your will. Peter slammed his hand down beside your head, groaning loudly as he finished inside of you.

You were his for the rest of camp and you were not to tell anyone what happened. 

“This is gonna be such a good summer, Y/N.”

+

Feel free to request some drabbles! If you want more dark peter than check out my masterlist!

[dreamescapeswriting]

Snowed In ~ JJK [Day Six: Advent Calendar]

WORD COUNT: 4.1K

GENRE: Non-idol au, college au, enemies to lovers, prompt, Christmas prompt

PAIRING: Jeon Jungkook x Reader

It was the final day before winter break which meant you were sitting in a classroom full of people who didn't care about what the teacher was drowning on about but you were, you had a test to pass and yet everyone around you seemed to be more excited about going away than anything else. Normally you'd be excited about going home for the holidays as well but this year you weren't going home, you were heading out to Seokjin's snow lodge in the mountains which would have been fun and made you ecstatic but there was one problem with it. Jeon Jungkook was going and you'd never seemed to get along with one another. Scratch that, he'd never gotten along with you. For some reason from the moment you met one another, it had been nothing but hate for each other. The reason you hated being around him was because of how he acted and treated the people around him, and the way he spoke about you behind your back.

"Bell rang, we can leave." Trina - your best friend in College and roommate - told you as she came up behind you and rubbed your shoulders. She'd been the one to tell you what Jungkook had been saying behind your back, she didn't want you to find out through the rumour train on the college campus and be blindsided by it.

"Do I have to go?" You questioned as you noticed Jin waiting by the door of the classroom for her, he was driving you both back to your dorms so you could get everything you needed for the night trip to the snow lodge. He wanted to get a head start before the snowstorm that was coming in,

"Yes, I'm not being left alone in that giant house with seven boys, you don't have a choice," She reminded you again and again that you'd made her go alone last year and that this year it was her Christmas present from you that you would go with them.

"But I hate snowboarding-"

"No you don't, you love it. You're the most adventurous person I know beside Jungkook," At the mention of his name you wanted the world to swallow you up,

"Hi, pookey,"  Trina cooed as she wrapped her arms around Jin's neck and began making out with him as if they hadn't seen one another for months when in reality, it had been less than 45 minutes.

"If this is what the week is going to be like, count me out. I'll quit," You groaned not wanting to see them make out so close to your face, Jin rolled his eyes at you before putting you in a headlock.

"You should let me set you up with someone, you'll be great with Taehyung." You scoffed at him, pushing the 5'10 jock off your body and straightening your hair out.

"No thank you, Jocks might be Trina's forte but they are not mine," Jin wrapped his arm around Trina as you all began the silent walk to his jeep wrangler that was waiting for him, you'd heard him and Trina talking about it all week. How it was perfect for the snow up in the mountains, fewer slips in the ice and a bunch of other car talk you didn't really care about. As long as it got you to the snow lodge in one piece it was all you needed to know about.

"We'll be riding with Jungkook and Yoongi, Yoongi will take the middle seat since he's the shortest," Jin told you as you reached the jeep, luckily you weren't picking them up until after you'd been to your dorms so you had more time to either convince Trina to let you out of this or take a sleeping pill to get out of the painfully silent car ride up the mountains.

"I don't get the problem?" You questioned as Trina began removing all of the books you'd been packing into your suitcase, she held up four of them in her hands.

"Four books? Give me one good reason why you need four books." You rolled your eyes at her, snatching them away as you placed them back into the suitcase.

"One to read, the second one in case I finish the first one, a third in case I don't like the second and a fourth as a backup," She just blinked at you not being able to come up with some kind of clap back for why you were doing this.

"Jungkook won't bother you if that's what you're worried about." Your back was turned away from her so she couldn't see the look on your face, you were shocked she'd even bring him up since it was her idea not to bring him up in front of one another unless necessary.

"It's not him-"

"Puh-lease- You can't get that past me. I saw the way your eyes widened when we got to Jin's jeep," She licked her teeth watching the way you tensed up just thinking about being with Jungkook,

"I'll make sure everything is smooth sailing, he won't even know you're there," She whispered, coming up behind you to rub your shoulders and reassure you that everything was going to be fine. That there was nothing you needed to worry about, except for which book was going to keep you company at night.

"Jin's waiting, come on," She playfully slapped your ass before leaving out of your dorm room, you slipped some earplugs into your bag -- you'd been living with Trina long enough. You knew how loud she and Jin could be when they wanted to be so you weren't going to take any chances on it.

"Don't scowl like that too long, your face will freeze like that." It was supposed to be a playful dig coming from Jin but right now you were far too sensitive to play along with it so you shoved earphones into your ears and stared out of the window you were sitting next to. Yoongi tapped your leg and held the bag of sweets out for you,

"Thanks," You whispered taking one into your mouth when he pulled your earbud out,

"You won't have to worry about Guk, he didn't sleep last night so-" He didn't finish what he was saying, he just pointed at Jungkook who was passed out asleep in the back seat of the car.

"He's nice when he's quiet," You laughed looking at Jin who was already staring at you in the review mirror to make sure everything was okay, he had no idea why you and Jungkook seemed to hate one another so much.

"Everybody ready? Let's go!" The car started up and the radio filled the air, not playing too loudly since no one wanted an angry and tired Jungkook on their hands.

Trina looked at Yoongi as he got out of the back of the car,

"They're sleeping, just leave them to it," She whispered as they began walking towards the service station. They weren't that far away from the snow lodge but they were all getting hungry from the four-hour drive, Yoongi had been dying for a wee for the last hour and Jin said if he didn't get some leg room he was going to go insane.

"I'm telling you, I think they'd be good together." Jin laughed as they walked through the huge service station building, stopping off at the bathrooms so that Yoongi could go to the bathroom before they went for food,

"Why do they hate each other so much?" Jin questioned as he looked down at Trina,

"I don't know, Y/n's always talking about how much she likes him...Maybe this weekend we can set them up?" Trina asked with wide eyes, Yoongi came out from the bathrooms right as he heard the end of the conversation.

"If she likes him she's got a funny way of showing it...I mean, they're always bickering with one another or glaring from across the room." Yoongi mumbled not seeing it the way that Trina did, if you did like Jungkook why would you go to so much effort to hate him?

"Yoongi, trust me, she never stops talking about him. It's a girl thing...We have to have partners anyway right, like for the firewood and stuff?" That was how the plan began to hatch, you and Jungkook were going to be forced to be together all week long with the tasks she was setting for you both.

"I don't want to wake her up," Yoong whined as he came into the car to see you snuggled up against Jungkook, your head on his shoulder while his head rested on top of yours.

"Don't, let them sleep. They obviously need it," Jin told him as he checked the time, it was getting late and dark out and they had another couple of hours to go yet.

"We should go, come on," Jin mumbled to Trina who got into the front seat and snapped a photo of you and Jungkook sitting peacefully together for once in your lives.

When everyone got to the snow lodge Jin though it would be best to wake you up,

"We're here lovebirds, get up." You groaned as someone began shaking your arm roughly to make you move, you turned and snuggled against who you thought was Yoongi when you heard Yoongi's laugh but didn't feel him move,

"What-" You stopped yourself from talking as you turned to see Jungkook staring down at you confused as to why you were holding onto him the way you were.

"Why the fuck?!" You groaned getting out of the car and going to stand next to Trina who raised her eyebrows at you,

"Yoongi wanted to sit next to the window, he felt sick. You both moved on your own," She lied going over to Jin who was about to give the tour of the snow lodge to you all, Jungkook smirked as he came up behind you.

"Snuggle buddy," He winked as he headed inside with the rest of the guys, you mumbled something under your breath as you got your suitcase from the back of the jeep.

"He does it to get a rise out of you, don't let it get to you," Jimin said as he locked Jin's car behind you, you rolled your eyes. It was all anyone ever said to you about Jungkook to just ignore him and the problem would go away but it never worked.

"Thanks, Jimin," You whispered as you walked into the lodge, the living room was huge. The second floor could be seen from the living room like a loft apartment only the loft part leads into more bedrooms.

"We'll need a buddy system!" Jin called out as he stood in front of the huge stone fireplace, it had brown armchairs around it and a huge sofa in front of it as well. It was where you could picture most of your time while the others were out doing whatever it was they were going to do while they were there.

"We'll need to use it because the snow is dangerous, I already came up with teams. Don't like it? I don't care, it's for a five or ten-minute walk that is all." You stared at Jin who was going into explaining why the buddy system was in place,

"It's mostly for the firewood which is kept out in a separate lodge, it's a five or ten-minute walk depending on how quickly you walk. Teams are as follows: Me and Trina," They hugged sweetly and Jin began listing off the names of who were together.

