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neonacity · 3 years

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Black Daisies Chapter 5| Canzona

Preview:

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

An NCT mafia AU with OT23.

Summary: Working for the mafia comes with many layers. There’s excitement, violence, loss, and betrayals. Yet there’s also friendship, family, loyalty, and code. The last thing it needs? Love and all the complexities it brings.

TW: violence, death, mentions of drugs and other illegal activities. If you’re uncomfortable with any of these, feel free to skip. Author’s note: This is purely a work of fiction. In no way am I supporting all the illegal activities and behaviors that might be mentioned in the story nor am I implying that any member of NCT acts whichever way I may write them here--they’re all sweetiepies that need to be protected.

Chapter: 1/ First Stage

Chapter: 2/Overture

Chapter: 3/The Conductor

Chapter: 4/Crescendo

The fog of smoke from the lighted cigarette mixed with the cold breath coming from blood red lips. A woman stood in a small overhead overlooking the city, watching the shadows move across Seoul like a dark cloud bidding disaster.

The sound of gravel crunching under boots sounded from behind her. She didn’t acknowledge it at first, however, instead dropping the nearly finished stick of nicotine between her fingers to the ground. A gust of air blew the stray stub away, its embers flaring up slightly before dying out.

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

For a moment, it was only silence that answered her. Her dress danced in the wind, its red color looking like dried blood in the darkness.

“You were waiting...for me.”

She finally turned around to look at the guest. Her eyes, though naturally sharp, flickered with familiarity as she took in the form of the boy in front of her.

“I know you’re about to do something silly. I’m only here to tell you to stop whatever idea you’re having right now.”

The figure didn’t move in front of her, but the way he stared at her made the distance between them almost crackle with electricity. The man’s jaw tightened, before it finally relaxed just a little bit.

“None of NCT is planning to participate in his game.”

The woman merely raised a perfectly shaped brow, knowing that there’s more to what he is saying.

“But I—”

“Jaehyun. Don’t be stupid.”

“Being the Don means I can do anything I want, right? So you and I can—”

“There is no you and I,” her voice, though it sounded clipped and cold in the meeting hall earlier, had a tinge of emotion this time. Is it desperation? Frustration? Helplessness?

Jaehyun took a few steps towards the smaller figure in front of him, his hands shoved deep into his pockets to keep him from reaching out to her.

“You will be free. From him. From all of this.”

“If you win.”

“And I will.”

“Not after you’ve betrayed your brothers. You know what things this kind of game brings. Don’t do something you’ll regret later.”

He locked his jaw again, his expression intense even under the shadows that wrapped the two of them. Jaehyun finally pulled one hand from his pocket and moved it to touch her arm. The woman took a step back, evading his touch carefully.

“I don’t need to betray anyone. We all agreed on it. Everything will carry out as usual,” he said in a tone that sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. As she looked up at him, she saw the same desperation in his eyes—the same eyes that used to be so innocent before they were hardened by his life in the mafia.

“And you believe them? Look at where you are now, in front of me, telling me you’ll be doing this. You think you are the only one who has a reason to go after the position among all of you?”

“I…” he trailed off, a frown settling on his forehead. “I trust them.”

“With the way you are acting, I don’t think you are worthy of their trust at all.”

Something finally snapped inside of him and he finally closed the distance between them in quick strides. He didn’t touch her, but they were close enough to each other that the cold fogs of their breath mingled in the darkness.

“This is the only chance I have—you have—to finally leave.”

For a moment she simply looked at him, gaze unfaltering. She wanted nothing more than to reach out to his face and cradle it, tell him everything is going to be fine, but even as a flicker of emotion slipped on her gaze, she quickly let her cold mask replace it as fast as it came.

“I don’t need you to save me. Don’t do this.”

Before he could say, or do anything else, she finally took a step back again before turning on her heels to walk away. Jaehyun followed her with his gaze until the darkness swallowed her retreating form.

“Yo, you okay?”

I looked up from squinting at my computer and turned towards the boy grinning in front of me. I probably looked funny, my face all scrunched up from staring at my screen, because he broke into a laugh before dropping himself into the seat next to me.

“Ya… I know Taeyong said you’ll be our first line of defense, but you haven’t peeled your butt from your seat since last night. Relax. I don’t think Cypher is going to do anything—at least not for now.”

My squint turned into a frown and I opened my mouth to shoot back a reply. Before I could say anything though, a painful throb on my left temple made me stop. I barely slept a wink last night. I leaned back on my chair with a defeated sigh.

“You don’t know that, Yuta. Those guys… they’re nasty. If they got the same message that we all got last night, I’m 99 percent sure they’re thinking of something to sabotage us now.”

“Mm… were you able to hack into their system though?”

“Yeah. Their firewall sucks as usual. Nothing seems out of place for now…” I trailed off as my gaze moved across the room. From upstairs, I saw Taeyong slip out of his room in his sweats, hair messy from sleep. He ducked into the fridge on the second floor, rummaging for something there.

After the announcement from the Don, all the members decided to stay in the headquarters temporarily instead of going to their separate dorms to ‘watch each other’s backs.’ It was a good move in my opinion, but another side of me is also a little bit nervous of having everyone around all the time. Not that I don’t like having the guys as company… but I have my personal reasons to be anxious about the recent change in living arrangements.

From upstairs, Taeyong finally managed to fish out one of the tetra boxes of banana milk from the back of the fridge. I didn’t realize I was still staring at him until his eyes finally met mine and he gave me a sleepy smile.

I quickly turned my eyes back to Yuta only to find him giving me a Cheshire grin.

“What?”

“I asked you if you also tried checking temporary databases Cypher might be using but you were too busy eating up breakfast with your eyes,” he snickered before throwing up his hands as if in surrender. “I get it, I get it. All of us are handsome but you only have eyes for—”

I quickly gave him a punch on his left shoulder as I felt blood rush to my cheeks. “I—wasn’t staring!”

“Sure, you were just drooling—”

“Hey, anyone up for some drinks tonight?”

Our childish banter temporarily stopped as Yuta and I looked up to see a very sweaty Johnny stride through the door. He was slightly panting as he approached us, the slight flush of his cheeks a sign that he just finished his morning run.

“Why? You going to Anarchy?” Yuta asked in curiosity as he dug his hands in the front pocket of his sweater.

“Yeah, I have to make sure the dealers are selling the new goods well. I could go alone as usual but our Mom there,” he moved his lips to point towards a still sleepy-looking Taeyong upstairs, “said it is best to go in groups for now. You know, just to be sure.”

Yuta shrugged. “I can go with you. I’ll also ask the other guys too. I sure need a bottle or two.”

Johnny turned to look at me. For the first time since last evening, I felt extremely conscious of how I look. I was wearing an oversized hoodie, my hair up in a sorry excuse of a bun. My glasses didn’t do me any favors, barely concealing the dark circles under my eyes.

“You want to come with us?” he asked, smiling at me.

“Uh… I don’t think that’s a good idea. I have to—”

“She has to watch over the rats, is what she’ll say,” Yuta interjected from his seat. He turned to look at me then with a frown. “Seriously, if you’re going to act like this, you’ll never see sunlight in the next two months.”

I opened my mouth to speak but Johnny was too quick to answer for me.

“Great. You’ll come with us then.”

“But—”

“You can work in the club. I’ll have Jungwoo bring those mini computers you both love tinkering with. You can use them to do your magic codes and spying voodoo, right?”

I stared at him, at a loss for words.

“Good talk. We leave at 9PM,” he flashed me another grin and turned to walk away. I was about to give another rebuttal when my eyes landed on the way his shirt stuck to the muscles of his back. I closed my mouth and sank back to my seat.

Beside me, Yuta was grinning from ear to ear again.

“Don’t you just love it that we’re all staying here now?”

I turned and gave him another punch on the shoulder.

Two hundred miles away from Seoul, a man sat back on his seat as the screen in front of him turned black. The lone light of the overhead lamp in the room made eerie shadows dance across his face as he mulled over the closing words of the Don.

“You are free to do anything you like.”

His impassive face slowly broke into a smile so sinister it almost made his angelic features unrecognizable. He has no fucking idea why the idiotic man decided to start this little game of his, but he likes it nonetheless. A chance to take over the whole mafia sounded so enticing to him that it almost made him laugh, but there’s another reason that ultimately made his blood boil in excitement.

NCT.

“Jihoon.”

He only slightly moved his head to look at the female who cracked the door open to his room. She had the same eyes as him, though hers didn’t look tainted with madness. In fact, it look slightly worried right now as they took in his expression.

“You called for me?”

“Ah, yes,” he finally turned his swivel chair towards her so he could give her his full attention. He intertwined his long slender fingers on his lap and gave her a sweet smile.

“I need you to make preparations. We’ll be going on a little field trip.”

Her questioning gaze almost made him snicker.

“Where are we going? We have a deal to close tomorrow and we can’t—”

“Oh dear, I can’t care less about that now. It can wait.”

The girl pursed her lips. “Fine. Where are we headed to so I can make arrangements?”

The boy leaned back on his seat, head pressed against the headrest. He grinned at her, the emotion playing in his eyes making her blood run cold.

“Seoul. We’re going to visit some friends.”

---

A/N: Hi everyone! Decided to post this today even though it is super short. So I’ve decided to introduce Jihoon... and I would love it if I can have a face claim that I can use for him as a reference. To those who have been following the story, I’d love to know your suggestions! This will make it easier for me to develop him because then I’ll have an idea of how he looks like. <3

Chapter 6: Rapture

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nooneactuallyasked · 4 years

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Diner Gal - Reggie x Reader Part 4

Requested: I am my own requester, we have fun here

Word count: 2,513

Warnings: Not enough Reggie? (Does that count? It does now lol)

Summary: Julie and the Phantoms ( + Flynn ) go to a musical diner/café/restaurant for inspiration and hopefully a future gig but they end up meeting a very special waitress.

Note: Sorry this took so long to get out, it’s quite a bit longer so that’s why. Also, can I just thank and say hello to @i-should-be-writing-my-own-fic, all of your comments and reblogs are so sweet, you’re amazing! There will be more Reggie content coming up, this is a slow-burn, I hate when characters instantly fall in love, I feel like they need to make a connection first. Okay, enjoy!!!

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

---

“Alex, stop pacing! Reggie- what- what are you doing?”

“Practicing my bass.”

“In mid-air…….without your bass?”

“It’s called an air bass, if I’m made out of air my bass can be too.”

“Okay, you do that.” Julie grabbed her keyboard stand, standing in the garage doorway, “Luke make your bandmates calm down, I have to take this out to the car.” Without an answer, Julie stumbled out of the garage towards where her dad and the car were waiting.

Luke scribbled in his notebook, without looking up, “You guys need to chill out, as long as we’re all together we’ll rock so hard there’s no way Cal will say no!” Reggie smiles and points a finger at him, “Plus, Y/N will be there, she’ll be able to convince Cal for us.” He adds as Julie jogs back in, “Okay we should be good to go as you guys can all poof in your instruments. You guys should get ready to leave.”

“Alright, but let me finish this line. I am in the zone.” Luke scribbled some final words on his notebook pages before looking up, “Alex, get off the runway, you’re gonna fall over the table or something.”

“But what if he says no and not even Y/N can convince him? I mean, what if- what if he has other bands in mind and just said yes to Y/N because she works there? What if we play and completely mess it up!?” Luke deadpans Alex as his bandmate starts shaking his hands up and down, his pacing increasing.

Luke rolls his eyes, standing up and holding Alex by his shoulders, “Chill, we’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna do amazing, like we usually do.”

“Guys, we need to go. Like, now. So, hurry up, move it!”

---

“So, Cal, my good buddy, my favourite boss, um...would it be alright, and remember that I’ve been a faithful worker for such a long time, would it be alright if I skipped every other audition apart from Julie and her band’s?” Y/N dragged out, her voice rising in pitch, trying to convince Cal with her best puppy eyes whilst he stared back at her with a deadpan expression.

“No, sit down. We have some performers to listen to.” She sighed and sat down in the chair next to him, putting her elbows on the desk in front of them, “I saw that coming…” she leaned her cheek against her palm as Cal chuckled at her, “And yet you always ask.”

“One day…one day I successfully skip this bullshit, mark my words.”

“Sure, sugar-pie. Now stop your grumbling, our first performer comes in 2 minutes.”

---

I want your love, and I want your revenge

You and me could write a bad romance

I want your love and all your lover’s revenge

You and me could write a bad romance

Oh oh oh oh oooh-

The poor girl’s voice broke. Y/N could see it coming, her vowel technique needed a bit more work but the girl was obviously passionate, this would crush her ego.

“You can stop now, we’ve heard enough. We’ll let you know.

Y/N winced, Cal could seem really cold at times however the warm smile he gave every performer at the end of his mantra definitely helped ease any hurt they may or may not feel.

“I can’t wait to perform here, I know you’ll make the best choice. I’ll see you on Friday.”

Maybe this wouldn’t crush her ego, after all, it seemed the thing was infinite. The girl walked out, her high heels clicking on the floor as Cal sighed. She knew why, when auditions were open to anyone who could arrive on time it was hard to find people who had that spark when performing. It doesn’t matter how good your voice is if you’re boring to watch then you might as well not show up.

Friday’s were important, they were a chance for anyone to get on stage and become an overnight sensation. But it got complicated when there were so many people that they had to pick and choose. That’s why they tried to get as many people as possible to perform, everyone deserved a chance to live out their dreams.

“Alright, I’ll grab our next victims. See you in a sec.” Y/N stood up, her chair scraping on the floor as Cal rolls his eyes, “Try to make it not sound like we’re about to murder everyone.” She chuckles, “Sure, I can try but I can’t promise it will happen.”

Y/N walked out of the door and into the ‘waiting area’, this happened every month and yet she never got used to how tedious it was. She picked up the waiting list and scanned the names, “Yulie and the- uh, the atoms? Anton's? Uh, come on through.” She put down the list and walked out, only hearing a chorus of male voices, “Again? Really?” “None of us are even called Anton!” and an awkward laugh from a female voice.

She sat back down in her chair and turned to Cal, “One Yulie and the Anton’s coming or up, or atoms, I’m not quite sure.” Cal started laughing, “Sounds fun, maybe we’ll get some science jokes.” Y/N started laughing too, “As long as it’s not physics I think I’ll be fine.”

The door opened up and four familiar faces walked in, all looking slightly sheepish. “Hi, sorry, it’s actually Julie and the Phantoms. Sorry if we’re late at all, we didn’t really know what time to come.” Cal raised an eyebrow and Y/N chuckled, “That would be my fault, I never got round to giving them a time. This is the band I was telling you about,” She turned to Julie, “Sorry, I completely forgot the name and the writing, no offence, didn’t particularly help me out.” Luke grimaced at her words as Julie started laughing, “Yeah, I’m thinking I’ll get someone else to sign us up to things in the future.”

Cal coughed to gain our attention, “As much as I love this friendliness we don’t have all day, we have all of your kit here, our guys brought it in earlier. What will you be playing for us today?”

“Oh, uh we’ll we playing a song called Edge of Great. We hope you like it.” Y/N smiled at Julie and Cal nodded, pen at the ready. She hoped for the life of her that they were actually good or Cal would never trust her judgement again.

Running from the past

Tripping on the now

What is lost can be found, it's obvious

And like a rubber ball

We come bouncing back

We all got a second act, inside of us

Julie sat at her keyboard, her finger dancing over the keys. She seemed lost in the music and it was obvious how passionate she was, it made even Cal, the ever poker-faced, break out in a small smile. Julie moves to the middle of the performing area, as the beat drops the boys appear causing Cal to double-take in surprise, Y/N snickers in response.

I believe

I believe that we're just one dream

Away from who we're meant to be

That we're standing on the edge of

Something big, something crazy

Our best days are yet unknown

That this moment is ours to own

Y/N nodded her head and tapped her feet to the rhythm, her smile grew wider and wider, Cal would never doubt her again and she got to listen to a killer band, today was looking up.

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great

(On the edge of great) Great

(On the edge of great)

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great

Luke kept sending glances toward Julie as she was dancing in between them all, the stage presence was amazing. They were definitely at the top of Y/N’s list of potential performers.

We all make mistakes

But they're just stepping stones

To take us where we wanna go

It's never straight, no

Sometimes we gotta lean

Lean on someone else

To get a little help

Until we find our way

Luke and Julie gravitate towards each other, their excited smiles growing soft and caring; the chemistry was definitely a plus, it was incredible to watch, like watching history unfold. The two share a microphone as they sing the chorus, Reggie and Alex share a look and Y/N smiles, not even Cal could find a fault in their performance.

I believe

I believe that we're just one dream

Away from who we're meant to be

That we're standing on the edge of

Something big, something crazy

Our best days are yet unknown

That this moment is ours to own

Y/N started dancing in her seat whilst Cal laughed. She then had a brilliant idea, she stood up and tried to pull Cal up to dance with her. While he refused and tried his best to stay down, his efforts were almost futile against his laughing and Y/N’s upward pull on him.

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great

(On the edge of great) Great

(On the edge of great)

'Cause we're standing on the edge of...

Luke went back to his mic and Julie came over to Y/N, she smiled brightly and they danced around together. They both felt like they had made a firm friend, the fun dance they shared confirmed that feeling, neither could have felt happier at that moment, they were lost in the music and everyone around could see it.

Shout, shout

C'mon and let it out, out

Don't gotta hide it

Let your colours blind their eyes

Be who you are no compromise

Just shout, shout

C'mon and let it out, out

What doesn't kill you makes you feel alive

Y/N moved back from Julie and sat back down, her smile still evident. Cal laughed at her and she pushed him with her shoulder. Julie turned to Luke as he moved toward her, the heart eyes were back.

Ooh-oh

I believe

I believe that we're just one dream

Away from who we're meant to be

That we're standing on the edge of great

Reggie and Alex joined Luke in singing the chorus as Julie continued her high belt which left Cal in slight shock and Y/N almost jumping and screaming in support and excitement.

Something big, something crazy

Our best days are yet unknown

That this moment is ours to own

Y/N smiled at Alex when he looked up, he beamed right back and continued singing and drumming with a passion that shined through everything else. She looked over to Reggie and sent a smile his way too. He winked at her and chuckled when she rolled her eyes playfully at him, though her smile widened in response.

'Cause we're standing on the edge of great

(On the edge of great) On the edge of great

(Great, on the edge of great) On the edge

(Great, on the edge of great)

'Cause we're standing on the edge of...

Julie went back to her keyboard and slipped her mic into the holder, Luke went over and looked her in the eyes as they sang to each other. The chemistry was off the charts!

Running from the past

Tripping on the now

What is lost can be found, it's obvious

When they finished and the boys disappeared Cal just sat there speechless, Y/N pushed his shoulder before giving them a standing ovation. “That was amazing!” She turned to Cal who was still seated, now thinking over what he just watched, “Oh come on, stand up, clap, stop pretending to be professional we both know you’re not! Book the band and we’ll have them for our last set, we’ll go out with a bang.” Cal still looked unsure, “I don’t know, what if-“ “Okay, no.” Y/N turned to Julie, “You’re our last performance on Friday. We have rehearsals every other day to check up on you, if you let me know where we can do it at a place of your choice. Your soundcheck will be at 2pm on Friday. Don’t miss it. Once again, you’re our closing act so you’re welcome to stay or go at any time between you soundcheck and your performance. We’ll let you know your performance time when we figure out the rest of the performance schedule. Thank you guys for coming, it was amazing, you’re definitely going places.”

Cal stared at her, his jaw slack in surprise, until he shook himself out of it and stood up, going to ask Y/N what she was doing, “What- you can’t just- we need to think about this.” She turned to him and deadpanned, “We both know you were gonna book them anyway, I’m doing you a favour, even you couldn’t help but smile.” Y/N turned back to the group, “Once again, thank you for coming. Ask the front desk for my info, give me a call by tomorrow to sort out a rehearsal time and space.”

Julie smiled widely, her chest starting to warm with a familiar jittery feeling of excitement, “Thank you! Thank you so much! I’ll definitely let you know as soon as I can.” Y/N laughed, “Don’t sweat it, someone needs to make decisions for Cal when he goes brain dead.”

“Hey! I’m still your boss!”

“I might as well be yours at this point” She shouted back without turning her head, causing a chuckle from Julie. She tried not to acknowledge the boys because if what they were saying was true, it seemed to be looking that way, she didn’t want to appear clinically insane to the public eye.

The boys themselves, however, didn’t really have much to add to the interaction. They were just standing there, slightly shocked by how assertive Y/N was when she was passionate about something. Reggie just stared at her, a slight smile spreading across his face.

“Okay, we still have some more performances to listen to but it was great meeting you and I guess you’re our final act now so welcome, whilst you’re with us you are our family so relax. As you can see, our dynamic isn’t the most professional so rules aren’t always completely followed to the letter.” Cal joined them, a smile back on his face. He put his hand on Y/N’s shoulder and they smiled at each other, “This one over here basically runs the place so go to her for anything and everything. I can’t wait to see your performance, good luck.” He turned and walked out into the ‘waiting area’ to find the next performer

“Well, it’s been a blast, I’ll see you next time.” Julie smiled at Y/N and then the boys poofed out, making Y/N jump and stare at the empty space left behind, “I’m not even going to ask…oh! Also, please tell leather boy to stop staring at me, or at least ask why?”

“Oh, sure, I’ll ask him what’s up. I’ll call you as soon as I can, see you soon.”

“Goodbyyyeee!”

---

Taglist:

@hereforthejatp

@slutforjjmaybank

@morganayennefertyrell

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celestialflamesme · 4 years

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| KARMA AND CRAZY MIDGETS | A Venai One-shot Modern AU | Fairy Tail Next Generation |

Ships: Raidyn Dreyar x Venetia Redfox

Dedicated to @primaverafrog @luna-chan00 @biorckstudios18 @animaration-fts @cxndy-stxrs (Lol, I can't believe that no-paragraph breaks worked😂 I fooled Tumblr, y'all!😎😆)

You'd think having a town overtaken by the mafia would make people more apprehensive, if anything. But if Magnolians were anything, they were huge (and he simply could not stress this enough) idiots.

Raidyn prided himself in not partaking in anything Fairy-esque which was more than what he could say about some of his colleagues (Yes, they named themselves Fairy 'Tail' of all things! How no one in this town even got the spelling right was beyond him....)

"Did you hear about Fullbuster and that Fernandez chick? They're together now!" Some red head he'd forgotten the name of (What! It was too late to ask her now!) stage-whispered.

"Who? Storm?"

The entire cafe burst into laughter. "Like Storm would even look at a girl that's not Nashi."

Point proven. They!! were!! on!! first!! name!! basis!! (He bet no one in this room even knew his last name, let alone first. Not that it mattered. He liked slinking in the shadows, although it was practically impossible with his snow-white hair)

Geez, did these people have no lives? They were talking about delinquents for Pete's sake! And ones that sure loved messing up the town in their infamous brawls. But did the people care? Nooooo.

Ugh, one more year and he'd be out of this whacked up place. Wiping a tabletop, he forced a smile on his face and pretended to be interested in the topic.

"Cass, I'll have a black and a burger with fries," a voice interrupted. A voice he was very familiar with.

Did he happen to mention that the most annoying one of them all had made this her hangout spot?

At 5'1, you'd think Venetia Redfox would be the least intimidating person ever. But with crimson red eyes and a Devil-may-care attitude that made up for it, no one dared mess with her. She also caused 75% of the fights in town and had a smirk straight out of a Wattpad Bad-boy fanfic.

Boy, did he hate her.

"You're gonna chip it off with that grip, Blondie."

Oh my god, she did not just-

Raidyn shot her a glare and strode to the back of the register, faintly registering a chuckle (Who the hell did she think she was?) before picking up another order.

Little Miss Redfox however sat at a corner table and continued doing whatever the hell she usually did every Tuesday and Friday for 3 hours in a row (he should know, he was there glaring at her at closing time).

But the kicker this time was, at that moment, her phone rang. You have never really seen your world end right before your eyes if you haven't seen a 5 foot psychotic looking delinquent decked in leather that drove in a motorcycle there by the way (How does one willingly ride on a metallic death-trap like that?!) mumble the words 'Cha cha real smooth' and pick up a call with the most deadpan look ever.

Raidyn almost cried. Almost.

"Are you kidding me? Do it yourself! I swear to God, you always do this shit, Dragneel!" She got up from her seat and walked out, just like she looooved doing smack dab in the middle of her classes back at Magnolia High.

Good riddance.

........

He jinxed it. Karma was such a bitch.

Though no sort of karmic revenge could explain the shit he had to go through that week.

First off, he had 4 assignments due in by the end of the week. And turns out that was the exact week his dear red-head colleague decided would the perfect time for a vacation (It's the middle of September, where in hell's name was she planning to go to?)

Guess who had double shifts now?

This clown.

Ugh. Talk about chivalry and all that loyalty shit.

And yes, of course his car had to break down, and the local bus had to change it's schedule, which left him with his last resort: walking 4 and a quarter miles to school (Oh, he found that out the hard way all right) to college. Nashi and the Fullbuster kid (He sure loved walking around shirtless a little too much) decided to brawl (again) and bam, his locker got caught in the crossfire.

In fact things were so overly shitty that he became skeptical come Thursday when the day seemed relatively normal.

"You've been scowling all week, Dreyar. Anything the matter?"

Raidyn snapped out of his reverie and groaned. "Dad, why not just call me by my name like any normal person would?"

"Because that doesn't build-"

"CHARACTER!! WE GET IT!" His mom, Mirajane mimicked with a scowl. "Well, we're just going to get two Happy meals and then we're off, honey!"

