#(i specifically did not want any lights or bells and whistles)

[invinciblerodent]

feeling particularly rabid today as I install bg3 onto MY BEAUTIFUL NEW PC!!!!!!!!

I don't know much about nothin

But one thing, I do know;

Shit's gonna be PRETTY

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

3. This isn't helping me solve my money problem, it's only making me into a free-market type. (Opt out.)

SAVOIR FAIRE - What are you, a racist? Don't be a racist! Be a cool immigrant ultraliberal free market advocate! Ride or die, keep it street!

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success]- This guy's appropriating the emerging Boogie Street lingo as part of his sales pitch for the free market economy.

Well… if *not* being an ultraliberal makes me a racist then I guess I should be an ultraliberal? (Opt in.)

You're trying to sound like a Boogie Street youth to peddle me this stuff, aren't you?

Go away! [Discard thought.]

SAVOIR FAIRE - Yeah, ain't it cool, rider?! Ain't it street?

2. It's not. (Opt out.)

Since we're already here, let's go and talk to Evrart one last time.

🎵 Evrart's Theme

EVRART CLAIRE - "Mr. Du Bois! The word in Martinaise is *a certain police officer* is once again happily reunited with his service weapon." He winks at you. "Congratulations, my friend!"

"I prefer my police officers old-fashioned like that... with a gun. You can do so many things with a gun that you can't do without one. Now, what can I help you with?"

"Look... my gun." (Show it to him.)

"Remember the container I asked you about? Turns out there's a mega rich light-bending guy inside."

"I met a girl named Acele who said she's working with you."

EVRART CLAIRE - "My, my..." He lets out an appreciative whistle. "She's quite the looker, Harry. You can't imagine how pleased I am the two of you are reunited."

"Tell me, was it difficult to convince..." The big man pauses to tap on his chin. "... The Pigs to give it up?"

"Not at all."

"The important thing is I got my gun back."

EVRART CLAIRE - "I knew you could handle it. I know my special policeman. Anyway, I'm glad you're alright and armed again, Harry. Now, what can Evrart Claire do for you?"

"Remember the container I asked you about? Turns out there's a mega rich light-bending guy inside."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Mega rich light-bending guy? Oh my god! How did that get in there?"

"He's so rich he could get in anywhere."

"Slime like him? Must've oozed in through the cracks."

"He must have been in the container when someone accidentally closed the door."

"I don't know how he got in there."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Damn it to hell, Harry!" He slams his fist on the table. "I specifically told my guys to check all the containers for mega rich light-bending guys."

"Nothing can stop an innovative mind."

"I think he wants to take down the proletariat, Evrart."

"Kim, tell him he was there."

"You know, some of him *may* have been a figment of my imagination."

KIM KITSURAGI - "There was a guy in the container," the lieutenant says slowly. "But he didn't bend any light. That was in the detective's head."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Honestly, guys, we might be moving a spot of drugs through this harbour, but I won't be caught transporting the light-bending mega-rich." He shakes his head. "I have a reputation to protect."

"Yes, for god's sake, you're a socialist."

"The mega rich are people too. He was a nice man. Gave me stock tips."

"Yes, the transportation of the mega rich should be more tightly regulated. Didn't seem like he was safe."

"You should be honoured by the presence of this magus. He was of half-Revacholian blood and amassed his wealth using the mysterious bond of nationhood."

+1 Communism

+5 XP

EVRART CLAIRE - "You're right, Harry. I *am* a socialist." His face turns serious. "I'm going to catch the mega rich guy inside the container and harvest his energy to power the harbour's fog lights."

He bursts out laughing. "I shudder to think what you're going to tell me next, Harry."

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - Not for one second did he believe there's an actual mega rich person somewhere in his containertown.

"I met a girl named Acele who said she's working with you."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Funny..." The big man lets out a lazy yawn. "That doesn't ring any bells, Harry."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Funny," the lieutenant says, looking up from his notebook. "She was trying to set up a narcotics operation in the old church on the coast."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Oh, that Acele!" He taps his temple. "Yes, I do seem to remember sending a pretty young thing down there to liven up the place. Get some anodic music in there."

"Did you also tell her to start the amphetamine lab?"

"Anodic music? Liven up the place? Yes, that checks out. Let's change the subject."

EVRART CLAIRE - "Amphetamine lab?" He seems taken aback. "That sound very immoral and debauched. Frankly a health risk."

"But what do I know about kids these days, the music they listen to, the drugs they do while they listen to that music…" He shakes his head with a melancholy smile.

KIM KITSURAGI - "It sounds to me like you're trying to start an amphetamine lab in the district," the lieutenant says with an uncharacteristic note of contempt in his voice. "And you're using some delinquents you found god knows where to set it up and run it for you."

EVRART CLAIRE - "'Found god knows where'?" The big man exhales loudly. "That *Acele* is the daughter of Mico the Kebab -- a man who once killed a guy with a kebab."

"I think a daughter of a man who killed a man with a kebab can handle running a little nightclub, don't you?"

"Mico the Kebab? Really?"

EVRART CLAIRE - "Maybe it was Bogowir? Or Jakub?" He stares off into the distance, seemingly trying to remember something. "I think it might have been Konrad..."

+5 XP

Task complete: Ask Evrart about the drug lab

+10 XP

Level up!

"Anyway, I shut down the amphetamine production, but let them go on with the nightclub plan."

Say nothing.

EVRART CLAIRE - "I got it, Harry! It was Radogost. Radogost the Kebab." He smiles smugly. "But enough of Kojkos and kebabs. What else can I do for you?"

Nothing, at this point. Goodbye, Evrart.

4. "Evrart, I'm going to leave now, but we might talk again later." [Leave.]

I use two of the skill points we have to level up Conceptualization and Shivers, unlocking our only two currently locked checks.

On the way back towards the Whirling, I checked in with Easy Leo, Tommy, and Measurehead, to see if they had anything new to say to us. (They didn't.)

I've come back to Klaasje so we can retry this Shivers check, but we have a slight problem:

We have a -3 penalty owing to the snow. Let's talk to her a little and see if it'll clear up.

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I was just thinking -- what a nice day for questions." She lights a cigarette. "Pertaining to a murder investigation."

"Why do I feel like you've *won* here?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I really don't know, sir." She takes a sip of her cold coffee. "I certainly don't *feel* like I've won. I feel like shit, sir. All the time."

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - She smiles. A bitter little smile. She means it.

"But this turned out well for you. You've *slipped* past all suspicions."

"You're right."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "Clearly, I haven't. We're having this conversation, aren't we? How *well* could it have gone. I mean... " She looks around.

SHIVERS [Easy: Success] - The snow falls on her shoulders, then melts in her light blond hair... Cold and soft.

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I'm stuck in Martinaise, just like all of us. I've been up here for... I don't know how long now? I like to call this my *rooftop containment facility*."

"What are you contained for then?"

"Something seems… *off* with this theory I've developed. About Ruby."

"The dried flowers on the roof -- could Ruby have left them? These don't fit with anything."

"That's it then, I guess." (Conclude.)

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "For my *sins* of course. The long standing sins of a bad, frivolous person."

"For destroying my first love. For working for bad people. The list goes on and on."

2. "Something seems... *off* with this theory I've developed. About Ruby."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I don't know what to say."

"It all seems fortuitous -- for you."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "*None* of this is fortuitous for me."

3. "The dried flowers on the roof -- could Ruby have left them? These don't fit with anything."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "The what?" She narrows her eyes. "Oh, those ones! I don't know, sir. I said I have no idea what to make of them. Honestly, I think they're just trash."

"I mean, there's no reason for me to think they're somehow connected to her."

4. "That's it then, I guess." (Conclude.)

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - She nods, slowly -- carefully, even.

+5 XP

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - There is suddenly a strange glint in her eyes. Not malicious... but dangerous.

The snow has melted into rain, giving us a *slightly* better chance at this check. Enough that I'm williing to...

3. [Shivers - Godly 16] Look up to the grey sky.

+1 Independent Revachol. -2 Raining. Try again when it's stopped.

SHIVERS [Godly: Success] - "A warm column of air rises around you -- up to the falling rain -- encircling the building you stand on. You feel its twisting shape, bits of paper and birds on the *thermal*. Along with several million litres of water. All rising back into the great Insulindian sky.

Why does it rise?

Shudder.

SHIVERS - Because it's warm -- from the gathering spring; from the oceanic current flowing into the bay; the people on the streets; and the machines that hum in the harbour. Heavy fuel oils too.

Shudder.

SHIVERS - From the vapour, a great cumulus is formed. A cloud castle one thousand metres high. A flock of seagulls screams, hitch-hiking on the thermal. They too are part of the procession, the honour watch.

For whom?

SHIVERS - For her. The guest. Waiting.

Is she safe here?

What is she waiting for?

SHIVERS - As safe as you keep her.

What is she waiting for?

SHIVERS - For Gloria. Soon these clouds will all fall down as even greater rain. Spring will come. Two more months. Maybe less. It's time.

"Miss. What are you waiting for?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "You mean here -- in Martinaise?" She takes a drag, slow and long...

Nod.

"Never mind. Tell me something else."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I'm waiting for the miracle to happen. It'll take one to get me out of the mess I'm in."

KIM KITSURAGI - "And what would that miracle be?"

+1 Reputation

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "The Return, of course." She smiles. "Now, I know I'm not from *around* here -- I would only be hitch-hiking. The Return is a big hit in the industrial espionage circles. A lot of desperate, seedy types there. All screwed in this unipolar world."

"What is the Return?"

Revert your eyes to the rooftop and shudder.

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "Don't you know, sir? I thought you were from around here. You look like *Mr. Revachol*."

"Humour me."

"You know I'm a bit spotty -- about a great many *things*. Like being a cop for example."

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "The Return, well... It's part urban myth -- part political science. It's a fool's hope, sir, and it's also all I've got." She smiles. "They say there will be an *event*. That it will happen somewhere here..."

"In Revachol. Revachol West. They say it will happen soon -- and that it will change everything."

KIM KITSURAGI - "*Le Retour...*" the lieutenant says. His forehead furrowed, he puts his notes down.

"Some political event? How do you know of this?"

"How soon will it happen?"

"The Return of *what* exactly?"

"Thank you -- one last question. Do you really think it will happen?" (Conclude.)

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "As I said -- there's talk. In the competitive intelligence crowd. A lot of people, like me, who need... a new colour on the map. It's all blue, you see. And that blue doesn't like us."

2. "You came all this way because of a rumour?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "No, I came all this way on a false passport and some money. To hide, mostly. In the most volatile part of the Reál Belt, where it's easiest to disappear."

"Where the walls are still porous and you can slip through. This is just... something to get me through the night you know. A little *espérance*."

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Still, the story influenced her choice of where to run. It must have some hidden layers...

3. "How soon will it happen?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "Soon. But it's been *soon* for almost half a century now, so don't hold your breath."

"No need to worry, lieutenant." She turns to the lieutenant. "I'm sure the streets will not erupt in seditious violence just yet."

KIM KITSURAGI - "These streets?" He looks over the railing. "I'm not so sure, miss."

4. "The Return of *what* exactly?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "Of the king? Of the nation? Of communism? Return on investment?" She tilts her head. "I don't know exactly. It's meant to be vague, as promises generally are."

"But at the same time, I mean -- things can't go on like this forever. Something will give. It always does."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - It's an empty vessel, an amphora waiting to be filled. Something always *returns* from the past -- it's how the future happens. And when it does, many guesses turn out to have been right.

5. "Is this why you said you would like to surrender in a *free* Revachol?"

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "Yeah..." She looks at the sky, then at you. "I guess it is."

RHETORIC [Medium: Success] - So she thinks -- at least partly -- that this Return will feature a self-governing Revachol. She has already placed her bets.

6. "Thank you -- one last question. Do you *really* think it will happen?" (Conclude.)

KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "I do." She lights another one.

[gliphyartfan]

@stars-for-thought @imprisioned-in-the-hole @linked-heroes @ice-cream-writes-stuff

This...wrecked me.

BUT it was a long time coming! Had to cut half of it out cause it grew too long (nearly 6k is still long right?). But I did it! I honestly hope I did it justice!

If not for @yandere-linked-universe, I would have lost all motivation a week ago!

But I was successful!

Still though...heroes and their need to argue...

It wasn't something they've done in a long while.

Gathering around one another.

Not willingly at the least.

Eight of them sitting a fair distance away from the houses, the camp fire being the only source of light for them at this time of night.

Hyrule the last one to arrive, having checked up on (y/n) before arriving at the designated place, so the eight simply sat around the camp fire in silence, stewing in their own thoughts.

When he arrives, informing them of y/n's stable condition, it was then Legend claps his hands and brings their attention to him.

'I think I speak for all of us when I say we need to air out some things.' He would give them all a stern look. 'And let me be clear on the fact that we can't hide anything right now.'

None of them look at each other.

Hyrule nervously agrees but expresses concern over being heard by the nearby houses, more worried at disturbing (y/n) than he was about disturbing the neighbors.

Wind assures him that they wouldn't be heard.

'Mesa doesn't sleep at night cause of the monsters that used to pop up, plus he hates being alone nowadays so he stays with Miss Sue-Belle and her grandpa at night.' Wind explained with a shrug.

'Even if he was there, he's a really heavy sleeper, we could scream at the very top of our lungs all we want and no one would hear us from over here. I've tested it.'

'How convenient.' Wars remarked with a snort but wouldn't make a comment after getting a look from Time.

Before things could become awkward, Legend does not hesitate to be blunt about it.

'We need to stop.' He would say, resting his elbows on his knees.

'Stop what?' Wild mutters.

'All of 'this'.' He's wave his hand towards the group, a scowl on his face.

Wars rolls his eyes.

'Legend, my dear hoarder, you need to be more specif-'

' When was the last time we talked to one another without taking note of eachothers weaknesses?'

Warriors closed his mouth, the group looked at each other, none speaking up with an answer.

'When was the last time we actually shared a space without tension? Covered each other in battle because we were worried instead out of obligation, or just leaving each other to fend for themselves? Or shared our potions willingly?' A sharp smile on his face. 'Or better yet, when was the last time we trusted one another?'

...

No one had anything to say to that.

Legend shook his head, a scowl appearing. 'I'm not dumb, I can see what's in front of me. Whatever trust we forged during our journey is at risk of fading to almost nothing. It's a fucking miracle y/n hasn't noticed us going for each other's throat.

'Okay, that's a bit harsh.' Sky interjected nervously, 'I agree that it's possible things have been...rather tense lately, but I wouldn't say it's that bad.'

Legend leveled a look at him.

'Four, Wild, and Twilight have all scared off at least 12 different people for looking at her recently.'

'It was necessary!' Four exclaimed in defense, Twilight placing a hand on his shoulder keep him from jumping up from his seat, Wild staying in his seat, though his hands tightened into fists. ' We saw the intentions in their eyes! The way they stared at her! They were looking at her like she was food!'

Legend turned the leveled look at the blacksmith.

'All 12? All of them? In the same town? In the same day? He asked with a scoffed, 'Same hour? Half of them women? Oh yes, very dangerous. And it's rather convenient when the Cook joins in and helps you scare them away.'

Four had a sneer on his face but the silent rancher's hand on his shoulder kept him from doing anything else.

Legend watched them for another moment before turning back to Sky.

'Warriors and Hyrule have been awfully careful with keeping any of us from encroaching upon her personal space, either by being the ones to guard her while she's bathing or when she's hurt.'

'What, so that makes us suspicious?' The captain crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him, Hyrule nervously ducking his head. 'She deserves some space away from you clingy lot! We're just making sure she has it!'

'Funny how you say that when you've been taken advantage of your position to have some alone time with her.' Legend doesn't even look away from the skyloftian as he answers back. 'You know, you're quite charming when you think no one is paying attention. And don't think I haven't noticed how our resident healer has been hoarding potions for some time.'

Warriors and Hyrule tensed at being found out, keeping their eyes from settling on anyone else's as they were looked at.

'The old man has been very careful in sending one of us ahead when there's danger. That honestly took me a bit to figure out, since he rotates who goes. Yet he never seems to volunteer himself.' The vet looked over at Time, who's featured remained impassive.

'Wild has been more aggressive with strangers than Four, which is saying something considering how violent the blacksmith has been. The sailor has been growling at every kid that's been as close as 5 feet of her and clings to her when he thinks we're too busy, and don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been nudging the tension between everyone while going through her things Sky.'

He raised an eyebrow as he looked back at the pale faced skyloftian.

'And you're telling me it's not that bad?'

There wasn't anything the group could say to those (accurate) accusations, Four looked to be visibly restraining himself from hitting him.

...

'...Maybe it's because you all force your presence on her...'

'...What was that?' Four growled out, solid blue eyes snapping up to glare at the speaker.

Wind lifted his head, glaring back at the blacksmith.

'You heard me Blacksmith, or is your attention span as short as your height?' He sneered. 'You all force your presence on her when she wants to be left alone! At least she feels comfortable with me!'

Four sneered back at Wind. 'The way you hog her attention is the very comforting.'

'Hey, I at least GIVE her space! I saw how you yelled at that shopkeeper when he asked if she needed anything-'

'I had to! Didn't you see the way that disgusting bastard-'

...

Legend watched as the group slowly dissolved into chaos. Each hero soon shouting at one another.

This is what he had been worried about for so long, and here was proof that the trust they had between one another is dangerously close to collapsing.

He watched as Twilight was talking coldly to Time, who didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of his choices.

Four and Wind were at each other's throats and Warriors was basically growling at Wild, who was screaming about how he always knew Warriors was keeping y/n away from everyone else.

Sky and Hyrule, who were shouting at each other over what they've been doing.

He needed to get them back on track, so with a deep breath, he whistled as loudly as he could.

He began speaking the moment they all looked at him.

'Well ain't this a beautiful example of shit I've ever seen!'

'Enough Veteran!' Time ordered, speaking up for what seemed the first time since this conversation began.

'You've been doing a good job keeping quiet old man, better get back to being a good boy and let the big people talk.' Legend didn't need to look at Time to know his expression was thunderous.

'All of you acting like little BRATS, ready to play 'it's not my fault, it's YOURS.' A humorless laugh escaping him.

'News flash bastards, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULTS.' His grin was more bearing teeth than a grin.

'None of you are innocent.'

He expected Wild to shout at him, maybe Wind or Sky. Hell, the good captain looked ready to tackle him.

Yet it was Four who jumped to his feet, growling at the Veteran.

The smaller boy slipped away from the hands restraining him, rushing forward and grabbed the taller boy's collar, slamming their foreheads together and hissing, 'Just who the hell do you think you are?!?'

'That's a funny question.' He remarked mockingly, making sure not to show that the head bashing hurt. 'Considering how you seem to think you're in the right.'

Four wasn't pleased by his comment. 'I'll take out anyone that lays a malicious hand on her. How dare you even insinuate that I would let such a thing happen!'

'For someone who sounds so sincere, you have a funny way of showing it.' Legend retorted with gritted teeth, never taking his eyes off the shorter man's.

'Acting like you care but when it matters, you're as blind as the rest of us. That's why she got hurt.'

The others surged forward,

'How dare you-"

'That's not true-'

'Damnit Vet, you can't just-'

'SHE NEARLY DIED DAMNIT!!' He shoved Four back, basically throwing him to the floor, having enough of everyone's nonsense.

Everyone stills at his words.

'SHE'S STILL UNRESPONSIVE!! SHE'S ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF OUR FUCKING RIVALRY!!!' He blazed with impotent rage.

'She's laying in that house, because she got LUCKY. Do you hear me?' He emphasized his point by gesturing in the direction of Wind's house.

'Because had we not gotten our shit together? Had we argued just a moment more? We would have been standing before her GRAVE.'

His face was dark with fury.

'And you have the fucking nerve to tell me I'm in the wrong?' He hissed through clenched teeth.

...

...It is quiet.

The veteran stared right into the blacksmith's eyes, vaguely noticing how it shifted colors rapidly. The way his face twitched, as if physically restraining himself from saying something he would regret.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the others frozen in different positions of action.

Some halfway out of their seats, others reaching for the two of them as if to pull them away from each other.

He focused back on Four, noticing his jaw was tightly clenched.

'WE. NEED. HER. ' he said in a firm voice.

This seemed to make him flinch, but Legend wasn't finished. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice a few notches though he was still partly yelling.

'Not the other way around. SHE doesn't need us.' he slowly shook his head as he looked at every one of them.

'She NEVER needed us.'

Four looked away at that.

'We need her more than we need air in our lungs. Need her more strongly than water or food. ' He focused back on Four and pointed at him.

'And you...you think I'm going to let you, let any of you, let MYSELF, lose her because we couldn't control ourselves?' His chuckle was icy, his smile was unpleasant and full of teeth.

'Oh you don't know me as well as I thought. '

'Because allow me to be as clear as possible when I say, I would slaughter anyone that laid a filthy hand on her' Legend leaned forward, smiling coldly. 'Push me enough, and you'll be on the list.'

'Isn't that extreme..?!' Hyrule exclaimed worriedly, looking at Legend with an uncertain expression.

'Oh...so you wouldn't hurt them if they laid a hand on her? You would actually hesitate to tear off limbs if they forced her to go with them. If they dared to speak her like some cheap whore-'

'How could you even say that-!!!'

'That is uncalled for!'

Legend spread his arms out. 'Well you all might as well be saying you would!!'

'Hold your tongue or I'll cut it!' Wild suddenly snarled, Twilight, visibly tense from Legend' words, was forced to put both hands on Wild.

'I bet you would just stand there while they tried, hm? Stand there while she cries for your help?' He kept pushing, because he needed to. 'Just stand there, watching her shed her tears? Stand there and let. them. touch her? Is that what you would do? Answer me.'

'Don't you DARE say such a thing.' Wild growled, his lips drew back in a snarl.

'You all seem so eager in proving me right, I see nothing wrong with saying this if this is how you really feel.' He masked a scowl with a smirk even as the others began to raise their voices again.

'WHAT THE HELL!'

'You miserable pile of-!!'

'JUST TELL ME YOU'RE READY TO ABANDON HER SO I CAN KEEP HER AWAY FROM YOU ALL!!'

'HOW DARE YOU!!' Warriors roared, suddenly on his feet and in Legend's face.

'You think you can accuse us like this, act like you have the high ground, and expect us to sit here and take it?!' Legend didn't even hesitate shoving him away.

'I can accuse you all I want! Whatever friendship we may still have be damned, BECAUSE YOU'RE AS GUILTY AS I AM!!!' Legend shouted, even as the captain grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him up to his face again.

'WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.'

'I'M ONE WHO'S ACTUALLY TRYING TO FIX THIS MESS!! UNLIKE YOU WHO'S READY TO LET HER END UP AS A CORPSE BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T NOTICE YOU THE WAY YOU WANT HER TO!!'

'You miserable, disrespectful, arrogant-

'STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE NOT PART OF THE FUCKING PROBLEM YOU STUPID SOLDIER!!'

'SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!'

'NO! WAKE UP FROM YOUR FUCKING FANTASIES!'

'What gives you the FUCKING RIGHT-'

'BECAUSE I LOVE HER YOU BASTARD!!'

The admittance silenced them swiftly.

But he didn't care at the moment.

He was breathing deeply after saying those words. Face flushed with anger. Fists clenched so tightly, they were bone white.

'I. Love. her.' He hissed to a frozen Warriors.

'I. Need. her.' He grabbed the wrist attached to the had gripping his tunic.

'I. Can't. Lose. Her.' He bared his teeth, slowly shaking his head.

'I won't hesitate.' He voice was a whisper at this point. But it didn't matter. The crackling fire was the only other sound at moment.

'I won't hesitate to kill anyone that takes her away from me.'

...

And that's what he needed them to understand. Needed them to understand that as much as he cared for this group, as much as he's willing to put the effort to fix things...

If they didn't work together?

There would be corpses.

And he wouldn't be one of them.

He wanted to keep screaming at them. Wanted they to hang their heads in shame as he pointed out every flawed thing they've done as of late.

But he..sighed.

'I want..so much.. ' He began, looking straight into Warriors' eyes, a numb sense of calm filling him. 'I want so many impossible things.'

'I want to fall asleep to her peaceful face, and wake up to the sight of her kind smile. I want her to lean against me as she draws, to watch her eyes light up when I show her something new. To see her laugh, hear her hum a tune, to know I'm the reason she glows with happiness.'

He could feel the pale faced captain tremble beneath his grip.

'I want the exact same thing you bastards want...' he took a deep breath, to settle his heart.

'I just want her by my side every single day.'

His voice almost quiet.

'I don't want to lose her.'

Silent stillness enveloped them after Legend had finished speaking, only the sound of the crinkling fire all that was audible at the moment.

Warriors stared at him, swallowing. visibly shaken by the veteran's honesty.

After a beat, Legend slowly pulls the captain's hand off of him.

He was met with no resistance.

He looks at them all. Tired, drained, a headache slowly making itself known.

'So...' he raised an eyebrow, tone dull, 'How about the cook whip us up something.'

Wild blinked, startled by being acknowledged.

'Wha-'

'And while he's at it, our resident healer can check up on our mutual darling.'

Hyrule jolted at the sudden acknowledgment.

'We have a lot to talk about and we can't do it on empty stomachs and worry in our minds.' He grinned sardonically, slowly clapping his hands twice.

'Chop chop people. The night is still young.'

--

--

It took a while for them to speak up after that, because what could one say after such an outburst?

It soothed their hearts when Hyrule returned, saying she was healing nicely. That information helped them calm down while using the time Wild spent cooking to gather their thoughts.

It was difficult to come up with something after the explosive event of earlier.

They were silent when their food was served.

Silent as they ate.

But slowly, very slowly, they did.

Legend pulling the words out of them.

Each grievance, thought and feeling.

It was a snail's pace, but as the Veteran calmly pushed them into speaking, the atmosphere surround the group slowly calmed, the words flowing just a bit easier than before.

'I just don't want her to leave.' Hyrule admitted quietly, looking down at his hands, almost ashamed to admit such a thing.

Warriors sighed. 'I think I speak for all of us when I say the feeling is mutual.'

Murmurs of agreement met his words.

' I don't disagree. It's obvious why, she's...just so kind.' Sky shyly put out, a small blush on his face.

'I mean, when was the last time she even demanded something from any of us?'

Warriors couldn't help but snort. 'I think you mean to say 'when has she ever demanded anything from us?'

'I believe I can answer that.' Time said, speaking up after staying silent for most of the evening.

Four raised an eyebrow. 'Oh, and when was this?'

'When she and I got separated, I injured my leg fighting the Lynel? Back in Legend's era I believe it was.'

'I remember that!' Wind piped in, snapping his fingers and pointing at Time. 'In the lost woods! She was tugging your ear when I reached you guys!'

Time nodded with a chuckle, resting his chin on his hand.

'Got quite the lecture too. She can be...quite stern when pushed enough.'

' That was the first time she saw one of us fight a Lynel wasn't it...' Twilight realized, blinking in comprehension. 'I can't believe I forgot that. She must have been terrified witnessing such a thing.

'Ah, but that was the thing. She was calm when she saw me kill it.'

'So she has thicker skin than an average civilian.' Legend sighed. 'Impressive but not that surprising.'

'Don't get me wrong Vet, she was quite unnerved when she saw the battle but once it was over and she saw my injury, I was the main focus.' He looked down, almost unaware that he was touching the place where the injury once was.

'She could have gone to get one of you guys, I knew she heard you calling out to us, we both did, but she stayed.' He smirked then, 'Pulled out a couple of red potions from her bag too.'

He had the group looking at him in surprise.

'Wait, potions?'

'Who gave her a potion?'

'Wars, was it you?'

'I would remember that!'

'Well well, isn't she well prepared.'

'Looks like she's paying attention to the Vet's paranoia!'

'Ha ha, such flattery.'

'Did she buy a few in town before we swapped eras?'

'Actually she has a stash of them in the event of one of us becoming injured and she's the only one around.' Time interjected, one of his amused grins on his face.

That brought another round of questions.

'She knows how to make potions?!'

'No Wind, we would have seen her.'

'It's not something that could be hidden either.'

'And where did she get the money to buy enough potions?'

'When'd she have the time to even get potions??'

'My question is, how did we not see her get the potions?'

' Did she tell you?' Time snorted softly as the last question was directed at him.

'Matter of fact, yes. Clever answer too, know all those 'silly bets' she got us to agree to?'

He waited for them to nod. ' Well, she's been stashing every rupee she's won from us specifically to buy 'emergency potions'. He answered with a breathy chuckle. 'As for when? She's been buying them from Beedle when we were at stables. And since we also give her money to buy herself stuff...'

'None of us would be the wiser.' Legend finished for him.

'You're serious aren't you...' Warriors couldn't help but say.

'Absolutely.' Time nodded, not able to suppress a grin when he realised the captain's tone was admiring.

'She looked so embarrassed, thought I would be upset with her for ' sneaking behind our backs'. Tried to justify it by saying it 'felt stupid to be the only one in the group who wasn't prepared for some type of emergency.'' A round of chuckles emerged from the group as they all imagined the expression on her face.

'When she saw my injury, she immediately pulled out the potions from her pouch, didn't even pause in shoving a few into my hands and asking me how much pain I was in.' He smiled at the memory. 'That's when I made the foolish mistake of telling her to leave me there and go find one of you.'

' And you lived to tell the tale?' Warriors asked, smirking widely.

'Barely, the glare I receive was quite fierce.' Time didn't even bother to hold the laughter down, still remembering how startled he had been, having such a glare directed at him.

'Like a raging Goddess, she demanded I take better care of myself, or face mothering the likes of which I never saw before.' He looked exasperated, yet his voice was the definition of amused.

' She then proceeded to baby talk me until I agreed.'

Time was not ashamed as the group roared with laughter.

'Are you serious?'

'Poor man!' Warriors reached over and clapped a hand on the older man's shoulder.

'Oh, THAT must have been uncomfortable!' Sky commented between breaths.

' I barely lasted a few sentences before I was pleading for mercy.' He rolled his eyes and huffed through his nose.

'So THAT'S why you were so careful in battle the weeks after.' Hyrule realized, grinning as Time shrugged.

'When I'm threatened with something like THAT? How can I do anything else but obey?'

Wars held his hands up in a shrug, smirk on his face. 'Ah but who are we to question Her divine command?'

'Who are we indeed..' Time murmured with a breathy laugh.

Wild smirked, eyes glinting with glee. 'Speaking of her doing things we don't expect, Vet! Remember when she met Wolfie?'

Legend smirked, even as Twilight send a glare at the cook. 'Rather brave of her, despite never being near an actual wolf before. '

Sky frowned. 'But didn't she look nervous?' Twilight sighed as Legend and Wild let out a laugh.

' You would think! But she apparently didn't want to break any unspoken rules about touching him.' Wild couldn't resist the sharp grin as he eyed the embarrassed rancher. 'You should have seen her when she was given the okay. I'm surprised the mutt was able to escape her constant pets and kisses.'

Twilight wasn't able to keep the blush down when Wind grumbled a very clear 'Lucky bastard.' To the amusement of everyone else, especially those who knew his secret.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, the sound of the waves a song that filled their ears, the wind playing with their hair as they got lost in thought.

'...Go and bring peace to Hyrule.'

They looked at Wild, he was looking at the sea. 'Every time I went to one of those statues, that's what Hylia would tell me.'

He dug his boot into the sand. 'She would heal me up when I had enough spirit orbs, fill me with vitality, but every time she finished, she would always say those same words.' He grimaced

'And every time, I would think, 'is she healing me because cares, or because I'm just a means to an end?''

Wild shooked his head, never taking his eyes off the sea.

'Even though I've fought evil for her sake. For Zelda's sake. I always felt like she wanted more.' He grimaced.

“I don’t even know what more I could have given…” He admitted, “Always thinking that I’ll one day wake up and realize that I was fated to sacrifice more.'

Then a small smile pulled at his lips, 'But when I'm with (y/n)...I don't feel that weight of responsibility...the weight of those thoughts.' His words were barely above a whisper by the end.

'With her...I feel free.'

For several moments, there was stillness. Watch of them could feel the bite of the ocean breeze on their skin, the heat of the campfire barely able to hold off the chill and darkness surrounding them.

"She said she was proud of me..' Wild whispered, "Said that every breath I took, every moment I opened my eyes to greet the day, was rebellion against what destiny, what Ganon, had wanted.'

'She saw me, a failure of a hero, and said she was proud of me,' He whispered, unable to trust himself with anything louder. 'How could I possibly love another when she says such things with so much honesty?'

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'How could I go on, following Hylia's command blindly, when (y/n) comes to me with those kind eyes and says She just wants me to be happy?'

'Hylia does not want champions.' Time shook his head, smirking bitterly. 'She merely wants toy soldiers.'

Sky's eyes flew up to the look at eldest of the group.

'Surely that's a bit much, Hylia..has done what she could for us.'

'Who is Hylia? A being who seeks soldiers to clean up her mess? A being who only expects us to obey?' Time interjected.

Sky swallowed. 'But..she's assisted us-'

Time shook his head. 'No, she simply made sure we survived long enough to eliminate her enemies.'

Wild frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. 'When you think about it, he's right. We have never worshiped Hylia because we wanted to. But because we were obligated to. Because most of us were raised to believe it was an honor.'

He looked at Sky. 'But...isn't a goddess of benevolence supposed to be someone who is kinder than a mortal could comprehend? Someone who cares for her servants for no other reason than because we love her as much as she loved us?'

Twilight smiled bitterly. 'A goddess like that is someone I wouldn't mind serving. '

'Isn't that why we love Her so?' Legend said softly.

Warriors looked at him oddly. '(y/n) isn't a goddess Legend.'

Legend looked at him with carefully impassive expression. 'But we want her to be.'

They all looked anywhere but at him.

'You've all already admitted it. Even if you don't want to say it.' Legend smirked.

'Vet-'

''Who are we to question Her divine command?'' He repeated, smirking when the captain's mouth snapped shut.

'We all want her to be.' Legend repeated, catching Hyrule's eye and staring him down.

-Admit it.- His eyes said. Hyrule flinching at being seen through. Wanting to deny the silent accusation.

...But his heart wouldn't let him deny such a thing either.

'...(y/n) would make a better goddess than hylia.' He admitted, looking down.

Sky snap his attention to the traveler, his eyes slightly wide.

'Hyrule-' Legend cut Sky off, looking right at the skyloftian.

'Can you deny that she's already better than hylia?' Sky seemed to struggle with an answer, but Legend didn't wait for an answer.

'Is She not kinder, sweeter, more beautiful than anyone else? She never asks for anything other than our safety and happiness. Becomes upset when we try to do more than we can handle and tries to actually help us whenever she can. '

Twilight sighed, but nodded in agreement. 'Her presence is like a soothing warmth that never falters. I don't think I've ever had someone who's presence relieved me the way Hers does.'

He grimaced. 'Not even Hylia herself can claim such a thing.'

A glance at Sky, causing him to grimace and look away.

'Someone with a beautiful soul like Hers...' Hyrule whispered, folding his hands in front of his chest, almost like he was praying.

'I..I could worship someone like Her everyday without regret.' He looked away, as if shameful of his admittance.

'..What's wrong with that?' Hyrule looked at who spoke.

'Wars?'