"Jungkook and Y/n." Your eyes locked with Jin who just smiled innocently at you, he knew you didn't get along with Jungkook but not the ins and outs of everything so he probably didn't think much of it.

"I'm going to shower and sleep! Babe! Let's go!" Jin lifted Trina from the floor leaving you girl-less with six other men,

"Hot tub is calling me!" Jimin yelled out along with Namjoon and Taehyung as they began racing towards the back door where the hot tubs were outside. Hoseok came up behind you and nudged you playfully,

"You're in the room next to mine, it's a joint room." You and Hoseok got along perfectly, in fact, you got along with all of them which was why you couldn't believe you'd been placed with Jungkook of all people for the buddy system.

"By the end of the week I doubt you'll even bother one another, it's not like you have to talk to go and get wood," Yoongi said, it was as if he could read your mind about what you were worrying about. You didn't want to have to put up with Jungkook all week long.

"I'll doubt you'll even see one another," Hoseok added as you began climbing the stairs towards your bedrooms for the night.

It was true though, the whole time you'd only had to go and get wood for the fire once but you ended up going with Hoseok since Jungkook was out skiing with everyone else. It was the final night in the place tonight and they all decided they wanted to have a night around the fire together. Sitting and roasting marshmallows while you told stories to one another. This whole week you'd managed to avoid Jungkook like he was the plague, which was great. Every time he was around the lodge you made sure you were out of it, except for now when he came in and knocked the book you were reading into your lip.

"Fuck sake Jungkook," You grumbled as you began rubbing your lip, the hardback cover hurt as it collided with your lip.

"Sorry Miss "I'm so boring I just had to bring books with me," we need to go and get logs." You rolled your eyes at him as you looked around the room trying to find someone else for him to go with but they all had their own things to be doing tonight.

"Come on, I want to go before I freeze." He snapped at you, watching you as you pushed your feet into your snow boots and wrapped a coat around yourself without saying a word to him. He wanted to know why you'd been avoiding him all week but he kept silent trying to concentrate on not falling over in the snow.

"Shit," You yelped out as the wind began to pick up and the snow fall got heavier, you slipped a little on an ice patch and Jungkook craddled you in his arms as he rushed you to the small hut where the fire wood was.

"Holy fuck," He yelled as he shut the door, the snow was starting to come down extremley heavily as you looked from the small windows,

"Start a-" He was going to tell you to start a small fire but you'd already started one in the small fireplace inside of the hut, it wasn't much inside of here. The lights didn't even work so you were relying on firelight and a couple of candles to help you see since it was pitch black outside,

"I'm sure it will let up," You whispered, you didn't know if you were tyring to convince him or yourself at this point but you stared through the window. You couldn't even see the huge lodge anymore, it was just white snowflakes filling the air as they fell down.

"I think there's some blankets in the back," Jungkook mumbled as he watched you pull the coat you were wearing around you tightly. Taking the candle from the side you followed him through to a small cupboard, inside were more candles and plenty of blankets of pillows.

"Hey, if you get so sick of me there's an axe in here," He tried to make a light hearted joke but you walked out with some of the blankets and began laying them down in front of the fireplace.

"Get some of the pillows and more blankets, we might be here a while if the storm doesn't let up," Jungkook said as he came out with four more blankets to pad the wooden flooring, he was going to make it comfortable for you both.

"You don't think it'll let up?" As the question left your mouth the wind began to pick up and the shutters on the windows shook dramatically,

"I don't, but it's alright. It'll be gone by morning and we'll be alright," He could already tell how worried you were about this and so you began working together to try and keep warm and make the place look okay.

After two hours of painful silence with Jungkook the storm finally calmed down,

"Thank god," You groaned going over to the door to open it, you would rather freeze to death walking back to the lodge than be in a dead silent hut with Jungkook for another hour. Neither of you had your phones with you, not that there was much reception up in the mountains anyway for you to do anything with and you'd left your books in the lodge. Jungkook got up and walked behind you when he watched you push the door open but the door wouldn't move,

"What the fuck?" You groaned shoving it a little with your shoulder but it was as if something was blocking it from the outside,

"It's jammed-"

"Let me try," He rolled up his sleeves and you stepped out of the way and watched in ammusment as he tried - and failed - at opening the door to get out of the hut.

"If I couldn't do it what made you think you could? Do I look like I need big strong, Jock Jeon Jungkook to come and save me?" You were so glad you didn't mess up on the Jock Jeon Jungkook sentence, it was kind of like a tongue twister with how quickly you'd snapped at him,

"Will you back off? I'm just trying to fucking help!" You rolled your eyes going back over to the fire to try and get warm when he came back over to you.

"Why do you always do that?" He questioned casually as he sat in front of the fire, laying a blanket over his shoulders as he shivered.

"Do what?" You mumbled reaching out to throw another log onto the fire that was slowly starting to die out on you.

"Snap at me whenever I try to do something, or help you?" His voice came out shakey and sad and you almost felt bad for everything but then you remembered who you were talking to, you shook your head.

"Why do you do what you do?" The question took a minute to process in Jungkook's brain before he frowned and questioned what you meant by it,

"I mean...You spread those rumours about me and the whole football team..." Another log was thrown onto the fire by you as you tried to do something to distract yourself from feeling bad about snapping at him.

"What rumours? If anyone should be upset about rumours it should be me!" His voice raised a little bit and he watched you flinch, he instantly felt bad and shook his head.

"What rumours?" He was geniuenly concerned about what you'd heard.

"You told people at college I slept with all of you on the team, that I'd gone around with all of you at one point." The feeling of disgust came back to you as you remembered Trina coming up to tell you what she'd heard from Jungkook one morning,

"What are you talking about? No one- No one has ever heard that, I haven't even heard that before-"

"Trina told me," He scoffed at her name and rolled his eyes,

"Trina was the one that told me you'd been spreading things about me, that I had STD's and stuff," Your mouth fell open as you stared at Jungkook.

"I didn't- I woulnd't...How would I even know if you did?" He looked at the fire and threw more firewood onto it,

"Why would Trina-" You went to ask but he cut you off,

"To stop us from talking?" He suggested while looking back at you, you frowned. Why would Trina do anything like that to you?

"Why though? I mean...She's happy with Jin so why would she want me to be miserable whenever I'm around you all?" Jungkook shrugged his shoulders and went to speak when there was a loud knocking on one of the windows, Jin was standing there with Trina.

"I called someone, they're going to try and remove the snow in the morning it's too big for us...Here," He passed a basket of food and water through, along with paper.

"For the fire and to eat, can we have some of the logs?" You nodded going to grab some while Jungkook confronted Trina about what she'd been doing.

"I'll come to the back window," Jin yelled as he left Trina and Jungkook alone,

"So why did you do it?" He questioned as he stared at Trina, a frown covered her face as she wondered what he was talking about.

"Why did I do what?"

"Don't act dumb, me and Y/n have been talking...Why all of the nasty rumours?" Her eyes widened as she looked at Jungkook, it had been something she'd done back in the first year when she had a huge crush on Jungkook. Before she'd even fallen for Jin and she'd regretted it ever since,

"I was an idiot-"

"Why though?" The window in the back shut and you came back over to the window to talk to Trina when you caught the end of the conversation.

"I was a teenager in college, you were a cute guy and I thought if Y/n spoke to you, that-"

"I'd go to her instead of you? True...But you're with Jin, you could have told us," You looked down at the floor as you heard him say that he would have gone for you. Although you'd spent the last three years hating him there was no denying that you liked him a littel, despite the rumours that were now fake.

"We should go," The window slammed as Trina walked with Jin back to the lodge, you wondered if she would tell Jin this was her fault you and Jungkook hated one another.

"You'd go for me?" You teased him opening the basket and taking out some of the scrap paper and throwing it into the fireplace.

"You wouldn't go for me?" He sat closer to you on the floor and you smiled at the closeness of being next to him, it wasn't just because it was cold in there. It was geunienly nice to be close to him and not want to rip his head from his shoulders.

"I didn't say that," He chuckled at your answer and wrapped the blanket around your body so you were under the same one now,

"Is it too early to make a joke about not knowing what STD's you have," You winked at him and he groaned rolling his head forward as he thought about it,

"What will you do about Trina?" He questioned, he was watching you fiddle with your hands so he took them into his and locked his fingers with yours.