He faintly registered Hunter snickering in the background (How immature. Raidyn wasn't one to get embarrassed by his parents. Plus, none of it would ever compare to the Disco Fiasco of 2001. How else do you think he got his car? Sweet, sweet guilt-tripping....)

The day buzzed past but his suspicions only intensified tenfold. (Call him a pessimist, he didn't care) And like a bull in a China shop, a tiny midget Redfox (the one and only) strut in.

Now, he was behind the counter at that moment handling the red-head (he really ought to learn her name someday) so he didn't notice 5 feet of brute strength that climbed up behind him and dragged him (poor, unsuspecting him) into the supply closet.

Oh no, he was not kidding. The supply closet. Of all the places the perpetrator could've-

The lights flickered on and he screeched (What? Any human would!) at the red irises staring determinedly into his own non-red eyes. (Seriously, were those even real?) Raidyn wasn't scared of no judgement, what did scare him (maybe not that much, now that he knew who those belonged to) was Satan's minion and her RED AS FUCK EYES! LIKE SERIOUSLY-

Clearing his throat and trying to salvage some faux dignity after that dramatic display, he grunted, "Touch me one more time and you're-"

"Yeah, yeah I get it, big guy. Look, I need a favour."

Venetia Redfox crossed her arms and stood threateningly in front of the entrance.

Who was she kidding? "Nope," he muttered and swerved right around her and made his way to the counter. (Pipsqueak. She really should've seen that coming.)

And right as he turned right towards the display case, he found her leaning against it with her shoulder, looking bored. "Yes. And now."

How the- PPHIGXUTDUTZUT- HOW DID SHE JUST-

"Parkour." She deadpanned.

Raidyn gave Venetia a long, long look and sighed, striding towards her. Her smirk widened in anticipation as-

He picked her up like a sack of potatoes and tossed her over his shoulder.

"WHAT THE- THIS IS HARASSMENT!!"

"Technically, you cornered me first," he stated matter-of-factly and dropped her on her feet (she looked like a hissy kitten, hmm.) Then proceeding to close the doors at her, he picked up a poster of her (he kept posters of all of them for a day like this. Ah, foreboding luck. He could feel it.) and pinned it onto the front door.

BANNED: VENETIA REDFOX

(Was he even allowed to do that, you might ask, but bah, who cares? Rabid girls are a nationwide threat.)

.................

As he wrapped up and prepared to leave, Raidyn had a niggling feeling he forgot something very, very crucial. Uh-

A body collided onto his own and climbed (I kid you not) him (THE FUCK KIND OF ANIMALS DID MAGNOLIA OWN?) before a tiny, rough hand muffled him. Oh no.

"Yoph kiphing mmph!" Raidyn groaned.

"I need you to teach me how to solve a Rubix Cube."

What. Excuse Raidyn for not knowing, but was Rubix cube some mafia codeword for mafia stuff? Stealing a car, fighting goons, skipping classes or drug dealing? Raidyn Dreyar had a long jail-free life ahead of him, mind you.

BUT SERIOUSLY, SOLVE A RUBIX CUBE?! HOW FRICKING RANDOM WAS THAT?! WHO EVEN TOLD HER HE KNEW HOW TO SOLVE ONE? WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THIS GODFORSAKEN TOWN?!!!

(Some might say he really had to stop reading those novels his mom bought. Some might be right. Whatever.)

Back to the topic on hand, he mumbled inaudibly. Her cropped hair tickled the sides of his face as she squinted at him, "What?"

Was she kidding right now? He pointed at her hand covering his mouth and her eyes widened as she let out a nervous laugh. (Geez, talk about stupid.)

He took in a deep breath and shook her off him. She stood there patiently (As patiently as a Redfox could, anyway.) as he straightened his shirt.

"First things first, NO!" And he stalked away.

He registered a groan from behind him and quickened his pace. However, the midget in question managed to propel herself at break-neck speeds and no joke, TACKLED him.

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-"

"GET OFF ME, YOU PSYCHOTIC-"

Karma was such a bitch.

Macao, the guard standing by the parking lot, huffed, "They don't pay me enough for this."

...............

The only reason he was doing this was because she offered to fix up his car. (How did she even know it wasn't starting?) Also because it had been a while since he brushed up on his Rubix skills. Also because he wanted to get rid of the midget before she followed him home. (He figured his mom and dad would ENJOY her presence and replace him with her. He had crazy parents.)

Everyday she'd make sure to meet him (mostly by cornering him in the hallways) and in exchange for these classes, she'd work on his car at the weekend.

The first time she came over to his house (to work on his car, but he didn't know that) was rather embarrassing because he kinda sorta thought she was a burglar and locked his garage, yelling at the top of his lungs. His dad, Laxus came out with a taser (Dad sure loved his tasers.) Of course, when he finally opened the garage doors, he was met with an unimpressed look from the Redfox in question. (God, he was such a drama queen.)

The midget had a lot of trouble twisting her hands at the beginning of her sessions and he loved teasing her about her 'butter fingers' every time she accidentally flung the cube across the room or out the window in one rare occasion.

You know, she was kind of fun to have around.

"And that's the algorithm! You're all done!" He cheered, glad to have this behind him.

"Geez, you don't have to sound that excited to get rid of me." Venetia teased.

"What? No....." He feigned innocence.

"D'aww, admit it, you enjoyed my company."

"Please, more like I was scared for my life." He mumbled. She snorted.

"Catch you later, alligator."

Did she just- "NO WAY, JOŚE!" (That was lame even for him. Gosh dang it, she was laughing at him....)

Fricking Redfox.

......................

That weekend, Raidyn thought he deserved a good ol' evening out with his friends/colleagues (technically it was the manager that suggested it and he tagged along for the heck of it. He wasn't much of a social person, per se.)

He guessed Karma was still on a streak when Venetia Redfox entered the very same place they'd chosen for karaoke night and sat herself on one of the tables in front of them. And proceeded to order nothing.

The raven-head didn't even have her notebook (that always made her look disarmingly tiny) or her phone. Oh well, she must've been waiting for someone.

As the hours passed, he found himself exceedingly irritated for no reason.

"Who in their right mind would stand up The Venetia Redfox?" His colleagues whispered (rather loudly, according to him) and she just tapped her fingers away, oblivious to it all.

Fine, whatever.

"Sup." He towered over her and greeted, moving to take a seat next to her.

She blinked at him.

Okay, you couldn't exactly judge him. She was a regular and tipped good and people were being annoying about her and oh, her tapping was distracting and he had a massive headache coming. That's all. Simple as that.

"Don't you have better shit to do?" Red irises stared at him impassively.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" He asked coolly.

"Well, Nashi was supposed to-"

"I'M HERE! I'M HERE! I'M-" Both tilted their heads just in time to see Nashi ram into the glass doors. The now groaning pinkette was sprawled on her butt in front of the entrance. "Fricking doors."

"That's her." Venetia deadpanned. Raidyn shook his head sympathetically.

"Heyo Ven! Heh, kinda lost track of time beating Frostbite at Mario Kart," her doe eyes scanned him. "Raidyn! I didn't know you guys were friends!" She grinned.

Raidyn gave her a two-finger salute in greeting.

Nashi's eyes suddenly widened in realisation. "YOU'RE TEACHING HER THE RUBIX?!"

"Uh..."

"Yup." Venetia smirked. "He's a great teach. His parents have taken me in as their own."

"WAIT! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?! HOW WAS I NOT AWARE OF THIS?!"

"Just like that, Blondie. What can I say? It's the charm," She grinned at his bewildered face.

"You guys are all ready for the challenge then?" Nashi wiggled, now nervous, "Ven, I didn't mean to drag you into this, but Clint was-"

"It's cool, dumbass." Venetia shrugged. "Ain't your fault that they're dipshits."

At his confused look, Nashi clarified, "People like picking on us just because we're Fairies and held to the same standards as our parents. This frat dude decided he had to prove he was smarter than the Fairies and decided to pick a Rubix cube challenge of all things." She rolled her eyes. "Bet he taught he was real original thinking that one up."

"Bet he did." Storm scoffed. (Wait, what?)

"WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?"

"From- the front door?" Storm scratched his head in genuine confusion. (As if Raidyn was the weird one that sneaked up behind people like a stalker!)

Nashi facepalmed. "Why the heck are you here, Frostbite?"

"Just like that."

"Gosh, you're so annoying."

"Wanna say that to my face, Flamebrains?!" Storm yelled. (Oh, not again....)

"Guys, please don't...." Raidyn said, but both didn't seem to be paying attention to him.

"I SAID YOU'RE ANNOYING! FIGHT ME!" She threw a punch at him and before he knew it both were throwing napkin holders and vases at each other.

Venetia seemed to be enjoying the show, and pulled him to the back of the room, "This might take a while," she stated. "Wanna grab a milkshake?"

Well, he was kind of craving one. "Why not?"

..................

Today was the day of Venetia's challenge and Raidyn found himself nervous.

"You sure they won't wreck the place?" He grumbled for the umpteenth time.

Venetia groaned. "Do you have no faith in my abilities, Dreyar?"

"Nope. None whatsoever."

She raised an eyebrow, "Shame on you, then. I wouldn't let a good friend lose his job on my behalf. Dally ho, now!" She cheered.

He blinked at her, giving her a small reluctant smile. "Kick ass, Ven."

She tilted her head toward him and gave him a grin that knocked the breath out of him. "Thanks, Raidyn."

Shit. When did- when did she get so pretty?

"Look who we have here. You sure you're in the right place, Redfox?" A voice condescended. The owner of the voice was a grimy looking kid that looked like one of those middle-school spelling-bee losers that bragged about it whenever they met someone new.

"Clint." Venetia deadpanned.

Raidyn broke out into a fit of laughter, making 'Clint' (What kind of sad name was that?) glare at him. (Oh please, Little Clint was totally quaking in his boots! Why'd he even bother coming?)

"Let's begin then! Pick a shuffler." Clint drawled.

Venetia picked Nashi while Clint, after a moment of deliberation, picked one of his gang-mates (What did they call it? The Math club?)

"You may begin."

Both Nashi and the grimy dude shuffled for the better of 15 seconds. Clint just scoffed and clicked like a pretentious know-it-all, making comments like, "You're making it easier by shuffling harder, you know. Make it tougher for me, Nashi dear."

Raidyn had to give it to the pinkette, he would've smacked the teen by now.

"Okay," the referee, Storm cheered, (even though he looked like he was ready to kill Clint) "Timer starts, NOW!"

Both twisted and turned the cube furiously, Venetia sticking her tongue out in concentration while the teen twisted his arms like a man possessed.

"I'M DONE!" Venetia dropped the cube with a thud onto the table. "How's that for a Redfox?"

"E-excuse me? That's insane! It's only been," Clint checked the timer like the sore loser he was, "31 seconds!"

"Too bad," she smirked. (Well shit, that was hot...)

"I demand a rematch!"

Nashi moved to protest, but Venetia silenced her with a hand, "Whatever you say, kid..."

"This time, we swap cubes!" He whined like the little weasel he was.

3 minutes later, the rematch began and Venetia plopped her cube on the table with a glare.

"You think you're smart giving me a faulty cube, don't you?"

"And I'm done!" The weasel had the nerve to say. "I don't know what you're talking about Venetia, I used the same cube and it worked just fine. Maybe it was a stroke of luck on your part the first tim-"

He couldn't finish his tirade because Raidyn took that opportunity to check the cube (He didn't have to though, he believed Venetia enough to know she wouldn't make up excuses.) and yeeted it at his face like he'd been itching to do from the moment he saw the turd.

"YOU IDIOT! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS-"

"GET HIM!"

"OH NO, YOU DON'T!" Nashi growled, "I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW!"

Oh dear.

Okay, maybe the fight wouldn't get too big, these were scrawny kids after a-

Yeah, Nashi Dragneel just flipped a table on them.

There goes his job.

"GO, NASHI!" His manager cheered. (Okay, thank God this town was crazy.) "Raidyn! You can take the day off, kid. Have fun!"

Storm chose that moment to enter after his momentary toilet-break. "I WAS GONE FOR 3 MINUTES, WOMAN! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"JOIN US, STRIPPER!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

"YOU HEARD ME!"

Venetia, unbothered by the chaos behind her, pulled him by the arm, her eyebrows furrowed at him, "Well, I tried. But hey, looks like you still have your job. That's a win, right?" She scratched her neck, laughing.

He sighed, putting caution to the wind. This was Ven after all. "Ice-cream date? My treat for today's win."

A smile erupted on her face, "Only if we take my bike there."

.............

Bonus (That no one asked for):

"Okay, so you have to grip it right. Not too tight. Just enough to nudge it in the right direction." Venetia explained, from where she was seated in front of him on the death tra- bike.

Raidyn nervously laughed, "I've got this in the bag, I don't know what you're worried about." The tilt in his voice gave away his panic, however. She raised an eyebrow.

"Humor me then."

Okay.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

GO!!

"DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, YOU IDIOT!!" Venetia screeched. She reached over and took over the handlebars just in time as they nearly crashed into a tree Raidyn was headed for.

He got off the bike and tripped, falling face-first on the ground. Fricking Jelly-legs. "I am never riding that death trap again." Raidyn groaned.

"What the heck?!" Venetia questioned, bewildered. "How'd you even get your driver's ed with such sucky basics?"

"IT'S A DEATH TRAP, THAT'S WHY!!"

"OF COURSE IT'S A DEATH TRAP IF YOU'RE NOT LOOKING WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!!!"

"Fight me Ven, I'm never getting on that thing again!"

"Too bad, I have to drop you back home too." The sneaky devil dared smirk at his plight.

Fricking Karma.

He wouldn't have it any other way, though.

.............

#raidyn dreyar #venetia redfox #shutora redfox #venai #gale #miraxus #fairy tail #ft next generation #venetia x raidyn #nashi dragneel x storm fullbuster #nashi dragneel #storm fullbuster #modern au #rubix cube #bad boy remake

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kasdeyathebitterwoman · 5 years

Text

Running Mate Part 3

Welp. There’s going to be a part 4 and probably several other parts to continue this story…the response to part 1 has been insane and y’all definitely seem to be enjoying part 2 as well, so thank you!

Description: While running in the English countryside, Henry meets a fun documentarian and sparks fly.

Word Count: 2,255

CW: none, fluff

Every day after your coffee date, you and Henry had talked via text message. He was charming and sweet in a way that most others were not. When you weren’t running with him, you were talking about a variety of topics from PC gaming to Ancient Egypt. You found a common love of history which was rare for you. Not everyone enjoyed listening to you go on about some ancient Roman or Grecian fact that you’d learned.

And now a week later, you were standing in the reception area of a private theater chatting with a friend and film critic from the area. As a tradition, your team held a sort of cocktail party before a viewing to give your guests a chance to mingle and learn more about the film from the producers. You were dressed in a sleek black halter dress with black pumps and minimal gold jewelry while your hair tumbled down your shoulders in a half-up, half-down hairdo. You found this dress that very day and fell in love. It hugged your curves just right and made you feel sexy, without being obvious.

Nervously, you glanced around the room looking for evidence of him. It was still early in the evening, so he wasn’t there yet. You ended up in a conversation with one of the directors on your staff. They were talking about a recent experience with a project and you couldn’t help from laughing. You closed your eyes, tipped your head back, and laughed. When you opened your eyes, your gaze slid toward the front door where you saw Henry stride in. He was wearing black slacks, a gray button-down shirt with the top to buttons undone, and a plain black jacket. His normally curly locks were smoothed out into loose waves and smoothed back so he looked even more like Superman than he already did. Your breath caught in your lungs and for a moment. Henry peered around the room before his eyes landed on you and you swear you saw the same thing happen to him. Then a beaming smile grew across his face and then walked confidently to you.

“Hello there,” Henry said as he got closer to you. You accepted an embrace and a kiss on the cheek from him and you could easily smell this cologne. It was earthy and musky with a hint of floral that you couldn’t place, but you didn’t mind.

“Hey,” you said smiling as Henry leaned back up after kissing your cheek. “Thank you for coming,” you said, genuinely thankful he showed up.

“Of course,” he replied. “I’m happy to be here,” he smiled down at you and your heart skipped several beats, but someone clearing their throat brought you back to reality. It was David, the director friend you’d been talking with.

“Uh, Henry this is one of our in-house directors, David,” you say, gesturing toward David who gently waves. “David, this is my friend Henry,” you continue, gesturing to Henry. The men shake hands and chuckle.

“Oh yeah, I know who he is,” David says and Henry raises an eyebrow. “How’s your support for England treating you, mate?” David asks and Henry laughs suddenly. The two begin discussing, you slowly figure out, rugby. “Y/n, what do you think?” David asks at one point, turning to you. Your eyes grow wide and you look between the two men.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you reply and the men exchange a glance.

“Rugby,” David says slowly and you bob your head.

“Yeah, no clue,” you say and Henry chuckles as David shakes his head.

“Damn, Yank,” he says and you openly scoff.

“Hey now, to be fair, I don’t even understand American football that well,” you start. “I played soccer in high school,” you say and Henry bellows at that. You smile at the sound, feeling your heart flutter again. David shakes his head and says that he’s going to get another drink from the bar. Henry agrees to go with him to get his own drink and you continue to mingle around the room. This was your least favorite part of the film making process, but you knew it had to happen. Henry found you again and offered you a glass of champagne which you graciously accepted.

“I have to admit,” he started, after taking a gulp of his Guinness. “If movie premieres were like this, I think I’d enjoy them much more,” he smiles at you with an eyebrow raise and you laugh sardonically.

“Really? I’ve never actually been to a bonafide movie premiere,” you say and Henry bobs his head.

“They’re honestly just horse and pony shows, but I have to do them,” he says, a tinge of irritation in his voice. You smirk.

“Oh that’s what this is as well,” you say and Henry raises that eyebrow at you. “That group over there,” you say, tilting your head to your left a little and watch as Henry subtly checks them out. “Is a group of our backers. They gave us money to make this documentary, so we have to show them finished product so they can tear it to shreds before the festival season,” you say this sardonically and Henry chuckles. A sound causes you both to turn around. It’s an usher announcing that it’s time to enter the theater for the viewing. “Oh by the way,” you start suddenly. You open the little clutch you brought with you pulling out a ticket. “This is your seat. Sorry, I forgot to give it to you earlier,” you hand Henry the piece of card-stock and his finger brushes your skin. You feel your knees turn to jelly instantly. He smiles as he takes it, then gestures for you to go ahead of him like a true gentleman.

As Henry finds his seat, you move the front of the room where James is standing with a film critic and friend. He sees you and smiles gently. You walk up to him, giving him a half hug.

“And who’s your friend?” James asks, his eyes darting quickly in Henry’s direction. You squint at him, your nose twitching as you try not to smile.

“Just that - a friend,” you reply, though James clearly doesn’t believe you.

“Mhmm,” he muses and you roll your eyes at him. He accepts a microphone from an usher and begins the opening comments. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming to another Bulldog Westley Production screening. I’m James and this is y/n, and we are the team behind this company. We are absolutely grateful to have each and every one of you here, but I’m going to let y/n take over because ultimately, this film was her project,” he says, turning to hand you the mic. You take it and smile at everyone.

“Hey y’all,” you say in your usual twang and several people chuckle. “As James said, we are very grateful to have all you here. For many of us, this ain’t our first rodeo,” you say, waving to all the backers in the audience and laughing with them. “For those that are new here, hi, I’m y/n. I’m from Texas and I love documentaries. I get to work with one of my best friends,” you say, glancing at James who is smiling gently. “And I’m honored that he lets me spend real time and effort on things that I’m truly passionate about,” you smile around the room at everyone. Your eyes land on Henry for just a moment and you feel your heart flutter. “Alright, ooey-gooey stuff aside, there is just a little housekeeping I have to go over,” you say, pausing to make sure everyone is paying attention. “Number one, please, please, please, make sure your cellphones are turned off. This is an advanced screening and we are really hoping this does well in the festival circuit. It can’t do that if someone leaks even one second of footage. And number two, under every seat there is a feedback card. I’d love to know your thoughts about this when we are done. It is anonymous, so if you do say something ugly, I’ll never know it was you, but remember this,” you pause, staring everyone down. “I will think about it every single day for the rest of my life,” you joke and the audience bursts out in laughter. “Okay, that’s it for the intro. Ladies and gentlemen, we are Bulldog Westley Productions and this is our latest documentary, Take Me Home Country Roads,” everyone claps as you and James walk off stage to your seats. You gave Henry the seat next to you and he was smiling wide when you walked up.

“You were incredible,” he murmurs as you take your seat. You smile wide, grateful that the lights are dimming so he can’t see you blushing like crazy. Your nerves are amplified as the doc begins and the opening bars of “Take Me Home (Country Roads)” by John Denver begin. Without realizing it, your hand reaches out to Henry’s hand for comfort. He accepts your hand willingly, squeezing your hand gently. You can see him smile at you out of the corner of your eye and you feel yourself smile in response.

What you hadn’t been able to explain to Henry before this night was that the documentary he was viewing was incredibly personal. It was more a personal diary about a trip you took with your dad and your grandmother back to her home town of Grant Town, West Virginia. The documentary was based around the fact that your grandmother was going home to bury the last of her six sisters. It had been years since she had seen anyone or her home town. You had never been and you wanted to learn more about your dad’s family, so you asked if you could come along and film the experience. James thought it would make a great documentary and thus, the project was born.

An hour and fifty-two minutes later, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the lights came back on. Henry, who was still holding on to your hand by the end of the film, let go to dab at his eyes as you made your way to the front of the room again. You and James received a standing ovation from the audience, then watched as everyone began to head back out to the reception area. Henry lingered to the side as you thanked a few of the backers that came to congratulate you on a job well done. When the last backer had gone, Henry came up to you.

“That was incredible,” he said, a faraway look in his eye. You accepted a hug from him and smiled at the compliment.

“Thank you,” you reply into his chest, taking in his smell again which as lingered. He pulled back to compliment you, but he just kept opening and closing his mouth and shaking his head.

“I mean, just,” he started and stopped. “Wow, that is going to do amazing in the festival circuit, y/n,” he says and you blush.

“I certainly hope so,” you respond, smiling. You stare at Henry, who’s staring right back, with amusement and happiness. You can hear someone walking up to you and glance over your shoulder to see James walking over.

“Hey y/n,” he says quickly, smiling and waving at Henry. “Hi, I’m James,” he says. Henry introduces himself and they shake hands. “Y/n, we need to get back out there and talk to a few backers before they leave,” he says before turning and walking away. You nod and turn back to Henry. It’s just the two of you now in the theater.

“Sorry, duty calls,” you say and he smiles at you.

“I understand,” he replies. “I actually need to get going myself, but I was wondering. Do you think I could see you again tomorrow?” he asks and you smile wide.

“I’d like that,” you reply. Henry nods and leans down to kiss you on the cheek. “You missed,” you say. Henry looks at you puzzled. “You missed,” you repeat, but Henry’s brow is no less furrowed. Ever so slightly rolling your eyes, you grab the collar of Henry’s jacket, stand up on your tip-toes, and pull him in for a kiss. It’s a surprise at first and Henry isn’t ready. It’s all a shock for both of you and you take a step back. “I’m sorry, that was forward and impolite. I’m so sorry,” you say, but Henry is shaking his head no.

“No, no, that was,” he starts, a little breathless. “That was really good,” he finishes. Then he steps forward closing the gap between you and kisses you. It’s raw and passionate and delicious. You wrap your arms around his broad shoulders while his hands snake around your waist. After a moment, you release yourself from him and take a step back. Breathing heavy, you look at him and he’s smiling like a schoolboy after his first snog.

“I have to go,” you say, still breathing heavily. You move to hurry off, but you stop and look at Henry over your shoulder. “And don’t look at my butt as I walk away,” you say dramatically, before turning and running for the door. The sound of Henry’s laughter follows you and you can’t remove the smile that is now permanently attached to your face.

#henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill one shot #one shot #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #henryxreader #henryxfemale reader #femme reader

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mood-swings-for-days · 5 years

Text

Thunderstorm Ι Ch. 4 Ι JJK

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut, Werewolf!au

Word count: 7, 535

Warnings: Characters in a less than healthy state of mind, violence, slight body horror, an addicted to cigarettes Jungkook (don’t do drugs, kids!)

Summary: An accidental encounter triggers a series of events that shatter your monotonous life. A new relationship starts to develop, following the stages of a thunderstorm.

Note: Written under the influence of beautiful music

1 2 3 4

Chapter 4: Downpour

Dull light seeped into your room through the sheer curtains hanging on the window. Raindrops drummed against the glass in tune with the quiet music flowing from the radio. Gray clouds diffused the sunlight, painting the world in desaturated hues of its former colors. The forest just beyond your back yard oozed with thick white fog. You lay in bed awake for what seemed like hours, watching the night fade away.

You heard a door creak, followed by quick footsteps against the hardwood floor of the hallway. A beat of silence and then the muffled sound of dishes rattling reached you. You listened to your roommate prepare herself a bowl of cereal and sit down to eat with the quiet voice of the weatherwoman to keep her company.

“… ranging from 5° to 10°C during the day, however temperatures will drop below 0° in the evening and we might even be getting some snow for the first time this season.”

You rolled over in bed, glancing at the clock on your night stand. Your head sank back down into the pillow. Porcelain clacked against stainless steel in the sink and water started flowing from the faucet. Once she was done, your roommate padded back down the hallway and went into her room.