Warriors did not look at him, staring at the ground. But his face had shifted into an expression of thoughtfulness. 'What's wrong with wanting to worship her? '

Hyrule's face flushed red. '..it...it seems a bit inappropriate to-'

'Because we're supposed to worship Hylia?' He looked up at him. 'Farore? Nayru? Din?'

'...I-'

Wind frowned, looking around. ' Why can't we worship who we desire? Worship someone we CAN trust?'

Twilight bit his lip, shaking his head. 'That's too much of a dream to even CONSIDER-'

Legend barked a laugh.

'Dreams are only dreams until we make them a reality.'

'...!' He chuckled at the shocked looks he received from most of them.

'You said it better than I ever could Hyrule. Someone with as beautiful of a soul as Her's is someone we could worship everyday of our lives without regret.'

'But we can't-'

'Why? Because we're Hylia's 'Champions'? I don't know if you remember this, but we've done our duties, defeated Ganon and the only reason I'll not complaining about THIS journey anymore is because it brought us Her.'

'Legend-'

'And don't we in a way worship her already?'

Wild tilted his head. 'What do you mean?'

He raised a finger, 'Don't we find joy in caring for her? Providing for her? Is that not paying tribute?' A second finger, 'Don't we defend her when danger is near? Cutting down every enemy that come near her? Is that not raising our swords in her name?'

He leaned forward, A manic glint flashing in his eyes. A third finger was raised. 'Do we not find joy when she whispers our name, do we not find peace when we whisper Hers? Is that not devotion? Tell me otherwise and I'll concede.'

But no one said anything.

No one wanted to.

Because they agreed with his words so much.

'She deserves someone to protect her...' Hyrule whispered, as if to himself, as if to convince himself to listen to the words being spoken to him.

'She deserves US to protect Her.' Legend corrected, his smile was all teeth, but it wasn't malicious.

'We've defeated literal evil. We're the best people to protect Her.' Wind added, his eyes matching the Veteran's. Soon matching the eyes of all of them.

'And doesn't She deserve the very best, after everything She's done for us?' Legend spread his arms out, smirk on his face. Sky smiled, looking at his hands, laughing softly, shaking his head.

'I...suppose you're right...' he slowly admitted, his shoulder releasing tension, almost relieved.

'I..can't see anyone else providing for her the way we can.'

'We have the resources...' Four slowly added, a note of mania woven through the blacksmith's words, 'We have much sway in our eras and what we don't have, I'm reasonably sure we know someone who can provide it for us.'

'We've faced more than enough adversaries to be able to counter any situation.' Warriors smirked, sitting back, arms crossed.

'The safest place is with us.' Time said, a sense of finality in his words.

And for the first time in so long, they all were united with such a decision.

It didn't matter if there wasn't a drop of divinity in her.

It didn't matter if she wasn't able to use magic or blessed by any spirit.

She was not a goddess in the way they knew. But only a fool would deny the beautiful divinity that radiated from Her heart.

She was Divine to them.

A presence that was not unlike an ocean of warmth that wanted to drown them in love and safety.  Eager to drive them mad, to drive them to protect Her happiness.

And they would drown in that ocean willingly.

She didn't even realize what she was doing to them.

She didn't realize that the very person She was was causing them to crave Her gentle touch, Her beautiful smiles, Her arms wrapped around them.

She didn't realize any of this.

Because it was as natural as breathing to Her.

How many times was Her kindness going to steal the breath from their lungs?

How many times was Her gentle voice going to soothe them when they wake from their nightmares, Her hands wiping the tears from their face?

How many times will they crave the chance to kiss away Her tears but only be able to brush them aside.

But it was alright.

They loved Her so much.

A Goddess of their own making.

One that they would worship freely, not like how obligation and duty forced their hand with Hylia.

Hylia demanded their loyalty.

(y/n) merely asked for their continued happiness.

Hylia commanded they fight in her name.

(y/n) requested they remained safe and healthy.

Hylia wanted heroes.

(y/n) wanted only them.

She wanted them.

She trusted them.

She cared for them.

She was the one they wanted to serve.

They fulfilled their duties to Hylia.

They no longer were obligated to serve her.

But (y/n)...She was so fragile compared to the rest of them. Having lived in a world with no monsters, no calamities or destiny.

She needed to be protected.

She needed them to protect Her.

They were the only ones who could protect Her.

They needed to unite. To stand side by side, as a shield against the monsters, against anyone that would dare take Her from them.

They couldn't fight amongst themselves anymore.

They couldn't allow Her to come to harm ever again.

All this time wasted fighting when they could have been protecting Her. Making her happy. Keeping her safe. How foolish of them.

But no longer.

To protect their Reason for breathing, there could be no room for trickery or lies between each other. Only for those that stood between them and Her.

The sun was rising, washing away the rivalries and dissonance of the past night, and the rays of dawn shining upon renewed unity and brotherhood.

She is their's; a Gift that pure chance had bestowed upon them.'

They would protect Her. Together.

They would protect their Goddess.

No one will ever take Her away from them.

No One.

[the-wild-wolves-around-you]

hear those bells ring: chapter 2 (a deaf!bakugo x reader fic)

Summary: Reader has to deal with the aftermath of Dynamight exploding through her window and trying to bleed out on her floor. 

Pairings: Katsuki Bakugo x Reader; Katsuki Bakugo x You

Rating: M(ature)

Warnings: Blood, descriptions of gore, and adult language. 

A/N: Here’s chapter two, hope you enjoy! ~*~*~ No spoilers or anything. This is just a self-indulgent AU fic with aged up characters. Everyone’s in their mid-20s. Fic title is from a song called “Achilles Come Down.”

AO3 Link: Here 

Ch 1 Tumblr Link: Here 

Chaos. You intellectually knew the word, in several languages in fact, but nothing could have ever prepared you for the reality of it. 

Information assaulted your senses in a deluge. The gust of cold air whistling through the broken window, raking icy fingers down your exposed arms. The bright flare of flames, even behind your clenched eyelids. The dissonant, haunting wails of several car alarms, each one just a second out of sync with the next, barely audible over the loud ringing in your ears. The taste of ash, gritty on your tongue as you sucked in heaving, panting breaths. The sharp smell of smoke and something… sweeter. Like caramelizing sugar. 

The sweet scent, incongruous with every other heinous detail, seemed to snap you fully back into your body, and your eyes flew open with a gasp. 

You were curled up in a tight ball below your now broken window, and you gaped at your ruined apartment. The lights were out, so the only illumination you had to see by were the flames behind you on the street, but it was enough. 

It looked like a tornado had torn through your home. The remnants of your window and wall—broken bits of glass, wood, and plaster—covered everything in sight in a fine layer of white dust. Your sewing desk/kitchen table was in splinters, and even with the dancing shadows, you had the distant thought that the dress you’d just finished mending was most definitely ruined. 

Then someone shouted outside on the street, and you felt it like a sledgehammer to the skull. 

Oh, god. The villain. The heroes. 

You scrambled up onto your knees, hissing when shards of glass tore through your sweatpants and bit into your skin. You’d worry about that later. For now, you focused on getting to your feet… 

And not falling out of the gaping hole in your apartment wall. 

You stumbled back a few steps from the edge, stabilizing yourself on one of your kitchen chairs that seemed to have survived the blast. The smoke was thicker now that you were off the floor, and you coughed and squinted against the hot, irritating air. 

The street in front of you was a warzone. 

The windows in the building across from you were all blown out, the empty frames like black gaping voids. The building housed a café/tea shop owned by Mr. and Mrs. Yamato, and you felt a small modicum of relief at the knowledge that they didn’t live above the shop like you did with yours. They lived in a neighborhood not too far away, and they wouldn’t be happy when they came to open in the morning, but at least they were safe. 

Safe… 

“Mr. Takeyoshi!” you gasped as you remembered your neighbor. He’d been standing on the street and nearly attacked by the villain, but a blond hero had pushed the middle-aged man out of the way. 

Your eyes scoured the street as you leaned forward as much as you dared, and just as your heart was beginning to clench, you spotted him. Mr. Takeyoshi was sitting on the curb across the street and about four storefronts down, hunched over with his head in his hands. Two heroes stood above him and seemed to be tending to him, and all three of the men looked whole for the most part. 

“God.” You exhaled shakily, your heart still stuttering in your chest, and then movement in your peripherals caught your attention. 

One hero seemed to possess a water quirk, and she was quickly working to spray down the numerous small fires still flickering up and down the road. As you watched her work, you realized the street wasn’t as badly demolished as you first assumed. It was still pretty wrecked—all of the asphalt was cracked and even just missing in some places—but aside from broken windows, the rest of the shops seemed mostly intact. The worst of the damage was centered just in front of your apartment, and as your gaze flickered over the large crater in front of you, you saw another two heroes dragging a third body out of the pit. 

The villain. 

The hero with the water quirk paused in spraying down the smoking remains of a car and turned to shout something at the other heroes. You couldn’t hear what she said over the persistent ringing in your hears, and you frowned as you focused your own quirk toward your ears. 

In your hopped-up-on-adrenaline state, you didn’t even notice the energy dip, and a moment later, your hearing returned with a loud pop. Thankfully, all of the car alarms seemed to have been cut, so you could hear the heroes pretty well.

“—still alive,” a tall hero in a red and purple suit said. You didn’t recognize him. “He’s pretty beat up, but he’ll make it.” 

“Great,” the water quirk hero sighed. “Let him be the cops’ problem now.” 

As if on cue, you could hear a siren start up in the distant, slowly moving closer. 

The threat was over. The villain was neutralized, the fires put out, and the authorities were on the way. 

So… why did you feel so on edge, like you were waiting for the other shoe to drop? 

“—fuckin’ Dynamight,” one of the heroes suddenly spat and drew you out of your thoughts. 

You frowned in confusion as the words registered. Dynamight… why did that sound familiar? 

Then your eyes widened as you remembered the blond hero, literally exploding onto the scene. His face—snarling and illuminated by the white-hot flare of his quirk—flashed in your mind’s eye, and you dropped your gaze back down to the street below. 

Dynamight, Japan’s Number Two Hero. You couldn’t believe he had been the one to turn up and save you. 

Well, not you specifically. Your neighborhood. 

You’d seen the ash-blond on television before. Usually, the media just liked to harp on his crude language or brash attitude, but you’d seen this one story of how he had saved every single person from a collapsed building. A teary blonde gushing about Dynamight rescuing her had gone briefly viral, but the clip that stuck with you was when a reporter asked the pro hero why he decided to go into the unstable building without any reinforcements. 

The blond had scowled into the camera, sweat and dirt still streaked across his pale face, his scarlet eyes flashing from beneath his black mask. 

“What was I supposed to do?” he scoffed. “Leave them in there and sit with my thumbs up my ass while the fire department takes their sweet fuckin’ time? Don’t ask me stupid questions.” 

Of course, the media had another field day with that response, but… something about it struck you as incredibly genuine. Yeah, the pro hero could have phrased it better, but the core of what he was saying was he couldn’t sit back when people were in trouble, no matter the risks. 

You had thought that very brave. 

And now you’d witnessed his bravery first hand. You weren’t confident—or really self-centered enough—to go down and thank him for what he’d done, but you thought you would just be satisfied with seeing him from afar now that things weren’t so dire. 

But, the longer you looked, the more the pit grew in your stomach. 

You couldn’t see the blond hero anywhere. He wasn’t with Mr. Takeyoshi, still hunched over on the curb. He wasn’t with the two heroes who were trying to establish a perimeter and keep out the arriving crowd of spectators. And he wasn’t with the other heroes standing watch over the unconscious villain laid out on the sidewalk. 

The rest of the heroes seemed to be arriving at the same conclusions as you. You could hear Dynamight’s name being thrown about, and then the heroes were splitting up, taking different sides of the street, peeking into broken windows. 

You wrung your hands as you watched them search from your apartment. No one had noticed you standing there yet, and you were just contemplating going downstairs to try and help in some way when a noise caught your attention. 

In the grand scheme of things, the noise wasn’t very loud, especially given the shouting on the street and the loud sirens now that the police were arriving on scene. 

But since you lived alone, someone coughing in your apartment, someone who wasn’t you, was cause for a little alarm. 

You inhaled sharply as you glanced back over your shoulder, every atom of your being standing at attention. The apartment behind you was a study in contrasts, dark shadows and the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles outside. Your eyes fell on the empty spot where your couch used to be located, and then your gaze followed the drag marks that had been carved into your wood floor. 

The couch was half embedded in the wall beside your front door, with one of the armrests denting into the plaster and the other pointing toward your gaping window/wall. The sofa’s legs had been broken, so it slumped to the floor at an angle, and some kind of stuffing spilled out of several rips in the cushions. 

But your eyes were glued to the leg sticking out over the armrest and the arm thrown over the back of the couch, which was blocking the rest of the… person from view. 

Oh, fuck. That was a person. 

Your legs reacted before your brain could even process what you should do, but you were at least cognizant enough to pick your way over the worst of the debris. Your thin, rubber-soled slippers would protect you from the small pieces of glass and rubble, but you really didn’t want to step on a nail if you could help it. 

Since your apartment was so small, and there weren’t any full pieces of furniture in the way anymore, you crossed the distance in a handful of strides, but you jerked to a stop when you reached the back of the couch. 

Your lungs seized up so suddenly they hurt. The smell of caramelized sugar was stronger now, almost overwhelming, and you actually had to grip the back of the sofa for support, your hand right next to Dynamight’s leg. 

Because it was Dynamight half-strewn across your broken couch. Even when you first saw the leg, you hadn’t imagined it could be… 

But there he was. And he looked surprisingly… human. 

His face was lax with unconsciousness, lacking the perpetual scowl or snarl he wore in pictures or on TV. His hair, which looked paler and somehow softer in person, was tinged red along his brow line, where a cut was still trickling sluggishly. He wore a non-descript black hoodie over dark jeans and darker combat boots, but a glint of color and light around his midsection caught your eye. 

You frowned and leaned down without thinking, your fingers reaching out to brush… something wet. 

“Oh, shit,” you breathed when you lifted your hand to your face and saw, even in the darkness, that the pads of your fingers were red and glistening. 

He was bleeding. 

You moved a step closer, but then your foot lost purchase, sliding, and when you glanced down, you saw your once white slippers were dark, more wetness seeping in around your toes. 

Oh, god. He was bleeding a lot. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” You fumbled for the phone in your pants pocket as you scurried around the opposite end of the couch and dropped to the ground. Glass bit into your knees again, this time deeper, a sharp, brilliant pain, but you ignored it as you tried to turn your phone’s flashlight on. The touch-screen wouldn’t register your finger at first, your blood-slicked skin skimming across the glass, and you could feel a scream building in your throat just before the light flashed on. 

If you thought things were bad in the dark, being able to see made it a thousand times worse. 

Blood had already pooled around Dynamight, dark and glinting like an oil spill. The sleeve on his left arm had been burned off, and the skin below was pink and raw. It smelled like cooked meat, and the curry you ate what felt like a lifetime ago churned hotly in your gut. 

But the burn wasn’t even the worst of it. 

A wooden stake, about as wide as three of your fingers, protruded out of the pro hero’s gut by several inches. You thought part of it might have looked like your window frame, but the thought came and went when you noticed the tip of the wooden splinter was dyed red, which meant it must have come through his body. 

That had to be where all this blood came from. Was still coming from. God, there was so much of it. 

Your eyes shot to the gaping hole in your wall, your voice rising in your throat as you prepared to scream for help, but a sudden gasp nearly made you jump out of your skin. 

You whipped back around to find wide, hazy red eyes trained on your face, and the hero’s mouth gaped open as he dragged in a ragged breath. 

“Wh—hnng!” he groaned as his body seized, his right hand coming up to clutch at his stomach. 

“Don’t!” Your phone clattered to the floor, throwing light, as you lunged forward, and you caught his hand before he could jar the piece of wood lodged inside him. “D-Don’t move, a-and try not to speak.” 

The hero panted as he cracked open his eyes and looked at you. Or maybe through you. His gaze wasn’t very focused, and blood from the cut on his brow was still dripping into his right eye. 

But the scarlet color of his irises was still striking, even in the dimness of your apartment. 

“You’ve… been hurt,” you said as you met his eyes as best you could. You weren’t a doctor or an EMT, but you knew the best way to keep people calm in emergency situations was to let them know what’s happened and reassure them. “There’s a piece of wood inside you, so you can’t move or you might hurt yourself worse. But y-you’ll be okay. I’ll go get—” 

“Villain,” Dynamight suddenly spat out, cutting you off and spattering you with a fine mist of blood. 

“What?” His voice was rough and guttural, so it took your brain a moment to translate the slurred Japanese. Did he think you were another villain? 

The blond hero winced and groaned again, and it wasn’t until he squeezed down on your hand that you realized you were still holding his. His palm was rough and calloused against yours—and warm, so inexplicably warm—but then he dug his nails into your skin, and you gasped. 

“Vil… lain?” he rasped again, and you realized it was a question. 

“Oh! The villain’s been arrested. You… you beat him.” 

Dynamight scowled at you, brow knitting in confusion, and he grunted what sounded like a questioning noise at you. 

Then he shifted his head, and you saw the dark stain of blood coming out of his ear. 

He must have ruptured his eardrums in the explosion. 

You didn’t want to shout and damage his hearing even more, so you squeezed his hand back and smiled in what you hoped was reassurance. 

“You won,” you mouthed as clearly as you could. “You won, Dynamight.” 

His narrowed eyes widened a little bit with recognition, and you could have sworn the beginnings of a smirk twitched across his lips before his eyes suddenly rolled up into his head. The tension fled his body as he went limp, like a marionette with its strings cut, and your heart lurched up into your throat. 

“Dynamight?” you asked, even though you knew he couldn’t hear you with his ears the way they were. “Dynamight?” 

You squeezed his fingers, shaking him a little, but his face remained slack. 

Dropping his hand, you reached up to flatten one of yours across his chest, the other going up to feel at the underside of his neck. A moment ticked by, two, but you found his pulse, weak and thready beneath your fingertips. His breathing was shallow beneath your other hand, and the knees of your pants were warm and soaked with his blood. 

“F-Fuck,” you breathed shakily as you sat back for a moment, your hands limp in your lap. 

He was dying. Dynamight… was dying. This was too much blood, and even if you called out to the heroes right now, and they got here in seconds, it was still ten minutes to the nearest hospital. 

He didn’t have ten minutes. You didn’t think he had five. 

You stared down at the pro hero’s blood-streaked face for half a beat before you made a decision. 

Then you were moving. Consequences be damned. 

Your hands went to the hem of his hoodie, and you flinched as you pulled it away from his belly with a wet sound. You didn’t want to hurt him, but you also didn’t think he was feeling much of anything now, so you worked the hoodie up and over the stake as best you could before you shoved the fabric the rest of the way up his chest. 

The flashing lights from outside played across the dips and valleys of Dynamight’s abs, but your eyes were immediately drawn to the wooden stake. It jutted out between the hero’s belly button and his right hip bone, and every splinter was coated in tacky, crimson blood. More of the viscous liquid bubbled up around the torn skin at the stake’s base, and it trickled across his pale, alabaster abdomen like spilled paint. 

You bit your lip as you considered your next move, but then Dynamight’s breath hitched with a wet sound, and you knew you didn’t have time for doubts. 

“Okay, steady,” you muttered to yourself as you knelt over the hero’s prone body. Your knees burned, glass digging deeper into the skin by the second, but you shoved away your own pain as you reached out and wrapped both hands around the stake. Splinters tore into your palms, and your heart hammered out a staccato rhythm beneath your sternum. 

Then panic started to creep up your spine like a million little spider legs. What if removing the stake only made him worse, killed him faster? What if you killed Japan’s Number Two Hero? 

Just as you were about to let go of the stake, Dynamight hacked out a gurgling cough, blood bubbling out of his dry, cracked lips, and you felt the warm spray of it against your collarbone and arms. 

The sound rattled something deep inside you, and before you could second guess yourself again, you tightened your grip on the stake and tugged it up and out in one single motion. 

Dynamight wheezed once more, but you were already dropping the stake, hands slapping down against his abdomen. Warm blood pulsed through your fingers like pliable clay, and bile rose in the back of your throat before you took a deep breath, closed your eyes, and called upon your quirk. 

An instant later, agony like you’ve never experienced slammed into you, ripping a gasp from your lungs. It felt like someone had stuck a white-hot poker through your gut, ignited your insides, and twisted. The pain was so intense, your ears started ringing again, and when you cracked open your eyes, your vision quickly began to tunnel until the only thing you could see was the bare outline of your hands, lined with green, against the hero’s stomach. You gritted your teeth as unconsciousness threatened to pull you under, and you groaned as you shoved as much energy as you could spare into the dying hero. 

As your quirk flooded into the blond’s body, you received vague impressions of his injuries healing. It was hard to describe, but it was kind of like you could see flashes of the tissue in your mind as it was stitched back together. First, the jagged hole on his back sealed over, and then your power wormed its way through the hero’s insides, patching up nicked arteries and punctured organs. The pain was still intense, so intense that your already limited vision was blurred by tears, but once you reached the top layers of his abs, you ripped your hands away with a gasp. 

You fell back on your ass, more glass and debris digging into your cheeks and the palms of your hands, and you sucked in ragged breaths as you tried to keep from passing out. The hero swam unsteadily before you, both from the tears in your eyes and because the entire apartment was swaying. Saliva pooled in your mouth as nausea clamped down on your stomach, but you focused on the burning in your palms to center yourself. Then you started counting deep breaths, and when you got to thirty, the darkness had receded from the corners of your vision, and the apartment more or less steadied out around you. 

You still felt like shit warmed over, like you’d been run over by a car and then dragged for several miles, but the bone-deep exhaustion could be cured with a good night’s sleep. The rest of the nicks and cuts on your body still burned like a million paper cuts, too, but your quirk was down to embers and was of no more use to you. 

But was it worth it? 

The two feet of distance between you and Dynamight felt like a canyon that stretched for miles, but somehow you found one last burst of strength to drag yourself forward a few inches. Then you held your breath and leaned over the hero’s abdomen, wiping away most of the pooling blood with the hem of his hoodie. 

There was still a significant gash carved into his skin, but when you shakily picked up your discarded phone from the floor and directed the light at him, you saw the wound was much shallower, maybe a few centimeters deep. The first few layers of skin were flayed back, but the muscles beneath were intact and healthy looking. A small trickle of blood continued to drip into the valley of the hero’s abs, but instead of a broken fire hydrant, it was just a leaky faucet. 

You dragged your tired eyes up Dynamight’s body, and you very quickly realized his breathing was deeper and not as wet sounding. Just to be doubly sure, you reached out and tentatively wrapped your fingers around his left wrist, only absently noticing that the once raw, flayed skin had been partially healed from third degree burns to first. 

You had poured more energy into him than you meant to, but it was hard to regret anything when you felt his pulse against your fingertips, strong, steady, and sure. 

“Oh, thank you,” you choked out as you closed your eyes, tears stinging in the corners. You didn’t know who you were thanking. You didn’t know if you believed in a “god” in the colloquial sense, but you felt as if the universe had given you a gift just now, and you could be nothing but grateful for it. 

You sighed as you slumped a little, and it was like weights were strapped to your eyelids as you struggled to open them and keep them open. You might have actually gone under, succumb to the exhaustion… 

If you didn’t catch sight of two crimson eyes staring back at you. 

“Fuck,” you gasped as a zap of adrenaline shocked you upright, and your phone clattered to the ground once again. 

Dynamight squinted, irises still a little glassy, but unlike last time, his gaze was very much focused on you. 

And the weight of it, the intensity, pinned you to the floor. 

“Y-You’re awake.” The words tripped off your tongue, chased out by the panic running circles in your brain. Damn it, you hadn’t even had time to come up with a plausible backstory for the pool of blood he was lying in. 

The blond hero’s eyes widened a fraction as he stared at you for an immeasurably long moment, and then you remembered with a start that he hadn’t been able to hear you before. This could work in your favor, though. You opened your mouth, ready to pantomime an elaborate story, but his voice—deep and rough, like crunching gravel or an expensive engine turning over—cut you off at the knees. 

“And you have eyes,” he said in clipped Japanese, a note of snide derision in his tone. 

You blinked in shock—at his attitude, the steadiness of his voice, and the fact he could hear you just fine all the sudden—but he just barreled onward like he had barreled through your window. 

“What happened?” he asked. No, demanded. “Who are you?” 

“I—” 

“And where’s that fuckin’ villain?” he cut you off as his split upper lip curled into a snarl, and his red eyes jumped to the gaping window over your shoulder. 

You frowned at him, pursing your lips into a thin line. “Are you going to let me answer?” 

A part of your brain was screaming at you, distantly: Are you giving Japan’s Number Two Hero attitude after he saved your life?!  You normally weren’t like this. Every inch the people pleaser, you were usually deferential to the point of your own detriment. 

But you were still so tired, every inch of you aching, blood still dripping and slick along your exposed skin, and he was the one who decided to be rude first. 

Plus, you saved his life, too, thankyouverymuch. 

Dynamight actually seemed surprised by your response because his gaze stopped its frantic search of your darkened apartment and settled on you. Those scarlet eyes raked over you quickly, a flick from head to toe, before they met your own. 

A beat of silence passed between you, and then his face pulled into a sharp frown. 

“Well?” he grunted. “Are you actually going to answer me?” 

The nerve of this man. Maybe the media had been right. 

“What happened was you decided to practically drop a bomb outside on the street, and then you crashed straight through my window and destroyed my apartment,” you said in a short, clipped tone. “But don’t worry. My couch managed to break your fall, so you’re mostly in one piece. Oh, and you beat the villain, the other heroes are outside handing him off to authorities. Satisfied with my answers?” 

You sucked in a deep breath after your little tirade, the blood roaring in your ears. Absently, you patted yourself on the back for the impromptu white lie you’d fed him. The couch did in fact break his fall… and shoved a stake through his gut, but he didn’t need to know that. Fortunately, you had dropped said impaling object behind you in your haste to keep some blood in his body, and you shifted a little now to insure it was blocked from his view. You had healed his life-threatening injury—and his hearing, apparently, though you hadn’t intended that—but he was still covered in scrapes, cuts, and minor burns along his left arm. It was a… plausible amount of wounds, so hopefully your little quirk indiscretion would go unnoticed. 

Dynamight was still staring at you in silence, and you began to fidget, on the edge of saying you were going to go flag down another hero, when he finally spoke up again. 

“No, I’m not satisfied. You didn’t answer all my damn questions. Who the hell are you?” 

A flush of heat infused your cheeks—part anger, part embarrassment for being put on the spot again and being the subject of his intense glare—and you averted your eyes as you mumbled out your name. 

“Hah?” he practically shouted as he leaned forward, bringing with him that bewildering scent of burned sugar, but he suddenly stopped with a wince that he quickly turned into a scowl. “Speak up, I hate when people mutter. Just like goddamn Deku.” 

The last sentence wasn’t directed at you, but you found his mention of Japan’s Number One Hero intriguing. 

You sighed and repeated your name for him, a little louder this time, and he grunted in what seemed like acknowledgment before he started to struggle upright again in the ruins of your couch. 

“Don’t move too fast, you’ll start bleeding again,” you chided and scooted closer to stop him from aggravating the injury on his abdomen. You’d healed the worst of it, but it was still an open wound, and he was bound to be sore as hell after smashing through a window/wall. 

“M’ fine,” he grumbled as he settled into a slightly more seated position. Then he looked down and noticed his hoodie was still partially rucked up around his arm pits, and his red eyes shot back to you. He studied you for a long moment, but his face was unreadable. “Undressing me while I was unconscious? You’re not one of those damn obsessed fangirls, are ya?” 

Your cheeks flared red-hot, but you scowled at the ash-blond hero. “N-No! I—You were bleeding, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too b-bad. But, uh, the gash isn’t that deep.” 

It was a little harder to make more articulate, detailed lies, especially when his blood was still drying on your hands and you could remember the exact feel of his pulse slowing beneath your fingertips. 

Dynamight narrowed his scarlet eyes at you, and you knew you weren’t being convincing. Panic started to claw up the back of your throat again. His burning gaze was charring away at your weaknesses, your resolve. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, confessing. You’d saved his life after all. That wasn’t a bad thing. 

Then you remembered all the articles you’d looked up one anxiety-filled night, soon after moving here. All the stories about people using their quirks and causing damage. Of people with healing quirks trying to help and only doing more harm. The fines, the charges, and in rare cases, imprisonment. 

You didn’t think you’d be locked up, but you couldn’t afford any fines now, and as an immigrant, any mark on your record could get you immediately deported. 

Your mouth dried up. You couldn’t be deported, sent back to your parents as a failure again. What’s more, you had people who relied on you here, like Mrs. Kojima. You weren’t a hero, not important by any means, but… you had just found something to give your life a little purpose. A little stability. 

No, you couldn’t be discovered. You just couldn’t. 

Your newfound resolve stiffened your spine a little, but when you lifted your chin and met those piercing crimson eyes again, your courage—along with your tongue—shriveled inside you. 

Fuck, how were you going to lie your way out of this? 

Unfortunately, Dynamight didn’t give you any more time to get your story straight. 

“Your hands are all fucked up.” 

You startled at his rough voice, instinctively flipping your hands palm-side down and tucking them between your legs. Then, when your brain caught up to your body, you cursed yourself. 

Could you be any more obvious, any more guilty? 

“I, uh, i-it’s nothing,” you stammered, clearing your throat before you continued. “I cut myself on the broken glass from the window, but it’s not serious. Nothing a few bandaids won’t fix, anyway. Maybe some gauze and antiseptic, but definitely not a hospital visit or anything.” 

You knew you were babbling but somehow couldn’t stop it, your anxiety just seizing control of your tongue, and you clenched your torn-up hands into fists until the stinging pain centered you a little bit. 

Once again, Dynamight studied you in silence, like he was choosing his words carefully. 

“Did you nick your damn wrist, too?” he finally asked as his neutral mask twisted into his signature scowl. “Looks like a lot of blood. Don’t be an idiot and bleed out on me. I don’t wanna deal with the fuckin’ paperwork.” 

Well, maybe not that carefully. 

“I-I’m not bleeding out,” you protested with a frown. “I’m fine.” 

“Let me see.” 

You blinked. “Excuse me? 

The hero stuck out his right hand, palm up, his scowl only deepening. “Let me see your hands.” 

Fuck. A drop of icy cold fear slid down your spine. Your hands were indeed “fucked up” like the blond said, but the cuts were all shallow and minor. They would in no way explain how you were coated in blood up past your wrists. None of your injuries would account for that. 

And none of his current ones would, either. 

“I—” You opened and closed your mouth several times like a gasping fish, and Dynamight’s eyes narrowed on you with what you were sure was suspicion. 

And then, like a gift from the heavens, a small but bright beam of light suddenly flooded your apartment from over your shoulder. 

“Dynamight?” a male voice shouted. 

The blond hero clenched his eyes shut and turned away from the light, and you. “I’m here! Turn that damn light out.” 

Said light cut out an instant later, and you seized the opportunity that had just been presented to you. 

Quick as a whip, you leaned over and snatched a large swath of dark fabric that you’d seen in the brief moment of illumination, and you reeled it into your lap quickly. The fabric had been a personal project of yours, a gown you’d started on a whim, but that didn’t matter now. Dynamight was still rubbing at his eyes, grumbling about being blinded, so you kicked half of the unfinished garment under and around the base of the ruined couch, effectively covering up the large pool of blood that had congealed under the splintered furniture. Then you reached behind you, grabbed the bloody stake, and shoved it between the folds of fabric. 

There. Now, most of the evidence was hidden. 

And not a moment too soon, because in the next breath you heard the crunch of glass as the unnamed hero stepped into the apartment behind you. 

“Hello?” 

“We’re over here,” you called back, struggling to your feet so the hero could see you over the back of the couch. 

The hero was silhouetted against your ruined window and the flashing police lights outside, so you couldn’t see much of his face, but you could tell he was tall and broad-shouldered, wrapped in a red and purple suit you didn’t recognize. 

“Are you alright, ma’am?” the hero asked in very formal Japanese. 

You opened your mouth to reply, but Dynamight cut you off. It seemed to be a habit of his. 

“We’re fine,” he grunted, and you turned to see the blond shoving himself to his feet. A gasp caught in your throat, and you made a half-aborted motion to stop him, but his red eyes snapped up and glared at you, freezing you in your tracks. “Aren’t we?” 

It took a moment for you to realize the last question was directed at you, and when Dynamight’s lip curled up into a sneer as he accusingly dropped his gaze to your hands, you realized none of your lies had convinced him after all. 

“Y-Yes.” The word stumbled out of your mouth without your permission, but you couldn’t seem to tear your eyes off the blond as you felt your world falling in around you for the second time tonight. “We’re fine.” 

The hero behind you said something, but it was lost in the static suddenly filling your head. 

He knows. He knows. Dynamight knows. 

The words cycled through your brain again and again, a broken record. What would he do? Would he tell the other hero? Or take you down to the authorities himself? And what then? Would they arrest you? Give you a few days to pack up and say your goodbyes before your deportation? 

Just as you were beginning to spiral, movement caught your attention, and you watched as if from a distance as Dynamight suddenly stepped past you, the scent of burnt sugar stinging your nose as he went. He was talking, and the low rumble of his voice vibrated through your body since he was so close, barely a hair’s breadth away, but he seemed to be talking to the other hero. 

Was he confessing your secret already? 

You couldn’t seem to turn around, your slippered feet rooted to your debris strewn floor. Even in the dark, you could see the black stain of Dynamight’s blood on your ruined couch cushions, and without thinking, you leaned down, picked up another torn and dirty piece of fabric, and threw it over the stain, blocking it from view. 

You didn’t know why you did that. It didn’t matter now. Dynamight knew, and— 

“Ma’am?” A hand touched your elbow, and you jumped, whirling around. “Whoa, careful there.” 

It was the tall hero in the red and purple suit. He was wearing a partial mask over his eyes, so only the lower half of his face was visible, framed by two pieces of dark hair. He smiled at you, a pleasant, reassuring gesture, but you could only gape at him. 

“Are you alright?” he asked you again, a frown replacing his smile. His eyes started to look you over, but you shoved your hands into the pockets of your sweats before he could see them. 

It doesn’t matter, you idiot, your brain screamed, but your body was still going through the motions of keeping your secret, twisting your hands in your pockets, trying to rub out the blood. 

“I’m fine,” you said again and then realized repeating the same trite phrase probably wasn’t convincing. So, you smiled at the hero, or at least you thought you did. Your face felt strangely stiff and numb, but you flashed your teeth and crinkled your eyes just the same. “Really. I’m just a little… shaken up is all. I have a few cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. The apartment took the worst of the damage, obviously.” 

You laughed, a hint of hysteria in your voice, as you gestured to the gaping hole in your wall behind the hero, hoping to get him away from your blood-soaked couch. And, blessedly, he did turn, so you took a few steps past him until you were both facing the broken window. 

Then you noticed Dynamight was standing near the hole, very cautiously leaning against the last remaining, exposed stud in the wall, with his hands shoved in the pocket of his hoodie. His body was facing out into the street, but his eyes were still locked on you, the red of them only intensified by the police lights still flashing on the street. 

His eyes seemed to say, I know what you did, and all the saliva dried up in your mouth. 

“Well, as bad as the damage is to your home, I’m glad you weren’t seriously injured, ma’am,” the hero at your side suddenly said, and you jolted when you realized he was responding to your inane babble from what already felt like hours ago. 