"Talk to her about it, she'll be sorry about it. She's not a bad person Jungkook depsite what she did, I promise," He nodded his head at you and then looked at the snow that was starting to pick up again outside,

"You know...We could find another way to stay warm." He began wiggling his eyebrows and you groaned at him shoving him away playfully,

"Gross, do you always think with your dick? Is this what I've gotten myself into?" You laughed looking at your interlocked hands, he raised his eyebrows at you,

"I didn't know I'd asked you out on a date yet," He teased, you began stumbling over your words trying to think of something to say to him and he laughed,

"I'm teasing, I'll take you out if we ever get out of here." He winked pulling you closer as you laid your head on his shoulder, shivering a little.

"Here, you need to relax," He whispered, forcing you to look at him but you continued to shiver and not relax so he kissed you. Your eyes widened at the contact but as soon as you got into it, your arms wrapped around the back of his neck and he laid you down on the blankets. Smiling against your lips a syou stopped shivering,

"See, I told you to relax." He whispered while leaving his lips to hover above yours,

"Kiss me," You whined out, he went to make a joke about it but you grabbed onto the back of his head and forced him to kiss you again while he chuckled about how needy you were for his attention now.

Tagline: @lyoongx​ @fan-ati--c​ @mitzwinchester​ @rjsmochii​ @callingmyangel​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @taestannie​ @innersooya​ @sw33tnight​ @sweeneyblue1​ @missmxqn​ @bisexualmess007​ @oosnapitskat​

[thefinalcinderella]

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 9 - To Beyond (Part 1)

We’re finally here folks. After two years we’re finally at Hakone and boy is it long

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. JR stands for Japan Railway and refers to the trains operated by the company

Previous | Next

January 2nd, 7:45 a.m.

The start of the Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race was fifteen minutes away.

After the roll call twenty minutes before the start, Prince tried to go down the subway’s pathway again. Earlier in the morning, he had been able to run on the sidewalks above ground to loosen up, but now that was impossible—there was a large crowd of people in front of the Yomiuri Shimbun’s Tokyo headquarters in Otemachi, waiting to watch the start of the Hakone Ekiden.

From the Yomiuri Shimbun’s headquarters to the Wadakura Gate along the inner moat of the Imperial Palace, the sidewalks were lined with walls of people which consisted of cheering squads from each school, staff, and Ekiden fans who were celebrating the New Year with cheerful faces. The echoing sound of drums and the school songs of each school. The colorful flags and banners in the cold wind that eddied around the buildings. The rising noise and excitement.

“Where are you going?” Kiyose, who was accompanying Prince, stopped him. “Your body’s already warmed up. What will you do if you get tired before the race starts?”

“I know, but I feel sort of uneasy when I’m not running.” Prince paced on the spot. “I didn’t think there would be so many people here.”

Kiyose never thought the day would come when he would hear the phrase “I feel uneasy when I’m not running” come out of Prince's mouth. He smiled reassuringly.

“You’ve had plenty of practice. You’ll be fine. Did you go to the bathroom?”

“Many times,” The Yomiuri Shimbun’s staff entrance was open for athletes and officials to use the restroom and change clothes in the waiting room. “It’s always crowded with the runners running in the first leg.”

“You’re not the only one who’s nervous. Don’t worry.”

He couldn't let his body be chilled by the wind. Kiyose took Prince to the back of the newspaper building. There were not many people there, and Kiyose and Prince ran lightly side by side.

The final entries, announced at 7 a.m., were posted on the wall of the building.

“Rikudou didn’t assign Fujioka-san to the second leg.”

Prince tilted his head curiously. Rikudou had put Fujioka as an alternate for the leg entry. Fujioka was the captain of his team and the best runner in Rikudou, but he hadn’t heard any rumors about him getting injured, so he wondered if he wasn’t feeling well. Each school had been paying attention, but Fujioka still wasn't announced in the final entries for the outward journey that morning.

“They probably plan on putting him in the ninth or tenth leg,” Kiyose said.

It seemed that Rikudou was trying to assess the situation carefully; it was thought that if anybody could stop them from winning again this time, it would be Bousou University. In the leg entries, Bousou had made it clear that they were taking the fight to the outward journey.

If Rikudou were to only face the elites of Bousou, the outward journey would be quite a tough battle, even for Rikudou. Perhaps the plan was to hand over the victory for the outward journey to Bousou and take the return trip and the overall victory, which was determined by the total time of the round trip. There was no doubt that Rikudou was trying to decide which leg of the return trip to put Fujioka in depending on their ranking when they reached Lake Ashi and the time difference with Bousou.

“But don’t think about Rikudou right now.” Kiyose lightly pushed Prince’s shoulder. “It’s almost time to go back to the starting point. Do you remember what I told you?”

“Yeah.” Prince nodded vigorously and took off the thick bench coat that reached his knees. The gathered spectators made way for Prince then, who was wearing Kansei’s black and silver uniform.

The cold didn’t bother him anymore. As the first runner, Prince had a sash hanging from his left shoulder—it was black with the words “Kansei University” embroidered in silver thread. The plasterer’s wife had been steadily working on it since they passed the qualifiers.

Prince gently touched the precious sash. It would connect the ten of them and return to this place tomorrow. He definitely wouldn’t let the sash be interrupted midway.

Kiyose adjusted the length of the sash and tucked the extra parts into the waistband of Prince’s shorts so that it wouldn’t get in his way when he was running.

“Prince, sorry for making you go along with us until now,” Kiyose said.

The music being played by the cheering sections grew louder. “Athletes to the starting line!” A staff member called out.

“Haiji-san, I don’t want to hear those kinds of words,” Prince laughed. “Wait for me at Tsurumi.”

Prince entrusted his coat to Kiyose and stood at the starting line along with the nineteen other people running the first leg.

It was 8 a.m. in Otemachi, Tokyo. Clear skies. 1.3 degrees Celsius. 88 percent humidity. Wind from the northwest at 1.1 meters.

For a moment, the area was completely silent, and then the starting gun sounded.

Prince started to run. There was no need to look back. Because Kansei University’s first Hakone Ekiden was only created by advancing down this road.

---

As Kiyose had predicted, the race unfolded at a leisurely pace. With Tokyo Station on the left hand side, they passed Wadakura Gate. The cheers of the spectators and the wind around the buildings tore away at their backs. As the group spread out horizontally, they moved forward along the damp road at a pace of 3 minutes and 7 seconds per kilometer. Even Prince could keep up with this.

Perhaps it was because of the wide road, but it didn’t seem like they were making much progress no matter how much they ran. Around him, he could sense people checking and restraining each other, wondering who would be the first to break out.

“Keep going slowly,” Prince recited in his mind.

The wind blowing through the gap in the buildings made the temperature feel cooler than it was. Remembering Kiyose’s advice, Prince got behind a slightly larger runner from Teitou University; it would be bad for Prince, who had a speed disadvantage, if he had to use his extra strength to secure a place. Having secured a good spot to guard against the wind, Prince concentrated on keeping up with the group.

The pace remained almost the same even after they entered the Daichi Keihin highway from the intersection at Shiba 5-chome. They passed the five kilometer mark at 15 minutes and 30 seconds.

The coaches from each school were following the runners in their coach cars. The coaches were allowed to talk to their runners over a speaker connected to a microphone at the beginning of the race, during the last kilometer, and every five kilometers. However, no coach gave instructions before the five kilometer mark; there was so much tension in the group that it was impossible to speak out carelessly.

Rikudou and Bousou were battling for the lead, but every time they tried to put on a spurt, they repeatedly got swallowed up by the group. The first leg was 21.3 kilometers long and it was only the start of the Hakone Ekiden. If you failed in putting on a spurt and got worn out here, it would trouble the runners in the following legs, and the mentality of not being able to take the plunge was swirling through the group.

Forgetting about the presence of the lead car and the TV cameras, Prince moved forward desperately, but with a composed expression on his face.

At the same time, Kiyose had just transferred to the Keihin Express after having arrived in Shinagawa from Tokyo Station on the JR line. (1) Holding Prince’s bench coat, he put the radio earphones in his ears. Picking up the sound from the TV and learning that the group hadn’t broken up yet, Kiyose let out a small shout of “Yes!” He drew attention from the passengers around him, but he couldn’t care less.

The TV announcer and commentator spoke as though they were bewildered by the slow pace.

“There has been no change in the race at all.”

“I think the stronger runners can be more aggressive and go for the record.”

“You don’t have to say unnecessary things,” Kiyose snapped without thinking. The slow pace is fine. Nobody make any moves. Run as a group for as long as you can.