With a sigh you pushed the covers off of your body. Cold air immediately crawled over you, rising goosebumps in its wake. The hand that previously rested on your stomach started gliding up the length of your body, across the valley of your chest and came to a stop at the junction of your neck. Underneath your palm your jugular throbbed vigorously with the memory of your intimate dream in mind. The skin of your throat, although clear, tingled with the ghosts of a dozen love bites, left behind by the lips you very soul yearned to capture. You closed your eyes, reliving for the umpteenth time the way your fingers would run through his thick hair, blunt nails grazing his scalp ever so gently as lithe sighs tumbled from his mouth. His hands held onto your waist tightly, pressing you against a hard body that felt oh so hot to the touch. His satin skin felt heavenly gliding against your own.

“Jungkook…” you whispered when his sharp canines grazed against a raw patch on the side of your neck. He only hummed in response and squeezed you harder. His tongue running the length of your collarbone was the only warning you got before he sank his teeth into the fleshy swell of your breast. Your hands tightening in his hair and the tiny whimper that reached his ears stopped him before he got too carried away. Your whole body was tingling. The pain from the shallow bite made the adrenaline spike in your system.

You sighed again, covering your hot face with your hands. You almost felt embarrassed about how much you enjoyed that dream. It was so vivid you could still feel him if you concentrated. Turning your imagination off for now, you rolled out of bed.

You listened to the monotone beeps of the barcode scanner as you tried not to focus on your wet socks. Your old sneakers had lost the battle with the weather once again, causing your feet to become soaked in the cold, invasive rainwater. The person in front of you had rolled up to the register with a heaping cart full of absolute garbage. As you scanned bottle after bottle of cheap alcohol and copious amounts of snacks you couldn’t help but think that this kid was preparing to throw the biggest party his teenage-self had ever attended. He’d walked up to you with a wide grin and a hand already offering his ID to prove that he’d just recently become a legal adult. Coming around to the last few items, you peeked up only to see him excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet, staring intently at the goods you were tucking into the big paper bags to your right. His bill came up pretty steep, but he was more than happy to throw two hundred dollar bills on the counter, telling you to keep the change. You watched him wrestle the bags into his arms clumsily and run out the door after waving you goodbye. You dropped the $9,50 inside your tip jar as you started to wonder when was the last time you got that excited about something. You glanced at the clock on the wall and figured you still had a while before your shift ended. With a sigh you propped your hip against the register and reached into your back pocket for your phone. Yara’s number was the first one to show up in your history and after a few short rings she picked up.

“Sup?”

“Hey, I’m working. Can you talk for a bit?”

“Uh-huh,” her voice sounded kind of muffled “gimme a sec, I got some brushes in my mouth.”

“Yeah?” You giggled

A rattle sounded on the other end “I’m doing my makeup. What’s up?”

“Do you want to hang out later?” you cringed right after the words left your mouth “I don’t have much to do after my shift ends.”

“Sorry hun, I already have plans with that one guy. I mean you’re welcome to tag along, but you might not enjoy it as much as I will.”

You immediately knew what she was talking about. The guy in question was someone from one of Yara’s classes and she’d had an eye on him for a while. It was nice of her to invite you, but the thought of her not-so-subtle flirting in public made you want to hide.

“Yeah, I’ll pass. You two have fun.”

“Thanks!” you were just about to bid her goodbye when she chimed in “Why don’t you call Jungkook?”

Your heart skipped a little. Why? Because you were afraid that he won’t pick up, again. You didn’t feel like going through the mortification of having to leave a stupid voice mail only for him to never call you back. Yara took your silence as hesitation and continued.

“Y/n how long are you going to pretend that you don’t like the guy?”

“I’m not. I do like him;” Your voice was small “I just want some feedback from him.”

“I’m happy you admit it at least.” Yara’s tone softened “You know there’s nothing wrong in asking him, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m afraid of rejection.”

“That’s fair. Still, you’ll never know for sure unless you ask him.”

You nodded your head, vaguely registering that Yara couldn’t really see you. The conversation had reached a point at which you didn’t want to respond and Yara knew it.

“Okay, bye. I’ll see you at university.”

“Bye, hun. Do you want me to call you tonight?”

“No, it’s fine. Call me if something happens.”

“Of course.” Yara knew to reach out to you in case of an emergency “I’ll see you later.”

And with a click the line went silent. Outside thunder rumbled in the distance and the sound of raindrops against the windows of your shop softened.

Just a couple of customers came in after that. The first one wandered around the aisles for a while, leaving wet footprints everywhere, and left once the rain started to subside. The second one entered shortly after the first, bought a chocolate bar and left without sparing you a single glance. You waited around for several more minutes before fetching the mop. In the midst of scrubbing the white tiles with admirable vigor your hand slipped on the handle and you fell face-first into the rack in front of you. Multiple packs of cigarettes, lighters and other accessories tumbled to the ground. Cursing under your breath, you watched the shelf wobble dangerously, but thankfully manage not to fall. The commotion caused the items that didn’t fall out to topple over instead. With a huff you shoved the mop back into the bucket and pushed it aside. You were going to be stuck rearranging merchandise for hours.

Perched on a step ladder, you reached into the very back of the top shelf to try and get the last few boxes of cigarette filters. You’d managed to put almost everything back by the time your shift was over. Glancing over at the clock you figured that as per usual Yoongi would be arriving late. You hugged the stacked boxes to your chest and proceeded to place them back on the shelf in neat rows.

The little bell above the door jingled.

“Hello.” You greeted blindly

By the sound of slow footsteps, headed for you, you assumed it was your coworker finally showing up. Placing the last item in its place you were just about to speak again as the footsteps came to a stop. The words died in your throat when you felt a pair of hands smooth up your thighs and curl around your hips. You flinched at the contact, turning to look at the person behind you. Turning around, you were surprised to see Jimin smiling up at you. Without a word he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you off of the step ladder.

“Hey.” He mumbled, not letting go of your body. In fact, he tried to pull you closer, which you countered by pushing your hands against his chest.

“Jimin, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was in the mood for something sweet and just happened to stumble upon you.”

Oh, he was in a mood all right, you could tell just by the look in his eyes. His naturally dominant nature was practically radiating off of him, nailing you in place. It was going to be difficult to get out of this situation, you could feel it.

His fingers played with the hem of your shirt as his gaze dropped to the sliver of smooth skin, peeking out of the unbuttoned collar of your shirt. All of a sudden you felt terribly exposed in your normally conservative work uniform.

You cleared your throat and made a move to create some distance between the two of you. With a final squeeze, his hands parted with your body.

“So, how have you been?” You tried to ease the tension with small talk as you speedily walked up to the register. Jimin languidly followed suit. You could hear his footsteps approaching behind you while you pretended to scrub the glass counter with a small rag you managed to find inside your pocket. Unbeknownst to you, your back was left completely exposed and Jimin wasn’t about to pass up on that opportunity. A chill ran the length of your spine when you felt his arms close in on either side of you, hands coming to rest on the surface in front of you.

“I’ve been good.” He whispered and you hated the way your body trembled at the feeling of his breath against the shell of your ear. “And you?”

“M-me too.”

All of your self-control betrayed you in the face of his close proximity. Your hands started shaking when you felt the faintest brush of his hips against your ass. All of your senses were overcome by his scent and the warmth, radiating off of him. You almost felt gross about the way your body immediately reacted to his advances, without giving you the chance to think about it. He dipped his head into the curve of your neck, hot breath gliding over your skin. You squeezed your eyes shut, swallowing with difficulty and trying your best to stay still to minimize contact. Jimin breathed a soft chuckle and your heart flipped. A dark, deep seated desire to give into him started to slither its way out of the cracks of your consciousness. You felt entranced, as if someone had taken over your mind for a long moment before the rational part of you jumped in. Giving into Jimin was the worst possible thing to do right now. You parted your lips, swallowing a big lungful of air to try and clear your head. Just as you were about to speak, the bell on the door jingled, piercing the atmosphere around you.

You jumped as his arms quickly dropped from your sides. You turned just in time to see Yoongi walking in with his sights already set on Jimin.

“What are you doing here?” your coworker jumped straight to the point

Jimin grinned innocently “Nothing illegal, hyung.”

Yoongi was staring Jimin down with a stern look on his face and you couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something you didn’t know.

“I’m, uh, I’ll go change.” You mumbled awkwardly and started to back away. Neither of them payed you any mind, frozen in a silent face-off.

The staff room door clicked behind you as you leaned against it. You waited there for a few seconds, trying to hear if they started talking now that you were out of the picture. You quickly gave up, figuring that at best Yoongi would tell Jimin off and make him leave. You were half way through pulling your jeans over your ass when you heard your coworker throw in a few expletives, but when you paused to listen in, the conversation became indistinguishable once again. With a huff you shoved your uniform inside your bag.

“Shall we head out?” Jimin offered once he saw you walk out of the door and you just nodded begrudgingly.

“Yeah, Jimin you can go ahead, I need to have a word with y/n for a sec.”

You were surprised that your coworker butted in and came to a stop once you reached the register. Jimin just shrugged and walked out without any objections. Yoongi waited until he was out of sight before he turned to you.

“Look, I don’t know what the fuck you’ve gotten yourself into, but don’t mess around with Park Jimin.”

Straight to the point, huh? You could feel your face heating up with the embracement of being caught red handed. Of course Yoongi had seen the little stunt Jimin pulled earlier. Hell, a lot of people probably saw, considering you were in plain sight of the huge windows. You could maybe play it off and blame Jimin for the whole situation, but the truth is you made no move to push him away. Knowing that it was partially your fault stung worse than the embarrassment of being caught. Yoongi’s sharp eyes held no sympathy for your unfavorable position.

“I assure you, he’s not what you think he is.” He continued “Stay away from him.”

You looked at him confusedly. For some reason the ambiguity with which he spoke made your hair stand on end.

“Now, go out there and tell him to fuck off.”

“But why didn’t you-” You tried to protest, but he cut you off sharply.

“Because it’s not my place to intervene. He needs to hear it from you.”

You stared back at him with a sour expression even though you knew he was right. He wasn’t going to budge and you needed to sort your own problems like an adult.

“Come on now, get lost.”

You sighed and headed out without saying goodbye. You could feel his eyes on you until you exited the store and rounded the corner. Once you were out of sight, you spotted Jimin leaning against the exposed brick wall of the neighboring building. He had his hands in his pocket as he stared off into the night sky. The last slivers of sunlight were becoming extinguished by dark and heavy rainclouds. The lamps lining the street started to flicker on. You eyed Jimin for a second before shoving your fists into your jacket pockets and walking up to him.

“I love it when it rains.” He stated simply once you were within earshot. You watched his profile as he inhaled deeply. “Are you driving tonight?”

“Yeah.” You lied

He turned to look at you. The streetlight reflected off of his skin, making his features look sharp. You squeezed your fists tighter. The look in his eye was taunting, like he saw right through you.

“Let me walk you to your car then.”

It wasn’t a suggestion. Out of nervous habit, you bit down on your bottom lip.

“No, thank you.”

“Why not?” He retorted, taking a step toward you “It’s dark, something might snatch you up.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s just around the corner.”

Jimin’s gaze dragged slowly down your rigid frame. He smirked when his eyes landed on yours once again. This whole situation was all too entertaining to him. With a few long strides he closed the distance between you. Before you could step back, his hands came to rest just above your elbows. He cocked his head to the side and pouted when he saw you frown.

“Y/n…” he mumbled in a raspy tone “We’re both adults, right?”

You stared up at him wordlessly, breath hitching in your throat when you saw him lick his lips.

“I really like you.”

“Damn, you sound desperate.”

You jumped away from Jimin immediately. You turned just in time to see Jungkook rounding the corner with a cigarette and a knowing smirk hanging on his lips. He walked up to Jimin and got right in his face, tucking you safely behind his back in the process.

“Fuck off, Jimin.”

As he spoke, he blew smoke in the elder’s face, making him flinch back and cough into his hand. Jimin glared at Jungkook, taking a few steps backward before turning on his heel and taking off down the street.

You watched the whole thing go down with bated breath. You were expecting a much bigger commotion to ensue after Jungkook stepped in so aggressively, but Jimin surprised you when he simply ran off. You stared after him until his silhouette was no longer visible.

Turning around to face you, Jungkook exhaled a deep sigh. The smoke from his by now almost burnt out cigarette swirled around you, making you sniffle. You watched intently as his expression softened once your eyes met. Without a word, his hand closed around your forearm and you fell into his chest. His arms squeezed around your shoulders and you couldn’t hold back from hugging him back. Jungkook rested his chin on the top of your head and breathed a sigh of relief. You blinked once, twice and it felt like an eternity before he finally spoke up.

“Don’t do that. Please, stay away from him.” You felt his heart pound against your cheek as he spoke. His plea sounded soft and shaky. Not really knowing how to respond, you just squeezed his waist tighter. It felt so good to embrace him like that, you never wanted to let go. His warmth, his scent, his heartbeat, everything about him made you feel safe. Jungkook felt you nuzzle into him and it made him chuckle lightly. His hand smoothed over your hair soothingly before he pulled back to look at your face. You didn’t realize you were smiling until he grinned back at you and a soft blush bloomed along your cheekbones.

“Let’s go, hmm?” he offered quietly

“I’d like that.”

His hand slipped down the length of your arm until your fingers intertwined. His skin was dry and cold, but the feeling of it made warmth blossom in your chest. Jungkook gently tugged you closer to his side as you strolled down the street. You happily watched the way your footsteps seemed to match his perfectly while he would occasionally steal sideways glances at your pretty face.

“I kind of want to wander around for a bit. Is that okay with you or are you too cold?” Jungkook asked softly.

You turned to properly look at him. His otherwise pale face was dusted pink at the tip of his nose and cupid bow. You didn’t know if it was the look in his rounded eyes, but you suddenly felt bold.

“I’d like to spend some more time with you, too.”

Jungkook immediately grinned at your confession, a light laugh rolling off of his reddened lips.

“I’m relieved to hear that. Honestly, I’ve been missing you lately.”

Your pulse quickened, but you didn’t allow it to choke out your next question “Where were you then?”

You watched him carefully as the question seemed to catch him off guard. He smiled tightly and broke eye contact. A few deep breaths passed through his lungs before he was ready to speak.

“I… You could say I’ve been dealing with myself.”

He glanced back at you and you didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. You could tell that he was tiptoeing around the truth by the way he avoided prolonged eye contact. His hand unconsciously tightened around yours. You realized that it was making him uncomfortable, but the mystery that was Jeon Jungkook was plaguing you for far too long and you couldn’t let it go that easily. He chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to make up his mind. Your attention was suddenly diverted when you saw a pointed canine sink into the flesh of his lip. It wasn’t impractically long, just sharp enough to become noticeable. Although Jimin’s canines were more pronounced, Jungkook’s seemed eerily similar. You found yourself running your tongue along your upper row of teeth to see if it was more common than you thought, but yours were dull, flat almost. You stared at his mouth in poorly disguised bewilderment until you noticed him looking. His lips pressed tightly together as you slowly looked up to meet his eye.

“What?” You blurted out dumbly and he just shook his head. The pace of his footsteps didn’t falter when he retrieved yet another cigarette from his back pocket. You watched the flame of his lighter cast a yellow light to his features for a brief second then flicker and die. He inhaled the fumes deep into his lungs. You were almost mesmerized by the way smoke poured from his lips and brushed past his cheekbones.

“I needed to figure some shit out?” Jungkook’s next attempt at explaining came out sounding uncertain. He glanced back at you. “I had to decide how I feel.”

The last line piqued your interest.

“About what?”

“About a lot of things.” He looked ahead as he took another drag from his cigarette “About…you, too.”

His hand tightened around yours and you could almost feel it close around the heart hammering in your chest. You fell silent. You wanted to pry further and ask more questions, but the rapid pounding in your ears drowned out your words.

Your legs were moving on their own as you tried to keep up with Jungkook who was sucking the life out of his cigarette faster than you thought a man was capable of. The store windows lining your peripheral soon faded as you crossed a couple of walkways and found yourself at the entrance of the town park. The place was nothing spectacular with long winding stone paths going across fields of withered grass and trees with nothing but bare branches to flaunt. You stared up at the intricate curves in the iron arc that was once part of the park gates. You followed Jungkook past it and down the main path obediently. Thin fog swirled around you while rotting wet leaved squelched underneath your old sneakers. You stared straight ahead as you tried to make up your mind. You wanted to continue this conversation so badly, you couldn’t let the opportunity slip, but you were suddenly tongue tied. By this point you were convinced that your feelings weren’t one sided and now was the chance to have Jungkook confirm it verbally, but you were afraid. Until now, you’ve only just come to terms with the feelings part, but you didn’t exactly know what that implied. Something told you that if Jungkook was willing to pursue a relationship, that would mean long term commitment, like really long term. You actually couldn’t picture yourself with anyone else beside you and you barely even knew the guy. Never in your twenty-something years on this Earth have you ever looked at a man and thought “I could grow old with him.”. Until you encountered Jungkook it seemed alien that a person you meet in your twenties could be the one you spend the rest of your life with. And the rest of your life was such a long time too, you didn’t think you could ever be prepared to make a decision like that. On the other hand, your chest clenched painfully at the thought of just letting him walk out of your life. Your hand squeezed his weakly.

You watched the old lake come into view. As you approached its murky waters you had already made up your mind.

You stopped abruptly when you reached the edge. Jungkook wasn’t expecting it and tugged on your arm once before also coming to a stop. Those tall old post lights lined the edge of the lake and you happened to be standing underneath one of them. You knew Jungkook was looking at you questioningly, but you needed a moment to compose yourself before facing him. You watched the wind ripple the surface of the water as you breathing steadied.

“How…” you started quietly before turning to him “How do you feel about me?”

Jungkook immediately recognized the look in your big glossy eyes and it made his heart skip a million times over. Electricity violently zapped the surface of his skin, spreading from the point where your fingers were still intertwined. Adrenaline pumped in his veins, making his breathing heavier. You looked pale, timid and vulnerable under the fluorescent lights. Jungkook felt like he was holding your fragile porcelain heart right in his bare hands as you had unknowingly given him permission to do with it whatever he saw fit. He swallowed once, twice, but not a single syllable rolled off his tongue, even though the answer to your question was quite simple to him. In his head he repeatedly chanted that he was taking way too long to respond. Oh, he would be one hell of an idiot if he chickened out now.

The tiniest movement beside your face caught his attention briefly. A small white speck was floating down from the sky, crossing the lantern’s light only to melt on your shoulder. Another one followed shortly after, and another, until Jungkook realized it was snowing. Thousands of tiny snowflakes dusted over the both of you, some disappearing into the ground and others getting caught in the loose strands of your hair. Jungkook was positive that he had never seen a prettier sight than your worried face with a halo of melting snowflakes framing it.

He yanked you into his frame by your hand. You flinched at the sudden disturbance, but your body moved toward him regardless. His hands rested gingerly at the top of your hips, smoothing over the wrinkled material of your jacket. He seemed hesitant, but the soft look in his eyes soothed your racing heart.

“I have very strong feelings for you.” He finally muttered and it made him cringe at his wording “Shit, that sounded weird. What I want- … what I meant to say is that I like you very much.”

You couldn’t stop the grin that overcame your features. He was too cute as he got flustered and stumbled over his words a little. Nevertheless, Jungkook’s expression mirrored yours.

“Yeah, me too.” You whispered when he pressed his forehead to yours.

“Can I kiss you? I want to do it properly this time.”

Your whole body was warm with giddiness and it felt like your cheeks would crack with how wide your smile had gotten. You nodded lightly, afraid that words would ruin the atmosphere that had started to form. Jungkook looked at you for a moment longer before his eyelids dropped and he leaned in closer. His mouth brushed yours lightly at first, testing the waters before diving in deeper. His lips tasted of cigarette smoke, but nothing could describe the feeling of completion that filled your chest once they pressed against yours fully. Your fingers slipped up his shoulders and neck until you could bury them in the hair at the back of his head. He pulled you flush against his front, clasping his hands at your lower back. His lips moved slowly against yours, sighing every now and again when you tugged at his hair. Your whole body was tingling, waves upon waves of relief and happiness washed over your anxious heart as you could finally feel his hair underneath your fingertips, his skin against yours and his scent surrounding you. Cigarette smoke had never tasted so sweet, mixed in with something that was so distinctly Jeon Jungkook it made your soul flutter. He never tried to slip his tongue into your mouth, instead his kisses were chaste and gentle. It had been so long since you’d been kissed properly, but somehow your body seemed to naturally react to Jungkook’s touch. He held you close, his warmth seeping into your body and crawling up to your face, tinting your cheeks a shade of pink.

His lips finally detached from yours, but he wasn’t ready to part with you before giving you a few more pecks. When he pulled away, your eyes finally cracked open, only to find him already smiling fondly down at you. By the time you separated, a significant amount of snow had piled up on top of his head and it made you giggle once you noticed. Jungkook quickly caught on to what you were laughing at and shook his messy hair abruptly, making the snow scatter around him and into your face. The cold snowflakes stinging your skin as they melted only made you laugh harder and Jungkook joined in with a soft chuckle of his own.

“Man, you’re pretty when you laugh like that.” He mumbled more to himself, but you managed to catch it. You just stared into each other’s eyes with stupidly wide smiles, just feeling content and warm in the other’s embrace even as cold wind howled past your bodies.

“Do you want to come watch a movie at my place? I’m not ready to let you go yet.” Jungkook asked suddenly and there was no hesitation in your mind when you agreed.

Safely tucked under Jungkook’s arm and lost in sincere conversations, you walked the two miles over to his house, which you found out was only a few streets away from yours. Stepping over the threshold, you were immediately struck by the strong smell of timber and cigarette smoke. Jungkook slipped his boots off by the door and you followed suit. He helped you hang your damp coat up to dry and led you down the narrow hallway straight into his living room. His house was dark, walls painted in dull shades of beige and gray, hardwood floors a deep brown and old heavy wooden furniture filling out the space. The living room had a semi-modern disposition with only a countertop separating the kitchen from the main area. The place was also oddly cold, like it had been vacant for a while. Jungkook flicked a switch, flooding the room with pale yellow light that didn’t make it much easier to see what with how weak the lightbulb was. You stood awkwardly with your hands clasped together in your flimsy sweater and thin socks, enduring the cold and doing your best to disguise it. Jungkook seemed unbothered as he walked past you and into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

“Well,” he started once he downed his glass “make yourself at home. I know it’s not much, but that’s what I have to offer.”

You quickly shook your head because your own house was nothing spectacular either. You didn’t expect a university student like himself to be living in a mansion after all.

“It’s fine, it’s just-” you hesitated when he looked up at you questioningly “I’m kinda cold?”

Jungkook paused for a second, as if processing the information, you’d just presented him with and what it entailed. You just stared at him in silence, shifting from one foot to the other until it finally clicked for him.

“Oh, I don’t have central heating.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly “But, I can get you something to wear?”

You nodded gratefully and he disappeared down the dark hallway to presumably fetch you something warm from his bedroom. While you waited, you wondered what his room might look like. He didn’t look like the type of guy that owns a lot of stuff, judging by the minimal personal belongings scattered about his living room. He returned with a black hoodie, one you recognized he’d been wearing around campus a lot. You quickly pulled it over your chilled body once it was within your grasp. The garment was brushed on the inside, warm and cozy as it fell down to the middle of your thighs. You rolled the sleeves a couple of times to uncover your hands and Jungkook chuckled.

“You look tiny in my clothes.” He said jokingly

“Don’t flatter yourself. This thing is oversized even on you.” You shot right back, feeling playful. Jungkook let out a breathy laugh as his hand came to smooth over the top of your head.

“What kind of movie are you feeling tonight?”

“You’re the host, surprise me.” Your snarky replies seemed to break up the awkward atmosphere and ease the both of you.

“Horror is far too cheesy for me to even suggest it…” he tapped his chin, pretending to ponder over his options “I guess we just have to watch Iron man.”

You snorted unattractively at his suggestion

“Iron man? Are you 10?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault it’s the best movie ever!” He put his hands up in defense and grinned “Besides, have you even seen it?”

“You got me there.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it.” He seemed genuinely excited to watch it with you and it was contagious.

“I’ll go ahead and download it on my laptop then.” He turned to go but then paused and turned back to you “I- uh, I have a roommate... Do you mind watching the movie in my room instead of the living room? I don’t want to disturb him when he comes home later.”

You nodded with a smile. “Is it a problem if I hang around here for a little longer?” you asked, gesturing toward the kitchen

“No, not at all. Do you need anything?”

“I was wondering if I could fix myself a cup of tea?”

“Sure, kettle’s on the stove.” With that he walked back into his room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

You wandered into the kitchen. The cold hardwood floor matched the rest of the house and you thought about how impractical it was if something were to spill on it. As promised, an old aluminum kettle was sitting on the gas stove. You lifted the lid and peered inside, only to find some stagnant water at the bottom of it. You made a face, but washed it out nonetheless. Now filled with fresh tap water, you placed the kettle back on the stove. You fiddled with the switch a little bit to try and adjust the flame, but it was either too strong or too weak, so you just settled with the stronger one and left it at that. You propped your butt on the counter and started looking around. The kitchen was fairly clean, but clearly old and worn out. The fridge to your right was starting to turn yellow and the cupboards above you, albeit nicely crafted wooden pieces, were probably extremely squeaky. You looked around the items, placed on the counter. Next to the knife block and underneath the rack of hanging utensils you found a wooden box with the word ‘TEA’ engraved on the lid. While you looked through the various flavors, you absentmindedly noted that Jungkook didn’t own a microwave. Plucking out a bag of mint tea, you turned to face the hallway to his bedroom. You’d poured enough water for two cups of tea in the kettle, but you didn’t know what kind he preferred, nor where he kept all his cups.

“Jungkook?” you called out as you settled by the stove once again.