“O-Oh, yes.” You smiled again, just as forced and twice as shaky. “I was… very lucky. A-And thank you! For doing your part to s-stop that villain before he hurt anyone or caused even more damage.” 

“Yes, well, there was still more damage than I would have preferred,” the hero replied, and you didn’t miss the dirty look he shot Dynamight, who just deepened his scowl because he was still looking at you. “But let’s get you down to the street. The paramedics will look you over, and the authorities will want to take a statement. But don’t worry, they’ll also put you up in a hotel for the night since you obviously can’t stay here.” 

He threw the last part of the sentence at Dynamight like a dagger, and the blond finally tore his eyes off you to glare at the other hero. 

You waited for the explosive hero to… well, explode, but he only stared down the tall man beside you before he rolled his eyes, glanced at you one last time, and then jumped out the hole in your wall. 

“No—” you gasped, stumbling forward like you could stop him, but an instant later, you heard a mini-boom out on the street, followed by Dynamight barking orders at someone. 

Oh, yeah. You remembered how the blond had burst through the air while fighting the villain and realized he didn’t just ruin all your hard, illegal healing work by face-planting onto the concrete. 

You sighed and suddenly swayed, like the blond leaving had finally cut all of your tense strings. The adrenaline was fading at last, exhaustion leeching through your veins in its place, and you listed into the hero beside you. 

“Ma’am?” he asked, a note of concern in his voice. 

“Sorry,” you mumbled sleepily, trying and failing to find your balance. “I think… the shock is wearing off. Just… tired.” 

“Would it be alright if I carried you down to the street?” 

You wanted to protest, say you could take the stairs down to your shop, but your tongue felt sluggish in your mouth, and all you managed was a vaguely affirmative sounding hum. 

“Okay, hold on.” 

You felt one hand wrap around your shoulders while the other scooped you up around the knees, and usually, you would protest, insecure about your weight, but the hero settled you against his chest with ease. The instant you were off your feet, every muscle in your body went limp, and you were too tired to even be embarrassed when your head flopped against the hero’s collarbone. 

You had the vague thought that he didn’t smell like warm sugar, followed by a flash of disappointment, but then the hero was moving, jumping, and you were falling through the air. 

Unfortunately, you didn’t get the luxury of passing out. 

Once you hit the street, it was all sirens and shouting, flashing lights and flashes of people, so many people. 

True to his word, the hero in the red and purple suit carried you over to an ambulance and two waiting paramedics. The American in you panicked, instinctively trying to refuse care because your shop and home were just destroyed, you didn’t have money for an ambulance ride, too. 

But as the medics peppered you with rapid fire Japanese questions, you were reminded of where you were, and the bright flashlight shining into your eyes sure woke you up a little. 

The next half an hour was a blur. The paramedics tended to the wounds on your palms, knees, and, embarrassingly, ass, but all of the cuts were shallow, and none of them even required stitches. You knew they wouldn’t require stitches anyway, because once you rested up, your quirk would heal you, but you kept your mouth shut and let the medics wrap you in gauze and bandages. You seemed to have rubbed away enough of the blood on your hands that they weren’t suspicious, but it brought you no relief. 

While they worked, you watched the heroes and police out of your peripherals. They were still working to seal off the scene and tend to your neighbors, who were gathered further down the block behind some yellow tape. It didn’t look like anyone else had been injured beside you, and for that you were grateful. 

But your stomach was still in knots. 

More than once, you heard Dynamight’s brash voice bark over the sirens and other voices, and as the paramedics were finishing up the bandages on your hands, a head of ash-blond hair jutted out over the police car closest to you. Unable to stop yourself, your eyes zeroed in on that distinctive hair color, and you saw the explosive hero was speaking—well, yelling—at two police officers. 

Your mouth felt suddenly dry despite the multiple cups of water the medics had fed to you. What was Dynamight saying? 

As if he could hear your thoughts, red eyes snapped to the side and locked onto yours, and the breath hitched in your chest. That crimson gaze held you trapped, unable to look away, so when the two officers he’d been speaking to suddenly stepped into your field of vision, you gasped. 

“Apologies, didn’t mean to startle you, ma’am,” one of the officers said. He was a middle-aged man, balding, with a serious face and a no-nonsense expression. “We just wanted to ask you a few questions, if you feel up to it.” 

You swallowed, your throat clicking, and your heart stuttered into a breakneck pace beneath your sternum. 

“O-Of course,” you replied, only stumbling a little over your Japanese. You smiled at the officers, but the expression felt stilted, and fear seized you by the throat and squeezed until your breaths were shallow and grating in your ears. 

“Thank you.” The balding officer nodded. “My name is Detective Nakahara. I’ve been told you witnessed and were injured in tonight’s attack.” 

You thought the injury part was obvious, given your myriad of bandages and the fact you were sitting in the back of an ambulance, but you nodded to confirm anyway since your voice had abandoned you. 

This was it. He was going to ask you the damning question, and you were going to tell the truth. Lying to a hero in the heat of the moment had been one thing, but lying to a police officer during an official statement was another thing entirely. It would take one database search for them to confirm your quirk and Dynamight’s story, and then you really would be in trouble. Maybe imprisoned instead of deported. You cursed yourself for not knowing more about the laws that were going to quickly ruin your life. 

But… then Nakahara started asking you about the villain and what you saw, and you stuttered out an answer to the best of your ability. You thought this might have been a disarming tactic, to lull you into a false sense of security, but when you got to the part of the story where Dynamight burst through your window, the officer sighed. 

“I take it that’s your apartment there?” Detective Nakahara asked as he gestured to the gaping hole. 

“Y-Yes.” You nodded. “And I own the shop below.” 

Which you now realized looked no better than your apartment. The windows were all blown out, black scorch marks along the door frame, and you didn’t want to even think about the shape of the interior. 

“What kind of shop is it?” he followed up, but he sounded more curious than interrogatory. 

“Clothing alterations,” you said. “M-My grandparents were a tailor and seamstress. I inherited the shop about a year ago, after they passed.” 

“My condolences,” Nakahara murmured with a small dip of his head, and he seemed genuine. “For your grandparents, and your home and business.” 

You blinked in surprise at the turn in conversation. “O-Oh, thank you, that’s very kind.” 

“Do you have anywhere to go for the night, or were you on the way to the hospital?” he asked as he looked you over. 

“No,” you said quickly and then blushed. “I-I mean, my injuries aren’t serious enough for a hospital visit. Just some cuts and scrapes.” 

“Alright.” Nakahara nodded. “Is there any family we can call for you? Or take you to?” 

“N-No,” you repeated, a little more timidly this time. “My parents… don’t live around here, and I don’t really have any other family.” 

“Any friends?” he asked with a furrowed brow. 

Your face was red-hot now, and you dropped your eyes to your lap, fiddling with your bandaged fingers. What were you going to say? That you were an introvert, and the only “friends” you had were the old ladies who frequented your shop? 

“None that I would want to bother in the middle of the night,” you muttered before you suddenly remembered something. “But, um, one of the heroes said you could maybe take me to a hotel?” 

“Of course, we can take you right now, and we’ll also pay for the night,” the detective said. 

“Oh, you don’t have to—” you started to protest as you snapped your head up, but the officer held up a hand. 

“The city has funds to aid those displaced by villain attacks,” he explained. “The next forty-eight hours are guaranteed, so if I were you, I would use the opportunity to rest.” 

Detective Nakahara glanced down at your bandages, and you bit your lips as you nodded. 

“Okay, thank you for your help then, sir.” It was all you could think to say. 

“You’re welcome.” Nakahara nodded back at you and then reached out to help you out of the ambulance. “If you’ll come this way, we can have an officer collect some things from your apartment, and then we’ll head to the hotel and get you settled.” 

The finality in his tone and the idea of a hotel drew you up short. What… was happening? You had thought the detective was going to interrogate you about your quirk, not… chauffeur you to a nice hotel. 

The practical part of your brain was screaming for you to let it go, but the words were high-diving off your tongue before you could stop them. 

“I-Is that all?” 

Detective Nakahara paused and looked at you with a raised eyebrow. “Is what all?” 

“I—” Shut up, shut up, shut up! “You didn’t have any more questions for me?” 

“No,” the detective said simply. “We have your statement, and it matches the others we’ve obtained.” Here, he frowned and seemed to study you for a moment. “Did you have any other questions for me?” 

“I… was just wondering what the next steps are for my apartment and shop,” you blurted out the first thing you could think of. “Will the… city pay for repairs? Do I have to fill out some forms?” 

It was an honest question, a real one you had, but your mind was still reeling. He wasn’t going to ask about your quirk? Had… Had Dynamight not said anything? 

Nakahara sighed but held a hand out for you to take, and you absently let him help you down from the ambulance. Then he slowly began walking toward one of the police cars, and you had no choice but to follow since you were still holding onto his arm for balance. 

“Unfortunately,” the detective started, “the city will not be able to repair your home or business.” 

“Why?” you asked with a frown. “I thought you said there were funds.” 

“There are,” he said, and when you looked up at him, you noticed his lips were pursed into a thin line. “And, if the villain himself had thrown debris through your window, then the city would compensate you. But, in this situation, Dynamight caused the damaged.” 

The detective practically spat the blond hero’s name, and your surprise must have shown on your face because Nakahara quickly cleared his throat and schooled his expression. 

“Because of this, his agency will be responsible for repairs, so you will have to contact them,” the officer finished. 

Contact them? You had to contact Dynamight’s agency, which meant… fuck. You felt the blood drain from your face, and your expression must have shown your dismay because Nakahara patted your hand that was still looped through his arm 

“But you can worry about that tomorrow,” he said. “Let’s get your things and get you to the hotel so you can rest.” 

You nodded blankly and let the detective lead you to the open backseat of a police car. Nakahara called another officer over, and the woman asked you questions about where things were in your apartment. You answered numbly, listing out different clothing items and how to get to your bedroom. Then she was gone, and Nakahara stepped away to do something else, so you were suddenly left all alone. 

Unbidden, you looked up and searched for that pair of scarlet eyes, that head of ash-blond hair, but the explosive hero was suddenly nowhere to be found. 

The crime scene continued to bustle around you, but all the while, two thoughts circled each other in your head, like binary stars stuck in each other’s orbit: 

Dynamight didn’t reveal my secret. 

But I’m going to have to face him again.

[inastateofmind]

one day / rafe cameron

a.n. YAY for my first fic!!! please be nice because i really do not know what i’m doing. hopefully it’s okay though. feedback is greatly appreciated. let me know what yall want to see next or if i’ve left out any warnings or anything like that!

pairing: non canon rafe cameron x fem!reader

summary: y/n tutors sarah and is pining after rafe, little does she know, rafe is pining after her too. song fic inspired by one day by tate mcrae! i do not own any lyrics used. lyrics are italicized.

word count: 2440

warnings: unrequited love induced angst, fluff, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sex if you squint, jealousy, kelce being kelce

“She stares at her ceiling once again with a hundred thoughts,

‘Maybe he knows who I am, probably not.’”

Y/N laid in her room quietly, Olivia Rodrigo’s “enough for you” playing faintly in the background while she stared at the ceiling above her. School had just started two weeks ago and her feelings for Kook King Rafe Cameron had only intensified since then. Working for the school’s student services, she had been assigned to tutor Sarah, which left Y/N seeing Rafe more often than her heart could physically handle. The two of them hadn’t talked much, only sharing a few passing comments to each other while she confided in his home with Sarah. The reality of their relationship was that the older Cameron sibling probably hardly knew her name, however that did not stop her from harboring feelings for him from afar for almost two years.

“She walks down the hall with her head down low, scared to meet his eyes

Even when she hears his voice she's swarmed with butterflies”

The halls of the Kook Academy were crowded with girls in short skirts and crop tops and boys in polos and khakis when the bell rang for lunch. Y/N stopped by her locker to switch out her textbooks for the second half of her day, keeping her head low as she weaved in between the crowd. “Dude, I just don’t get it. I basically used Grammarly for the whole thing and I still got a C?” She could make out Kelce’s voice in all the commotion due to the volume of his outburst. A giggle slipped out of her lips as she slipped past him, knowing the teachers in this school know when the students use programs like Kelce’s to write their papers. “Sorry, Y/L/N, is something funny?” The boy stepped towards her, causing her to finally lift her head and meet the eyes of everyone who was around. Y/N’s eyes were immediately drawn to Rafe’s, and then fallen to the hand that gripped around Kelce’s arm, making him step back from the shy girl in front of him, “Man, leave her alone.” Her eyes met Rafe’s again as he smiled at her, causing butterflies to swarm her insides as she turned and walked away, leaving Rafe victim to Kelce’s teasing of his “crush.”

“It’s impossible to get you off my mind, I think about a hundred thoughts and you are ninety-nine

I’ve understood that you will never be mine, and that’s fine — I’m just breaking inside”

“You look so hot, Y/N,” Sarah complimented, curling the last piece of her own hair while Y/N stared at herself in the mirror. Sarah had insisted she come to the annual bonfire, and in return had offered to help her get ready. “Rafe is going to die when he sees you tonight.” Y/N thought her heart stopped right then and there. She spun around quickly, staring at Sarah. “What?” Sarah laughed, fluffing her hair as she stood up. “Y/N/N, you can’t hide that from me. I figure out everything.” Y/N sighed and made her way towards the door, opening it for Sarah to lead the way. “For what it’s worth, I think he’s got a thing for you too.”

—

The bonfire was not Y/N’s scene, to say the least. By the time her and Sarah arrived, many people were already wasted. The number of people in the small space was enough to send Y/N into fight or flight mode, but Sarah was quick to pull her into the crowd with a drink and start dancing. Several songs passed before Y/N found Rafe, who already had his eyes on her. She blushed, suddenly feeling very self conscious. Was this crop top too cropped? Has she danced too bad it’s been embarrassing? Is it obvious she doesn’t belong here? She must’ve been lost in her thoughts for some time, because next thing she knew, Rafe’s hands were resting on her hips, bringing her back to earth. “Anyone home?” He joked, tapping her hips with his fingers. She laughed lightly, her nerves flowing through her body. Rafe leaned into her ear, his breath warm against her cold skin, “You look really good.” This small compliment mixed with the alcohol coursing through her veins gave her a new found confidence. She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck, toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Cameron.” Y/N swore she saw a faint blush on the notorious bad boy’s cheeks, but she would never be too sure, because as quick as their moment started, it ended. “Rafe! Beer pong let’s go!” Topper yelled from behind Rafe, a crowd cheering at the mention of Rafe’s name. The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. Y/N placed a hand on his chest, “Go,” she smiled, “You can find me later.” Rafe smiled at her before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll be back.” Y/N watched as Rafe ran into the crowd chanting his name, laughing as he turned around and pretended to have Topper “crown” him as the beer pong king before beginning their game.

—

An hour had passed when Y/N had begin to feel tired of chatting up random people from school. She had consumed a few more drinks while waiting for Rafe to come find her, however he never came. She decided to take things into her own hands and find Rafe herself. Standing from the log surrounding the bonfire, she swayed slightly as she walked around the small space searching for Rafe. She didn’t see him anywhere, so she had assumed he had left on his own accord. That is, until she heard whistling from Topper and Kelce. “Okay Rafey boy!” She turned quickly to see Rafe helping a skinny blonde from their calculus class into his car. Suddenly, her shoes were the most interesting thing at the bonfire. Y/N felt stupid for ever thinking Rafe cared or was attracted to her, and she felt even more stupid for thinking he was really going to come find her. “Hey,” she turned to see Sarah smiling at her sadly. “John B’s here to take us home,” Y/N cut her off, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m going to go back to mine actually.”

“He always walks the crowded halls and is blinded by this light

A girl who keeps her head down low and never shows her eyes”

Rafe spent most of his time at school surrounded by an entourage. However, as of recently, his main focus hasn’t been the popularity or the girls flocking his way, but more so a specific girl: Y/N. He watched her in class while she worked ahead of the teacher, he noticed how she got anxious in the crowded hallways, he loved how she opened up while she hung out with Sarah after school. He had never felt so attached to a girl before, especially one he had hardly talked to. Something about Y/N just kept drawing Rafe in, making him want to be a proper gentleman and get to know her— all the weird little things and the seemingly unimportant things too. 

“He tried to talk to her but there’s no easy way

‘Cause every time he raises his voice, she runs away”

“Y/N! Hey, wait up!” Rafe yelled down the hallway, running after the girl as she beelined it to her locker. “Y/N,” She opened her locker, shoving her books into it with a sigh. “What do you want, Rafe?” His eyebrows furrowed at her tone. He didn’t understand. At the bonfire, things had been going so good. Now, he could barely get the girl to glance in his direction. “Why are you avoiding me? I thought at the bonfire…” She cut him off, slamming her locker shut. “Yeah, I thought things at the bonfire were going good too, until you left me there to go off with some girl,” She shrugged, turning and walking away before Rafe could even respond. He ran a hand through his hair out of frustration. The reality of the situation: the girl from the bonfire was truly just a friend who was far too wasted and vulnerable to get home on her own, and Rafe recognized that and offered to take her home. He couldn’t blame Y/N for thinking otherwise though, seeing as he did have quite the reputation. He glanced once more in the direction she walked off into before going to meet the younger Cameron sibling for advice.

“Oh, it’s impossible to get you off my mind

I think about a hundred thoughts and you are ninety-nine.

I’ve understood that you will never be mine and that’s fine,

I’m just breaking inside”

Rafe spent the next few afternoons in the comfort of the country club with Kelce and Topper, avoiding his home at all costs until he was sure Y/N was done tutoring Sarah. He wanted nothing more than to go home and steal the girl from his sister so they could talk things out, but he knew that would ultimately make things worse, so he kept his distance. However, the phrase “distance makes the heart grow fonder” rang true, because Y/N was the only thing on his mind. By Wednesday afternoon, he finally gave in, going straight home from school. Wednesdays for Y/N and Sarah were typically their “relaxation” day before cramming for tests on Thursday, so Rafe expected to walk into the living room to find the two of you curled up on the couch. However, the house was oddly quiet and the driveway empty. He texted Sarah, asking where they were.

“John B’s. Be back by dinner.”

John B’s?

Y/N was at John B’s?

Rafe shook his head, opening Snapchat. He looked at Sarah’s story, a picture of her, Kiara and Y/N on the HMS Pogue. He smiled at how happy she looked. The next picture was one of Sarah in John B’s lap, with Y/N in the background sporting JJ’s hat and seemingly swatting at him while he reached to take it back. Rafe’s heart dropped slightly, staring at this picture a little longer than necessary. Maybe if he would’ve stayed with her at the bonfire, that could’ve been them. Now he had basically walked the girl of his dreams into the arms of JJ Maybank. 

‘Maybe it’s better this way,’ He thought. 

But maybe he didn’t want better.

“One day, maybe she’ll stay and start to head over his way

And one day, she’ll look into his eyes and instead of breaking, she’ll call him ‘Mine’

One day, he’ll grab her by the waist and force them to meet face to face

One day he’ll look into her eyes and say that ‘You’re my only light’”

His phone ringing at 1 in the morning woke Rafe from his sleep, not even bothering to see who was calling before answering. “It better be important if you’re waking me up,” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Rafe, you’re too sweet sometimes, you know?” Rafe rolled his eyes, staring at the clock. “Topper, why did you call me?” His patience was wearing thin, but he knew Topper wouldn’t have called him without reason at this time of night. “I just wanted to tell you I just passed Y/N walking home by herself, I asked if she wanted me to give her a ride and she said no, but she looked pretty shaken up. I’ve still got an eye on her but I thought you might want to come,” Topper didn’t have to finish, the minute the girl’s name had fallen out of his mouth Rafe was throwing on a sweatshirt and slipping into shoes faster than he ever has before. His mind was running a million miles a minute. 

Why was she out this late by herself?

Why didn’t she call someone?

Did something already happen?

Rafe grabbed his keys and sped to Topper’s shared location, slowing down once he saw his jeep ahead of him. “I’ve got her, man. Thanks.” He hung up before pulling his car off onto the side of the road. “Y/N,” Rafe spoke as he got out, loud enough that she could hear it was him and not startle her. She turned quickly, staring at him as he approached her slowly. “I just wanted to go for a walk,” she mumbled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone.” Rafe nodded. “I’m not mad at you, but it’s late,” he spoke gently. He could see on her face she was upset and he didn’t want to make it worse. Y/N was looking everywhere but at him. She was nervous, embarrassed, everything in between. “Hey,” Rafe whispered, placing his hands on her waist like he did at the bonfire. Her eyes met his and he could read her like an open book. He saw the nerves. He saw the sadness. “Let’s get you home.”

-

The car ride back to the Cameron household was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Rafe kept one hand on the wheel and one locked in Y/N’s, glancing over at her every few minutes to make sure she was doing okay. Back at the house, he provided her clothes to change into while he grabbed some drinks for them. Y/N sat on his bed, preparing herself for what she was about to do. It was the reason for the walk, the reason for the silence in the car. Honestly, this could be an awful time to do it, but there was no turning back now. “Okay, so I’ve got chips, cookies, water, Pepsi, mountain dew,” “Rafe.” Y/N cut him off, staring at him as she sat criss crossed on his bed. He sat everything down and stared at her, encouraging her to continue. “This could be a bad time to tell you, but I like you. I went on that walk because I needed to get you out of my head but then you showed up so clearly it didn’t work and honestly I’ve liked you for a while, and you don’t have to like me back, oh no you’re laughing,” She cut herself off at the sight of Rafe chuckling and moving towards her. “Why are you laughing?” Y/N whispered as he got close enough that he could feel his breath on her skin. “Because,” Rafe smiled, “I like you too.”

[warmau]

☆ [nostalgic] summer romance!au jungwoo another late birthday au....but happy snoopy day <3 find others here: johnny | haechan | taeil | taeyong | mark | jaemin | yangyang | yuta | sicheng | chenle | kun | yukhei | doyoung | jaehyun

"congratulations and welcome to the team!"

the overly peppy voice that comes out of the body of the middle-aged man somehow doesn't match the soulless look in his eyes

he hands you a whistle and a t-shirt, which when you unfold greets you with the name of the water park you've been cursed to work at all summer

the font is big and bubbly and very, very, very yellow - it's almost nauseating

you turn the shirt around and on the back, in that same childish font, is the word staff

"jungwoo, glad to see you here again!"

you turn your head to see the man, who is your shift manager, patting a rather thin and tall looking boy on the back

he makes a gagging noise which the manager just laughs heartily at before dropping the same shirt and whistle in jungwoo's palm

"hey wait - which ride am i on this year?"

"um let me see - you're on ........ ah, the log flume with the new employee."

you motion to yourself because it seems like you're the only new face at the orientation

everyone else has cliqued up and is already mumbling about how much this is going to suck with each other

jungwoo slinks over and throws the shirt over his shoulder

"log flume kinda sucks, just so you know."

"really? i can't imagine getting sprayed by residual dirty water isn't a thrilling experience - especially when it happens a hundred times a day."

there's a pause and then a large grin forms of jungwoo's features

"oh - i like you."

you affirm the notion with a little bit of a prideful shrug and smile yourself

good, i think i like you too.

of course - when you and jungwoo first exchange these sentiments, it's nothing more than an employee-to-employee relationship

jungwoo has a sense of humor that either tends to fly over peoples heads or offend them (sometimes both)

but you catch on quickly and sometimes even beat him in a game of his own wits

during an opening shift where you two are testing the ride and cleaning up the waiting area, jungwoo confides that when he was in middle school someone had pointed out that he's "eccentric"

you scrunch your nose up as you tie a knot around the garbage bag in your hand

"eccentric is a polite way of saying fucking weird, you know that right jungwoo?"

"do you think im 'fucking weird' then?"

he does a pose and you shake your head with a little laugh

"no i think you're just....you."

he relaxes his limbs and tilts his head to the side, without a verbal answer you somehow sense that that was the one thing jungwoo really wanted to hear

working the log flume though - is as hellish as expected

most of your days are spent standing in those hot, cheap plastic ponchos and waving at families with screaming children or rowdy teenagers who barely fit in the ride with their bony knees

despite your efforts to keep dry, you and jungwoo always end up soaked

he's forgetful and clumsy so half the time you have to share the towel you bring with him, not to mention your lunch gets gobbled up by him too

you ask at some point why jungwoo just doesn't bring his own stuff - you are not a one-stop 7/11 shop

he laughs and takes a bite into the huge soft pretzel sold in the water park

"why should i bring anything, you've always got everything we need!"

a pang like the toll of a bell vibrates through the cavity of your chest

we - what about "we", there's no "we", there's just......."friends"

a sour taste in your mouth accompanies the thought and so you push it to the back of your mind

"still - at least start bringing your own change of clothes, you're too tall for any of my shirts."

"crop-tops are in though!"

you stare down at the switchboard that operates the log flume - the buttons with scraping labels, the emergency stop button, the little cubbies below where people leave their phones

the park is closing in thirty minutes and jungwoo has scampered off to hand in your ticket collection to the manager

the summer evening is hovering between the last beams of light and suddenly - alone at the top of the ride - something shifts

you unfile the thought you had before, the idea of what 'we' means to you and jungwoo

and you come to a daunting realization that, after only a couple of weeks of laughter and grueling minimum wage work, the statement "i think i like you too" is starting to take a new shape in your heart

"hey - did you drown up there?"

you lean over the side and see jungwoo below waving

even with the distance the essence of his warm shine floats up and tickles at your cheeks.

you swat it away, but it doesn't work.

"no - the log flume ghost caught me, i can't come down."

you joke back and he salutes

"wait there, i will come save you - i have fought that ghost once before!"

he's joking, but something flutters its wings when you hear him rush up the steps with all the seriousness of coming to get you. to save you.

when he reaches you - you mask the weird flush climbing up your spine - and pretend to be flailing

jungwoo gives you a kindergarten laugh as he joins in on the fun - a fake punch to the face of a fake ghost

he grabs you around the waist and tugs you toward him, and inches from his face, you see something behind the childish glint in the brown of his eyes.

he's so handsome.

"saved you! let's get out of here or the manager will accuse us of trying to sneak in overtime."

the weight of his hands on you is only described as comforting, easy. so very easy.

so even when he lets go and you are trailing behind him and the rest of the park employees after closing you miss it, you miss the touch of a friend who is becoming a lot more than just that.

"jungwoo's being switched to the lazy river starting today, that place is such a cease pool of idiocy that i need more coverage on it."

a groan escapes jungwoo before you can even process what the manager is saying

"what? but i hate that place most of all - do you know how many random dads get into fights on that thing?"

"am i going to be on log flume alone?"

your voice is way calmer than you expect it to be and the manager makes a passive motion with his hand, "yep - and i trust you'll handle it fine."

jungwoo's look is apologetic and slightly bitter, you reach out to give him a pat on the shoulder, but your palm hovers above the fabric of his shirt before pulling embarrassingly back to your side

either he doesn't notice or he chooses not to say anything because jungwoo turns and trudges over to the other three people assigned to the river

without jungwoo, the weird gnawing feeling of a summer crush only gets stronger, because now that he's not glued to your side

you miss him so terribly it almost makes you feel sick

coupled with the boredom of being alone the entire day with strangers seems to just worsen the symptoms

a week into the switch, you make the choice to visit jungwoo on your lunch break

you arrive just in time to see the aftermath of one of those dad fights he had mentioned

jungwoo is waist-deep in the water with two of those inflatable tubes on either side. he looks like he's negotiating a war truce between two disgruntled generals and he hands the tubes back as the men disperse to their respective families with scowls on their faces

jungwoo is also not wearing a shirt

"lazy river is much more hands-on then log flume"

the line of his back is lean and there are some healing bruises under his ribs which you can only assume are from his rather clumsy nature, the other thought of what could have caused them makes your head spin

"hey - i see you're literally in the trenches"

jungwoo turns and runs a hand through his wet bangs to get a better look at you. the action shouldn't make your knees feel like jelly.

"i hate this place, come over here and dunk my head underwater please."

you squat down near the edge and jungwoo wades closer to you

you place a brown paper bag beside you and motion to it

"im assuming you still aren't bringing your own lunches and are surviving off scraps from everyone else?"

he grins, "you know me so well"

i know i do - you think to say, but keep the words in your throat - i know i do, which is weird because we've been friends for a little over a month.

"hows log flume?"

"boring without you."

jungwoo whistles and you catch the way the sun makes every little drop of water on him glisten

"ill stop by on my break since you stopped by on yours"

a second of comfortable silence passes and jungwoo jumps up and out of the river with an ease

he grabs the lunch you've brought and is about to say something when a whistle from the other side of the river catches your attentions

"ugh this place is supposed to be lazy."

he complains and before he turns to the direction of the sound, he touches your cheek with the slightly wet palm of his hand

"thanks for lunch, see you later."

the gesture haunts you.

you even ask someone in the line for log flume what it means and she gives you a side glare that can only be conjured by a specific breed of mom.

you try to google it, but nearly drop your phone into the water.

jungwoo doesn't come by that day - he actually only manages to visit you the next day.

he shows up in his trunks, no shirt, and the towel he never gave back to you after he borrowed it over his shoulder

"sorry, do you know how many kids get food poisoning and decide the riv-"

you put up a hand to stop him from divulging details and jungwoo leans against the post that controls the ride as you wave off the next bunch of people

you feel him watch you before he joins you and helps start lowering the bar for the next log that splashes its way into the starting point

as you two go through the rows with practiced repetition

you meet in the middle

your hands both reach out to touch the bar, bringing it down over the laps of two young-looking middle schoolers who are pretending not to be holding hands

one of them giggles as you and jungwoo's fingers brush

the slight pass of skin on skin feels like a burst of electricity

stepping back to wave the group off - jungwoo slips in beside you and asks with a kind of strained sarcasm

"who takes their date on the log flume?"

"i think it's cute."

jungwoo doesn't miss a beat and that's what nearly knocks you backwards

"wanna go with me on our day off?"

jungwoo asks you on a date.

that you're sure off. but why - that's the part that does not click for you.

so is it a friend thing - are the 'we' on this 'date' just two friends running around the water park they work at with the freedom of having to not do their jobs? are the 'we' on this 'date' something completely different?

the nervousness makes you jump when jungwoo meets up with you at the bust stop and he doesn't look or feel any different than usual

you start to accept that your first thought is correct - this is a platonic date - nothing more

until you get to the waterpark and put your things away and jungwoo pulls a small container from his bag

"what's that?"

"you're always taking care of me, i want to take care of you for once too."

he opens it and inside are some lopsided looking cookies

"did you- jungwoo did you bake this?"

he poke his tongue out, but nods

"well, a friend who is a better cook than me helped."

they taste better than you could have imagined, you take a bite and understand that no something is definitely

different

friends don't hold their other friends hand the entire day

friends don't lean into their other friends shoulder while waiting in the line for one of the rides and then biting softly down on the skin, kissing it after like an apologetic kitten

and friends don't kiss their other friends in the dark, shady corner where a line of vending machines have been abandoned behind the pretzel stand

the infamous makeout spot that every water park employee buzzes about

when your date comes to an end and you and jungwoo are waiting for the bus back, you keep touching your lips.

jungwoo tastes like citrus when he kisses

there are some things i don't know about him

you smile to yourself when his pinkie brushes yours and hooks up with it as the bus approaches

i can't wait to learn all of them

it takes the manager exactly forty-eight hours to figure out you and jungwoo are dating.

everyone else in the park gets the memo the minute you two step into the staff room.

there's a little pushback against it, just because there is some stupid company policy, but the manager claps you both on your backs and whispers that whatever - it is summer - kids should have fun during the summer.

maybe the fun means sneaking kisses on lunch breaks, visiting each other on your off days, swapping shifts so you two can arrive and leave together

the fun of having jungwoo nuzzle his wet face into the back of your neck as he complains about work

the fun of having you trace patterns on his arm as you two wait for the bus home

the fun of seeing each other outside of work, sprawling across his bedroom floor and talking about nonsense

the fun of jungwoo's features shifting from languid and sleepy to acute as you shift your weight ontop of him and let your hands flirt with the hem of his shirt

"cover those up jungwoo, we are a family-friendly establishment"

the manager mumbles, motioning to jungwoo's neck with his pen

you thin your lips and jungwoo huffs, slapping a bandage or two on the slightly puffed skin

when the days get a little colder and the droves of families dwindle slowly, you know that your summer job is coming to an end

on your last days, you have back your uniforms and whistles and the manager makes a speech about how much good work has been done and how he's holding back his tears, but he's sure he'll see you next year

jungwoo mutters that you two can't come back here next year - you two should look into summer jobs at the mall or something

your last walk from the park gates to the bus stop home is calm, even a little chilly. jungwoo drapes a hand around your shoulder and pulls you into him for the warmth.

"we never got to go on the log flume together"

you suddenly muse and jungwoo coaxes his mouth into a frown

"you really want to go together on that contraption? it's not even fun."

"it's sentimental to us."

"that's a weird thing to say."

he looks at you and you poke his cheek

"it's an eccentric thing to say."

a number of summers pass until you and jungwoo ever follow up on the notion

actually, the one summer you two end up sitting together on the log flume, is not even at the water park from your memories

it's somewhere abroad

you're on vacation together and jungwoo claims you dragged him onto this thing

but you see the little smile he tries to hide when the bar comes down

the two teenagers working the ride brush their fingers as they do so, catching the look of shyness that passes from one to the other you giggle and take jungwoo's hand in your own

"what's funny?"

he asks and you tell him oh, nothing.

the ride starts and just as the log reaches the end of the dip - you let out a small shout of excitement

jungwoo joins you, but he doesn't just make a sound. he says something.

"i love you!"

oh, i think i like you too - the sweet taste comes back.

"i thin- i know i love you too!"

[ladyeliot]

Fragile [2/3]

Part One

Based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Who would have thought that fate would bring you face to face with your father's killer? 13 years old, an orphan girl who was taken under the protection of the United States, who was educated to serve the nation and who was now assigned by the CIA to guard what was once one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Warnings: Mentions of murder, psychological problems, violence.

Word count: 3981

A/N: Post Endgame. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

The city of sin is empty, and so are you. There is no one around you to judge you. The rhythm of their heartbeat seems to take over your body, it seems to lure you into the darkness, into which you have already entered. You have been alone for so long that you can barely remember when you felt a caress. The lights seem to blind you as they fall on your skin through the window panes, you can't see clearly where you're going, or what your next move is going to be, but there's something that grabs you, that compels you to kiss his skin. You look into his eyes, offering yourself, inviting him to love you. You look around you, drowning in the night, but there he is, the only person who can ignite you with a caress.

The Japanese restaurant across the street from your building was the place selected for the date that Bucky had worked so hard to set you up with, but after you saw him show up on your doorstep with the most charming bouquet of orange tulips you'd ever seen in your life you didn't care where he planned to take you. The place was quite popular in the neighbourhood, so that night most of the tables were packed with diners, a fact that seemed to make your companion uncomfortable as you walked into the establishment.

"Would you rather we went somewhere else?" you asked when you saw his gaze sweep over the place.

"No, it's fine," he stepped forward, heading to a free table that was quite far away from the others.

"You know, I don't remember ever having tasted Japanese food," you said, sitting down across from him. "I guess you'll have to walk me through this."

