#--a tentative hi its been quite some time but i hope everythings going well on the other side of the screen

[gonchillunchis]

hey.......

[whatsk-poppinhomies]

Pairing : Dad!Han Jisung x F!Reader TW : reader is pregnant ; reader and soobin panic ; Jisung is pretty pissed off ; arguing ; Jisung groveling ; mentions of previous cheating ; manipulation ; it's still angst! Word Count : 2.5k Request : It was definitely asked for and you all shall receive even more angst!! A/N : I hope you all are enjoying these! Only 2 more angsty dads to go!!

There was no time to prepare, although you weren’t sure how you were supposed to prepare for something like this when you weren’t planning on it happening at all, or at least not in the near future. This surely wasn’t how you planned on Jisung finding out that you were pregnant though, You didn’t even plan on him finding out you were pregnant, you were going to tell him after you already had the kid and settled into parenthood yourself. 

To say less, you were absolutely freaking out, and so was Soobin. “What are we supposed to do?” He asked, his eyes wide as he looked around at all of the baby necessities that filled the small dorm. “There’s nowhere to put all this stuff! Oh my god!” If you were in the right headspace, you’d be able to tell him to calm down. Sadly, you weren’t, and you were unable to calm yourself down. 

You didn’t know how long it would take for Jisung to come over. You weren’t sure if he knew where their dorms were, but you were sure it would be easy for him to find out considering he was famous as well and he could say literally anything as a reason and people would be none the wiser as to what he was really up to. “Fuck, I don’t know Soobin! Maybe… Maybe I can keep him out in the hallway or something. It’s not like he has to come in… Right?” You were nodding along with your own words, hoping that Soobin would follow suit and nod along with you. 

But, Jisung is quite unpredictable, and even if you wanted to stay out in the hallway the entire time, he’d find some reason to make his way into the dorm, and upon second thought, maybe it would just be easier to get the blowup over with first and hope that it dies out quickly. 

///

A loud rap at the door had you and Soobin looking up, but neither of you moved from where you were sitting, contemplating whether the person at the door was Jisung at all or just some random delivery driver leaving another package of baby supplies. “I know you’re in there! Answer the door!” Jisungs voice made its way clearly through the wood of the door and gave you the answer to the question you had been asking yourself, although it wasn’t the answer you were hoping for. 

It’s not like he would do anything, he’d most likely just cry while talking to you even after seeing everything, but for some reason both you and Soobin were hesitant to let him in. “Y-You open the door…” You whispered to Soobin, nudging him lightly off the couch as you curled up into yourself. It’s not that you were showing, not a lot really, but now with the eyes that you knew would soon be on you, you felt like you looked a whole lot more pregnant than you did a week ago. 

There was no way to prepare yourself for the way that Jisung would be, mainly because you weren’t sure how he would be. Would he be sad or angry? Would he even notice all the items in the dorms or would he just run over to you and try to beg you to come back? Would he notice something different about you, something that not even you or Soobin or the rest of the guys could pick up on since they were always around you? These questions kept running and running through your mind until you heard the click of the lock and Jisung came running in. 

“Y/N!” His voice came shrill and loud through the front hall, and in a blink he was standing right above you, looking down at you, but you kept your head lowered and your shirt pulled over your knees to try to make a tent over your stomach. “Look, I know that right now is… weird, it’s a weird time, and I know that what I did… I still regret it… I feel awful and…” He took a deep breath, and then there was silence. You didn’t want to look up, you didn’t want to meet his eyes, but a quick glance had you finally understanding the silence as you watched him look around the room. “What… What’s all that… What’s all this stuff for?” 

“I don’t think that right now is a good time…” Soobin murmured, walking over to the couch and trying to put some space between you and Jisung. “She’s kind of tired and stress isn’t really good for her right now. She’s been dealing with a lot lately and… It’s kind of just… Like a respect thing. If you could just respect that… You know?” Soobin stammered, rambling on and on, trying his best to keep things calm, but you could tell that Jisung was getting agitated. The way his breaths picked up in pace, the way he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and almost aggressively shoved his twitching hands into his pockets, as if he was trying to keep himself from doing something that he would regret. 

“This is stuff… Stuff for a baby… For a literal baby. That’s a whole fucking crib box right there!” He pointed to the discarded box in the corner of the room. “And there’s… There’s diapers and… Who’s kid is it?” He asked, quite sternly now as he pointed his focus back at you, but you didn’t answer. You were silent, much like you should have been when Jisung had called Soobin earlier. “Who’s kid is it? Did you even have it yet?” He continued questioning, and you could tell that Soobin was getting antsy, rocking back and forth, from one foot to the other as the tension only grew. 

“I didn’t want to tell you…” You mumbled, wrapping your arms tighter around your legs to pull them closer to you. “It doesn’t even make a difference… You still fucked up, and it’s not like I’d ever take you back.” And for the first time since he’s been there, you looked up at him. His mouth was slightly agape as his eyes blinked rapidly, as if trying to process and understand what you meant. “It’s yours… But that doesn’t mean that I’m getting back with you… I’ll-” 

“Mine?” He asked, as if looking for reassurance that what he had heard had been correct, and you nodded your head to affirm it. “So you’re telling me that… You’re pregnant… You must be really pregnant if you’re already buying stuff… And you didn’t even tell me!? What kind of shit is that?! I might have fucked up and cheated on you, but what you’re doing… That’s majorly fucked up! You’re trying to hide my kid from me?!” 

“Hey!” Soobin shouted, finally stepping in once Jisungs voice had risen to a volume that was unacceptable to both him and you. “She didn’t even know until a week ago! Don’t come into my house yelling at her about it! I’ll kick you out! I’ll have you escorted out!” Soobin threatened, and it was strange to see him like that, he was usually so quiet, especially in comparison to the other guys in the dorm. He was quite protective over you, like a brother would be with their sister. He wasn’t going to just let Jisung yell at you without doing something about it. 

“So you found out a week ago and what? You were just going to hide it from me? You could have told me when you found out but you didn’t. How far along are you, huh?! When were you planning on telling me?! That’s my kid! Fuck!” Jisung ran his hands through his hair, turning around to pace back and forth between the front door and the couch you were still sitting on, clearly pissed off and shocked from the sudden news. 

“Telling you would have been the easiest fucking thing for me to do, Jisung!” You shouted back, on the verge of tears now. As if you weren’t going through enough, he just had to come here and make it worse. “I just found out that I’m 5 months pregnant, I have to figure out what the hell I’m going to do and where I’m going to stay and how I’m going to take care of the baby! The last thing I thought of was calling you and delivering the news because I still had to fucking come to terms with it!” You were breathless, your words, although meant to be shouted, sounded more like choked off sobs, and by the time you were done the attempt at yelling you were full on crying. 

Jisung paused, and now both you and Soobin were glaring at him, although Soobins look was far angrier, while yours most likely looked a bit pathetic as the tears streamed down your face. “5?” Jisung whispered, clearly trying to do the calculations in his head. “How did you… How do you not know that you’re pregnant for 5 months?” His voice was so quiet, you weren’t sure whether he was asking himself the question or if it was meant for you. “Do you know what it is?” He finally spoke up, looking directly at you, although it was Soobin who answered. 

“It’s a boy. She’s having a boy, and while what she said might worry you, her and the baby will be fine. They’ll be able to stay here until she gets back on her feet. Myself and the guys will help her in any way that we can, and she knows that.” Soobin finally dropped down on the couch, placing a hand over yours in an act of both comfort and support, but the gesture was looked at in a completely different way by Jisung. 

“Oh?! So you’re just gonna let her stay here? That’s what you want me to believe?!” He was once again shouting, but there were obvious tears forming on his lashes as he stared between you and Soobin. “Like you haven’t taken enough from me?! You’ve taken my fiancee! I know that I messed up there, I know that I made the biggest mistake and I regret that, I’ll regret it until the day I die… But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you take my son away from me too!” 

Soobin looked completely shocked and you were absolutely mortified by the assumption that Jisung was making, and although he hadn’t verbally said it, you knew just what he was thinking. “Nobody is taking anything away from you, Jisung.” You said flatly, pulling your hand away from Soobins only to cross your arms over your chest. “I never said that I’d keep him from you. But you’re not going to go around making accusations that I’m with him-” You motioned to Soobin before continuing. “Just because you can’t have me back, and that’s one thing I’m dead set on. I will never go back with you.”

Jisung nodded his head slowly, as if trying to process what you had just told him, but you could see him struggling to fully grasp it. “So… our son has to grow up with separated parents? He has to spend his life wondering why his mother and his father aren’t together…? You really want him to question that? That’s not fair to him…” 

If you were foolish, his words would have had you thinking, maybe even second guessing staying apart from him… But you knew better. You weren’t going to let him use your son to guilt trip you into taking him back. “No… It’s not fair to him… It’s not fair to either of us that you think that you get to go out and cheat and have all the fun you want and still come home to a perfect little life. So yes, he has to grow up with separated parents, and he has to grow up wondering why we’re not together… And you are to blame for that, and you can deal with the guilt and the burden of his questions when he’s old enough to ask them. It’s your fault, and you will deal with the consequences of it.” You finally got up off the couch, the loose shirt you were wearing slightly flared around your stomach that had become just big enough for Jisung to notice the change. “Now, I will do what I feel is the right thing to do, and I will notify you of doctors appointments, I will update you on how the baby is doing, and I will call you when I finally go into labor. After that, I will contact you only in regards to the baby and how he is and when you can see him. Other than that, I do not want to talk to you, I do not want to see you, I don’t want anything to do with you unless it’s regarding our son.” 

“So that’s really how it’s going to be? You don’t even want to try? Not even for him?” Jisung took a step closer to you, his eyes practically glued to your stomach. “I haven’t even… I haven’t been with anyone. I’ve just been thinking about you… About us… And now with a baby on the way, we could have a family… We could be perfect. Just a chance, a second chance, that’s all I’m asking for… I won’t mess it up this time, I swear. I only want you… You’re all I’ve ever wanted, baby… You know that. I made a mistake and-” 

“And I really think it’s time for you to leave.” Soobin jumped in, noticing the way your body was tense and your breaths had become more rapid, although he wasn’t sure if it was because you were upset or if you were just becoming more and more pissed with every word that Jisung was saying. “Thank you so much for the unannounced visit and the unnecessary added stress. It’s been nice seeing you and I’m sure it won’t be the last time, but Y/N needs some rest now.” Soobin ushered Jisung to the door, his hand pressed against his back to try to push him out. 

“Just think about it!” Jisung shouted as he was led out into the hall. “I don’t want you to do this by yourself! He should have his real father around! Think about what I said, baby! I love you! I love you so fucking much!” He was still shouting to you as the door was shut in his face and quickly locked. It was only when things had finally grown silent that Soobin walked over to you, his arm wrapped around your shoulder to try to comfort you, and you quickly melted into his warmth, crying silently against his chest. 

“What did I do? I didn’t want this… I just… I had to tell him… right? It was the right thing to do… Wasn’t it?” You whimpered, looking up at Soobin with tear filled eyes, and he quickly wiped away the stray tears that fell down your cheeks. 

“You did the right thing… It was… But you won’t have to deal with him by yourself. You know that myself and the guys would never make you do that. We’re here for you… Always…” Soobin murmured, gently pulling you against his chest once more, his chin resting atop your head. “Things are going to be fine… I promise.” 

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[yeahspider]

let the light in

Ve’s note - soft fic about chan going back home to australia . this is so fluffy and warm . he is just so lovely and writing about him makes me happy(im drunk as usual so this is sparsely proofread my bad) no warnings sfw !! enjoy <3

the sun was setting as you were finishing up your closing tasks at your parent's record store. picking up a record from the bin you blew gently on it, watching as dust flew off and into the air. this place could use a good dusting you thought to yourself. the clock hit five signifying the end of your shift. at 5:01 the bell above the door chimed alerting you that someone entered.

“we’re closed sorry” you quickly said without looking at who entered. you were tired and ready to eat. you went to grab your purse and head out but stopped seeing the person standing in the doorway. it felt like your heart jumped out of your chest when you made eye contact with Chris.

“I know I'm sorry I was just hoping you’d make an exception for an old friend,” he said with a shy smile. a smile that made your heart swell even if it's been years since you’ve seen it in person. the setting sun illuminated his body. hair in its naturally curly state, teeth on full display. he looked like the young boy who you once loved. the same boy who chased his dream but broke your heart in the process. you could never blame him though. it’s not like you ever confessed. too scared of rejection and unwilling to hold him back from his potential.

“of course, I always have time for you its been so long,” you say to him as you usher him to a chair. your mind still catching up to the fact that he was actually in front of you. tentatively you reached out and brushed his hand, discreetly checking to see if he was real. this was a moment you’ve only dreamed of. chris was still all smiles as you sat across from him.

“i’m sorry i never came to see you sooner. i always meant to but i just chickened out everytime.” he admitted with a blush rising to his cheeks . you wanted to cup his face to feel the blood rush under his skin..

“Why would you chicken out am I that scary,” you say jokingly.

“well i used to have a massive crush on you that i never really got over and i didn’t want it to be weird between us. didn’t want to ruin the familiarity.” he said as a blush ran up his neck. familiarity ? what does that even mean ? and what did he mean he had feeling sfor you? that your pining wasnt singular, but shared. your mind races as seconds drag on after his confession. you cant seem to find the words to decribe what you feel right now. are you relieved? scared? happy? nothing feels quite right.

"I'm sorry i didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. let's just forget about it. how have you been?" Chris said trying to save the moment. You could see the embarrassment tinted on his ears.

"wait- you didnt make me uncomfortable i was just shocked. i ..." you hesiated to admit you felt the same way. but he waited for you . your chris . ever so patient. ever so understanding.

"i've had a crush pn you for years." you finally admit. feeling a weight lift off your chest, the pressure in your ears lessening. "ever since you first picked me up from that party years ago. youve always been there for me, even when you were thousands of miles away you checked up on me. so the feelings only grew overtime."

"Are you serious? You've had feelings for me this whole time? I thought you just viewed me as some foolishly ambitious boy. I never thought you would want someone like me." he says, with a look between sadness and relief on his face. you guys have been dancing around each other for years. two idiots in love.

"you were never a fool to me channie. I believed in you wholeheartedly and still do. i always knew you would make your dreams happen."

"let me take you out somewhere. we should reconnenct i want to relearn everything about you, if youll let me." chris said. nothing but smiles and dimples.

of course you agreed. you let him learn everything as long as you could do the same

[jishyucks]

Walls, Brawls, & Sudden Rainfalls ‣ hrj

‣ pairing: renjun x reader

‣ genre: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, fluff!, slow burn (!), college au

‣ wc: 23.6k (gawdamn)

‣ summary: Your first impression of Huang Renjun wasn’t the greatest. In fact, the first two encounters you did have with him were enough for you to conclude that he was just some cold-blooded boy who genuinely didn’t care about anyone else but himself. That was, of course, before the (damn) universe brings you both together to work on the local daycare’s mural.

↳ Alternatively where first impressions blind the fact that you two actually fit quite well together.

‣ warnings?: Brief mention of underage drinking, Renjun and reader argue really childishly lots, when I meant slow burn, I really did mean slow burn, very very brief mention of doing the dirty bc reader chooses to be dirty-minded (but they don't actually do it nonono)

‣ an:  this is the longest fic I've posted ever (so far), so it feels like I’ve incubated it in the womb, went into labour, gave birth, raised it, and now I'm setting it shi free and into the world lmaooo,,, anyways thank you so much to @hoonieji (my bestie) for reading over this and reassuring me that it was going great,, I hope you all enjoy this!!! <333

‣ taglist!: @hoonieji @nanaflwers @dandelionxgal @flowerpotrenjun @renjun-fairy @she-is-dreaming @mosviqu @hibernatinghamster @glamourizz — can't tag @markleeiloveyou @lovehowdream

ONE.

With the hundreds, hell even thousands, of people in university, there will always be a handful of rude, miserable people that you were deemed to run into sooner or later. 

Sure, not all of them mean to be rude. Often, there would be the occasional bump on the shoulder in the crowded corridors… Or there would be those newly woken up individuals who would give dirty looks, obviously not giving a single fuck. You’re a nice person. You understand those people since everyone did had bad days. But there was one man—cough—boy that genuinely had an attitude that needed to be fixed. 

You didn’t know his name, nor did you want to know his name, but you could easily pick him out of a crowd because of the smug look he always repped. Funnily enough, it was the very look you wanted to very badly slap off of his face. 

The only reason you knew of him was that he seemed to have a desire to be a menace to those who got in his way and unfortunately, you constantly ended up being on the receiving end of these situations. 

There was one morning you had been running late to class—no—you were sprinting to the auditorium in hopes of only missing the run-through of the previous class. Your field of vision chose to settle only on the doors of your class, which at the time was a huge mistake. The focal point blocked out everything else, causing you to run into the before mentioned boy in a rough manner. 

“What the fuck!?” You both were on the ground, briefly stunned at the collision, “This shirt is expensive!” You looked up and realized that dark coffee had stained the boy’s light-coloured shirt. The look on his face caused your heart to drop and eyes to widen. 

“I’m so sorry! I really am! I’m just late–”

“I didn’t ask for an explanation,” he scoffed. He stood up, peeling the shirt off of his skin. It tented easily. 

“I can repay you…” You say quickly, speaking before you could even process what you wanted to say.

“Can you pay for a hundred-dollar shirt?”

You shake your head, but you think of alternative ways to repay him. Only him interrupting you even before you could begin listing them indicated that he wanted none of it, “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” And at that he leaves you stunned, belongings still scattered around your puzzled self.

“Well fuck you, then,” you mumbled. Rolling your eyes, you were pulled back into the situation you had been in prior to the encounter. Class was a lot more important than some douche anyway.

Another encounter between you both happened after about a month of the first. The Starbucks found on campus was not at its busiest, yet it was not quite empty either. The baristas and cashiers worked their hardest to satisfy their customers, walking to and from different stations behind the counter. 

“Hi, can I order a grande iced caramel macchiato?” You questioned, one of your earphones sitting in your hand. The cashier nodded, asking for your name and other necessary information before you paid. 

You thanked her before slowly moving towards the serving counter, taking notice of the boy when you did. He had his head down, attention directed at his phone’s screen. He, too, had earphones in, practically blocking out his surroundings. In a way, you were glad he didn’t notice your presence, the memory of last month’s conflict running through your head. 

You placed yourself at the corner of the cafe, away from the boy but close to the counter. When you ordered at a cafe, you would often pay attention to the baristas, watching as they mixed up the drinks. You could see yours being made, which had been quick as there were still people waiting for their drinks. 

When the barista finally clicked a lid onto the cup, you begin making your way to the counter, ready to take it and leave. She slid the designated smaller straw next to the drink, so you grabbed it before the drink, then made your leave. Little did you know, the drink you took wasn’t actually your drink. 

“Excuse me!” 

You genuinely didn’t hear the boy calling you because of music blaring through your earphones. And even though he was waving his arms to catch your attention through your peripheral vision, your attention was poured entirely on the drink you held snugly in your hand, poking the straw in. 

“Excuse me!” 

He finally caught up to you, grabbing your shoulder to stop you. The sudden contact caused you to jump, attention shooting from the drink and up to the boy. You don’t say anything, pausing the current bop that was playing. 

“That’s my drink,” he gestured towards the drink, “Well not my drink but my friend told me to pick it up for him.”

You look down at the name, seeing a Donghyuck printed on the sticker. You blushed and replied sheepishly, “Oh I’m sorry, I genuinely thought it was mine…” You hold it out to him, “Do you want it? I haven't taken a sip from it yet.”

“Of course I want it, I’ve been waiting for ages,” he mutters, promptly grabbing the drink from your hand. Without another word, he walks away, muttering a string of words you couldn’t quite make out. 

“What? No ‘thank you’?!” You yell back. 

He doesn’t turn back, and not because he had his music playing, but because he didn’t want to. You curse under your breath and walk back to the cafe, seeing that your drink with your name on it had been waiting for you. 

Though you didn’t have the right to judge an individual, especially since you didn’t even know his name, the two encounters had given you a bad image of him. Two encounters in two different situations… you were being polite in both situations regardless of how embarrassed you had been only to be returned with cold responses. Who did he think he was? 

“Li Shang.”

“I agree, one hundred percent,” you replied. Yeji held up a hand for you to give her a high-five, which you completed. The conversation topic on Disney Princes had been more entertaining than the chemistry homework due next week, “That’s why you’re my best friend.”

“Him and Prince Naveen,” she kisses her fingers in a ‘chef kiss’ type of movement, “That’s all I have to say.”

“Also!” You hold up a finger, pause for dramatic effect and state, “Tadashi Hamada.”

“He’s not a prince… but I will let it pass because it’s Tadashi Hamada,” she giggles. You watch her sit back in the library chair she pulled out from another table because it had padding for your butt, smiling. She drops her pen onto her textbook, “Taste.”

Before you could reply and add to her comment, a third presence appears to the right of you and the left of Yeji, which puts the conversation on pause. You turn to see Jaemin bent down to catch his breath. He had a wrinkled sheet of paper in one hand and his phone in the other, his bag open at the top. 

“Woah, are you good?” You asked, standing up and assisting him towards one of the seats as if he were one of the elderly you helped once in a while at the old folks home. He nods but keeps silent, taking in deep breaths. 

Once Jaemin finally caught his breath, he began to spew out whatever news he had for you or Yeji, “That’s the… most exercise I’ve… done in years.” He gulps and sighs out, “Anyways, Y/N you’re looking for a place to work or volunteer at right? Like art-wise or something? Kids? Puppies? I don’t know… I forgot what you were going for…”

You nodded, “Just any type of volunteer or temporary job… Yeah, I still have no luck.”

“Well, this is perfect for you then!” Jaemin flattens out the crumpled-up sheet of paper in front of you, “They need some people to help paint a mural for this daycare. No previous experience needed. As long as you can hold a paintbrush!”