You heard some muffled footsteps before he poked his head out from around the corner.

“I don’t know where the cups are.”

Jungkook walked into the kitchen fully and you noticed that he had changed into a black shirt and some sweatpants. He walked straight up to you and reached for the shelf right above your head. The smell of clean laundry hit you once his chest was in your face. Until now you never noticed how much the cigarette smoke covered up his natural scent. It was clean and sweet, girly almost, with the slightest hint of cologne, but it somehow suited him. Only after he’d placed the cup on the counter did he notice how close he had gotten to you. You blinked up at him as he seemed surprised for a second. Without a word, he swooped down and captured your lips. It was your turn to be surprised, but it didn’t take long for you to melt into him once his hands circled your waist. This time his kisses weren’t as gentle. He was bolder, pushing a little harder against you and even sliding his tongue along the seam of your lips. You timidly parted them for him and he immediately went to work. The taste of cigarette smoke was persistent on his tongue, but it did nothing to dampen the satisfaction you felt as it slipped into your mouth. Jungkook hoisted you onto the counter behind you and lodged himself between your parted thighs. He was getting really daring now, breathing harder and letting his hands wander down to the swell of your hips and ass to pull you flush against his torso. Adrenaline was spiking high in both of your systems and you started to feel excitement buzzing in the pit of your stomach. His lips separated from yours to move into the junction of your neck. He yanked the collar of his hoodie down to expose more of your skin as he heatedly kissed up your throat. You couldn’t stop the gasp that slipped past your lips at his ministrations on your sensitive flesh. His body reacted to the noise and you felt his hips push a little harder against yours. Your legs squeezed his waist as your hands tried to find purchase in his hair. You could feel the shiver running down his spine every time your nails scraped against his scalp. He was focusing on a spot that made you whimper quietly, sucking and licking the skin there to make you release more of the sounds he’d become so fond of.

Before you could get too carried away however the kettle beside you started whistling loudly, startling the both of you. Jungkook quickly pulled away from you and reached over to turn off the stove. The sound persisted for a few more seconds before dulling down to a quiet wheeze. He rested his hands on top of your thighs that were still hanging loosely on either side of his waist. The two of you stayed silent for a while longer, just locking eyes until Jungkook started to crack up.

“What?”

“Sorry about that.” He managed in between breaths and you had no idea if he was apologizing about laughing, or the kettle, or what, but you just joined him in cackling. He helped you hop off the counter and held your hands until you both calmed down. While you were busy catching your breath, he picked up your abandoned tea bag and dropped it into the mug he’d retrieved for you earlier. He grabbed the kettle from the stove and carefully poured the boiling water into the cup.

“How do you like it?”

You didn’t know if it was the aftermath of your make out session or something else he had in mind, but you completely misunderstood his implication. Your face flushed. “Huh?”

“What do you like in your tea?” Jungkook chuckled.

“Oh, um, I drink it plain.” You fiddled with your fingers awkwardly “Do you want any?”

“Nah, I don’t like tea.” When you turned to look at the box on the counter, he clarified “That stuff’s my roommates. He won’t mind.”

Jungkook handed you the hot steaming mug and motioned toward the hallway. You followed him closely on the way to his bedroom. The corridor was also fairly bland with only dull beige paint and three old wooden doors decorating the walls. Jungkook pulled open the first one on the left and you could feel the unmistakable smell of cigarette smoke seeping out. His room was cold, dark and surprisingly empty. There was a double bed pushed in the corner of his bluish-gray walls, a small night stand under the window, an old desk and chair and a chest of drawers where you assumed he kept his belongings. The clothes he’d worn earlier were draped over his chair and the covers of his bed were disheveled, but apart from that there was nothing else to give the room some character. There were no pictures of family or friends, no posters or books, not even general everyday stuff a person might leave around his room. It honestly looked like he’d just moved in, which was unlikely. You stepped in and looked around even though there wasn’t much to see. Jungkook’s laptop was sitting on his desk, a chunky piece of electronic with all sorts of colorful blinking lights. You’d never seen one quite like this and to be honest it was the second most interesting thing in this house aside from its owner. Jungkook moved his chair at the foot of his bed and placed the laptop onto it, ready to stream the movie.

“Hey, do you mind if I open the window?”

“Is it the smoke?” Jungkook chimed up “Sorry about that too.”

He walked over and pulled the blinds up. The window opened up with a creak to reveal the already snow-covered street. It wasn’t anything severe, but it had probably piled up about an inch high. In the patches of light, provided by the street lamps, you could see it was still snowing significantly, without showing any signs of stopping. Cold crisp air flooded the room, making you shiver gently and grip the hot mug between your palms tighter. A pair of built arms wrapped around your middle from behind. Jungkook’s warm chest pressed into you, compelling your body to relax into him.

“I’m glad I get to spend this moment with you.” He rested his chin on your left shoulder and looked out the window too. “This is my favorite time of the year. I always get excited when it starts snowing for the first time.”

“It’s lovely.” You confirmed fondly, feeling so domestic already. It felt like you’d known Jungkook for ages and this level of intimacy was only natural. His hands smoothed over your sides, enjoying the feeling of your curves underneath the material of his hoodie. He breathed in, inhaling your soft scent and basking in the satisfaction of finally having you in his arms. He never wanted to let go, and frankly, you didn’t either. His closeness alone was enough to wipe your mind of any worry. You pulled the mug up to your lips and sipped on the scolding beverage. Mint tea, a snowy night and Jeon Jungkook was easily becoming one of your favorite combinations. He pressed a quick kiss to the side of your neck and moved away from you to close the window.

“You might catch a cold, get in bed.” He said.

While he pulled the blinds closed once again, you placed your mug on his night stand, next to his ash tray and crawled under his pale gray covers. They were recently washed and smelled pleasantly, but it felt kind of weird to be laying in a different person’s bed. Jungkook owned a single pillow so you settled to occupy only half of it. When he turned to look at you, you tapped the empty spot beside you with a sheepish smile.

“Damn, I’d kill to have you waiting for me in bed like that every night.” He grinned, making your heart skip. While he went to turn on the movie, you thought that you, in fact, would also love to have him in bed with you every night. As the opening credits started rolling, Jungkook scooted closed and wrapped his arms around you. Your own arm draped over his stomach as you settled into the blissful comfort of his warmth and affection.

About forty minutes into the movie you couldn’t resist his steady heartbeat lulling you into the most peaceful and fulfilling slumber you’d had in months. The nearly full mug of mint tea started growing cold on the night stand, forgotten.

Note: It’s about damn time I posted... I’m still having trouble with my computer, but I somehow managed.

#bts #ggukienet #bangtanarmynet #jungkook smut #jungkook #jeon jungkook #BTS jungkook #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #bts fanfic #bts scenarios #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #werewolf #jungkook werewolfau #bangtan #bangtan boys

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secretsfromwholecloth · 4 years

Text

Deadfire, day 4.

Re Maia: I mean, if I could do Durance’s quest, I can certainly do hers, but I’m not sure it makes a huge amount of sense in-character, insofar as “in-character” is even a thing this go-round. Anlaf currently knows Atsura as “the creepy guy who warns about environmental devastation from mining luminous adra in one breath and then tells me to cause that devastation in the next when it suits his political and economic goals”, so he probably won’t want to hear a thing from someone who freely admits to working for the guy.

So, I’ll skip it for now, and if I have a fit of remorse later, I can always come back.

Hall of the Unseen, go. Let’s see if I can get the last door to unlock before losing what’s left of my sanity.

Ooh, a proper walkthrough! Very nice, what’s left of my sanity thanks you, whoever put that on the wiki. Wasn’t there during my last playthrough, back in November.

Of course Tekēhu is the first one to proposition Anlaf. Of course he is. (No, Tekēhu. Another time. Well, probably not, I already let one baby romance you, and I’m....not naturally inclined toward playing the sort of character who could actually make you happy. I love you dearly, but my curiosity is satisfied.)

Conversation fired directly on the heels of turning in the findings from Motare o Kōzi to Aruihi, as usual. I realize that it’s because the stages of his romance are plot-gated, and my regular playstyle racks up approval with him so fast that they fire as soon as the plot gates are passed, but still, it makes it look like dealing with the Kahanga royals makes him horny. Which will continue to be my headcanon for the foreseeable—he’s exactly the sort to develop crushes on both Onekaza and Aruihi.

Modwyr’s soul has been harvested and the sword given back to a grateful Yngfrith. Goodbye, sword friend.

Aeldys has been befriended. Anlaf might help her get rid of Furrante, in the end. Dude’s a bit of a wang, and Anlaf is just the sort of Watcher who a. would hate his ass and b. would be inclined to do something about it.

Oh, Xoti. Another time.

There’s something hilarious about having the “I thought you were interested in Edér?” chat when the big man is standing a couple of feet away. I can only imagine that he’s trying his level best to focus on something else and not hear what they’re saying.

There’s a free spot in the party—besides Edér, Xoti, and Maia, who need to be there for various reasons, who else do I bring to Hasongo? Hm, I think I’ll drag Aloth along. Let’s do this.

And now that Hasongo is done, probably time I made the rounds and actually talked to my companions, right?

Taking care of the lighthouse got me Maia’s +1 conversation before we’d had her introductory one, whoops.

Thank you for finally giving me your quest, Aloth.

Ah, there goes Edér’s +2 conversation—wow, he really likes that “mostly lunatics in robes” crack. It felt so strange not getting it until so late. I was starting to worry. (The fact that just after Hasongo, barely into the mid-game, is “so late” for this tells you everything that needs telling about my regular playstyle.)

I didn’t even realize it’d been long enough for Rekke to learn Aedyran! Right, it’s cute time.

Pallegina’s +1 conversation is firing on the back of that? What did I even say?

Maia, stop being mean to Serafen.

So, uh, I probably ought to actually do Poko Kohara at some point, whoops. Let’s put in in Neketaka and bang out the rest of Edér’s quest first, though.

OK, that’s done, and yeah, if I want to see a different ending for Edér, I’m going to have to deliberately throw his quest, aren’t I? Another time. With a Watcher who has really good in-character reasons not to make the arguments available to them.

On to Poko Kohara. Hey, it’s the Engwithan ruin song! *whistles along*

Anahāru pronounces “Ngati” as [ŋ̍gati], and I just bouncyclapped at the correct point of articulation and lack of an epenthetic vowel. I...may be something of a nerd.

And that’s done. More fun in the morning. Proper morning, it’s just after 3 AM right now.

#pillars of eternity #deadfire #watcher Anlaf

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lifblogs · 4 years

Text

Title: Livin In You: Chapter 6

Rating: Explicit (for later chapters)

Pairing: Destiel (they’ll be meeting soon!)

Word Count: 1500

Summary: Castiel is a mental health worker who is just fine with the way his life is. The only thing that really bugs him is how much his co-worker, and friend, Meg, mentions Dean Winchester, the most famous rock star in the modern age. Meg drags him to a concert, and he ends up getting tied into the wild and angsty life of Dean Winchester. Suddenly his old life seems boring, but so much calmer. Suddenly, it matters to him that he's still a virgin. Suddenly, this rock star that he despised the mention of, now matters to him.

Dean Winchester is a rockstar who's on top of the world when it comes to music. Yet there's more that he wants. He misses Lisa and Ben, he craves connection, craves being himself. Any hope for that amidst his alcoholic life all changes when Zachariah, the head exec of Heaven's Records, pairs with a new exec, Michael Edlund -- the Archangel of Music. Under Michael's dominance, he's no longer in control of his own life. There are rules. No more sex with fans. No more alcohol. And in Dean's view, no more god damn free will. Yet he stumbled into Castiel.

A/N: This chapter contains alcoholism, violence, and mentions of abuse.

Tagging: @evilwriter37, @becky-srs

Anyone else, feel free to let me know if you want to be tagged! Always happy to have more readers. :D

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

“Though the sounds of someday / May be home! / Though the sounds of someday / May be be home, ay!”

Sweat glistening on his skin, but not ruining the various bronzers that had been put on him, Dean brought his running, and his dancing to a stop, and he stood, blocking out the crowd, just listening to the guitar as he strummed, just waiting for the right moment. His soul seemed like it could fly, and he was on top of the world, and as he took in the breath to finish this song, he knew that he was high on life. It could take him anywhere.

“And though the sounds of someday / May be home, ooh!”

Dean let the last notes hang in the air, simply mesmerized with the tune of his own song, with the depth and lightness of his voice.

Finally, he finished the concert, and the fans went wild. Dean came back to himself, beaming, still feeling as though music was pounding through his body.

“Thank you, everybody!” he screamed. “You’ve been a great crowd! Whoo! Kansas City!”

After more moments of adoration, Dean’s handlers were behind the curtain, beckoning him to come off the stage.

He left, body exhausted, but made sure he seemed to have as much energy as he had upon entering the stage.

An assistant took his guitar, and the sounds of the crowd faded as he was led down stairs, and through various halls of the stadium, to a green room.

Dean skipped the water on the table as he passed by, and grabbed a beer.

Sam was waiting for him in the green room, having been allowed in because he was his brother. Crowley was there as well, and unfortunately, so was a man he’d had a few dealings with and rather didn’t like: Zachariah. He was the executive of the record label Dean was contracted with, Heaven’s Records. Usually execs didn’t come out to concerts and they left that business to representatives, so this had to be big.

Great.

He suppressed rolling his eyes, popped the tab on his beer, and took a sip.

“That was excellent!” Crowley told him, standing to embrace him. He pointed to a screen that was in the green room, which was now showing the crowd departing. “Caught the whole thing.”

Dean nodded, then addressed his brother, “Sam, you like it?”

Sammy beamed, and also got up to congratulate him with physical affection, clapping his shoulder. “Hell yeah, man!”

Dean got himself a seat across from the exec, and bluntly asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Just enjoying the show, Dean.”

Another sip of his beer.

“Uh huh.”

Zach gave him an uneasy smile, hands clasped before him, leaning forward. “Look, we want to change your contract. Nothing big. Just add a couple more zeros to the paycheck, and with it you gotta make a music video, along with cooperating in some other areas.”

Dean sighed. “Ain’t music videos more the pop industry type deal?”

“You’ve turned rock into the new pop, Dean.”

“Yep, and what’s the catch? You’re not just gonna give me more money for a single music video.”

“We want you to tour. Europe, UK.”

“But?” he prompted, sensing a but.

“But, you have to behave.” Zach stood, taking the beer out of his hands as Dean had been about to drink a great amount of it. He held it up, shaking it. “No more of this.”

“But—”

And now he held out his phone, showing paparazzi photos of Dean making out with a woman on the street. Who was she? Was that that girl Cassie, the one who had a tattoo of his name somewhere, well, interesting?

“No more of this. Crowley’s already told me he’s been working with you on it.”

“What, so I can’t have fun?”

“No,” Zachariah simply stated. “You can’t have fun, Dean. Your kind of fun can lead to mishaps, mistakes, bad press. You’re a label, someone to be marketed. You want to market the bad boy who gets too drunk and punches a reporter?”

“I haven’t done that,” he argued.

“Yet. You want to be the bad boy who sleeps with a fan lying about her age?”

“Or him,” Dean interjected.

“Excuse me?”

Dean stood, getting right in his face. “I’m a person,” Dean yelled. “ A person, you got that? I have vices, and flaws, and wants, and needs.”

“A person, huh?”

Dean glanced around the room, at Sam, at Crowley, eyes big, pleading for help. Sam seemed just as caught off guard and helpless as he was. The best he seemed able to do was to start shouting “objection!” but they both knew he wasn’t going to do that.

“What if I say no?”

“We drop you.”

Dean clenched his jaw, and felt his hands curling into fists. God, was that wall close enough to punch? Soon it didn’t matter because he’d brushed past Zach, and, vision going red, he swept plates of food and bottles of drinks off the table, and then there was a loud noise, numb pressure exploding in his knuckles.

Cheeks flushed, he pulled his hand from the hole in the wall.

“Fuck you!” Dean cried, pointing a finger at him.

“Now, now, Dean, don’t—”

“Don’t what?” he asked, getting in his face again. Now Sam was up, arms around Dean to hold him back. Dean didn’t bother fighting him. “Don’t what?”

“Tantrums will get you nowhere.”

“So I quit drinking just like that?” he asked. “And I don’t see people anymore? No dating?”

“None.”

“What about free time, my established relationships, family? Is Sammy getting swept aside with this deal too, huh?”

“Dean,” Sam intoned, voice soothing in his ear.

“What about Lisa and Ben?”

“We won’t touch them if you do what we say. Look, I don’t like to do this, Dean, pretend you’re not someone, but well… you’re not. Who you are doesn’t matter to us. It’s what you can sell. And we want to sell you off as a worshipful, immaculate being, having you ascend above the rockstar stereotypes. Your popularity will burst through the roof. So, you clean up your act, you stay away from fans, you do as we say, and we won’t have a problem.”

Dean shrugged out of Sam’s grip, and went over to Crowley, pointing an accusing finger. “You knew about this.”

“Dean—”

“You knew,” he breathed, voice low, but gritty with emotion. “You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

“I warned you.”

“Well, nice warning, fuckwad.”

“Dean, I will quit if you keep this up.”

Dean stood back, laughing.

Was this really happening? Where had his freedom gone? He just wanted to make music, wanted to make people happy. He didn’t want any of this bullshit. And why all the changes, and why so soon, so fast?

Zachariah set Dean’s beer bottle down, but Dean ignored it, grabbing another one, and drank as much as he could, feeling liquid dribble down his chin. Oh god, that stuff was good. It wasn’t enough to get him buzzing or even numb though. And was blood dripping down his knuckles? They were starting to swell, right hand red, maybe turning a little purple.

Dean finished off half the bottle, and spluttered through his drink.

“Dean, I think you need to sit down,” Sam said, taking him by the shoulders and attempting to maneuver him to a seat.

“Sammy, can they do this?” he asked.

“Of course I can,” Zachariah said, all self-important and pleased. “Paired with a new exec. Michael Edlund.”

Oh god, Dean had heard of him, the fucking Archangel of Music as celebrity fans liked to call him. The bastard didn’t care about people, just cared about stats, and marketing, and money, and having people act to his every whim. Dean wouldn’t even be surprised if there were sex scandals wrapped up in there, kept hidden away since he was oh so clean and immaculate.

But maybe the worst for Dean was that Michael forced himself to live through his artists, took them over.

Dean let Sam drag him into a chair at that.

He raised his bottle at Crowley, and Zachariah, smiling. “Well, here’s to fucking up my life. Maybe you own me, but I’m gonna fight tooth and nail the whole time. So I agree to this new, fucking stupid contract. Drop off the papers with my assistant, and I’ll even sign with a god damn golden pen. How’s that? I’ll do what you want, but you better believe I’m gonna test the limit.”

Sam pat a comforting hand against Dean’s chest as he continued drinking, feeling angered, embittered tears built up in his eyes.

So long, Dean Winchester, he thought. Here’s to life as an angel condom. May you rest in peace, you son of a bitch.

So he wasn’t out of being controlled. His dad, John was probably smiling up from Hell at that.

He’d better have a good seat down there.

Dean wondered if he would too.

#Destiel #Destiel AU #Destiel fanfiction #Supernatural #Supernatural fanfiction #spn #spn fanfiction #fanfiction #writing #my writing

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softstraykidsimagines · 5 years

Text

Variety show

Summary: You and Jeongin, by some happy (or not?) coincidence, ended up on the same variety show, but could you both keep your relationship a secret with prying questions?

Requested: yes

Pairing: Jeongin x Reader

Genre: angst, fluff, idol AU

Word count: 3.5k words

Warnings: written at 11pm, so probs sometimes weird sounding and im too tired to check

A/N: 1) don’t even ask me abt the group name idek what i was thinking. 2) DAmn sON i didn’t mean to make it this long. 3) fun fact: at first this was gonna be a comedic bulletpoint story, then i changed it to a feeble emotional roller coaster (i really do mean feeble af). 4) i hope you like it <33

MASTERLIST

“Please welcome our wonderful guests, Five Times Brighter!!!”, called the MC, followed by the cheers from the audience. One by one your group members and yourself filed out onto the small stage to greet the crowd. You were quickly ushered into a seat, where you could witness the sheer amount of people who had come to watch, obscured slightly by the blinding glare of the stage lights.

You felt your throat tighten. This better work out, you thought, feeling ill at ease by knowing there must have been at least ten cameras pointed at you and your comrades. What would we do if anyone found out? You shook your head violently with a pout. Stop it. Nothing’s gonna happen. You’re overreacting...

You were jolted out of your thoughts by the voice of the MC as he raised his voice again. “And now please welcome the rookie legends themselves! The great award winners, Stray Kids!!!” The room erupted into screams of fans as the nine handsome boys jogged out from backstage.

Your stomach did an uncomfortable somersault. Don’t make eye contact! If you do, someone will definitely notice!! Then you’re finished!!! You mentally slapped yourself and took a deep breath. You then realized that you’d placed your index and middle finger against your throat, an uncanny imitation of Felix taking his pulse as he became nervous. You’d somehow picked up the habit from the cute Aussie boy as you hung out with him at the same time as Jeongin. With a gulp, you slammed your hand back onto your lap and stared unemotionally at the boys as they sat on the other couch across from you from the MC’s center chair.

When everyone had sat down, the room went annoyingly quiet. You swallowed back anger as you waited for the MC to ask something and distract you. Finally:

“First, I’d like to ask both groups if they could tell us what inspired certain songs in their album”. Some applause followed as you forced your muscles to relax. “Should we ask FTB first?” The crowd cheered.

Your smile started becoming a little more genuine. Nothing bad, just a mindless answer to your average question. The ‘What inspired you to write X’ question was always a default for some reason. But at least it was eas-

“Y/n!” The blood drained from your face at your name. Oh... oh no... “A little birdie told me”, the MC said cheekily, “that you wrote one of the most successful songs on the album. ‘Winged love’, wasn’t it?”

You started to loath the MC, or whoever had decided that that specific question would be a good one. It’s true, you had written and composed the song, but your inspiration was exactly what you wanted to avoid, as your mind flashed to moment you got the idea for the lyrics.

~~~~~~~~~

“Try to pick your feet up a bit more here”, you said, poking Jeongin’s leg as he posed awkwardly in front of the practice room mirror. He groaned in retaliation, muscles trembling from exhaustion.

“I can’t do it”, he whined. “It’s useless. Just go on without me and practice on your own. You’ll do so much better without me dragging you down”.

You scoffed without any amusement. “Like Hell I will. I’m staying right here until you can get this. I said I’d help, so I’m helping”. He gave you a pitiful look, and you smiled softly. “Let’s take a break, then. I’ve got biscuits!”

“I don’t usually eat at this hour”, Jeongin said hesitantly.

“You don’t usually practice at this hour”, you answered matter-of-factually. You didn’t wait for an answer and dragged your boyfriend down to the floor, rolling to your side and grabbing a huge packet full of snacks and tearing it open mercilessly. You offered one to the boy in front of you, who conceded with a sigh. “Cheers!” You knocked your biscuit against his, making a couple of crumbs fall to the ground, and shoved the entire thing into your mouth. Jeongin stared at you until you made a face, cookie still lodged between your cheeks, making him burst into laughter. You fought not to spit your snack out as you sniggered with him.

“How do you do that”, he asked.

“Mmmfmm ru wha”, you said, still trying to down your food.

“Always find a way to make me feel so much better, no matter how battered I feel”, he said, mesmerized. You stared at him uselessly, so he continued. “When I’ve been at my worst, or when I’ve felt like giving up, you’ve been there to pick me up. You’re like my pair of wings”. You stayed quiet, scared to knock him out of his reverie. He smiled faintly. “At this point, I could jump off a mountain, trusting you to catch me if you said you would. And I always feel safe with you. No matter what scares me, I feel better when you’re next to me, as if you’ve become a hypothetical shield. And I want to be the same, I want to always be there for you, whenever you’re feeling down, I want to be the first person you think of going to”. He suddenly curled his fingers and squeezed his eyes shut. “That was so cringey I’m sorry”.

You giggled softly and wrapped your arms around him, resting your head on his shoulder. “It’s a little cliche, I admit. But it’s the best kind of cliche. Because I feel the same way”. You lifted your head kissed his cheek. “I’ll always be right here. And I’ll always trust you to be there too”.

~~~~~~~~~

Your eyes came back into focus, as your mind started racing, scrounging for a decent story that could convince the public that it had nothing to do with the very boy who was sitting only five feet from you.

“Uh-uhhh”, your mind became completely blank. “My... One of my old friends”. You cleared your throat. “Whenever she was upset, I would want to do anything to make her feel better. And I did do some pretty stupid things”. You smiled sheepishly at the pitch black half of the room where the fans giggled in reaction to your stutter. Your confidence grew as you continued: “The lyrics represent what I wanted to be to her. I wanted her to feel as if she could trust me with anything at all. As if I could always pick her up if she felt low”. You finished and prayed that it was enough.

The MC nodded, thoughtful. “So she never said the things in the lyrics out loud?”

You shook your head. “She wasn’t the most extroverted person”, you answered. “But I hope that that’s how she felt”. At that, everyone seemed satisfied and applauded. You bobbed your head, looking back at your clenched fists in your lap. I’ve gotta be more careful. One slip-up and I’m in deep-

“How about our favorite maknae”, the MC laughed, turning to SKZ. Your pulse went sky-high again.

-shit.

Jeongin let his eyes go wide, and pointed at himself. “Na?” He asked in an innocent voice. Despite your nerves going crazy, you managed to chuckled along with everyone else at the cute act.