A complicity intensified as Bucky flashed a smile, lowering his gaze in response to the comment you had just made. Your eyes lit up, creating a visual conformity as he raised his countenance again and focused his eyes on you. It was at that precise moment that you discovered that beneath the blue mantle of his iris were small greyish flecks. You had arrived in this place almost three months ago, in this Brooklyn neighbourhood full of charming Asian culture, and you had never felt more at home than you did at that moment. You knew every detail of the life of the boy sitting in front of you, every detail that the government had wanted to give you, but you realised that you didn't really know anything about him at all.

It was a long two minutes in which you spent inspecting the person in front of you. He was wearing a black denim-style jacket, a black T-shirt that seemed to match the jeans you remembered he was wearing, and of course his black leather gloves, the ones you assumed he wouldn't take off all night. You rested your elbow on the table and dropped your chin into the palm of your hand without taking your eyes off his for a second. Bucky's jaw was slightly stiff, his lips were pursed waiting for you to say something and his expression was highlighted by a frown. You held it in for a few seconds until again your mouth curved up in a smile causing laughter to erupt from within you, causing a blush to rise up Bucky's cheeks.

"What's wrong?" he asked doubtful of the cause of your smirking laughter.

"Nothing," you said sincerely, shaking your face as your laughter died down and you took the menu of dishes in your hands. "What do you recommend?"

"I don't know," he said repeating your same gesture and hiding his face behind the paper.

"I thought you were a regular," you commented ignoring the variety of dishes and put the menu down so you could look at him again. "What about the nigiris?"

"The truth is that whenever I come here it's always Yori who decides what to eat," he commented pulling the paper away from his face leaving you to stare at his uneasy countenance again.

"Wow... do you think we should call him for dinner recommendations?" you whispered making Bucky blush again as he chuckled.

"I think we can manage," he commented looking back at the list of dishes.

But really your attempt to make a varied selection of Japanese cuisine was in vain when the young waitress approached you both and you decided on a random selection based on the most curious names you had found, so that after she left you were once again alone in front of each other. You noticed that in those long weeks that you had unexpectedly coincided Bucky had never made a comment about his past, it was obvious that he took it for granted that you knew who he was, everyone seemed to know who he was.

"Can I be frank with you?" you asked, playing with the small vase in the middle of the table.

"Please," he replied, giving way to your question.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem nervous enough to have dated girls before, you know," you commented in a delicate tone avoiding scaring him away. "Is this your first date in... this long?"

Bucky's nostrils flared as he averted his gaze to the side and took a breath.

"Well... yeah, you could say that," he replied turning his focus back to you as his fingers played. "I've been trying... God, what's the name of the app?"

"Tinder?" you suggested arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, that," he nodded as his eyes widened in surprise. "It's crazy, that's not meant for me, it's like how am I going to find someone there? I don't know."

"I know," you laughed at his facial expression. "I tried it once, but I had a bad experience."

"What happened?" you inquired curiously as the waitress brought the first dishes to share along with the two beers you had ordered.

"I was supposed to meet a blond guy, curly hair, strong build, light eyes, about thirty or thirty-five, supposed to be British," you began as you took a sip of your beer. "All right, I was in the bar waiting for him to arrive, obviously we were meeting in a public place, we said to wear specific clothes so we could easily recognise each other, although I thought it was a bit absurd as I had seen pictures of him. By the time a completely different guy from the description I just gave you stood next to me, wearing a red tie and introducing himself as Matthew, I picked up and left."

"Are you sure that app is legal?" he asked when you finished telling the story.

"Sometimes I ask myself the same question too."

The atmosphere seemed to envelop you over the course of the dinner, Bucky tilting his face whenever you recounted any of your experiences, which were yours, not the character you had created to conduct your research. The comfort was so pleasant inside you that you even felt guilty on several occasions that he didn't know who you really were, a CIA agent sent to keep him under control. Even though it would have the worst consequences for you, for your career and you could never be willing to throw it all away, at least you had never been willing or thought about it until now. Although it had also been a long time since you'd felt like this.

"So...?" you arched your eyebrows with a lopsided smile, waiting for his honest answer.

"A hundred and six," he replied finishing his second beer.

"And I was complaining about the guy who showed me up on that Tinder date, because he was fifty-three," Bucky ducked his gaze somewhat nervously, as you shrugged. "You really are a fascinating guy, Bucky Barnes."

Those words were the most sincere thing you'd said since the night began, plus they brought with them a fresh batch of knowing glances between the two of you, where seconds ticked by, no one said anything and the din of laughter and surrounding conversations seemed to subside above you. You discovered that you weren't curious to find out if everything in those documents was true or not, if he really was the monster they were trying to make you believe. What really mattered to you and why you were curious about him, you wanted to find out for yourself who he really was, his experiences, his future plans, if he was lost, if he was afraid, you didn't want answers to the morbid questions they used to ask him, you wanted to know Bucky Barnes, not the Winter Soldier.

That was the first time you had ever been on a date, with all its letters, rarely had you reached dessert before you had slept with the guy in front of you, rarely had you felt so comfortable chatting with someone, rarely had you laughed so much and stayed until the place closed.

"You're in the 21st century, do you know that women can pay for dinner and we can buy if we want to?" you said approaching the bar and taking your wallet out of your purse.

"Please," he determined almost in a plea as he pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his trousers.

"All right," you raised your arms, heading for the exit door. "I'll pay for the drinks.

As you stepped outside you could feel Bucky's eyes on you through the glass of the restaurant as he was waiting for the extra money/change. It was a pretty cold night in March, but no one really seemed to care because it seemed like everyone had gone outside to enjoy the Saturday night. You heard behind you the tinkling of a little bell and Bucky was perched next to you, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Well, where..." you started to say before a voice cut you off.

A whistling sound coming from somewhere near you tried to get your attention, but it wasn't until you looked up that you saw a tiny face peering through a window on the first floor of your building.

"Hey!" you exclaimed, tapping Bucky's chest and pointing at Yori who was waving at you.

"Oh gosh..." commented Bucky raising his hand in greeting.

"How was the date?" your neighbour asked raising his tone so he could reach you.

"Great Yori!" you exclaimed trying to let him hear you from the first floor of your building. "Bucky is such a gentleman! They don't have men like that these days!"

You didn't see it, but your companion had no idea where to put himself at that moment, his hand on the back of his neck and his uncomfortable glances around as he blushed gave him away. You raised your arm to wave goodbye to Yori who was saying goodbye as he said something, but it barely reached your ears. Bucky simply nodded showing an awkward smile on his face.

"Come on," you laughed tugging on the lapel of Bucky's jacket causing him to start walking aimlessly.

"Where are we going?" he asked walking beside you.

"I don't know," you shrugged without stopping walking. "I'll remind you that I'm just a tourist, I've been in New York for three months and I've barely left the neighbourhood. But I think you know it a lot better than I do," you bumped his body with yours in a friendly way.

"I don't agree. You may be a tourist in New York, but I'm a tourist in the 21st century world," he commented, hitting you back with his elbow.

"In that case... let's discover New York together," you smiled, and he smiled back, letting you know that he was enjoying the evening as much as you were.

"There," your companion raised his chin, gesturing slightly towards the narrow building looming above you.

"There?" you asked, arching your eyebrows in surprise at what he was telling you.

"Fourth floor," he continued speaking without looking at you, resting his eyes on the place he was describing. "It was a tiny flat, I could get from the kitchen to the bedroom by just jumping up and down. If I opened the window at night, the smell of mozzarella from Nicollini's came in. It was an Italian restaurant," he paused thoughtfully, perhaps wistfully. "Wow... I didn't come here until now."

You stood parallel to Bucky, his eyes seemed to appear brighter than usual, the light from the streetlight allowing you to take in every feature of his face. You were silent for a couple of minutes while he seemed to be distant from the place, obscured in his thoughts, in his past. The time you had spent with him had not allowed you to see him like this at any time, he used to keep his emotions very much in check, not allowing anyone to glimpse them, only letting you see the shame or confusion when he spoke to you.

"So... when was the last time you were here?" your volume was soft, trying not to interrupt him too much, but upon hearing your voice, he fell into your presence and began to pace.

"Maybe... in 1943, just before I left for Europe," he cleared his throat, undoing the knot that had formed in his throat.

It was in that precious moment that you realised how hard and complex his situation must really be. Bucky Barnes was all alone in the world, all his knowledge of his old present was of little use to him now, it might be the city where he grew up but nothing was the same anymore. He also had to live with his legacy, the legacy HYDRA left him. Silence flooded around you, however, it was not a complicit silence, it was an uncomfortable silence, caused by the situation you had just lived.

"My father died when I was thirteen," you didn't know why, but that confession came from inside you, Bucky turned his face and focused his attention on you. "My mother had abandoned us when I was five, so when my father died I was all alone."

"I'm sorry," Bucky whispered making you realise he was really sorry when you looked at his face.

"It happens," you shrugged. "I guess that makes us feel luckier when we find someone we connect with."

That was the first time you looked away blushing as you met Bucky's smile, but he kept his eyes fixed on you. The two of you had made your way to an aimless spot, letting the night fall on you by the riverbank.

"Answer me something, when was the last time you enjoyed the New York night?" you said looking at him, as behind him you could see a wonderful view of the island of Manhattan.

"New York night..." he said looking down thoughtfully. "Well, I remember the last night I spent in New York, my best friend Steve and I went to see The Stark exhibit along with two girls," he turned his gaze to the horizon, "Connie and Bonnie, I think their names were."

"Your girlfriends?" you asked curiously delving into the story.

"Not exactly," he laughed looking at you, "it was like a double date, but they weren't our partners. Those times were more complicated, you know," you nodded and waited silently for him to continue the story. "I had planned for the four of us to go dancing, but Steve was not very receptive, he had other things on his mind, so I ended up going dancing with the two of them by myself.

"Wow, what do you know..." you arched an eyebrow causing Bucky to blush with laughter, gazing at the lights coming from Manhattan. "That means you're quite the expert dancer."

"Not exactly, I mean, maybe in... in the past, it's possible, but..." he didn't know how to express himself, his words were hindering him.

"Show me," you interrupted taking him by surprise.

"Uh?" he asked stopping his steps and frowning.

"Come on, it's time for me to be the one to get out of your time. I have no idea how to dance..." you pointed out, making him understand that you didn't know how to dance in a couple. "Please."

Your companion took a breath as you presented him with the palm of your hand inviting him to take it right in the middle of a small riverside park. Bucky was hesitant but your lower lip bitten by your teeth and your pleading eyes made him definitely decide to hold your hand and accept the challenge. The triumph was depicted on your face, which made it easy for Bucky to oblige by flashing you a smile.

"You're really testing me tonight," he murmured, slowly approaching you.

You first felt the roughness of his leather gloves as his left hand took yours to mark a closer position. Your bodies were close, too close, you could hear his raised breathing and see the mist of your breath connecting. Bucky gently placed his hand on your waist, but nothing else happened, you looked at each other, with a very uncomfortable smile.

"This is weird," he muttered, wrinkling the expression on his face.

"Why?" you looked around you, it was lonely. "There's no one."

"I know," he looked up. "There's no one, there's no music."

"Sing," you said quickly with a laugh, making Bucky laugh too as he shook his head. "I would, but I don't know any songs of the time."

"I don't plan to sing," he decreed without barely moving an inch away from you.

"Then use your imagination," you whispered lowering your gaze for a second, meeting his neck at eye level.

As if time had rushed backwards you were caught in a completely different place, the yellowish light of the street lamps above you and behind you a Manhattan skyline set the perfect mood for the moment. The hand that was perched on your waist began to subtly exert pressure, guiding you to imitate the movement of his feet that he had begun. Embarrassed by your clumsiness you quickly lowered your gaze to his feet to try to imitate what he was doing more accurately.

"Look at me, don't look at my feet," he sentenced with a small laugh. "Look at my eyes."

And you did, so much so that you did, letting yourself be enveloped by their blue, making you blush because of the proximity to them. It was strange, perhaps it was much stranger to you than it was to him, as you bit your lower lip hard trying to escape the awkwardness and embarrassment. How could a moment that could look completely ridiculous from the outside feel so intimate on the inside?

"When was the last time you danced with a girl?" you whispered, trying to keep the situation not too intimate.

"I think it was in London," he replied without stopping his movements. "When I was on leave."

But as he finished his answer you again found yourself under those piercing blue eyes trying to maintain eye contact with you. Again you caught your lower lip between your teeth, thinking of a new question to ask him. Bucky had taken control of the situation, something you weren't used to, and that made you feel alert, he knew it, for the first time he seemed to be in control of the situation, and that was your fault, you had given it to him when you said to teach you to dance.

"Are you alright?" he whispered in front of you with a half smile to which you nodded forcing a smile.

Just as you finished your nod you felt Bucky press harder against your waist and pressed his body against yours leaving your forehead pressed against his cheek. His scent wafted into your nostrils, drifting into your brain, projecting a pleasure that made you close your eyes and let yourself be completely carried away. You accepted that you wouldn't last an hour in the 40s in a dance hall, the second you'd fall at the feet of any young man like Bucky. You didn't know if it was your imagination, because right now you had entered an alternate universe, or if Bucky was humming some tune, but you heard it, you heard how your subtle movements had music.

"And..." you parted your lips, pulling your forehead away from his cheek, trying to formulate a question that didn't come because you felt the melody stop, realising that it was Bucky who was asking it.

His face with a sweet smile on it paralysed you, making you come out of the bubble that had been created around you, feeling guilty for the situation that you yourself had provoked. What the hell were you doing? He was your mission, everything was getting out of context, it had gotten completely out of hand and you needed to stop it as soon as possible. You shook your face, trying not to be too rude to him, and you broke the proximity between the two of you. Bucky didn't understand what had happened, because within a second the happiness was wiped from his face, showing some concern for your actions.

"I'm sorry," he said, raising his hands subtly by way of caution. "If I've done anything inappropriate..."

"No!" you exclaimed shaking your head smiling at his apology. "It's just... I think we should get back, we still have a long way to go and I wanted to get up early tomorrow."

"Of course," the disappointment you saw on Bucky's face almost broke your soul.

The walk home was too stealthy, and that made you uneasy. You couldn't stop replaying over and over the moment in your mind, the feel of his hand on your waist, the proximity to his body, your scent, and the warmth of your forehead against his cheek. It was torture, because on the other hand you felt extremely guilty for violating all the clauses of your job by entering into this kind of relationship with Bucky. It was suffocating, you felt almost breathless inside. Firstly, you should have started by refusing the proposal to go out for dinner, and secondly, if you did go out for dinner, you should have gone straight home, no dancing and no further conversation. In the midst of all these thoughts, you arrived home.

"Please," he said, offering you first the way into the building.

"Thank you," you mumbled without looking at him.

The walk to the third floor began, you had never realised that there were so many steps and so steep until you reached the door of your house, it seemed like a climb up Mount Everest and the worst thing was that Bucky lived right in front of you, on the same landing. You amused yourself rummaging through your purse for your house keys, avoiding having a conversation until you arrived right in front of the door.

"Well..." you started to say by way of an awkward goodbye.

"Again, if I've done anything to upset you..." Bucky repeated again with a gesture of concern.

"Really, Bucky, it's been... great," you concluded, smiling kindly at him. "I promise."

"All right," he ducked his face, not entirely convinced by your answer. "So, good night Susan."

"G-good night Bucky."

Susan? Of course, that was you to him, all a lie.

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[baekhvuns]

photocard.

synopsis : in which your best friend gives you the biggest gift that’s he’s always kept to himself on the day of christmas. ( collab w/ @hanflix ) ♡

pairing : minho x reader

themes : romcom & fluff.

word count : 3k

christmas eve.

you shuffled around in your bed, a pout decorating your pink-tinted lips as you brought the blanket closer to your face.

your mouth escaped a sigh one too many times now, and the only thought circulating in your mind was that your best friend in the entire world forgot it was christmas, a holiday you’d always without a stop celebrate together.

your mouth flees another sigh, it wasn’t a big deal that he forgot christmas considering he’s on tour in a completely different country while you returned from your work with the sweet wishes from your coworkers.

your best friend, lee minho, no, not the actor, is from the worldwide famous band, stray kids. it was only normal for him to be travelling way too many times during the years due to his schedule, but he always made time for you even on the busiest of days.

you’ve been friends for more than fifteen years, starting from middle school all the time now. the two of you shared everything, from your very firsts to seeing each other be successful.

you were truly happy at the fact that you two were still best of friends despite him being a literal singer who barely has time to take a seat.

and you love him for that, his personality, the whole tsundere facade, sarcasm and constant chaotic behaviour that made you laugh even on your worst days. on top of that his looks, especially his sharp eyes that you loved to gaze into and the way he always looks like a model when he’s doing the most basic chores.

so being lonely in your apartment, well both of your apartment as he’s over most of the times, was normal. but today felt colder than usual, the apartment quiet with the occasional sounds coming from the heater you placed in front of you.

just the mere thought of him sent your heart fluttering especially when you’ve got an unrequited love for him, being friends for fifteen years and one of us not having feelings for each other sounded absurd.

that’s impossible, that’s what you thought at first but then you started seeing minho in a different light. the way you’d look at him changed and the way your thoughts were constantly crowded by him finally made you realize that yes, you are indeed in love with minho.

your eyes gazing the sky outside, courtesy of the apartment window being able to showcase the city up top. the snow had already started to fall, it was a white christmas, you could see the christmas lights hanging and glowing, tall skyscrapers advertising their christmas spirit by showcasing a lights show of red and green with the occasional appearance of santa.

you could very barely hear the christmas bells from the street market below, but the piano music in the background that you specifically chose was louder.

you rolled over to face the window and buried yourself in one of minho’s black hoodies and the blanket, your eyes tired from the work and feeling droopy as if they’ll shut down any minute.

your thoughts wandering to minho who must be on stage performing his heart out, getting the adrenaline from his fans who he cherished the most. you smiled nonetheless, his face flashing in your mind.

minho on the other had just landed home, he wasn’t exactly supposed to be taking the uber back to your place considering one of the concerts was in both your hometown and he’s supposed to be with the members practicing for it.

he bids goodbye to his friends who cheered and whistled loudly at him yelling “good luck! call us if it works out your way!”

throwing them a playful glare he makes his way to the uber, pulling up his mask and adjusting the jacket around him as the cold december night wind lingered through.

he excitedly tells the address to the man driving not before stopping by a local bakery to grab your favourite cake and snacks, he makes sure to get both of his and your favourite colours along with a cartoon candle that reminded him of you.

he smiles at the bag in his hand before sitting back down in the uber before being driven to your apartment complex.

he sprints up to the building with the plastic bag containing food and cake in one hand while the other held his suitcase, while another bag over his shoulders.

he huffs and puffs out harshly as he tugs the mask down, bowing to the apartment building guard respectfully who only laughed and waved, knowing him and the number of times he’s visited before opening the door to the complex building and immediately being swarmed by the heat.

he glances around and a wide smile graces his face, he loves chirstmas, just because it’s your favourite holiday. he loves seeing you getting all giddy about decorating the tree and when he wraps you in wrapping paper while hearing you scream his name.

he’s sure that you did a great job decorating the entire apartment this year too, although a pity he couldn’t join you this year.

he shakes his head and makes his way to the elevator, pressing the top floor button before entering it. he jumps on his feet back and forth slightly, excited yet scared to see you after a while especially when he’s got something extremely important to say.

when the elevator dings, he practically sprints out of the elevator and makes his way to your shared apartment. but pauses before he could make noise, he takes a swift look at his wrist and checks the time.

11:40 pm.

“she’ll be sleeping, only got twenty minutes left,” he whispers to himself, taking the spare key out and slowly and quietly unlocking the door, not wanting you to know he’s here.

he takes his shoes off and pads his socked feet quietly on the wooden floor until stepping on the comfy carpet. he slowly unravels the window blinding and glances at the city being covered in snow, a smile on his face he looks at the clock again and panic comes over him.

he slowly but quickly takes the cake box out and places it neatly on the table, he grabs plates and puts the dishes beside the cake and then finally places the candles on the surface in a matter of seconds before lighting the candles up.

he has the radio set up for the perfect soft christmas music that echoes in the background, smiling to himself he lets out a sigh of relief and stands up, quietly making his way towards your bedroom even though he feels as if he wants to scream and jump on you.

slowly opening the door, he peeks his head in and his eyes settle on your sleeping form. a warm smile tugs on his lips but he pauses before opening the door.

his heartbeat increases and his stomach churns at what he’s about to do, he’s afraid that you’ll be upset and it’ll ruin everything between you two but he opens the door wider and makes his way towards you.

his lips curve up into a smile when he notices that you’re wearing his hoodie, your cheeks squished together with a blush to them as you slept away.

he contemplates for a second to either jump on you and surprise you awake or to scream and wake you up and then surprise you. laughing he chooses to peacefully wake you up, he takes a seat next to you and pats your warmer cheeks with his colder hands.

“(y/n), wake up,” he mumbles softly and you stir in your sleep, he smiles and caresses your cheek softly.

“(y/n) wake up or i’ll leave, ” he says again but this time closer to your face, you groan and reluctantly flutter open your eyes to look at whatever called out to you.

once your irises focus on the setting they immediately widened, a bright smile on your face as you jump in utter surprise. “minho,” you say groggily.

“what the heck are you doing here!” you let out and he pulls you in a warm hug, whining in your hold as you let out a chuckle.

he taps your head softly, “it’s christmas you idiot and you’re here sleeping,” he says, rocking you back and forth in the hug and you smile against him.

“well, if my best friend isn’t beside me,” you pause and push him away, “how will i celebrate it?” and examine his stunning face.

his eyes turn into crescents and he shows off his infamous smile that has butterflies aviating in your stomach.

before he’s about to pull you over his shoulder you stop him, “but min, aren’t you supposed to be with the guys? what about your tour?”

he chuckles and pulls you up, “you forgot the last concert is here, so i came straight to you so we both can celebrate christmas together,” he says, grabbing your hands and pulling you off the bed.

you groan and he chuckles, “now, c’mon it’s almost christmas.”

you follow him into your living room only to stop beside him, he grins widely when he looks at your shocked face and you find yourself tearing up and he panics immediately.

“w-what’s wrong?” he says, cupping your face looking at you in worry, but you only let out a chuckle and punch his shoulder.

“god, you’re going to make me emo today,” you say and walk past him to admire the living room. eyeing the small cake lit on the centre table with your favourite food around it, your stomach grumbles and you take a seat on the floor.

minho who’s been on pause for the past few seconds jolts out and walks over to take a seat beside you.

your eyes gaze over the table and then back to minho who’s weirdly fidgety, you look at him in confusion. “what’s got you so fidgety?” you ask and he shoots his head at you, wide eyes staring into yours.

he clears his throat harshly before dramatically placing his elbow on the table, cradling his face on his palm.

“nothing,” he gulps at your stare, you look at him a second longer before reaching behind him.

he swears he’s about to have a heart attack, it’s not like you’ve never come closer to him. you’ve hugged on multiple occasions and even sat beside each other with no feelings but for the past few years, all of that has changed.

his breath hitched in his throats and he swears to god that he hear his heart thumping in his ears, he then thanks the almighty when you pull away but only curses internally at your killer smile.

you extend your hand to minho, the one holding your present for him, wrapped neatly in a red box with a golden ribbon right in the centrepiece.

he crosses his eyebrows in confusion, “what is this?” he asks before taking it from your hands, you glance behind him to look at the time.

11:54 pm.

“it’s my christmas present to you,” you reply, pointing behind, “it’s almost time anyway’s so i thought i should give it right now.”

you smile when he takes it from your hands while eyeing you, he chucks open the gift and immediately gasps.

“you did not,” he exclaims, pulling out the very thing he wanted from the beginning of the year.

you grinned, “i did,” watching his eyes sparkle brightly that fastened your heartbeat.

he smiles and places the box beside him before clearing his throat and dramatically bringing out a green bag from behind him, he shoves it to your chest and looks away, a blush coating his cheeks.

you coo in excitement and dismantle the bag, going past the number of fluffy papers to finally grasp the rectangular object. your eyes widen at what you’re holding and scream, minho flinching in the process.

“minho you’re insane!” you say, absolutely blown away by the present he’s given you.

“y-you don’t like it?” he stutters out, afraid that you might not like it even after all the consultations from his group members who said, “simple is sexy.” and so he listened.

“are you kidding me? you got me one of your albums and you think i won’t like it?” you joke, patting his shoulder repeatedly at the excitement as you hurriedly discarded the plastic layering.

he watches your face contort into various expressions and feels his heart sped up as you flip through the pages.

you squeal at every photo and point at how ridiculous minho looked, even though he didn’t.

“oh, hyunjin is so hot,” you say and he immediately snaps his head at you.

“what did you say?” he asks, and you stick your tongue out at him playfully.

as you flip the pages and admire every single one of them, you find yourself staring at the ones with minho longer than the rest. when realizing you’ve been staring at it for seconds you quickly flip the pages, getting excited about the photo card you’ll pull.

minho’s internally screaming, knowing you’re one page away from the photo card, he feels himself starting to sweat, heart wrenching and he looks everywhere but you.

it’s not just a plain old photo card, instead, it’s a special one, the one he specifically designed for you after begging one of the staff members to create on extra print of it, and placed it at the side to give it to you at the perfect time.

you flip the next page and squeal at the photo, “hey! look it’s you, what a coincidence!” you say, picking it up to give it a look.

“what a coincidence,” he mumbles under his breath.

you flip the card and took the time to read whatever auto-generated thing he wrote but to your surprise, it’s something completely different from the past ones.

this one however has your heartbeat increasing, you lift your head to look at minho who’s been eyeing you in curiously.

you open your mouth but nothing comes out, instead, you hear your heartbeat thumping loudly. “a-are you serious?” you ask and he swallows, nodding hesitatingly.

“read it out loud,” he says and you shift to look at the card.

“(y/n), for the past few years, i’ve come to completely fall in love with you.” you pause to suck in a breath. “so this christmas, i wanted to ask you if you’d date me?”

you lift your eyes to look at him who’s scared out of his wits, water starts to brim along your waterline when he starts to speak.

“for the past few years, the way i looked at you changed, you’ve never invaded my mind so much till now,” he stops himself as his head slowly bows down.

“i’ve grown to love you differently,” he says and you place a hand on your mouth. “(y/n), you’re probably the first person i liked outside my members,” he chuckles dryly.

“so i wanted you to th-“

you stop him by lifting his head and pressing your lips to his, he lets out a surprised yelp and you cup his cheeks. he closes his eyes and kisses you back softly, smiling against your lips.

when you pull back, “i love you too, you dummy,” you say with a smile, breathing heavily while glancing in his eyes.

“not just as a friend, but more than that.” you smile before closing the distance between you two again, losing yourself in a sweet yet chaste kiss once again.

this time he pulls back with the brightest smile you’ve seen in a while, “i need to tell the guys, they must be waiting for my call.”

you gasp, “you all knew? and only told me now?”

he doesn’t respond but grins widely, fishing out his phone from his pockets to speed dial the rest who were waiting in their living room, settled on the couch waiting impatiently for the one special call.

once the call goes through they quickly answer it and put it on a video call, minho grabs your waist and pulls you down to sit in between his legs.

you smile shyly, the blush hitting your skim different today. your eyes meet the impatient eyes of the seven boys huddling over each other and you hear minho chuckle lowly in your ear.

“they’ve been waiting,” he whispers and you shoot your eyebrows up.

“how long?” you ask, and he finds himself smiling, “ever since debut.”

even before you could reply, the guys on the other side immediately start screaming at the sight of you two, shaking the camera violently while you and minho laugh at their absurdness.

chan, who seems the only normal one at the moment takes the phone with a big smile. “so? what’s the news?” he asks, his dimples showing and eyebrows wiggling.

you feel the blood shoot up to your cheeks when minho places his chin on your shoulder, “it’s a success.” he says and the other line goes insane once again.

one of them singing ‘my house’ teasingly, the other’s yelling and screaming in excitement and you watch them with wide eyes as if they’ve never witnessed a couple.

you turn your face to minho’s, “are they ok-“ before you could even complete your sentence he takes the chance to press his lips on yours and you find yourself melting under his touch, smiling against his lips.

“oh, eww!” you hear the other’s groan in disgust, making you and minho chuckle at their reactions as he pulls you closer to him.

you glance at the snow falling outside and a smile laces on your lips, burying yourself more into your now boyfriends hold you think about the past christmases with him, but this one takes the cake for being the best with the best present, the photo card.

oh, and of course, your best friend turned boyfriend.

[cognitivefunk]

Title: Say My Name Rating: E/Explicit 18+ Fandom: Obey Me Pairing: M/M Solomon/Leviathan (sub-Levi) Warnings: Smut, Plot? What Plot? Noncon fantasy, consensual but also implied nonconsensual fantasy, light bdsm, one slap to the face, orgasm denial, dirty talk, degradation, light bondage, struggling, stalker fantasy, crying, sobbing, blowjob, anal fingering, anal sex, toys, dildo, voyeurism, exhibitionism, sub-Levi, dom/sub vibes, Solomon uses Magic, unprotected sex Summary: Leviathan has a very specific kink he wants to try out, where he is able to let loose and be a perfect victim and Solomon plays along. Word Count: 9575

It was just another night in Devildom, as Levi sighed in content, setting his headset down onto the desk before heading over to the other side of his room to pick up one of the drinks he had saved for later. The liquid was still cool as it reached his tongue and he smiled into the can, humming to himself as he shuffled around his room. It was a week ago he had shared a fantasy of his with Solomon, and every night before bed he secretly hoped that the man would finally act on it. He specifically told him he didn’t want to be warned beforehand, because it would only make the fantasy feel more real.

He let out another small sigh and decided to turn in early, not wanting to get too worked up. He brushed his teeth dutifully before climbing into his tub, feeling more comfortable on there than on the other bed they had recently set up in his room. That bed wasn’t really for sleeping; he flushed as the thought crossed his mind.

It wasn’t long before Levi drifted off to sleep. In his dream he was being held down by an unseen force, and it filled him with an exhilarating fear. A strange energy started to wrap around his body, giving an almost suffocating sensation as he felt himself grow weaker. His eyes fluttered open, blearily focusing on a shadowy figure in front of him. When he moved to resist, the man put a finger up to his lips, quietly shushing him as he closed the book in his hands with a gentle puff of air. “Don’t need you shifting into your demon form on me,” he purrs quietly.

It takes him a moment to realize that he wasn’t dreaming before he tries to move, tugging his arms only to realize that the glowing disks around his wrists and ankles were holding him firm. Panic set into his chest as he struggled against the bonds with more enthusiasm, “Mmph!” he muffled a scream as the tape over his lips stopped him from yelling out.

“Hey…” his eyes flickered back to the white haired man beside him, eyeing him warily. He was only a little surprised how seriously Solomon was taking his request, and he felt a flutter in his stomach as Solomon brushed a hand through his hair gently. “I’ve watched you from afar for so long…Left you unclaimed for far too long too,” he spoke in a low voice, leaning forward to run his tongue across Levi’s cheek.

The sensation left him feeling weak, and he fought back the moan that wanted to bubble in his throat at the feeling. Instead, he chose to continue to thrash his body around, trying to loosen the magical bonds that held his limbs firmly in place. He could only twist his torso in turn. Solomon let an unnerving grin spread across his face as he watched the show in front of him. “Struggle all you want, you’re at my complete mercy…” he whispered his hot breath against Levi’s cheek, rubbing his face against his briefly before pulling away. “It doesn’t matter either way, even if you escape…” he moved his mouth to the struggling man’s ear to delicately run his teeth over the outer shell, “I’ll always find you.”

Levi breathed in sharply, visibly shaking at both the wizard’s words and the way he ran his tongue along the curve of his ear. He let a pathetic whine escape his throat as Solomon sat back on his feet, chuckling. “My name is Solomon, it’s nice to finally talk face to face with my property,” he smirked. “Sorry about the binds, but you like that sort of thing, don’t you?”

Levi’s face flushed slightly at the implication but he stared back defiantly. He was completely immersed in the part of the captive and he was actively trying to figure out a way to break free of the binds and bolt for the door. He pushed himself up with his legs to the best of his ability, arching up in the tub, trying to work his way loose by sheer force.

Solomon whistled, eyes trailing over his body as he watched him struggle. He had to stifle a laugh at the sight, since Levi must have known he wouldn’t be able to actually break out of them. It was delightful to see actual panic cross his eyes as he fell back into the tub with an exasperated look on his face. “Oh, you’ll make such a fine pet,” he cooed, trailing his fingers over the edges of the tape before ripping it off. It didn’t actually hurt since he had used bondage tape but that didn’t stop Levi from wincing.

“Why are you doing this!?” he cried out, needing answers from the man. “Who are you? How did you get in my house?” he continued, slipping further into the part, letting himself feel the fear that simmered in his chest.

“I told you, I’ve been watching you for a long time,” he smiled cryptically, petting the side of Levi’s face as he watched the emotions swirl in his eyes. He was enjoying this far too much, lips twisting into a smirk as the man floundered beside him.

“W-What do you mean? N-nobody would want to watch me…” he breathed out, visibly shivering as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes but never fell.

“Sssh, it’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you,” Solomon whispered, trying to console Levi with a comforting tone. He ran his finger under Levi’s chin, tilting his head to force him to make eye contact with him, seeing how his eyes kept flitting around the room.

“H-How can I trust you? You broke into my fucking house!” he retorted, his voice quivering as he tried to sound tough. He twisted away from Solomon’s touch, craning his head toward the other side of the tub as he pulled his eyes away from his heated gaze.

The man only continued to smirk, running a cold hand over his face, tracing his fingers down his neck, slowly and deliberately. “For such a cutie like you living alone, I thought you would’ve had more security. Ah…well I guess it doesn’t matter anyway,” he continued, “Nothing could have kept me from you tonight.”

“Stop it…” Levi breathed out a whine, his eyes starting to cloud over as the words started getting to him. He shouldn’t trust Solomon, he should keep his defenses up at all times. The look on his face was as inviting as it was enigmatic, and Levi couldn’t be one hundred percent he wouldn’t completely fall into his role either.

“Stop what?” he pressed on, feigning innocence. Levi’s eye twitched and he had to bite down on his tongue not to yell out in frustration. How could he feign innocence with a face like that?

He glared at him, twisting his body to try to worm his wrists out of the glowing circles, only for the magic to constrict around his wrists more firmly, nearly biting into his skin.

“Ah yes, struggle away!” Solomon laughed, clearly enjoying the role he was in, his eyes held a shine to them that set off Levi’s fight or flight warning as alarm bells started to go off in his head. “It’s been a while since I’ve had an opportunity to do this,” he carried on.

“Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?” Levi continued on as well, shouting at the shady wizard. ‘Been a while?’ he thought to himself. He couldn’t help but wonder if the real Solomon had done something like this before as well. The man had lived many years, and the magic he was able to wield was as impressive as it was unnerving.

He avoids the question, leaning forward so that his face was mere centimeters in front of Levi’s face, “You’re scared aren’t you?” he asked, the smile twisting into a cruel expression. It made Levi’s heart skip a beat as he swallowed, beginning to visibly shake again, “N-no, you don’t scare me.”

“You’re a liar. I bet you’ve been lying to everyone since you were little, haven’t you? That’s why you don’t have any friends.”

The words cut deeper than Levi could have imagined them to when he drafted this up in his head. He lurched forward, gritting his teeth as he glared daggers into the man. “Fuck you!” he spat, but his voice quivered toward the end.

Solomon let out a hearty laugh and shook his head, slipping into a confident smile. “I don’t understand you. You’re tied up, completely at my mercy, and yet here you are, trying to threaten me?”