Yeji leans in to get a look at the sheet, “Woah, you get paid too! That sounds like fun. I would do it with you if I wasn’t busy with these damn classes.” She sinks back into her chair and begins playing with the sheets of her textbook.

“I ran here because a bunch of people might want the job.” Jaemin says, “The daycare is literally just behind the campus.” 

You stand up, the adrenaline Jaemin previously possessed taking over your veins, “Can you watch my stuff!?” Your phone was already in hand and you were ready to sprint out of the library and to the daycare Jaemin had been talking about. 

“Of cou–“

And at that, you were gone and running towards the building. To your luck, the library was by the back of the campus, so the run wasn’t as far as you anticipated. You could sense other students eyeing you as you sped past, though you didn’t really care since you were merely a flash in their eyes. 

Once you had arrived at the daycare, you entered and made your way to the front counter, “Hello, I’m here for the painting job?” 

The lady at the desk looked exhausted, eyes halfway closed and face struggling to present a welcome expression, “Can you draw and paint? All that kind of stuff?” 

“Yes! That’s mostly why the job appealed to me,” you replied, “Do you need a resum–“

“You’re hired…” she mumbled stiffly, “Please fill this sheet out and show up here on Saturday at one in the afternoon for further instruction.” 

Smiling, partly stunned, you nodded before turning to leave. That was easier than you thought… all that running was worth it.

TWO.

You sat across the street from the daycare, contemplating whether it would be better to come early or right on time. Through the windows, you could see that they weren’t as busy as yesterday due to it being a Saturday. It wouldn’t hurt to show up early right? Standing up, you dust your butt off before making your way to the crosswalk. 

“Hello, I’m here for the job information. I was hired yesterday,” you explained, “My name is Y/N L/N.” The person (wo)manning the desk was a different lady from a few days ago. The woman held a smile on her face, one that reached her eyes so, to you, it seemed like a genuine smile. You squinted at her name tag, which read Joy. 

Huh… fitting…

“Oh good!” She exclaimed, “Now you can sit just over there as we’re waiting for another person.”

“Another person?”

“Of course! We’re not expecting one person to work on the entire mural alone. It’s larger than it looks, so we decided to hire anyone who asked. Those two were you two,” she explained the situation, “I’ll further explain the objective of the assignment when the other boy arrives.”

Your ears perked up as you nodded, Boy? A small little piece of you started hoping that, whoever this other person was, was cute. 

You hear the door open behind you, a small greeting leaving the lips of the smiley woman, “Oh! This must be him! Are you here for the job?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the voice replied. It sounded rather familiar, but you were unable to pinpoint who it could have belonged to. Curious, you turn to look at the owner of the voice. Once you had processed who had been standing a few feet away from you, your jaw dropped. 

You both speak at once, evidently shocked at the coincidence.

“You!?” 

You couldn’t help but feel the sudden impulse to quit the job before it even started. You’d rather accidentally fall into dog shit than work with this unnamed douche of a boy. 

“Do you two know each other?” Joy questioned, “That’s even bett–“

“N-no, not quite,” you interrupted, “We’ve just… had a few encounters on campus.” You choose to turn your body completely towards Joy so that you couldn’t accidentally look at the other presence. 

Joy nods, “Makes sense… Anyways, name?” She directed the question towards the boy, pulling out another sheet from a clipboard. 

“Huang Renjun.” It was funny finally being able to put a name to his face, especially after all this time. But you very much preferred ‘that boy’ over his name. 

You feel him approach the desk, standing beside you as Joy begins going over the job instructions. You two were expected to paint a mural over the next month, about two to four days per week depending on how long you both worked. The theme of the painting is what was expected from a daycare mural, something pleasing to the eye, especially the eyes of kids. The two of you had freedom over what you wanted to paint but were expected to get the idea checked over by Joy before the actual painting started. Once that was approved, they’ll provide all the supplies for the painting process to begin. Easy. 

If only you were working on the project with anyone else but Huang Renjun. 

“Any further questions?” Joy concluded, shifting her glance between you and Renjun. You both shook your heads, “Okay good. I think a rough deadline for the idea should be around the end of next week? The boss really needs this done in a month.” You both nodded silently before turning to leave the daycare. 

“How do you want to brainstorm the idea?” Renjun had muttered before you were able to walk off.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “How do you?” 

He scowls, “I guess we can just meet up here during designated hours?” 

“That makes the most sense, doesn’t it?” you don’t feel like replying to him kindly if he spoke with an underlying attitude. Someone really needed to teach him basic manners. 

“Whatever.” Renjun leaves you alone in front of the daycare, giving you a chance to roll your eyes behind his back. 

You choose not to walk away from the daycare until you’re sure he’s left, opting to use your phone and scroll through whatever notifications you’ve missed during the meeting. Your face is left in a painful grimace, one that you didn’t even feel you’ve rendered on your face. 

You can’t believe you’re working on a team project with this particular boy out of all people. Yes, it was a bit overdramatic, but you’re not quite sure how to work with someone you’ve only had bad encounters with. It also doesn’t help that he seems to have mutual feelings for you—which you find particularly ridiculous since you really haven’t done anything wrong to him on purpose.

It’s somehow the next day when you’re able to tell Yeji about the happenings of yesterday. Though the topic only came up when Jaemin questions you about the gig and Yeji notices how your face contorts into a stiff frown. The both of you are sitting in the dining hall, food half-finished but untouched for the past ten minutes.

“What’s up with your face?” Yeji questions, almost laughing out loud at your shift in mood. This is something you really liked about Yeji. She was talented at reading facial expressions. There could be the tiniest quirk in your brow and she’d be questioning you to world’s end. 

You purse your lips and stare back at her, “What face?” 

“This face,” Yeji contorts her face into an exaggerated glower, “What’s up with that? I thought you were excited about the painting gig?” Jaemin nods along to what Yeji said. 

You don’t reply for one long second, trying to figure out how to explain to your best friend what happened yesterday afternoon. “Do you remember that guy I was really pissed off about a few weeks ago?” 

Yeji pauses to think, “The guy with the coffee?” 

You think about it and realize that both encounters you’ve had with Huang Renjun involved coffee. “Yeah, him! Today, at the meeting, guess who came as my temporary partner for the project.”

“No way!” Yeji’s eyes open, “That’s a whole coincidence! No wonder why you looked all pissed.” You can tell by the new wave of expression on her face that she feels sorry, “Is he still… douchey?”

Your eyes widen as you nod, leaning forward, “Yeah, but what’s new?” You’re about to roll your eyes, mouth opening with an intention to add more, but Yeji’s eyes shift from you to something behind you. She holds her gaze there for a few moments before her brows furrow in confusion. Her eyes flicker back to you.

“You know it’s not good to be talking bad about someone behind their backs right?” You turn and see Renjun with a friend of his. “Someone’s ending up on Santa’s naughty list.”

Your brows knit together, “You’re one to say something…”

Renjun throws you a look before taking a long sip from his drink. You can’t help but look at the beverage, an iced matcha latte, and feel yourself craving it. It looks good.

Renjun clears his throat, “Anyways, we’re meeting tomorrow.” His friend stands awkwardly behind him, looking like he just wants to be there to eat. 

“That doesn’t even sound like a question,” you point out. 

He shrugs, “Because it’s not… I have places to be.”

You look over at Yeji who’s witnessing the attitude of the one and only Huang Renjun. Even you can see that Yeji’s shocked at how Renjun’s interacting with you.

“Fine, whatever,” you wave him off, “Whatever makes you leave.”

“Good, because I wasn’t even going to give you a choice. I’m showing up even if you’re not there.” At that, Renjun and his (poor) friend walk away, leaving both you and Yeji rather stunned. 

In the corner of your eye, you see Yeji turn to look at you, so you look back, noticing her sorry expression, “Good luck tomorrow, Y/N.”

You thank her. Not because it was what people usually replied to the comment, but because you knew you genuinely needed it.

THREE.

Upon entering the daycare and being directed into a secluded room by Irene, another employee who ran the desk, you find Renjun sitting hunched over a sheet of paper. You could see his hand was working fast and that his attention was focused mostly on whatever he was doing. One side of the room gave you and Renjun a look at the main area of the daycare. 

“You’re late,” he muttered, not looking up. 

“You’re early,” you retorted. The clock at the corner of the room tells the truth. You had only been five minutes late. How much brainstorming could the boy have even done in that span of time?

He doesn’t reply to your response, slumping back in his chair to continue his brainstorming. You can’t help but make a face behind his back, slipping into a chair at the same table but across from him, refusing to sit next to him. You didn’t want him looking over your shoulder during your creative process, or else you’d lose your mind. 

But then you remembered that you were here to work with him. “You know, we met up here so that we can work on the idea together,” you point out, “But you do seem like the person who wouldn’t know what the word cooperation means.” Not even two minutes into this so-called meeting and you want to leave. 

Maybe you should just quit.

“You don’t even know me?” Renjun lifts his head towards you and scoffed, “So you can’t say that.” “You’re right,” you nodded, “I don’t know you, but I’ve bumped into you enough times to know you don’t give a single fuck about those you don’t know.” You pull out a pencil from your bag and take one of the spare sheets of paper sitting in the middle of the table. You start to write out random phrases that come to mind, whether it be inspirational or a pop culture reference. 

Renjun scoffs, “I’ll have you know, most of our encounters happened because of you.” You can see he’s adding colour to his draft, giving you no direct attention, “This all would be avoided if you weren’t an accident waiting to happen.”

“You know there’s always better ways to go about those same situations,” you spit back, “Because, I don’t know, accidents happen? Other people wouldn’t make big deals out of them.” 

Renjun mutters a quiet ‘whatever,’ under his breath, huffing out in frustration as he continues with his draft. At this point, you’re halfway done with your draft, which consisted of a cute scene of kids and a generic playground background. It was a bit mediocre, but you thought simple was cute. You both continue on in silence, letting the sounds of the kids playing drown it out. 

The silence wasn’t awkward. In fact, you could listen to the serene, no-sound room as if it were a hit song you’ve been obsessing over the past week. Anything but Renjun’s voice was a blessing, especially in situations like this. 

After about half an hour, Renjun looks over at your draft, “You do know kids can’t read, right? At least kids attending this daycare.”

You scowl. “Yeah and?” You continued with your business, “Haven’t you seen that movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’?” 

Renjun thinks for a hot second, “No.”

Your eyes shot up at him, surprised that he hasn’t seen the classic. When you weren’t in the mood to watch other movies, you’d naturally gravitate towards rewatching that one. It was a good movie, one that made you cry, yes, but you liked the underlying meaning behind the movie. “That explains everything.”

“What do you mean?”

You ignore his question completely, “There were words on that daycare’s mural, I don’t think it’s wrong to add some words to the mural, Huang Renjun. Besides, lettering is what I’m best at.” 

Renjun glares at you. “What if I don’t want words on the mural?” He quickly glances down at his own picture. It was more of a realistic picture, one of the skies with balloons floating through the scene. Attached to some of the balloons were toys or items associated with being a kid. It was simple, but he found it rather cute. To him, it beat your average picture of kids by a playground.

“What if I don’t want… whatever that is?” you childishly argue back, “Look, I know my idea is simple, but simple is easier and simple is usually best. Your picture has so much shading… imagine the two of us having to paint that.”

Renjun tries to hold back a laugh, “Are you serious? My picture’s obviously better than yours.” 

You both immaturely argue for another twenty minutes, pointing out the most ridiculous reasons for why your own pictures were one-hundred-and-ten percent better than the other’s. And it was consequently the stubbornness that both you and Renjun possessed that leaves you both with no decision by the time the shift was near over.

Your eyes drift to the clock sitting above the window, “Time’s almost up and we still haven’t figured out what we want to do. Let’s just settle with mine.” You push the picture towards the centre of the table, eyes holding your hopes of your idea being chosen. Maybe Renjun will finally break. 

“I don’t think we should,” Renjun shrugs, voice monotone, “Let’s just… decide on it the next shift. I really don’t want to deal with this—or you—right now.” Renjun picks his phone up and takes a picture of his and your pictures sitting in the middle of the table for reference.

You follow in pursuit before snatching your draft from its spot. You feel a sense of relief knowing that you can finally return to your Huang-Renjun-less life. “Fine, whatever you want. I don’t wanna deal with you either.” 

The shift abruptly ends with Renjun taking his leave first, leaving the room without another word. He bids a quick goodbye to Irene, who has no knowledge of what just happened before exiting the building entirely. 

Renjun feels nothing but irritation walking back to his dorm room. Days ago, he remembers being excited about the gig. He gets paid to do something he truly loves, all while giving such a flat looking building some colour to make it pop, which clearly was a win-win for both him and the daycare. But the fact that you’re there with the apparent purpose to contradict everything he’s planned, the excitement was simply sucked out of it all.

Renjun finally settles back at his shared dorm room, hanging his bag on the back of the nearest dining room chair before sitting himself at the couch, where both Donghyuck and Jeno were playing Super Smash Bros. Although they were rather loud, he’s just glad to be back in an atmosphere he knows he can relax in. 

“Hey, how was your painting thingy?” Jeno asks, eyes glued to the screen. In between Jeno’s question and Renjun’s response, there’s rapid clicking coming from the two boys’ controllers. 

“It was… fine, I guess,” Renjun mutters. He pulls up his phone and mindlessly swipes through social media. 

Both Donghyuck and Jeno don’t fail to notice the bummed tone in his voice. Donghyuck speaks up, “‘I guess’?” There’s more clicking, “You suck at this, Jeno.”

“Remember who I’m working with?” Renjun hints, “She literally contradicts everything I say and do for no fucking reason. It’s draining.”

More clicks. Then Jeno finally replies, “That doesn’t sound fun at all. Maybe she’s not aware about what she’s doing?”

Renjun sighs, “I think she knows what she’s doing. I just think she’s doing it to spite me. You should hear her arguments. They’re so senseless and they make me want to laugh.”

On his phone, Renjun pulls up the photo he’s taken of both of your drafts and enlarges yours. This is the first time today that he’s able to properly look at your picture and he can’t help but actually like it. No, he still doesn’t like your idea about the kids and the playground, but the words you had chosen to letter over top the main picture. 

Adventure Is Out There. Although it was pulled directly from the movie Up, the quote works perfectly well with the daycare’s name, The Adventurers. He liked it. But he wouldn’t admit that to your face. 

Renjun zooms out of your picture to show both of your drafts once again, eyes glancing between both images. The gears in his head begin turning, Renjun’s creative process in the works, as begins mustering up an idea that could possibly work for the both of you.

“How about we take your quote and add it to my picture?” 

It’s two days later and Renjun’s monotonously suggesting the idea that had developed in his mind some nights ago. No other ideas have been brought up since then and Renjun wants nothing else but to start on the project. 

You look up at him with a raised brow, “Oh, so Huang Renjun’s finally admitting that his picture is plain as shit?” You’re not against what Renjun’s suggesting, only because what he was thinking made sense. The balloons that his drawing had reminded you of Up. It did go well with your quote, plus you were able to incorporate your want of lettering. 

Renjun narrows his eyes at you, “It’s not ‘plain as shit.’ I just want to get this over with.” He reaches for a brand new piece of paper and begins drawing a second copy of his drawing. 

You sigh. “Fine whatever. But I get to suggest something about it too.” You eye how quick he was to copy down his drawing, head pivoting back and forth to replicate it. 

Renjun chooses not to look up, “What is it?” Although he was willing to hear you out, there’s still a splash of irritation in his voice. 

“Don’t make it so realistic.”

His head is brought up to look at you, “And why not?”

“It’s a daycare,” you say flatly, “Do you not remember that? Where’s the ‘cute’ factor in making it look realistic? This isn’t a commission from the city, Huang Renjun.” 

You have a valid point, Renjun thinks. He admits he’s been treating this as more important than it really was, but that’s just how he was. “Fine. It will be easier to paint anyway.” Renjun turns back to the new drawing, making it a little more kid-like. He refrains from colouring the picture before sliding it in your direction, “The quote.”

Pulling the new draft towards you, you pick up your own pencil and start your part of the drawing. Looking at Renjun’s sketch, you realize that you can’t place the words exactly how you had it on your original draft. There were areas that you didn’t want to cover. 

“After you’re done, I’ll colour it,” Renjun mutters, “Write down the supplies we need, then we can leave.” 

Only you using your eyes to look at him, you reply, “Sure.” And when he looks back down at his phone, you roll your eyes. Someone needs to tell him to simmer down with his attitude. Then maybe you can tolerate him easier. 

You pass the sheet of paper back to Renjun and sigh. There’s a sense of relief in your chest when you realize that this part of the process was over. Thinking back to two days ago, the way you and Renjun argued over what to do for the mural, you thought that there was no way you were getting it done in time, at least not with both of you being satisfied. 

But that’s all done and over with. Luckily this was the hardest part of the project. 

Right?

FOUR.

“You’re gonna be there for how long?” Yeji peers over her laptop’s screen, eyes wide at what you just told her. 

“Four hours,” you answer, “That’s not even that long, Yej.” You’re laughing quietly as you put your sneakers on, half-assedly tying the laces. The walk there is around ten minutes and it’s already 1:48. You can already hear Renjun’s ‘you’re late,’ along with his deadpan expression.

“I know, but I’m going to be here alone on a weekend afternoon,” she whines. You watch as her face quickly changes expressions, “Wait do you want me to bring you a snack later? Rub it into Renjun’s face that you have a great best friend who brings you food?” She bats her eyes and angles her face to convince you into saying yes.

You shake your head, “It’s only four hours today cause we’re finally starting the mural and we want to get the base done today. And I’ll be fine, I promise. Maybe invite Jaemin here for the time being.” 

“He’s off somewhere with his friend,” Yeji sighs, “But whatever you say. I’ll miss you!”

You playfully roll your eyes, “Bye Yej. I’ll miss you, too.” And at that, you’re off to the daycare. 

The peaceful walk to the daycare can be the calm before the storm, the storm being Huang Renjun. The idea made you laugh a little bit, childishly picturing Renjun like how animators would draw angry anime characters with a crimson face, steam blowing out of their ears and nose, and pupil-less eyes. You feel like that’s the only emotional state you’ve seen the boy in and you can’t help but curiously imagine how Renjun’s smile would look. 

You shake that thought out of your head before you let it run further into nonsense, finally arriving at the building. Through the glass doors, you can see Renjun sitting by the front desk. Upon entering, Joy, who was sitting at her computer, looks up with a bright smile, “Good afternoon, Y/N.” Renjun does nothing but let his attention waver over you for a quick second before going back to his own business. 

“Hi, Joy,” you greet back, “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Renjun finally stands up and stands at your side.

“Oh, no, no! You’re right on time and I will speak to you guys very quickly before I let you guys get to work,” she rounds the counter and leads you both to the meeting room like always, “So since the draft was approved, the supplies you needed, plus ones I’ve added are just in here. Grab what you need and you guys are free to start.” She shows you a closet near the back of the room, opening the door to reveal the many supplies that were ordered.

“Thank you, Joy,” Renjun nodded.

“It’s no problem! If you guys have any concerns, you know who to go to!” Spinning on her heel, Joy flashes one last smile.

“Chalk, white paint, string, ruler,” Renjun mumbles, taking the supplies up into his arms. 

You grab the paint brushes, “Why do we need half of what you just said?”

Renjun’s walking out of the room, paying almost no mind to you and your question. 

“Huang Renjun,” you say firmly, “Can you answer my question?” You both are outside at this point, “Or… or else I’ll chuck this brush at you!” Although it was a joke, you subconsciously knew you would if he seriously didn’t open his mouth within the next minute.

“So I can draw a grid?” He speaks to you as if you were stupid.

Oh, he’s going to get it, you think, but your thoughts and your body think and do different things. Your body decides to stay grounded where you were, “And why would we need a grid?”

Renjun huffs and turns to his bag. He fishes out the draft you both had made last week, only there’s a graph lightly drawn over it, “So we can replicate the picture onto the wall.” Renjun thought this over the past few days. If he and you wanted to mural to turn out exactly how you both had drawn it, eyeing it wouldn’t be the best to go about it. Hell, even drawing out a rough sketch of it could be difficult through eyeing it. 

“Can’t we just free-hand it?” You’re not understanding why Renjun wants to make the job more difficult than it was. There were only two of you. If there were maybe four of you working on the mural, then sure, go ahead and draw a graph, but there were only two of you.

Renjun shakes his head, “I think it’s worth it to draw the graph, that way there’s no chance of messing up.” He fiddles mindlessly with the string he’s been holding. You can tell by the expression on his face that he’s serious about this. You want to tell him that, ‘bro, this is a mural for a daycare, it doesn’t need to be one-hundred-percent perfect,’ but Renjun looks like he’s ready to fight for what he wants. 

“Fine, let’s draw the graph,” you say. 

Renjun looks at you confused. Why’d you back down so quick? “Huh?” 

“But you do it all on your own.” 

Ah… There it is.

“I’ll just sit here and wait for you to finish.”

Renjun wants to laugh out loud, not because the situation was funny, but because he can’t believe you’re actually saying what you just said. “Are you serious?”

You sit down at a nearby bench and nod, “Why would I be joking? You sure do act like you know what you want to do… so, go ahead. Do it.” A spiteful smile rises upon your lips and you wave for him to go on with his task. Being the stubborn boy he was, Renjun gives you one firm look before turning towards the small ladder. He drags it towards the right end of the wall and begins preparing the materials.

You watch him out of curiosity, wanting to know how he’ll manage to do it all on his own. You want to see if he’ll ask for your help, or end up wanting to free-hand the rough sketch in end. But as you do observe Renjun, it’s clear that he’s not going to ask for help or give up.

Renjun measures out string that’s about the height of the wall, 3 metres tall, and then the length, which was near 4 and a half metres long. Grabbing measuring tape, Renjun uses the ladder to measure and divide the wall into foot-by-foot squares, marking the corners of the squares with dark chalk lines. The job’s going to take long, that’s for sure, and watching him move up and down the ladder, while he tries his best to keep his marks aligned, you can’t help but feel bad for making him do it on his own. 