The MC wasn’t an exception, though he quickly regained his posture. “Yes, I believe it was you who wrote the song ‘Midnight Walk’, am I correct?”

The boy nodded with a bright smile. “That’s right! And the first ever song where I wrote one hundred percent of the lyrics!!” He glowed with pride, and a secret burst of happiness for him shot through you. You could still remember when he’d told you about his accomplished goal.

~~~~~~~~~

You swung your hand, latched onto Jeongin’s, back and forth as you both strolled down an empty trail that ran along the Han River. “So?”, you prompted.

He looked back at you. “What?” He was playing innocent. Of course he was. You giggled and started swinging your connected hands even more, feeling blood rush through your slightly chilled fingers. Without speaking, you both started skipping forward, bumping each other and giggling like children. You loved that. That you could both move in sync without having to communicate. This continued until you pulled him to a stop.

“Okay, now actually tell me. What did you wanna say earlier. You looked as if you were about to explode with excitement”.

Jeongin grinned happily. “I...” he spoke excruciatingly slowly. “...have written.... my own song! And it’s gonna be on the next album!!!!!” At this, he picked you up and spun you around, until you felt too dizzy to stand on your own.

You laughed with him, and leaned on him. “Jeonginie, that’s amazing! I’m so proud of you”. You kept clinging onto him. “What’s it called?”

“I haven’t decided yet”, he confessed. He was quiet for a moment. “Do you think I could name it after a fun memory with you? Without being too obvious, that is”.

You nodded. “Yeah, I think you could get away with it”.

And so he grinned broadly. “Okay, then. How about I call it midnight walk, after tonight?”

“Why tonight of all things? We’re just walking”, you asked incredulously.

“Because the simplest memories with you are the best”, he answered, squealing a bit at the overly sweet phrase.

You laughed. “Alright then. Are you allowed to spoil a few lyrics for me?”

“Of course”, said Jeongin, hoisting you up so that he was half carrying you. “It’s my song after all”. His voice went up a notch with happiness. “A few lines feel a bit random, without context; but just remember that I thought of you while writing them”. You hugged his arm until you thought you might be cutting his circulation. As you both kept walking, you slowly regained your balance and he listed a few lines from his oeuvre. That was the best walk at 1:30am you’d ever had.

~~~~~~~~~

Jeongin was still beaming at the MC, who began fanning himself dramatically. “His smile is so blinding”, he called, and there came calls of agreement from the audience. “But you still haven’t answered”. The room went silent again. “What inspired you to write the lyrics of ‘Midnight Walk’?”

Jeongin gave another dazzling smile. “It was a lot of different things; it took months of me scribbling down random ideas to be able to form something logical”.

The MC nodded again. “Of course, the lyrics do vary a lot. But I think we’re more interested in the more romantic sounding ones in the song”. The crowd ooh-ed, as if confirming the statement.

Your boyfriend grinned once more. “Well, those specific lines are dedicated to someone very special in my life”.

NO! You had to bite your tongue to stop yourself from yelling aloud. He knew about the warnings, as well as you.

~~~~~~~~~

“Both Stray Kids and Five Times Brighter Will be on a variety show on the second weekend of the month”, stated one of your managers, standing next to JYP himself. Everyone nodded together as the schedule was recited in its entirety. It was all standard, except for the fact that the two groups had never been on a same show.

As the schedule came to its end, both groups dispersed to continue practice, but JYP called Jeongin and yourself aside. “I’d like to specify something”, he said in a tone that let you know that nothing good was coming. “When you’re both on that variety show in the middle of the month, I don’t even want you two to make eye contact. We don’t want anyone knowing about your relationship. I’m warning you now, keep it under wraps, and there won’t be any problems”.

You and Jeongin nodded, eyes round. As JYP finally walked away, you turned to your boyfriend. “Why the Hell does he want us to stay a secret?”, you failed terribly at keeping the anger out of your voice. “You’re allowed to be dating by now, so am I. No one needs to know that we started going out before my ban was up. So what’s his problem?”

Jeongin pulled you against him. “I don’t know, but let’s just do as he said. I don’t wanna think about what could happen if something goes wrong”. You eventually agreed, still grudging.

“It’s still unfair that we have to hide when we’re so happy”.

~~~~~~~~~

The memory raged in your mind, nearly as loud as the screams of shock that wracked the studio at Jeongin’s words. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, as he smiled calmly. Jeongin, what are you going??!!!!

“They’re dedicated to someone special in my life”. He had to raise his voice to make himself heard. “Whom I’ve not met yet”. There was a collective gasp at the strange turn in his statement. “One day, I want to be able to say those things to the love of my life, on a walk at one in the morning”.

Everyone aah-ed in understanding, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. You weren’t sure if you wanted to smack him or kiss him, but at least no one suspected anything anymore. And he’d very secretly hinted at the walk when he shared the lyrics with you, in the dead of night. Your heart swelled with warmth and love for the boy.

“Look at y/n, they’re blushing!”, yelled the MC. You were so shocked that you yelled out as everyone shouted teasingly. The MC started laughing. “Are you thinking of anyone in particular, y/n? Anyone you’d like to take a midnight walk with?” Electricity filled the air.

None of your damn business, you thought hotly. But of course it was. Your entire life was not yours to control, but the public’s. You made a face as if you’d swallowed a particularly sour lemon, which incidentally seemed to be a pretty good answer for the public.

“Apparently, y/n isn’t at all interested in a relationship”, chuckled the MC. He quickly continued with a bunch of other standard questions, and you imagined the different ways you could smack him and still get away with it. Maybe I should throw a bucket of water at him, then he wouldn’t be so obnoxiously happy, you thought, in your own world.

You werre making eye-contact with Jeongin, and realized with a start that you’d been staring at him this entire time. You checked that no one had remarked, but the cameras were strained on Changbin as he complained about being woken up too harshly by Woojin, to the amusement of most. You quickly stole another look at your boyfriend but, almost too subtle to notice, he shook his head, looking a bit panicky. You immediately understood and glanced elsewhere, trying to act interested in some tangled cables by a stage light.

When the questions had dragged on long enough to make your feet go numb, it was finally time for a game before the show came to an end. You stood up gratefully, hobbling a bit to get to stage right. You craned your neck to see what game you were meant to play against Stray Kids, and with a crashing wave of horror, you realized that Pocky Stick packets were sitting on the tiny stool near the stage wings. You saw from the corner of your eye that Jeongin was looking as displeased about the idea as you, even though everyone else seemed almost thrilled.

This is nuts, you kept repeating to yourself. Either I’ll have to play with one of SKZ, WHO KNOW JEONGIN AND I ARE DATING, or I play against Jeongin and people realize that we seem too comfortable. It’s a lose lose situation oh shit oh shit oh sh-

“How about the desert-fox-maknae and y/n, who seems so keen to avoid a little kiss!”, yelled the MC, who was tantalizingly close enough for you to punch. You faced Jeongin, who had become unusually pale, and you fought back your own panic as you were passed a Pocky Stick.

Your stomach churned as you both stared at each other, sweat beading at the hairline. Someone gave your shoulder a push --you didn’t know who, and you couldn’t force yourself to care-- and you bit into you end of the stick. Jeongin bit the other end and cheers rose in the crowd, deafening you and making your eyes water.

You weren’t sure how long you both kept staring at each other, but in the seconds --it could’ve been hours-- that Jeongin’s eyes bore into yours, something seemed to click in his mind, and he clenched his jaw with determination. You nibbled a bit of the Pocky Stick and noise in the room went up. Slowly the gap between your lips became smaller and smaller until you were close enough for you to hear his heartbeat, or maybe it was yours, pounding in your ears.

You squeezed your eyes shut, your senses completely abandoning you. We must be less than a centimeter apart! And then you felt a firm hand clasp your wrist. Before you could understand what was happening, Jeongin’s lips smacked against yours. But not by accident. This was with decision, the Pocky Stick forgotten. From habit, you kissed him back, your ears ringing. As you pulled away, you realized it had been him who had grabbed your wrist, and he’d put a the other hand on your waist to pull you closer. The ringing in your ears was from the screams that came from the audience.

Panic rose up in you again as what had happened sank in. We kissed... on live TV!! Your heart was in your throat. What’s going to happen to us? Jeongin said something that never made it to your ears, but looked something like ‘trust me’. He turned to everyone watching, now in a confused frenzy at what they’d witnessed. “Y/n and I are dating”, he stated simply, which was followed by an enormous uproar. He continued in a yell. “We weren’t meant to say anything, but I think it’s unfair that we have to keep our happiness a secret, just for the satisfaction of the public. So now you know!!!” His last words were drowned out by more screams of shock and confusion as you were both pulled off and away from stage.

You had become light-headed, everything becoming an incoherent blur as your receded into your own chaotic thoughts. What’s gonna happen what will JYP do to us will we be kicked out of the company oh god what if I become the reason for Jeongin leaving Stray Kids I couldn’t live with myself--

In your daze, you were pushed into a small waiting room. “Wait here”, said a gruff voice. I’m going to pass out! The world is tilting to the left! And now the right... Left.... Right.... You leaned against a wall and looked at Jeongin, who stared back at you, expressionless. After a few seconds, you started violently trembling.

“What are we going to do”, you breathed, more to yourself than to your boyfriend. “They’ll hate us, they’ll kick us out of the company! Why did you do that?” You had no anger in your voice as you stared at Jeongin, just helplessness. He walked over and wrapped his arms around you tightly but with a little tremor.

“I don’t know”, he confessed, and you sniffled slightly. “But I thought of what you’d said when we were told to stay quiet. We shouldn’t have to hide, especially because we’re so happy. I think if JYP wants to kick us out, let him”.

“No, no, Jeongin!” You let out a panicked sob. “What about the other boys? You can’t leave them, not just for me! What ever happens, you can’t leave Stray Kids!”

You both stood there, holding onto each other tightly, for a long time. After what felt like hours, you both sat down on the shiny floor of the tiny room, still not letting go of each other’s hands. You had calmed down now, and just sat quietly. Suddenly, Jeongin sat up and grabbed his phone. “What are you doing”, you asked, your voice slurred and muffled from exhaustion.

“The show was a live broadcast wasn’t it”, asked Jeongin. “And because it’s the evening, most of the world will have been awake. Which means...” He tapped the Twitter icon and the app came to life. He immediately went to the Trending page, and with a gasp, you saw #JeonginAndY/nDating on the second most popular tag.

“Oh my God”, you breathed. You didn’t think the effect would be so big. Before you could stop him, Jeongin tapped on the tag. You yelped and looked away, not wanting to see any of the awful comments people had made.

“Y/n...” Jeongin’s voice was laced with shock.

“I know, I know, you don’t have to tell me it’s bad”, you say in despair.

“It’s... Everyone’s congratulating us!” Your eyes snapped open, and you swung your head around to glare at the bright screen. Thousands upon thousands of tweets had the trending hashtag, with people voicing their wishes of happiness for you as a couple, in English, Korean, you saw Spanish and french and Japanese. Message after message flashed by as Jeongin scrolled downwards. He started laughing; softly at first, then loudly, like a child how had received a special gift for Christmas. “They’re happy for us! Y/n they’re happy for us!!” He hugged you tightly as you laughed with him, more out of relief and exhaustion than anything else.

After a few more minutes, spent with you both bent over the phone and reading all the happy tweets, one of the staff came in to let you know that JYP was on his way to talk. “He didn’t sound as angry as we expected though, if that makes you feel a little better”, he said sympathetically. You thanked him as he wished you both luck and closed the door. And you turned back to Jeongin.

“You know... I don’t want to jinx it but... maybe this wasn’t as bad as I thought”, you said apprehensively.

The boy hugged you tightly. “Well, no matter what happens, we’ll always be there for each other. Right?”

You smiled, thinking of ‘Midnight Walk’ and ‘Winged Love’. “Right”. You felt warm, think about the lyrics you’d both written, saying you’d never leave the love of your life.

Because it was true.

im sorry idek what the ending is anymore but eh this was the third draft soooo...

#stray kids #stray kids jeongin #imagine #imagines #kpop imagines #scenario #kpop scenario #kpop scenarios #jeongin #yang jeongin #jeongin imagines #jeongin scenario #angst #fluff #idol au #kpop au #stray kids au #boyfriend jeongin #boyfriend au

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annakie · 5 years

Photo

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Six

Wherein we get out into space and explore a bit, and complete our crew.

And post a lot of gifs, because screenshots were lost.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

So I use the NVidia Control Panel app to take screenshots and videos. Since it’s already running and it takes good shots it seems dumb to not use it.

I ended up being super busy this week and didn’t play much, just got through like, talking to Kaidan after the big speech on the bridge more or less for the entire week, and through Therum. I updated my drivers a day or two ago. And then I didn’t notice that for whatever reason, yesterday when I went to play for a few hours, NVidia decided to record videos just fine, but not take screenshots. I probably actually mashed the button several hundred times.... but all I got were videos.

Most of it wasn’t a great loss, it was a lot of talking to the crew, and a few planetary missions which... so I’m going to have to go back and redo some of it later for screenshots.

But I thought... hey, for posting on tumblr, I’ll just make it a shorter update and make a few gifs and most this a mostly-gif post! That’ll be fun!

...and then I spent several hours making almost 80 gifs, including a lot of what I also had screenshots for but thought making gifs would be more fun.

I mean I was watching the last few eps of the newest season of Great British Bake Off on Netflix, and a few other shows this morning so it wasn’t just gif time... but yeah I made a lot. So I might split this into two posts now because... that’s a lot of gifs. This post will still have a lot of screenshots, too. So here we go!

There are so many things to love about this moment. It’s such a great like, re-launch of the game... Bioware telling us “Okay, now you know the plot, you know all the major players, you know a lot about our world (galaxy) and how it works and who lives here, now, it’s time for you to go out on your own.”

First, it starts with being able to vent a little to Joker, which is a nice touch. Shepard might feel guilty about taking the ship over from Anderson, but Joker also assures us here, a great preview of the way he’s tasked with helping Shepard keep it together in ME3.

I love seeing Shepard’s words affect the crew. The swelling music, the same as the “you’re a Spectre now!!” music just underscores the journey, and what’s to come.

I used to always miss this scene by not picking the right speech option, and would be mad Kaidan was left out of this montage. My fault!

This moment is so beautiful and epic.

...and here we go.

ALOT, btw, makes the galaxy map so pretty. Sharper and clearer and more colorful.

We all usually just head to Liara’s Dig Site first, right? Unless you’re doing one of those “Pick up Liara last just to see what happens” playthroughs? I did that once. It felt weird. And sad, when you tell her “oops I killed your mom and I’m not sorry.” Seems like she shouldn’t have gotten over that so quickly, but well, that’s game design. The entire plot just doesn’t feel the same and more flimsy without Liara around from the start.

I usually do Therum --> Feros --> Noveria --> Virmire.

Well okay, first a stop at Edolus, since, you know, it’s on the way.

What a LOVELY day, nothing could possibly go wrong on this barren world. I feel like they gave us a pretty easy-to-get-around-on world to start out with.

I honestly love driving around in the mako 90% of the time? Once you’re used to the controls, it’s not that hard to get most places you want to go. Though I admit the Nomad in Andromeda is a big upgrade. I kinda miss it in ME2 and ME3, though I only do what driving is necessary in Overlord and skip Firewalker like, half the time.

First, let’s check out the map...

I’m pretty sure I didn’t realize you could mark your destination on the map and it’d put a handy arrow on your radar until I started playing on PC. Before then I was checking the map every 5 seconds making SURE I was going the right way. *facepalm*

Generally my scanning strategy on the planet is... just go to the things on the map, but do go to ALL the things on the map. If I see something along the way, stop and get it. I don’t go way out of my way to look for unmarked stuff. Usually the UNC missions can be completed doing that + complete planet / asteroid scanning.

Oh hey here’s a guy, let’s just grab what we can off him...

UGH. MINIGAMES.

Like I get that the minigame is a stand in for “looking for clues, are you successful in finding anything useful?” or whatever but it’s still just the worst. A minigame is fun occasionally, making it as a gate to something like looting a body is stupid. I guess I have to forgo actually putting points into things that keep Kaidan alive at the early levels so he can help me... loot bodies. Cool. Great.

Since I’m cheating in credits, all weapons and armor get medigelled almost immediately so that I don’t have to do the minigame later on when they get harder, like, ever.

The ME2 minigames at least make a little more sense than this moving puzzler thing. That’s at least an attempt to look like some kind of code hacking or rewiring/reprogramming. This thing is just... silly.

ME2 has a disable minigames mod... so there will be no talk of minigames from here on out. They don’t exist after the easy minigames early on in ME1.

So I ... somehow managed to not get video or screenshots of you know the ICONIC THRESHER MAW attack on Edolus? So please enjoy this gif I made of it back in 2013 instead.

It’s such a great fakeout and moment. Like “Oh man how easy my goal is like right in front of me! That’s great, so easy!” then OH HELL NO, FUCK YOU, GIANT WORM!!

These gifs are from another planet later on, but they’ll do.

My normal MO with Maws is to get out of the way, far enough that they can’t appear too close to or especially under me, but close enough that they do still show up, then stay stationary and jump over the goo while shooting at it.

YOU’RE FACING THE OTHER WAY HOW DID YOU SPIT AT ME?!

This is fine. EVERYTHING IS FINE. We’re just A LITTLE ON FIRE. Our shields are at full...

Oh hell, Kaidan slap some medigel on it, please.

Even though we don’t know who Cerberus is yet, FUCK YOU CERBERUS. I always bring the VS to any Cerberus mission because THEY WERE RIGHT NOT TO JOIN YOU IN CERBERUS. Let’s keep a FUCK YOU CERBERUS count going to remember all the horrible shit we SAW Cerberus do in ME1 to remind ourselves why Ashley or Kaidan is the only SANE ONE for going “No, sorry, I’m not joining you in Cerberus.”

Deep breath

OK, let’s go get Liara.

Wrex comes with us to Therum.

Dear Lord, Therum is gorgeous.

This is real nice just a pleasant day on this thresher maw-less planet and great scenery, we’ll find that asari scientist in no ti--- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

Have I mentioned how everything is fine lately?

Well it’s time for how I deal with most of the geth while in the Mako...

Armatures are worth five points each!

Rocket troopers are only two points, but I got a lot of them!

Stopping and fighting in the Mako takes way too long. Push on through all the way til we’re stopped.

Hm, this is the one I should push, right?

*crickets*

Fine.

Just... real pretty.

I love this part of Therum right here. A really great, scary fight that feels so dangerous, but winnable. Great level design, too.

Then this happens.

Does everyone’s hair do that in this cutscene, or just mine, or this hairstyle?

Also, ME3 has a mod now that lets chracters use their correct weapons in cutscenes, my eternal devotion to the modder who could do that in ME1. None of these characters use assault rifles in-game!!

I’m fairly certain I have played and replayed this fight more than any other in ME1. AKA RUN FOR COVER OH SHIT AVOID THE BOMBS AND LASERS FLYING AT YOU AT ONCE PLEASE DON’T DIE COMPANIONS PLEASE KILL SOMETHING I CAN’T DO THIS ON MY OWN AHHHHH!!!

This time around, I died my first time, actually did really well the second time, and decided to go back and record the fight for gifs and... won, barely. The gifs would not be good. Wrex and Kaidan didn’t last long.

Anyway, It’s a great cutscene, but hoo boy I wish it were skippable.

Okay but what were these ruins *for*. Also, real lucky that they had the boss fight way up here instead of down where Liara was.

Speaking of Liara...

Hello Doctor T’soni!

I have a lot of questions like... how long have you been in that bubble? How are you sustaining it that long? How long has it been since you’ve eaten? If I didn’t come get you until after Virmire, would you have been holding that bubble up for the weeks in between then and now?

Ah well, you’re here now, and I suppose I’m going to owe you my life later so... welcome to the team.

You gotta admit that’s one badass entrance, though uh, if the forcefield is still up, where did he come from? Doesn’t matter. Wrex, let’s kill us one of your brethren (sorry.)

I’ll just *assume* that Liara is too tired from holding up her stasis bubble she was in to actually be USEFUL.

I love the chaos of running the fuck out of there.

Texture popping is still an issue even with a decent computer and texture packs, but at least it’s quick now.

Also I really feel the loss of this conference room in the future games. The awkward oval table never quite feels the same. But also, uh, this is a lot of room taken up in this small ship for eight chairs and a holoprojector. You gotta think there’s more uses for this space than just that.

But yeah, I love these check-ins, it’s a chance for everyone to get together and really hash out what’s going on, as well as reinforcing the plot to the players in a more natural way. Having Liara this early will let us understand the Protheans better at an earlier stage, even if it turns out she’s wrong about some stuff (though at the time this was written, she was right for all everyone knew.)

Wrex and Garrus don’t talk much here, probably because you can make it through the game without one of them. I did a “didn’t recruit Garrus” playthrough in ME2 once. They change like one or two lines then Garrus goes back to talking about Old Times. So like you CAN, but you really shouldn’t not recruit Garrus, because Bioware didn’t do a great job changing anything aside from your initial greeting during the Omega Archangel mission.

Not recruiting Wrex, though. Wow that’ll have consequences later on.

OK! So the gang’s all here, and this post is already very long. Next time: Let’s go talk to everyone for awhile, and do a few more sidequests because we can’t go back to the Citadel til our persuasion is high enough to grind Mikhailovich’s arguments into the dust!

#mass effect #liara t'soni #urdnot wrex #kaidan alenko #ashley williams #garrus vakarian #annakie's mass effect stuff

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foofygoldfish · 5 years

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Evens for Willow/Rush? 👀

MACYYYYYYY

sorry for taking so long to do this, i’m at work (and actually have to work for once lol) and i went digging in my screenshots for a fact and... got trapped. oops.

2. Who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?

Hmmmmm. Honestly? Both of them can be - they both think the other is way out of their league (badass fighter vs legendary leader)

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

In public? They both can. Behind closed doors? Neither lol

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

oh god uh

maybe selene? lol

8. What do they like in bed?

Compared to Faith and Alice, they’re both pretty tame - they aren’t afraid to get a little rough, but with how chaotic their lives are? soft and tender is their go-to.

or like, outside against a tree when they have a few minutes alone

10. What two songs, two books, and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

fucking hell this one...

i’m gonna skip it oops

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Rush accidentally calls her “Willow” instead of “Captain” or “Keene” and Willow just gives him a super startled look, but then she starts calling him Thomas instead of “Sir” - so... Pretty much they switch to first-name basis when they realise they’ve both caught feelings

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Thomas will turn into a mother hen, trying to keep Willow in bed with soup and a heating pad and taking whatever medicine they have access to

Willow.. She tries to keep Rush on their base or sitting down on the train, but she knows that other than making sure he’s fed and hydrated, there’s not really anything she can do to make him relax lol

16. When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

I mean, it wouldn’t really be that different from their current reality? Zombies would be easier to deal with than the Highwaymen or other raiders

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

They’ll usually try to spend a little time apart (even if it’s just opposite ends of the train cart), and they’ll come back and talk. They don’t really fight as a couple often? More of one of them disagreeing with choices that the other made,or they think the other is being reckless (for example: Willow agreed that Carmina needed help back home, but she thought they should learn a little more about the Highwaymen before rushing in - she was somewhere between him and Barnes in that respect)

20. Where do they go on holiday?

Ideally? Like, Miami or Bermuda or somewhere tropical. If it was still there.

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

Behind a stack of crates as they’re loading the train back up after helping a settlement - it was a spur of the moment thing and they were both excited and it just happened.

24. Where do they first have sex?

Willow’d like to say it was romantic, but... In the woods somewhere in Northern California. It was also a spur of the moment thing, definitely not planned, but she’s happy. (The next time, she made sure they were actually on their train, in a real bed - much more comfortable)

26. Why do they need to have a serious chat?

They know that they want (need) to stay in Prosperity while they both heal from injuries they got while fighting the twins and Ethan, and until Willow gives birth, but beyond that? They aren’t sure if they’re going to settle down for a while, or if they’re going to go back out and keep helping settlements.

Eventually, they decide to do both: Prosperity becomes their home base, with both of their remaining family members and Mila joining them, and an area outside the settlement (close to where the train crashed) used as a staging ground for future trips out.

28. Why do they get jealous?

See the first question lol

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

It works because... Uh. I don’t really know how to explain? Neither of them were looking for a relationship when it started - they both fell into it after realising they work well together, and they’re both good at separating Rush and The Captain from Thomas and Willow. They’ve certainly had fights because of it, but they’ve always been able to patch things up.

#statichvm #asks #willow keene #thomas rush #willow x rush

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aschenink · 6 years

Text

11 Questions Tag

I was tagged by the lovely @reininginthefirewriting, thanks hon! 💖

Tagging (feel free to ignore) @halrose @tentelltales @relevy @writerightmegpie to answer the same questions!

1. How long have you been writing? I started writing when I was 7, so I’ve been on and off for 13 years!

2. What are the major themes of your current WIP(s)? Freedom/individuality, obsession, subjective morality, death, love... understanding/what it means to be understood.

3. What do you want people to take away from your story once they’ve read it? I don’t really... concern myself with take-aways? If my readers finish my books and spend any amount of time chewing on the complexity of the subjects and themes I write about... that’s all I can ask.

4. Would you be excited if people wrote fanfiction about your WIPs? YES. Yes, yes, yes!!! I’ve written a lot of fanfiction in the past and for someone to put in enough dedication to write fanfiction for something I created... That’s like, a fever dream, I can’t even comprehend it. The only problem is I’d want to read it and I couldn’t asdfghjkl

5. What’s your go-to writing beverage? Coffee with lots of cream, and/or a can of sparkling water!

6. Who is your favorite OC? i-i uh, love them equally like any good parent I love, love, love León. I see so much of myself in him--he’s definitely developed on his own and is far from a self-insert, but he’s kind of cycled around to share a lot of things with me that I didn’t intend. He’s also got a lot of things in his own head that he’s tried to keep on lockdown, but there’s a lot of self-destructive elements to him, and that puts him on this precipice and it’s super fascinating to watch what happens when you give him a little shove.