His phone rang. He looked at the display and saw that it was the landlord in the coach car. Kiyose hurriedly pressed the button, wondering if Prince had begun to drop out.

“I don’t know what to do, Haiji,” the landlord said easily.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’ll be at ten kilometers soon. Should I shout something at Prince?”

“Does it look like he’s having trouble?”

Kiyose gripped his phone.

“No? He just passed Yatsuyama Bridge, but he’s holding on well. The group is still staying in a horizontal line.”

“Then you don’t have to say anything.”

The Yatsuyama Bridge was just before the eight-kilometer mark. There were gentle ups and downs as they crossed the railroad tracks on an elevated level. If they were still in a horizontal line after that, they should be able to stay like that until they reached Rokugo Bridge, the most difficult point in the first leg. Endure it, Prince. Kiyose called out in his mind.

“But what kind of coach would I be if I just sat in the car and stayed silent?” The landlord seemed bored. “It’s like I’m just driving to Hakone.”

“All you have to do is to be at the ready. If Prince is having a hard time, encourage him.”

“How? I can’t sing the school song, I’m tone deaf.”

“No coach would encourage their runners with the school song nowadays,” Kiyose sighed. “In that case, I want you to give him a message from me: ‘I have something I want to tell you. So come to Tsurumi even if you have to crawl.’”

Prince heard that message at the fifteen-kilometer mark. The landlord in the coach car, with a microphone in his hand, shouted that at him in a hoarse voice.

What do you want to tell me? Let me hear it.

His breathing was becoming more and more labored, but Prince felt inspired again. He had also been successful in receiving water, at which point he was informed by a member of the short-distance track and field team that “this kilometer was exactly three minutes.” The pace was speeding up. As expected, victory would be decided at Rokugo Bridge, which was the 17.8-kilometer mark.

After twelve kilometers, there had been a situation where the race seemed likely to move—the runner from Eurasia University had made a move and the group had stretched out vertically. However, Rikudou and Bousou had quickly followed, and the others had chased after them like they were being dragged along. Ultimately, no one dropped out of the group.

In this situation, the Rokugo Bridge would decide everything. Prince could tell that everyone tacitly understood that.

Rokugo Bridge was a large bridge over the Tama River, and it was 446.2 meters long. There was an uphill climb to reach the bridge and a downhill climb to get off the bridge. The ups and downs were physically demanding after running nearly twenty kilometers.

When he finally started to climb the slope of the Rokugo Bridge, Prince's legs suddenly became heavy; he couldn’t believe how steep the slope felt. Prince gasped and swung his arms to try to move his body forward.

At that moment, there was a change in the rhythm of the group. The breathing of the strongest runners suddenly became quiet, and right at the moment Prince realized “it's coming,” the Yokohama University runner put on a spurt. Bousou and Rikudou followed suit.

The group quickly broke apart and stretched out vertically. What stamina these guys have! Prince couldn’t do anything but stare in amazement at the growing distance between him and the rest of the group. He wanted to keep up with them, but it was impossible; as they descended Rokugo Bridge, the top group was getting faster and faster.

“Don’t rush. If you can keep up with them until Rokugo Bridge, there won’t be much of a time difference. Besides that, just think about running at your own pace.”

Kiyose’s instructions before the start of the race came back to mind.

That’s right, I just started doing track. No matter what kind of spurts other people do, I can only run with all my might.

He was already about a hundred meters away from the head of the group, but Prince didn’t give up—didn’t get pessimistic—and ran patiently.

Just started, huh? So, am I going to continue doing track? Even though I’m in so much pain because I got dragged into it.

Prince opened his mouth for oxygen and a small laugh slipped through as he exhaled.

The gentle and warm morning sun shone down on him from the front.

---

At the Tsurumi relay station, Kakeru and Musa were huddled together, looking at the screen of a portable TV—an electronics store in the shopping district had lent it to them for free.

“Oh, Prince-san has been outstripped,” Musa said sadly, staring at the TV in Kakeru’s hand like he wanted to see Prince disappearing from the screen for as long as he could.

“But there shouldn't be much time difference from the top runners.” With Prince’s heroic figure properly burned into his eyes, Kakeru looked up. “Musa-san, let’s catch up in the second leg.”

“Yes. I will do my best.”

It was about time for the first leg runners to arrive at the Tsurumi relay station. Musa took off his woolen hat and scarf. The temperature was 3.3 degrees Celsius. There was almost no wind, and it was clear, but it was still bitterly cold for Musa. He had consulted with Kakeru and decided to wear arm covers that would cover everything from his wrist to his elbow; this way, if it got too hot, he could take them off and just wear his running uniform.

“Did you drink enough water? Even if you think it’s cold, you don’t want to get dehydrated while you’re running.”

“If I drink any more water, I would have to urinate standing up while I run.”

Musa laughed. This was the first time he had used words like “urinate standing up.” “It doesn’t suit you,” Kakeru also laughed.

The voices of the announcer and commentator came from the portable TV Kakeru was holding.

“In the second leg, each school is fielding their ace or ace-level runner. Eleven out of the twenty runners can run ten-thousand meters in twenty-eight minutes. Four international students are also making their appearance here.”

“Manas from Bousou University, Iwanki from Koufu Gakuin University, Jomo from Saikyou University, and Musa from Kansei University.”

When his name was spoken, Musa and Kakeru looked at the TV. They saw themselves on the screen. They looked around in surprise and saw a TV crew approaching them from behind. Musa smiled awkwardly at the TV camera.

“Kansei’s Musa is a bit unique: he is a government-sponsored engineering student and it seems that until last year, he had no experience in track and field. Kansei is taking on Hakone with only ten runners, but most of them have no experience with track.”

“I can’t believe they were able to make it this far. It’s quite a feat.”

The screen cut to the studio, where the commentator was nodding in agreement. “They must have put a lot of effort into their training.”

“The Kansei team is rich with individuality. I am looking forward to seeing how they will perform in their first ever Hakone.”

The screen cut to a commercial and the TV crew left. Oh no, Musa seems to be getting nervous again now that he got introduced on TV, Kakeru thought.

Kakeru’s phone rang. It was from Shindou, who was at the Odawara relay station to run the fifth leg. As soon as he pressed the answer button, Kakeru passed the phone to Musa.

“Musa, you were on TV!” Shindou said. He sounded very muffled.

“How is your cold?” Musa asked worriedly, and Kakeru also leaned in to listen. Shindou had gotten a fever on New Year’s Eve and still hadn't been feeling well that morning.

“I’m fine. Are you okay, Musa? You’re probably nervous right now.”

“Yes, a little bit,” Musa answered. Could Shindou see what was going on at the Tsurumi relay station? Kakeru was stunned at the depth of the bond between Musa and Shindou.

“Hey, Musa. Think about something fun,” Shindou said in a nasal voice. “Once this is over, it’s finally New Year’s for us. I’m thinking of going home to my parents’ house during winter break. Do you want to come with me, Musa?”

“Is that okay? You’ll be spending time with your family, won’t you?”

“My parents are waiting for you to come and visit. We live in the boonies where there’s nothing, so there’s nothing to do there except building snowmen.”

 “What is a ‘snowman’?”

“That’s right, you've never made one. Then, it’s settled. Let’s go back to my home together.”

“Yes,” Musa nodded. “Thank you very much, Shindou-san.”

After hanging up, Musa’s eyes showed no more hesitation or fear. The cheering along the road grew even louder—they could probably see the runners now. Kakeru and Musa approached the road.

Kiyose came running from Keikyu Tsurumi-Ichiba Station carrying a bench coat. He saw Kakeru and Musa and exhaled loudly, saying, “I made it in time?”

“Musa, how are you feeling?”

“I am feeling good,” Musa assured them strongly. Kiyose checked his expression and his shoelaces, and made sure there was nothing out of place.

“Good. Prince will probably come here in last place. But don’t get shaken by that and just run as usual.”

“If we are in last place, then I will feel better, because we cannot get any worse than that,” Musa joked. “Besides, I am more comfortable chasing than being chased.”

“That’s the spirit,” Kakeru said, accepting Musa’s bench coat.

The Rikudou runner arrived at the Tsurumi relay station in the lead. The relay station was set up in front of a police box along Route 1—it was a nondescript tree-lined street, and since it was straight and level, one could clearly see the runners arriving one after the other.

The staff member who received the message hurriedly called out the school names. The runners of the first leg came in that order, so runners of the second leg went to the relay line to wait for their teammates.