But then again, he wasn’t asking for help. 

Renjun on the other hand is struggling and he hopes you don’t see it. Yes, two hands were enough for the daily tasks he has grown accustomed to, but two hands weren’t enough to do this very task efficiently. There’s a voice at the very back of his brain that was itching him to ask you for help, but as always, Renjun and his stubborn ass refuse to do so, even if he’s on the edge of falling off of the ladder. 

“Can you hand me the black paint?” Renjun asks about forty-five minutes later. His hairline is drenched from sweat and the lack of expression on his face reveals how tired he was, “Please.” He hopes that you’d at least help with this. 

Without another word between the two of you, you stand up and pick up the bucket of black paint. You quickly plop it down next to the foot of the ladder before looking up at him, “Are you done with the graph?” You try your best to sound disinterested, eyes moving across the wall.

Renjun blinks down at you, “Does it look finished?”

There’s a caring instinct in you that notices the exhausted look in Renjun’s eyes. His eyelids are drooping, and he’s sniffling from the constant moving he’s been doing. Renjun’s sweating profusely from the sun beating down on the both of you, and you’re brought to wonder if he was prepared to be worked up to this degree. 

When your eyes meet his, you’re instantly pulled from your thoughts and you remember that you’re not supposed to give a single fuck about Huang Renjun, even if he’s working his ass off like this. He looks like he’s waiting for you to answer or leave to go sit back down. But a rogue idea somehow assembles itself in your head and you decide to just go with it. You roll your eyes, “Well, I’m going to the washroom if you aren’t.”

“Whatever.” He gives you one last glare before turning to the black paint and the string. 

You start making your way to the front door of the building, sending Renjun sneaky glances. The second he’s paying you no attention, both direct and peripheral, you make a break for it and start sprinting towards the centre of campus. There was no doubt that you look like a madman right now, zooming past students who were still on campus despite the day of the week, but you didn’t care. If you want to pull this off, then you need to do this quick—and quick means running like you were in a life or death situation.

Finally reaching your destination, you decide to take a breather, hands on your knees and everything. Your mind wanders back to the day you applied for the gig, getting deja vu from the exhaustion you’re feeling right now. 

Once you finally are able to catch your breath, you make your way into the building and sigh at the air conditioning. 

“Y/N! Hi! The usual?” The Starbucks worker, one you’ve obviously seen plenty of times, looks at you in an odd way but goes with the flow nonetheless. She’s smiling at you, finger hovering over the screen in front of her as she waits for a response.

You nod and add, “Add an iced matcha latte to that too. Make it venti, please.” She nods and continues on with the usual routine. 

You left as quickly as you came, although this time, you’re sprinting with a bit more caution, not wanting to spill the drinks you’ve used your own money for. You can’t help but wonder what Renjun was thinking right now—what were you doing in the washroom for so long? 

The two drinks you were holding in both of your hands said it all, though there was still no explanation why you decided to sacrifice some of your time and money for Renjun. It was just the nice person instinct inside of you that decided to do so. 

You’ll complain about it to yourself later.

When you finally return from your little mission, you’re lucky enough to arrive when Renjun’s distracted with the graph. You notice he’s done the vertical lines within the time you were gone.

“That was a long washroom break,” Renjun muttered rather loudly. He’s pressing the paint-soaked string against the wall, face angled slightly to the side in focus, “I was beginning to think you ditched me.”

You shoot him a glare behind his back and contemplate whether you should throw the drink that you bought for him at him. Instead, you say nothing and put the drink down next to his things, making sure it was in a spot that was safe from the surroundings. 

Renjun looks back at you, instantly noticing that you were now holding an entire Starbucks drink in your hand, completely missing the one sitting by his things. “Didn’t know they had a Starbucks in the washroom.” His tone is dripping with sarcasm and hints of irritation. He still can’t believe he’s actually been working on the graph for almost two hours on his own. 

“Oh yeah, they just opened one a week ago,” you shoot back. You plop into your previous place and sit there, taking out your phone to distract you from Renjun. 

You don’t realize how much time has passed when you see a pair of feet stop in front of you. You’re brought to look up at the owner, “What do you want?”

“I want a break.” Renjun answers flatly, “I’m done with the graph. Now work on transferring it.” He holds out the same draft he had shown you earlier, waiting for you to take it. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to show his shoulders and he’s using a small towel, that was originally supposed to be for the paintbrushes, to wipe his forehead. 

“Sure” was all you said before snatching the draft from his fingertips. 

All the hard work was done for you. Transferring it was easy. 

Gathering the supplies you needed, chalk, paintbrushes, and white paint, you get going on transmitting the draft onto the wall. The moment you start the rough sketch of the mural, you feel a wave of nostalgia hit you, remembering the countless activity books you completed as a kid. You can distinctly recall the pages where one side displayed a cute drawing of an animal or character of some sort, overlaid by a graph, while the page next to it shows an empty graph in which you were instructed to redraw the completed picture. This was exactly like that, only bigger and not for leisure. 

Your delight in starting distracts you easily from Renjun, who you unknowingly finally notices the drink you had gotten him not even thirty minutes earlier. Although he’s a bit puzzled by the drink, remembering damn well that he never got the drink himself, he lets his line of sight drift to your half-finished drink sitting by your things. When realization begins settling in, he does one more thing to confirm his thoughts.

Twisting the drink in his grasp, Renjun faces the sticker label towards him, eyes instantly finding what he was looking for. 

*Y/N*

His eyes flicker up to you, standing firmly at the top of the step ladder, unaware of the fact that his eyes have widened and the corners of his mouth have climbed higher on his face. Despite the fact he’s thankful and a bit sorry that he was giving you attitude the second you got back from your ‘washroom break,’ the larger part of Renjun that’s still certainly irritated with you doesn’t say thank you.

Not out loud at least.

FIVE.

Painting a mural required many steps because painting on a giant wall was different to painting on a smaller, feasible canvas. You and Renjun were lucky enough that the wall had already been painted white, which you guess covered whatever was painted underneath.

Two shifts ago, you both had managed to finish the outline of the image you both had prepared for the mural, and the shift after that, you both opted to outline the main subjects of the mural with the base colours. 

Although no problems had really arisen between the both of you (if you didn’t count small arguments about what shade of said colour a balloon should be), one weird thing you both noticed was the fact that none of you will willingly start on the same side as the other. You were no professional artist, nor have you been painting your entire life, but you knew damn well that the process of painting an image often involved starting at one part of the painting (usually the top) before working towards the other end. But regardless, the mural was, to your surprise, looking well done. 

Today was the third day, and counting, of painting said first layer, and if you were being honest, you were having the fun you expected when you first applied for the gig. But you knew it was probably because you and Renjun simply chose not to speak with each other, aside from the simple ‘where’s the thicker paintbrush’ or ‘can you hand me that (mural painting tool here),’ there was an unspoken almost-truce between the two of you. 

Leaning towards the wall, you apply lavender-coloured paint in short strokes, following the shape of the balloon you’ve been working for the past eleven minutes. You have music playing through your headphones, the volume just above half, and you can’t help but bop your head to the music. 

“It’s almost five,” Renjun says quietly to you. He’s been working in silence the past few hours, but he almost loses track of time because of how caught up he’s gotten with painting. If it hadn’t been for the watch on his wrist, he would have gone overtime. 

You don’t reply to him, continuing with your painting while Renjun begins to clean up. He finishes up with what he was working on before climbing down the ladder. He rinses the brush down and dries it, placing it into the paintbrush container that was provided for you both. Noticing that you haven’t moved from your spot, Renjun calls out to you again, “Hey! It’s almost five. We need to start cleaning up.” 

Renjun sighs when he realizes you still can’t hear him, forcing him to walk up to you to catch your attention. He tugs gently at your jeans, which almost immediately catch your attention. You pull one side of your headphones off and glare down at him, “What do you want?” 

“I said it’s five,” Renjun reciprocates your attitude, “Start cleaning up.” He turns away and starts gathering his things. 

You blow a stray piece of hair from in front of your face and roll your eyes, though you are surprised that Renjun had the decency to let you know it’s time to go. You climb down your own ladder and do just as Renjun did earlier before carefully placing everything into a large storage bin. Then, once you were sure all the supplies were gathered inside the bin, you go to retrieve the step ladder, folding it so that you could use your shoulder to carry it. Renjun stands at one side of the bin to help you carry it, already having his belongings hanging from one shoulder.

It takes you both no longer than a minute to return the supplies to the closet, leaving with a goodbye to Irene, but no exchanges between the two of you (unsurprisingly). You let Renjun leave first, staying back to text Yeji where she and Jaemin were.

At the library studying!

Jaemin brought brownies 

Say less. 

You arrive at the library within the length of two songs, immediately finding the two sitting in the area that you all usually sat at. You were expecting them to be deep in focus, table drowning in pages and textbooks of their respective classes, but instead, you catch Yeji telling Jaemin to ‘shut up before we’re kicked out.’ 

“I thought you guys were supposed to be studying,” you snort, taking the spot next to Yeji. After standing for hours straight, being able to finally sit down felt good in the knees. 

“Yeah, we were, but then Jaemin decided to bring up the topic of ugliest animals and we’ve been arguing ever since.” Yeji glares at Jaemin, “He claims that axolotls are the ugliest, but I say they’re cute.” 

Jaemin starts laughing but you send him a look that was similar to Yeji’s, “Axolotls are cute, what are you even saying!?” Yeji’s eyes widen as she brings a hand up to cover your mouth. She shushes you.

She removes her hand from your mouth and you repeat yourself, but lower your volume, “What are you even saying? They look like they’re smiling.” 

Jaemin gasps, “Excuse me? Name an animal uglier than an axolotl.” 

“Easy.” You shrug and answer flatly, “You.” Obviously joking, you wave your hand as if to shoo away the statement, “Just kidding. A blobfish. Those are ugly as shit.” 

Jaemin’s brows furrow as he leans forward towards his laptop to search it up. The way his face contorts itself makes you laugh, looking at you as if he’s seen the most disgusting image known to man (which probably did), “Shit, you’re right.” 

You nod, “Exactly.” 

Yeji laughs because she knows she won the argument thanks to your help. She quickly moves on with the topic, twisting the chair to face you, “So, how was your shift today?” Yeji’s expecting to hear something entertaining, especially since you’re working with Renjun. 

“It was fine,” you say, “But it’s been like the past few days where me or Renjun don’t even talk to each other except for maybe the start and end. We work on the opposite sides of the mural anyways, so there’s no conflict. I’ve just been listening to my own music, too, so even if he does want to talk, he has to make an effort, which I know he won’t do.” 

“Oh,” Yeji says, “Well, at least it isn’t as bad as those first few days. You guys just both sound done with each other.” You nodded and play with your phone in hand, not noticing the way Yeji’s attention diverts to Jaemin, “Oh right!”

“Hm?”

“Jaemin, tell Y/N what you were telling me about Renjun!” Your ears perk up at the mention of Renjun and possible gossip. Jaemin, though introverted, loved to branch out which meant he knew people through people. You wonder what type of stuff he’s heard of Renjun through acquaintances. This should be good. 

For the hundredth time within the hour, Jaemin is distracted from his pending paper, but he doesn’t mind. He’d do anything to get away from actually working on it. Besides, he still has a week to work on it. “Oh, right!” He sits up and slides his computer to the side, “It’s interesting actually.” 

The way Jaemin starts has you leaning in out of curiosity. This is probably what Yeji feels when you’re preparing to tell her about your day at the gig. “What is it?”

Jaemin lets out a ‘haha,’ then begins, “So, my friend Jeno knows Donghyuck because they went to high school together, and Donghyuck was the guy that was with Renjun that day at the dining hall, so we all basically know each other. I just don’t know Renjun as well because the dude is M.I.A. almost all the time.”

“Mm-hmm, go on.”

“I was telling Jeno how you were doing the painting gig with Renjun—don’t worry I didn’t say anything ’bout how you sorta loathe the guy—and Jeno was saying how Renjun’s always using his free time doing stuff like that.” Jaemin stops talking as if he’s explained every single detail he can about his small story. 

“What stuff?” You gesture for him to keep going because you’re missing a handful of information, “You can’t just end it there, the fuck?”

Jaemin laughs again, “Okay, okay, sorry. But in fairness, I was curious too so I said the same thing and asked Jeno to explain it a bit more.” The brown of Jaemin’s eyes visibly move upwards as he tries to recall what Jeno told him, “He told me that Renjun is always M.I.A. because he’s been volunteering at different places. He used to work at an animal shelter downtown, then quit to volunteer at the homeless shelter for women and children. But he quit that too, now he’s been volunteering at the retirement home near here. I guess he took up the painting gig for money though.”

You burst out laughing, “Ah, Na Jaemin…” 

“What!?” 

“Thank you for the laugh, Jaems,” you say, “But that’s such a bad joke. There’s no way Renjun’s done those things. If it is true, we’re not talking about the same Renjun.” The Renjun you know doing all that stuff? Please… it sounds like something straight out of a book. 

“His name is Huang Renjun, right?” Jaemin’s head tilts to the side. You nod. “Then, it’s him.” You gawk at your friend, “I’m sorry, it’s just… hard to believe that Renjun—the same guy who acts like some douche to total strangers—has done all of that.” It’s hard to picture it all, but it explains why Renjun decided to take up the daycare gig. It was all adding up now, but you’re not letting the realization settle that easily. “It was hard for me to believe it, too, especially with what you’ve told us about him.” Jaemin uses his arm to prop his head up, “But, I trust Jeno. There’s no reason for him to make all of that up.” Jaemin has a point. You don’t know who this ‘Jeno’ is, but there really would be no use in making this up. 

“You’re not making this up, are you?” You ask Jaemin. It’s still seriously hard to believe that all of this information was plausible. It’s as if Renjun, who you always viewed in a bad light, was now picked up and dropped under a new light. One in which you couldn’t even pinpoint if it were good or bad. Curiosity was getting ahead of you and you didn’t like it.

He shakes his head, “Why would I? Ask Renjun if you really don’t believe me.” 

“No thanks…” You shake your head, “There’s no way I’m going to ask him about anything. Especially not that.”

“Suit yourself,” Jaemin pulls his laptop back to its previous position, “Anyways, I need to get back to writing this paper.” 

With Yeji turning back to her own work, you’re left alone with your thoughts and the newfound idea of Renjun actually being… nice. It coincided with your earlier idea of Renjun repping a smile instead of the seemingly permanent scowl on his face.  No, you weren’t suddenly switching up with how you felt with Renjun because, despite the fact that there is this huge possibility that he spends his free time doing generous deeds, it didn’t automatically dismiss the way he’s been treating you. You guess it was just nice knowing that this sort of mini-hell you’ve been going through because of Renjun can finally be put to a stop.

°•. ✿ .•° 

“For Renjun?”

Renjun looks up from his phone before making his way to the counter. He quickly stuffs his phone into his pocket and grabs the drink he’s been craving for the past few days, “Thank you.”

“Have good one!”

“You as well.”

Renjun makes his way out of the cafe, cold drink in hand. At the back of his head, he wonders where Donghyuck is, because according to the time, his class should have been finished ten minutes ago and he still hasn’t texted. That wasn’t like Donghyuck at all. Usually, he would be bombarding the boy with spam texts asking where he was even though he already knew where Renjun would be waiting.

Even with that thought, Renjun shrugs it off, knowing that Donghyuck would find his way to him somehow. He decides to sit down at a nearby table, placing his bag on the chair next to him before fishing his phone back out of his pocket.

As Renjun finally decides to take a sip out of his drink, his mind frustratingly wanders back to that one shift when you’d bought him the drink without his knowledge. He still doesn’t know how you managed to get him his usual, especially since he’s aware he’s never told you it. 

He rakes through the depths of his brain to recall when you could have seen him with the drink. The one time you bumped into each other at this Starbucks, it was Donghyuck’s drink he was getting, so there was no way you saw it there. The one or two interactions after that, he doesn’t remember having a drink in hand.

Then he remembers. The day before the first shift. 

How the hell could you have remembered that? Were you that attentive? 

Why am I thinking so hard about a damn drink?

Maybe it was because the stupid drink was the reason why Renjun’s been feeling a pang of guilt everytime he’s with you. It took that one small random act of kindness to draw Renjun’s attention to the fact he was the one who often started the arguments and bickering between the two of you and you simply just returned his attitude. 

“Hey!” Suddenly, a body leaps out from behind him, almost weighing both Renjun and the other person down. It takes a moment for Renjun to realize who it was. He doesn’t even need to turn around to look. In fact, he’s not even startled by what Donghyuck had hoped was a jumpscare.

“What’s up?” Renjun questions, “What took you so long?”

Donghyuck shrugs and plops into the chair in front of Renjun, “What are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing,” Renjun retorts. He takes another sip out of his drink and tries to act it off. 

Donghyuck shakes his head, “You’re thinking about something. I know because your eye is twitching.” He brings his finger way too close to Renjun’s eye, “I can see it. Now you have to tell me.”

Renjun gives Donghyuck a look before glancing back down at the iced matcha latte sitting right in front of him. Sure, Donghyuck knows of you, but he doesn’t know of the interactions between the two of you. Renjun just doesn’t see the importance of telling Donghyuck these things. But maybe telling someone will get Renjun’s gears turning. 

So Renjun tells Donghyuck. From the coffee encounters, to the gig, the rough drafts, the drink, and painting. He makes sure not to miss a detail, trying to avoid sounding biased. He wants to know what Donghyuck’s going to say about this situation and he knows that sounding biased wouldn’t grant answers that fit with the situation. 

“It’s the fact that she still found the will to do something nice for me even though I’ve been a literal ass to her,” Renjun taps his index finger against the lid of his drink, “It’s not even that big of a deal but it’s been bugging me.”

Donghyuck sits in silence for a few moments, trying to muster up the perfect thing to tell his friend. “I really don’t know what else to tell you except that you’re stubborn as hell.”

Renjun’s taken aback, “What?”

“Sure, she probably felt bad for making you do the grid thingy on your own, but you’re right. You have been an ass,” Donghyuck bluntly continues. 

“So everything that’s lead up until now… it’s my fault?”

“Well, not completely,” Donghyuck points out, “Both of you guys seem to want to spite each other. Plus, you both seem really stubborn, which, adding both of those together, equals a shit show. But, if I were being honest, you started the whole hating each other thing. I feel like if you were nice to her, then she’d be even nicer to you. A bigger person move would be to apologize and be nice.”

It’s once in a blue moon that Donghyuck’s words made sense. Renjun thinks it through—if he were to apologize, or start being nice to you, how would you even react? Wouldn’t it be odd for him to just switch up like that? 

Renjun sighs. He feels like ripping his hair out. Maybe he won’t apologize just yet, not when his feelings are foggy. And maybe he won’t actively do nice things, only until he finally senses you wouldn’t react weirdly. He’ll just stop trying to spite you. 

“You’re right,” Renjun nods. Donghyuck grins proudly at his friend.

Maybe that’ll do it. 

At least he hopes it will.

SIX.

Painting day… five? Six? You’ve lost count if you were being entirely honest. 

But it’s not that it mattered. 

What mattered was the extremely ironic fact that you had somehow forgotten your earphones at your bedside table when you made it your number one priority on days like these in order to avoid any sort of conversation (or argument) with Renjun. But then again, there was probably a reason why the world had the audacity to pull such a thing. 

Since that day at the library, you had not been able to kick the thought of Renjun doing angelic things during his free time when he’s literally been the human embodiment of bird poop on a windshield to you. The curious part of you was itching to ask him about it, see if the way he spoke about it would bring out that hidden angel in him. But when you continue to think about it, you weren’t sure if you would be overstepping some type of imaginary boundary that the both of you had mutually set up. Was there even a right time to ask him about it all? You can’t imagine a time where you and Renjun would even be close enough to have a conversation with the topic. Even now, just physically, Renjun still chooses to paint near the other end of the mural. 

Well, as far as progress took him.

“You know if you painted as much as you’ve been staring at me, we’d be done this mural.” Renjun’s voice knocks you back into reality and it’s only then that you realize that you’re blatantly looking at him. 

Feeling a rush of heat run through your cheeks, you look away, “Sorry.” You quickly look away and try to make yourself busy with the area you were painting at, brushing the paintbrush despite already having painted that part.

“There’s no paint on your brush,” Renjun points out. He wants to laugh but he tells himself not to because it isn’t ‘on brand.’ Pshh… as if that mattered… but it did to him.

“Oh… oh right,” you laugh awkwardly and dip the paint into the closest colour, bringing it up with no thought.

“And that’s the wrong colour,” Renjun points out again. 

You look over at the mural and see that you’ve painted an entirely different colour on top of another colour. You gasp and put the brush down, “I’ll just… repaint it.” 

There’s silence as you hurry to clean your brush, using a dirty rag to wipe off the wrong paint so that the remaining remnants of it can dry out quicker. You don’t notice Renjun side-eyeing you, contemplating whether he should say something about the constant mistakes you just made. But then he remembers what Donghyuck told him.

“Are you okay?”

You’re thrown off from the words that just left Renjun’s mouth. You almost snap your neck when you turn to look at him, eyes wide, “Huh?”

He isn’t looking at you, instead keeping his attention steady on what he’s painting, “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

He’s an empath too? Wait, is that even how an empath is?

“Anyone can see you’re thinking about something.”

And a mind reader?

You are very much close to panicking, blinking at Renjun with no words to say. You’re contemplating whether this was the right time to tell Renjun what you know about him and ask him about it. “It’s nothing, it’s just…” 

Renjun turns to look at you for half a second, then turns back to the wall. It’s like he was prompting you to say whatever you were wanting to say. 

“I was just curious,” You start, “I heard that you volunteered at the retirement home near campus?” There was no other way to put it. You hope that you don’t sound creepy, as if you’ve been stalking him recently. 

“Hmm?” This gets Renjun hooked, “Where did you hear that?” 

“Jaemin told me.” 