7. Do you feel mistakes are important learning tools in the writing journey? For sure! Mistakes are important in every journey, and you don’t stop making them just because you’ve journeying for a while, either (although theoretically the mistakes you make shouldn’t be the same ones over again lol)! I make mistakes all the time, but they’re different mistakes (or at least fewer) than the ones I made when I was, say, 11.

8. Rank your OCs by their capability in a foot chase (either running from or after something, your choice).

LMAO. Okay uh starting with fastest:

Benjie

Seven

Violeta

León

Ana

Vicente

Sylvia

Eliza

9. Does your WIP have romance? Tell us about it! If not, tell us about an important friendship/relationship/dynamic! Yes! The romance between Vicente and León is central to the story--they’re able to meet and interact with each other on a lot of levels that most people couldn’t. They’re both kind of coy about their crimes and engage in a lot of wordplay, and they’re both very immoral, and their traumas have a lot of overlap. But their relationship hits on so many levels that it allows them to reveal a lot that they wouldn’t otherwise, and it loops back around to León’s self-destructiveness.

10. Do you believe in the advice kill your darlings? Mm... like all advice, it has a time and a place, and that place is not universal. I, personally, am not a huge fan of it, but I also generally don’t prefer writing/stories that are too lean and I’m sure that’s related.

11. Do you prefer plotting or worldbuilding? Why? Worldbuilding, for sure! I’m not very good at plotting--I almost never follow any plotting I do in advance, so it usually just stresses me out and I’m at the point where I almost skip over the plotting stage entirely--but worldbuilding is so, so much fun. I love creating new places and cultures and systems, and doing research to incorporate realistic aspects, and I have so much fun with slipping small pieces of that work into my stories.

#tag game #11q #reininginthefirewriting #halrose #tentelltales #relevy #writerightmegpie #aschenink

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shireness-says · 6 years

Text

Playing the Part ch. 14: What Did I Ever See In Him?

Summary: As a stage manager who’s clawed her way up from the bottom, Emma Swan can handle just about anything thrown her way. But does that include handsome lead actor Killian Jones? A CS Broadway AU. Rated T. Also on AO3. Prologue Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9 Ch. 10 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 Ch. 13

A/N: I’ve been so excited to share this chapter with you guys! It’s rough in the moment, but really sets things in motion. We’re closing in on the end, guys!

Chapter title taken from “Bye Bye Birdie”.

Thanks as ever to @snidgetsafan, the world’s best beta, who’s basically dragging me through these last couple of chapters. Thanks babe, I’ll give you new stuff eventually.

Tags: @kmomof4, @winterbaby89, @thejollyroger-writer, @mythologicalmango, @onceuponaprincessworld, @idristardis, @teamhook, @courtorderedcake, @aerica13, @revanmeetra87, @snowbellewells, @searchingwardrobes. If you want to be tagged going forward (or taken off this list - I won’t be insulted!), shoot me a message, and I’ll make it happen.

Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

It’s that fucking principle again - that everything falls apart just when things are going great. It’s official; Emma’s commissioning a study. Or maybe it’s just an inevitability in a more mundane way, that things can only go up or down and the downs will always be more noticeable. Whatever the case, Emma just hopes it doesn’t come in threes.

This crash feels so much harsher too because it’s much more personal, and it comes at the worst possible moment. The week had started with their Sign-Off performance, of course, and Emma had been flying high on Henry’s residual excitement over their appearance in the days immediately following. If she had hoped that her kid would let the Killian debacle slide, she’s sadly disappointed. Clearly, he’s spent too much time around Ruby and Mary Margaret growing up, as he’s determined to both interrogate and tease Emma about what this means for her love life. Smart alec.

“He’s got a cruuuush on you,” Henry singsongs, laughing uproariously as Emma’s cheeks flush. “Oh! Does that mean you do too?”

“It does not!” Emma insists, even as her blush insists otherwise. Traitor.

“Uh huh,” Henry nods, grinning deviously. Some kid she’s got.

(The best kid, always the best kid, even when he’s teasing her like this.)

“Killian is my colleague and my friend and a complete professional,” Emma lists patiently. Her tone is probably veering more towards long-suffering than patient, if she’s being honest, but it’s warranted in her opinion. “Which is, you know, why he said that in the interview.”

“Sure,” Henry replies, clearly unimpressed. Emma’s going to need to have words with Ruby, because Henry definitely did not get that side-eye from her. “Whatever you say, Mom.”

(The sass, though - he definitely got that from her.)

Know-it-all children aside, Emma’s having a good week - good weather, good mood, great shows… it seems that things are flying along, never better, practically unsinkable. Until Thursday, that is.

Thursday is the day everything goes to hell.

Ashley, the young woman who plays Kitty in their production, calls out sick, requiring an early call time for everyone to run through the show with the understudy and make sure she’s comfortable with the choreography and her handful of lines, or at least comfortable enough with them to make it through a performance. Not the way Emma wants to start her day, but it doesn’t necessarily spell disaster. They can work with that.

What’s worse, though, is getting to the theater to discover that a power surge the evening before has tripped several breakers and screwed with their lights, necessitating changing bulbs and a full check of the theater’s electrical systems. The headset system they’ve got to work with is better than most Emma’s dealt with in her time, but it’s still prone to more interference than Emma would prefer, and a short in their system won’t do Emma and Kristoff any favors. The whole thing is going to be a major stressor in the crew’s afternoon, but there’s no way around it.

Dealing with both of those situations is enough - more than enough, really, if Emma’s being honest.

However, apparently some higher power has it out for Emma, because the joy doesn’t stop there. Instead, that same Thursday, three days after the show’s Sign-Off appearance, Neal shows up in town - at Emma’s theater, no less! - because of mother-fucking course he does.

Honestly, she has no idea how Neal got into the theater in the first place - you’d think someone would have kicked him out between the stage door and the stage. Then again, her ex has always had a way of bluffing his way into places - fake it ‘til you make it and all that. He acts like he knows exactly what he’s doing, and for whatever reason, people believe him.

Emma doesn’t even notice him sauntering around the stage at first, too busy discussing what replacements they’ll need to order with Robin in the booth to pay attention to what’s going on below and leaving Kristoff to be the unfortunate messenger. The unwitting harbinger of doom, if you will.

“There’s some guy asking for you?” her usually even-keeled sound tech cuts in when a break in the conversation allows, voice betraying an uncharacteristic irritation. “Made it sound like you’d know him. I don’t know, he wasn’t exactly forthcoming.” If Emma didn’t know better, she’d almost say there was a hint of disdain in Kristoff’s tone, but that’s silly. Kristoff gets along with everyone, mostly by barely talking to anyone. He’s got that Nordic, Midwestern implacability too where Emma can never tell what he’s thinking, and especially can never tell when he’s flustered.

It’s all explained, though, when she looks through the window to see her ex impatiently checking his phone. He’s not tapping his foot yet but Emma can sense the urge from this distance. Typical - Neal always seems to believe that his time is more valuable than everyone else’s.

“Fuck,” she curses loudly. “It’s my ex. Henry’s dad,” she elaborates when Robin lifts a curious eyebrow at her outburst. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” Blood pressure no doubt shooting through the roof, she turns on her heel and storms out of the booth to confront Neal and find out why the hell he’s here.

By the time she makes it down to the orchestra level, Neal’s officially progressed to foot-tapping stage, glancing around impatiently. Like he’s the one being inconvenienced here.

“What do you want, Neal?” she demands as soon as she gets close enough. There’s a small amount of pleasure to be taken in watching Neal jerk his head up in response and then down again rapidly to meet Emma’s eyes where she stands in the audience, knowing that it will likely result in a nasty knot in his neck from all the drastic movements. Only a small amount, though.

“Well hello to you too, Ems,” he replies easily, like all of this is some light-hearted social call instead of him barging into her place of employment.

“I’m not kidding around, Neal. What the hell are you doing here?” She doesn’t have time for this, but if she has to deal with it, she’s cutting straight to the point and skipping past the useless pleasantries.

“Well I was in town for a meeting and thought I’d drop by,” he replies.

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Neal reacts, playing up his faux offense. It’s all an act, Emma knows; she doesn’t even need a superpower to see that.

“Bullshit. You have never once in your life just ‘dropped by’, and you think theatre is a frivolous waste of time.”

“Can’t a man come see his son, maybe take him to dinner?” he tries instead, changing tactics.

“You certainly can, but it’s 3pm, Neal. Henry won’t be by after school for another hour. And, again, you have never ‘dropped by’ for a surprise visit just because you were in town for some meeting. In fact, you usually have to cancel on dinner with Henry when your meetings run over.”

“Oh c’mon Ems, that’s not fair,” Neal complains, but who the fuck cares what he has to say on the subject? Emma is about to tell him as such when Scarlet interrupts with better timing than she would have credited him with, though his tone is too annoyed to actually write off the interruption as being for her benefit.

“Oi, not that this isn’t fascinating, but would you clear the bleedin’ stage? I’ve been trying to bring this light bar in for the past five minutes but some people,” he glares pointedly at Neal, “won’t get out of the way.”

The nuisance himself looks like he’s about to bite back, but Emma cuts in before he gets the chance. “You gotta move, Neal, I don’t care where. Go hang out backstage or in the house or something. I’ve gotta take care of some stuff, I can’t keep an eye on you.” If she’s secretly hoping he gets whacked in the head with the light bar, well, that’s her business, and entirely understandable to boot.

“We need to talk, Emma,” he insists, apparently finally cutting to his point.

“Yeah, well, I need to do my job. You showed up at a bad time, and I’ve got people waiting on me. We’ll talk later.” She hopes her voice is firm enough - ideally, the one she uses to keep everyone in line when everything is going to shit - but ultimately, it doesn’t much matter as she whirls around and stalks back to the booth.

She’s got a terrible feeling she knows exactly what this is about. It seems like an awfully big coincidence that Neal just happens to unexpectedly show up at her theater, a place he’s never showed interest in, only a couple days after a male coworker said nice things about her on national television. Whatever the case, she so doesn’t have time to deal with it now.

Neal is just going to have to wait.

———

Word travels fast throughout the ranks, and the shocking news that their beloved stage manager’s ex-boyfriend and father to Henry has unexpectedly showed up on their stage is no exception. Killian hears it from Belle, who was told by Scarlet, who relates as much of the situation as he knows with plenty of added commentary about how the man’s a nuisance and possibly an imbecile and honestly, who the bloody hell doesn’t hear a man hollering about a heavy bleedin’ light bar about to be flown in? Fuckin’ idiots, that’s who, if you ask a very irritated Will Scarlet. And then somewhere along the line David Nolan catches wind of it and tells Mary Margaret, and when you tell Mary Margaret anything, suddenly the entire cast knows. It’s just a fact of their little cohort.

Now, Killian considers himself to be an open minded man, a tolerant man, a man who does not make decisions about people before he knows them. Liam raised him to be kind and polite and to listen to people and not make premature judgements, and usually, Killian does his best to live up to that example.

But, God help him, he Does Not Like Emma’s ex.

(Well, part of that might have been related to the holiday party incident and not their encounter today, but his point still stands)

He’s prepared to swear that even were Neal not the former lover of the woman he’s slowly becoming devoted to, he still wouldn’t like the man. There’s something about the other’s man attitude – that he can do what he pleases, and everyone else’s opinion be damned. Killian hates it.

Currently, “whatever he pleases” is wandering around backstage semi-aimlessly, sticking his nose into corners and getting underfoot and generally driving everyone slowly mad.

“Can I help you, mate?” Killian asks in a perfectly civil tone - or at least what he thinks is a perfectly civil tone - when he runs down to grab a prop only to find the other man peeking into thankfully empty dressing rooms.

“Nope, just looking around,” the ex had replied about as absently as humanly possible, not bothering to even make more than glancing eye contact.

Alright then.

The only marginally redeeming factor of that man is how purely delighted Henry is to see him when the lad comes by after school. Killian may be many things - a very judgemental and petty man at the moment, for one - but he’s not a monster, and he’s willing to put up with a lot if it makes that wonderful boy happy. Still. Doesn’t mean he has to become best friends with the man, or even be happy about his presence. In fact, Killian thinks he’ll keep an eye out from a short distance, just to make sure the lad stays happy; he doesn’t quite trust the other man’s motives here, even if he is Henry’s father.

“Dad!” Henry exclaims as soon as he spots the man in question, a wide and brilliant smile stretching his cheeks as his eyes visibly light up. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here!” Just as quickly though, his features shift to confusion. “I didn’t miss a call, did I?”

“Oh no, of course not, buddy,” Neal reassures. “I just thought I’d surprise you.”

Though this appearance could certainly be described as a surprise very easily, Killian still thinks that’s not the whole story. Henry is less fazed though, or at least willing to take the excuse at face value in his excitement over his dad’s presence.

“You’ve got to come meet everyone!” Henry exclaims, practically bouncing on his feet as he tugs Neal over towards Killian.

Lord help me, Killian can’t help but think, this will be fun. If the other man’s face is anything to go by, he seems to be thinking the same thing.

“Killian!” Henry calls, managing to pull an almost genuine smile out of him. “You’ll never guess who’s here! This is my dad!”

“Aye, we met briefly earlier,” Killian replies, thinking of their dressing room encounter (if it can even really be called that). In the name of civility, he sticks a hand out to shake. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr…?” Technically, he already knows the other man’s name, but it feels rude to admit that the whole production knows who he is through the gossip train.

“Cassidy. Neal Cassidy,” he supplies with a smile that looks strained at best, pointedly not shaking the offered hand. “So, you’re the actor or whatever?”

“Aye, that’s me,” Killian agrees, trying hard not to be put out. “I play the male lead in this show, Mr. Darcy.”

“So you and Ems… work together a lot, then?”

So that’s what this is about. Killian almost feels stupid for not putting it together earlier, but it’s hard to miss the strategic emphasis in that sentence that suggests Neal is certain something more is happening. Self-important arse.

“Swan works closely with the entire cast, crew, and production team,” he replies carefully. “She’s perhaps the best stage manager I’ve ever seen, and very dedicated to the job at hand. We’re incredibly lucky to have her steering our little ship.”

“Sure.” Neal is obviously skeptical, if his posture and crossed arms are anything to go by. It takes everything Killian has not to roll his eyes at the bastard’s ridiculous posturing. Even Henry is picking up on the tension, looking back and forth between the two men with that same furrowed brow Emma gets when faced with a problem she’s trying to dissect.

“And I bet that’s all it is. Just a professional relationship,” Neal intones, continuing his interrogation. Killian truly questions the man’s judgement; to him, at least, this seems like an inappropriate avenue to be walking down with Henry right there, but then again, he may be biased as the target of the questioning.

“I believe that’s what I already said,” Killian replies. He’s tried to keep civil this whole time, but he can’t help the irritation from creeping into his tone. “We’re colleagues who interact on friendly but professional terms.” Is there a problem with that? the argumentative side of Killian is itching to demand, but he refrains for Henry’s sake

“Maybe we should go meet other people,” Henry blessedly cuts in before anything comes to blows or Killian says something he regrets (strangely enough, Neal doesn’t seem to have the same qualms that he does). “I’ll see you later, Killian!” he calls back over his shoulder as he practically drags his father away by the arm.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Killian hears Henry chastise from around the corner; he somehow doubts that the lad intended his voice to carry so far. Serves the man right, to be scolded by his own son, though Killian would be shocked if Neal suddenly came to regret his actions. A man that comes into town specifically to get on his ex for mostly platonic words said on a television program doesn’t seem the type to suddenly see how ridiculous his actions are.

He knows that Emma is the last person to want any pity, but she has Killian’s all the same. The man seems to be an insufferable prick, or is at least intent on acting like one; as bad as Killian’s interaction with Neal was, he’d be willing to bet that Emma’s in for something even more infuriating. He sure hopes that this dickery is a recent development, because at the moment, he has no idea what Emma ever saw in that man.

It’s none of Killian’s business, not really, but he can’t help but feel angry on Emma’s behalf that she’ll have to deal with whatever bullshit that bastard chooses to spew at her. Whatever interrogation he just had to suffer, she’ll undoubtedly have to deal with even worse. The more he thinks about it, the more frustrated he gets, until there’s nothing else to do about the matter - he calls Liam. It was either that or go hunt down Neal to ask a bunch of uncalled-for questions in a petty form of revenge.

“Make it quick, brother,” Liam immediately says when he answers, “the filming break is ending in seven minutes.”

“Emma’s ex is the most insufferable man alive,” Killian declares, launching right in.

“Good to know. And how exactly do you know this?” Liam asks in return.

“The arse showed up at the theater today - which was not expected, let me tell you, Henry was shocked to see his father. He obviously has never set foot in a theater, looking around everywhere and getting underfoot. And from everything I hear from Henry, he doesn’t exactly see his dad often, no other spontaneous visits like he was trying to claim this is. And this only a few days after that blasted interview aired! What a wild coincidence!” Killian says sarcastically. “So here he is, showing up to ask me a bunch of questions about whether Emma and I are really just colleagues. Funny, that.”

“Sounds frustrating,” Liam replies, making all the right noises even if he’s a little lost as to what’s going on.

“God, he’s such a pretentious arse. Waltzing right on in here like he gets a say in Swan’s work life. Or her personal life. Hell, the man’s barely around enough to earn the right to an opinion in Henry’s life. Try telling him that, though.”

“Speaking of which, do you plan on telling Emma all this?” Liam poses a good question, but Killian’s a bit conflicted on how to answer.

“I don’t know. She’ll be dealing with enough from him, you know? Not to mention everything else that’s going on around here - it’s a rough tech day to boot, as if she needs more on her plate. I don’t want to add any more stress. But at the same time… it feels deceptive, not telling her? Like I’m not supplying her with all the pieces of a problem.”

Liam hums. “So what are you going to do then?”

“I don’t know,” Killian whines back. “I’m just frustrated.”

“And that’s completely understandable,” Liam soothes. “Someone’s showed up to make trouble for a friend - someone you care for. It makes sense that you’d be angry on her behalf.”

“But what do I do, Liam?” he demands.

“Well, how about this for a compromise: if you see her before he leaves, you keep mum so as not to create more stress or be the cause of any conflict, but if you next see her afterwards, you do mention it. I’m quite firmly on the side of letting her know eventually, just so she can take whatever steps need taking to keep this kind of thing from happening again,” Liam suggests.

“I think I can manage that.” Venting to Liam hasn’t truly solved any problems, but he still feels better, like a dark cloud has been lifted from over his head. “Thanks, Liam. I know you’re busy, but I needed that. I’ll let you go, but really, thank you for being a listening ear.”

“Aye, I’ve got to be getting back,” Liam agrees. “Anytime though, Kil, I’m always here to listen. Hang in there - you and your lady both. Love you, little brother.” And before Killian can respond, even with a correction, the call disconnects.

Huffing a sigh, Killian attempts to release some of the remaining tension, before finally returning his attention to… whatever he came down here for in the first place. Thanks to certain unpleasant visitors, he’s having trouble remembering.

Really, damn the man and all the chaos he’s causing in his wake.

———

There’d been half a hope in the back of Emma’s mind that maybe she’d wrap up everything that needed immediately taking care of before Neal got bored and wandered back again, if only to avoid her ex pulling that “how dare you inconvenience me, my time is more valuable than yours” act again, charming though it is. Sadly, the universe is not on her side in that wish, and Neal and Henry are already waiting at the front, the former already reprising his impatient scanning from earlier as Henry happily chatters away about God knows what.

“Does she always leave you waiting like this?” Emma hears Neal ask, his voice carrying despite the distance.

Henry shrugs nonchalantly in response. “I go talk to everyone. Sometimes Mom lets me help out around here too.”

“Oh, so she’s putting you to work?” Neal’s voice is scandalized - that’s the only word for it. Now that she’s almost to where the two stand, she can see the shock on his face too.

Emma will stand for a lot of things from Neal, but that’s an implication too far. “Yes, I make him lug fifty pound fly weights all over the place. Builds character,” she replies, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Neal rolls his eyes. “Oh, c’mon, Em, you know I wasn’t suggesting that —” he tries to protest, but Emma cuts him off.

“Yeah, you kinda were. Henry, go get your stuff so you and your dad can get something to eat.” Henry scampers off at her suggestion, seemingly all too glad to escape the tension boiling between his parents, a tension that’s about to burst into something worse.

“C’mon, what was that about, Emma?” Neal whines, but Emma’s having none of it.

“Cut the crap, Neal. You wanted to talk, so talk. Starting with the real reason you’re here.”

“Well,” he states, “I saw the Sign-Off interview Monday night.”

Emma groans. She should have seen this coming, but that doesn’t make it any less stupid. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I’m serious! I’m laying in bed watching some… stuck-up actor talk about how dedicated you are to the show —”

“And what, you took that as code for ‘child neglect’? Because someone I work with said I’m good at my job?”

Neal’s silence is telling.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, you really thought that, didn’t you?” Emma manages to spit out. “Jesus Christ, Neal.”

“Look, I just know what I saw, ok?” he tries to defend as Emma rolls her eyes. “Don’t I have the right to come make sure you’re not neglecting my son, actually taking care of him instead of spending all your time at work or with some… some pretty boy?”

“That is fucking rich coming from you, Neal. Always so busy with your fancy job and your fancy house and your pretty little wife that you can’t even remember to call your son half the time. Fucking rich. I am doing everything I can to give that kid the best life,” she hisses, stabbing a finger into his chest, “and that’s a hell of a lot more than you’ve done. I’m the one that helps him with his homework, and takes care of him when he’s sick, and listens to all his worries. I’m the one who knows the names of all his friends and which takeout places are his favorite and how to best comfort him when he’s sad. Meanwhile, you couldn’t even be bothered to admit he was yours for five fucking years!” She’s practically shouting by the end, and only hopes Henry is too far away to hear. Neal just stands there glowering as Emma picks up steam. At least he seems to have picked up on the fact that he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

“And for the record?” she finishes, trying to lower the volume of her voice and probably failing. “I’m not dating Jones, or anyone else. But even if I was, that would be none of your goddamn business. Just like your marriage is none of mine.” Neal finally opens up his mouth to speak, but Emma throws up a hand to stop him before he even starts. “No. We’re done here. You and Henry can leave out the stage door. Have him home by 8, it’s a school night and he has homework.” Emma’s shaking with rage by the end of her tirade, but stands her ground, and with a final huff, her ex stalks off to find their son. Good riddance.

As Neal makes his disgraced departure, still shooting dirty looks over his shoulder, Emma finally relaxes, practically collapsing in on herself. Yes, there are still problems to come in her day, but those are normal problems, the kind that she knows to account for when going to work in the morning. Neal’s presence was a different kind of stressor, one she can’t prepare for, and when shoved at her on top of her work-related stress, it sets a tension into her shoulders that’s unmatched by anything else. Honestly, based off the bullshit Neal was tossing her way, you would have thought Killian has said she was making Henry work sixty hour weeks, not that she was good at her job. For fuck’s sake.

Dropping her head back, Emma takes a moment just to re-center herself before straightening again to return to the booth, only to turn around to spot Robin with a less than pleased look on his face. In fact, she’d go far as to say that she’s never seen him look so furious. Abruptly, Emma’s stomach plummets. God, he must have seen or heard the confrontation with Neal; in the heat of it all, they probably weren’t as quiet as quiet as they should have been. It wasn’t fair of Emma to bring that kind of drama into their workplace, and Robin has every right to be angry about it, but still, it feels like a heavy stone in the pit of her stomach to see that look directed at her.

Quickly, she hurries to meet her colleague at the back of the aisle where he stands, stumbling over apologies the whole while. “Robin, I’m so sorry, you should never have heard - it won’t happen again -” she tries to tell him, but Robin throws up a hand to halt her words in their tracks.

“Stop,” he tells Emma. “Just… stop.” Oh god, he must be really mad. All Emma wants to do is apologize profusely and try to make this right, but she can’t do that if he’s not receptive to hearing it. The stone grows heavier and heavier in her stomach.

Robin exhales a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself down, and Emma braces herself for whatever he’s about to say. He must see or sense that somehow - probably a benefit of spending hours together every day in a space that always seems too small and crowded - because some of the anger recedes from his face, a small amount of tension easing from his frame as he reaches to grasp Emma by the shoulders.

“I’m not mad at you,” he tells her in a voice that’s somehow simultaneously both firm and gentle. Emma imagines it’s the same voice he uses with Roland from time to time. If not, he should - it’s effective.

“You’re not?” she replies in a voice that’s smaller than she’d prefer. Oh well; Robin won’t judge her for that.

“Gods above, no. I’m mad, yes, but not at you,” he explains solemnly, “Emma, darling, please believe me when I tell you this: no one could watch the display that absolute bastard was making of himself and be mad at you. None of this is on you. All of my anger is on your behalf, that he had the very nerve to stand there and say such things.”

“You don’t have to say that,” Emma mumbles. Still, her cheeks flush at the gesture and the care behind those words.