Levi’s frown deepened as he shifted uncomfortably, an embarrassed expression contorting his face as the blush tinted his cheeks a light rose color.

“Tell me…how many men have you let fuck that pretty little face of yours?” he turned the situation around with one sentence, watching as Levi’s face took on a different form of embarrassment.

“T-That’s none of your business!” he cried out defensively, looking away in shame at the thought. He didn’t want to make the man angry, but this ‘stranger’ had no right asking him such personal questions. He huffed as he his face against one of his arms.

“Oh? I think it’s very much my business,” the man purred, sliding his hands down Levi’s arms as he looked away from him, drinking in the sight of how he was trembling beneath his gentle touches. “Or do you pleasure yourself to all that hentai you watch?” he breathed against his ear again, voice low as he took Levi’s sensitive ear into his mouth.

The otaku shuddered and gasped at the sensation, struggling to keep his face from contorting into something embarrassing. “Levi,” he breathed his name, tilting his head to make the other man look him in the eye again. “Answer my question…”

The blue haired demons lips twisted into a quaking frown as he was forced to look Solomon in the eye. He couldn’t work the words out of his mouth, instead, choosing to nod at the implication of the question. Solomon breathed out a tiresome sigh as he frowned at the other man.

“No, I need to hear you say it. You touch yourself to the thought of strangers doing this to you, don’t you?” he trailed his hand down Levi’s clothed stomach, ghosting his fingers as he pressed just hard enough to tickle the skin underneath. Levi let out a garbled whine as he turned his head away again.

“Yes! I….I touch m-myself to hentai,” he admitted. It sounded more humiliating saying it out loud than he would have anticipated, but it only sparked his arousal further. He hummed in response, carefully watching his expression. “And…do you have a significant other to help you with that? Hmm?” he pressed on, tilting Levi’s face back toward his. He loved the back and forth game of Levi getting too flustered to look at him, but he wanted to see his golden eyes fixated on him.

He had leaned down waving a hand and muttering something against Levi’s neck, breaking the bonds on the lower circles, letting Levi move his legs freely. He stretched them out with a swell of relief, feeling a rush of blood running back through them as the pins and needles set in. “Um…n-no, I’m single,” he replied timidly, feeling the pressure from Solomon’s intense stare.

“Hmm, I see. No boyfriend. No girlfriend. You live all alone…you poor thing,” he grabbed his shoulders in his hands, rubbing circles around them with his thumbs as he let another smile spread across his face. “Let’s fix that, shall we?”

Levi gulped as Solomon started to lift him out of the tub, holding the magic circles high in the air to keep his hands bound together as he brought him over to the proper bed and threw him down unceremoniously onto the deep blue sheets.

“Now then,” he started, his shadow looming over the man sprawled out onto the bed. “I’m going to untie you, but do not get up without my permission. Do you understand?” he asked, crossing his arms and tapping his chin with a mischievous look in his eyes. His smile never once faltered.

“Wha—yes…” Levi’s voice came out as a question at first but soon settled into compliance as he nodded his head at the man looming over him.

“Good. Very good,” Solomon replied. The bed shifted as Solomon crawled onto it, kneeling beside Levi to press his lips against his ear yet again. Levi squirmed as he felt the hot breath across his heated skin but he didn’t move away from him, choosing to close his eyes instead.

“I’m going to ask you some questions, and you will answer me truthfully. Do you understand?” he whispered, before moving his hand to squeeze Levi’s shoulder again, this time with more emphasis. The blue haired demon nodded, but kept his eyes closed.

“Answer me,” he warned, gripping his hand tighter.

“Y-yes…I understand,” he squeaked quietly in reply, taking in a shaky breath at the sensation of his grip on his shoulder. He wasn’t used to feeling quite so weak, with whatever spell Solomon had placed on him to repress his demonic abilities. It made him feel much smaller than usual.

He felt the squeeze of his shoulder release and he whimpered out but stayed put as Solomon placed a hand under his chin again. “Do you enjoy being tied up, darling? Completely at my mercy…” he asked quietly, his voice had an edge to it that made Levi’s stomach flutter.

“I…I don’t…” he started to respond but Solomon cupped his cheek with his other hand, narrowing his eyes as the smile on his face never once leaves. Levi swallowed hard, not knowing how to answer the question. He didn’t know how to get the words out, so he nodded hesitantly in return.

Solomon took it as an answer this time and reached up to pet his hair affectionately, “Good boy…” his voice was almost patronizing as he pressed his lips against Levi’s forehead, who in turn, breathed out a sigh of relief as his answer was accepted. He found himself leaning into his touch out of familiar reflex.

“Now then, I’m going to untie you. Do you promise me that you won’t run away?” he asked, eyes starting to drift over Levi’s body as he drank in the sight of him. He licked his lips in anticipation as Levi gave him a shaky reply. “I-I promise…” he was nodding vigorously

"I-I'll be good. I don't have anywhere to run...this is my house," he explained, giving him insight as to why he was agreeing with him. His eyelashes fluttered a little, out of nervousness, as he looked up at him as non-threateningly as possible.

He could have sworn he saw Solomon gulp for a moment before he continued. He tilted his head to the side, as though lost in thought for a moment, but he spoke once more, “If you’re good, I’ll reward you, but if you defy me, you will pay for it dearly. Now sit up for me,” he motioned with his hands, guiding Levi to sit as the binds circled above his head.

“Yes sir,” he replied, adding the formality hoping to earn more of Solomon’s good favor. He heard him take a sharp breath of air before he hummed to himself quietly. He waved a hand after murmuring another spell under his breath. Levi sat patiently, letting the man unbind him gratefully. He rubbed at his wrists gingerly once they were free, trying to loosen the stiffness from them by shaking them out.

“Now…where were we?” he murmured, pulling Levi’s arms around him as he held him in a close embrace, and Levi leaned into his touch willingly. He didn’t realize how touch starved he had been feeling up to this point and he tilted his head against Solomon’s hands as they cupped his cheeks.

“Are you trying to seduce me little one?” he asked, voice taking on a dangerous edge as another smirk twisted his lips upward. “How naughty of you…warming up to me so quickly when you were acting like I was your worst nightmare,” he feigned offense, letting himself frown as Levi floundered.

He bit his lip and swallowed thickly, looking away in shame. He felt his stomach flutter as the sensation of butterflies came back and he pulled his arms away to cross them over his chest in a protective stance. “I wasn’t trying….to se..to seduce you,” he stammered in his embarrassment.

“Liar,” Solomon cooed, winking at the man as his face started to light back up. He never got bored of Levi’s exaggerated expressions, and grabbed his chin in his hand, rubbing his thumb over Levi’s quivering lower lip. “Don’t worry darling, I know the truth. I know what’s going on in that filthy head of yours,” he laughed cruelly.

“Wh-what do you mean?” he stammered again, finally meeting his gaze. He wished he hadn’t as now he couldn’t look away again as Solomon locked eyes with him, holding him in place with the intensity of his stare.

“You’re attracted to me,” he replied simply, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, earning a huff from Levi who shut his eyes, since he was unable to turn his head away. He couldn’t deny that statement, and he brought his hands over his face, brushing past Solomon’s hand that still rested on his chin. He brought his knees up toward his face, trying to curl into a ball.

“How long have you been feeling this way?”

He kept his head down and stayed silent.

“How long have you wanted to see me naked?”

Still no response.

He was the man who ‘broke into his house’ after all. He was just feeling this way because he was scared. At least, that’s what Levi was telling himself. He didn’t want to admit how much the situation was turning him on. He buried his head further into his legs, hiding from the wizard.

“How long darling” he pressed on, demanding an answer from him. Levi shifted uncomfortably and answered from behind his hands, his voice coming out muffled, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” he laughed mockingly, and Levi snuck a peek out from behind his legs only for his stomach to do another flip as Solomon’s face was right in front of his once more. He gasped, trying to scurry away further onto the bed.

Solomon grabbed his hands away from his face, forcing him to look at him once again. “Don’t pretend you don’t know. You can’t even deny it, look at you. Admit that you desire me,” he breathed against his lips, not quite touching but close enough Levi could feel the heat from his breath.

“I…I’m scared,” he replied in a barely audible whisper, falling back into his role as he squirmed under Solomon’s touch. He knew he found the man attractive, but even under normal circumstances it was far too embarrassing for him to just admit out of the blue. Solomon knew this all too well, and liked to see how much he could push Levi before he broke.

"I know."

Levi started to scoot back, fear starting to win the battle in his head as he tried to work out why he was starting to get aroused by the man who was ‘holding him captive’ in his own room. Solomon took a deep breath, trailing his teeth over Levi’s ear once again, knowing it was one of his sweet spots. “You know what I’m going to do?”

Levi whimpered in response, unable to work out the words that were catching in his throat. “I’m going to help you…” he continued.

“H-help me?” he repeated, dumbfounded. His heart was pounding in his chest so hard he thought it was going to break out of his ribcage. He shuddered as Solomon bit down on his earlobe, letting out a small moan before closing his mouth again.

He chuckled at the adorable sound he made and smiled against his neck, “I’m going to help you become everything you were meant to be…” Levi shuddered at the implications, but was confused by the statement. The sound of Solomon’s chuckle made his stomach flutter again and he finally trailed his head up toward his again, snaking his hand up the back of his head to press his lips against Levi’s.

Levi froze for a moment, tilting his head to meet him halfway, his eyelids fluttering shut as he puckered his lips, moving them slowly against Solomon’s. The other man decided this pace was far too slow, however, and gripped the back of Levi’s hair, causing him to gasp as he delved his tongue into his mouth, kissing him so roughly he left the demon breathless.

He let his instincts guide him as he flailed for a moment before placing his hands on the back of Solomon’s head as well, threading his fingers through his hair as he pressed his tongue against Solomon’s. The wizard groaned into the kiss, his other hand trailing down Levi’s body until he was able to cup his ass, squeezing it as he pulled him closer into his lap.

His body was trembling from the adrenaline coursing through his body and he let out another moan in response to the almost animalistic noise that came from Solomon as the kiss deepened. He clutched the fabric of his sweater, pulling him closer as he kissed the man back passionately.

The kiss eventually broke off after a few moments, giving him a few seconds to process just what had just happened. Solomon’s eyes were still closed as his head was tilted back. Levi’s gaze softened for a moment as he took in the man’s expression. He looked blissful, and didn’t look as cryptic as he usually did.

The hand he had on his back moved up to the back of Levi’s head as his thumb stroked at his scalp. He shuddered a little, realizing that he was enjoying this. Levi swooned gently as Solomon scratched his nails against his scalp and shivered delightfully, relaxing into his touch.

"You shouldn't do that."

His eyes opened slowly and they bore into his soul.

“Why? Huh? Do what?” he asked, pulled out of the moment as he flickered his eyes back open to meet Solomon’s serious expression.

He frowned, "You shouldn't be enjoying my touch. It's dangerous, don’t you think?" he looked at him with a question in his eyes, watching carefully to see how Levi would react. The man responded by stuttering, “No..I mean, I was just,” he wrung his hands in his lap, balling up the fabric of his sleep shirt in his hands, feeling the need to fidget with anything to release some of the tension in his body. “I’m sorry…it just felt nice…that’s all,” his voice became quieter as he continued to speak until it was barely a whisper.

“Nice?” he responded, the smirk on his face returning as he shook his head, “Is that what you class it as?”

Levi moved his lips to speak as he croaked out an awkward sound, but before he had a chance to respond, Solomon had pressed his lips against his once more, silencing any thought he might have had. Levi was starting to feel more flustered as the kiss continued.

Solomon used the same trick twice, and it seemed to work a second time as well as he yanked on Levi’s hair, causing him to open his mouth in protest so he could slip his tongue back inside. Levi winced as his hair was tugged, but it sent an intense wave of arousal down toward his groin and he pulled his night shirt down to cover his lower half.

Solomon pulled away, and Levi could barely tell he was breathing a little faster than usual. “You’re overdressed,” he stated directly, and narrowed his eyes as Levi shook his head, unable to correctly form words as he made a whining noise at the man before taking a moment to collect himself. “No-no, I’m fine..” he managed to work out a small sentence, hiding his boner by bunching the cloth from his shirt into his lap. His pajama bottoms did little to hide the outline of his dick, and he was feeling self-conscious about it.

Solomon crawled over Leviathan’s lap, a playful glint in his eyes as he ran an index finger down Levi’s nose, across his lips, and down his neck, “Don’t argue with me. You’re not fine.” He watched as Levi shivered, his eyes crossing as he followed the trail of his finger down his face. The whimper that left his parted lips made Solomon’s pants tighten and he closed his eyes for a moment to reel himself back in.

“Aren’t you hot?” he asked, running his hands down Levi’s arms, playing with the hem at the bottom of his night shirt. Levi looked down at his hands, trembling as he placed his own hands over Solomon’s to stop him. “No! No, it’s cold in here,” he breathed, not wanting him to take off his shirt. He was afraid he was going to like it too much or do something he would regret.

He gave Levi a devious smile, leaning forward to blow his hot breath over Levi’s neck, watching as his body trembled and flushed. It was far too easy to get him worked up. He nuzzled his face against Levi before nipping at the crook of his neck, earning a loud moan from the other. He couldn’t hold back his chuckle as Levi’s hands flew to cover his mouth, turning his head away yet again. The heat from his face was radiating, and his breath had begun to quicken.

“You smell good, Levi…and you taste even better,” he hummed against his neck before moving to the other side to repeat his actions. He wouldn’t want him to feel neglected after all. His knuckles were turning white with how tight he was holding the hem of his shirt down. He fought back another groan, “N-no I don’t!” He wasn’t able to stop his body from reacting to the lewd, wet noises Solomon’s mouth was making as he sucked on his neck, leaving behind small marks of his affection behind.

Without warning, his hand shot down to grab Levi’s wrists in his own, catching the demon off guard. “What--??” he startled, staring wide eyed at his wrists. He was surprised that both of his wrists were able to fit in Solomon’s grasp, though if he weren’t under his magical influence he would normally be able to get out of his grip quite easily.

“You like this?” his voice was a mix between playful and mocking as he purred against Levi’s ear, watching as he writhed and struggled to get his hands free.

“Y-you won’t…you c-can’t…” he panted, finding it difficult to catch his breath as he continued to weakly pull his arms in Solomon’s grasp.

He bit his lip hard, leaving it swollen and red where he abused it. He tried to cross his legs together to hid himself further from Solomon’s knowing gaze, twisting his torso away from him. “Can’t what?” he asked in a low, guttural voice as his free hand moved up the demon’s thigh.

“W-wait!” Levi called out, fighting back another pitiful groan. “I don’t—aaah—not there…” he twisted again, trying to get away from Solomon. He was feeling exceptionally sensitive as the wizard pulled his thighs apart, revealing the tent that had formed in his pajama pants he had so miserably been trying to hide. Albeit it was glaringly obvious he was aroused in the first place, he had simply hoped it wasn’t as apparent to him as it was.

“So that’s what you’ve been hiding,” he tilted his head; his calm demeanor was beginning to infuriate Levi. He froze as a hand wrapped around his bulge, squeezing tightly. His eyes went wide again and he squirmed in his grasp. “AAAaaahhahhhhhhhhhh…” his voice was loud as the moan escaped from his mouth, tapering off into a pleasurable whimper as Solomon continued to squeeze the bulge in his hand. Levi panted harshly, twisting but with less fervor. He wanted to hide his face but he was unable to move his hands to cover up.

“Ngh…aghh…” he moaned again, tugging his arms only to find that Solomon would not let him move an inch.

“Mmmm, you like this, don’t you?” he mused. It was perhaps too obvious he was enjoying himself. But Levi wasn’t able to pick up on it as much, lost in his own rampantly growing arousal.

“I…I….aaah,” he moaned again, pitifully shutting his eyes to hide his shame. He couldn’t bear to look at him when he looked like he was going to swallow him whole like a damn predator. He trembled against his touch, shaking as he tried twisting away again.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let go,” he explained, though his voice sounded more like a threat than a reassurance.

“I don’t …aah..it…it feels…mmmnng,” he panted out, trying to form a coherent sentence as Solomon continued to grope him through his pants. The thin material of the pj bottoms was both a blessing as a curse as he felt his thumb rubbing against the underside of his shaft. A small wet patch was forming on his bottoms as he began to weep precum.

“Oh, you’re going to enjoy this,” he groaned as he quickly pulled his pants around his thighs, slipping a hand underneath his underwear to squeeze at his supple ass.

Levi didn’t realize he was starting to drool as he started to move again. Solomon let go of his wrists to continue squeezing his ass and Levi nearly fell forward into him as he cupped his rear end in his large hands. “Hhh…I’m…wh..whaaa---“ he tried to question what was happening between the little mewls that fell from his lips. His mind was hazy with lust.

“Shut up and enjoy it,” Solomon ordered, giving another squeeze to Levi’s ass. “Ngh…” was the only reply he got, Levi having lost temporary ability to even attempt to fight back. Solomon took it as an opportunity to prod his finger against his exposed asshole.

“N-not there!” he cried out, face burning as his hands found Solomon’s chest, weakly pushing against him in effort to stop his actions. He shook against him, his head falling against Solomon’s shoulder as the man prodded his asshole with his finger. “Nnngg!” his cock twitched as Solomon continued to prod his vulnerable entrance and he couldn’t help but moan again as he wriggled his way in, muttering something against his neck as a wet sensation covered his finger.

Levi was going to question it but Solomon hooked his finger upward, pressing forward until he managed to get a second finger in. “Aaah…aahh..nng,” he moaned again, drool pooling around his lips as he held onto Solomon’s shirt while the man pumped his fingers in and out of him. He angled his fingers inside him, reaching for Levi’s prostate, and when he finally found it he was rewarded with a half yell, half moan as Levi shook against him.

“You think you can handle more?” he whispered, running his tongue along the nape of Levi’s neck. “I’m going to stretch you out so much, you’ll beg for it.”

Levi didn’t think he could shudder any more than he already was, but he couldn’t stop from trembling in Solomon’s lap. He was like putty, completely malleable to the wizard’s whims. He found himself biting the fabric of Solomon’s shirt to silence his mouth as he involuntarily began to rock against him, a high pitched whine sneaking out of his throat.

“Ah…ah…fuck,” he panted, but was cut off with a broken whine as Solomon pulled his hand away, guiding Levi off the bed before pushing him down onto his knees.

“I think I need some encouragement to continue~” he cooed, petting Levi’s hair affectionately as the man blushed under his touch. He quickly got to work at pulling down the man’s pants, but just enough to bring his dick out, pumping it a few times in his hand as he glowered down at Levi.

Levi poked his tongue out, tasting the tip of Solomon’s cock before bringing the head into his mouth. He could taste the salt from the precum that had been beading on the surface of his cock, and he moaned through his nose as he carefully swirled his tongue around the tip.

Solomon grabbed the back of his head, pushing him forward as he used both hands to hold Levi’s head in place. “That’s it…just like that,” he encouraged the demon, panting slightly as he looked down at the man.

“Mmph!” he had jolted forward as his mouth was suddenly filled, mindful of his teeth as Solomon’s cock pushed into his mouth. His jaw cried out at the sudden intrusion, but he took another shaky breath in, trying to will himself to relax and to stop tensing up so much. He moaned again, around the cock in his mouth as the man threaded his fingers through his hair, petting him tenderly.

Levi responded by sloppily moving his tongue around Solomon’s throbbing erection, teasing him with his mouth and earning a groan from the white haired wizard. “Suck it like a good little cocksucker,” he grunted before thrusting his hips in and out of Levi’s mouth.

The demon was starting to feel overwhelmed as Solomon started to degrade him. His breath quickened once more, through his nose, and he started to suck enthusiastically, finding the rhythm difficult as he kept thrusting into his mouth. He was using his face like his own personal fuck hole and that made Levi ache with need.

“I knew you were a little slut. I saw it in your eyes the moment I met you,” he continued to dirty talk Levi, who in turn, became more determined as he flattened his tongue along the underside of Solomon’s cock, gasping around him when he called him a little slut. Solomon thrust a few more times before pulling out, lifting Levi off of his cock by his pulling on his hair again.

Levi’s tongue was still out as Solomon looked down at him, though he was quick to pull it back into his mouth muttering, “I’m not a slut,” weakly as he blushed and looked away.

“Mm-hmmm,” he hummed, hooking his hands under Leviathan’s shoulders and helping him to his feet. “I see a different side of you though. I want to see more of that side of you,” he murmured against his face, pressing a chaste kiss onto Levi’s cheek.

He tossed Levi onto the bed again, who bounced as he hit the soft cushion, disoriented for a moment as he tried to regain his bearings. Solomon was quick to climb back over him, pulling at his pajama bottoms to completely rid the offending fabric alongside the man’s underwear. Solomon was growing impatient.

He pulled Levi back down into a passionate kiss, his lips were still swollen from his nervous biting from before, and he winced slightly as Solomon bit down playfully on his lower lip. He slid his tongue into his mouth and was surprised when Levi sucked on his tongue, a surprisingly forward approach. Solomon was the one moaning this time, as he ground his hips against Levi’s letting him feel just how worked up he was making him.

Levi pulled away with a wet pop at the feeling of Solomon’s cock rubbing against his own, and his mind felt muddy again. He gripped at Levi’s shirt, pulling it up over his head, and he willingly complied, wanting the fabric off his overheated body as well. Solomon smirked as Levi struggled to break free from his shirt for a moment, stifling back a laugh at his clumsiness before leaning forward to capture a pert nipple between his lips. Levi arched his chest toward Solomon’s mouth, while his words protested, “Aah..that’s..d-don’t,” he stammered, despite his body reacting positively to the attention.

“Don’t what?” Solomon feigned ignorance again, smiling sweetly as Levi struggled to speak coherently.

“Don’t do that..”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured against his chest, biting down on the nipple between his teeth just so he could hear Levi cry out for him. He wanted to hear him call out his name as well.

“K-keep..I mean..don’t do that…agh!” he wrenched at the sheets with his fists as Solomon continued to torture his chest with his tongue. He chuckled against him, the sound low and reverberating as it vibrated against his chest. “What do you want from me, little one?” he asked, stroking the side of Levi’s face.

He fell silent for a moment, his mind hazy from the sensations coursing through his body. Solomon spoke again, waiting for him to speak, “Tell me what you want.”

“I…I…” he floundered again, looking up into Solomon’s mysterious, stormy eyes. They were clouded over with lust and he found himself shrinking back from the intensity of his gaze. Levi trailed his eyes down Solomon’s body, still half clothed, as he timidly reached up to tug at his shirt. “I want to see you too..” he requested with a breathy voice.

Solomon chuckled once more, a sound of satisfaction, as he pulled his sweater off of his body, revealing his body for Levi to admire. It did not go unnoticed when Levi’s eyes trailed over him, his blush deepening as his eyes fell on his cock. It had only been a few moments since it had been in his mouth and he absentmindedly salivated at the recent memory.

“Like what you see?” he asked, his voice growing slightly husky as he smirked at the way Leviathan reacted by skirting his gaze to the side and covering his mouth with his hand. Levi felt Solomon’s hand on his face again as he tilted his head toward him for another kiss. This time, much sweeter than the last. He was gentle as me moved his lips against Levi’s, taking his time with the man.

“Tell me, my little otaku, where did you learn to suck cock like that?” the words left his lips far too easily for how filthy they were to Leviathan’s ears. Levi let out a squeaking groan as he shut his eyes, lips trembling as he fought himself over whether he should answer that question honestly or not. “I..I..practice on a um…a dildo,” he replied meekly, turning his head to the side, remembering all those nights he would watch hentai and then try to recreate the act on himself with the few toys he had in his room.

Solomon let out another small chuckle, laying down next to Levi and propping his head in his hand, looking at the man pointedly. “I see…”

“I-it’s not weird!” he was quick to defend himself, feeling mortified at the sound of Solomon’s laughter in response to such an intimate question.

“Oho, no…it’s not weird at all,” he says, stroking Levi’s cheek softly in with his hand. “I find it quite…arousing.”

Levi opens his mouth to retort, but quickly closes it, squirming a little before Solomon asked his next question. “Do you….have any toys here now?” he asked, eyes flitting around the room to see if he could figure out where he could possibly have hidden them. Levi covered his face in his hands, shaking his head back and forth, wanting to deny their very existence.

“Can I see, Levi?” he asked patiently. He pulled his hands away from his face again, leaning forward to give him a peck on the cheek before meeting him with his intense gaze. Levi felt like he was pinning him down with his eyes alone, and he nervously responded, eyes scanning over Solomon’s face warily. “U-under the bed…there’s a box,” he admitted, shame creeping into his voice.

“Open it,” he ordered, moving so that Levi would be able to lean over the bed to retrieve the item. Levi did just that, rolling onto his side and feeling around until his fingers brushed the familiar box, and he brought it up onto the bed. He paused for a few beats before opening the lid.

Levi couldn’t meet Solomon’s eyes as he revealed a rather large dildo that was not in the shape of a human cock. He had bought it from a site Asmo had given him a couple years back because he liked the way it looked primarily. Next to it was a much smaller by comparison, normal appearing dildo that had a vibrator attachment alongside a small bullet vibrator and a bottle of lubricant.

Solomon reached out to touch the largest of the toys, fingers running gently along it as he seemed lost in thought. It was ridged and had several bumps along the sides. He admired the iridescent purple color, finally glancing back over to Levi. “I want you to fuck yourself with this.”

“Wh—huh?” he replied with natural confusion, thinking he might’ve wanted to see how he practiced blowjobs, but not for him to watch him…his mind trailed off and he flushed brightly. Of course he had picked the larger of the two dildos in the box. He had only ever actually put it in his mouth, however, finding that it was more intimidating in person than when he had bought it impulsively after masturbating to a particularly erotic hentai. He balked slightly at the idea and shook his head.

“I want to see you fuck yourself with this,” Solomon repeated, the look in his eyes not wavering as he commanded him a second time, his eyes taking on a serious expression.

Levi’s hands shook as he stared at the familiar toy, mind racing as he tried to reach for the much smaller one beside it. Solomon clamped his hand down on Levi’s wrist, pulling his arm back as he pinned him against the bed. “I said, this one,” he replied sternly, taking the larger dildo and placing it in Levi’s hand, not breaking eye contact with him as he reached for the lube in the box and popped the lid open. His smirk was growing as he took in the panicked look in Leviathan’s eyes as he swallowed thickly, taking the heavy demon dildo in his hand nervously.

“Please…I want to try the other one,” he pleaded, his lower lip was trembling as he was cut off again.

“No.”

The statement was so final. Solomon poured a generous portion of lube onto the tip of the toy, urging it toward Leviathan with an excited look in his eyes. Levi sighed in defeat, sizing up the dildo in his hand before leaning back against the headboard, not able to make eye contact with the man as he slowly rubbed the toy against his entrance, warming himself up.

Solomon sat back, watching Levi intently as he placed his hand on his own cock, stroking lazily as he watched as Levi spread his legs wide, lifting himself up before slowly working the tip inside of him. The demon managed to press the head of the toy in before his hips jutted forward, having a difficult time adjusting to the size. He paused, taking in a sharp breath as he felt his hole stretch, much farther than when Solomon had been using his fingers.

Levi’s fingers clutched the sheets with his free hand as he slowly slid down the shaft, biting his lip as he screwed his eyes shut.

“Yes…” Solomon sighed pleasantly, watching the sight unfold before him as he continued to languidly stroke himself. Levi didn’t move just yet, letting the toy fill him to the brim. He panted out harshly, feeling hot as he felt Solomon’s eyes all over his body. It was similar to the time he had jerked off on cam with some demon from across Devildom online. Only this time, it was far more intimate.

“Yes, continue,” Solomon urged him on.

“Nngh,” Levi let out a noise of sexual frustration as he spread his legs open as far as they would go, biting his lip as he realized he was giving Solomon an incredibly erotic view. He grabbed the dildo in his hands, slowly pushing it inside of him, the ridges sliding against his insides, making his head fall back against the headboard.

“Fuck, I want to be inside of you,” Solomon whispered as he began to breath heavily, and Levi’s eyes snapped open to stare at the man who had gotten close enough to sit between his legs. He was on his knees, with his hand on his cock, drinking in the sight of the demon trying to pleasure himself on the toy. “Do you want that? Hm? Do you want to feel the real thing?” his voice was thick as he locked his eyes with Levi’s, and Levi couldn’t look away. His hands froze around the toy inside of him, and he opened his mouth to speak.

“Yes…I want it…so bad,” he eventually panted out, watching as Solomon continued to stroke himself.

“Then beg for it,” he demanded, his voice almost cold.

Levi stopped pushing the toy against his tight entrance, feeling far too overwhelmed to continue in the moment as he whined needily, “I want…please…I want you,” he choked out, choosing less lewd words than he knew Solomon wanted to hear.

“Keep still, you,” he suddenly grabbed Levi’s wrist, causing him to yelp as he forced his hand over Levi’s guiding it with his own. He moved his hand around the toy, making Levi push it in and out of himself more roughly, causing him to cry out loudly as his toes started to curl. “AAAAH! I want y-you! P-p-please!” he called out, arching his hips as Solomon continued to move Levi’s hand in his, the toy making squelching noises as it moved in and out of him.

“That’s right, squeeze it tight,” he breathed against Levi’s ear, and the man let out a pained whimper as the toy was twisted and turned in his hands, making him rut against the intrusion erratically.

He made a string of incoherent cries as it twisted inside of him, and his body began to shake uncontrollably. “I need it, I need you inside of me. Please, please, I can’t take it, please. I need you inside of me,” he started to beg more enthusiastically, rocking his hips against the toy inside of him.

“Do you want my cock? Hm? Do you want me to fill you up? Claim you as my own?” he breathed against Levi’s ear once more.

“Yes! Yes! I want your cock, pleasepleaseplease,” he struggled to keep his eyes open. His body was swirling with need as he begged Solomon, unable to stop himself from trying to fuck himself on the toy in his hands, needing more stimulation.

“Such a dirty boy,” he mocked as he placed a hand on his hip to stop him from being able to rut against the toy. When Levi tried to disobey him anyway, he gave him a quick slap across the face.

“Aah!” his eyes flew back open at the sting on his face and he opened his mouth to speak, choking on a moan as Solomon stilled his hand, not moving the toy at all. He wanted to continue to rock his hips, but Solomon held him firmly.

“Keep it there,” he ordered, his hand holding Levi’s hip firmly as he slowly started to aim the toy to directly brush against his prostate, earning a wordless cry from the demon.

“Aaahnnnngng,” his moan turned into a garbled mess of frustration as Solomon rubbed the tip of the toy against his insides, not allowing him to buck his hips as tears started to well up in his eyes.

“I don’t think you really want it yet,” he teased, continuing to rub it against that sweet spot inside of Levi with intent, watching his face as it twisted into pleasure and agony mixed as one.

“I think you want me to stop?” he continued as if Levi had protested, “Or if you beg sweetly…I’ll know you really want it,”

“No-NO!---I want it!” his words were dripping with both panic, and unbridled lust, as Solomon threatened to stop. “Please, please, I need you, please put your cock inside me, I—I can’t take it…” The tears in his eyes were starting to overflow as Solomon continued to grind the toy against his prostate, and he could feel the pressure building deep within his body.

“I want to see you lose control,” Solomon whispered, “I want to see you submit to me. But not yet..”

Leviathan whined more defiantly this time frustration starting to take over his self-awareness. “I-if you keep doing that…I’ll cum,” he warned, still trying to buck his hips as he was held firmly in place with Solomon’s freehand.

“Not yet, you’ve been a very bad boy,” he taunted, “when I say so, you won’t be able to hold back. So just hold on a little longer.”

“N-no..I’m telling you, I-I really can’t hold it m-much longer,” Levi explained pitifully. His face felt like it was on fire as Solomon continued to slowly torture him with intense pleasure. Levi snuck his hand over to Solomon’s thigh, trailing his hand up his leg, leaning closer to touch his cock.

Solomon froze for a moment, his breath hitching before he grabbed Levi’s hand away from him. “I want to hear you beg for it,” he insisted, “I want to hear you call my name, I want to hear you curse me.”

“P-please!” his voice broke as he pitched another crying wail, “I’m already begging you, please!” he felt the tears in his eyes start to stream down his cheeks as he trembled under the man’s actions. “I need you inside of me, please just fuck me already! Solomon! Please,” he sobbed, turning his head back and forth.

“Please what?” he asked sweetly, nuzzling into Levi’s neck, as his hand ran through his hair gently.

Levi screamed. His throat felt raw, completely frustrated as he started to sob openly. “It hurts so much, please, fuck me, I can’t handle this, I need you, I-aahng…” he trailed off into another half moan half sob as Solomon moved to rotate the toy inside of him.

“I believe I asked you to scream my name,” he whispered into Levi’s ear.

“SOLOMON!” he yelled out, ignoring the hoarseness in his voice. He chanted his name over and over, mixed with pleas and sobs as the man continued to slowly torture him with his sweet caresses.

“Please, Solomon, Please… Solomon. Solomon. Please. I need you, Solomon. Please, I want you, I want you SOLOMON!!!”

The man next to him chuckled, pulling the toy out of Leviathan’s body, which earned him another sob as he immediately regretted the loss of being filled.

“No darling, not yet…Soon,” he whispered soothingly.

Levi screamed again, his frustration unbearable, his voice breaking up as he continued to ignore his pleas for mercy. He balled his hands into fists and shouted at Solomon between sobs, “I want your hard cock inside of me so much it hurts, please, fuck me until I can’t see straight, until I can’t walk for a week, I don’t fucking care just arrgghhhhh----“ he growled out in frustration, “Just fuck me already!”

“What a naughty boy,” was his only response.

Levi let out a whimper, not sure what else to do.

“Tell me who you are then,” Solomon replied, as though reading his thoughts.

He gritted his teeth together, “I’m a filthy, disgusting otaku! Please! Solomon…I’m your little slut,” he panted out, too lost in the haze of his own arousal to care about the words that were falling past his lips.

“Good boy.”

With that Solomon finally pushed Leviathan back down onto the bed, away from the headboard, and lined himself at his entrance. He forced Levi to look him in the eyes as he slowly pushed into him, his hand firmly holding Levi’s jaw in place. He wanted to see every moment as Levi’s face twisted into an absolutely debauched expression.

“Solomo---ooh fuck,” he moaned, arching his back as he felt the man pushing into him. “Aaah, yes! Fuck me!” he begged, rolling his hips against Solomon to bring him further into his waiting body. He didn’t want to care about anything else in the world, other than him filling his body until he couldn’t think about anything ever again.

Solomon’s lips brushed Levi’s cheek as he continued to thrust into him. “That’s it darling, let it all out,” he whispered against him, sending a chill down Levi’s spine. He was sobbing again, tears staining his cheeks as he rutted against Solomon sloppily. He was too far gone to hold any sort of rhythm. His hands trailed down his body, desperate for release.

Solomon took Levi’s hands in his own, bringing one of them up to press a gentle kiss against as he chided, “No, no no.”

Levi threw his head back against the pillow, tossing his head from side to side as he was denied yet again. His cock twitched painfully against his abdomen and he knew he wouldn’t last long either way. Solomon was thrusting into him too hard for him not be able to lose himself in him. “Please, let me cum, Solomon, please,” he pled in his sweetest voice.