Rikudou’s sash was relayed from the first-leg to the second-leg runner. His time was one hour four minutes and thirty-six seconds from the start at Otemachi. After him came Yokohama, Bousou, and Eurasia, handing over their sashes in that order with almost no time difference. It was a very close race, as the runners had been clustered together until the end.

Musa bent down. Kakeru leaned out into the road. One after another, the runners of the first leg came and handed over their sashes, and the runners of the second leg ran out of the Tsurumi relay station. There was still no sign of Prince. It was thirty seconds since Rikudou had passed.

“It’s Prince-san!”

In the shadow of the competition cars, they saw Prince, running with his teeth clenched. The staff member was calling out the names of the schools that were still at the relay station at the same time. “I am going,” Musa said. He stepped out onto the road and stood on the relay line.

Musa turned towards Prince and raised his hand. Prince was running desperately while swinging his arms, but when he noticed Musa’s figure, as though remembering, he removed his sash from his shoulder. The elastic waistband of his shorts snapped lightly against his side as though to scold him.

Just a little more, just a little more.

“Prince-san! Prince-san!”

Musa and Kakeru were shouting. Kiyose was standing next to Kakeru, waiting patiently for Prince to arrive.

After crossing the relay line, Prince put the sash he had been gripping in Musa’s hand as Musa began to run. The sash connected the two of them for a moment, and then it quickly slipped through Prince’s fingertips.

My heart hurts. I can’t even keep my eyes open. I wonder if this wild breathing belongs to me?

Prince stopped and pitched forward, almost falling, but then realized he was caught in someone’s arms.

“I take back what I said to you at Otemachi,” Kiyose’s voice was right next to him. “I wanted to say this to you: Thank you for coming all the way here with us.”

“You passed,” Prince muttered.

Kakeru and Kiyose took the Keihin Express to Yokohama and then the JR to Odawara. Since they were short of hands, they planned to go on ahead to Lake Ashi and meet with Shindou, who was running the fifth leg.

They were worried about leaving the exhausted Prince at the Tsurumi relay station, but Prince told them this:

“You two, just leave me behind and go to Hakone. I already finished running. When I can walk again, I’ll go to the hotel on my own.”

Prince had the role of keeping track of the race on TV in a hotel near Yokohama Station. Kiyose and Kakeru were also planning on returning from Hakone that night and staying in the same hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s race.

After rehydrating, Prince managed to get up, so Kakeru and Kiyose left the Tsurumi relay station.

The bench coat Kiyose had brought from Otemachi was once again being worn by Prince. Now, Kakeru was carrying Musa’s bench coat. Shindou would be wearing it after his climb. If they just barely had enough manpower, they also just barely had enough clothing.

On the second day of January, the seats on the Tokaido Line were almost all filled with people running after the Hakone Ekiden and families who seemed to be going for the first shrine visit of the New Year. Kakeru spotted an empty box seat and sat Kiyose in it. Kiyose took out a notepad and ballpoint pen from the pocket of his bench coat.

“Prince’s time?”

“One hour five minutes and thirty-seven seconds,” Kakeru answered after checking with the stopwatch function on his watch. Kiyose wrote down the data on the notepad.

“The time difference with Doujidou University, which was right in front of us, is eleven seconds. The difference with Rikudou, which is in the top position, is one minute and one second. We still have plenty of chances. Prince fought bravely.”

Kansei’s sash was handed over from Prince to Musa at the Tsurumi relay station, and they were in twentieth place out of the twenty teams competing. The Kanto Athletic Union’s selected team, which was made up of runners who had participated in the qualifiers, would use the individual times of each runner as an official record, but wouldn’t enter the rankings as a team. Therefore, Kansei was ranked nineteenth, but when they finished running the first leg, they were still unmistakably in last place in both name and reality.

But Kiyose was right: it was a time difference that could be overturned. The slow-paced development was a blessing for Prince and Kansei. The race had only just begun.

Kakeru was carrying the portable TV, but reception in the train was bad. “Try this one,” Kiyose told him, and gave him the radio. Right when he was twisting the knobs to try to get sound, Kiyose’s phone got a message. It was from King in the Totsuka relay station, who was with Jouta, the one running the third leg.

“Haiji, we’ve got a big problem! Look at the TV!”

“I can’t,” Kiyose said.

Previous | Next

[maybedefinitely404]

Day 11: Intruloceit (pt 2)

@tsshipmonth2020

The sequel y’all were waiting for! (@hoppe-ideas)

Day 11: ‘Choose your own adventure’ day! I chose to continue from Day 9, since I couldn’t very well leave it there.

Content warning: allusions to abuse, Remus being Remus (need I elaborate?), implied past panic attack, mention of bipolar disorder, and of course, Janus’ crippling insecurities. Angst with a happy ending. 

Word count: 4k

*READ DAY 9 FIRST*

Blue: What time are you available?

Green: What is this, a doctor’s office? I’m free after lunch 

Blue: I was merely tr

Green: I know, I know. I’m just teasing you. It’s endearing, my little mocking-nerd. Bring your textbook, I’ll meet you in the cafeteria. It’s octopus learning time!

Blue: I will never understand you.

Green: Good 

He drew a crude rendering of the devil emoji, then a heart, and the conversation ended as quickly as it began.

--------------------------------------

Green: What would happen if you injected coca cola into your bloodstream

Blue: No.

Green: It’s just a question!

Blue: I’m assuming you would die.

Green: Damn. Can we try anyways?

Blue: No!

Green: C’mon, for science?

Blue: NO! Why did this question even arise?!

Janus hid a small chuckle, before immediately slapping a hand over his mouth. Even if the writing was as much on his arm as it was theirs, it still felt wrong to read it. Felt wrong to admit that he was starting to enjoy their shenanigans.

-------------------------------------

Green: Hey

Blue: Hello, my dear. What is so important that you couldn’t text me?

Green: my mom broke my phone and I’m having an attack

Janus sat straight up, his calligraphy pen clattering to the floor, effectively ruining the large swooping letters he was working on with a splattered gold streak. This was the first message the two had shared that wasn’t either Blue’s notes about homework or Green’s odd creative ideas, or cheesy conversations between the two that Janus tended not to read. It felt like intruding on someone’s life. He hadn’t learned their names yet, and while they always stuck to the same color scheme, he knew at this point he’d be able to distinguish their handwriting with no hesitation. It was his version of hearing their voices, and he’d started growing attached to them. He turned his full attention to the conversation on the back of his arm, feeling a surge of worry.

Blue: I’m on my way, be at the curb in ten minutes?

Green: thanks

Blue: Remember those breathing exercises. Try to stay calm. 

Green: please hurry

Blue: I’m driving as fast as I can, love.

The messages ended there, and Janus didn’t sleep that night.

----------------------------------------------------------

Blue: Happy birthday, Remus. I hope you have an amazing day.

Remus: Are we still good to go for tonight? 

Blue: Of course. I had Roman and Patton help plan most of the date, so I hope you enjoy it.

Remus: Logan, if it’s with you, I will~ 

Logan: You’re a sap.

Remus: And you love it

Logan: Guilty.

Never had Janus felt so alone. It was one thing to have anonymous messages scribbled on your arm, little doodles and good luck wishes, but to know their names? That brought on a whole new round of tears that he hated himself for. Remus and Logan. The names of his so-called soulmates, the labels he could finally put to the personalities. As much as he hated to admit it, waking up had become a whole lot easier since they’d started appearing on his skin. It was something little to look forward to.

It also hurt, just a little bit more. Before he was eighteen, he’d been able to imagine his situation like his parent’s, with a soulmate who would end up hating and hurting him, and it was easy to decide to never communicate when the time arrived. And even if they seemed like genuinely good people, every time he lifted a pen to respond, to announce his presence, he stopped himself, as his father’s words rang through his head.

Why would anyone want you, Janus?

You’re a mistake, and they’ll see that instantly.

Honestly, what good do you even have to offer a soulmate?

He didn’t want them to be true, but it wasn’t like anyone had ever told him differently. His mother avoided his eyes and was silent, his peers treated him like a disease, so those words were the ones he started to believe. So he capped the pen, pulled his sleeve down, and ignored the small feather light tickles as they spread across his arms. 

------------------------------------------------

Of course, it wasn’t avoidable forever. 

It was writing on skin, did he think that was something he would never do accidentally? Was he really that stupid? They were going to be so pissed when they found out how long he’d been snooping on their conversations. They’d hate him. They’d never be open to the idea that he was somehow meant to be in their lives. He was done. He was such an idiot.