Robin just shrugs. “Maybe I don’t have to, but I’m going to anyways. You’re my friend, Emma,” he explains, “and I see what you do every day. I know exactly how much you give this job, and I know you give Henry even more, as much as a human being can. It’s… preposterous, to even suggest the two are mutually exclusive. Look, I know our situations aren’t exactly the same,” he prefaces, “but I know how easy it is to lose a lot of yourself in being a parent, just by virtue of trying to ensure that your kid has everything. You may not be dating Jones, or anyone else, but so what if you were? You’re allowed to try and find that kind of happiness for yourself, on top of the happiness you get from Henry. The fact that Neal - ” he spits out the name with unexpected derision - “thinks that he gets a say in that, just because he’s Henry’s father, is laughable. Absurd. Especially since he’s one step above an absentee parent.”

Emma can’t help but feel a rush of platonic affection at his words, though she’s mortified to feel those feelings welling into tears of relief and gratitude. It’s true that Mary Margaret and Ruby and Elsa have been agreeing with her about how much of an ass Neal is for years, but they’re practically family; there’s always kind of been that feeling that they have to say that because of their long and close connection to Emma. There’s something meaningful and vindicating about hearing Robin, a coworker of significantly less acquaintance, say the same thing - that her ex is a jerk who has no right to have any opinions about her personal life.

Robin doesn’t know that they’re good tears, however, and his leftover fury quickly morph into a confused concern. “Are you crying?” he asks, not waiting for an explanation. “Oh, please, Emma, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that, I didn’t mean to upset you — ”

“It’s alright, Robin,” Emma cuts in with a teary chuckle. “It just means a lot to hear you say that. Thank you.”

“Ah, well, we’ve got to stick together, don’t we?” Robin smiles. “Single parents banding together and all that. Though, for the record, every one of us in here is rooting for you, not just me. Kristoff is as mad as I’ve ever seen him, and I thought Scarlet was about to bash his nose in.”

“Yeah, well, Scarlet just wanted the stage cleared so he could get his work done. Any opportunity to brain Neal with the light bar was just an added bonus,” Emma replies, snorting less than gracefully, happy to see a path out of the emotional bog she’d inadvertently waded into.

“You’re not wrong there,” Robin admits, breaking into his own bout of laughter. At the end of it, the mood is lighter for both of them, and while Emma is still irritated with her stupid-ass ex - a permanent thing, really, even if it’s a bit more than usual at the moment - the blind panic their argument had spawned about what everyone else is going to think of her has abated, thank god.

“Hang in there, darling,” Robin concludes with a collegial pat to her back. “We’re all here for you if you need to vent or plot a murder. Though, I should tell you,” he continues more seriously, “rumor has it that Neal was giving Killian the third degree earlier.”

“Of course he was,” Emma groans, dropping her head back melodramatically before setting her shoulders once again. “Sounds about par for the course today.”

Robin chuckles. “Nothing you can’t handle, o fearsome leader,” he teases. “Now go be a badass, prove him wrong.”

And you know what? Emma’s going to do just that. After one last stop, that is.

———

Killian doesn’t expect Emma to show up in the doorway of his dressing room as he runs through his pre-show prep - in fact, for one irritated moment, he’s convinced it’s Cassidy come back to grill him some more.

“You scared me there,” he comments, tossing a grin towards where Emma leans against the door frame. “I thought you were our charming visitor.”

Emma winces at the words. “Yeah, about that…”

“Oh god, he’s not coming back, is he?” Killian groans. It would be just his luck if the man was standing right behind Swan, but at this point, they’re already on poor enough terms that he’s willing to risk it. It’s not like things can disintegrate any further.

Thankfully, Swan emphatically shakes her head to that. “No, no, he and Henry are off getting dinner somewhere. But I did hear that you guys had the pleasure of meeting.”

Belatedly, Killian realizes that as awful as he thinks Emma’s ex is, she maybe doesn’t want to hear that from others. She’s the one who has to deal with him for the foreseeable future; his conversation with Liam aside, it seems bad form to complain about the man to Emma’s face and potentially make her feel worse, both about the prospect of dealing with Neal and about the fact that he’s here in the first place. The latter is most certainly not her fault.

“Yes, he’s, uh… it was interesting, meeting the man,” Killian finally says, as diplomatically as he can manage.

Swan, thank God, is having none of that however. “Oh please. He’s an ass. A real piece of work. No use beating around the bush, it’s not going to hurt my feelings or anything. I’ve got thicker skin than he does.”

“Ah, well, as long as you said it first,” he laughs. Suddenly, he remembers an earlier part of their conversation - the bit about how she heard Neal and he had talked - and something clicks. “Wait, you’re not here to apologize for his utter lack of manners, are you Swan?”

Her face contorts into a sheepish smile. “Maybe?”

“Well save your breath, love,” Killian insists. “There’s no need. His actions and his words are in no way your fault. You know that, right?” It feels crucial that she knows that.

“Yeah, Robin told me pretty much the same thing,” she replies. “Still. I feel bad that you had to deal with him at all.”

“Put it out of you mind, love, I beg you. I’ll admit that he wasn’t a particularly pleasant part of my day, but I’ll put him out of my mind soon enough. He’ll be a footnote, at best. Don’t worry yourself about it, please.”

“I mean, if you’re sure…” she trails off uncertainly, that guilty look still darkening her face.

“I insist,” he says with finality. He can still see Emma’s doubts lingering though, so he quickly shifts to teasing. “I do have to ask, though,” he says, noting the trace of caution that appears in the crease between her brows, “what did you ever see in him?”

At his teasing smile, Emma releases the tension she’s holding again, going so far as to roll her eyes at the question, and they’re able to resume their banter again, continuing on as if Neal and his nonsense never happened.

(His line that evening about Collins being a pompous, prattling fool seems a little more pointed than it ever has before, but the audience doesn’t need to know that. Killian is confident that Emma hears it all the same.)

If you guys liked this chapter, please please please reblog (or even just like!) it. I’m a desperate woman who’s not about pleading. Thanks for reading!

#cs ff #captain swan #my writing #Playing the Part #What Did I Ever See In Him?#stage manager!Emma #actor!Killian #and a Lil' Bitch

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katecarteir · 6 years

Text

say it right

summary: Working side by side with somebody for nine hours a day was bound to end in some sort of friendship. Eddie will continue to tell himself and anybody who asked this until he’s blue in the face. Because that’s all it is, and all it will ever be.

[or: Eddie and Richie work together in book cafe, and Richie is determined to turn Eddie into a coffee drinker by making him the perfect drink. And if Eddie happens to fall in love with him in the process, well then that’s just an added bonus.]

chapter count: 5/7

[1] [2] [3] [4] [Read Full Story on AO3]

Radio silence. That was the only way that Eddie could describe his current status with Richie.

It had been almost quarter to eight before Eddie had responded to the texts from Richie, the feeling of guilt in his gut and something much more painful in his chest completely overwhelming him.

To Richie Tozier @ 7:43: Richie I am so so sorry

To Richie Tozier @ 8:03: If you want we could go grab coffee or something and talk about this please

To Richie Tozier @ 8:09: I know I deserve to be ignored but please let me know that you’re okay Richie

Eddie had the next two days after his skipped date with Richie and he nearly wore a path in his living room flooring, and ignoring at least four phone calls and texts from Bill demanding to know how his date with Richie had gone. It made Eddie want to throw up, just the idea of talking to Bill and telling him what he’d done, how he’d hurt Richie. It broke Eddie down, wanting to walk down to the Brewstore and see Richie, corner him and try to talk to him or even just make sure he was okay but he everytime he got close to leaving his apartment, the burning anxiety of fear towards a fight with Richie had him running back to the safety of hiding under the blankets in bed.

Eddie almost called into work on Tuesday morning but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to afford that kind of behaviour. It seemed, of course, that he didn’t need to be afraid of anything when he caught sight of Ben opening the store. “Did I get the schedule messed up, are you supposed to open today?”

“No.” Ben said shortly, a simple, detached tone that was so different from the usual warmth in Ben Hanscom’s voice. Eddie’s stomach churned and he fidgeted with the tips of his fingers. “I’m opening for Richie.”

Eddie swallowed harshly. “Is Richie… Where’s Richie?”

Ben shot Eddie a look over his shoulder that for most people would be expressionless, but in two months of working with Ben Hanscom… Eddie knew it was a dirty look. “He went home to visit his parents. His dad picked him up two days ago.”

“He’s… gone?” Eddie asked, his own voice barely coming out. An uncomfortable expression came over Ben’s face, almost as though he was contemplating something. He looked Eddie over once, twice, three times before sighing.

“He’s not gone gone. He’ll be back.” Ben said, tone not exactly friendly but quite a bit warmer than before. “He put in emergency vacation for the week. He still has school stuff anyway.”

Eddie nodded, and followed Ben into the building. He watched Ben move towards the coffee counter but reached out to grab him on a reflex. “Ben I… I know you know what I did. I just wanted to say…”

“I like you, Eddie,” Ben interrupted, shaking his head so slightly that he might not have even been aware that he was doing it. “I think you’re a good guy, I really do, but Richie is my best friend. We have been through so much shit together, for years. And you hurt him, Eddie. You hurt him so bad he went home to his parents. He hasn’t done that since…” A dark look came over Ben but Eddie could simply tell that it wasn’t directed at him. Ben cleared his throat. “I don’t think you meant to hurt him so badly and I don’t doubt that you had your reasons. But I don’t care about those reasons- I can’t care about those reasons. The only thing I have time to care about right now is Richie and making sure that Richie is okay.”

Eddie swallowed hard and forced back the tears. “You’re a really great guy, Ben.”

Ben smiled softly. “You are, too, Eddie. And Richie will give you another chance, probably three or four of them if needed, when he’s ready. See to it that you only need one, or I won’t try to stop Bev from hurting you.” Eddie laughed, a sad and wet sound, and Ben’s smile dipped down in slight concern. “Stop looking like a kicked puppy when I’m trying to convince myself that you’re the bad guy. Please.”

“I can’t help it that I’m pathetic.” Eddie whined tearfully, wiping at his face frantically as the tears started to fall. “I’m just so pissed at myself for hurting Richie, I just… I just didn’t want anybody to get hurt so I thought it would be easier if we didn’t start dating at all but then I didn’t go and he got hurt and knowing I hurt him just hurts so fucking bad, you know? Because like Richie… he’s the like the first guy that I’ve really and I… and you said you didn’t want to know my reasons and here I am spilling them out to you anyway like a fucking idiot I’m so sorry I…” Eddie got caught off by Ben coming forward and wrapping Eddie up into his arms. Ben held him there for a long moment, slightly rocking them. Eddie let out a shaky laugh. “Has anybody ever told you that you give great hugs, Ben Hanscom?”

Ben laughed, too. “Richie, at least once a day. Bev, too, actually.” Eddie tucked his head deeper into Ben’s neck and he felt more than heard Ben sighing. “Alright, Eddie… I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt for like one second and you’re going to pretend that I didn’t.”

Eddie pulled away slightly, frowning at Ben. Ben glanced around, almost though making sure that there was nobody around despite the knowledge that it would be only Ben and Eddie working for at least the next three hours. “Richie will definitely be back by Saturday night because that’s when his group has to put on their play. Richie may not seem like somebody who takes this seriously-”

“I’ve never thought that,” Eddie interrupted on a reflex, and an odd expression came over Ben’s face.

“I just…” Ben ran fingers through his hair. “Richie takes his theatre stuff really really seriously. He’d never miss a show, and he’s really intense about this one. I thought Mike was going to beat him by the end of it, but I know it’s going to be amazing.”

“What are they doing?” Eddie asked, fighting off the urge to crack his knuckles.

“They have to adapt some sort of novel and make it a musical,” Ben said, a small smile coming over his face. “Bev put up a big fit about doing some Stephen King book, even though Mike told her a hundred times how hard it’ll be to re-create telekinesis on a stage. But anyway…” Ben shook his head, getting off track and knowing it. “We all have tickets and backstage access because all our friends are in the play and wrote it. And… because I’m giving you the stupid benefit of the doubt… you’re coming, too.”

Eddie’s eyes blew wide. “Wait, no, Ben, I really shouldn’t. Richie is definitely mad at me and I’ve never read or seen Carrie and..”

“This may come as a surprise to you, Eddie,” Ben chuckled. “But the play will definitely tell you enough about the storyline from beginning to end that you won’t need to read the book. Actually, you know, it tells you everything. It re-creates the story.”

Eddie flushed. “Yes, okay, I know that but Richie…”

“If I know anything about Richie Tozier, he’s not mad at you.” Ben shook his head. “To be honest, Richie would just usually shrug something like that off completely but on top of all the other stuff this year, I think it was just too much. Not to let you off the hook for standing him up, because that was still crappy, Eddie-“ Ben shot him a small glare and Eddie felt himself flush again. “But the rest of that stuff isn’t your fault and Richie wouldn’t blame it on you, either. So come to the show and talk to him.”

Eddie nodded, giving Ben a soft smile. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. And if it goes bad, I’m not the one who invited you.”

Eddie spent the rest of the week missing Richie and trying to read Carrie. It was surprisingly hard, Eddie finding himself getting stuck at the same point near the beginning over and over.

To Billy <3 @ 7:55am: Carrie is a terrible book

From Billy <3 @ 9:21am: Most Stephen King books are. Don’t know how anybody can read that crap.

To Billy <3 @ 9:22am: They can’t all be that bad.

From Billy <3 @ 9:22am: They are. Have you ever read the demon clown/acid trip turtle book?

To Billy <3 @ 9:30am: Uh

Saturday night came rolling around and anxiety was deep in Eddie’s chest, reaching out and threatening to suffocate him. He called Bill three hours before he needed to head out and reached a very unimpressed best friend on the other end of the line.

“No, Eddie.” Bill said in replacement of a hello. “You’re going to the fuh-fucking show and you’re going to uh-auh-apologize to that loud boy from your work. Then muh-maybe make out with his fuh-face.”

Bill hung up and Eddie stared at his phone in betrayal.

Eddie showed up outside the school’s large theatre and found Ben and Stanley both standing outside waiting for him. He was wearing the same sweater and jeans he’d worn when meeting Richie and the others at the bar that night that had felt like years earlier.

Ben smiled warmly as he approached, and Stan reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “Richie got back into town like an hour ago and looked like death ran him over twice,” Stanley said in that straight forward fashion of his. Eddie frowned deeply and Ben closed his eyes. “Don’t worry, Eddie, I’m sure it’s not because you left him standing at the side of the road for an hour. It’s probably because he hates his parents and just spent a week with them. Because you left him standing at the side of the road for an hour.”

“Are you done?” Ben asked, raising a brow. Stan smiled almost sarcastically and gestured towards the door. Not for the first time, Eddie wondered if he underestimated the friendship between Richie and Stan. They moved into the front row and took their seats, Eddie on one side of Ben and Stanley on the other. The lights came on the very scene that Eddie had deeply struggled getting back while reading the book began. Admittedly, it was a little hard to recreate a shower scene when you couldn’t have running water on a stage but Eddie almost didn’t notice.

The play moved on swiftly and Eddie found himself getting into it when Beverly came out and stood center stage. He’d noticed her several times, playing on the biggest leads in the play, but he was suddenly floored looking at her in her 70s style clothes and deep red hair. She shot the crowd a half smirk and opened her mouth to sing.

“Guess what, ever since the world began. Same plot. Everyone’s been dumping on their fellow man.”

Eddie’s eyes widened and looked over to Ben and Stan, whom were both staring up at their friend with similar looks of dazed adoration. “I’m straight now,” he whispered to them both. “Richie who?”

“Right?” Ben said, waggling his brow while Stan shook his head slightly. “He’s dating the girl playing Sue.” Eddie crinkled his brow, remembering the statements Richie had made about Mike and Stan, and the things he’d seen himself. Ben nodded, and patted Eddie on the wrist. “Life is complicated.”

Richie was playing the male antagonists, Beverly’s boyfriend, and he looked so good in his badboy attire that Eddie’s breath hitched in his throat every time Richie came on the stage. He watched the scene where Richie and Bev were beginning to plan their methods of harassing Carrie White and Eddie had to clasp a hand over his mouth as Richie began to belt out his lyrics with an air of douchebaggery that Eddie wouldn’t have thought possible in the huge nerd he was falling so hard for.

“You always amaze me with the way that you think… If I were your daddy, I would buy you a shrink.”

Eddie watched the rest of the show with his tongue heavy in his mouth and he stood along with Ben and Stan to applaud once it was over. As Ben rushed to the back of the stage to greet his friends, Eddie began to step back slowly. Stan reached out and clasped his wrist.

“Where are you going?” Stan asked, narrowing his eyes at him. “You’re coming with us, Eddie. We sat in the front row, there’s no way Richie didn’t see you. If you just leave right after, you might as well kiss every chance you have of making up with him goodbye.”

Eddie let out a shaky sigh and nodded. He followed Stan back to where the cast and their friends were all throwing their arms around each other. At the sight of them, Richie let out an excited noise and Eddie’s stomach dropped out his ass at how good he looked. The distance between the stage and Eddie’s seat hadn’t done him justice, Eddie now staring at the closeness of Richie’s dark eye makeup and sweaty, shiny face. A million thoughts, most dirty, ran through Eddie’s face until he truly thought he was going to forget how to breathe altogether.

Richie tossed his arms around Stan and pulled him in, the pair of them slapping each other on the back as they hugged. Richie stepped away from, grinning widely and his eyes fell to Eddie. The grin faltered just slightly, something deep in Richie’s eyes bringing that horrible feeling of guilt back to Eddie’s stomach. “Heya, Eds. Like the show?”

“You were amazing,” Eddie said earnstely, nodding. His eyes met Mike and Beverly, and he smiled wider. “You all were. Really.” Beverly blew him a kiss and Eddie was pretty sure if he was even the slightest bit heterosexual he would have melted right into the floor and died in that moment.

“You guys are coming back to Mike and Richie’s for the party, right?” The pretty girl who’d played Sue said from her spot pressed in Stanley’s side. Eddie’s heart leapt in his chest and he felt Richie’s eyes burning into the side of the his face.

“Yeah,” Ben said from where he was- for whatever unnecessary reason- feeling Mike’s biceps and blushing. “We’re all coming. Right, Eddie?”

Eddie looked up, eyes meeting Richie. Richie gave him a soft smile. “Yeah. Yeah. We’re all coming.”

Eddie had been sitting awkwardly on Richie Tozier’s couch for two hours, pressed between Mike and Stanley for the panic that had been twisting his gut all night really started to get the better of him. Richie hadn’t looked or spoken to him once since they’d left the show and Eddie didn’t know how much longer he could deal with this.

Excusing himself quickly, Eddie jumped gave a poor excuse of getting another drink from the kitchen and fled. He gripped onto the counter, brain running wild as he squeezed his tearing up eyes shut. He could see Richie that first morning at the BrewStore, tired and sitting on the counter. Promising to find a coffee drink that Eddie would love, implying that Eddie would fall in love with Richie himself. Richie in his beanie outside the bar. Richie with his busted lip but bright smile. The feeling of Richie’s hand in his when Richie asked with a shaking, nervous voice if he wanted to go out.

Eddie let out a single sob, and slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Hey, Eddie, if you don’t like the-” Richie’s voice carried over to him as he came into the kitchen before stopping. His voice went through at least three emotions as Eddie wiped quickly at his damp cheeks. “Why are you crying? What happened?”

“I…” Eddie inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry, Richie. I shouldn’t be huh-here. I already messed every-everything up. I’ll just…” Eddie moved to walk past him but Richie’s hand came out and curled around his wrist.

“Come on the balcony with me, okay? I think… I think we have somethings we need to say to each other.”

#reddie #reddie fic #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #ben hanscom is the best friend in the whole world jot that down #mike/richie/bev is an iconic trio also jot that down too #my writing #say it right #im actually sad this story is almost over :(#.

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artificialqueens · 6 years

Text

Isn’t it lovely...pt.2 {biadore} - imafuckinglibra

“Ask, and it shall be given you.” - Someone from the Bible probably somewhere idfk.

“Ask and daddy will write it for you.” - imafuckinglibra. (Can you tell I’ve been listening to Bianca’s audiobook on repeat?)

Dear anon, Yes I read notes. And that goes to everyone else sending me notes, both of you. So here is a bonus chapter about what happened after Danny posted the selfie in the last chapter. You don’t necessarily need to read the last chapter to understand anything here but it might help context wise so go ahead idk I’m not a scientist. XOXO - k bye

“How the fuck ya’ll doing!” Bianca yelled loudly into the mic at the cheering sea of people walking out onto the stage. “Since it takes Visage a good fucking 3 hours to fit those titties into her dress I have to be the one to do her fucking job. Fucking douche.”

The crowd cheered at her shady comment about the usual MC as she slapped the big blue cards labeled with the bubbly ‘snatch game’ logo on her palm to straighten them out.

“Before something else goes wrong let’s bring these assholes on stage and get it over with!” She quipped stepping back from the curtains to allow the other queens an easy entrance.

Without wasting time she introduced the other queens, or celebrities, as they had to be referred to for snatch game. First up it was Sharon as her now iconic Joan Rivers, next Manilla as Madonna and then Alaska as her, weirdly very accurate, Laganja.

“And of course we saved the 2nd best for last, because she lost, Adore Delano!”

Bianca called the last queen’s name out ignoring the few aw’s from the crowd and watched as the younger queen skip out onto the stage in her grungy make up, oversized flannel and bright red wig nearly falling off her high chair when she went to sit down.

“Idiot.” She mumbled under her breath away from the mic giving the audience a second to calm down as Adore waved enthusiastically at them between throwing Cheetos their way.

She tried to remain as professional as possible and keep her distance from the younger but had found herself a few times between questions wandering back to the end of the line next to Adore.

Every so often the grungy queen, who was eating Cheetos out of a bag almost bigger than her, would make faces at her between answers distracting her from what the other contestants were saying.

“Oh, fuck you! It’s comedy!” Sharon drawled on in her shakey impression of Joan’s voice after the audience gasped at her Bruce Jenner comment.

“Alright beautiful.” Bianca intervened before Sharon could add anything else, throwing a shady expression her direction to keep a straight face so she could read the next question.

Hearing her answers a million times never got old, neither did her lame impression. For some reason it always hit her right in the funny bone and once or twice in the bus after a few drinks Sharon had used it against her.

Somewhere on one of their fellow tour mate’s phones a video of them drunk off their asses going “O-oh.” repeatedly existed. A video which she prayed never fell into the wrong hands.

“Uh, Adore, I just want to say I feel like you were coming for me.” Alaska jumped in before she could even look at the card for the next question.

Bianca turned away from the audience and started laughing loudly just from the sheer stupidity of the back and forth happening between Alaska and Adore after Adore’s high pitched. “When?”

Even just the memory of actually being there during the real exchange of words till this day made her piss herself because of how ridiculous it was, especially Laganja’s llama face during it all.

“Okay! Focus people, let’s get this shit over with for fucks sake. Hedda the Hoarder is such a…fuck you cunt.” She snapped spinning around quickly when she felt something falling out of her wig.

The hushed giggling from the audience turned into a loud eruption of laughter as she stared down the culprit who was grinning mischievously back at her with her hand still hovering mid air.

Adore quickly grabbed another bigger piece from the bag and placed it halfway between her teeth wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

“No.” Bianca broke face and shook her head but Adore didn’t let up. She simply continued wiggling her painted black brows.

Damn this bitch had her wrapped around her finger.

She caved and almost hesitatingly leaned forward biting into the cheesy snack, their lips grazing over each other lightly in the process but Bianca never allowed them to fully touch and give Adore the satisfaction of a kiss.

Which wasn’t easy that’s for shit sure.

They’d been on the Battle of the Seasons tour for about a month and in that time they’ve only had one night off where they could stay in a hotel thus far.

Being in different bunks separate from each other and unable to find any privacy had taken a drastic toll on both.

In the year since Adore, or Danny, had posted the photo of them together and not so subtly announced their relationship to the world they’d only been separated for a few nights. Not being able to touch her love or even share a bed was doing things to her Bianca would rather not speak off.

Once Bianca pulled back after biting into the Cheeto Adore did a quick little victory dance in a small circle.

“Yeah I eat. Okay here we go.” She quipped at the cheering people but when the stickiness of the snack started coating the roof of her mouth making it hard to chew or even speak she had to turn to the back of the stage.

“You okay, babe?” Adore quietly asked behind her.

“Food.” She brushed off the other’s concern and deadpanned smacking her lips. “Here we go.”

When she still couldn’t talk she turned away again trying to contain her own laughter. She saw Adore peering slightly to one side laughing at her. “You fucking look like a poodle eating peanut butter.”

“I’m not use to that.” Bianca started laughing along in the way she usually did right before a shady comment. “We don’t do that when we have money.”

There it was - the shade.

Adore, who was picking up a Cheeto that she failed to catch in her mouth, sprung up like an angry emo meerkat and glared at her popping the dropped treat into her mouth.

She quickly moved on through everyone’s answers and made her way back to the start of the queue at Adore. Eyeing her suspiciously in case she dropped a cheeto on her again before she asked the next question.

“The city of Las Vegas is so queer, the mounted police ride…”

After Adore’s very classy burp for an answer she wiped off her mic against her gown. Milking the moment by pulling a few shady faces and making a comment about never thinking she’d be excited to hear what Manilla had to say as she made her way between the 2 queens.

Just as she started repeating the question to Manilla Adore rested her head on her shoulder sending butterflies through her stomach.

Being out in public in drag still felt oddly taboo despite neither of them ever really shying away from any form of pda when they were out of drag.

She ignored the fluttering in her tummy and continued reading the question off the cardboard cue cards. In the split second before Manilla could answer Adore, with her chin resting on her sequined shoulder, whispered in her ear. “Quick kiss?”

She titled her head slightly for a quick peck just in time for Madonna to answer with Coco Montrese.