“Ah~ Jeno’s friend,” Renjun replies. Although the conversation has, so far, been awkward, you subconsciously knew it was an improvement from the bickering you both did. It was more civil, and you were actually glad it's taken a turn towards that direction. “What about it?” Renjun holds back the attitude that otherwise would have been evident if he weren’t trying to be nice to you. 

You shrug and tighten your lips toward one side of your face, “Like I said. I was just curious.”

Renjun tries not to take anything of what you said, turning back to his painting.

Then you quickly add, “Do you have–uh–any stories?”

Renjun looks at you again and he can feel his interest in this conversation rising. He’s had many stories that he wants to share with his friends, but when he does share them, he’s left with the realization that no one’s listening. “I have a few actually.”

“Can I hear one?” You asked, “Sorry…. I have a soft spot for the elderly… you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Renjun shakes his head, “I’d love to, actually.” You begin to paint once again, this time properly, while you wait for Renjun to begin his story.

“My favourite story since I’ve started volunteering at the retirement home is probably when someone had the genius idea to play hide ‘n seek with the active elders.” Renjun snorts at the memory. A small smile rises up onto his face, but you don’t notice. He continues, “I was the seeker, which wasn’t a good idea since I was new and I wasn’t really familiar with any of the residents there, but I thought it would fun, so I still agreed.

I counted to fifty, and there were rules where they were allowed to go and everything. Just on the main floor, and I remember the activities director made it clear that they were only allowed on the first floor. So when I went to look for them, I found all of them pretty quickly, except one.”

“Don’t tell me he… you know…”

“No he didn’t die!” Renjun gives you a look, “Why in the world would that be my favourite story?”

You shrug, “I mean, you seem like the kind of person to.”

Renjun lets this comment slide and continues, “I looked for him for almost an entire hour. One entire hour. It got to the point where a lot of the other volunteers dropped what they were doing and helped out. I was actually panicking because where else could an old man be in a building that wasn’t too big. Then the phone rang and the desk lady answered it, all she heard was snickering and I knew right then and there that it was that man. He was playing us.”

You couldn’t help but laugh quietly, “Wait, so where was he?”

“We gave up looking. We knew he’d come out sooner or later. It was just enough for us that he was alive,” Renjun retorts, “RIght before my shift ended, the same man walks in through the door with a whole box of beer in one hand and ice cream in the other.” Renjun’s laughing now and the sound takes you by surprise. It was probably the first time you’re hearing him laugh. 

You begin laughing along, “That sounds straight out of a movie! How the hell did he get out unnoticed?” 

Renjun shrugs, “Beats me. But I like to think that as my favourite story because he fooled us all. And no one knows what he did in those hours he was gone.”

“I get why it’s your favourite.” You can tell just by the way Renjun told his story that he enjoyed these things. You’d think that, because the old man caused so much chaos, he would not deem that as his favourite moment, but you were wrong. 

“Yeah,” he nods, “Then a close second would be the times they ask me to sing them their favourite songs. You can really see how playing something as simple as here comes the sun affects their day.”

It didn’t occur to you, at first, that Renjun just indirectly told you that he can sing—though you weren’t sure if he was good or not—but you were still dumbfounded, “You sing?”

“Sometimes,” he hums, “But it’s really nothing. Old people are impressed by anything.” Renjun puts the paintbrush down and flicks his wrist up to check the time, “Anyways, time’s almost up. We should start cleaning up.” 

And you both do. You both go through your usual cleaning routine before dragging all everything back into the daycare’s small closet. Once you were both were ready to leave, you go your separate ways, saying goodbye each other with small, subtle waves.

And you know what was funny about all of this? 

For the first time ever since you both met, there was zero negative intent behind any of your guys’ thoughts and actions.

SEVEN.

One new thing that you’ve learned from Renjun was that he was a pretty good storyteller, and alongside that, he had lots of stories to tell. 

Wait that’s two things. 

Nevermind that… The last two shifts of painting were pleasingly occupied with Renjun going on and on about his experiences at his volunteering opportunities. He jumped from talking about dogs giving birth to dressing up as an elf for an event at the children’s hospital—it’s like he’s lived so many lives in one. 

A small part of you was jealous of the fact that he was able to experience all of this in such a small amount of time, but hearing these stories through him made up for that pint of jealousy. After one of his stories, Renjun had stopped what he was doing and turned to you, “Do you have any stories?” 

You were slightly taken aback by the question, “Me?” It was a genuine question. 

He nodded before putting down some strokes of paint, “Yeah. Do you have any stories?” There’s a tone in his voice that told you that he was being serious. He wasn’t being the Renjun that you’ve grown to know the past few weeks—but then again, maybe that Renjun wasn’t who Renjun really was. 

“Not really,” you replied, “But don’t worry about me.” 

“It doesn’t need to be like my stories,” he pointed out, “Just a story.” Renjun gave you time to think of a story, providing some prompts for you so that you were able to come up with one on the spot. 

“How about a time when you thought you were actually done for?” 

At that, you feel a memory surface from your first year of university when you, Yeji, and Jaemin were caught underage drinking in Jaemin’s dorm by the RA, so you told him the story. How you all were completely drained from your first set of midterms and how drugs weren’t the best resort. So why not drink? You remember Jaemin had gotten a bottle or two of soju from his friend from a frat and he’s been keeping it for ‘times like these.’ In the middle of the small binge, someone knocked on the door, and you remember Jaemin saying he was expecting somebody and was stupid enough to not actually look out the peephole before opening the door. 

“And guess who it was?” you questioned. 

“Ummm,” Renjun lined one of the pictures, “His friend?”

“Nope,” you shook your head, “It was an RA. Out of all the people. It really had to be an RA. We were caught and he threatened to tell a higher-up, I’m not sure who.” Though it wasn’t that much of a problem, you remember your seventeen-year-old self feeling fear that was probably harnessed from tens of people. You were scared—no—you were horrified. It hadn’t even been two full months into the semester and you’re already in trouble.. “You should’ve seen how me and Yeji were begging for forgiveness. It was probably the deepest bow I’ve ever bowed.” 

“What happened, then?” 

“Right in the middle of our apologies, the RA and Jaemin started laughing like maniacs,” you recalled, “Yeji and I looked up and they were laughing at us.” You click your tongue against your teeth, “That motherfucker Jaemin pranked us. The RA wasn’t an actual RA.” 

Renjun bursted out into laughter, “Are you serious?” 

You brought yourself to laugh, “Yes. I was so close to ending my friendship with Jaemin. But he treated us to food the next week so… It’s kind of a stupid story but I can still remember how I felt when it happened.”

“No, I get it,” Renjun replies. He stands back from the mural to look at you, “Especially knowing how seriously they act on underage drinking, that must’ve been scary.” 

“Yeah, I think that’s mainly why Yeji and I were freaking out,” you nod. Realizing that you’ve finally finished the section you’ve been working on for the afternoon, you put the paintbrush down and pick up a rag. 

“Are you done for today?” Renjun questions. You look over at him and he’s still putting down strokes of paints, “What time is it?” 

You’re still trying to get used to you and Renjun getting along despite it being a good two weeks since you both had chosen to become civil with each other. But at the same time, it felt like weight was being taken off of your shoulders. It wasn’t like Renjun was a burden, but every time you had a shift at the daycare, you never really had the motivation to go because of him. 

But it was different now.

“There’s still like fifteen minutes before shift ends,” you say, glancing at your phone, “Wanna start cleaning?”

Renjun nods, “Let me just finish this and I’ll be right behind you.”

°•. ✿ .•° 

“Afternoon, Joy,” Renjun enters the daycare with a gentle smile, “How’s your day been?”

Joy grins from behind her computer, “Great, I guess. Yours?”

“Not bad.” Joy nods in response, “I’m sorry, I should have said this sooner, but today’s shift has been moved last minute.” She moves her rolling chair to the side so that she’s able to give Renjun all her attention.

Renjun frowns, “Why’s that?” He’s not sure if he could even think of a reason why a shift could be cancelled and moved, “Have you told Y/N?”

“Forecast says there’s going to be heavy rain today, so I think it would be better not to put new paint on the mural in case it gets washed off easily,” Joy states. At the end of her explanation, you enter the building with a quick greeting, situating yourself next to Renjun.

“But isn’t the rain for tonight? That seems to be enough for the paint to dry.” 

“What’s going on?” You asked obliviously.

Renjun nods, “Our shift’s cancelled for today because of the rain.”

“Yes, but it’s better safe than sorry,” Joy sighs, “But you guys can go and have a rest day for today. I’ll see you both in a few days!”

Without another word, Joy swings herself back to her computer and you and Renjun leave the building slightly confused. The sky looked perfectly normal on the way here. The air was still. There was no sign of a storm happening tonight. But Joy’s statements were confirmed when you pulled out your handy-dandy cellphone and tapped at the weather app. 

“She’s right,” you hold the phone for Renjun to look and he simply nods, “I guess I’ll see you next shift?” Adjusting your bag on your shoulder, you wait for Renjun’s response. He nods. 

“Yeah, I will.” Then you and Renjun begin walking down the same direction. You both hesitate before taking another step, giving each other a look. “Where are you going?”

“My dorm room.” “Oh, me too,” Renjun laughs awkwardly, “Uh… wanna walk together then?” 

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” you joke as you begin walking. Renjun follows shortly, keeping a good distance between you both. He chooses to walk your pace, keeping his eyes trained on the pavement in front of him. Although he feels like it should be awkward, there’s a comfortable silence between the both of you. 

It’s when the air starts feeling more humid than earlier that Renjun notices that it has started raining. At first, he didn’t mind it. The way the rain fell onto his head softly tickled him, but he liked it. It felt like soft kisses, if that even made sense. He looks over at you and he notices that you’re not bothered by the rain either. 

“It’s like Joy has superpowers,” you say, “One second, the sky’s blue, now it’s raining.” You only hope that the rain doesn’t get worse than now. Your dorm room is still a bit of a walk away and you’re not in the mood to get drenched. 

Renjun nods, “Next thing we know, it’s pouring.” 

And as if someone had snapped their fingers, the rain gets heavier, pelting you and Renjun from above. The raindrops completely contrast how they just were, thick and feeling like punches instead of the shower of kisses. You gasp and slip your bag off, bringing it into your arms to protect your expensive belongings inside. 

“What the hell!?” You say over the loud pitter patters of the droplets. You don’t know why you’re frozen in place. Perhaps it was the rush of cold water washing over you.  

Renjun thinks differently, opting to make a break for it. He glances over at you in near panic, noticing immediately that you’re not moving at all. Then, without thinking, Renjun takes no longer than a second to pull you along with him, sprinting down the narrowing pathway as it leads to the nearest building. He swings the door open, careful not to hit you in the process. When he takes out a key identical to yours, you realize then that this was his dorm building, “I think you should stay in my dorm while you wait it out. You might get sick.” You hesitate and think this situation through. Going to Renjun’s dorm? Were you even that close? What if–

“If you’re thinking about what I think you’re thinking, no I’m not,” Renjun grumbles, “Let’s go.” He waves you in and you’re led to impulsively deciding that, yes, you will accept his offer. And it’s mostly because you don’t want to be drenched in the rain, nor do you want to stand in this hot vestibule for however long the rain will last. 

“I hope the dorm isn’t messy, but it’s mostly my roommate who’s messy.” It sounds like Renjun’s speaking to himself but you know he’s trying to warn you. He’s walking a few strides in front of you, looking back subtly to make sure you’re actually following him down the hall. 

Soon, you find yourself walking through Renjun’s front door, greeted with a waft of some kind of candle scent. You can’t really pinpoint the smell to its exact fragrance, but you can describe it as homey–something warm and welcoming. 

“Lonjoon!” A voice exclaims from the small couch, “You’re ho– oh, hello?”

You recognize the boy who stands up from the couch as Donghyuck, both from the times you’ve encountered Renjun and from Jaemin. You wave awkwardly, “Sorry for intruding.”

Renjun speaks up, “Y/N’s dorm building is by the edge of campus and it’s pouring outside. I offered for her to stay here while we wait for it to stop.”

“I don’t mind,” Donghyuck grins, “Hmm, so you’re Y/N? I’ve heard a bunch of things about you from Renjun! I’m Donghyuck.”

Your brow cocks and you give Renjun, who’s sliding his shoes off and fixing them to the side, a look before turning back to Donghyuck, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he says, “You’re just as pretty as Renjun sa–”

Renjun throws his damp hoodie at Donghyuck’s face with the goal of shutting him up, “How about you go to your room and we take the living room?” Renjun approaches his best friend, holding him by his shoulders before pushing him in the direction of one of the rooms. It’s funny simply because he doesn’t even wait for him to reply. 

Once he has gotten rid of Donghyuck, Renjun turns on his toes to face you, “Sorry, that’s just how he is… don’t listen to him, he makes stuff up all the time.” And although Renjun’s actually telling the truth—because no, he’s never called you pretty in front Donghyuck—he knows Donghyuck’s comments are believable to those who aren’t used to his shenanigans. 

There were two ways you could go about it. Ignore him and make the situation less awkward, or tease him and see what he says. Either choice would be funny, especially because you could see that this boy is on edge with what his friend just said. But since you’re feeling nice, you choose the former option, “So, what do you plan on doing while we wait for the rain?” 

Renjun quietly sighs in relief, “We can put something on to watch? I’m just not sure what we should watch though.” He makes his way to the couch and he gestures you to sit in the spot next to him.

It’s crazy how your mind works in times like these. At the back of your head, you almost make sure to keep an array of movies to watch, ones that you’re sure everyone would be content with. But with Renjun, one movie hovers above the others because you could still recall your astonishment when this whole adult man hadn’t seen the one movie you adore with your heart.

“How about the Pursuit of Happyness?” you say, “You haven’t seen it… so why not now?” 

Renjun nods, “Yeah, sure. That sounds good to me.” Within a few clicks of the remote, the movie begins and Renjun’s offering you some snacks he managed to pull from the kitchen (or that have already been there, courtesy of Donghyuck). The rain outside is still going at it, but the movie masks the sound of the raindrops striking repeatedly against the windows. 

Renjun’s incredibly entangled in the film. You can easily catch this in the way his eyes were steady on the screen as he leans towards it. He mutters comments every now and then, ones that complement your own thoughts of the film. 

“It’s… it’s just going downhill,” Renjun frowns. His eyes finally leave the screen about half way through the movie, “I can’t believe you’re making me watch this. If it has a bad ending, I’m holding you against the emotional damage I’ll be experiencing.” 

“I mean you did agree to watch it,” you point out. Biting your lip, you hold a laugh back despite the movie not even being comedic. It’s Renjun and his current state that’s making you laugh. It’s new territory for you, if that was even the right way to describe it. 

So far, you’ve only met the stubborn and spiteful Renjun, and most recently, the generous and compassionate Renjun. His actual character, you’ve learned, sits in the middle of both of those. But the one you’re watching this movie with was different. He was vulnerable, ready to cry whenever the movie finally pushes past his breaking point. But you’re glad to see that he isn’t afraid to show it to you, especially since you both were still just starting this odd friendship.

“What the fuck. I can’t do this shit. What the hell?” You snap out of your mini trance and you realize why a string of profanities are leaving Renjun’s mouth. It was the very scene that had you bawling like a baby the first time you watched it, and tearing up now. The scene at the subway station. 

You let Renjun watch it, keeping silent as you pay attention to the screen, too. You could feel your heart ache, the scene grasping it, as your mouth grew into a frown. 

In a hushed tone, Renjun questions out loud, “Please tell me that this is the worst it gets?” Looking over at Renjun, you notice that he’s actually crying. There were tears streaming down his face and he’s sniffling like he’s caught the annual flu. 

“I don’t want to spoil it,” you retort, sniffling yourself. Looking around, you spot a tissue box sitting at the centre of the coffee table in front of both of you. You reach for it, holding it out to Renjun. 

“Thanks,” he sniffles. Once Renjun’s finished blowing his nose, he falls silent again, attention all on the movie. He’s so attentive that you know thoughts are running through his head at an unreadable pace.

Next thing you know, the movie’s end credits are rolling and Renjun flops into the couch’s cushion, “I get why you were surprised when I said I haven’t seen that movie.” He turns his head to face you, “Because that was a good movie.” 

The way Renjun’s looking at you causes you to shrink under his gaze, though it wasn’t in a way where you were cowering. You felt… shy? There wasn’t a word that was coming up that described it precisely, but shy was alarmingly close. “I’m glad you liked it.” He stretches his lips into some form of lazy grin. There’s a very brief silence between you both but it was enough for you to recognize that the rain had stopped, or at least, it had gotten weaker over the past few hours. 

“Oh the rain’s stopped,” you say quickly, “I guess I’ll get going then.” Within seconds, you’re up and grabbing your belongings. Then, you’re at the door, slipping your sneakers on thoughtlessly. At that point, you’re aware that it’s almost dinner time and the sun’s probably setting if you could see past the clouds. 

Renjun follows you to the door, “It looks dark out, do you want me to walk with you?”

If your life were a reality TV show, this would be when the camera unsteadily zooms into your face as it simultaneously changes expressions into one that’s a mix of confusion and shock. “No, it’s fine, there’s probably some people walking from class.” The door’s open behind you and you’re ready to sprint out. But Renjun stops you. 

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he grins, “I’ll see you around.”

“Goodnight, Renjun.”

Renjun waves and shuts the door. He lets out a huff before turning around to find Donghyuck standing there with the most irritating smirk sitting on his face. 

“What?”

Donghyuck gasps, “Nothing!” 

Renjun pushes past him to turn the TV off before going to fold the blanket he was previously using, “Then don’t make that face if you don’t have a reason.”

Donghyuck snickers and shakes his head in a way that only irked Renjun even more. He chooses not to say anything else because he knows that Renjun’s mind works fast enough to work two and two together. 

That’s how it usually works, at least.

EIGHT.

Routines are meant to be routines. 

Every shift you and Renjun were supposed to arrive, bring the supplies you needed to the wall, paint, realize that it’s time to clean up, and then leave. While you both painted, Renjun’s role was to tell one of his many experiences and your usual role was to listen. If not, comfortable silence or music will often fill that silence. 

But today was different. 

You and Renjun were finally painting the second layer of the mural, and although it initially wasn’t necessary, the second layer of paint gave the painting a bolder look. So you both went for it.

The day was going as it usually would. Renjun had finished a more recent story from the old folks’ home, going on about how he’s excited for Thursday. “Throwback Thursday. We play music and shows and films from their times. Even if they already do that anyway, it’s a bit more special because practically all the residents attend.”

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun,” you say genuinely, “I can’t imagine the nostalgia they go through.” You squat down and dip the paintbrush into the paint. 

“How about you come with me, then?” Renjun offers, “Are you busy on Thursday?” He stands and waits for your reply, watching as you freeze suddenly at his question. You only freeze because this isn’t how it usually was. He’s supposed to say something like ‘it is fun’ or go on to tell you a story about a previous throwback Thursday. But asking you to come with him? 

“Me?” You verbalize, “Come with you?” 

“Yeah!” Renjun nods, “They love getting all the help they can get.” He carelessly strokes the brush against the wall and watches as the concrete completely disappears underneath the paint. “And it would be cool for you to be there. That way we can share one of these stories.” 

“Um…” You don’t like using agendas, but right now would have been the right time to have one. “I’m not sure, actually. I’ll let you know before then, though. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Day of is fine, too.” 

The minute you get home, you feel a strong urge to tell Yeji about the invitation. But knowing Yeji, you know damn well she’s going to convince you to go.

You guess correctly when she peeks over her laptop and over at you after you’re brief ramble about it. “Didn’t you say that you and Renjun were on better terms now?” You nodded. “Well, I think there wouldn’t be any harm in going. Imagine how horrible you’d look if you rejected that opportunity.” 

“Renjun would understand,” you say quietly.

“Well, do you want to go?” Yeji questioned. 

You blink at your best friend, “It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s just…” You pause and try to think about why you’re stressing about something that wasn’t even that big of a deal. Renjun literally just invited you to volunteer. It’s not like he asked you on a date (and why would he?). It was just the idea of him actually asking you to spend time with him outside of that gig that made you stop and think.

“There’s your answer.” 

“Huh?” your head tilts to the side, “Answer? Where?”

Yeji snorts and turns her attention back to her laptop, “You just said ‘it’s not that I don’t want to go.’ That implies that you do wanna go. Then go.” 

With a little bit more pushing from Yeji, you find yourself standing in front of Renjun’s dorm building that very Thursday with a tote bag and your head filled with thoughts that you couldn’t even comprehend. If you focused hard enough, you could pick out ones about what today’s dinner will be, how the residents were like outside of Renjun’s stories, and what the retirement home looked like. There were traces of what remaining tasks you needed done for the mural and if you’ve somehow left assignments unfinished. Then there were ones of Renjun and–

“Sorry for making you wait.” You jump and find Renjun appear in your field of vision. He’s fixing his crossbody bag over his shoulder, then you watch has he fixes the cap on his head, “I’m excited! Let’s go then?”

You and Renjun make small talk on the way to the retirement, which you admit, thought would be further away. But when Renjun told you that it was just a walking distance from campus, he wasn’t lying. The walk only lasted about ten minutes and the next thing you know, you’re telling the lady at the front desk your name.

“Alright, here’s your volunteer badge,” she slides you a laminated tag, “And here’s yours, Renjun!” You follow Renjun, who pins his own name tag to the left side of his chest. He pats it before saying goodbye to the lady, turning to you to see if you were set to go in. 

Renjun leads the way into the main lounge area. It was a rather large room, one wall being entirely windows. By the front, or what you believed was the front, was a big fireplace, and by that fireplace, a small grand piano. On top of the fireplace was a big TV that was currently playing the news, not that anyone was paying attention. 

Scattered throughout the room sat tables and padded chairs, some of which were occupied by residents. It was almost exactly how you imagined it, almost book-like, or ones you’d see in movies. It was cozy, yet not too cozy for it to be suffocating.