Solomon laughed in return, giving Levi a cruel smile as he teased him just a while longer.

“Solomon! I’m begging you!”

He pressed a kiss against Levi’s open lips, hushing his protests. “Please, darling. You have my permission. Cum on my cock my cute little slut…”

That was all it took to push him over the edge. He didn’t even have to touch himself as the words allowed his orgasm to bubble over. He clutched onto Solomon’s shoulders, digging his nails into them as he cried out hoarsely, shaking as his orgasm swept through his body. His toes curled and his abdomen clenched as his inner walls clamped down around him, causing the man to groan out as Levi rode through his orgasm.

He didn’t let him ride it out for long however, as he continued to thrust into him so roughly he left him gasping for breath. He felt lightheaded as he struggled to keep up with the man.

“Aah! Sol-aaahah,” he moaned out, trying to get his name out hif his mouth but he couldn’t think straight. His thoughts were scrambled as Solomon continued to thrust into him with abandon.

“I love this view,” he groaned as he thrust his hips back and forth, drinking in the sight of Leviathan, completely undone and debauched beneath him. His mouth was swollen from the rough kisses he had placed on them, Levi’s eyes were puffy from crying, his hair a mess both from sweat and from Solomon tugging on it and threading his fingers through it. He continued to moan as Solomon started to thrust more erratically, kissing Leviathan with passion as he chased his own high.

He pulled back just enough to look at his face again, noticing the string of saliva that broke apart as he leaned back and how Levi’s eyes were completely glazed over. Solomon shuddered, “So hot…” was all he could murmur out, breathing heavily as his hips stuttered. He moaned low as his orgasm eventually washed over him.

Leviathan mewled at the sensation of warmth as Solomon’s seed painted his insides, leaving him with a lingering sensation of bliss. Solomon thrust shallowly a few more times, reaching his hand down to the base of his cock, milking himself to finish pumping his seed deep within Leviathan’s body, making him blush in turn. “That’s right…take it all,” he whispered, his chest heaving as he stopped to catch his own breath.

After he had finished inside of him, he pulled out carefully to lie beside Levi, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close to his chest before placing a loving kiss on his forehead. He ran his hand through Levi’s bangs, brushing them from his eyes. “I love you…” he whispered.

Levi snuggled close to Solomon’s chest in return pressing a kiss against his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around the man. “I love you so much, thank you for doing this for me,” he thanked him with his crackly voice, hoarse from all the screaming he had done. He was certain his brothers had heard him, burying his face further into Solomon’s chest.

Solomon hummed and stroked Levi’s hair as they lay together. They laid in silence, enjoying each other’s company before Solomon eventually moved them to the bathroom to get ready for the night. Levi was going to be tired the next day, but it had been worth it.

[bluejayblueskies]

peaches and roses

happy international asexual awareness day! this doesn't deal directly with asexuality (though jon and martin are both ace in this)--it's a follow-up to one of my aspec archives week fics, agape, but can be read as a standalone!

ao3 link in the source

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The bell that hangs above the door to the bookshop—hung there by Gerry and too high up for Jon to reach without significant effort—jingles, and Jon immediately snaps the book he was thumbing through shut like he’s been caught committing a crime.

“Hi!” Martin says cheerily, his cheeks red and wind-bitten from the chill of the October air, and Jon’s never been more thankful for a dark complexion that doesn’t give away the fact that his face is burning up at the moment as well. He subtly slides the book to the side and covers it with another as Martin steps fully into the shop, a travel mug of tea in each hand. He approaches the counter and hands one of the mugs to Jon with a smile before saying, a bit playfully, “Got any new poetry books?”

“No,” Jon says, too-quickly. “No, uh. Just the usual.” He thinks he should probably say something along the lines of We’ve already got too many books of poetry for any self-respecting bookshop or You would just complain about their excessive use of metaphors anyway, but all he manages is, “Any, er. Any new blends this week?”

Martin hums and gestures to the mug Jon’s holding. It must be quite cold outside—Martin’s cheeks are still bright red. Jon makes a mental note to dig his gloves and hat out of the back of his closet. “It’s, er. It’s not really a new blend? I- I mean, it’s- it’s new, it’s just not… it’s not something I’m serving in the shop yet.”

“Oh,” Jon says, looking at the mug in front of him with growing curiosity and, beneath it, something warmer that curls in the pit of his stomach. “I… what is it?”

“Oh, just- just some, uh—you know, it- it’s a combination of things—well, of course it is, all blends are—just some, er, you know, a- a bit of rosehip and dried peach, Lady Grey and- and oolong—”

“You hate oolong,” Jon says, amused.

“Yes, well, it’s not for me,” Martin says, a bit snappishly in that way Jon adores, where his forehead creases along the middle and his lips purse ever so slightly. “Threw in some dandelions too, I know you’re fond of those, and just a bit of almond because I would never hear the end of it if I left that out—”

“Martin,” Jon says, his stomach twisting into something light and fluttering and fond in a way he doesn’t quite know how to handle. “I’m sure I’ll love it.”

Martin makes a small noise in lieu of finishing his sentence and says, quietly, “Yeah. It’s, er. You- you’re the first to, er… try it, so- so let me know if it’s not—you know what, I’ll just let you… yeah. Should- shouldn’t be too hot.”

This has to be the thousandth cup of tea Martin’s given Jon. It’s certainly not the first that’s been made specifically for him; Jon can still taste the smoke on his tongue, tinged with almond and blueberry, when he thinks back on the day he’d stuttered his way through a poorly-executed coming-out and Martin had taken it with a smile that sent Jon’s heart racing in his chest.

Maybe he’d known before that, that he was a little bit in love with Martin Blackwood. But the first sip of that tea had solidified it into a flower that blossomed within him, growing ever bigger with every smile and cup of tea and teasing remark.

Jon doesn’t think he’ll ever grow tired of the way Martin says his name, like he’s learning it again for the first time. He never, ever wants to stop hearing him say it.

The tea warms Jon from the inside out and tastes like spring mornings and summer sunsets and Martin, Martin, Martin. With the lingering taste of rosehip on his lips, Jon says, “It… it reminds me of you.”

Martin makes a small, choked noise. “Y- yeah? Does… does that mean it’s good?”

Softly, Jon says, “How could it not be?”

“Oh,” Martin says, just as softly. And, well. It seems as good an opening as any.

“You know, I- I never really liked tea before I visited your shop the first time. It served a- a utilitarian function, so to speak, a slightly more palatable caffeinated alternative to coffee. I’d always just get black—whatever was cheapest—and try to pretend like I didn’t hate it.” Jon lets out a small laugh. “Gerry used to joke that I wasn’t a real Englishman.

So—and forgive me when I say this, Martin, I- I really do know better now—I didn’t come into your shop with the… highest expectations. I honestly think I just chose at random from the menu—your selection is quite extensive, Martin, much as you seem insistent on expanding it every other week. But I- well, to say it was a life-changing experience would probably be a touch excessive, but it- it did change me. Er, a bit.”

Jon swallows, ignores the little curl of embarrassment in his stomach, and continues, “I- I made it a mission, if I’m being honest. I thought, maybe it’s just the one. Maybe I- I just got lucky, found the- the one kind of tea that I like. So I came back the next day and got a different one. And it was good.” Jon laughs, a bit breathily, and says, “They’re all good, Martin. Even- even the kinds I don’t like, the- the herbals and anything with peppermint, they… they’re still good, in their own way.” Jon hesitates, only a moment, before deciding that if he’s going to do this, he’s going to do it right. “I still don’t know if I like tea, but… but I like your tea, Martin.”

Martin is staring at him with wide eyes, and Jon curls his fingers around the mug in front of him so he won’t lose his nerve. The warmth seeps through his palms, a comforting presence, and he lets out a small breath to relieve the tension. “I- I like the way you notice what I like, the- the flavors and the kinds of leaves, things I- I don’t really understand. I like the way you smile at me, when- when I tell you I like one of your blends, and- and the way you say my name. I like the way you talk about poetry, and even though I- I’ve never understood the appeal of it before, I… I want to.”

Jon tries not to let his hands shake as he reaches over and retrieves the book he’d been leafing through earlier, the small scrap of paper still stuck in between the pages to mark his place. “I- I’m not very good at…” He trails off and waves his hand in the air, gesturing at Martin and then himself and trying to ignore the pounding of his heart in his chest. “And I- I wanted to write you a poem.” He regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, as they bring with them a hot flush of embarrassment, augmented by the way Martin’s mouth parts slightly in shock, and he continues quickly, “But, er. I thought this might be preferable.”

He flips the book open to the marked page, takes a precious few seconds to attempt to steady his breathing, and begins to read.

Sweet, sweet is the greeting of eyes,

And sweet is the voice in its greeting,

When adieus have grown old and goodbyes

Fade away where old Time is retreating.

Warm the nerve of a welcoming hand,

And earnest a kiss on the brow,

When we meet over sea and o’er land

Where furrows are new to the plough.

After he finishes, there’s a few moments of silence before Martin says, quietly, his voice cracking around the words, “But… but that’s Keats. You hate Keats.”

It’s true; Keats is a bit too old-fashioned for even his tastes, and half of his poems sound like frivolous drivel. But even still, Jon had picked up the Keats book as soon as it had arrived, had skimmed it over and over, had carefully chosen the best poem he could find for his purposes, because…

“But you like him. And… and I like you. It’s- it’s not personalized tea blends, but I… I wanted to give you something. To- to show that.” Jon runs his thumb along the edge of the page, a nervous motion prompted by the steady increase of his heartbeat. “And- and maybe to ask if you… wanted to get dinner sometime? With, er. With me.” Of course with you, you’re the one who’s asking him.

Jon opens his mouth again, not entirely sure what he’s planning on saying but certain that it’ll end in another stuttering mess of embarrassment, when Martin’s voice cuts him off.

“Yes.”

Jon’s mouth snaps shut so quickly his teeth click together. “Yes?” he says, so quietly it’s barely audible over the pounding of his own heartbeat in his ears.

Martin laughs; it’s a beautiful sound, like the twinkling of wind chimes and the tweeting of birds at dawn and the whistling of the wind through tree branches. “Yes, Jon, I- I’d love to get dinner with you.” He laughs again before pressing his hand over his mouth, hiding that smile that Jon adores so much. His words devolve into giggles a few more times before he manages to say, “Christ, sorry, I- I’m just… happy.” He removes his hand then and looks at Jon, a new, shy smile upon his lips that Jon’s never seen before but that he immediately holds close to his chest to treasure forever. “I’m just happy.”

Martin leaves eventually, and Jon presses the Keats book into his hands as he goes, letting his fingers linger on Martin’s skin for a moment before they part. The tea is still hot when Jon takes another sip, rose and peach and almond blooming across his tongue, and he feels his lips curl into a smile, wide and giddy, against the lip of the mug.

The bookshop smells like roses and paper and ink and Martin, Martin, Martin.

It smells like home.

[alittlebitofinsanitea]

Head-Cannons for Jealous Kageyama, Suga, Iwaizumi, & Bokuto

request: hi! May I request hc's of iwazumi, bokuto, mattsun, suga, and kageyama on how they act when they're jealous? I couldn't find a character limit in your rules so feel free to do however many you like :) Have a good one lovely human <3

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Hi honey! So I didn’t write it but I'm going to be doing four per head-cannon! thank you for requesting! <3 These are gender neutral/no pronouns so I hope that’s ok, hope you enjoy! Also to everyone, requests are open!

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~Kageyama~

✰ you’ve been in class all day and finally the bell rings and its lunch

✰ you and a friend are sitting, talking about homework, eating, as one does during lunch. You normally sit with him because kags always plays volleyball during break, surprised? no.

✰ all sweet Kags wanted to do this lunch was to sit with his baby!!!

✰ he sees you sitting real close to this other guy, and what does his awkward ass do? FUCKING STARES AT YOU, clown to clown communication going on right here

✰ anyone coming into the cafeteria just sees him blocking the path with the smoke whirling around his head

✰ you finally turn around after feeling two burning holes in the back of your head and see him glancing between you and your friend

✰ dummy realizes you noticed him and turns bright red in embarrassment after noticing he has been staring at you for at least half the lunch period and he sprints

✰ this man ZOOOOOMS out of that room

✰ you, being the caring s/o you are, run after him to the best of your abilities, all the way to the vending machine

✰ by the time you get there, he’s already sipping on two milks, pouting, and bright red, poor thing

✰ you make eye contact with him as you sit down, him turning away to face a wall instead

✰ you poke his stomach and sides to get his attention, fully aware of how ticklish he is there

✰ “Y/N PLEASE!” he grits out in between fits of laughter

✰  “Why did you run out then?” you say as you cease your attack, snaking your arms around his waist

✰ his body relaxes into yours and returns the hug, he buries his face into the top of your head as he mumbles

✰ “I know you know I can't hear you,” 

✰ he grunts back in response and mumbles again, just loud enough that you can hear that one, specific, word

✰ “YOU WERE JEALOUS!!!!!!” you scream so loud he jumps back a little

✰ he burrows his head into your neck in an attempt to hide from you, not the best play he could have made, but there was an attempt, he tried

✰ you move one hand to pat his head and the other stays on his back, “Kags, I don’t know why you would be jealous, I’m just friends with (Friends/N), I don’t like him like that, ok?”

✰ he straightens up and looks at you dead in the eyes, to anyone else he looks normal, but there's a little smile on his face that looks a little less creepier than usual

✰ he grabs you tight and you can hear the bell in the background, but you both ignore it and stay like that for a little longer

~Suga~

✰ everyone pretends that this man is the chillest, sweetest, calmest character in this show

✰ hell no

✰ he has as much crackhead energy radiating through his body as is possible without being a crackhead

✰ the two of you are at one of karasuno's practice matches against nekoma, and they have been trying that play with nishinoya as setter, and a few other ideas the coach came up with

✰ during a break between on of the games (which to your displeasure, have gone on forever, but you love seeing Suga play so you don't really mind) you decide to pull out your chemistry homework

✰ “why, and who made chemistry,” you say to yourself “I just want to have a little talk.”

✰ “Well I wouldn’t say a specific person invented it, but Robert Boyle is considered the first modern chemist,” you look to your left and see a tall nekoma player with bed hair

✰ you arch a brow, and get back to ‘working’, if you could call it that

✰ he sits next to you and offers a smirk and says, “Im Kuroo Tetsuro, if you want I can help with your homework if you want,”

✰ your nose scrunches up and you turn away from him

✰ “Don’t be sodium chloride,” he says as he scoots a little closer, but as he does that, you can feel the other side of you warm a little

✰ in the corner of your eye before you look to see what sat next to you, you see Suga, his eyes glaring straight at the rooster boy

✰ he drapes his arms on your shoulders and sets his head on yours and looks directly as kuroo, cold as ice, he tells him “She is fine, I can help her,” 

✰ the smile on his face does nothing to hide the fact that he’s not messing around 

✰ you pull him off of you to face him, giving him a little shove before telling him off,

✰ “I had it covered, it’s not like I was going to say yes, even though I probably need the help…”

✰ he raises his eyebrows at you, “I can help you, no problem!” he says sweetly, as if you both aren’t getting the same grades

✰ the next game is starting, signaled by the freak already on the court in their positions and the whistle blowing you give Suga a kiss on the cheek and tell him to go

✰ he smirks at you, and from then on in the match, whenever he spiked a ball, set a good toss, or dug anything, he looked to kuroo and directly pointed to where you sat

~Hajime Iwaizumi, (27), Athletic trainer~

✰ I don't even know what to do for this dude, no wait haha jk

✰ Iwaizumi, Oikawa, and you have been best friends for forever

✰ you guys are so close, sleepovers since you were little, you even made them an entire meal and movie night on the day they lost, lots of wet tissues and tear soaked blankets

✰ when you and Iwaizumi finally got together after year of pining after each other, nobody was more excited than Oikawa, nobody 

✰ now, you three are having a sleepover to celebrate being done with midterms and you made a big pillow fort to watch your favorite movie in, with popcorn and chocolate and all of that

 ✰ it's dark except for the light from computer screen, you can barely make out the faces to your right and left, and it's so late, you forgot who was on which side

✰ it's hard for you to fall asleep without Iwa anymore, so you grab the arm to your left and lift it up and snuggle into the warmth of who you thought was your boyfriend

✰ because you all are so close, Oikawa didn’t think twice about wrapping his arms around you, forgetting that Iwa was even there

✰ your boyfriend started to get red in the face, “Oikawa,” he warned, trying to make his best friend back off without making a scene

✰ Oikawa looks to him confused, “Chill out Iwa-chan! I know it's not godzilla but it's not that bad”

✰ Iwaizumi would have left it at that, but when you turned around and hooked your leg onto your current human pillow? Ohohoho, its over

✰ he grabs your waist and throws you over his shoulder, wrecking the little tent you made and leaving the third wheel of the trio in the rubble

✰ you cry out in protest, upset that your hours of work are now suffocating your other best friend

✰ you feel every step and he takes as he walks you both towards your room the air is tense, and you don’t know what to do

✰ you enter your bedroom, still being carried by him, and he drops you on the bed, and falls on top of you, letting out a noise of comfort as you squirm

✰ “Hajime please get of you’re squishing meee!” you wheeze out the last part

✰ he doesn’t verbally acknowledge you but he adjusts himself so you both are comfortable

✰ “Is this ok?” he asks quietly

✰ “yeah,” you reply, “It is.” 

✰ Neither of you seem to notice oikawa taking photos, and the next day, oikawa shows iwa, but not without a volleyball to the head 

✰ neither you nor oikawa know that's his screen on his phone

~Bokuto~

✰ When does this boy not get jealous, not because of you no! He trusts you with anything and everything, and he loves showing you off

✰ that is until all the attention goes to you and he thinks everyone is going to take you away, especially when he goes emo mode, he’s about ready to give you up to anyone :( but you never go obviously

✰ akaashi managed to convince you to become manager, he said that it would come in handy when he started to become self destructive

✰ and it worked! You were able to save a lot of games and akaashi’s mental health, for a while that is

✰ today was the first day of spring high finals, teams everywhere, balls flying, and Bokuto was anxious, and it was showing

✰ as the team walks to the court, you grab Bokuto's hand and you grab it tight letting him know you are there for him

✰ he began to feel less tense and calmed down once again 

✰ the game started and it was going smoothly, the other team wasn't able to shut down any Fukurōdani’s attacks

✰ that is until, the other team's captain started flirting with you

✰ whenever he makes a point, he would say some gross ass pick up line, or wink at you, and even worse, he would make sure to meet eyes with Bokuto, every, single, time

✰ Bokuto’s shots have gotten worse, he's hitting into the blockers, the net, and even missing the ball completely

✰ it physically hurts you when this happens to your boyfriend, and at this point you are sick of it, and have started to grow annoyed at the creepily corny capitan 

✰ you whisper to the coach to call Bokuto in who is currently hanging onto akaashi, asking him not to set to him anymore

✰ the coach calls a time out, and signals the rest of the team to stay on the court, Bokuto doesn’t even notice the rest of his teammates standing still around him

✰ when he reaches the bench you grab him by the shoulders and look him in the eyes and say “Baby, kick his ass.”

✰ you move your head to face the other captain and smile, then you grab Bokuto's face and kiss him, hard

✰ the time out ends and your team is flushed with embarrassment, but Bokuto was hyped up jumping all over the court, and ready to destroy the other team

✰ (they won the rest of the set no points lost)

[alynomali]

Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader  “𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜”

A/N : Hi hello i just got into tumblr and this is my first time writing a full on one shot in english because english is not my first language ;( so i’m sorry if there’s any error in my writing but i hope you guys can still enjoy the story :D anyway i’m on an iwaizumi hajime brainrot and i know y’all too so let’s just get into ittt ***** 

Genre : Fluff 

Word Count : 5k 

You woke up feeling lightheaded. You brought the back of your palm to feel your forehead that was burning hot hours ago. But after four hours of sleep and taking your medicine, the heat has subsided and was replaced by your normal body temperature. You sighed in relief but you still didn’t want to step up from your comfortable bed. Instead you rolled to the side to grab your phone that was laying on the nightstand, to get some info on school assignment, or any big news that you missed throughout today from your friends because you didn’t manage to go to school. When you turned off airplane mode, tons of messages from your close friend’s group chat rang loudly with multiple  ringing sounds, coming one after another. When the ringing finally stops, you open the group chat and skim through the chat bubbles your friends sent, curious to what they are discussing.

“Oh? They lost?” you murmur to yourself after getting an understatement. Today is the match of your school’s volleyball team against Karasuno High School. From the people who went and saw the match, it was pretty intense and they were neck to neck to one another. But in the end Karasuno won and they only a point difference from Aoba Johsai. The further you read the chats, one caught your attention

 I saw Oikawa toss the ball to Iwaizumi from the right end of the court and Iwaizumi got to spike it perfectly! That was crazyy

 Yeah, but even with that perfect toss and powerful spike, Karasuno managed to get it. Both team are crazyyy

 I saw Iwaizumi-kun cried In the hallway, poor him. He must’ve think that that one spike was important

 Aww no

 You slowly sat up from your bed, while still reading those lines over and over again. “Iwaizumi…” you mumbled to the air. You then checked the clock hanging on your bedroom wall, you saw that it was 7.56PM. ‘He should be home already..’

 You heard a knock on your door, and your mom peeked through. “Oh you’re awake! How are you feeling?”

“Great! My fever is gone”

“If that’s so, can you go to Hajime’s house? His mother and father are working late and he probably hasn’t had dinner, so drop these for him okay?” asked your mother while holding a nicely wrapped box probably filled with food.

 “Uh yeah okay. I’ll get ready”

 It is not a secret. To you, your close friends, and specifically Oikawa Tooru, that you have a crush on Iwaizumi Hajime. This has been going on for a long time, since the beginning of second grade. You got to be in the same class as Iwaizumi. At first you were a bit scared of him due to the somewhat tense atmosphere surrounding him, but turns out, he is the nicest guy you ever met. He spoke in a deep and gruff voice, but there’s so much tenderness in the way he speaks. His arms and hands are big and calloused from playing too much volleyball, but whenever he accidentally touches you, he is always so careful with his grip, or makes sure that he doesn’t touch you in an inappropriate way. His tall figure always towers over your 160 cm figure, but it made you feel secure. And there are many small acts he does to you that always make something in your stomach flip. You know that those are just the way he respects the opposite gender (from your observation), but it still made him so attractive to you. Plus he looks cute and manly although not you can call a worldwide handsome. Also  He probably hid a well toned body underneath the layers of cloth he wears. Before you got too far and deep into your thoughts of that man, you quickly shook your head to focus on your current mission right now. Iwaizumi probably is sulking as hell right now and you want to do something nice for him, or maybe just there to give him reassurance.

 iwaizumi’s house is just seven minutes walk from your house. Before you rang the bell, you noticed that the gate was not locked. “Did he forget to lock it?” you opened the gate and made your way to the also not locked door. You saw his training bag in the hallway entrance, meaning that Iwaizumi is home. But you were glad that there were no signs of robbery. “Iwaizumi?” you called him. The living room and dining room were clean and empty. Not even a slightest sound was heard. “He’s probably in his room”. You climbed up the stairs and saw that the door of his room is slightly open and you could see him inside drying his hair with a towel, back facing you

You knocked on the door and Iwaizumi jumped slightly. “y/n? How did you get in?”. You sighed, “You left the front door and gate open,”. “Oh.., wait here then I’ll go lock it,” Iwaizumi then went downstairs leaving you sitting alone in his room on his study chair. You’ve gone to his bedroom a couple times but this time it feels different. The room is filled with his scent of cologne and shampoo from his shower earlier. You carefully breathe it in and a blush crept to your cheeks, just in time Iwaizumi stepped back in the room “Okay wha- wait, why are your face red?”

You flustered, “What! N-No I’m perfectly fine! Maybe it’s because of my fever earlier, hahahaha.”

Iwaizumi raised a brow, “Okay? Anyway, why are you here?” he asks as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed, keeping his distance from you.

“O-Oh yea, um, my mother made you dinner. She said that your parents will be home late,” you said holding up the wrapped box in your hand.

“I already ate but i guess there’s still space for your mom’s cooking. Say my thanks for her,” you smiled at his words.

“Should I walk you back? It’s dark.”

“What? No, it’s not even 8pm and my house is just seven minutes away.”

“Okay then, thankyou again. Be careful on your way back.”

‘Wait? No no no no, I can’t just go home like this. He’s probably not going to eat his food and be sulking instead,” You stood up. Iwaizumi thought you were going to leave so he grabbed his phone on the nightstand and got comfortable on his bed with his back resting against the headboard. He didn’t sense your figure leaving his room so his eyes left his phone to look at you, “why are you still here? It’s not appropriate for a girl to stay in a boy’s room.”

“You did very well today, Iwaizumi.”

“huh?”

You clutched your fingers, “You did so well in the match today. I’m proud of you. Never think that you lost because of a big mistake. You didn’t make any mistake. You gave your best as you always do. Winning or losing is just a result. What matters is that even if you lost, you still gave all your might in the court. All of your hard work, your sneaky practices at the park in the late afternoon, it’s all worth it. Because you gave it all in the court today. Nothing goes to waste.”

Your voice was stern, but there’s a hint of tenderness in it. Iwaizumi just looked at you dumbfounded . After a while, Iwaizumi gave you a soft smile “Thanks, sorry we didn’t keep our promise to go to nationals.”

“Don’t mind me. That is your promise to yourself.”

“Right.”

After that, you still stood there. Arms crossed on your chest. Iwaizumi eyed you in confusion. “What…? Is there again?”

You then sat on the bed beside him, arms still crossed on your chest, “You’re gonna cry. I’m gonna stay here to accompany you until you’re done.”

“What?! No, I'm fine, you should go home now.”

“I’m not gonna let you be alone until you feel better,” you said sternly

“W-Wha- ugh..” Iwaizumi turned his face to the side, not facing you as he can no longer contain the tears that have been threatening to fall ever since he was greeted by the emptiness of his house. Because of the silence, replays of today’s match became clear in his mind. Every step, every move, every shout of frustration , every cheer of happiness, and the last whistle signaling the end of the game. It was awfully clear, every bit of it, and it made him feel hopeless. Like there’s nothing that he can do. His shoulder began to shake, and you could hear soft sobs. It’s like he’s holding back to scream because you’re there.

You never actually see Iwaizumi cry and now being alone with him is his weakest state flustering you. You did say that you’re gonna accompany him but now you’re confused as to what to do. You stayed silent, just watching him. He still doesn’t face you and his sobs became softer. You don’t like this, he’s holding back so much because you’re there. This is probably supposed to be his time, when he shut his door, turned off the lights, and curled under the blanket. Letting out all of his frustration into anything he can manage. But then you decided to come. You hate to admit it but you ruined his time.

But still, you didn’t want to leave.

So instinctively, you reached out your hand to touch the back of his neck. You can feel Iwaizumi tensed up a little. As he slowly turned his head to finally look at you, you and your hand up further to the back of his head, fingers buried in his soft brunette hair. Iwaizumi’s red and teary eyes looked at you in slight confusion, and you stared back at him with a pang in your heart. Seeing his hurting expression for the first time feels like something stabbed your chest. ‘So this is what it feels like.. when you care so much about someone..’

Without another hesitation, you lean your body towards him and let his head fall on your shoulder. The warmth of his body envelopes you and you can feel the sturdiness of his body. You wrapped both of your arms on his shoulder, trapping him in a hug. Your fingers stayed buried in his hair as you started to give it a soft scratch in an attempt to soothe him. “I said I’ll accompany you. So vent all you want. I’m listening.”

You couldn’t see iwaizumi’s expression. But you could feel his body relaxed to your soft touches and he began to cry loudly, “Damn it! Damn those Karasuno..! I-I too.. I want to go to the nationals too fucking damn it!! I want to go with my friends too… with my juniors.. damnit! Damnit argh!!” you  tighten your grip on him cause you feel like he’s going to burst. But you’re glad that he doesn’t move away from you. He was always so physical about these things, but now he just uses his words and emotions.

After some minutes, the hurtful scream and cry gradually turns into a soft sobbing. Your grip around his shoulder soften as Iwaizumi slowly moves away from you. “S-Sorry for ranting and um.. hugging you,” he sniffed and rubbed away the remaining tears leaking out.

You smile, “Don’t worry, but it feels good doesn’t it?”. He chuckled softly, “yeah.”

You fiddled with your fingers on your lap, “I’m sure everyone is feeling the same as you, Iwaizumi. I’m sorry I barged in into your supposed to be alone time. But I just couldn’t help it, I just can’t go to sleep tonight thinking about how you will have trouble sleeping. The others maybe will, but I won’t let you. Because you’re-- um..” you immediately stopped your words. Because just now you were just about to say the thing. Being alone with him and getting caught up in the mood urges you to, but you reminded yourself that you can’t do that, not when he’s in this state.

“What about me?” Iwaizumi tilted his head to the side, eyeing you in confusion.

You immediately shot up from his bed and gave him a wide smile, “Nothing! Anyway, enjoy your food. I should get going now,” you said while pointing towards the door.

“Uh? Oh yeah okay, I’ll open the gate for you,” you were tailing behind Iwaizumi as the two of you were heading downstairs. Luckily for Iwaizumi, you couldn’t see heat creeping up to his cheeks and he is starting to register what just happened between you two.

‘Nah, she can’t be…. Right?’

                              ~------------------------------------------------~

 The next day, you woke up from the ringing of your smartphone placed on your nightstand. You didn’t bother to look at the caller ID and just answer, “Ugh.. hello?”

“Did you just wake up?” Iwaizumi’s deep and gruff voice from the other line jolts you up from your sleeping position, “I-Iwaizumi??”

“I want to return the lunch box from last night. I had been ringing the bell but no one came out.”

“Ah right sorry. My parents left early to my grandparents house. I’ll be there wait a second”

When you opened the door you were greeted by the sight of Iwaizumi looking nice and neat in a pair of black jeans and a slightly oversized denim jacket over a grey hoodie. Your breath hitch at the sight of him until he starts talking, “Here” he handed the clean lunch box to you, nicely wrapped as well “The food was good, thank you”

“Yeah, you're welcome. Um.. are you going somewhere?” You asked while accepting the lunch box.

“I’m going to see Karasuno and Shiratorizawa match,” he said, putting his hands inside his pocket.

Concern filled your expression, “Are you feeling alright?”

He smiled softly, “Yeah, I can’t stay bummed out for too long.”

“That’s good then!” You beamed with a smile.

“I’ll be going then. When will your parents come back home?”

“Um.. maybe at night. They said they're gonna be there for a while.”

“And why aren’t you coming with them?” he asks again.

“I’m starting to prepare for the college entrance exam,” you said while rubbing the back of your neck .

“Ah, that’s nice. Well then, goodluck on it. Be careful, if anything happens, call me or Oikawa” he said, turning his back towards you. This soft part of Iwaizumi showing that he cares about you always makes your heart flutter and makes you fell deeper for him.

“Y-Yeah.. thank you..” and with that, you closed the door. You sighed as you tried to calm the loud thumping of your heart.

You mumbled, “Maybe.. I can do it today.. he seems to be in  a good mood.”

You looked down towards the ground, thinking hard, “Confession huh…”

                                     ~----------------------------------~

 Later that day, Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match ended with Karasuno as the winner thus continuing to the national stage. Surprisingly to Iwaizumi he met Oikawa in one of the seats and now they are walking together out of the gymnasium.

“Hey Iwa-chan~, let’s go grab some food. I’m feeling like shit,” Oikawa said with a scowl on his face, his nose scrunched

“Then don’t come to see the match if you’re gonna be like this!”

“Stop being so rude and treat your best friend nicely for once will ya?!” Oikawa said with his arms folded on his chest.

Iwaizumi sighed, didn’t want to deal with Oikawa’s words any further, “Fine let’s go get something to eat,”

“Yay~! Let’s eat at a fast food restaurant!”

Along the way to the nearest fast food restaurant, Iwaizumi’s mind was wandering everywhere. Oikawa started to notice this because his friend had been bumping into stuff during their short walk. Oikawa bumped Iwaizumi’s shoulder to get his attention. He slightly jolted and he glanced at him, “What?”

“Is there something on your mind?”

“Huh? No, why?”

Oikawa sighed, “Really, Iwa-chan. You should be more honest. You almost stepped on a kid back there.”

Iwaizumi only huffed at Oikawa’s words.

“Is it a girl??”

“Can you shut up.”

“A girl it is!” Oikawa beamed, “Who is it? Who is it??”

“No I’m not thinking of that!” Lies. The truth is he was thinking of you. About what happened last night. About how you gave him the warmest hug he ever received. How you convey your words of comfort to him. He may have kept a dumbfounded face at that time but the truth is thousands of butterflies were raging inside his whole body. He didn’t know if it was because he has a thing for you or if it’s because he was flustered because you’re a girl and he is a boy. He never really thought of fawning over somebody. All he thinks about is just studying and volleyball. Yahaba and Kindaichi always prattle about how much they want a girlfriend but he’s never really into those kinds of conversation. But what if he’s finally getting his first ever love story now? He’ll be damned because he’s never prepared himself for these kinds of things, even though he’s almost 19 years old.

So he decides to swallow hard his ego and eyed his gaudy bestfriend intensely, before he forces words out of his mouth “Um.. O-Oikaw—”

“Oh! Is that y/n-chan?” Oikawa suddenly said as he pointed a finger to get Iwaizumi to also look at where you were standing. Oikawa is about to call you when Iwaizumi suddenly blurted out

“W-Wait! Don’t call her!”

Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi confused, but then his lips formed a cheeky grin “Humm?? What’s this?”

Iwaizumi's face turns beet red, “A-Ah! No I-I’m—Um..” Iwaizumi wanted to die instantly at that exact moment because now Oikawa is clearly holding back his laughter. A mischievous grin is plastered on Oikawa’s face as he ignored Iwaizumi and made his way towards you calling out your name, “Y/n-chaann~!”

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth while covering half of his face with his hand “Fuck that shittykawa,”

You were standing on the side, beside the trashcan as you are currently finishing your drink so you can quickly throw it onto the trashcan. Until the familiar voice of Oikawa beamed through the street, making you quickly snap your head to the side to see Oikawa currently walking towards you with Iwaizumi behind him.

“Oikawa! Iwaizumi!”

“Yahoo, what you doing here alone?” asked Oikawa.

“I just came from the bookstore. I’m looking for stuff to help me study,” you answered, throwing your empty drink into the trashcan.

“Me and Iwa-chan are going to eat right now, do you wanna come? Iwa-chan really wants you to come apparently,” Oikawa said wiggling his eyebrows at Iwaizumi.

“HUH?!” Iwaizumi was beating the shit out of Oikawa while you only stood there smiling awkwardly.

“Uhm yeah sure I’ll come.” You answered when they finally calmed down.

“Yay~ okay then let’s goo! And Iwa-chan stop being so jumpy and fidgety will you?”

“I’M NOT! Come on let’s go,” you eyed Iwaizumi worriedly, wondering if you did something wrong. So you reached Iwaizumi's side and asked him “Hey, are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh yeah I’m fine. Don’t worry about it, sorry,” Iwaizumi said as he averted his eyes from you. Iwaizumi is acting weird when you join their walk to the restaurant just now, you didn’t want to think too much into it yet you can feel slight warmth creeping up your cheeks.