“And that was our snatch game our winner tonight is…who the fuck cares!” Bianca shouted after moving through Alaska and Sharon’s last answers as swiftly as possible.

But as she was saying goodbye thanking all the girls a final time she felt something scratchy slide off her shoulder and instinctively shot back already knowing who’s responsible. “Fuck you did you put food on me?”

“3 times.” Adore behind her smiled biting her lip.

“You did not? Party, pizza, it’s cool. Chola.” She channeled her inner Adore as best as possible singsonging random catchphrases as the younger started slowly exiting with the rest.

Bianca’s stare lingered in the bitchiest face she could manage watching the other queens disappearing behind the curtains before she ran back to the front of the stage to go in for the kill.

“I’m traveling with these people for a fucking month, girl. This is fucked up goddammit.” She pointed to the curtains unable to resist throwing in her last bit of shade before she jogged off after the others to go change as well.

“You’re going to have Cheeto hair now.” Adore turned in her heels holding her arms out when she noticed Bianca approaching behind her.

“Don’t do it again cunt.” Bianca snapped waving a finger in front of her face and giving her a quick kiss before shooing her along to the dressing room. “Now back to work. Go, bitch, go.”

“Adore, you ready?”

“Mh-yep.” The tall queen enthusiastically smiled as she skipped towards the big black couch in the little area set aside backstage for the girls to get ready in.

After the show they had to do a casual interview with some people from MTV about being on tour.

It consisted of 4 parts - how to throw shade, what makes a good selfie, high school yearbook awards and then a final one focusing on Adore Delano and her latest album.

The girls were all huddled in a corner watching the interviewer pull Adore to one side, Bianca however was standing so close to the cameraman she was practically closer to him than his shadow.

She warmly greeted the girl half her size already sitting down and the questions began.

“Hi, I’m Lana Cummings here from MTV and I’m here with season 6 finalist of RuPaul’s Drag Race and drag’s pop princess, the ever so lovely Adore Delano.”

Adore held her hand under her chin waving her fingers in true childish Adore fashion. “Meow meow.”

“It feels like this is the most you’ve sat down in the last, I don’t know, year, isn’t it? You’ve been pretty busy.”

“Yeah man, I um, I released my album Whatever last year. And I just finished the first half of my tour and now I’m doing this and when I’m done I’ll probably be going back on tour with my band again. Gotta make that money, money, money though you know?” She singsonged flashing her brightest smiled while fiddling with the zipper on her half zipped onesie with the sleeves tied around her waist.

Adore had untucked and gotten out of her costume the minute that curtain went down as always so when they asked her for the interview she simply slipped into one of Bianca’s onesies and a t-shirt.

“Now, speaking of your tour and the fact that you’re wearing a BDR onesie.” As she spoke Adore’s eyes flicked up at Bianca trying to hide her smile at the sight of the older queen panicking. “You and Bianca Del Rio, winner of season 6 of Drag Race, also announced your relationship last year and have since been labeled the power couple of drag.”

“Apparently, yeah.” Adore flipped some hair off her shoulder.

“I know she’s just as busy, how do you find time to even have a relationship because I mean you seem to be doing very well.”

“A lot of pissed off agents.” Adore started laughing hiding her mouth behind her hand.

“I can imagine, you’re referring to the last leg of your tour I’m assuming? She joined you this time on it, didn’t she?”

“Yeah she did, which has been totally awesome by the way.”

As she was talking about the last year of their relationship Adore started thinking back on all the sacrifices they’ve had to make since.

They had reworked their schedules, adding a few new shows here and there to their individual tours to allow them some time together. It wasn’t easy though, it meant once or twice Bianca would stay in a town for 3 days waiting just so Adore could come perform and they’d spend one night together.

It went on like that for the last 6 months of Bianca’s comedy tour till it finished and she could join Adore full time on the final 2 months of her tour.

Unfortunately that meant they had a very limited time back home to be together, a ‘real couple’, before they joined the rest of their sisters on the BOTS tour.

The real problem was that they were both severe workaholics with an annoying habit of never saying no to a job which was putting a strain on their relationship - physically that is.

2 weeks of no intimacy and Adore was already threatening to jump out of the bus into oncoming traffic.

Luckily for everyone’s sanity, not just the over eager love birds, it was finally an off weekend. They’d get to stay in a hotel for the night after the show before it was on to the next state.

“How has that worked? I mean isn’t she coming out with another movie? And I heard rumors of a book?” The reporter pulled her back from her thinking.

“The movie they had already wrapped filming on when we started touring so that wasn’t really a problem, but it comes out…” She quickly leaned back a little to look at Bianca for an answer. “May 18th! It comes out May 18th. And then yeah, she’s also been like writing a book and has these make up wipes coming out and shit, which are really good! Everyone go buy them. I want to go on a vacation after this.”

Bianca dropped her shaking head into her palm making Adore giggle even more.

“That’s amazing definitely be on a look out there! Back to you a little, you’ve always been very…open, with fans. Very candid. Has that changed since you’ve become public as a couple or how has fans received the news?”

“Um no, I don’t think it’s changed to be honest. I think like a lot of fans are sad because I don’t hook up with them anymore but for the most part everyone’s like, I knew it! I just think my fans are happy that I’m happy.” She smiled at her love proudly watching her, the hint of jealousy Adore was expecting after the hooking up comment twinkling in her eyes. “And that old fuck makes me very happy.”

She wasn’t lying, she was genuinely happy

After coming out to the public and drag fans around the world they’d only gotten closer. Adore had less panic attacks and freak outs about stress and Bianca actually took more time off from work to take care of herself too.

“Because I’m gonna’ die soon and she gets the cash.” Bianca chimed in with a scowl making everyone in the room laugh.

Adore blew her a kiss which she returned with a wink before they continued on with the rest of her interview.

“Well done ladies! Enjoy your free time and I’ll see you lot on the bus first thing in the morning!” Michelle raised her glass of champagne when the crew left and the ladies could all finish becoming themselves again.

The now half dedragged queens all raised their various beverages ranging from a diet coke to vodka and everything in between, everyone enthusiastically clinking them together.

“I cannot tell you how fucking relieved I am to finally get to sleep in a real bed.” Sharon sighed with a hint of laughter coming through when Adore dropped down next to her to finish turning back into Danny.

“Sames though.” The younger queen agreed looking up in the reflection at Bianca who was allowing Courtney to peel off her lashes.

“Well at least you have people to share a real bed with.” Courtney handed Bianca her lashes and looked over at Adore.

“That is true.” Bianca winked at her making the younger blush, seeing her so openly acknowledging their relationship made her heart light.

Getting to be an official couple had turned out even better than Danny had ever hoped it would. Sure Roy was a little ticked off in the beginning about how they - he, did it but that wasn’t long lived.

They spent the majority of the first month or so dealing with their relationship being the only question that would be asked in interviews or meet & greets with fans.

And whenever a fan would spot them together either at a show or just exploring whatever city they were in they’d usually get the same reactions.

“I knew it! Biadore was real!“

“But what about so and so? I thought you’d make a way better ship.”

But they learned to brush it off fairly easily enough and continue on with their daily life. A daily life which Danny now sorely missed.

Being on tour with his friends and now his love was amazing, but he could finally 100% sympathize with why Sharon took Chad everywhere. The few months of touring without his man was torture.

“You done yet?” Roy’s hands on his shoulders knocked him out of his daydreaming.

“Mh-hm.” Danny nodded looking at them both in the reflection now fresh faced again.

“Anyone want to share an Uber?” Aaron asked handing Chad, who’s scrawny arms were already full, another one of his bags.

“We going to the club? That one we passed with the naked trade up front?” Jason, now dressed in his usual club outfit with his 50’s bad boy curl, chimed in.

“Yes, we’ll meet up with you there.” Aaron and Chad both agreed.

“It okay if we sit this one out?” Roy kissed Danny’s cheek.

“You guys don’t mind?”

“You do you.” Courtney shrugged but quickly turned red, “Not like that.”

“Or yes like that.” Jason grinned.

“Fuck you. See you bitches tomorrow.” Roy greeted the other queens off to their night out

They opted to walk back to the hotel instead of sharing the ride with Aaron and Chad so they could take in a bit more of the beautiful European city.

With Roy’s hand in the back pocket of Danny’s saggy grey jeans and the other holding his phone checking through his social media the couple made their way through the busy streets lit up with the locals chattering outside restaurants and bars.

Roy enjoyed moments like these. Simple moments of affection or privacy that every day couples took for granted.

Sure they weren’t Kardashian level famous but still, if they were simply walking around Hollywood like this they’d be stopped by drag fans around ever corner asking for selfies or a moment of their time.

Getting to just be with Danny in peace for once was almost relaxing, especially after nearly 2 years of only getting to sneak around in dodgy club bathrooms.

“Can you believe it’s been a fucking year?” Danny commented, clearly having the same thoughts haunting him. “Like when that reporter mentioned it I was a little like what the fuck for real?”

“Year and a half.”

“Really?” Danny looked at what Roy was scrolling through and saw it was the now infamous selfie he posted. “507 days. Year and some change. Wow.”

“Three years if you count the stuff before that.” Roy casually added.

“I don’t even think I own furniture that old.”

“You regretting your decisions there, Noriega?”

“Nope.” Danny kissed his temple. “I like being with you.”

“Oh yeah? What do you like?” Roy smiled.

“That you make me really good food or like cuddle me every morning instead of letting me get out of bed so I have an excuse to be lazy or late. Or taking bathtubs with me every night. Or throwing the blankie over me when I fall asleep on the couch. Or taking my make up off for me at the end of the night if I’m too loaded.”

Roy watched Danny’s expression soften and his eyes light up as his mind worked out more examples. It was nice to know that Danny felt the same way about him or that he was at least needed.

“Your mom likes me.” Roy added one of his own.

“That’s because you’re the same person.” Danny laughed making Roy blush.

He couldn’t fight the facts, they had the same personality and no bullshit approached to life which made it easy for them to bond fairly quickly. They even called each other once a day to complain to one other either about Danny needing a haircut or if he was eating healthily enough.

Bonnie had welcomed him into their family long before they ever went public. Not to mention when they did she was the first to text them with wedding plans, honeymoon locations, joined names, baby names, matching I heart my daddies outfits for the dogs - everything.

God knows how long she’d been planning all that shit.

“That looks so good.” Danny commented stopping dead in his tracks. Roy looked up from his phone to see what he was drooling at.

He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes when he saw the object of Danny’s admiration was a conveyer belt of pizzas. “Want one?”

Danny nodded enthusiastically running over to the shop and Roy followed behind digging in his backpack for his wallet.

With Danny’s face pressed up against the sneeze guard and Roy hand’s lazily petting his back they went through all the options searching for which looked the best.

“Adore Delano!” They heard a girl behind then yelling in a thick British accent.

“Oh my god! It’s Bianca too!”

“Can we take a picture?” The first girl asked and without really giving them a chance to answer the pair and their friend pulled out their phones.

Danny and Roy looked awkwardly at each other as each girl took a queen by the arm and snapped a shot or two of them all together.

“Thank you so much!” The second girl started squealing looking at her phone already posting the picture.

“Take one of us too?” Danny, as gullibly naive as always, handed one of them Roy’s phone after grabbing it right out of hands.

Danny struck a pose next to the pizza with his elbow resting against the sneeze guard and Roy following his lead just showcased the pizza of Danny’s dreams. He knew there was no use in fighting it anyway.

The girls thanked them for being so gracious and almost as quickly as they appeared they ran away giggling amongst themselves.

As soon as they were out of earshot Danny turned his attention back to the pizzas and pointed at which slice he wanted.

“Really queen?” Roy asked scowling at him when he smiled back at him after ordering.

“Why you mad?”

“Don’t just fucking hand people my phone you idiot.” Roy scolded and quickly payed the man behind the counter, thanking him for posing too when they took the photos.

“I trust my fans.”

“I don’t even trust you.”

“That’s mean. You’re mean.” Danny took an aggressive bite from his treat.

“It good?” Roy wanted to make a shady comment about his childish behavior but the way his face lit up in bliss was just too cute.

“Tho good.” Danny took another big bite and closed his eyes chewing. “I’d thrade your dick for thiths pizza anyday.”

“Oh?” Roy raised a brow taking the pizza away from Danny and helping himself to a bite. “Well then fuck you you can sleep out here tonight.”

“No! I’m sorry, I’ll never disrespect your dick again.” Danny quickly tried taking back what he said embracing Roy.

“No, no. It’s too late. You’ve had your chance.”

“But daddy.” Danny whined pushing his bottom lip out.

“Ugh fine.” Roy rolled his eyes and pushed him off looking for their room key when they approached the hotel lobby. “But I’m topping this time.”

“But you look so cute when I’m topping.”

“Oh now I’m ugly too? Shady cunt.”

“Only when you’re mean.” Danny shrugged.

Roy snorted and pushed him into the elevator. Once the doors behind them shut he pressed Danny up against the wall and grabbed his dick through his pants.

“Careful. You’re not exactly getting in my good books here.” He growled palming him.

“Then you’ll have to fuck me till I learn my place.” Danny moved his hips up to meet Roy’s warm hand, feeling his underwear growing snugger.

Roy reached his hand inside the loose denim hanging around his waist and took hold of the head of Danny’s cock, giving it a squeeze. “You know what today is don’t you.”

“Uh-huh.” Danny nodded hissing softly when Roy’s thumb started stroking the fabric in circles. The friction against the sensitive head of his cock almost painful yet extremely pleasurable.

They heard the door pinging indicating they were approaching their floor and Roy quickly pulled his hand out just in time for the doors to open.

Instead he took hold of Danny’s hand and lead the giggling younger queen to their hotel room struggling to contain his own need for him any longer.

Once they were behind the locked door clothes began viciously flying over heads, starting with Roy’s jacket till only his pants and Danny’s tiny black briefs remained.

Danny got down on his knees to slide down the pesky joggers Roy was wearing that were getting in the way of him and his dick.

The rushed nature of their moment simmered down when their eyes met and something different than arousal ignited inside them both.

“Happy anniversary, my sweet.” The small glimmer in the brown of Roy’s eyes and the soft curving of his dimples around a faint smile as he said it reminded Danny that they didn’t have to worry about being caught anymore.

This was real. It was their anniversary and they were really a real couple. No rushing, no hushed I love yous, no hiding their commitment. It was like they were free.

“Happy anniversary.” Danny stood up and their pumped lips tenderly brushing over each other said the rest for them.

Once he felt Roy’s erection twitch against his Danny sunk back down to the task at hand that was previously interrupted.

Kissing between his hipbones first, savoring every slight quiver of Roy’s body as his lips placed gentle pecks all along the heated tan skin.

Slowly he pulled his boxers down kissing the newly exposed skin as he went till it was finally lowered enough to let his dick free.

Immediately when Roy’s dick sprung up Danny grabbed the head in his mouth making Roy release a very relieved sigh.

His hand stroking him off while his tongue continued lavishing the head with as much affection possible he looked up at Roy watching the lust pooling in his eyes.

With a sneaky smile he flattened out his tongue and trailed his cock along it till he it reached the tip of his tongue and he licked up any pre cum slowly oozing out. Watching Roy’s patience dwindling more each second.

Roy threw his head back when Danny took him in his mouth again, working him in further inch by inch with every pass of his head’s bops.

His painted nails scratching gently along the shivering tan thigh when he took him all in, holding the thick cock down his throat looking up at Roy for approval and the permission to pull back.

“That’s it, good boy.” Roy ran his fingers through his hair before pulling him back up by his jaw to resume their tender make out session. Their tongues leisurely dancing over and around each other as their hands felt up their bodies.

While Roy’s hands were exploring the sides of his slim waist Danny took him by the hand and lead him to the lusher than average hotel bed.

Going to lie down on his back with his hands cupping Roy’s face they drew out the moment for as long as possible. Simply enjoying every second of being together again at last.

Roy hovering over him with his hand snaking along Danny’s torso, his belly and down his inner thigh before traveling back up made the younger shiver with anticipation.

Danny was the first to cave and tear himself away from his lover with a smile before flipping himself over. Resting on his stomach wiggling his ass at Roy telling him exactly what to do without using his words.

Roy tried hiding his slight chuckling at Danny’s eagerness making him grind his hips into the sheets telling him to hurry it up. Instead he took his time pulling Danny’s underwear off caressing his cheeks after discarding the briefs. “I missed this ass. This perfect little impatient ass.”

“I can’t help it, being without you is actual torture. I hate it” Danny whined.

“I know baby.” Roy pulled his cheeks apart just enough to kiss around his entrance.

Danny lifted his ass every time he’d feel his lips against him in an attempt to get him closer to his target.

Eventually Roy couldn’t keep up his teasing any longer and started first by kissing his asshole gently before his tongue went to work. Every time he’d lick around the small pink muscle it made Danny whimper.

His whimpers soon turning lower and lower till they were full blown moans when Roy’s pointed tongue entered him.

“Please.” Danny breathed into the sheets looking back at him. “Your bag I think.”

Roy kissed his ass a final time and quickly reached behind him searching for the bag next to the bed. While he hunted for the lube Danny rotated himself again so he’d be on his back, stroking himself while he waited.

Roy resumed his position over him with his knees resting between his legs. While making out again Roy massaged his hole with his thumb now drenched in heavy pink lube.

Danny brought his legs up against his chest when Roy eventually began lubing himself up as well.

Now simply staring at each other Roy gradually began entering him, watching Danny’s mouth drop open wider the further he pushed himself in.

“You good?” Roy asked as he started rolling his hips very slowly. Barely moving at first to allow Danny’s asshole to adjust again after their 2 weeks of forced celibacy.

“Mh-hm.” Danny nodded running his hands up from his thighs to pull his ass into him trying to get more.

Roy’s shallow thrusting began picking up pace when the tight asshole enveloping him relaxed at last.

Not long after the dimly lit room filled with a symphony of bodies slapping and the joined moans of both men so starved for intimacy finally getting what they most needed.

“Kiss me.” Danny whispered between pants.

Roy bent down to kiss him with as much intensity as his hips slapping into him while his hands on Danny’s ribs kept him pinned down.

With the younger’s legs over Roy’s shoulders he could fully enter him with ease. The force of his body driving every inch of his dick into him not only driving Roy completely wild but also very clearly Danny but the way he was gripping the sheets.

“Harder.” He pleaded closing his eyes. His fingers around the fabric only clenching tighter when his thrusts turned deeper, more forceful as asked.

Knowing exactly how down right evil it would be to tease Danny like this when his orgasm was building up a steady momentum Roy sat back on his knees.

Danny however surprised him by simply opening his legs and with a smile he took matters into his own hands - literally. With a firm grip around his dick he began jerking himself off while a now slightly thrown off Roy added more lube onto his cock.

“Enjoying the view?” Danny raised a smug brow watching Roy following his lead. Stroking himself as well, staring with a somewhat proud expression at the hand jacking himself off.

“You’re so fucking stunning.” Roy praised in a low, hungry voice, running his fingers along Danny’s inner thigh. “And so is your beautiful fucking cock.”

While Roy continued working himself he leaned down into Danny’s spread lap and took as much of his cock into his mouth as possible. “Ah shit…” Danny dropped his head into the pillows when Roy’s well experienced mouth began sucking him off. Hollowing his cheeks as his head bopped in rhythm with his hand.

The way he twisted his head every time his mouth closed back around the tip of his cock before enveloping his entire member only made Danny unbelievably desperate. “Fuck me please. Please, Daddy.”

Roy smirked victoriously for getting him to beg, he knew Danny only called him daddy like that when he was truly unable to contain himself.

Keeping his hands on Danny’s hips to help guide him Roy reinserted himself back into his tight hole.

Being just as impatient as his love at this point he wasted no time in picking up his previous pace immediately, disregarding the body trembling beneath him from the sudden intrusion.

“Oh fuck me.” Danny breathed out, his eyes locked between their bodies to watch his ass getting pounded. “Fuck that’s good.”

“Keep playing with yourself.” Roy instructed and Danny happily obliged still jerking himself off. “Good boy.”

Fueled by the guttural moans coming from the younger Roy’s shallow thrusting quickly morphed into deep deliberate strokes, hammering himself balls deep into his ass as he began feverishly kissing his neck again.

Gnawing at the heated skin below his jaw, at the spot he knew all to well could turn Danny into jelly in mere seconds.

“I’m going to cum.”

“When?” Roy’s nails dug into the soft skin of his hips allowing him to pick up the tempo of his movements again. “Soon.”

“Tell me when.” When Danny didn’t respond Roy pulled his attention back to him with his fingers digging into his chin so he could look straight into his hooded hazel eyes. “Answer me.”

Danny nodded, unable to form words from the tightness in his abdomen growing unbearable. He lifted his head up so they could kiss again as he pushed him back slowly into a seated position without ever letting his cock slip out.

Roy leaned back with his hands holding onto the sheets behind him as Danny took over, bouncing vigorously onto his lap desperate to finally climax.

The head now buried in Roy’s shoulder and teeth biting into whatever flesh it could find leaving red teeth marks all along his collarbone and up his neck was enough to tell Roy exactly what was about to happen even before his warning.

“Babe.” Danny cried.

Roy hastily pushed him off onto his back and lunged between Danny’s legs to take his cock in his mouth before it was too late.

Danny instinctively grabbed hold of his short black hair with both hands, bucking his hips up to shoot his load down Roy’s throat with a final few high pitched grunts.

“That’s it.” Roy praised squeezing the tip of Danny’s still pulsing cock to work out the last of his cum careful not to let any go to waste.

The gorgeous view from where he was sitting was nearly enough to make him bust his load right then and there as well.

He still couldn’t fathom how the gorgeous young man on his back, squinting through slightly glossed over eyes with his puffy plump lips wide open was really his.

Roy let go slowly of his cock licking the last remnants of his orgasm off his lips when Danny brought his hand down to caress his cheekbone with the back of his knuckles.

“Roy. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Roy smiled and began attempting to make his way back up Danny’s body when the younger stopped him.

“Wait,” Danny pushed himself up with shakey limbs and rolled over. Playfully wiggling his round ass in front of Roy’s face again. “Show me.”

“You still good for more?” Roy asked giving the bubbly ass a good hard spank.

“Always.” Danny bit his lip.

“Up against the wall.”

Danny obeyed and scooted on his knees over to the headboard with his hands resting above it as Roy reinserted himself behind him.

“I really do love you, so so much.” Roy emphasized every word with a bite along his nape. Covering the orange butterfly tattoo with small kisses as he resumed his thrusting.

Showing Danny exactly how much he needed him with every rapid slap of his body against his. His arms clinging around his waist as tightly as the pressure was building between his legs.

“I want you to cum inside me.” Danny whispered looking back at him.

His seductive words sent straight electricity down Roy’s spine. His hand held Danny’s head up exposing his reddened neck both from his arousal and the hickeys already forming on it.

“Dirty fucker.” He breathed against one of the faded bruises from their first night in a hotel on tour before clamping onto the skin again.

“Mmh your dirty fucker.” Danny mused licking his top lip.

“You are mine.” Roy said softer, the nature of his words and the heavy slams against his ass contrasting each other.

“I am. I’m yours, only yours my beautiful Willow.” He whispered against his lips as they met once again. The arm stretched behind him caressing the back of his head.

“Let me look at you.” Roy instructed pulling out again giving his ass a hard slap. “Back. Now.”

Both now back in their starting position again Danny scratched his nails into his ass making Roy hiss as he slid into him again.

He pulled him forward so he could look into his eyes holding onto either sides of his jaw.

“You gonna cum for me?” Danny bit onto Roy’s lip.

“Fuck yeah.” Roy breathed out into his mouth when his orgasm continued building closer as fast as he was pummeling into him.

“Cum for me baby.”

Danny’s sultry words of encouragement alone were enough for Roy to be pushed over the edge he’s been trying so hard to keep himself away from.

“Oh…fu…” Roy groaned pounding himself balls deep into his young lover again a final time when he gave into his orgasm. Shooting his load into Danny’s ass.

His limbs began trembling struggling to keep himself upright when his much awaited climax hit him like a ton of bricks.

While coming down from his orgasmic high he kept himself steady by focusing just on kissing those lips he loved, letting himself grow limp inside him before he pulled out and rolled over next to him.

“You’re secretly such a cock whore I love it.” Danny snickered wiping some leftover cum from earlier off Roy’s chin.

“Pot meet kettle.” Roy slapped his chest in retaliation. “Now go clean up.”

Danny gave him a very offended look which was made keeping a straight face at nearly impossible for Roy. “You made the mess you clean it, and because you’re so bossy you can call room service.”

“Hey I’m not doing all the work, you lazy bitch.” Roy rolled off the bed and walked over to where he threw their bags earlier. Digging through his backpack for his glasses case. “Besides,if you don’t cook or clean you won’t exactly make very good wife material.”

“Whatever.” Danny rolled his eyes throwing a pillow at Roy.

He took his glasses out and threw the other contents they hid from the girls in the small blue case out on the bed next to Danny before he went into the bathroom to get them a cloth.

After cleaning off the so called ‘mess’ he made Roy sat back against the headboard. Danny was resting against his chest with Roy’s arm protectively around him and their fingers intertwined.

Danny lifted their clasped together hand examining their woven fingers before smiling up at Roy kissing him softly. “Happy 6 months, bossy.”

“Happy 6 months, my love.” Roy tilted his head smiling into his lips kissing him back.

“Should we tell?” Danny held their hands up in front if them, admiring the way the lamp’s soft glow hit the gold around their fingers just right making it sparkle. “Husband.”

#isnt it lovely #imafuckinglibra #bianca del rio #adore delano #biadore #smut #fluff #rpdr fanfiction #submission #canon compliant

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