“Oh, Renjun, you’re here!” A slightly older guy seems to appear from the side, waving, “And you must be Y/N? Renjun told us you might be joining. Nice to see you actually did!” He sticks a hand out and grins, “I’m Taeyong. I coordinate a majority of the activities for the facility.” 

You shake his hand, “Nice to meet you, Taeyong. I’m a little nervous.” 

Taeyong shakes his head, “Don’t be! Everyone’s pretty nice here, especially in the afternoon.” He lets out a quiet laugh, “Well anyways, we just called down the other residents so we’re just waiting for them to come. Then we start exactly at five.”

Taeyong turns to Renjun, “You’re taking over for music right?” Renjun nods and cracks his fingers as if he’s about to go step into a boxing ring. 

“I usually take the role as emcee, but I was told I had other duties to go about for the next hour,” Taeyong says carefully, “Y/N, would you mind being the emcee? I promise you it’s not that bad. I even have cue cards if you need it.” Taeyong holds out a small pile of flashcards, holding them out to you.

Renjun lights up at the idea, “It would be fun if you did it! All you have to do is prompt the songs and the residents will raise their hands. Then you go up to them and hold up the mic to their mouths for their answer. Sorta like a game show host.”

“I guess I can try,” you say carefully. What was the worse that could happen? 

“Great!” Taeyong claps his hands together, “Thank you so much, Y/N. I appreciate it!” He hands you the cue cards and goes to leave, “Have fun guys!” 

Once Taeyong was gone, Renjun turns to you, “I know it’s a heavy job but don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. I promise you, the old folks have gone through a lot, so slip-ups won’t matter to them at all.” 

You nodded, “I hope so. You better help me up there if something goes wrong.” You give him a look of warning, though it was playful and meant well. Renjun knew how Throwback Thursdays worked—this was your first one—so you don’t really have a feel of how it should be brought out.

“I will, don’t worry,” Renjun ensures, “How bout this. I’ll do the introduction and then you go from there. That way, you’re not super lost.”

“That would help,” you grin. 

Soon, little by little, the residents begin filling the room, taking seats at what you understood as their usual seats. They chattered amongst themselves, having conversations that mostly consisted of today’s weather or the news that was playing on the TV. From a nearby table, you overhear two ladies lightheartedly trash-talking each other, arguing over who would get the most correct songs for this week’s Throwback Thursday.

You can’t help but laugh at the bickering. Renjun notices this and smiles to himself. He’s glad you’re enjoying it so far. “There’s a leaderboard, if you’re wondering why they’re so serious about this,” Renjun points out, “Well not really an official one, but they keep track of it themselves. I don’t even know how but they do.” 

“That explains it,” you laugh, “I think it’s cute.” 

Renjun nods, “It is. They remind me of kids sometimes. They get happy over the smallest things. I admire it.”

This comment makes your heart do a ball change—two quick beats before settling back into its normal rhythm. It was just endearing seeing Renjun be all soft around what he loves doing. It only hits much harder when this wasn’t the Renjun you initially knew. 

First impressions were not always the best impressions.

“I think we can start with the intro,” Renjun nudges your elbow. He starts making his way to the front of the room. You trail right behind him, respectfully greeting the residents as you make eye contact with them. They obviously weren’t familiar with you, but they still smiled nonetheless. 

Renjun grabs the mic, turning it on before giving it a light tap to test it, “Good afternoon everyone! Can you all hear me?” You see some of the residents nod, others verbally responding with the loudest whoop they can let out. “Perfect! How’s everyone doing this afternoon?” There’s a chorus of different answers, but you can tell that they all were content with their day. 

“I’m happy to hear that! Welcome to this week’s Throwback Thursday! I think you’re all familiar with me, my name is Renjun!” Renjun turns to you, and gestures, “Today, I have my partner Y/N with me to help out! Can we give her a warm welcome?” Similar to earlier, they enter a chorus of replies, greeting you with waves and smiles. This made you feel much more comfortable. 

“Okay! So you know how all this works, I play a song on the piano, and if you know it, raise your hand. I’ll trust Y/N’s judgment on who raised their hands first. She’ll come up to you all and then you can give her the answer! Everything clear?” Again, a chorus of replies. “Then let’s begin!”

Renjun hands the mic over to you, whispering a ‘have fun’ and a ‘you got this’ before sitting down behind the piano. 

You look down at the cue cards given to you by Taeyong and find that it was the list of songs that Renjun was going to play for the night. There were about twenty songs listed down along with the artist. You felt a sense of relief wash over you. 

“Hello everyone! Are you all ready for the first song?” you question. You still feel a bit nervous, but from how Renjun went through with the intro, you knew exactly how you want to host. The residents cheered and you can feel the anticipation. It was nice that they were all willing to participate. “Okay, this one is really easy, so get your hands ready! Renjun, cue the music!”

Renjun smiles and nods, placing his hands on the keys for the first song. He begins playing it effortlessly and you’re a bit taken aback by the way he was playing the song well—it was My Girl by The Temptations. Renjun had only played the intro when hands were already shooting up. Your eyes naturally fall on a man seated near the windows, glasses slipping to the tip of his nose.

You grin and quickly make your way over, “I believe you had your hand up first!” Your eyes find a last name on his walker, “Mr. Moon. What’s your answer?” 

You bring the mic up near his lips and nod for him to answer. Before he speaks, he leans forward, “It is My Girl by The Temptations.” 

Although you already knew the answer, you still look down at the flash cards, “My, my, my…” You pretend that the answer is wrong, frowning and letting your voice trail before switching up, “My Girl by The Temptations is correct! One point for Mr. Moon!” 

You hear some of the other residents chuckle at your improvisation, clapping out of joy. You don’t notice as you walk back to the front, but Renjun’s smile grows wider. 

“Next song!” You read it, and hum, “This one’s a few decades newer, but I know you all will know this one!” You turn to Renjun, quietly signalling for him to begin the song. You watch the residents as they wait for Renjun to start the song’s snippet. Again he plays the intro, an easy-to-recognize sequence bouncing across the room. 

A different man raises his hand first, so you move across the room swiftly. This man doesn’t have a nametag, “Do you know the answer, sir?” 

“Of course I do, I remember going to their concert back in the day!” He speaks through the mic. The people around you react, eyes widening. 

“Oh, so you should very well know it, right?” You question, “Were you a fan of them?” 

“A big, big fan,” the man uses his hands to speak, throwing his arms to gesture something large, “Good ‘ol days. But anyways, the answer is Open Arms by Journey. One of my favourites.” 

“I guess you already know that the answer is correct!” you laugh, “Can’t argue with a fan. One point for you, sir!” He nods his head in pride before you turn to walk back to the front. At this point, you’re gaining more confidence despite it barely even starting. In a way, the interactions came naturally.

“The next song is one that might not come to you all easily since it’s a bit newer, but I guarantee that at least one of you will know it,” you say through the mic. 

Renjun begins with the intro, and you’re familiar with the song because you’ve heard your parents play it plenty of times in the car growing up. So far, none of the residents had brought their hands up to answer. You’re actually quite surprised to see that no one was familiar with the song’s intro. 

Renjun continues to play the song. 

Then he begins to sing. 

You remember when he had first told you about his time here at the retirement home and how he sang for the residents. You remember him completely dismissing the fact that he did sing for these people and after that, the subject wasn’t really brought up. 

Now that you’re here and volunteering with him, you finally get a chance to hear him sing. 

“Oceans apart… day after day… and I slowly go insane…” 

What the fuck. 

You almost say this out loud and through the mic in front of many many elderly people and you suddenly feel compelled to slap yourself. 

Renjun’s voice was unexpected, but it was beautiful. You really didn’t have any idea of how his singing voice would sound but now that you’re hearing it, it perfectly matched his speaking voice. It was satin-like and captivating—a voice you could and you’d honestly like to listen to all day. 

“How can we say forever?”

Your eyes drift to Renjun, who’s focused. His eyes are on the music sheets sitting in front of him. The expression on his face is calm and gentle, words of which could also describe his singing. You hope Renjun doesn’t notice that you’re looking at him, because if he did, it would be humiliating. 

“Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you…”

Then your heart does this thing. 

It was very similar to the little skip that it did earlier, but now, instead of falling back to the rhythm it usually followed, it only sped up in tempo. 

What the fuck. You repeat to yourself. Your eyes widen before dropping to your feet in panic. Because it really shouldn’t be doing that. Not at this point in time. 

“I raised my hand first!” One of the ladies knock you back into reality and you realize that a few people have had their hands raised. She was speaking to another woman sitting at the same table and you recognize them as the two women from earlier. You smile sheepishly, almost forgetting what your job is and opting to listen to Renjun and only Renjun for the rest of the game. You apologize, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite notice. Can we play a small game of rock, paper, scissors to settle this fairly?” 

They play the game as you make your way up to them. Once it was settled, you bring the mic up to the winner, the lady who claimed she raised her hand first. “What do you think the song title is?”

“Oh, I know what the song title is,” she chuckled, “Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx.” 

“I love the confidence!” You say, laughing, “You are correct! One point for you, ma’am!” The woman cheered, ecstatic she got the point. Then, like before, you return to the front and you start at the beginning of the cycle for the next songs. 

You try your best to keep yourself together, especially when the song’s difficulty requires Renjun to sing part of it. He had a voice to be proud of. You have no idea why he didn’t choose to brag about it. But maybe that’s just Renjun. 

What’s ironic was the fact that Renjun was almost as charmed by you as you were with him. However, it wasn’t because of the way you sang, because if you were ever asked to sing, you’d warn them about temporarily losing the sense of hearing, but it was simply through the way you interacted with the residents. The best word Renjun could find to describe the way you spoke to them was genuine. 

You genuinely seemed to enjoy speaking to them, making small talk throughout the game so that you kept them entertained. Renjun also concluded that you were actually a pretty witty person. Jokes and fitting comments were flying out of your mouth whenever you pleased, giving the residents a reason to laugh hearty laughs.

Though it really didn’t appear to be that big of a deal to anyone else, Renjun found it endearing. It was simply just a trait that he found worthy of adoring. 

Renjun slumps behind the piano relieved that the instrument was helping him hide the smile that was uncontrollably growing upon his lips. And if you see him with that big, fat, doting smile, he wouldn’t know what to do.

At the end of the game and its conclusion, you actually find yourself feeling bummed that it was over. You stand at the side of the room, watching as the residents either take their leave or decide to stay in the lounge room a bit longer. You bow to the ones who cross your path, thanking them for being great participants. 

“Will you be back next week?” a lady stops to talk to you, “You were refreshing to have. That young boy, Taeyong, follows the same script and it does get very tedious after a while.” 

“I would love to, actually,” you say, frowning, “But I’m not sure if I will. Renjun invited me to join but I don’t know if this is just a one-time thing.” 

“Oh, well,” she smiles sadly, “If you ever decide to return, you’re always welcome.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” you mirror her expression before she walks away. 

In her place, another lady stops and reaches for your hand, “Thank you for a wonderful time!” 

You shake your head, “It’s nothing, really. Renjun played a large part as well, I shouldn’t take all the credit.” Over her shoulder you see Renjun speaking to a few of the male residents. 

“Oh! Speaking of that lovely boy, are you two together?” Her head tilts to the side in curiosity, “You two make quite a cute couple!” 

Her comment makes you freeze in shock for a short moment. You and Renjun? A couple?

“Oh!” you shake your head, almost to the point where you could feel your head coming loose from the rest of your body, “We’re not dating! It’s nothing like that. It’s really the opposite! We only started being friends not too long ago!”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she only picks up your last comment, “You ever go to connect a plug to a socket without looking?” You nod your head but she could tell that you’re confused. “You miss it a couple of times, making small adjustments so you can get that damn plug into the socket. Then, finally, right when you get it in, the electricity runs through it to serve its purpose.” 

“I-I don’t understand what you’re saying, ma’am.”

“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter when you guys started ‘being friends,’” she laughs lightly, “If two pieces fit together, then that’s that. I know a match when I see one.” 

And without another peep, the lady walks away, singing a tune under her breath.

NINE.

“Is this enough?” Renjun’s pouring paint into one of the paint trays at the bottom of the ladder. 

You look down from the top of the ladder, “That looks like it, thank you.” You paint a few more strokes down before climbing back down to grab the newly filled tray. The goal for the day was to finish the second layer so that over the last few shifts, you and Renjun could focus on details and finishing touches. Judging by how much work was left, the two of you were probably going to end up working overtime. But none of you minded. 

“You know, some of the residents were asking for you when I returned a few days ago?” Renjun watches as you pick up the tray. When your feet find their way onto the first step of the ladder, Renjun unconsciously steps forward to keep the ladder steady, “I think they really loved your company.” The corner of his mouth quirks upward at the recent memory of you and your interactions. Not one inch of his bone regretted inviting you. 

“Really?” you light up, “I enjoyed their company, too.”

Renjun replies, “Yeah, really. I guess you made a really good impression on them.” Then Renjun makes a witty, lighthearted comment, “Unlike you did on me.”

You laugh and look down, “The feeling’s mutual.” 

Out of interest, Renjun lets this burning question leave his lips, “Why did you hate me so much anyway?” Then he shakes his head, “I mean I understand why, but I wanna hear your side of the story.” 

You take a seat on one of the middle stairs of the ladder and rest your head on your arm, “I guess… everytime we ran into each other, you weren’t exactly the nicest. I remember I apologized when I accidentally bumped into you that one morning before class and you made a comment about me not being able to afford your shirt or something even when I apologized.” “In fairness, it was before an eight AM and that shit was hot,” Renjun defends, “But you’re right. I could’ve handled it better.” He doesn’t even remember why he blew up that morning. But he does remember a feeling of remorse the moment he arrived in class and was able to reflect on what he just did.

“And that one time when I took Donghyucks’s drink,” you face palm because you don’t know how you even managed to do that, “You didn’t even say thank you when I gave you the drink when I could’ve taken it. Especially since it was you who had gone up to me.”

Renjun’s face heats up. He really was a whole douchebag to you. “I was in a hurry. But I could’ve handled that better, too.” Renjun pauses and drops his head to look at his feet, “I think my apologies are long overdue. But I really am sorry for both of those times. I don’t know… they were sorta both in the heat of the moment… but if I could go back, I’d treat you better. Maybe we could’ve gotten along faster.” 

“You’re forgiven,” you reply seriously, swinging your legs, “Besides, it’s not like we haven’t made any progress.” You look up at the mural and remember how your relationship with Renjun had been when you both started it. It was almost the complete opposite. “I think I owe you an apology, too. It’s not like I’m completely innocent either.”

Renjun turns to go back to his spot, “You don’t even need to apologize. You were just treating me the way I was treating you.” 

“Doesn’t make it okay,” you stand up and dip the paintbrush in paint. 

“True, but still.” Renjun raises his head to look at you, “But I forgive you too. Even though I still don’t think you need to say sorry.”

You don’t say anything else. Instead, you playfully roll your eyes. Despite your reaction, you’re actually glad that you and Renjun were finally at that point where you could joke about about the past. Being able to openly share how you both felt, and just conversing about it proves that your relationship with him has shifted. It’s relieving.

“Hey Y/N?”

You look through the ladder and find Renjun staring up at you. His hair is falling back, fringe brushing past the corners of his eyes. He looks pretty. “Yeah?”

“It’s getting late,” he says, “Want to wrap up and get something to eat?” 

You’re compelled to make a ‘like a date?’ comment, but you hold back. You and Renjun just made complete amends. You can’t be that bold just yet, “Sure. Where to?”

°•. ✿ .•° 

A handful of bites and sips of pop later, you and Renjun are walking back from the closest fast-food restaurant from campus. The topic of conversation had been jumping from one to another, keeping the atmosphere comfortable and busy. Currently, it was about the pet peeves that came along with your roommates despite still loving them with all your heart. 

“Sometimes,” Renjun sighs, “Donghyuck, he literally doesn’t wash the bottom of the cups cause he thinks that only water rinsing it is enough. He only scrubs the rim of the cup. Once, I was filling my cup with water and I see remnants of dried out coke floating from the bottom.” 

You gasp and make a face, shaking your head, “That’s disgusting! Imagine if you didn’t see that. You’d just be ingesting dried coke.”

“He learned from that,” Renjun shrugs, “Cause even he experienced it. He always scrubs the bottom of the cups first now.”

“Good,” you retort, “Because I was going to tell you to remind me never to drink from a cup when I go over to your guys’ dorm.” Renjun laughs but he can’t help but interpret your comment in a way that could be considered overthinking. “For me, Yeji used to wash her clothes without putting them with like colours.”

“How is her wardrobe not fucked up?” Renjun sends you a look, “Especially her white clothing.”

You shrug, “Beats me. But that one time I caught her, I felt like her mom teaching her right from wrong. I have no idea how she’s never been told off in all her years of life.”

“I don’t know what’s worse, that, or Donghyuck’s old habit.” You shake your and head and look down. You wonder if Yeji had any pet peeves about you. What would they even be? You didn’t feel like you were doing anything pet-peeve-worthy. But then again, Yeji didn’t see anything wrong with mixing her clothing up. 

When you see your dorm building growing in your field of vision, your eyes widen and you turn to Renjun, “We missed your building!” You stop in your tracks and try to do a one-eighty to go back to Renjun’s building. The two of you were so caught up in conversation that you missed it. 

“No I did it on purpose,” Renjun shakes his head, “I wanted to walk you back.” A tickling sensation subtly appears and disappears in your stomach. 

“You really didn’t have to!” you say shaking your hands as a way to deny his kind action, “The campus is safe anyways! I could have walked on my—”

“I know it is, but I wanted to,” he shrugs, “There’s a difference.” He’s right. There is a difference. Because it’s one thing to walk you home with some worry that you’d get into some form of accident, you know, to ensure your safety (which you understood as basic human decency), but it’s another to want to walk you home. Even with the knowledge that you’d be safe because there were other students probably walking the same way, he wanted to walk you home and it was probably because he wanted to spend more time with you. 

You don’t know how to react to that implication.

He starts walking towards your building, hands stuffed into his sweater’s pockets. When he senses that you weren’t following, he turns back, “What are you doing?”

“Sorry,” you sigh, “I zoned out.” 

You speed up to reach his side, trying to process whether or not you were overthinking or not. Before you know it, you’re at the doors of your building and you’re fishing your keys out of your pocket, “Thanks for walking me here, I guess.”

“You guess?” Renjun laughs softly.

“I mean like, it was unexp–”

“I’m joking,” Renjun rolls his eyes playfully, “I wanted to.” There it is again.

“Anyways, I’ll head in now,” you say, avoiding any awkward silences, “Goodnight.”

He grins, and you swear you see his eyes twinkle, “Goodnight.”

When you reach your dorms, Yeji’s standing at the entry way, arms crossed with a smirk, “I saw Mr. Renjun drop you off… care to explain?” 

“What are you even doing staring out the window?” you glare at her and kick your shoes off. Walking past her, you tug your bag off your arm and plop it beside the couch, “And explain what? He just wanted to drop me off.” 

“Key word is ‘wanted’,” Yeji walks up to you and digs her index finger into your shoulder, “I’m getting this psychic-netic sense that he’s starting to harbour feelings for you.” You want to laugh because Renjun? Feelings? For you? It’s laugh worthy. “No way. We just made up.”

“Yeah, but you both were all chill before today,” she rolls her eyes, “He’s probably starting to like you like you like him.”

“What are you even talking about?” You’re ready to escape this conversation. Mentally, you’re in a position that runners take when they’re about to begin a race, but in front of Yeji, you’re stiff as a rock, grounded and eyes wide as you react to what she just said. “Nothing,” she shrugs, “You didn’t deny it though.” Yeji cackles and makes her own great escape, sprinting into her room before shutting the door. 

When Renjun finally gets home, he’s greeted with a bear hug from his own roommate. 

“I thought you died or something!” Donghyuck yells, “Why are you home so late?”

“I had dinner with Y/N and walked her home?” Renjun’s confused. He leans forward and notices tears in Donghyuck’s eyes. He doesn’t know whether he should laugh or feel bad because he’s never seen his best friend in such a state, “Are you actually crying? Look I’m sorry, I actually forgot to update you.”

“Yes! I’m crying,” Donghyuck glares at Renjun, “It’s not like I splashed my face with water or anything.” Donghyuck wipes his ‘tears’ away and ‘sniffles’, “If I knew you had a date, I wouldn’t have sobbed my eyes out waiting for you to get home.”

“It wasn’t a date,” Renjun hurriedly denies, “It was just a friendly dinner.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Donghyuck waves off, “Friendly dinner my ass.”

“It was!” Renjun’s ready to jump Donghyuck, “We worked for a long time today and we also formally apologized to each other. It was fitting.”

“You know what?”

“No, I don’t know what.”

Donghuck clicks his tongue against his teeth, “You like her.”

“What even makes you say that?” There’s a bazillion things running through Renjun’s head, but none of those things were coming to a single conclusion that made sense with this conversation with Donghyuck. 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “The past few days, when you walk through that door from the gig or just being with Y/N, you have this sickening—but cute?—I don’t know… love-struck? Charmed?—Whatever you’d call it—look on your face and it’s painfully obvious that you’re starting to have feelings for her.”

Renjun gulps. He’s at a loss of words only because he’s never heard or seen Hyuck say something so serious in his life, “You’re lying.”

“No. I’m not. I can’t believe you haven’t realized it yourself when you’re usually more emotionally intelligent than me.”

Stunned, Renjun thinks it through. 

Sure the word ‘love-struck’ doesn’t really describe what he’s feeling for you, only because he knows it hasn’t gone that far. He thinks back to the day it suddenly rained, when you both watched The Pursuit of Happyness and he let himself be vulnerable in front of you. Then to the day at the retirement home and seeing your interactions with the older adults. Those few times you were too immersed in painting to comprehend what was happening around you… Hell, he even thinks back to the time you had gotten him that damn Starbucks drink despite how horrible he treated you that day. 

What did all these days have in common? Sure, all these days involved you and him, and progression in the relationship between the two of you. But the thing that persisted was how his chest warmed up in a way that was almost entirely unfamiliar to him. Shit, it has happened so many times that it has become familiar. 