“We’re here!” After five minutes the three of them finally arrived at the said fast food restaurant. You offered to find a seat while Iwaizumi and Oikawa went to stand on the line to order. You finally sat yourself down and got yourself comfortable. Unknown to you, Oikawa and Iwaizumi are having their own convo about you.

“Is there something going on between you two?” Oikawa asks.

“…no”

“And I will say this to you over and over again, be honest Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi pondered for a moment before talking in a much quieter tone, “Yesterday.. y/n came to my house.”

Oikawa blinked, “What? Why?”

Iwaizumi grunted, reaching up his hand to rub the back of his neck to somehow ease the heat on his face, “Um.. she actually came to give me food because my parents are home late. And um.. after that…'' Iwaizumi trailed off, hiding his face from Oikawa.

“What! Don’t leave me hanging!” Oikawa then gasps, “Oh my god don’t tell me---!”

Iwaizumi quickly retorts, “No shithead! She just hugged me because she knows that we lost the game yesterday. And um I don’t know how to explain it but at that time, everything feels so intimate and uh- I don’t know…”

“Ohh~ So you’re in love?” Oikawa smirks.

To Oikawa’s surprise Iwaizumi didn’t yell or smack him in the head but only eyed him, “I don’t really know. I mean, I’ve always been so flustered whenever she does something for me. But I don’t know if it’s just because I feel nervous of the opposite sex.”

Oikawa tapped Iwaizumi on the shoulder, “Well my man, it doesn’t matter if you both are the opposite gender. If you don’t feel anything towards her then you will be comfortable in any kind of situation. Don’t worry I got your back, because I know you’re suck at this so I’ll make the chance so you two can have a talk together,” Oikawa said with a wink at the end.

“Ugh.. I can’t believe I’m getting advice from you… you look a hundred times more annoying right now.” Iwaizumi muttered.

“Rude Iwa-chan~!”

Suddenly people around them were silent and started whispering while looking in a certain direction. Oikawa and Iwaizumi stopped their bickering to try and see what’s going on. Not long after, there are two staff coming out from behind the counter to go to a certain table

“Miss, are you alright?”

“We have a change of clothes if you’d like..”

Iwaizumi pushed himself through the people gathering around the scene and saw that it was you. Your outfit was drenched in supposedly a drink, some of the liquid even splat onto the table and on the floor under too, making a mess.

“Y/n!” Iwaizumi goes into full panic as he runs towards you with Oikawa behind.

When they got to your side, Iwaizumi immediately asked, “What happened?! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah.. just now a guy came up to me and tried to ask for my number. I declined it but he just kept pushing me to do so, and I pissed him off so he threw the drink he was holding at me..” you let out a small laugh.

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth and punched his fist onto the table “Where is he now, that jerk!”

“It’s alright Iwaizumi! He already left. I’ll just go and change now, it’s not like things like this never happen anyways,” you gave him a reassuring smile. Iwaizumi looks at you in shock, “I mean for a stranger to hit on me! They are usually never that aggressive. I'll change now okay.” You said standing up from your seat, following the staff to get your change of cloth.

Iwaizumi let out a deep sigh and began to help clean the mess on the table. He shot a glare towards Oikawa who was just standing on the sideline, “What are you doing standing there trashykawa!”

Oikawa only smiled and shrugged, “I just don’t want to ruin your moment. You’d be a good protective boyfriend Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi only grumbled in response.

 After all of that commotion, the three of you still sat down and enjoyed the meal. Even though the staff told you three that the food will be at service, you didn’t think it was necessary so you still have your peaceful lunch with Iwaizumi and Oikawa. The conversation you guys had quickly washed away the tense atmosphere. Oikawa and Iwaizumi talk about the match earlier and how pissed they were that karasuno won. But they seem to be a lot more chill than yesterday so you just laugh it off with them. After that the three of you left the restaurant and walked back to your neighborhood.

You were still talking with Iwaizumi and Oikawa along the way. You seem to not notice but you were talking and smiling towards Iwaizumi more, it has always been like that whenever the three of you hung out. You and Iwaizumi always seem to gravitate towards one another and it’s making Oikawa feel like he’s third wheeling. But he’s not mad though, he finds it cute. Now he’ll just have to give both of them a push.

Oikawa halted his track and cleared his throat, “Guys sorry but I need to go somewhere.”

You and Iwaizumi both stopped talking and stopped your track as well, “Why so sudden, Oikawa?”

“No big deal, I just forgot to buy something my sister asked for. You guys can go home!” Oikawa then lightly put his hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, giving him a thumbs up and a big smile, telling him through his head ‘Good luck Iwa-chan!’

 Iwaizumi’s eyes widened, mouth went agape, ‘Now?! Wait, I’m not ready yet!’

“Bye you guys~!” Oikawa sprinted to the other direction, leaving Iwaizumi and you alone. ‘Damn that trashykawaaa….’

“Let’s go, Iwaizumi ,” you said softly. Iwaizumi quickly became flustered, “Uhh.. yeah right.”

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence while continuing the walk. You were looking around as you walked while Iwaizumi on the other hand was in deep thought, thinking of how to use this situation to make his move. His train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of your sweet voice calling out to him, “Iwaizumi, do you want to drop by the park? There is this small taiyaki stand that I want to try.”

“Sure,” Iwaizumi said with a small smile.

It was a quite chilly day and a gush of wind just so happened to pass through you and Iwaizumi. You didn’t have your long sleeved because it was wet from an earlier accident and was replaced by a short sleeved one provided by the staff from the restaurant. They apologize that they didn’t have a much warmer cloth but you reassure them that it’s fine because your house is close by.

In the midst of trying to keep yourself warm by rubbing the side of your arms, you suddenly felt warmth on your back as a jacket draped over your shoulder. You look to the side to see that Iwaizumi took off his outer jacket and gave it to you, “You look uncomfortable, wear this in the meantime,” Iwaizumi muttered softly, trying to press down his embarrassment.

You felt your cheeks heated up, “T-Thankyou..” you slid your arms into the sleeve to wear his jacket properly. It was obviously too big for you and his scent immediately envelopes you.

The two of you reached the park and your face beamed a smile, “Thank goodness not many people here, the other day the line was quite long so I didn’t get it. Come on, Iwaizumi!” you said as you ran happily towards the stand. He smiled softly at the sight of your small figure on his clothes and followed you.

You both sat on a nearby bench eating your taiyaki, “Ah, it’s warm..” you took a bite and hummed in delight. Iwaizumi's heart flutters upon seeing your cute gestures.

“This really worth 350 yen isn’t it, Iwaizumi---” You looked at Iwaizumi and saw that he’s actually looking at you. You froze and felt your heart beat faster at how Iwaizumi looked at you with such adoreness. You went silent for a few seconds, just looking back at Iwaizumi until you whispered. “Um.. is there something on my face?”

“Yeah.. you’re beautiful,” Iwaizumi said softly with no expression.

“W-What?” you were taken aback.

Iwaizumi sighed and looked down to his hands, he fiddled his fingers as he spoke, “I’m not good at this kind of things.. so um..”

You waited for Iwaizumi to finish as your heart beats faster every second making it hard to breathe.

Iwaizumi grunted and rubbed the back of his neck, “Y-You know how you said that you sometimes.. got hit up by a random guy on the street and um.. I was thinking maybe it’ll be easier to brush them off if you.. you uh.. have a boyfriend…”

Your whole face now is red, “O-Okay..?”

Iwaizumi finally faced you, staring into your eyes, “I-I mean to say—I’ll be your boyfriend!”

You went silent and you only stared at him with your mouth agape.

“I have always been so flustered whenever I’m with you, and without noticing I get jealous when a guy approaches you, like I was so mad earlier when a guy—no, I’ll get mad at whoever did something like that to you. So uh.. I’ll be your boyfriend.. if you’d like… so I can always be there for you..” he trailed off towards the end.

You were so taken aback that you just fell silent. Iwaizumi covered his face from embarrassment, “Argh.. that is such an uncute way of confessing, I’m sorry I don’t---”

Suddenly you let out a laugh, Iwaizumi removed his hand from his face to look at you with a pout, “Don’t laugh at me!”

“Sorry sorry! But you are just so cute. I can’t believe you can be this cute,” you said with a smile still plastered on your face.

Iwaizumi grunted, “S-So.. what’s your answer?”

“Hmm.. but I’m kinda upset that you beat me into confessing..”

Iwaizumi’s head snapped towards you, “Wait what?”

“Last night I actually wanted to confess to you, but I thought that the timing would be bad so I’m thinking when I should do it. But it turns out you confess the day after. So I guess I shouldn’t worry too much about you,” you said giggling.

“Well, I guess you do always made me feel better,”

You both fell silent again. Iwaizumi nervously spoke again, “So.. are you saying yes?”

You smiled, giving him a quick peck on his cheek, “Of course~”

Iwaizumi slumped down on his seat, face already overheated, “I guess I have to get used to this..”

                                       ~-----------------------------------~

a/n : arrgghh i can’t believe i finish this, more iwa-chan fics will be coming soon because he’s a precious man :D

[whump-a-la-mode]

Villian-Sicle | Part 5

I feel like now would be a pertinent time to mention that this is my first attempt at writing a sort of drabble series. The majority of my work is 50k-100k word nerd ass novels, and I think that this part will make that unfortunately abundantly apparent. I’m sorry for just how long it is, but I’ve absolutely loved writing these characters, and I got a little bit carried away with fleshing out the world a bit more ^^

Also, I feel I should probably mention that, though characters in this story speak Latin, I do not know any Latin. I wrote this using dictionaries and very basic grammar guides, and I sincerely hope I did not mess up too bad.

Thank you for reading! It’s a long one, but I hope you’ll enjoy.

CW//Superhero whump, villain whumpee, hypothermia, military setting (kinda), pet whump, dehumanization, past trauma, muzzles, restraints, conditioned whumpee, depiction of an implied panic attack, denial of water

Taglist:

@whatwhumpcomments

@sola-whumping

@professional-idiocy

Villain couldn’t help but shake and buck their head as a corrugation of metal and leather was slipped over their face, securing their jaw in its current position and forcing them to bite down against the pressure. It had been fitted since last time, they noted rather hollowly-- with a piece of padding now standing between the bridge of their noise and the harsh metal wires. Regardless of how many adjustments were made to the piece, however, making it comfortable seemed beyond their ability.

They, in this specific circumstance, referred mainly to the two soldiers before Villain. Trainer was the only one of the two that they knew the name of-- though they were nearly unrecognizable beneath the layers of gear shrouding their appearance.

The helmet they wore resembled more so that of a motorcyclist rather than that of an armed combatant, but the rest of their kit was far more military. Beneath their uniform bulged the clear outlines of a tac-vest, with their hands shielded by Kevlar gloves, constructed of an intricate mesh of triangular pieces, in a similar manner to chain-mail.

The other soldier was dressed in nearly identical kit, just without the gloves-- those were for handlers, which this other soldier must’ve surely not been. They turned to Trainer, noises in an odd language curling off their tongue. Trainer replied with a laugh.

With practiced hands, Trainer took the muzzle’s straps and secured them behind Villain’s head, tightening the metal until it dug into their skin, tearing at old sores created by the same device. Their leash was quickly hooked to a ring protruding from the muzzle’s wires.

“Manibus.” Trainer’s voice spoke. They nearly flinched at the sheer speed at which Villain offered their hands. Momentarily, Trainer ghosted their fingers over the leather mitten restraints that kept Villain’s fine motor abilities under control. They checked the wrist straps, ensuring their tautness, nodding their approval.

“Abeamus?” The other soldier suggested, to which Trainer gave another nod. They wrapped Villain’s leash around their wrist, halving its length, until there was negligible slack in the line.

Another group of soldiers, all dressed in military-style garments of their own, loitered together by the door to the staging room. They looked to Trainer, marginally straightening their postures, and, presumably, minimizing the amount of swearing in their speech.

With a few words and a flick of the wrist, the squadron was off.

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Leader couldn’t stop looking at Villain’s eyes.

They weren’t quite certain what had pulled them into such an odd trance. It was nothing about color, certainly, nor anything else physical or inherent-- they were unremarkable, in such respects. No, it was certainly something about the expression they portrayed.

A moment ago, they’d seen shattering fear turn to fury in these eyes. Now, they seemed blank, as though constructed of glass and merely painted upon. There was no expression beyond them, no recognition, no indication that Villain’s mind was occupied by anything at all. Their gaze stared straight through Leader, through the ceiling above as well.

Leader was torn from their daze by a commotion from behind them as the door was thrown open. Medic was nearly knocked over as Hero burst in, followed more ploddingly by Counselor.

“Be careful.” Leader warned, looking up and turning to the group. “There’s broken shit everywhere.”

Hero’s eyes darted around the room, seemingly taking in the mess. Broken glass coated the tile floor in a thin dusting of shards, while various mechanical parts still smoked in whatever place they had happened to end up. The lights had been blown out completely, leaving the lighting in the room to be provided by a flashlight laid on a countertop, as well as, now, the light soaking in from the hallway.

After their panicked scan, Hero settled their gaze on Villain.

“Are they...”

“They’re fine.” Medic interrupted.

“They’re not moving.”

“Well... I’m going to hazard to say that that’s a good thing. If I had to guess, it seems like a shock response. It’s not exactly my biggest concern, right about now.”

“What about the, uh, bleeding hole in their chest?”

“That would be my biggest concern.”

Medic grabbed a variety of, miraculously undamaged, medical supplies from a cupboard, setting to work at Villain’s wound. It was small, deliberate, having been incised to be used as an access point for the dialysis machine, but Leader had a feeling that even minor blood loss could be a death sentence, at this point.

Hero and Counselor hovered, for a moment, at Villain’s bedside, while Medic did their work. Leader stood back, nearly having to forcibly tear their gaze from that of Villain.

That odd sort of silence remained for several moments, if not minutes, as Medic’s deft hands worked to close the wound. It was only when the last suture was tied that Counselor spoke up-- one of the only times they had done so for the whole mission.

“Leader?”

“Hm?”

“What’s our plan, exactly? What are our orders?”

They raised a brow. Counselor was never that direct-- nor that military.

“Um...” It felt quite stupid, being caught unprepared like this, but in their defense, they had nearly just been killed by an exploding air conditioner. “I... I don’t want to hazard doing anything until Villain is stable.”

“That was your plan before.” Medic muttered as they pried latex gloves from their hands. “It almost got us killed.”

“Right. Yeah, um, are they stable enough? For transport?”

“They’re not going to bleed out, if that’s your concern. Physically, I’d say they’re stable. Mentally? I think we need to get them to a secure location before they snap out of this fugue state.”

“Alright.” Leader chewed their tongue. “Let’s get the van ready, then.”

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The ship’s deck was notably busy, despite the fact that it was relatively late at night. The vessel’s skeleton crew hurried about, keeping it afloat and on track, while outdated Humvees drove in chaotic paths. What the commotion was about was beyond Villain’s knowledge, or their capacity to care. All that mattered was fighting their instinct to cover their ears, and ensuring that they were keeping up with Trainer.

They could feel it-- the boat-- beneath them. The millions of systems and circuits and electrons, thrumming and being jolted about by a swaying sea.

The small company that Trainer had gathered made their way to the far end of the deck, where a VTOL plane was already humming, waiting for its crew to board. They did so, clustering themselves into the compact cabin. There was, notably, no room the vessel for a pilot-- all steering operations would be handled by an artificial intelligence of sorts. Villain greeted the computer program, but it did not respond.

Trainer settled themself into a middle seat at the front of the cabin. Villain sat obediently at their side, at which point their leash was secured to a handrail sticking out of the wall. They rested their head against the window. Though the cabin was crowded, at the very least, Villain was no longer forced to make the trip in the K9 compartment.

Once every member of the company was settled and seated, the VTOL’s doors slid shut, and the engine thwapp-thwapp-thwapped until the aircraft was off the ground. It shot upwards for a second, traveling several hundred feet in the time, before entering a linear dive and settling for a position around fifty feet above the choppy waters.

Villain closed their eyes, allowing their mind to wander to the creature around them. The VTOL contained what was likely the most complex computer program that the Organization had. Despite all its bells and whistles, however, it paid no mind to Villain’s prodding and wandering.

The plane’s route was not awfully complex. The vehicle was designed, surtout, for water-based travel. Though it could move over land, it struggled to rise above three hundred or so feet, making it useless for far-inland routes. Wherever it was going today was, luckily, on the coast-- somewhere in the forests of Washington state.

If they so wished, Villain could alter the route in any way they so pleased. They could send the aircraft into the ocean below, or back into the ship, or into the first land they saw. It would be simple-- all their problems gone in a moment.

Once the plane’s angle had leveled out, Trainer stood, moving to the front of the plane. Villain gnashed their teeth, attempting to rise from their seat, but finding themself limited by the taut leather line on their muzzle. They were too far, they were on mission, they shouldn’t have been so far, come on, come on. The leash refused to give way, however, leaving them firmly affixed in position.

Trainer cleared their throat, drawing the attention of the gathered company. They began to speak, words taking on quite a commanding air, though Villain only understand a few choice phrases.

“Incursus” was the one that made them prick their ears. They had heard it only a few times before. In conversation, once or twice, but more notably during mission briefings. The last time they had heard it... several missions ago, before they had been briefly confined to the medical wing.

The word itself was meaningless-- its implications less so.

Villain gulped, their jaw straining against the wires of their muzzle.

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Leader walked at the side of the gurney, ghosting a hand over one of the siderails all the while. A pair of doctors pushed the gurney itself, with Medic trailing close behind, and Hero and Counselor at their sides.

In contrast with the upper floors, the hospital’s lobby floor was brightly lit, almost overwhelmingly so, with expanses of floor-to-ceiling windows. The beige carpeting was bathed with the last remnants of sunrise orange-- it had been a long night.

The few patients in the hospital at such as hour were hurried out of the way as the gurney moved through. A scattering of nurses and varied hospital personnel were littered about, watching the Heroes’ procession, but staying several yards away, unwilling to even be in Villain’s vicinity.

Leader looked down at the gurney. A blanket had been draped over Villain, working to keep them at a stable temperature. Their fabric and webbing restraints had been replaced by those made of metal.

Their eyes were open. They had been the whole time. Despite, they had yet to struggle in any form.

The automatic doors at the front of the lobby rumbled open, allowing the gurney to be pushed through. A team of doctors and Leader’s own personnel stood outside, gathered around an ambulance with its back doors hanging open. The doctors pushing the gurney passed it off to some of the stronger personnel, who lifted the contraption into the vehicle’s back, securing it.

Leader nodded their thanks, and moved to get behind the vehicle’s wheel.

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The ship hadn’t been too far off of the East coast to begin with, making the trip to Washington a relatively short one. It took one hour, thirty-six minutes, and eighty-two seconds, to be exact-- far more amicable than the 16-hour trips they had endured in the past.

The VTOL had made a measured descent into a forest clearing, shredding the grass below with its landing gear. With the doors open, the company had scrambled out; Trainer taking Villain’s leash in hand once more.

In the clearing, there had been no sign of life besides a scurrying songbird or two. Villain had only then realized a far more unpleasant aspect of the mission.

They were going to be marching.

Not marching, exactly, they supposed. There was no regimented order to it, it was more like hiking. Just... hiking for hours. The VTOL couldn’t go too far inland, and landing it close to a target was often impossible.

So, they marched.

Sometimes, heaven would be merciful, and the trek would be short, of only a mile or so. On crueler days, though, they would move for hours-- breaking only for water, which Villain would watch the soldiers drink with a parched throat.

Even just from the look of the clearing, and its location, however, Villain had been able to tell that today was not one of those more merciful occasions.

When the plane had landed, the moon at been at its highest point--signifying that midnight had struck. For the first few hours, they walked in darkness, until dawn slowly began to creep up.

All in all, the trek had taken four hours, most of which were spent walking. By the time the group stopped and crouched down, Villain felt their legs were about to snap. It had been far too many hours and far too many miles since they had cared to look at their surroundings. All that mattered was Trainer, and staying awake.

The company made themselves small among an area of heavy undergrowth. Trainer let Villain’s leash loosely hang around their wrist. Even if the technopath had any desire to flee, they doubted they could even get their legs back under them.

One of the soldiers spoke up, somehow sounding hardly winded. Though most of their words served as nonsense to Villain’s ears, one did stick out: Scopum. It was one of the words Trainer had used, back when they were teaching Villain how to search and retrieve objects.

Trainer nodded, took a drink of water from a canteen, and got to their knees. They pointed to something behind the bushes-- Villain got on their knees to look at well.

Over the wall of undergrowth, a building could be seen. It wasn’t particularly notable-- it would be best described as a cabin, with rustic architecture and an array of out-of-season Christmas lights. It seemed to be a vacation home of sorts; large enough to fit a family, certainly, but not a place anyone would live permanently.

Was this their Scopum? Their goal?

Trainer took hold again of Villain’s leash and stood. The real mission was just about to begin, and Villain could hardly stand.

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The drive from the hospital to their base was longer than Leader would have preferred, enough to make them nervously request updates every few minutes, much to Medic’s distaste.

The base stood at the edge of one of Washington’s denser forests, about half an hour out from the city proper. The location provided security, and in their group’s early days, secrecy, but it made transport difficult.

“Hey, Medic?” Leader started.

“Villain is fine. They’re still out of it. Cabin temperature is staying steady at 70, their body temperature is just about where it should be. Keep your damn eyes on the road.”

Leader nodded, biting the inside of their cheek. City traffic had been left behind a few miles ago, leaving only empty back roads. Seven minutes to go, the GPS diligently reported.

“We’re close now, then.” Medic spoke, starting the conversation for once. They weren’t usually the one to do such a thing, but Hero and Counselor were in the ambulance’s back. “What are you thinking?”

“Thinking?”

“Your plans. Please don’t forget that you’re the leader around here, you give the orders. What do we do, when we get back to base?”

Leader bit their tongue to prevent themself from snapping at that passive insult. They were glad for the change in topic, at least.

“Our first priority is keeping ourselves safe. Villain’s safety is second priority-- I’m not sacrificing anything to keep their wellbeing. But I wouldn’t consider them a threat, right now. I assume you would like to keep them in the med bay?”

“For now, at least. They’re stable, but the fact that they’re still breathing is a miracle. I want to have my equipment nearby if they crash.”

“As long as it’s safe, then.”

“And then what?”

“Then... they’re still a prisoner, injured or not. Then we put them in the cells.”

“We don’t have any cells?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

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The company moved swiftly, forcing Villain’s legs to wake up to the horrible feeling of pins and needles. Trainer remained at the group’s head, leading them forth to the cabin.

It must have looked quite ridiculous, to an outsider. Villain would have laughed if they were able.

The group stopped before the quaint structure.

“Aperire.” Trainer ordered. Villain gnashed their teeth.

The command was a simple one, generally. It meant that they were to open something-- usually a door, or a box, or an encrypted device. The wooden door before them, however, had no electric component; it didn’t even seem to have a lock at all.

Still, they dove into the few electronics that the building did host. The Christmas lights seemed to be meaningless noise-- they tore through those, searching instead through the inner electronics. They were uncomplicated, so much so that their purpose couldn’t be so much as guessed.

Villain panicked, gnashing their teeth, shaking their head against the muzzle. They didn’t know what to do. They could feel their heartbeat, pounding in their head, throbbing.

“Aperire.” Trainer repeated. It only increased Villain’s heartrate-- what were hey doing wrong? Please, what were they doing wrong? They dove back into the systems. There was no door to be seen, just the lights, just some random system. They decided on the latter, tripping the system, just as they drew blood from biting down on their own tongue.

The house rumbled.

Instead of opening as a door should, the rustic home’s door slid into the wall, revealing a brightly-lit interior-- devoid of both furniture and interest.

The only point of interest was at the very center of the floor: A ramp, leading downwards.

Villain gulped. With rougher hands than before, Trainer yanked at their leash, forcing them forth. Together, the two descended, the company right on their heels.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

The base-- it had no real name, it was simply “the base”-- was an uncomplicated corrugation of concrete walls and sparse entranceways. It had been constructed as the shell of a factory, years ago, a factory which eventually fell through. Since then, Leader had organized quite a renovation of the property.

They drove the ambulance to the base’s parking lot, backing up to the curb as near to the entrance as they could.

“You worried?” Medic asked.

“Mhm.” Leader nodded, hopping out of the cockpit and to the asphalt below. The ambulance’s rear doors had already been swung open, with Hero and Counselor working to guide the gurney from it.

Villain still laid on the bed, shrouded with blankets, nearly comatose.

Their eyes moved.

Leader did a double-take, looking back to the figure on the gurney. Villain’s gaze had moved, now directing itself straight at Leader. Whatever expression they were portraying... it looked like fear.

Leader frowned. They moved to the transport bed’s side, placing their hands on the rails.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The ramp descended at least a story into the earth.

With every step they took, Villain could feel their mind become more and more cluttered. At first, they could only hear the simple lighting and ventilation systems, but as they grew deeper, more noises joined the cacophony. Computers and servers, medical equipment and weaponry, it all blended together, all humming, all whirring, all chanting until it made Villain’s head hurt.

At the base of the ramp, which they only reached after what felt like an eternity, stood a simple door. Nothing more than a steel barrier.

“Perdere.”

That command was about as simple as they came. Within a split second, the door, and half of the wall, before Villain had been decimated to rubble.

On the other side of the newly-torn door, a figure moved. Villain flinched, gnawing again on their bloodied tongue. Trainer forced them forward.

The room was empty, devoid, as the past one had been. There was no furniture, no weaponry, no defense. Only a person, standing squarely before the door at the far end.

Their wings brushed the room’s walls.

Leader glared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

As they leaned over Villain’s bedside, Leader smiled-- an expression as gentle as they could make it. They weren’t sure what had suddenly turned them so soft. Pity, maybe? Somehow, though, it tugged at them in the same way as nostalgia.

They brushed a hand over Villain’s shoulder.

“Hey. You’re gonna be okay.”

The next part was the stupid one. The soft one, the one that would have made anyone in any faction laugh. One that, if anyone had heard it, Leader surely never would have lived down. Even they were not sure why they spoke it.

Five simple words. Five words without meaning.

“Welcome to your new home.”

[cosmiclatte28]

Roses Are Red (Gardener TAEYONG au)

a/n : hey I got this prompt from @dailyau ! I tried my best writing this, but I know it’s not the best, Apparently @prettydeadlykpop excitedly jump into my dm and said Taeyong suits the scenario well. 

warning : none, fluff! 

here we goo....

You groan when your mother knocks on your door this early Saturday. Gosh, come on doesn’t she know that you want to sleep in on weekend? College has been tiring and you wish to sleep for three more hours. It’s only nine, and who wakes up at nine on a Saturday?

“(Y/N)! Wake up! I am so sorry, but I have to wake you up today. I promise it’s only this Saturday.” She ruses into your room and kisses you a good morning. You wipe her lipstick stain on your cheek and squirm as the sun shine penetrates into your room the second mom opens the curtain up for you.

“I have to rush and attend your uncle’s boutique grand opening, please look after the gardener for me.” She explains what she has to do and what you have to do.

“Yeah yeah, you told me thousands of times. I just have to watch over the gardener to plant us roses right? What color is it again? Red.” You try to collect your soul as you close your eyes one more time and almost fall asleep.

Mom is faster, she coughs “Red roses, in the indoor garden not the one outside! Plus you would want to shower before he comes.” She rubs your hair lovingly.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you on the other week end. Just watch over him for me! Wake up!” she forces you to leave the bed and you lazily take your eye glasses and walk to close the door for her.

You glance to the clock in the dining room, it’s only half past nine and mom scheduled the gardener to come at ten. You have thirty minutes to tidy up your self and much some breakfast.

You’re not the type to slumber around when you’re awake already, so you take your towel and take a warm morning shower.

Once the bathroom is open, warm air gushes to your room as you pick yourself an outfit for today. You internally slap yourself for forgetting to do the laundry and ending up with only one oversized sweater belonging to your brother who left to study abroad, and a short.

“This will do I guess.” You say as you watch yourself in the mirror. “Sorry mom, got no other clothes! I am still wearing a pants.” You chuckle when you see your reflection in the mirror.

After putting your clothes on, you change your glasses with a pair of contact lenses, just because you feel more confident with them. You brush your golden hair and force a smile before dashing to the kitchen to tame your growling tummy.

Your choice for a quick breakfast is cereal with cold milk. While your hand scrolls through the social media, your brother video-calls you.

“Hey! Isn’t this too early for you to be up?” he questions you. He lives in the other side of the world, so it’s almost night for him.

You roll your eyes “Mom made me watch over the gardener today. If only you were here Jae, I’d be sleeping in and you will look after them.”

Jaehyun chuckles, “Have you ever meet the gardener?”

You shake your head “Nah, is this the one we always call?”

Jaehyun nods “If the name is Taeyong, then yes. Other than that I don’t know. I once watched Taeyong planted the butterfly pea for us. He’s nice.”

You finish your cereal lazily, while talking about other things instead of flowers and gardening. Jaehyun loves flower more than you, you are more of an adventure and water person.

The bell rings and Jaehyun’s smile appears. More like a smirk, as if he knows what will happen.

“Okay, guess that is him. Go take the door and I’ll call you later, bye!” Jaehyun disappears like that. You find it weird, couldn’t your brother just stay in the call in case things go awkward between you and the gardener?

Once you open the door, you freeze in track (ty track) and you grit your teeth when you understand why Jaehyun left you.

“Morning!” the tall man with fluffy brown hair greets you with a sweet smile. Could he possibly knock on the wrong door? Is this your mother’s gardener?

You have to shake yourself back to reality, and make your fist into a ball as you try your best to not stutter “Morning! Are you here to plant roses?”

You want to run and hide your red face right now, come on who greets someone like that. But judging by his white tee, straw hat, and that typical jeans jumper, he radiates a gardening energy.

The man just chuckles and moves a bag from one hand to another, “Yes, your mother told me you will be the one watching over me today. I’m Taeyong.” He extends his arm and you’re glad your cognitive neurons are fast enough to reach and shake his back.

“(y/n), nice to meet you.” You smile. You’ve taken control of your wild mind, your heart is beating (like any other living being, just faster) and you let him inside.

“So, she wanted me to plant red roses in the indoor garden, can you lead me there?” he asks once he gets into the house and you’ve closed the front door and lock them.

You nod your head, suddenly feeling silly for even being nervous. He’s just here to plant roses not to date you or meet your parents!

“Yes, sure. I didn’t know where specifically she wants, but since she left me no notes, I guess she wanted you to find the best spot.” You explain while leading him to the indoor garden next to your dining room.

Taeyong examines the green space and his face lights up in a different way when he sees the flowers. “Your mom does take a good care of plants! Okay, I will start planting.”

You just stand there behind him and realize that must feel uncomfortable for him.

“Taeyong-shi, sorry for bothering… have you had breakfast? Do you want tea or coffee?” you feel proud you remember this welcoming manner you learned from your mom since eleven.

Taeyong looks over his shoulder to you, make a quick look over your head to toe and smiles “Thank you, just a cup of coffee and water will do good.”

You quickly nod and leave him as if you’re a waitress working a shift. As you pass a mirror in the kitchen you realize your attire and you blush when you remember him checking over you.

As you wait for the water to boil, your hand fiddles with the keyboard and you lowkey rant to your brother.

“How come no one ever tells me the gardener is this hot?!”

Jaehyun just replies you back with “Well the lazy cow is always sleeping that she missed the handsome prince. Besides I’ve told you to watch over the gardener several times, but you forced me instead.”

You groan “Jaehyun you could’ve given me a warning.”

“Didn’t mom tell you to shower beforehand?”

“Well I did take a shower, but my clothes are out of stock.”

“What did you use?”

“Your old sweater and a short??”

“Naughty!” Jaehyun teases you from the chat

“I didn’t know he is this hot! Not naughty Jae! I have no other clothes, trust me I’d rather dress up nicer and cuter than this if I knew him!”

The whistling kettle makes you leave Jaehyun and you brew the coffee for Taeyong.

Now what should you do as you wait? Staring will make him uncomfortable and you a creep.

You shrug it off and calm your nerve down. Come on you’re the queen of being confident and flirting here and there for fun, why are you nervous today?

Taeyong has finished taking care of the soil when you come and hear him humming some sweet melodious song.

“Taeyong-shi, here is your coffee.” You put the tray on one of the garden table there and walk to squad next to him.

“Thank you! Also, do you mind dropping the honority? I am not that old and it’s more comfortable for both of us to talk in a friendlier way.” He wipes a sweat that almost enters his eyes, but you notice his hands are covered with soil and dirt, so you quickly extend your arm and wipe it instead with the paw of your sweater.

Taeyong freezes but laughs afterwards when you mutter a small “Sorry…. I just don’t want your face to get dirty.”

He giggles and focuses back to the seeds “Cutie,” he mutters to himself and luckily you failed to catch that.

You nervously giggle and step back “Guess I’ll just wait and see if you need any help.”

Taeyong notes your nervousness and just shrugs his shoulder “Sure, don’t worry I got this.”

So, you only sit there waiting for him while talking about small talk. He asks about your brother, and you’re surprised he is actually quiet close to Jaehyun.

“Well, your brother never told me he has a beautiful cute sister.” He smirks while placing the seeds into the soft soil. You turn red upon his blatant remark “Aigo what are you saying? Jaehyun never talks about me to anyone. It’s nothing new.” You roll your eyes.

Taeyong pats the soil in front of him “That’s because your brother doesn’t want men to hurt your heart. He’s a good brother I think.”

You scoff “He is a good brother, until he gets to witness your embarrassing moments and you basically won’t live in peace.”

“I guess he did something good.” Taeyong pauses to take a sip of your drink. The coffee has gotten a little bit cold, but he finishes it well.

You did not realize he has finished planting the roses and your heart doesn’t want him to go. Not when both of you have learned each other’s favorite music and least favorite ice cream flavors.

Taeyong puts down the coffee cup and walks to water the new bed seed. That’s when your eyes caught attention of the other packages of seeds he has with him.

You bend to look at the organized packages and hum as you run your fingers through the selections.

“That’s all! Your mother will only need to water them nicely and make sure that no one is stepping over the new seeds.” Taeyong wipes his dirty hands on a piece of clothes.

“Thank you, but I see you have some other seeds too!”

He smiles “Yeah I have some sunflowers, jasmine, peonies, and dahlias. Why? Interested in planting one?”

You look into his eyes “Are you in a rush?” when he shakes his head and lets you know he is free for the day you squeal and grab his hands “Mind planting some more? This time I’ll help you!”

Taeyong’s smile reaches his eyes “Okay then, which one do you want?

You ponder and finally point to the sunflower seeds “Sunflower should look good in the front garden!”

“Nice choice. Come, let’s get started.” Taeyong grabs your hand voluntarily and drags you out of the house.

You laugh a little when you notice how fast both of you have become in a short time.

Taeyong gently helps you wear your gloves, and he instructs you to watch him makes the soil fluffy before putting the seeds. He also informs you on how to care the flowers once they grow.

“There, put it in and cover the seed nice and comfy like putting a baby to sleep.” He speaks with much care, as if the seeds are babies who can cry at any time soon.

“Now we water them and you promise me to take care of the sunflower until they grow big okay?” Taeyong says when he hands you the watering can.

You eagerly nod your head “I’ll send you some once they grow big.”

“You don’t have to, but I’d be happy to receive it. Well, I guess that’s all, your mother is here.” He glances over his shoulder and sees your mother coming in from the fence.