These were the thoughts raging through his mind as he looked down over himself in shock, spilled amber ink shimmering on his skin. It was an accident; an opening of an ink pod combined with over enthusiastic dancing to the Chicago soundtrack, leading to a faltering concentration and skin covered in staining gold. He’d been sitting cross legged on his chair when the cartridge exploded, and he’d bounded to his bathroom to try and wash it off, but it had only been partially successful. There was no doubt in his mind that they would see it. It had covered a good majority of today’s messages on his arms, smeared across his shins from hurriedly trying to wipe it away, and speckled across his face like the world’s most unfortunate freckles. 

He dropped back into his chair, his music now turned off, and laid his head on the cool wood of his desk. The ticking on his clock was the only sound in the room and he counted each one, mentally marking the minutes as they passed by. Waiting. Five minutes of silent fear had passed before a new anxiety began to rise in him. What if they were his soulmates, but he wasn’t theirs? He’d heard of it happening, ever so rarely, that soulmarks weren’t reciprocated. If that was true for him, and he was starting to become sure it was, they wouldn’t see the ink. They never would. He would be forced to live the rest of his life on the outside, reading their life on his skin but never able to take part. Somehow that seemed a lot worse now that it wasn’t his choice.

Just as he was starting to spiral, a familiar tickle on his arm snapped him back to the present. His head jerked up, hair falling into his heterochromatic eyes as he followed the dark blue script, starting just under the largest golden spill.

Hello? 

And how should he respond to that? He couldn’t think of a fun one liner, a sassy quip, to introduce himself. For the first time in his life, lying wasn’t an option, and he hated that. He grabbed the first pen he could grab, a black ballpoint, with shaking fingers.

Hi. Well, that was lame. 

You’re our soulmate. It was less of a question, more of a statement. Janus took a deep breath, bringing the pen down again.

Yes. 

I’m sorry. What he was apologizing for, he couldn’t quite put a finger on. But it felt right. Apologizing was simply second nature to him.

Whatever for?

He didn’t know how to answer that time, so he did what he always did best, and watched. Waited again, hoping that Blue (Logan, he remembered vaguely), would just drop the subject. This was the most conversation he’d had with someone in a while. 

My name’s Remus. The other dork is Logan. 

The green ink appeared under the blue, and Janus’ heart dropped painfully in his chest. As if he didn’t already know their names. It’s not as if he could say that, though. 

You seem kinda shy. It’s cute 

Let them speak, Remus. 

Both of them went silent, offering time to allow Janus to write. But he didn’t know what to say, how to explain… 

So he didn’t. He yanked down the sleeves of his pajama top, pulling the edges over his hands to hide the now dried golden  ink, and collapsed onto his bed, dooming himself to another night of restless sleep. 

----------------------------------------

If Janus had the choice, he wouldn’t have gone to school the next day. He would have laid curled up under his blanket, struggling to tune out the sound of his parents arguing, letting the world pass him by like an old camera reel. Janus didn’t have the choice though, not when he remembered it was nearing the end of the year and exam season was drawing closer, and then the bickering downstairs became motivation. Good grades would equal an out-of-state college, which would mean getting away from thrown dishes and slamming doors. 

Even so, that didn’t mean that Janus didn’t regret the entire day of school. It seemed like a breath of fresh air when the lunch bell rang and the students shuffled out of the class in a lump, leaving just him and Mr. Sanders behind, as per usual. Just as he reached down to pull his lunch out of his bag (just a handful of cold scrambled eggs he had set aside from his already meager breakfast), the teacher spoke.

“I actually have a meeting today, Jay. You’re gonna have to find a different place to have lunch.”

“What?” Janus recoiled as he spoke, his own voice sounding foreign to him. He hadn’t meant to talk back, half expecting a lecture, and was surprised when the teacher’s expression morphed into one of sympathy.

“Sorry, bud. It’s a staff meeting, and I couldn’t find a TA to watch the room over the break. It’s only for today. Cafeteria is open though, I’m sure you can find an empty table there. Or better yet,” He smiled softly, lifting his laptop bag onto his shoulder, “Sit with someone. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

Janus picked up his bag as well, rushing from the room without a second glance. He didn’t feel like explaining that the reason he sat alone wasn’t his choice, and he couldn’t help it. He was just tired of being pushed away, so why not make the first move himself. 

The path to the cafeteria was hardly trodden by him, and he tried to take in the pictures of past grad classes on the wall for as long as possible before his time was up. The security guard marching the halls gave him a pointed look, reminding him that he couldn’t stay in the hallways during lunch, so he hunched his shoulders and walked into the lunch room. He cursed the weather under his breath for being so damn hot today; he would melt in his hoodie and gloves to cover the ink. Luckily the splatters on his face blended in enough with the skin tone to be unnoticeable. 

The first thing he noticed is that it was loud. People shouted, trays clattered, and Janus wanted nothing more than to curl up in his hoodie. Social interaction. Gross. The second was that Mr. Sanders had been right, there was a line of empty tables at the back that people seemed to avoid in favor of grouping together in the center. The third and final thing was the overwhelming sense of loneliness that flooded Janus as soon as he walked in. Sitting alone in an empty room was one thing, choosing to sit alone in a crowded room was another. 

For a split second, the teacher’s words ran through his mind, and he wondered briefly if he should join a group, only for his anxiety to immediately shut the idea down with a shriek of are you crazy?!

He chose the closest table to the door that was untouched and sat hesitantly, appetite lost. All he had to do was get through an hour of this, he thought painfully. If he paid close enough attention, he could tune into other people’s conversations, and if he closed his eyes and drifted far enough, he might actually imagine that he was a part of them. 

“Hi!”

Janus’ eyes shot open and he shrunk back as if he’d been slapped. Standing in front of him was a guy he recognized from his math class, bouncing on his heels enough to make his blonde curls fall into his eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear, gleaming teeth matching the white collar that stood out from under his blue sweater. 

“Do you want to sit with us?”

His critical glare didn’t deter the overly joyful guy as he gestured over Janus’ shoulder, encouraging him to look. He did, albeit reluctantly. Four people were sitting at the table behind him, three caught up in a spirited conversation. The last one was staring back at him owlishly through thick square glasses, and surprisingly, Janus wasn’t unsettled by the look. 

“Come sit with us!” The happy guy said again, looking like he was refraining himself from just grabbing Janus and pulling him over. His round glasses had started edging down his nose as he hopped from foot to foot.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep! Please?” He drew out the word for several seconds. Janus couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips, nodding mutely and gathering his backpack. His anxiety started again, pelting him with ‘they’re going to hate you’s and ‘this changes nothing’s, but he pushed them down resolutely. It was just the one meal. Tomorrow would be back to normal, eating lunch by himself in Mr. Sanders’ room. And he really couldn’t say no to that hopeful face. 

“Yay! Okay,” He led Janus to the table, dropping into one of the two empty seats and pointing to the one next to him. He took a deep breath before gushing on, “Sit! Okay, okay, okay, so I’m Patton, purple-hair is Virgil but they hate the name so you can just call them V. We all call them V. That’s Logan, and the twins are Roman and Remus. Remus has the white streak, but it’s actually really easy to tell them apart once you get to know them.”

Janus’ blood froze in the middle of Patton’s gleeful rant. Those names… those were all the names that kept popping up over the five months of secret soulmate snooping. That wasn’t a coincidence, right? Most of those names weren’t exactly common.

His eyes shifted to the two Patton had introduced as Remus and Logan, sitting shoulder to shoulder across from him. Remus had halted whatever he was talking so animatedly about in favor of greeting the newcomer, but Janus couldn’t get himself to wave back. Instead he dropped his gaze to their loosely intertwined hands on the table, feeling somewhat lightheaded at the identical golden stains covering both of them. 

So... he ran. He wasn’t proud of it, and he was somewhat certain that he’d made a scene, but he couldn’t do it. His own self doubt was crippling, all his fears rushing him full forced and reminding him just how little he mattered, how messed up his life had made him, how he would only ruin any possible relationship. This was all too real now. They fit so well to the picture he had unintentionally made of them in his mind; navy blue button up tops and slicked back hair, green bomber jackets and mussed up shoulder length curls. Eyes that glinted with barely concealed mirth, a dimpled grin revealing almost razor sharp canines. Two polar opposites, so perfectly built for each other, soulmates. He would just come along and ruin it. 

Screw the sun, he thought, as he sat on the scalding hot bleachers by the football field. To his extreme annoyance, tears had started drifting down his cheeks, and he hurriedly wiped them away from sheer habit. His dad didn’t like tears almost as much as he didn’t like Janus. It wasn’t like they would know it was him, right? All they knew was a stranger had been invited to their table and had booked it before they even got his name. So he could stay a mystery, a fly on the wall, for the rest of his days.