Renjun sighs and he looks at Donghyuck with a defeated look, “I think you’re right.” 

“About?”

Renjun gets deja vu. He remembers the conversation he had long ago with Donghyuck about his attitude towards you. Never would he have thought that it would get this far. 

“My feelings for Y/N.”

TEN.

It was the final stretch. The mural needed no more than final details and cleaning up before it was finished. And after this, you and Renjun would be finished the project. 

You’re excited to see the mural in all its glory—no unfinished patches and pending layers. You can already taste the satisfaction, especially because both you and Renjun had worked your asses off finishing it. 

But there was an elephant in the room. 

It wasn’t a massive elephant, but it was there, sitting right in between you and Renjun and you didn’t know how to address it without him misinterpreting everything. 

The elephant: What would become of the two of you after all of this has ended? 

You look over at him with that lingering thought. 

It was rather baffling because your relationship with him appeared to be nothing more than two co-workers—maybe a little bit more than that. No. That’s wrong. You guys were friends—at least that’s what you considered him. You could easily tell he considers you one of his, too, but you weren’t sure that you were at that point where you would speak to each other after all this is over. 

You’d hate to see your relationship with him falter after everything. 

You’re hoping Renjun’s feeling the same way, simply because he hasn’t said anything all shift. Just a mere ‘hi’ was all that slipped out his mouth towards you, and a soft ‘thank you’ when Joy had come out to congratulate you both for almost completing the project. Otherwise, he hasn’t done more than breathe and paint. 

“You’re quiet,” you say playfully. You’re not sure if you were overstepping boundaries but you wouldn’t have said anything if you weren’t comfortable with Renjun. 

The noise in Renjun’s head nearly blocks your voice out completely, but you’re lucky to have caught his attention. “Hm?”

You finish the details of your current part of the painting and move onto the next. It was one step closer to Renjun, “I said you’re quiet. Is something up?” It’s a good sign that Renjun wasn’t shooting any sort of remark your way, but you can tell he’s avoiding eye contact. You haven’t seen Renjun so out of it. 

“No,” he replies, “No, I… I’m just thinking.” It was Renjun’s turn to finish an area. He takes a hesitant step closer to you to complete the details of a new area. 

 Dot. Dot. You use black paint to add details to a bear’s face. Its eyes. It looks a lot better than it did just moments ago. “Can I ask what about?”

Renjun pauses and thinks about his answer. You. He’s thinking about you. But he’s not sure if it would be odd for him to be honest and up-front. Renjun’s adding details to a toy car. Dot. Line. Dot. Dot. “Things. I’ll tell you when I get it sorted out.”

“You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to,” you say. You move on to a toy train. Line. Dot. Two lines. Although you’re still truthful about what you just said, you’re still curious about what Renjun was thinking about. Things was such a broad term. It could be about anything—dogs, the colour periwinkle, even his best friend Donghyuck. But you guess you’ll let him marinate those thoughts. 

“I want to tell you,” he says gently, “They’re just all jumbled and shit.” The best way to describe his thoughts was like a box filled with stray wires. All of them have been thrown in carelessly and now they’re knotted into one messy ball. He can’t even follow one wire if he tried. 

Now you want it out of him ASAP because what the hell is going on in his head that’s causing him to act like this that would be making him want to tell you? Dogs? Periwinkle? Donghyuck? Although you’re panicking on the inside, you remain calm and give a hum in response. You’ll just have to wait until he’s ready.

Time flies and the shift is finished, leaving just a smidge of work left needing to be done for the final shift. Even with the mural not complete, it was already at the point where it did look finished. But with the sun setting, you’re not able to catch a good look at the work with its deserved lighting. 

“I’ll walk you home,” Renjun says from behind you. You’re surprised he even offers to do so, especially since he seemed to be preoccupied with his thoughts. Despite this, you don’t refuse because you’re not sure if this would be the last time Renjun would be walking you home. Besides, you want to spend as much time as you can with him. 

“How are those thoughts in your head?” you question. You both are halfway to your dorm and Renjun’s been mute the entire way. This was your way of pushing some sort of statement out of him because you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious. 

Renjun huffs and hums to indicate that he’s thinking of a response, “Do you ever think a certain way about something but…  I don’t know, you have some sort of conflict with yourself about those same thoughts and feelings?”

You pause and think about what Renjun’s trying to get at, but he’s being unclear, “In what context?”

Renjun turns to look at you, “It’s hard to put it into words but it’s like… new thoughts you feel like shouldn’t even be there but are there. It’s not like they’re forbidden or bad, but it’s just weird.” He sees your building growing close. 

“Hmm…” A part of you knows exactly what he’s talking about, “I get what you mean.” 

“How would you handle them?”

“I think that those feelings wouldn’t be there in the first place if you weren’t actually feeling them… or considering them at least.” If you could laugh out loud right now, you would. But you weren’t really risking looking like a maniac in front of Renjun. Your response to Renjun was something you’ve been telling yourself ever since Yeji had you questioning your own feelings for your friend a few nights ago. You only came to actually accept them now. 

“But I don’t think you should overthink whatever’s going on up there,” you bring a finger up to his temple and tap it gently, “Chances are that it isn’t as big of a problem as you think.” Then you laugh, “You know, this is one of the things that gave me a bad impression of you at first. You think too much.” Renjun playfully rolls his eyes in response.

You walk ahead of Renjun to open the door. You don’t notice that he’s looking at you with brighter eyes because you’re right. Renjun let pessimism win and its got his mind preoccupied with what can’t happen when there was still chances of you reciprocating his feelings (or at least, what he believed were feelings).

“Wait,” Renjun stops you at the door. He’s standing at the bottom of the steps with you at the top and he realizes now that there’s no turning back from what he’s about to do, “I have my thoughts sorted out now.”

“Okay…” You let the door go and turn to him expectantly, “I’m listening.”

Renjun swallows the saliva in his mouth and he feels his heart pick up in pace. Yeah…  here goes nothing. “You know when I first met you, I really didn’t think for a second that I would even like you as a friend. Almost everything between the two of us clashed, but now looking back at it all, we were being stupid and childish.

“That one day when you bought me a drink during our shift… I think that’s when I knew that there was a chance for us to not hate each other. I know it’s a small gesture, but it was the fact you did something nice despite the fact we weren’t getting along. It was sort of a wake up call for me. 

“Then everything since then and up ‘til now… the conversations we’ve had, the walks back to the dorms, the visit at the retirement home… I feel like my feelings did a whole one-eighty.”

Renjun takes a step up towards you and exhales a quiet breath, “I…I think I like you. A lot.” He doesn’t know where to look. “And it angers me thinking about how the mural is going to be finished because then I won’t have an excuse to see you anymore.” His head drops for a quick second before he tries to gather his last few drops of confidence before finally looking up at you, waiting for a response of your own.

You’re taken aback by Renjun’s confession, simply because you genuinely didn’t see it coming. It’s hard for you to create the perfect sequence of words to say to him. Your mouth hangs open and all you can say is, “Renjun…” 

Renjun’s heart drops immediately with the implication that whatever you’re going to say is bad and he stumbles backwards, almost falling back from the stair he was standing on. “I’ll… see you next shift.” And at that Renjun’s walking away.

°•. ✿ .•° 

You’re sitting across the street from the daycare, staring at the almost-finished mural. You’re waiting for Renjun to come and judging by the time on your phone’s screen, he’s twelve minutes late, which was funny because he never was late. Not even once. 

You can see Joy sitting at her desk through the window while there are kids running around in the play area behind her. You wonder if she’s wondering where the two of you are. It’s the last shift of this gig and you guys are late. Shouldn’t you both be early to get it over with?

Huffing you decide to make your way in. It wouldn’t hurt to get the supplies ready without Renjun. That way, when he arrives, you both can start. 

“Afternoon, Y/N,” Joy looks up and around her computer screen, “Last shift!”

“I know!” you say excitedly, “I can’t believe it. Sorry for being a bit late.”

She shakes her head, “It’s no problem at all. You guys are almost finished, anyways.”

The door behind you squeaks open and you turn to find Renjun slipping through the doorway. His face shows no expression when he makes eye contact with you, but greeting Joy, he offers a small smile. They have a quick exchange, similar to what you just had with her, before you both are sent to grab the supplies. 

It felt negatively nostalgic, the way he was avoiding eye contact with you as you bring everything out. It was awfully similar to when you both still didn’t get along and you didn’t like it. 

You peek at him through the corner of your eye, heart skipping a beat. You can tell he’s forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. He’s leaning in extra close to the wall, shoulder blade turned towards you in hopes to not to feel tempted to talk to you. 

But it was odd. Only because he’s grown so used to your conversations. 

The silence goes on for a while (it was just eighteen minutes, but it felt much longer), and everytime you think Renjun’s finally going to say something, he doesn’t. There’s some kind of heavy atmosphere engulfing the both of you and you could feel yourself practically suffocating because of it. 

You decide to take matters into your own hands. Besides, you were the reason why he wasn’t talking in the first place. You were the reason why there’s this sort of tension between the two of you. “You know you left before I could even give you a proper response.”

Renjun’s breathing hitches at the sound of your voice, his movements halting simultaneously. “Judging by how you first answered, I didn’t think there was anything to hear.” He keeps doing whatever he was doing, but in his peripheral vision, he can see you turn to look at him. “I listened to you,” you say, “So now it’s only fair you listen to me.”

Renjun hesitates for a moment, but he slowly drops his hand before turning to look at you. 

“That night, I was going to say that I felt the same about you,” you say nervously. You’re straight to the point, only because you knew Renjun deserved to hear what you knew he wanted to hear three nights ago. “I just… couldn’t find the words to tell you that. Cause hearing me say that, it’s actually lame as hell compared to your confession.”

Your heart decides to use the inside of your chest as a drum and next thing you know you’re facing the wall. You try to busy yourself by finishing the last part of the mural’s details. Your cheeks heat up and you continue tentatively, “I can’t even exactly remember when my feelings for you started to become more than friendly-type feelings? I don’t even know if that makes sense… I just… started to notice that I couldn’t even handle these weird tickling feelings in my chest when I’m around you and I could not, for the life of me, stop them, but it’s not like I wanted to. Fuck, this is embarrassing.”

You’re starting to ramble. Cute, Renjun thinks, holding back a smile.

Putting the paintbrush down, he swiftly places himself next to you. As distracted as you were with your long, long train of thought, you don’t notice him standing next to you. 

“But I remember, at the retirement home… one of the old ladies put the idea of you and me being a couple in my head and I didn’t hate the idea of it… I think that’s when I actually realized that I liked–” You muster up enough courage to look at Renjun and you’re met with him looking down at you with adoration—the same ones the night that he confessed, “—you.”

There’s an entire marching band of butterflies in your chest and you’re sure as hell that Renjun can hear them with how close he was. The look in his eyes makes you want to melt into a puddle right in front of him, but you’ve embarrassed yourself enough. 

“You have some paint on your face,” he says softly. You gasp and foolishly try to spot the smudge of paint on yourself. 

If only you knew that Renjun was shamelessly lying. 

Without another word, Renjun reaches for your face, lifting it up with the inner edge of his thumb. Then he whispers, “I-I’ll get it for you. If that’s okay?” 

You’re too stunned to even say anything. All you’re able to do is nod. 

Renjun brings his lips down to yours and as if your heart conducted the band of butterflies in your body, they halt for a beat and a half before taking over once again. His lips press against yours softly at first, and once Renjun recognizes that everything happening within this very moment was perfect, he allows himself to fall into the kiss, bringing you two closer. 

The paintbrush in your hand falls to the ground and your hands instinctively find their way up to Renjun’s shoulders, using them to pull you up closer to him, deepening the kiss. 

It truly was perfect—if you ignored the fact that the two of you were probably being watched by anyone and everyone in the daycare—but the moment felt perfect. 

When you both finally pull away, Renjun’s eyes scan your face before he breaks out into a smile, bringing you to mirror it. “Did you get it?”

He nods. “Yeah… I did.”

BONUS SCENE!

When Renjun asked you to come back to volunteer for another Throwback Thursday, you were no fool to refuse. You’ve actually been waiting for him to ask you to join him again right after the first one ended—Renjun was just a few weeks late. 

“That concludes this week’s Throwback Thursday!” You say, looking over at the residents, “I really want to thank you all for participating and I hope you all enjoyed it.” You can see the residents smiling, clapping their hands. 

As the residents start to file out of the room, you turn the mic off, and you spin around to look at Renjun who’s seated behind the piano, “You almost made me cry.” Even after hearing his voice for the first time, you’re still taken aback by how captivating Renjun’s singing was. You don’t think you’ll ever get tired of it. 

Renjun’s brows furrow, “What do you mean I almost made you cry!?” He stands up and approaches you in subtle panic, “Did I hurt you in some way or form or–“

“Jun,” you laugh, “Your singing almost made me cry.”

Renjun pauses and steps back, “Oh… then I guess that’s a good thing?” You nod and bring a finger up to poke his cheek which was pulled into a semi-pout. Seeing your finger from a mile away, he attempts to bite it gently but quickly retracts. 

“Y/N! Sweetie!” You’re attention is pulled from Renjun to the same lady as last time. The one who made the ‘couple’ comment. She’s gotten a hair cut since you last visited, so you almost don’t recognize her, but she has the same smile. She’s waving  for you to come to her and you do without hesitation. 

“You don’t know how happy we all were when Renjun said you were coming in today!” She exclaims, “That’s why there were more people that came in today because they heard good stuff from last time.”

“Do you think I lived up to those ‘good things’,” you question, “I would have done better if I knew people had expectations.”

She nods. “I believe you did. Everyone had fun today.” 

“Well, that’s good to hear then.”

You watch as her eyes flicker between you and Renjun, who was gathering the papers from the piano, “I’m sensing something’s going on between you two.” A smirk appears on her still-youthful face and you suddenly feel your cheeks heat up. 

“You were right about last time, “ you say shyly, “We’re dating now.”

She lets out a sound of delight, hands coming together to make one loud clap sound. “Oh I told you so, sweetheart! This is what I love to see! Does this mean you’ll be coming more often?”

Renjun joins you two quietly and you nod, “I sure hope so.”

‣ an: hey you! you there who finished my fic! I love you sosososososo much for taking your time to actually read this entire thing (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ) <— [that’s me ugly crying] but I really do hope you enjoyed it,, maybe let me know what your fav part was? If you didn’t enjoy it (even a lil smidge) I’m sorry about that (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ) I’ll do better next time I swear (despite that though, I’m still thankful you read it <3)

[moethewriter]

You are an absolutely sensational writer!! I am obsessed with all of your fics rn, so amazing!! :)

If possible, please could you write a fic with the angst prompts 6, 20 and 22, with Finnick?

If not no worries! I look forward to reading all your future work <3

Of course I can anon! This one is a long one and almost made me cry, so buckle up and I hope you enjoy! TITLE: The things we love, always sting the most WORD COUNT: 2.3k PAIRING: Finnick Odair x Reader WARNING: Possible character death, talks of killing another person, angst, poison, the whole works! TAGS: Lot's of angst, canon violence, possible poisoning, fighting, possible character death.

A/N: So this was a sad one to write my friends! I hope you enjoy, not beta read as always and I take constructive criticism as per usual! -

You were breathless as you headed towards the jungle with Katniss, Peeta, Mags and Finnick. The fight at the cornucopia had been brutal. Weapons had flown from every direction, and you had fallen into the water. You weren’t the biggest fan of being wet but there wasn’t anything you could do about that now.

You were lost in your own thoughts as you walked further. You had just watched people you had known for years fall in seconds. People you had been friends with … your district partner, Hyvar, had died. You hoped that Johanna, Wiress and Beetee were safe, somewhere they could regroup and find their way to you. You had watched people you had known for years fall in seconds. You just hoped that Johanna, Wiress and Betee had all found one another and were safe as they could be.

The sound of the cannon going off made your body shrivel, almost as if it had transported you back to your own games. You had been sixteen and forced to kill people … kill other children, and that canon was a stark reminder that it wasn’t over yet. It would never be over.

At least you had Finnick, the one person who kept you sane throughout everything. You hadn’t watched his games, your mother not allowing you to watch such senseless acts of violence, she had always been against the games. It was strange to stand side by side with him in this, but you were grateful for his presence.

Another cannon went off.

“Well I guess we're not holding hands anymore.” Finnick chuckled, a small smile spreading across his face. 

“Finnick.” You snapped, trying to shut that thought down. 

Those people were the few in this world who understood what it was like to be a Victor, a pawn for the Capitol. Some of them had been your friends. 

“You think that's funny?” Katniss questioned him, a passive look on her face. You couldn’t quite read her yet, but you knew that she wasn’t happy. 

“Every Time that cannon goes off it’s music to my ears.” Finnick said, as though that should be obvious. He was steady, not swaying, clearly in game mode. “I don’t care about any of them.”

“That’s-” You started …

But Katniss pulled a sword from its sheath.

“Good to hear.” She said, simply, face remaining unchanged. 

“No.” You said raising your hands between them, you were all supposed to be allies … fighting together in this moment. There needed to be some semblance of peace, even if it was tentative and rocky. “We may not like this, but we're allies, right? So let’s act like allies.” You felt as though you were parenting two young stubborn children.

For the first time in a long time you didn’t understand what was going through his head, what was his game here and why hadn’t he talked to you about it? You had been together since you were both eighteen, now twenty four, and while this situation wasn’t ideal … you felt as though he flipped a switch in his mind. This side of him wasn’t something you particularly liked, and you certainly didn’t want to play peacekeeper if they were going to be at each others throats.

“Right.” Finnick said. “Besides, what would Haymitch say?”

“Haymitch isn’t here.” Katniss gritted her teeth.

“Let’s keep moving.” Peeta spoke up, starting to move from his spot.

You were thankful that someone else was level headed.

You all moved deeper into the jungle, silence falling over the group. The sound of crunching leaves, and dirt being the only thing filling the air. Your games had been in a desert terrain, so you felt out of your element. You were used to sand, rocks and dunes covering the earth around you, not thick and lush jungle. At least the trees provided better cover than some rocks, though water was proving just as difficult to find.

After long hours of walking you had found a place to secure Mags so everyone could go off and find some food or water. You weren’t particularly fond of the thought of splitting up, not trusting that Katniss and Peeta would come back, and not trusting yourself alone with Finnick, you were still angry about the interactions on the beach.

You walked with Finnick in silence, eyes and ears peeled for the sound of moving animals or the possible sighting of berries. It felt awkward to be alone with him, but … you loved him, you couldn’t deny that.

“Hey.” Finnick said, grabbing your hand lightly.

“Don’t touch me.” You snapped, anger in your voice. “What the hell was that? Treating Katniss and Peeta that way? Talking about the other tributes like that? They’re our allies, Finnick, don’t fucking play coy with me here. I’m not an idiot and neither are you, maybe try harder?” You sucked in a breath, hoping to calm yourself down,

“Y/N-”

“No. Finnick I love you, I do … just try harder with them, she’s distrustful and we don’t need that.” You said, finally looking at him.. “We don’t need to talk about this right now. I just … just give me some space. I’m angry. I don’t want to be angry with you.” You told him, pinching the bridge of your nose.

The Capitol was watching, Snow was watching. You didn’t need Finnick or yourself sorting through emotional baggage or providing entertainment by fighting for the world to see.

Finnick had a persona, that was something you knew. But that wasn’t Finnick, and what you couldn’t understand is why he didn’t want to be himself. Was it the sponsors? Was it the fact that everyone could see your every move in here? You hadn’t been able to talk much before entering the arena, so you only knew the basis of what he was going to do, and the plan Haymitch had told you.

Gods above, that plan. How in the hell were you going to make sure that Katniss and Peeta got out of this alive if they barely trusted you? There was so much that needed to be done in here, and you couldn’t do it alone. But Finnick was not helping in the slightest, or that’s what you felt like. ,

“Listen …” He tried.

“We should get back to Mags, there isn’t any food here … hopefully they found some water or something.” You sent him a small hopeful look, before turning back towards where you came from.

–

Peeta almost dying was not something that you had accounted for. The forcefield had shot him back out of nowhere, and the amount of time you had all spent desperately trying to help him breathe again had been agony. 

This game felt far worse than anything you had gone through before. It was clear that something was off about the whole arena, you just weren’t sure what it was yet. 

“Do you hear that?” Finnick whispered, looking towards the trees. 

You hadn’t, but you immediately jumped into action and grabbed your sword. You were always on high alert, and you weren’t going to let anything touch anyone here. 

“I’ll go check it out and meet you guys back here, later.” You said, moving to stand. You needed some time to breathe, and protecting everyone was the main priority. In your mind this was a win-win situation. 

“You can’t go alone.” Finnick, protested standing to go with you.

You held up your hand to stop him. “Finn, stay here … protect Mags and everyone else. I can handle myself.” You told him.

You weren’t sure what was out there, no one was, but you had your chosen weapon and a spiteful rage deep within you. You were sure you could handle what was to come.

“Y/N-” He tried to protest again.

“They need protection. I’ll be fine.” You told him, heading off towards the woods on your own. 

You kept low as you crept through the jungle, looking for what could have alerted Finnick. Your eyes barely adjusted to the darkness that surrounded you, a stark contrast to the bright lights of the fire you had been in front of just moments ago. You kept walking, caution lacing every move you made. 

The jungle felt far too quiet as you made your way towards a clearing, how far had you gone from camp? Nothing around you seemed familiar anymore and you weren’t sure why … What the hell was going on?

“Shit!” You felt a small sting in your leg, and looked down … had something stung you? 

You felt dizzy as you braced yourself against a large tree trunk, you couldn’t feel your hands … you couldn’t feel anything?

Your eyes dropped slowly as your body slumped down towards the ground and darkness finally took over

–

“I say, we take them out next.”

“We can’t just do that … they could prove useful … I mean have you seen them with a sword?”