You clean yourself up and help your mom carries her things into the room. Taeyong was with her, talking about the flowers and caring procedures.

You return from your mother’s room looking a bit gloom because you’ll say goodbye soon. Until you overheard mom and Taeyong talking like an old friend in the garden.

“I’m glad (y/n) is also not alone, thank you for planting the seeds. She never shows interest in flowers, but I guess this sunflower can change her. Thank you Taeyong!” your mother pats the man’s shoulder and you catch up with them right in time.

“Taeyong! Well, yeah thank you for the fun. Um… do you mind staying for lunch?” you blurt that invitation out and you can clearly see your mother looking both surprised and a bit mischievous at the same time. Oh gosh you know you won’t live a day without her teasing you about this.

Taeyong looks surprised by your invitation, after all he just knew you for two hours and you’re already acting like this?

Your mom quickly saves you when you shoot her a “help me” look.

“Yes, Taeyong stay please if you have time. We’re about to grab lunch and I think you deserve a good lunch from your hard work today.” Your mother invites him too and Taeyong knows he cannot refuse it when mothers are the one inviting.

You throw a “thank you” to your mom and she just winks.

Thanks to your unfiltered tongue, you got to eat lunch with the cute gardener, spent a good Saturday, and the best thing is you won his number.

Three months from that day, Taeyong opens his apartment door and smiles when he sees a bouquet of sunflower and a handwritten letter on his doorstep.

“Happy one-month anniversary my Rose prince! I know I should’ve sent the roses, but I promised you sunflowers, right? I love you and miss you! Come for dinner or lunch anytime soon, mom also wants to meet you and Jaehyun is staying over next week.”

Taeyong inhales the bouquet and walks to fill in a vase with fresh water. Next, he busies himself transferring the yellow flowers into the vase, trying to keep them alive.

He then walks to his small balcony with numerous greens and fragrance flowers, cut out some orchid he has been growing.

With a light hum and a radiant smile, Taeyong wraps them nicely to a bouquet. He makes sure he has his clean shirt on, sprays his favorite cologne and walks to your house.

“Happy one-month anniversary my princess! Here’s an orchid for you because you’re a rare beauty and I love you!” he envelopes you to a hug and kisses your forehead sincerely.

You inhale his scent and remember the first time both of you met, how awkward and rushed things were, but you’re glad you met him that day. You would regret denying mom’s request that day. Every time you eat in the dining room and see the red roses, Taeyong comes to your mind and every time you shower the sunflowers in your garden, you feel thankful for being brave and winning his heart.

end.

roses are red

sunflowers are yellow

you have many words unsaid

and i don't have words rhyming with yellow

[welllpthisishappening]

First-Line Defensive Pairing

Of all the things they’d done in the last few months, spending the afternoon at the Museum of Ice Cream was one of the more ridiculous. Mostly because of the wooden spoons they gave out on the tour. Partially because it seemed Will Scarlet could not stop casting furtive glances at Belle French. Or the heels that always matched her dresses. Maybe because she kept answering his hypothetical questions. And maybe even because he was willing to drift far closer to genuine these days. At least when it came to his feelings for her.

————

Word Count: 3.7K AN: Take two! Ok, so apparently yesterday when I posted this Tumblr thought it’d be a really cool idea to just...reformat the entire story. With whole graphs in totally wrong spots. Anyway, here it is again. Just as ridiculous as yesterday. With just as many Will and Belle emotions. Because that’s a thing I’m doing now, apparently. Writing Blue Line-era Will and Belle. If you’d like more of these flirt-prone idiots, here is their first date and Belle getting annoyed that Will fought someone on the ice. Technically, this was part of the kiss prompts and was “height difference kisses.” I hope the five of you who are interested in this enjoy it. That includes @shireness-says​ and @eleveneitherway​ who are mostly to blame for this.

————

“I’m going to ask you a hypothetical question.”

Belle lifted her eyebrows. Let some of that light creep back in her gaze, a flash of amusement that regularly made Will’s stomach leap dangerously close to the base of his ribs. That’s why he did it. Maybe not the rib thing, partially because he wasn’t even sure that was the correct technical term. The rest of it, though. The eye thing. Sure. Definitely. One-hundred percent. Why he’d also made sure the little wooden spoon they’d been given at the start of this tour was still in the corner of his mouth; to guarantee absolute absurdity, and he figured that started when they decided to spend their afternoon at the Museum of Ice Cream, but he was willing to take it all a step further. 

In the absurdity factor, at least. 

Other things were—

Well, it wasn’t as if they explicitly decided to keep the relationship a secret. Not on purpose. Not really. Or come to any sort of legitimate agreement regarding the use of the word relationship. It never seemed...important, honestly. And that was a potentially problematic and lackadaisical approach to someone who made Will smile with an almost alarming consistency in the last few months, but she’d also sort of snuck up on him, and Ariel was going to be so annoying. 

About the whole goddamn thing. 

She’d never shut up about it, he knew. 

So he didn’t push. Belle didn’t, either. An unspoken agreement, that’s what it was. He had other things to do, anyway. Like get ready for a playoff run and ignore the lingering ache in his calves after the echo of Arthur’s whistle stopped ringing in his ears, and, ok, his apartment was starting to feel a little bit larger than it had in a long time, maybe since Killian had moved out, but that was fine. Cup runs did not come because someone was in a relationship. Will had seen that first hand. With Cap, of all people. 

Watched the way his whole life had fallen apart around his ankles, little shards of hope and possibility that, Will knew, still threatened the structural integrity of Kilian’s internal organs and all four ventricles of his heart, and he did not understand enough basic biology to be making those sorts of sweeping observations, but Robin had lost someone too and that had been horrible and tragic and—

If Will simply did not want to jinx things, then that was neither here nor there.

Relationship’y speaking. 

It was good. They were good. He hated the wooden spoon they gave them to taste test half a dozen ice cream flavors. 

He was legitimately worried about getting splinters in his tongue. 

No excuses could possibly reason away that problem pre-game. 

Belle’s eyebrows were still in the same spot. “You going to follow up on that, or…” “Would you burn a Gutenberg Bible? To stave off the apocalypse and or potential frostbite?” “Those two things go together, do they?” He shrugged. “In this instance, yeah, because—” “—Well, it wouldn’t matter,” Belle said, eyes flitting towards the overly enthusiastic tour guide and the seemingly never-ending history of ice cream, “because I wouldn’t allow myself to be in that position. And I don’t live anywhere near the Public Library. What would I be doing there when the freeze-wave came?” His stomach. Did that thing. Jumped and twisted, got a ten from the Russian judge on its floor routine. He was cautiously optimistic he’d be able to pull off a flawless beam performance too. It was an exceedingly convoluted metaphor. Wrong Olympics, too. 

“Does salt air give you mind-reading powers?” “You’re not nearly as subtle as you think you are,” Belle grinned. Moving her hand faster than he was entirely prepared for ensured that he nearly dropped his small plastic cup of churro churro ice cream. He made noise. Without trying. A hiss and a grunt in the back of his throat that then led to a sound escaping between Belle’s half-hearted scowl, and that sound was closer to a giggle than either of them would ever admit and just enough to mess with his mental faculties a little and the tour guide stopped talking. To stare straight at them. 

Color lifted on Belle’s cheeks, ice cream-covered spoon held awkwardly between them. 

“As you were, ma’am,” Will said, all false bravado, and that was something of a trend. In several different capacities. It was far too depressing a thought to have while eating cinnamon-flavored ice cream. 

Belle elbowed him. 

And the tour guide got back to her to spiel. Without a reprimand. 

“Say freeze-wave again without laughing.”

Her eyelashes were more of a problem, honestly. Than the eyebrows. Or the specific jut of her chin Will had rather quickly learned meant she was ready to challenge him on some ridiculous topic, fully prepared to argue a position she might not have otherwise agreed with. Only because it wasn’t what he was arguing, and it was easy to understand why she won that Model UN award. 

Plus, her eyelashes were just stupid long, and he thought she was really pretty. 

Like in a fundamental sort of way. 

“Freeze-wave,” Belle enunciated, pausing between syllables for maximum effect, “are you asking me Day After Tomorrow questions because of the ice cream, because I’m a librarian or because you’re the strangest man alive?” She finally ate the rest of the ice cream. It was starting to melt, that was why. This was very melt-prone ice cream. “Oh, shit,” she mumbled, “this is really good. Better than mine.” Something popped in his shoulder when he reached towards her plastic cup. He wouldn’t tell Ariel about that, either. 

“Which kind is—�� Fighting off the objections of a small librarian who resolutely refused to wear anything except heels, no matter what the weather was like, was not usually as difficult as it was in that moment. Will assumed it had something to do with sugar. Or the force of his smile. Robbing the rest of him of energy and the ability to fend off either one of Belle’s fists. “Why are you like this?” “You didn’t want to try peanut and pretzel. With peanut butter swirl.” “Swallowed the flyer for this place while I wasn’t looking, huh?” Sticking her tongue out was distracting. Almost enough that he didn’t notice the absolutely atrocious attempt at impersonating his voice. “Oh, no, no, babe, I don’t want that; you can get peanut butter anywhere. That’s not special.” “Well, it’s not.” “I’m a big fancy hockey player, and I know everything there is to know about ice cream flavors and the potential life-changing palette moment that comes from the sublime combination of salty and sweet.” “Oh, now you’re just taunting me.” Her eyes narrowed, that time. His smile was going to permanently stretch out his cheeks. “You have a disgusting mind.” “You can’t get churro ice cream everywhere, babe.” “I’m going back to get honey later.” Will hummed. Stuck his lower lip out. Noticed that flash return. And hoarded it. Like a relationship—

Ah, fuck. 

“Would you burn the Gutenberg Bible?” Her laugh was quickly becoming his favorite sound. Which wasn’t bad, per se. Was just kind of passably concerning. God damn. It was the heels. All of them kept matching the dresses she wore. She kept wearing dresses. 

Of course, that was going to mess with Will’s head. 

Belle shook her head. “No.” “Historical significance?” “Well, once again, I would not be in that position, would have listened to science and fled to warmer climates, so as not to make myself prey for escaped...what were they? Tigers?” “I honestly can’t remember,” Will admitted. 

“This was your hypothetical!”

Heads snapped their direction. Frustration creased the tour guide’s forehead, and they’d paid extra to learn about the history of ice cream. Will had already known about the origins of the ice cream cone, though. So, the whole thing felt almost like a raw deal, and he was far more interested in preserving the color in Belle’s cheeks. He saluted. Who he was saluting was anyone’s guess, but it very likely was the otherwise unengaged teenage kid trudging behind his family who absolutely recognized Will. 

“That’s going to end up on sixteen different social media sites,” Belle warned, not quite able to get her voice to an appropriate whispering level. 

“So long as he got my good side, you won’t hear me complaining.” “Do you have a good side?”

“Sweetheart, the self-confidence. God.” She squeezed her eyes shut. While practically beaming at him, and Will had to bend his knees to reach, something else creaking in the process, but that was fine, and good, and pretty goddamn fantastic because her lips tasted a bit like chocolate. 

“‘S’not your best work,” Belle mumbled, almost entirely into his mouth. 

“Brain freeze.” “I would burn no books. That’s my final hypothetical answer.” Her eyelashes must have existed purely to torment him. Leaning back made it clear when they fluttered back open, and he swore there were flecks of gold in her eyes. Maybe he was melting, too. With the ice cream. That was almost poetic. “None at all? What if you were going to die?” “Maudlin.” “I don’t know what that means.” “Liar,” she challenged, another smile tugging at her mouth, and Will was clearly staring at her mouth. Stained slightly with chocolate, as it was. “I stand by it, though. The book stuff, not the commentary on your burgeoning intelligence.” “You want to find a corner to go and make out in?” Different laugh. The kind that came with her head thrown back, hair tickling Will’s forearm because at some point his arm had found its way around her, and touching Belle was becoming something almost close to second nature. “I could keep complimenting you if you want,” Belle said, “or I could give you my reason for not burning books.” “You’re a giant nerd, that’s why.” She clicked her tongue. “Very, very cute nerd, though.” “Betcha say that to all the girls.”

His stomach stilled. Dropped a few inches, for good measure. Below where it was supposed to be, and inching dangerously close to his feet, and what Will could not imagine was a very sanitary floor. The Museum of Ice Cream had a giant sprinkle pit. Nothing about that seemed very sanitary. 

“I think stories have a purpose,” Belle said, still not quite whispering but definitely getting there, and he knew. Knew she knew. What he was thinking and feeling and unspoken understanding was quickly becoming the name of this particular game. With them. 

Where it wasn’t a game at all. 

Damn. 

Ariel was going to be so annoying. 

“No matter what they are. Shitty as they can be, all those ups and downs, and ridiculous, often unnecessary melodrama. It’s going to matter to somebody. Someone, somewhere, will be living their life and read those words or see those letters, and they’ll think, wow, whoever wrote this, gets me, and it will change everything for them. They’ll go back to it. Find solace and safety in it. Themselves, maybe. They’ll believe everything will be ok. Even if they only think that while they’re reading.” “Don’t forget audiobooks,” Will muttered, voice strangled and tinged with emotion. In the ice cream museum. Figured, honestly. 

Belle pinched the side of his wrist. 

“Ow. Avoid the bruise further up, please.” “Did you get hit?” Nodding took more energy than it should have, too. She hadn’t been to a game. He hadn’t asked her. What an idiot. “Not bad though, that’s just—” “—Par for the course.” “Mixing idioms, mon trésor.” “Oh, I got that one, actually.” “Slow pitch softball, that’s why,” Will reasoned, some of the tension he wasn’t especially pleased by loosening. 

“I think we’re on a roll now.” He hummed. Nodded, again. Curled his fingers into the back of Belle’s dress. Blue, that afternoon. With matching heels. “It all matters,” she added, soft and earnest, and his eyes snapped. To her and with her and that second one didn’t make sense, not really, but he was and wanted to be and that absolutely terrified him. 

Of it all falling apart again. Of it not being enough. 

He wasn’t enough. 

A story no one was ever all that interested in finishing. 

“You think?” Belle nodded. “Why’d you start playing hockey?” “Quite a transition.” “Tit for tat, or—no, no, c’mon don’t look at me like that.” Red stained her cheeks, now. Making it difficult to concentrate on anything else, although the desire to kiss her again was a fairly strong second, and that kid was taking more pictures. “That’s not fair.” “You’ve brought this on yourself, babe,” Will argued, and he hoped Lucas didn’t yell. At him. He’d never really listened to the social media rules. “It’s a very long, occasionally depressing story about a kid and his single mom, the second of whom often worked her ass off and her fingers to the bone, and all those other delightfully visual clichés. But then! Who would guess, she got a job picking up extra shifts cleaning at the rink in town. Home to the world’s shittiest ice and loudest Zamboni, it instantly drew the attention of our kid-like hero. 

“He was...infatuated, let’s say. With the sounds, especially. Nothing sounds like that first scrape of skates on fresh ice. Full of possibility, you know?” Belle didn’t answer. Will kept talking. “Best noise in the world. And then he learned there were other noises. Pucks hitting the back of nets. Sticks clanging together. Grunts and groans and the game itself, how loud it was. Helped silence some of his thoughts, none of which were ever very good. Lots of worries, some about his very dead sister, then a few more about that mother and her predilection toward clichés.”

“Good word,” Belle murmured. He kissed the top of her hair. The kid was openly staring at them, now. 

“Anyway, the crux of the story is that the guy who owned the rink agreed to let the kid play on the rink. Knew the mother, understood her situation, and hockey is expensive. Like, well, we spout all that bullshit about hockey is for everyone, and I’ve got to stand up there and smile and nod and agree, and it’s fucked up because it’s not really true. Hockey’s for rich kids and families with regularly functioning alternators in their car.” 

He shook his head. Had to. To chase away the memories and the cobwebs, and Cap knew this, too. Understood it, even. Remembered a life before the Vanklads, and not every kid got the Vankalds, and sometimes Will let himself wonder what would have happened if he’d found the Vanklads. Or their upstate New York equivalent. 

Gotten better shin pads, probably. 

“Hockey’s an exclusive sorta club,” Will continued, “gotta know someone who’s related to someone else, and they know someone who played, and it’s six degrees of increasingly desperate separation. By some lucky twist of fate, though, Jimmy Newell knew some bastard who knew somebody else, who saw me play, and you don’t say no to USA Developmental. Spent two years in Minnesota, way before Cap did, so he doesn’t get to claim that state as his own.” Belle’s lips twitched. “Good to know, for argument’s sake.” His stomach was becoming a problem. 

Heart, too. 

Sputtering and slamming, uneven beats that were going to leave another bruise. Will licked his lips. 

“I went to Developmental, declared for the draft, got picked by New York, went to college, stayed in college, and the rest is history. As they say.” “They do say that, yeah.” “What’s the next question, then?” “How do you know there’s another question?” “Shot in the dark,” Will shrugged, but that was a lie, and it was getting increasingly easier to read that pinch between her eyebrows. “So, hit me.” “Literally?” “Please do not literally hit me. Locksley’s been feeling the forecheck the last couple’a practices.” “I know what that means!” Someone shushed them. Will couldn’t imagine the color will ever leave Belle’s cheeks. 

He kissed the bridge of her nose. 

“Who’d you get to teach you French?” “Who said I didn’t just learn French on my own?” “Babe,” she chided, and, well, that was the tipping point. As they say. To his heart and his stomach and—

“You wanna come to a game this series?” Belle blinked. Once, twice. Leaned back. Tilted her head. Likely waited for the camera crew that was inevitably lurking in the corner he was cautiously optimistic they’d make out in eventually. Didn’t happen, though. There was no camera crew. 

Just Will Scarlet, professional hockey player, and part-time sap. Standing in one of the more nonsensical museums they’d been to in the last two months. Although they did go to the transit museum on three separate occasions, and he could honestly say he didn’t expect that. 

So, maybe this was all just—

Par for the course. 

He’d have to make some sort of deal with Eric. To make sure Ariel didn’t proclaim her relationship-plotting victories from a variety of rooftops. Someone in front office had to know someone else with Empire State Building connections. 

Zelena probably did. 

Ariel would use that. 

“Where would I sit?”

He pulled her. Up. With an almost violent amount of force, threatening the safety of both of Belle’s shoulders in the process. But she’d asked the one question he hadn’t totally considered in his half-plotted plan, and getting his mouth back on hers was an acceptable diversion. Plus, she looped her arms around his neck pretty quickly. 

Which had to count for something, he figured. 

One hand cupped the back of his head, pulling him closer. Like he had any intention of being anywhere else, swiping his tongue against Belle’s lip and swallowing her sigh. They were still in public, technically. Her feet trailed the multi-color carpet beneath them, Will’s arms tightening and his palm flat against her back and her spine, and if she kept rocking up like that, he was going to do something drastic. 

Something in the same realm as melting, probably. 

Strands of hair tickled his skin, making him tilt his head and alter the angle, and that was entirely appropriate, but getting kicked out of the Museum of Ice Cream would probably make an absolutely fantastic story. Once they told people they were—

Doing whatever it was they were doing. 

They’d get there eventually. 

“Cap’s sister-in-law is coming,” Will said, not entirely able to catch his breath, “wants to see Kris and—” “—Should I know who that is?” “Works in equipment, and that’s not really the point.” “What is?” “That Little Vankald isn’t super interested in listening to Cap be full older brother on her and, far as I know, is fully capable of getting tickets wherever she wants. Can sweet talk the gold out of anyone’s pockets, and—” “—Wait, wait, are you equating hockey tickets to gold?” “When I’m playing, ma choupette.” “Is that cabbage?” He hummed. Nearly tripped over his own feet trying to hold onto Belle and the mostly melted cup of ice cream and paying for more churro ice cream made perfect sense. At the moment. “One of the kids at school was French Canadian,” Will explained, “used to swear all the time on the ice, and then he’d use stuff like that.” “You’re sharing endearments with a trash talker.” “More or less, yeah. Used to infuriate other guys.” “Who wants to be called a cabbage?” “I think you’re super cute.” Belle scowled. Didn’t argue, though. And Will refused to linger on the beat of his pulse. “I’d really like it if you were there,” he added, “Little Vanklad’ll be cool about it. She owes me. I fed her for a very long time.” “Did you just?” “I make incredible garlic bread; ask anyone.” “Wow,” Belle drawled, “just like people on the street, or…also, do you call her Little Vanklad all the time?” “To her face and behind her back with startling regularity. Not everyone gets my French endearments, babe. Consider yourself lucky.” 

She scrunched her nose. 

Stayed silent. All Will could hear was the soft explanations of the tour guide, and the questions from tourists who probably also thought going to the Museum of Sex made them edgy. After they bought a STRAND tote bag. God, maybe he was a dick. A judgmental dick, who still had too many thoughts and used an occasionally violent game to silence them by making sure he was the one dictating the noises and the trash talk and—

“Hey, uh, Will...Mr., uh—Mr. Scarlet? Do you think we could get a picture?”

Belle’s lips disappeared. Behind her teeth, and that didn’t do anything to temper the sound of what might have actually been joy. At the prospect of the staring teenager and his photo request. 

In the goddamn Museum of Ice Cream. 

Giving a jerky nod, Will quickly scanned the kid for any team-branded, but it didn’t look like he was wearing merch and that was a rather small miracle. Far as those things went. 

Still, he had been in the middle of a pretty intense internal dialogue and potential freakout, and there was going to be ice cream on his hand if he didn’t throw this cup away. 

Belle took the phone. 

The kid’s phone. 

“Smile,” she instructed, and Will tried. Really. He hoped he didn’t end up looking like a murderer on Twitter or Instagram or whatever kids used, and he had no idea when he got that old. When things started to freak him out, and he let the nerves claw back in, and the worry take root and—

“Hey,” he said before the kid could walk back to his parents and their matching STRAND tote bags. “You think you could take a picture of us, real quick?”

No one had ever moved faster. 

In, like, the history of photography. 

Circling an arm around Belle’s waist, Will’s smile came a bit easier and that was good because he was totally unprepared for what happened after that. Another instruction and flick of someone’s thumb, but then Belle was on her toes, even with the heels, and her lips were pressed against his cheek and it was like some sort of really exceptional sugar high. 

Without the threat of inevitable crash. 

Will didn’t think so, at least. He was also pretty positive it wasn’t tigers in The Day After Tomorrow. Wolves, maybe. 

“Tell Little Vankald to save me a seat.” “I mean, I don’t think you should call her that.”

Her teeth grazed his jaw. Both of them were laughing in the picture, the kid’s eyes going impossibly wide as Will thanked him. “How hard you think it is to set up an Instagram account?”

[talesofargante]

The Guardian of Trollhunters Episode 1: Part 2 - The New Student

Pairing: Jim Lake Jr. x Liz Walker (OFC)

Episode Summary: A new day dawns in Arcadia with the arrival of a new student in Arcadia Oaks High, one who seems familiar to Jim. Unbeknownst to both of them, their destinies are intertwined as the fate of Arcadia rests on their shoulders.

Words: 2.5k

Warning: none (if I miss any warnings please lmk)

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Original Art:  Alina Balgimbaeva

Jim Lake Jr. POV

Rumors were going around lately of a new student transferring to Arcadia Oaks High. Toby was making guesses left and right of who it could be while Jim just listened and laughed at his crazy ideas. They sat in their seats joking around with each other when Mr. Strickler cleared his throat to get all our attention. "Ahem. Good morning, class. We have a new student here today. She just transferred from New Jersey and will be joining us for the rest of term. Miss Walker, you may come in."

The whole class turned their heads toward the door as a girl with long golden brown hair and turquoise eyes entered through the doorway. Everything around Jim paused as he stared at the new student. He could not believe his eyes. It should be impossible but he recognizes those eyes anywhere. The same ones of his childhood friend. Lizzie. Could this be just a coincidence?

Others around him whispered to each other their gazes fastened on the girl in the front.

"She's so pretty!"

"I want to be her friend!"

"I want to date her!"

"Ah, my heart!"

Standing in front of us all with a charming smile on her face, she spoke. "Hello everyone. My name is Elizabeth Walker. But you can call me Liz. I just moved here from Hoboken, New Jersey and I look forward to getting to know you all."

No way. Elizabeth. Liz. Lizzie. That is too much of a coincidence! A million thoughts cross through his mind as he tries to rationalize everything. Then, that happened. As she turned her head, her turquoise eyes met with his blue ones and Jim froze in his seat, unable to tear his eyes away from hers. He felt everything around him go dark leaving just him and her. Then, Jim sees her as a little girl with light brown hair braided on each side of her head and big turquoise eyes glistening. She smiled, calling out his name. "Jimmy!"

Suddenly, he hears a loud whisper call to him. "Jim. Jimbo! Hey, snap out of it!"

Jim shook himself awake from his reveries and noticed his friend looking at him, as others around him were busy typing on their laptops. Including the new girl - Lizzie- he meant Liz - who took a seat behind Toby.

"Were you daydreaming or something?"

"No. No, I'm not." Jim quickly denies and looks over at his friend's laptop screen, wondering what he had missed. "What are you doing?"

"Research." Toby replies as he continues typing.

"Hey, look up 'talking amulet'," Jim suggested. He felt eyes on him from the side and he turns to look, but sees Liz typing away. He can already feel his cheeks warming, just by her presence close by.

Apparently, Toby was way ahead of him, pointing at the result of his search. "I already did that. All I got was toys. One of them was a plushie."

Suddenly, Strickler's voice called to him. "Jim, would you agree?"

Snapping in attention, Jim looks up to his teacher. "Sir?"

"With Herodotus' opinion on tactics of war, as I've described." Strickler clarifies, pulling out his favorite pen. Sweat dropping, Jim tries to stall looking at Toby, who turns away and whistles. "Oh, uh...Absolutely."

"Excellent. Which tactics, specifically?" Strickler questions. Feeling the pressure, Jim tries to think of an answer. "The, uh...winning ones?"

The class laughed at his response as the school bell rang, signaling the end of class. Getting up from his seat and putting his books in his bag, he glances at Liz who was already heading out the door.

"Jim, may I have a word?"

Jim turns to Strickler, but ends up dropping his school cross bag on the floor, the contents spilling out. Both teacher and student bend down to sort it out as Strickler continues. "Jim, you're distracted. You fell asleep between the invasion of Attica and the Peace of Nicias, and your attention wandered for the rest of class."

Jim apologizes. "Sorry. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." And the night before that and so on. The dreams he's been having is slowly taking a toll on him.

"I know it's just you and your mother and you want to help her."

Jim sighs, frowning. "She's just really tired, Mr. Strickler. She's been working double shifts at the clinic."

Bringing out a post-it note and pen, Stricker began writing before handing out the slip to Jim. "I believe I'm overdue for a conversation with her. Have her call me, please."

Taking the note, Jim felt unsure. "Uh..."

Before he could continue, Strickler interjected. "And feel free to drop by my office if you ever need to talk."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Jim nodded, putting away the note. They both stood up as Strickler handed off another textbook to Jim, offering a piece of advice. "Oh, and, Jim, if you fancy Miss Walker, I submit that talking to her will be much more effective than staring at."

Jim walks away blushing.

***

In physical education, Jim cheers for his best friend as Toby struggles to climb higher on the rope. "Come on, Tobes. You've got this."

"So close!" Toby grunts from literally at the end of his rope, before dropping down on the mat with his leg tied on the rope. Coach Lawrence looks down at Toby before bringing out his clipboard, checking it off. "What is that on my rope? Every student here should be able to climb this rope and ring that bell."

Suddenly, Jim hears gasps from other students nearby. "Oh my gosh, she's fast!"

Turning to look, he saw Liz climbing the rope with professional ease until she reached the top, ringing the bell. To the amazement of others, she broke the class record of fastest rope climbing. Coach Lawrence beams proudly. "Now that's what I'm talking about! And on the first day, too. Great job, Walker!"

Saluting from above, Liz slides her way down the rope and lands on the mat without breaking a sweat at all. Jim suddenly realizes that his mouth was open and quickly closes it. Before he could introduce himself to Liz, Coach Lawrence calls for her. "Walker! See if you can help Domzalski over here."

Jim sighs, missing his chance. However, he glanced at the bleachers seeing Claire with her friends. He takes a deep breath in and out. Guess he might as well try speaking with his crush at least.

Liz Walker POV

First day of school wasn't as bad as Liz thought after finishing her last class for the day. Students came around, introducing themselves and getting to know her. Though she was not too fond of one guy in particular - Steve, was it? - coming at her and standing too close for comfort, asking if she wanted to go out. She rolls her eyes at the thought. Thankfully, she turned him down without difficulty. Plus, she was able to help out a fellow classmate - Toby, his name was - though he wasn't very adamant in trying to climb the rope again.

However, to her notice, the blue-boy - James Lake, she meant - acted weird in class, staring at her as if he recognized her. Seeing him closer rather than from a distance, he does seem familiar to her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Anyways, all that matters is getting back the amulet before something happens.

Suddenly, Liz feels her phone vibrating in her pocket, alarming her that her shift was coming up soon. She quickly grabbed her books from her designated locker, placed them in her brown crossbody bag and pulled out her helmet before heading out of campus. She goes to her KTM Duke 200 motorbike parked by the other bicycles on the parking rack. Ignoring the jaw-dropping stares and whispers of other students, she unchains her bike and gets on. She should just skateboard to school from now on, she decided. Her ride is grabbing too much attention. Douxie did tell her not to draw too much attention and she's doing the complete opposite.

Liz starts the engine and drives down the street and turns a few corners into the bustling town square where all the shops were located. She parallel parks on the street, chaining her bike on the meter and steps into Benoit's French Bistro and greeted Douxie before heading to the back to change into her uniform: a white sleeveless collared shirt with a black ribbon tied around the collar and a black apron tied over a black pleated skirt.

Like Douxie, Liz works part-time to earn cash and help pay her rent with Douxie for their shared apartment unit. She should've been living with her parents like the other kids her age, but she was actually an orphan. With no memories of her early childhood, she was told that her parents died in a car accident, where she was found in the wreckage by Kanjigar, who raised and homeschooled her in Heartstone Trollmarket. At the age of 13, it was decided that she would move in with Douxie to live her life with the rest of her kind. However, for the past two years, they were living in Hoboken, New Jersey to investigate a Heartstone there, seeing if it was habitable for trolls. It was for an assignment tasked by Vendel, himself. So that's why she is living with a boy. Parents would be shook at the thought of it.

During her shift, she prepared their famous espresso and called out the name written on the cup. "Barbara!"

A woman with orange-brown hair and blue eyes behind black-framed glasses came over. Taking the cup, the woman looked up at Liz to thank her but froze, staring at her with wide eyes. Liz tilted her head in confusion, seeing the woman had that same look on her face like James Lake in class. In fact, the two shared similarities with one another. She thought to herself, wondering if they're related. "Is there anything else I could get you, ma'am?"

The blue-eyed woman blinked and shook her head slightly. She smiled. "Oh, it's alright. Thank you."

Liz was about to turn back, but then the woman spoke up again. "Wait!"

The teenage girl turned back, confused. The woman stammered, "Oh. Sorry. Um. It's just...you look like someone I knew before."

Liz offered a smile. "Oh, I see. Not to worry, ma'am."

"Ah, sorry. How rude of me. I'm Barbara Lake." Barbara held out a hand to her and Liz shook her hand. Lake. So they are related to each other.

"I'm Elizabeth Walker. But most people just call me Liz." Barbara's eyes widened even more but Liz didn't question as she introduced herself. "I just moved here from New Jersey a couple days ago."

Liz notices Barbara's shoulders fell slightly, but she ignored it as the woman replies. "I-I see. How do you like Arcadia Oaks so far?"

"It's nice. Today was actually my first day at Arcadia Oaks High."

"My son goes there. I believe that he mentioned that there was going to be a new student attending."

"James Lake?"

"Junior." Barbara corrected. "But he prefers the name Jim instead of James. Jim Lake Jr."

"Ah, yes, I had him for few of my classes, but we didn't get the chance to be acquainted yet."

"You should come over tomorrow night and have dinner with us. Jim's a great cook and I'm sure he will be delighted to give you a tour of Arcadia Oaks once you get to know each other," Barbara insists.

Liz chuckled. "That sounds great, Ms. Lake. I look forward to it."

"Please, call me Barbara." Liz smiled at that. Barbara gave Liz her address and directions to her house as well as her phone number in case she got lost on the way there. In exchange, Liz gave Barbara her number and waved goodbye as the woman left the restaurant with her coffee.

Jim Lake Jr. POV

Toby and Jim were riding their bikes home when they saw Jim's mother's blue car approaching. Both the bikes and car slowed to a stop next to each other. Rolling down her window, Barbara greeted them. "Hey, boys."

"Hey, Mom." Jim greeted back.

"Looking sharp, Dr. Lake." Toby complimented as he struggled with his bike to stop.

Glancing at Toby, Barbara replied, "Thank you, Toby. So are you."

"Oh! Does it show?" Toby looks over himself.

Jim turned to his mother. "You're going to be out all night?"

Barbara sighs. "Dr. Gilberg is out with bursiti and Dr. Lenz has a wedding out of town this weekend."

"Okay, well don't forget to bring your-" Jim was about to remind his mother, but Barbara interrupted, grabbing a brown bag and showing it to him, "Dinner. Thank you."

"Right. And try to find an oven to reheat it in instead of nuking. It takes all of the flavor and nutrients away." Jim looked down at the post-it note that had Strickler's name and number on it, silently debating whether to give it to her or not, but in the end, decided not to as he placed it in his jacket pocket.

"Jim, there must be a million things you'd rather be doing than looking after me." Barbara says as she puts back the brown bag beside her. Jim shrugs. "Can't think of one."

Barbara glances at her son, watching him to see how he would react to what she is about to share. "Well, I did. I invited your new classmate, Liz, for dinner tomorrow at our place. You should give her a tour around Arcadia Oaks."

Jim's jaw dropped. "What! When did you guys meet? Is she really coming for dinner tomorrow? Did you tell her about me?"

"Slow down there, kiddo." Barbara chuckled, satisfied with her son's reaction. "I'll tell you all about it when I finish work tomorrow. Why don't you plan tomorrow night's dinner? Got to make a good first impression." Barbara winked. Jim started to blush and stutter. "Y-yeah. S-sure. Count on it."

"Great! Love you, honey." She rolled up her window and drove off.

"Bye, Mom." Jim watched her leave as he thought about what could possibly be going through his mother's mind when she first saw Lizzie - he meant Liz. Did Liz remind his mother of his childhood friend he lost years ago?

Hello fellow readers!

I just watched the movie finale of Tales of Arcadia, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. Watching the movie till the end has left me with mixed feelings. Though, I love everything about it, the ending scene just didn't do it justice for the whole entire franchise. Because of that, I made it my mission to change the final ending. For the good of all!

Cool fact: I waited until I saw the movie finale before I officially published my first chapter of this fanfiction and I'm glad I did.

Again, if you are interested in reading more, click on the links provided below!

This fanfiction story will be posted on Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, and Tumblr. However, Wattpad will serve as the original site for this story, so the latest updates will be there.

While reading, feel free to leave a comment [keep it negative-free, would you? thanks :)] or critique. I appreciate the feedback. And along the way, if you like the journey so far, leave a star, a kudos, or/and heart to vote! If you have any questions, feel free to ask as well and I’ll do my best to answer without giving any spoilers ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Happy reading!

- Miss_Nightingale

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