The all too familiar feeling on his arm was more of a curse now than it ever had been. Resigned to his fate, he rolled the sleeve up to read whatever the two were no doubt talking about. 

Hi. 

He looked around frantically despite his better judgment, his eyes landing on a figure standing at the end of the bench, uncapped pen in one hand and one blue sleeve rolled up. Logan regarded him with a careful look, locked in a staring contest that neither wanted to look away from. The other broke first, turning his focus to his steps across the rickety surface as he approached Janus. He took a seat, mumbling something about how hot it was, before scribbling something else onto his arm and capping the pen. Janus tried to fight the urge to look down at his own still-bare arm, but he couldn’t resist a quick peak.

I found him. Bleachers in the north field.

“Why don’t you take off the gloves, at least. It’s almost ninety degrees out.”

Welp. Apparently this was happening. “How did you know?” He whispered, not touching his gloves.

“Remus and I both felt naturally drawn to you as soon as you walked into the cafeteria. We could not and still can not explain it. When Patton followed our gaze, he was more than eager to invite you over. Not that he needed the prompting, I am certain he would have invited you over regardless of Remus’ and my feelings the moment you sat alone,” Logan stopped briefly, taking note of the new green smiley face under his last message, “Your reaction to our names and hands in rapid succession was enough to solidify our previous suspicions. That-” He pointed to the shared messages on their skin, “-was the final proof I needed.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Janus at a complete loss for words, until a loud clang to their right grabbed both of their attentions. Remus was clinging to the railing like a vine, having climbed all the way from the bottom, he realized with a start. The older man crawled over the top and landed solidly, rattling the seats, before bouncing over to them.

“Hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi hi!” He plopped onto the bench in front of Janus, sitting backwards to face them. Consequently, he was slightly lower than the other two, and could see Janus’ usually ducked face for the first time. “Oooh, I like your birthmark! Is it a birthmark? Or a burn? Either way, I don’t care. I like it.”

“Gee, thanks,” Janus snarked before he could stop himself, his self protective tendency rising to the surface. Remus only giggled in response, manspreading a tad more and leaning forward on his elbows. 

“I like him, Logan. He’s feisty.”

“I’m so glad I have your approval.” He was on guard now, he couldn’t help it.

“Remus, stop pestering him. He just met us.”

Remus grumbled under his breath but held his tongue. Logan could silence him, he’d have to remember that for the future. If they had a future. He couldn’t help the sliver of hope since they had actually come to find him… but maybe it was to let him down easy. No clue.

“When did you turn eighteen?” The question shouldn’t have shocked him the way it did; it was a valid thought.

“Five months ago.”

And he waited, expecting the worst at the sharp intakes of breath from both of them. Expected them to stand up and leave. Expected them to call him a creep. Expected them to… anything, really. 

Well, anything except take his hands. Which they both did.

It was like they could speak telepathically, the way they seemed to be so in sync. Maybe that was a soulmate thing. Remus reached forward and weaved their fingers together at the same time that Logan placed his hand over Janus’ left one, squeezing it gently. They were both calming gestures in their own ways, and admittedly the most contact Janus had felt in maybe years. If that wasn’t enough to bring back his tears, Logan’s next words certainly were. 

“Why didn’t you write right away?”

“That’s so much missed time we could have spent together,” Remus chipped in, eyes surprisingly soft. 

“I…” Oh, for fuck’s sake. Better let them see how messed up he is now so they can walk away before he gets attached. More attached. “My parents are soulmates and they ended up hating each other. He’s a jerk, he hurts her and me and I didn’t want that to happen to me and my soulmate. Soulmates, I guess. Then the first thing I saw was you guys talking, and I realized, there’s two of you,” He laughed humorlessly, shrugging nonchalantly, “You wouldn’t be missing out if I never made myself known, and what kind of asshole would I be if I intruded on your relationship anyways? It’s not like I can add anything worthwhile. I’m not… that great of a person. I never have been. I have too much baggage and I’m pretty boring and I only scare people away so if I were you I’d get out while I had the chance.” His cracking voice gave away how he actually felt, and he despised himself for it. In all honesty, there was nothing he wanted more than to be held and loved and wanted. He’d never had that before in his life, was it a crime to not want to be pushed aside forever?

To his utter confusion, neither of them pulled away. He’d just vented to two strangers, and they were still as attentive as before. 

“Now, we don’t have time to unpack all of that,” Remus hummed in a decent impression of John Mulaney, letting his thumb glide over Janus’. 

“So if I’m correct,” Logan stated in a tone that implied he usually was correct, “You didn’t contact us because you didn’t want to burden us, or get yourself hurt.”

“I mean… yeah.”

“I’m going to kill your dad,” Remus chirped all too brightly, “For hurting you. And for ever making you think that we would hurt you.” 

“Remus!”

“It’s true!”

Logan sighed heavily, “Remus is a little extreme, sometimes, but he is harmless. Look, I can assure you that your presumptions are entirely false. We would never harm you, and anything you’ve gone through in your past, what you call baggage, is not a deterrent to us in the slightest.”

“I have bipolar disorder, and a whole wacky past that we’ll get into another time,” Remus added, waving away Logan’s ‘shut up’ face, “And in the fifteen years I’ve known this nerd, he’s always stood by me.”

Janus knew it was supposed to feel better, but learning that the two have known each other since long before they knew they were soulmates suddenly made Janus feel that much more like he was intruding. Remus must have noticed his expression, because he quickly kept going.   

“All I mean is that we have our fair share of baggage, my multicolored friend-”

“Remus!”

“Both of us do. So you won’t be hurting us in any way, shape, or form. And we won’t hurt you either.”

Janus’ own doubts were still raging inside him, but each word they said was adding splashes of water, slowly dousing the flames, much to his dismay. Even Remus’ attempts at humor were delighting him in ways he wasn’t used to. 

“For some reason, the universe wants us together somehow. We’re meant to be in each other’s lives. Aw gross, that sounds like something Roman would-”

“Trusting us will be a slow process, and we understand that,” Logan interrupted smoothly, “You don’t need to believe our words, because we’ll prove it to you. Alright?” 

It took a second until Janus nodded, but he did. He could hardly understand it himself.

“Can you start by telling us your name?”

“Janus.��� It was a near whisper, a confession of the name he’d disliked since he was old enough to get bullied by his peers.

“The two faced Roman god of decisions, doorways, and new beginnings,” Logan spouted as if on instinct.

“Janus,” Remus repeated slowly, before a huge grin stretched across his face, “I love it.”

[artxyra]

The Secret Life of MDC | Part 3

Part 3 - Welcome to Gotham, now get out!

Part 1 | Part 2 |

Arriving in Gotham was just an absolutely massive mess, that quickly turned into a several page report for Marinette to send to the school board the moment she arrived in her temporary dorm at Gotham Academy.

Let recap back to the airport. When everyone got off the plane, Lila was quick to make up an excuse about Bruce Wayne sending her a private limo that she’ll be happy to bring the class along. Of course, Caline Bustier, absently believed the long-time liar telling her students to gather their belongings and for Lila to call the Waynes. It was as if she had completely forgotten the arrival procedures. Arriving in Gotham, proceed to find the bus driver, and meet up with the Gotham Academy Headmistress to retrieve the rest of the plans for the month. Marinette tried to tell Caline that what they were doing was against the procedure, something that she had to memorize for moments like this, only to be lectured about behavior the second she finished talking off to the side.

Then when they finally arrived at the school, Caline had the nerve to lecture her again about not informing her about the bus before being dragged off by the Gotham Academy headmistress, who clearly was not happy with the decisions made before they could even step foot onto the school grounds. Gotham is not a place to dilly dally unless you know the area or a native.

“Do you think, she’ll be fired after this?” Chloe asks while setting her things into the wardrobe as Marinette clicks the save button on her laptop.

“Maybe, no matter what happens, we’re here for a month regardless of the decisions the GA headmistress and Principal De La Fontaine decides in the coming days. All I know as the class president and temp. TA; my job is to help her overlook you guys.” Marinette sighs and closes the laptop's top before giving Chloe her full attention.

“I still can’t believe you graduated early. Though Adrien and I are grateful you managed to stay despite everything.” It was rare moments like these that made Marinette glad that she gave Chloe a second chance. Chloe had apologized one winter when she was freezing to death outside because her parent went on a tropical vacation on her request and decided to allow the staff to take a few days off. It was Sabine and Tom that took the former bully into their arms and made her feel loved, a love that she rarely receives from her parents. Since that day, Chloe takes pride in the honor of being Marinette’s sister just as Adrien did when they took him in also.