You awoke with a start, heart racing as you looked around … where was Finnick? You moved through the moss and spotted them all around a fire.

“They are useless to everything … the rebellion. Kill them and we get ourselves out of here. They are collateral damage.””

You felt your heart stop …that was Finnick’s voice … and he had to be talking about you, there was no one else you could think of.

“Y/N!”

“That’s smart.”

Peeta? What was going on?

“Good then when they fall asleep tonight that’s when we strike, they won’t know what hit them.”

Finnick’s smirk sent chills down your spine, how could he be doing this? How could he even think about betraying you … didn’t he love you?

“Y/N!”

–

Your eyes fluttered open and you let out a loud scream, throwing yourself away from the blonde man in front of you. Your body was hot, everything around you felt like fire and despite what people thought … you weren’t going down without a fight. Not against anyone, even Finnick. 

“Y/N?! What’s going on? We searched for you all night …we lost Mags … there was fog …” Finnick rambled, his eyes wild and bewildered at the sight of you. He looked like had been crying. 

You knew he was trying to distract you … he had to be. There was no other explanation after what you had seen. He was trying to manipulate you with the use of Mags and the pathetic way he stood. 

“I don’t know who you are anymore, Finnick Odair.” You spat, holding out your sword, stretching it forward as far as you could. “But I heard what you were talking about all night, and I am not going down without a fight, you think I’m going to sit here and talk about bullshit then you’re so wrong.” Your hands were shaking, your whole body trembled in fear.

Your head hurt, and your body felt light … something had happened in the forest and you weren’t sure what did … but there was no way you were losing your life to someone you thought you loved, and who you thought loved you.

“Y/N? What the hell is going on? What happened in those woods?” Finnick questioned, a look of concern filling his face.

“Like I’d tell you anything!” You snapped, raising the sword a little higher. “You proved last night that you didn't love or care about me! You just want me dead!” You cried, tears falling from your eyes

“What?! Of course I love you! We came to find you, you had been gone for an hour! I was worried. Finnick cried, his own tears falling down his cheeks. “We only just got to you because last night we were chased by swarming monkeys and almost died due to poisonous fog?! How could you have heard anything we said, you were miles away! We searched high nd low!!” Finnick cried, trying to reach his hands out to you.

“Any closer and I’ll put this sword through your heart.” Your own heart was racing, unsure of what to believe anymore … you felt dazed and confused and disorientated, nothing felt real anymore. 

“Don’t you trust me?” Finnick whispered, heartbreak lacing every word that he spoke.

“I don’t know.” You sobbed.

Your body felt like it was on fire, every inch you moved was agony … you were going to die in here whether it was by Finnick or something else taking you out. You weren’t going to make it to the rebellion.

Loud sobs echoed through the forest as you dropped to your knees, body finally giving out on you.

Finnick was over to you in seconds, not caring if you fought him off with knives or threats of violence. He pulled you to his chest and you trembled against him, sweat lacing your brows.

“It’s okay … It’s okay. I got you.” Finnick whispered, rocking you both. “God Y/N I can’t lose you in here, I can’t. I lost Mags already, you have to fight whatever happens. You have to know that I love you.” He sobbed, holding you as close as possible. 

“I can’t” You thrashed desperately trying to pull away from him, out of fear or something else, you didn’t know. “I can’t!” 

“Please.” Finnick begged, keeping his grip on you.

You stopped fighting in that moment, letting yourself fall against him, your body felt numb and you didn’t think you had it in you to keep going. 

“Y/N?”

The sky seemed bluer in that moment as you looked towards it, it was gorgeous as the sun shone through the trees. Finnick’s face filled your vision and you felt a warmth overtake you … you were safe … you had to be … he didn’t really want to kill you did he?

“I love you.” Finnick said, voice hoarse as his hand traced the edges of your face. “Please stay.”

“I love you.”  You told him.

The jungle was quiet again, too quiet despite the long eventful night and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of cannon fire in the air.

[rendy-a]

Cooking with Floyd

This is my last cooking event story.  I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these.  I’m not totally satisfied with the ending but its time to move on!  I’m already getting househusband brainrot for some upcoming pieces.  So, without further ado, here it is!

The halls of Night Raven College can be a dangerous place for a magicless student like you.  You know that you must keep a certain level of awareness about you as you walk those hallowed halls to avoid the dangerous students you call classmates.  Occasionally, even you forget your caution.  Today, you pass by the listing of grades and see a cluster of students pushing to find out their placement among the ranks.  It had been sometime since the antics of the first semester and the situation at Octavinelle but posting day still gives you an ominous feeling.  You shake your head, as if to push the memory of everything that had happened back then aside and turn to walk away. 

“Eh, Shrimpy?” you hear at your shoulder.  You cringe slightly at the familiar voice; this is what comes of being distracted in the halls.  “Oh, hi Floyd,” you say as you try to move away.  The tall eel easily prevents your retreat by saddling up to your side and draping an arm across your shoulders.  “Um, can I help you?” you ask tentatively.  Floyd allows a wide grin to cross his face.  “See Shrimpy, that’s what I like about you.  I haven’t even told you what I want, and you’ve already agreed to help me.”  You realize you’ve made a critical error.  “Since you are so eager, I’m going to let you be my assistant.  I’ll be over tonight, don’t keep me waiting, Shrimpy.”  When he releases your shoulder, you scurry away and book it to class.  You wonder to yourself, what just happened?

It's late at night and you are breathing a sigh of relief that Floyd seems to have had one of his infamous mood swings and forgotten all about…whatever it was that he wanted you for.  You gave yourself a big stretch and a satisfied yawn.  All’s well that ends well, you suppose.  You decide to head up to bed early for once.  Like a B rated horror movie, as soon as you turn your head, Floyd is there.  “Ahhhh!” you scream.  Floyd looks mildly interested in your reaction.  “What’s going on Shrimpy?  This some land-dweller thing?”  You are about to go off on him when you remember his is a dangerous…well you aren’t exactly sure.  Mafia henchman?  Deranged psychopath?  Anyway, not someone you want to mess with.

“Ah, Floyd,” you start carefully, “it’s so late.  What are you doing here?”  He gives you a quizzical expression.  “Shrimpy, I told you I’d be over.  I have to work at the Lounge after class, so of course I’m coming over after that,” he finishes in a tone that says ‘obviously.’  You give him a narrow-eyed look and finally ask, “So, what’s this all about?  What am I supposed to be helping you with?” 

Of all the things you could have imagined, baking cupcakes was not one of them.  When Floyd explains he has been working on the perfect cupcake recipe but can’t quite get the secret ingredient right, you just stare back at him unbelievingly.  Finally, you hazard to ask, “Just what is the secret ingredient?”  He rolls his eyes at you and responds, “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret!”  Ok, so much for that.  You decide the best thing to do is just to power through the baking and get him out of your dorm as soon as possible. 

It’s an hour as you mix and bake your cupcakes.  Floyd’s recipe is simple and small, it only ends up baking one large cupcake each.  You aren’t sure about the so-called secret ingredient as Floyd seems to follow the recipe exactly.   “Ok, so there you go.  One super-secret special cupcake,” you state as you finish frosting your own cupcake.  “Guess you can be going now?” you finish hopefully.  Floyd frowns at you.  “Nah Shrimpy, I can tell this isn’t right.”  He picks up his cupcake and tosses it in the trash as your mouth falls open.  “What are you doing Floyd? Don’t waste food!”  You dive and pull the cupcake quickly from the trash.  Sorry Grim but we both know you eat rocks from the floor so (5 second rule), this will still make a treat for you later.  You look at him reproachfully.  “Don’t worry Shrimpy, I’ll come back again tomorrow, and we’ll try again.”  Again.  Tomorrow.  No!  “What?  Why? Are you sure, wouldn’t it just be better to buy a cupcake?” you finish in a flurry.  Floyd gives you a narrow look.  “Tomorrow.”  Then he is gone into the night.

You spend the day dreading the night and, sure enough, soon after the closing time of Mostro Lounge, Floyd shows up at your dorm.  You ask him what is on the agenda for this time, and he indicates you’ll be making the same recipe.  You frown at that.  If the recipe wasn’t good enough yesterday, what makes him think it will be different today?  You decide to pay closer attention to Floyd’s cooking, to see if you can figure out what the so-called secret ingredient is that isn’t coming out right.  The sooner he bakes the perfect cupcake, the sooner he is gone from your life, after all.  You are disturbed to notice that Floyd doesn’t really pay much attention to the recipe at all but instead spends an alarming amount of time observing you.  And as for a secret ingredient, there doesn’t appear to be one; he follows the recipe exactly. 

“Say Floyd,” you ask hesitantly, “if you think the cupcake needs a secret ingredient, don’t you have to add something that isn’t in the recipe?”  He looks at you.  “It doesn’t work like that Shrimpy.  When its right, I’ll know and that is all there is to it.”  He comes to your side, looming over you and examining your cupcakes.  “Nope!  Not right at all!” he declares with a frown.  He picks up his cupcake and moves to throw it out again but, upon hearing your sharp intake of breath, tosses it on the counter instead.  “Guess I’ll see you again tomorrow Shrimpy.”  Then he turns on his heel and saunters away towards the front door.  Tomorrow, great.

You are walking to class, lamenting your terrible luck, when you round the corner and realize it is about to get even worse.  A couple of Savanahclaw students are lounging in the hall with a bored expression on their faces.  You know that they’ll see you as easy entertainment if you can’t make a quick escape and…too late.  A pair of claw-studded hands land on either shoulder and give you a shove.  You stumble forward into the pack of grinning beastmen where the biggest coyote boy grabs you by the collar.  “Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  A juicy bit of prey?” the seeming pack leader sneers.  “What do you think boys?  Should we play with our food or go straight to the meal?” 

You expected to hear laughing agreement at the taunt, but it was strangely silent.  Your lead tormentor seems to notice the unusual reaction as well and loosens his grip on you to turn around.  Standing with a deceptive level of calmness in the center of the pack of students is Floyd.  His eyes are dangerously cold when he says, “Shrimpy, you look like you aren’t having a good time.  Do you need help?”  You almost laugh at the absurdity of the situation.  Was he seriously asking you this?  “I’m not sure they don’t intend to actually eat me so, yeah, I wouldn’t mind some help right about now,” you say.  Floyd’s expression shifts from cold to downright menacing.  “You hear that, small fry?  Shrimpy doesn’t want to play with you.  So why don’t you scram before I get angry for real.”  Floyd’s reputation is enough to make the pack rethink their plans.  As they scurry off, you wonder what this favor is going to cost you. 

“Thanks, so what do I owe,” you start before Floyd cuts you off.  “Not now Shrimpy, or you’ll be late to class.”  You look up at the clock on the wall with startlement and realize you’ll have to run to make it now.  Floyd shoves your dropped books into your arms and gives you a small push off.  It’s all the encouragement you need to run off to class.  The answers you want will have to wait for the night.

That night, you are not taken by surprise when Floyd arrives.  In fact, you’ve been waiting for him; anxious to hear the price of your sudden rescue.  Floyd raises an eyebrow when you open the door for him.  “What’s up Shrimpy?  You aren’t usually this excited to see me.”  You sigh, “End the suspense, just tell me what I owe you for earlier.”  He looks at you for a moment.  “Nothing.  You asked for help, so I helped.”  You scoff at him, ���If you were so eager to assist, then why’d you make me ask for help first?”  He frowns at you before answering in a low voice that sends chills down your spine.  “I didn’t want to assume.  People are always jumping to conclusions about Jade and me, I am careful to not do the same to other people.  Especially not ones I like.”  He then shoulders past you into the dorm. 

You stand with the door open for a moment, looking out into the darkening night in shock.  Of all the scenarios you had envisioned, that wasn’t one of them.  A cold breeze brings you back to yourself and you quietly shut the door and head tentatively to the kitchen.  Floyd is silently setting up his cooking area while setting your ingredient portions aside.  It looks like awkward baking is still on for tonight.  You walk slowly to the counter and look at the things he’s set there for you, tapping your finger against the spoon absentmindedly.  “I didn’t mean it like that,” you finally say.  “I just thought it was obvious that I wasn’t going to handle that myself.”  Floyd looks over at you, “I dunno, maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit.  You beat Azul, didn’t you?  You were cleaver enough to foil our plans, weren’t you?  Who am I to say that you couldn’t escape from a puny school of fish like them?”  You feel oddly complimented by his assessment of your meager battle skills.  You feel your lips tweak up into something that is almost a smile before settling back into your normal stoic expression.  Then, you reach for your first ingredient to begin tonight’s task.

You both finish your cupcakes in a pensive silence, each seeming to have a lot on your mind.  Unsurprisingly, the cupcakes of today’s session do not pass Floyd’s inspection and he departs, as usual.  You lay in bed later that night thinking about the day’s events; the bizarre amount of faith Floyd has in your abilities and your own preconceptions about him.  Finally, you had to admit that he was right; you had assumed a great deal about Floyd without really trying to get to know him at all.  Even though he hadn’t asked it of you, you decide that tomorrow, you’ll pay him back in your own way by trying to get to know the genuine Floyd.  No assumptions.

You had prepared yourself to weather the chaos that surrounded Floyd but what you hadn’t prepared yourself for was how fun you’d find it.  When your nightly baking session started, you were determined to not shut Floyd down but hear out all of his crazy ideas and musings.  He is surprisingly observant and picks up on it right away and it spurs him on to requesting increasingly crazy things.  He gets a laugh out of suggesting you take a break to run and do something crazy.  Finally, you decide, why not?  No one is saying you were behind the water balloon ambush on the freshman of Pomefiore…but that is mainly because there are no security cameras on that side of the dorm and Floyd is particularly stealthy. 

When you return to Ramshackle, nearly doubled over with laughter, you find your cupcakes a total mess.  Grim must have been by in your absence.  Floyd gives you a shrug and you improvise to complete this day’s batch.  Hot cocoa mixed into vanilla batter makes a passable chocolate cake.  You laugh as you give Floyd this pronouncement only to find him studying you carefully as you eat your still warm cupcake.  He tilts his head quizzically as he watches you eat.  After a time, you give a nervous laugh and ask him, “So what’s the decision on today’s lot?  Is chaos and hot cocoa your secret ingredient?”  He takes a long time in answering and you started to wonder if chaos can actually be the mystery ingredient.  The longer the silence as Floyd seems to consider, the higher your eyebrows raise, until you are looking back at him in a state of extreme surprise.  That seems to decide him.  “Nah, it’s not quite right yet.  You keep this one Shrimpy.”  Then he pushes himself off the counter and heads toward the door, whistling a merry tune as he goes.  The cupcake wasn’t right but you both seemed to have had a great night.

You were surprised to find yourself happily humming as the hour of your meeting with Floyd approaches.  Now that you aren’t so intimidated by him, you find yourself curious to know more about him and life in the Coral Sea.  When he finally arrives, you are practically bouncing along behind him on your way to the kitchen.  You even play gracious host today, taking his jacket and setting it on the lounge sofa; telling him it will be more comfortable in the hot kitchen without it.  For his part, Floyd also seems to be in a rare cooperative mood.  When you hesitantly ask him about his life in the sea, he seems more than eager to share stories with you.  He tells you about some of the escapades he got into with Jade and Azul in school, their adventure with going on land for the first time and you end the night trading stories about your families back home. 

“Do you ever miss it?” you ask him suddenly.  He looks at you with a soft smile, “Home, you mean?”  Then he gives a hum as he considers.  “Not really,” he says finally.  You look at him surprised.  “Not at all?”  He gives a small laugh, “Home is nice and all but I’m not going to have as interesting a time down there as I am up here.  Plus, I wouldn’t have met people like Shrimpy if I’d have stayed at home.  So yeah, I’m not at all sad to be here instead of there.”  You think that Floyd has a gift for making complicated situations seem simple.  Still, you admire his outlook; he has decided to enjoy the surface and doesn’t look back on the sea with regret.  You wish you could live your life the same way.

When the time comes for the nightly judgement, you aren’t at all sad to hear the cupcake doesn’t pass muster.  You give a small shrug and say to Floyd, “Guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then.”  He gives you a wink in response before heading out the back door, heading toward the main campus.  You pull the wrapper off your cupcake and take a bite as you head back into the lounge.  He may be a great conversationalist, but he really is no judge of baked goods.  After all this practice, your cupcake is phenomenal, if you do say so yourself.  Just when you are about to congratulate yourself on a successful night, you pass by the sofa and see Floyd’s jacket sitting there forgotten. 

You pick it up and head to look out the window.  For a moment, you consider running after him to return it before realizing how ridiculous that is.  You’ve been chased down by him before, you know how fast those long legs carry him.  He’ll be long gone my now.  Well, at least you know he has a high cold resistance, being from the Coral Sea.  He’ll be fine, you decide and carry the jacket up to your room instead.    You fold it nicely and set it on the chair by your bed; you’ll give it back to him tomorrow.

Sleep eludes you.  You’ve been tossing and turning all night but each time you get slightly sleepy, you think about your conversations with Floyd.  By the time you finish laughing again at some joke he told you or thinking about his mer stories, you find you are no longer sleepy.  You give a big sigh; it’s going to be a long night.  For what feels like the millionth time, you flop over and try to close your eyes but it’s no use.  You allow them to creep open and gaze at the folded jacket, just an arm’s reach from your face and allow your thoughts to creep in.  You wonder if he made it home ok...  Maybe he got cold after all…   You wonder if he noticed the missing jacket; if he knows where he left it...  You wonder if his jacket smells like him.  ‘Whoa, where did that one come from?’ you ask yourself in mild alarm.  Its not like you have a crush on him, right?  Right? 

For being alone in a quiet room, you suddenly feel like there is too much going on.  You waive your hands in front of your face to try to clear your thoughts.  ‘It doesn’t matter what you think of Floyd.  It’s just you alone right now and that is all that matters,’ you say to yourself.  You turn your head back to the jacket.  Does it smell like him?  Finally, you can’t take it anymore and decide to pull the jacket off the chair and find out, just so you can get past this and go to sleep.  It smells like cooked seafood from being in the lounge, cut grass from being outside, a little hint of ink (you guess it is from napping on his class notes but haven’t entirely ruled out fighting with Azul) and below it all, is a subtle scent like sea water that you think is all him.  You catch yourself smiling and know that yes, you have somehow fallen for Floyd Leech. 

You wake in the morning, hugging a pillow that is wrapped in Floyd’s jacket.  It was your genius idea that finally helped lure you to sleep last night.  You feel pretty sure this crosses a line into cringe territory, so you resolve to never mention this to anyone, especially not Floyd.  Then you sit up in bed and nicely fold the jacket to return to him later.  After breakfast, you hurry to the second year’s corridor, hoping to catch Floyd before the first class and return the jacket.  You easily spot him among the sea of shorter students; his teal hair like a beacon for you to navigate by.  You tentatively weave through the second-year students to reach his side and give his sleave a tug.  When he turns to you with surprise, you know you’ve made and error.  This isn’t Floyd at all but his twin Jade. 

Jade pears at you curiously before zeroing in on the jacket bundled in your arms.  A grin crosses his face as he lifts a hand to his chin.  “Octavinelle colors.  Prefect, are you planning a transfer?”  You stumble out a negative, planning to apologize and leave as quickly as possible.  “You are spending a lot of time with Floyd lately.” Jade says with a pensive look.  “He seems happier lately.  Do I have you to thank for that?”

You gape at him, working at what to say in response when you feel an arm drape over your shoulder.  “So that is where that went.  Thanks for bringing it back, Shrimpy.”  You sigh in relief as Floyd appears at your side, just in time to save you from more awkward questions from Jade.   The twins share a look and appear to have some non-verbal conversation carried out by facial expression alone.  Finally Jade chuckles and says, “I better head to class.  Thank you, prefect, for taking care of my brother.”  He gives you one final knowing smile before departing.

Class is to start soon, and the halls are emptying out.  You gasp as you realize you are wasting precious time and quickly turn to face Floyd.  “AH!  Here is your jacket.  I forgot to give it back to you last night.  Sorry about that!” you say quickly.  Floyd smiles lazily and takes the jacket and drapes it over his shoulder.  Then he pauses and turns to look more closely at the jacket.  You nervously wonder if something is wrong – did you get the jacket dirty?  After a moment, Floyd’s smile widens and he remarks, “I’ll see you tonight, ok Shrimpy.”  Then he heads off to class.  “Ok,” you call after him weakly, wondering what it was he’d noticed about the jacket that you’d missed.

The atmosphere tonight is new.  Cooking with the boy you like just hits differently.  You try to be cool but even you notice the difference.  You smile at him over nothing, laugh a little too loud at his jokes and find your eyes resting on him an embarrassing long amount of time.  So far though, he hasn’t said anything about it.  You hope he is as oblivious to your attraction as he seems.  It’s one thing to crush on Floyd but another entirely to admit it to him.  The baking continues with both of you in a great mood.

You flourish your finished cupcake and say “Tada!  Tenth time is the charm, or something like that.  Right?”  He smiles back at you and replies, “Yeah, this is it.  It finally turned out right.”  You are so startled that you nearly drop your cupcake.  What?  After all this time?  Why now, only after you got to enjoy his company so much?  “You’ve got to be kidding me.  We’ve been making this same recipe for days and it’s always the same.”  You peer questioningly at your cupcake, seemingly the same as each day before.  “Really, what is the deal with this cupcake stuff?”  He gives you a smug smile and tells you all about it.  “I read it in a book on land-dwellers.  When you have someone you like, you bake them a homemade treat and give it to them when you confess.”  You are shocked by this declaration, both because it is so unexpectedly silly and because it means he likes someone.  “Oh…I see,” you say, deflating slightly, “Well, what was all that about secret ingredients then?”  He smiles softly, “The book says you need to make it with love.  It’s my first land-dweller confession, so I want to make sure it’s right.” 