“I couldn’t leave you guys to perish in that class. Also, I just didn’t want to give Lie-la the satisfaction of winning.” Marinette says as her phones with the familiar sounds of “The Other Side” by Ruelle. Instantly, Marinette picks up the phone and smiles. “It’s Damian, he wants to go out tonight. Think I have time before—”

“Go, I’ll keep you from trouble, maybe even invite Adrien over if he isn’t doing the same with Jon.” Chloe pushes the noirette out of their room before closing the door behind the designer with a smirk on her lips.

As Marinette makes her way out of the dormitory, little did she know that Lila was just doing the same but for a different reason.

~*~

Damian Wayne @therealbloodheir I had a wonderful night with my beloved. I can’t wait for more nights like these. [Attached is an image of two hands intertwine with each other with the moon shining between them.]

Nette @GothamsFashionSense Replying to @therealbloodheir That sounds like a marriage proposal. Missing you too.

~*~

In the halls of Gotham Academy, conversations buzz around the single fact that Nette was back in Gotham for the first time in weeks. Groups of students gather around a single person, whose phone is out in the open, all gushing about theories on how the date went.

The same can be said for GA’s exchange students who crowd around Lila Rossi like she was the air.

“Gurl, spill, how was the date? You’re tending on twitter, again!” Alya squeals, gripping Lila’s arm.

“Oh you, it was truly romantic. Damiboo took me on this romantic dinner, but the first place we went to didn’t serve any vegetarian meals, and as you know I’m one but he’s not. We left and found another place that was just right.” Her high pitch voices drive a shiver down people spines, well anyone that is in clear hearing distance to the Italian teen's voice range.

“Do they truly believe that she’s Nette. Bitch please, we all know that Nette has dark hair from the back of the head photos on twitter.” A random student scoffs behind the trio.

The trio turns around looking at the person in a new light. The student had long braided blonde hair and wearing the GA uniform. “You’re not fooled? I was pretty sure that she would try and convert you the moment you step foot into the building.” It was Adrien that spoke first.

“I'm Allegra, besides me is Claude and Allen.” The student says shaking hands with Adrien before continuing with, “Anyone with brain cells can tell you that she is not Nette from @GothamsFashionSense.”

Allegra then takes the empty seat beside Marinette.

“Name’s Marinette, these dorks are Adrien and Chloe.” Marinette says, “About the brain cell thing, we’ve been saying that since she joined our class a few years back.”

“It ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, as to how they manage to hang on her every word. And one of them is a self-proclaim reporter. The bitch hasn’t reported anything remotely true since the liar had joined us and don't get me started on her early years.” Chloe places her two cents into the conversation.

This was the start of a blooming relationship.

Claude, Allegra, and Allen were quick to understand the environment that the Paris Trio was living in. An irresponsible, enabling teacher and a class full of idiots. With the Gotham Trio, the Paris Trio was able to understand how Gotham Academy works and learn the ins and outs of specific places. Despite the fact that Marinette vaguely knows just about much.

~*~

“So, how were your first three days at GA?” Dick Grayson asks as the Paris trio who are sitting on the couch inside the living room of Wayne Manor. "Is it about the same as it was when I went?"

“Dicky, I am this close to making heads roll.” Chloe’s fingers are teaching as a look of crazy twitches in her eyes.

“It wasn’t all that bad the first couple of days and then Lila tried to convince GA students that she was me by photoshopping our twitter photos. Other than that, I’m more worried about when Bustier announces that our class has been invited to the upcoming Wayne Gala. I’m already booked with mine and Chloe’s dresses along with Selina’s and Cass’s.” Marinette says, resting her head on Damian’s shoulder as their hands' interlock. Damian places a quick peck on her forehead.

The room was once again oddly silent before Adrien let out a loud giggle.

The family turns to the model who was staring at his phone with the biggest smile on his face. Adrien was no doubt in a group chat with Luka and Jon about upcoming meetings and plans.

“What?” Adrien asks, looking up to the group of extended family members staring at him. They all quickly look away, some whistling while others mess with the person they are next to. “Seriously guys, what?” The whining in Adrien’s voice just made it harder for them to pretend to do something as they hold in a laugh.

“Nothing,” Marinette snickers as Damian brings to play with her hair by braiding strands of it. She always liked it when Damian messed with her hair, he sometimes does something nice, surprising everyone with his styling skills.

“Hey, Pixie-Pop and Pixie-Pop’s friends. When did you guys get in?” It’s Jason, to which majority had forgotten about even though Tim was a close second as he is hovering over a half-full cup of coffee trying to stay awake but isn’t with them in reality. Maybe Marinette should make her special concoction that would knock anyone out for quite some time.

“Hey Mari, can you make the switch?” Dick whispers in the designer’s ear. Marinette huffs agreeing to the older sibling’s request. Damian nearly groans as his girlfriend gets off his lap and walks into the kitchen.

Marinette comes out nearly ten minutes later with a steaming coffee mug in hand. She walks over to Tim and pushes his cup out of his hand and replaces it with hers. Tim, absently, takes a sip. Within seconds he is knocked out, cold.

“I’ll never not be amazed at how fast your drink can knock Tim out,” Dick says as he picks up Tim and exits the room. Marinette shrugs and takes her seat next to Damian.

“When does Cass get back from her trip?” It was Chloe who decided to break the silence between them.

“Before the gala, that’s for sure,” Jason answers as he pulls out the controllers for the game console. He gives Marinette a knowing look, who smirks with mischief in her eyes. He should know better than to play against Marinette.

~*~

It was times like this that made Marinette wish that the school board had investigated Mlle. Bustier years ago, like for example when the liar first tried to get her expelled in college. Yeah, that was such a long time ago.

Today was supposed to be an easy-going day, but for some reason, Lila managed to convince the teachers, Mlle. Bustier specifically, to allow the class to visit a nearby street mall. Mlle. Bustier, of course, agrees despite the GA teachers telling her that it was a bad idea to let the student go out unsupervised in a place they still don’t know much about. Caline laughs it off stating that they’ll be fine, and it’ll be just like walking down the streets in Paris. That added another dash to her inability to be a proper teacher.

Which brings us to the street mall. Lila was going into stores left and right proclaiming to be Damian Wayne’s girlfriend or stating that she is the niece of some high profile celebrity in hopes of getting free or discounted items. That doesn’t dwell well seeing as Gothamites are not as gullible as Parisians.

The Paris Trio along with the GA Trio watch the mess that she was drumming up from afar. Chloe had invited Allegra to join them which then extended to Claude and Allan who wanted to go for the arcade.

Lila even had the nerve to ask Adrien to join her and Alya shopping trips with the underlying message of making him pay. Once being denied on numerous occasions, Alya managed to steal Nino’s wallet in hopes of paying for all their stuff. Yeah, that didn't help their relationship status.

“Alya I told you that money wasn’t for you,” Nino screams into his girlfriend’s face as she tries to come up with an excuse. He was infuriated.

“Nino, baby, if you love me you would have just given me the money. Lila really needed those items for her date with Damian.”

“I don’t care about Lila’s need; she is not my responsibility. In fact, neither are you, Alya. You just spent the money I had saved up for this trip.” Nino had wanted to go into a DJ shop that sold the equipment he wanted and started saving the moment the trip was announced the year before.

“Stop bitching, it was only a couple hundred dollars.”

Oohs and side-eyes make up the crowd they were drawing. It was a free drama tv for them.

“Ooh what do we have here, a lovers quarrel? Now would be the perfect time to spring my new trap.” Suddenly, it was like time freezes.

~*~

Chloe B. @QueenBeeOfParis The best thing about my idiotic classmates is television drama. #savemefromthem

Tina @thepinkmistress I was finding my own business when this shit happens. [Attach is a video clip of a couple arguing and goons dress in green takes over the streets]

Tim Drake’s Bish @rachelcovefe The nerve of this group. Just finished my shift only to be told by some foreigner that she was @GothamsFashionSense like bish please I know you ain't her. #anotherdayingotham

Kimmy @kimmyontheblock Replying to@rachelcovefe OMG same but she then added in that she was Jagged Stone's niece. Um excuse you but we all know that it's @MDCfashion

Mari Needs Coffee @MarinetteMemes So the first relaxing day in Gotham ruined by the Riddler and Lie-la’s fanatics. Yup, so good to be back. #memescomingsoon #goodgrief #imabouttoheadout

Part 4 >>

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