It was sort of adorable, you thought, to have someone with such a scary reputation put so much effort into baking a cupcake with love.  You give him a forced and awkward smile and wish him luck with his confession.  “I’m sure they will love it, you worked so hard on it, after all.”  Floyd tilts his head at you and tosses his cupcake in the sink.  “Nah.”  Your mouth falls open in shock, what just happened?  “I don’t understand,” you say as you look at the discarded cupcake with confusion, “You just told me you were going to use that to confess.  If you through it away, what was the point?” 

“You don’t get it Shrimpy, I don’t want to MAKE a confession, I want to RECEIVE one.  It was all in the book and when I read it, I knew that was what I wanted.  Your land-dweller customs are so interesting.”  Floyd said with a smile.  You don’t immediately reply, trying to wrap your head around this sudden piece of information.  “So, you want someone to confess to you.  But who…?”  He approaches you slowly, “We had fun today, didn’t we?  And you like spending time with me, don’t you?  And you must have even worn my jacket to make it smell so much like you.”  You can feel the heat in your face building at every statement; he had noticed far too much.  “So, what’s the problem Shrimpy?”  Then the whole entirety of the situation hits you.  “So, wait, you are saying that this whole thing was just so that I could fall for you because you needed a confession cupcake baked with love?  Right from the beginning, this was always your plan?”  He smiles in a predatory way.  “Eels are very patient hunters.  I know how to wait for the time to be right.  I’ve liked you since you beat Azul’s overblot, but I knew you didn’t like me back.  Now, hmm.  Well…”  He slides your cupcake over to you.  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.  You’re not going to keep me waiting now, are you Shrimpy?”  You shyly pick up your cupcake.  He was many things; spontaneous, moody, observant, silly and most importantly the boy you liked.  No, you won’t keep him waiting any longer.  “Floyd, I have something I’d like to ask you.”

[yeehawbvby]

My First Kiss (Went a Little Like This) | Piers x OC Maxine

Rating: Teen+ (Explicit Language, Suggestive Themes)

Summary: "In the most cliché, teenage rom-com fashion imaginable, Piers and Max came to an agreement.

If neither of them had their first kiss by the time they were both 21, they’d have it with each other.

It was corny, and they denied it would even come down to that… But here they were. "

Author's Note: I've been completely brainrotted by the friends -> lovers these two have going on lately and HAD to write about it >:3 This all takes place in the past and pre-SWSH.

In case anyone is curious to learn more about Max, her tag on my page is “oc maxine”!!

I hope y'all enjoy this, I had a lot of fun writing it! x

Check it out on ao3!

This is part of a series of one-shots! Please see my SWSH Masterlist for the recommended reading order.

The walls of Max, Piers, and Marnie’s shared apartment were paper thin. It was to be expected. Spikemuth’s never been known for luxury. That said, Max was laying on her bed, her Rotom phone hovering over her face, when she heard a baritone “Oi” from just outside her door as opposed to a knock. 

She checked to make sure her sleep shirt was long enough to not flash her panties at anyone. Had to scoot it down a little bit. Once in the clear, she answered, “What’s up?” 

When Max didn’t hear a verbal response, but rather her dingy doorknob turning and the dragging of socks against the wooden floorboards, she looked to the source. Piers, still in his dark ripped jeans and loose blue muscle tank from the day, offered a lazy grin which Max reciprocated.

She grabbed her Rotom and closed the manga app she had been browsing. Then, she sat up and let the device float over to her bedside table before leaning back onto her palms. Her absurdly long hair, not tied back into its usual low pigtails, got a bit wrapped up around her arms in the process; and as Piers sat down beside her, he helped detangle it.

“Everything alright?” she asked, eyes focused on her friend’s pale fingers. 

Piers grunted in place of an answer. After finishing his work on her hair, he playfully insulted her, “How’s it feel to be an old hag?” 

Snorting, Max lightly tapped his right side with her right knee. She met his eyes, squinting her own. “Not even an hour after my birthday and you’re already bullying me?” 

“You did the same thing last month.”

“Yeah,” she explained, “you were an old fart last month.”

“And now you’ve caught up t’me.”

“And I’m as young as can be,” Max wistfully retorted. Piers rolled his eyes, his grin betraying the action. “You come in here just to harass me, or what?” she asked.

“Quite the opposite, actually.”

Max tilted her head to the side. Some stray hairs fell into her face, which she quickly tucked away behind her ear. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Piers sighed, looking down. He almost looked a bit shy. “You remember that little pact we made a few years back?”

Max scrunched her nose. “We’ve made plenty of those.”

“Well, yeah, but… jus’ think about it.” 

Max looked up, trying to recall which one he was talking about specifically.

There was that one where Piers promised to hire her as gym and concert staff if she couldn’t find a steady gig (that wasn’t illegal), but they were past that point by now. She’d been at his venue for a few months.

Another where she told him that, since he took her in, she’d do the same for him and Marnie if it ever came down to that and she was able. But they were up to date on bills, so she doubted that was the case this time.

Hmm… 

Oh. 

It was just over two years ago. Her and Piers were sitting in her tent — her home at the time. Snacking, listening to music, chatting while they watched the denizens of the city go on about their nights. 

Marnie was at a friend’s sleepover play-date a few blocks over, Max’s Misdreavus was curled up and sleeping on her crappy blow up mattress, and all of Piers’ Pokémon were tucked away in their balls for the night. Piers’ 19th birthday was coming to an end, and Max’s would arrive exactly one month later.

They had both been lamenting the fact that they’d gone so long without dating anyone, let alone having their first kisses yet. How pathetic they were, how much it sucked, how they felt like they were so far behind other trainers of their age because of it.

They acknowledged that it made sense — sure, Piers was an up-and-coming rockstar and queued to be the new Dark-type gym leader after the current competitive season ended, so he had far more chances at romance than the average person... But he was an introvert, through and through. So was Max. She’d never really put herself out there, so she didn’t stand a chance.

In the most cliché, teenage rom-com fashion imaginable, they came to an agreement. If neither of them had their first kiss by the time they were both 21, they’d have it with each other. They found each other attractive and felt comfortable enough in their friendship that they didn’t think it would be weird at all, so it kind of just made sense.

It was corny, and they denied it would even come down to that…

But here they were. 

There was a short silence as the memory hit Max like a freight train, her cheeks gradually growing rosier. “Oh,” she chirped, still zoned out with her gaze off of Piers.

He laughed, bringing Max’s attention back. “There ya go,” he teased. “Knew it would come to ya.”

She looked down at her lap, smiling and playing with a piece of her hair as she batted his side with her knee again. “So, like… now, huh?”

“Only if you still want to,” Piers reassured her. “I’d be wounded by the rejection, but I reckon I’ll live.” 

Max appreciated the lightheartedness of his approach. She took a deep breath, then looked up at his face. His was a little pink too. Well, what she could see of it, at least.

Piers’ hair, now longer than she’d ever seen it, draped down to the middle of his back, with side bangs reaching just below his right cheek. It was styled half-up today. He’d been experimenting with how to maintain it, wanting to grow it out for his ~brand~ but struggling to figure out a good style with how thick it was.

It looked… really, really good like this.

He cleared his throat. Max blinked, realizing she’d been staring. 

Oh god.

Why was her heart beating so fast?

“Alright there?” he grinned.

“Yeah, sorry,” she answered, shutting her eyes. Took another deep breath. “Um… yeah,” she nodded, a breathy laugh escaping her. “Let’s do this.”

“Cool,” her friend responded, still grinning.

“Cool.” Max smiled sheepishly. She was growing more excited about this than she cared to admit. “So, how do you wanna go about this?”

“Well, I figured we could just mash our faces together and see what happens.”

Max got up onto her knees and rotated a little, shimmying herself closer to Piers. She sarcastically remarked with a laugh, “Oooh, you’re so smart!” while lifting her hair out of the way of her legs. 

She sat down onto her calves and dropped her brown and pink tresses while Piers angled his body more towards her’s, only slightly adjusting from his previous position as he quipped, “S’about time you noticed.”

As Piers lowered his right hand to the mattress, he gnawed at his lower lip. Swallowed hard. Max watched the bob of his Adam’s apple and wondered if he knew that he looked as antsy as she felt. She wondered if she looked as antsy as she felt, too. The thought made her more nervous, so she began fidgeting with the bottom of her oversized tee.

“Ready?” Piers breathed, his gaze flickering to Max’s lips for a moment.

All Max could manage to do was nod. Her grip on her shirt tightened when Piers leaned in a smidge. His eyes lowered to her lips again, and stayed there, which made her tummy tingle.

Max looked at his lips too. Has Piers always had such nice lips? They looked so smooth… and served as a subtle reminder for her to wet her own. She didn’t want Piers’ first kiss to be with sandpaper.

He smirked at the action, and for some reason, that made her breath hitch. Piers leaned in a little more. So did Max. She could feel his breath on her face now. She felt like she was going to die. Why was this so nerve-wracking?

A little further… and their noses were touching oh my god it was really happening! 

Max chanced one last glimpse up at Piers’ eyes just as he decided to do the same. His pupils were huge. Was that normal? She had read about eyes doing that when you look at someone you think is pretty, but she didn’t think it was real.

Were her pupils that big too? 

She slowly looked back down, and felt an amused huff against her lips.

Piers angled his head a little to the right, and Max mirrored him, parting her mouth slightly and letting her eyes flutter shut. Their lips touched, and lingered there for a moment, before Max and Piers simultaneously locked them together.

After a few short seconds, they separated. Neither of them spoke as they hovered just in front of each other. Max was unsure of what Piers was doing, but she was still staring at his lips, as if in a trance. She could see both of their chests heaving slightly in her periphery. To her surprise and delight, Piers dipped back down. 

He kissed her with a little more confidence this time. It felt nice. Max smiled against him as she reciprocated, hoping it wouldn’t ruin anything. Her worries were quelled when Piers did the same. The solidarity made her smile more toothily, and he followed suit.

They tried to kiss through it anyway. Their teeth bashed together a little, and they both laughed quietly about it before resuming. Rather than pulling away again when they unlocked this time, they simply repositioned, testing the waters of how it would feel if they’d both leaned to their respective lefts.

…Yep, still good.

But not as good. They silently agreed to go back the other way.

Max felt the bed shift a little, followed by the warmth of a large hand against her cheek.

Oh, she really liked that.

She parted her lips again and kissed Piers deeper, removing her left hand from her lap and placing it on the bed in front of her knee; giving herself some leverage to lean in closer. His hand slid a little further back, his thumb remaining on Max’s cheek while his fingers brushed her neck and tangled through her hair. He matched her energy, kissing her harder, and Max sighed dreamily through her nose as he began gently nudging her backward.

She took it in stride, leaning back on her right hand for support while repositioning her legs in front of her. To assure him that she had no intentions to break their kiss as she moved, Max used her left hand to brush Piers’ hair away from his right eye, keeping it between her middle- and forefinger while placing the rest of her hand against his cheek.

Max’s mattress dipped around her as Piers finished lowering her down to her pillow. He kept his body to her right side still, but his right hand was now caging her beneath him. His other hadn’t left her head. Now that she was fully prone, Max got a little cozier, keeping her right leg flat but bending her left knee. She also brought her now-free hand to Piers’ other cheek. She subconsciously brushed soft strokes against his skin with her thumb, which he absolutely loved . 

Considering this was both of their first kisses, Piers wondered how it was going so perfectly. For now he would chalk it up to the fact that he was kissing his best friend. Because obviously the person who knew him best would know how to kiss him well… right?

Piers decided to savor the moment now, question it later.

Besides, his thoughts were broken by a blissful, almost heady sigh from Max.

He pulled away a bit, reveling in how Max craned her neck up a little in an effort to chase his lips. When he opened his eyes fully, looking down at the scene he’d caused, he was caught off guard.

Max’s mane was splayed around her, looking soft as ever. Her eyes sparkled with a glint he hadn’t seen in them before, and likewise, her pupils were blown wider than he could’ve ever expected. Her lips were red and swollen, still parted as she softly breathed out through them before closing them together. Cheeks were redder than they had been earlier, too. 

Max was just as starstruck by the view above her. Piers’ cheeks had more color than she’d ever seen in them, given how ghostly his skin was. His hooded eyes had a certain look about them that she couldn’t pinpoint. He looked… enamored by her.

That wasn’t right, was it?

She ignored it, favoring how almost ravenous Piers looked as well. God. 

Just like her own lips, his were swollen from all the use. She kept her hands on his warm cheeks. Played with the hair between her left fingers a little as she watched him watch her.

His lips twitched, and she perked up in anticipation. 

“Can I try something?” Piers asked, his voice quiet and slightly hoarse.

Curious, Max nodded. “Okay.” 

Piers lowered himself down again, but as he did so, he repositioned his hand lower on her face. His pointer remained against her jawline while most of his other fingertips laid on her neck. His thumb rested against her chin, though. Max didn’t close her eyes just yet, curious about what her friend had in mind.

Piers chastely kissed her again. She kissed back, like the gentlewoman she was. Then, he added pressure to her chin, gently using his thumb to tug Max’s mouth open. Her eyes widened as she felt his tongue slip past her teeth and against her own. She shut her eyes again, but the noise that came from her throat as Piers experimented was downright embarrassing.

He sealed the kiss in favor of laughing quietly.

Shit.

“You like that?” he whispered, his gaze hungrily flickering between Max’s eyes and lips.

Oh.

Oh.

Why did he have to say that like… like that?!

Max’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she settled on simply nodding again, humming “Mhm” for some extra confirmation. 

“Good,” he murmured before repeating the action.

Max was a little more responsive this time, now that she was more prepared. She did her best to swirl her tongue around his without overdoing it. A strong sigh left Piers and she figured she was doing something right. Her hands traveled further, both her fists tangling into his hair. Tugging a little as they all but sucked each other’s faces off. 

Satisfied with their new rhythm, Piers tested the waters some more. Tentatively, he brushed his hand down Max’s throat and onto her collarbone, then down her side. Repositioned himself so that his right leg was between both of hers. He shuddered as she lightly sucked his tongue, then felt her shudder as he cheekily tugged her bottom lip between his teeth.

He squeezed her hip, and thought he was going to fucking faint when she – subconsciously, he assumed – rutted against his thigh a little.

It was then that he noticed their breaths were getting heavier and louder, and their hair messier. He also realized that, at some point, Piers lifted Max’s huge shirt to her tummy; that he was squeezing her bare hip, only slightly clothed by some soft cotton panties. He didn’t even mean to do that. Either she didn’t mind, or she was too lost in his lips to notice.

At this rate, Piers thought, things might go too far if I don’t calm the hell down.

Reluctantly, Piers pulled back. Unable to resist, he left one more lingering kiss against Max’s lips before actually breaking off. His palm was still against her hip, now rubbing soft circles against her skin.

Max sighed, slowly opening her eyes. Looking into Piers’ through her lashes. Seems like they had the same idea, as they noticed each other trying to settle down a bit. Piers pressed his forehead to hers, and they both shut their eyes again.

“We should probably stop for now,” Piers suggested. His voice was barely there, and Max took note of how somber his words had come out. 

“Yeah,” she whispered, opening her eyelids again.

Piers sat back onto his knees, and Max leaned up, her position similar to how it had been when he entered her room. Just much more disheveled this time. Shamelessly, Piers scanned Max’s body. He’d seen her stomach plenty, given her taste in clothing, but… this was…

Oh god. He had to leave.

Max, watching as Piers checked her out, felt frozen. She wanted to cover her face, but opted to keep staring right back at him. Her throat felt dry.

“Um…” She got back on her knees, sitting in the same position Piers was in. “That was… that was cool.” She giggled a little, fully aware of how dumb she sounded.

Piers couldn’t help but laugh too. “Yeah?” Max nodded. “Yeah,” he finally agreed, “it was.” 

“Yeah…” Max looked down at her lap – now covered by her shirt again – and resumed her earlier fidget, playing with her hair. “Not too shabby for our first.” She looked up, a playful glint in her eyes as she held a fist in front of her.

Piers snorted and bumped it with his own. “Nerd,” he commented.

Max switched it up, now flipping Piers off. He did it back. They often greeted one another this way.

Slowly, Piers got back on his feet, still facing Max as he backed away from the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” 

Max nodded. Again. He’d never seen her this shy, at least since back when they were barely acquainted. 

It was cute.

“Yeah.” Max had a super dopey grin on her face.

It made Piers happy.

He had no idea that he was sporting the same look on his own features, nor did he know how happy that made Max as well.

Piers turned to approach the door, but looked back over his shoulder after opening it. “G’Night, Max.”

“Night, Piers.”

Once alone, Max flopped back on the bed. Her hands covered her face and she rolled onto her tummy, freeing her hands only to squeak her feelings into her pillow.

[glaivenoct]

🎃 trick or treat 🎃

Ask Box Trick or Treat - Fic Edition

Thank you for sending one in! Sorry I'm answering these so late too, but at least Halloween is still around the corner! (Its not the 31st for me quite yet)

Have a peek at a very old word dump that was always meant to be a part of a NyxNoct World of Ruin/fixit AU! It was directly inspired by the instance in FFXV Comrades when you pass by an NPC in Lestallum, who talks to another about how the search for Prince Noctis has been called off. I couldn't stop picturing this moment between Nyx and Cor the moment I heard it.

(Pls don't mind the way the first few paragraphs are written before the dialogue kicks in. I started this when I was having a writing slump, and sometimes I try writing a little differently just to get words unstuck. I haven't touched this in well over a year and just never bothered to fix it.)

(Pls also note I'd probably rewrite the hell out of this now, but it's not a bad start for just trying to get the words out.)

-

He will be returning to Lestallum from a mission. He will be bruised, sore and weary. He will overhear it in passing by chance - and it will drive him to the edge of hopelessness. 

“They called off the search for Prince Noctis! Without our King - ”

He will freeze in place, feeling suddenly hollow and as if a rug has been pulled from beneath his muddied boots. He will contemplate whether or not he is hearing things. If the phantoms in his nightmares have somehow found a way to haunt him the waking world. He will think that can’t be right. That the civilians don’t have a clue what they’re talking about, and it is nothing more than frivolous gossip to give the survivors of a dark, broken world something to do. 

He’ll know exactly who he needs to find to confirm the truth. Cor.

He’ll find Cor tucked away in a tent,  standing over a map and marking off areas on it. Cor will look up at Nyx, confused at the frantic manner he entered in. Nyx will be huffing both breathless and frustrated, dropping his backpack to the floor and looking at Cor in frustrated bewilderment.

“What the hell do you mean the search is off?”

Cor’s brows rise, eyes slightly widening in shock. Just as quickly, his jaw clenches and he glances off to the side, closing his eyes to sigh quietly. It’s all the confirmation Nyx needs. 

“You heard…” He says slowly, looking back up at Nyx.

“Not from you.” Nyx glares.

“I was going to tell you as soon as you returned.”

“And I’m here to tell you to call the search back on.” He shakes his head. “You can’t do this.”

“It’s been months and we’ve exhausted all traces of potential leads. The crystal is nowhere to be found. It brings me no comfort to do so, but we must move on.”

“He’s our King!” Nyx snaps, knowing Cor knows as well as he does that, for him, it’s more than that. Noctis might be everyone’s King, but he is solely Nyx’s whole heart. “We can’t just give up on him!”

“We’re not!” Cor snaps back, circling around the table to come toe to toe with Nyx. They both glare at each other, angry and frustrated with everything but each other. Angry and frustrated with the current state of the world and the choice it’s causing them to make. “You think I want to do this? You think I want to feel like I’m going to outlive another King after I failed the last one? I don’t! But take another look around you. We’re the last line of defense this world has. The last line of defense the people have. Noctis would want us to focus all our efforts and resources on protecting them. You know that as well as I do.”

Nyx knows. Really, he should know better than anyone, but he’s not ready. Not ready to take that step just yet. Not ready to put Noctis on a backburner and spend his days hoping he returns by some crystal given miracle or prophecy. There has to be another way. There must, but he won’t waste his time trying to convince the Marshal of it any longer. He doesn’t even necessarily fault him for this line of thinking. 

Cor, much like everyone else, is simply doing his best. Nyx knows he should respect that. 

Which is why the only thing he has left to say when he turns to swiftly leave the tent is, “I’m taking a walk.”

“Ulric –”

“I just need some time, alright? Don’t even think about sending Highwind after me.”

((p sure he's supposed to send Highwind after him eventually))

[foxghost]

Joyful Reunion

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang Masterpost | Characters, Maps & Other Reference Index

Borjigin Batu · Rosary Peas2

“When my mother was still alive, she often said that nobody really belong to you …”

“… Your spouse, children, parents, siblings, the falcons flying in the sky, the horses galloping on the grasslands, gifts from the Khan, the territory of the plains, the pearls in the tent. Everything is ephemeral. And not a thing beneath the firmament is promised to you, or ought to be yours.”

“You are the only thing that belongs to you. Just like a wolf,” Batu mutters to himself.

These days, he wears a Khan robe that bares his shoulder and back, and in his twenties, some of the duskiness in his skin has faded. There is a string of rosary peas wrapped around his wrist. There’s this poem from the Han that goes like this:

Rosary peas grow in the south; how many new branches come spring? I hope you bring home an armful; for nothing else quite stirs one’s yearning.

Duan Ling was the one who taught him this poem. Even though Borjigin Batu had no idea what it meant at the time, he’d memorised it anyway.

Two years ago, he spotted this bracelet of rosary peas among the merchandise of a trade caravan from the south. The Han merchant told him it was an item from the southern nation. Since it came from the south, that means it came from Duan Ling’s home, and when he sees it, it’s as though he’s seeing Duan Ling; when he’s got nothing better to do, he would reach for it, as though by touching it he’s touching Duan Ling, who lives on the other end of the earth.

This morning, the sun is gloriously bright, gilding everything in gold. It shines in through the tent flap of the Khan’s tent, just the way it had that night in the library in Shangjing.

Lamplight had illuminated his and Duan Ling’s juvenile faces and illuminated the brush racks and cups on the desk. The merry-go-round lantern had cast its shadows onto a painting of A Thousand Leagues of Rivers and Mountains, making the mortal world seem dazzlingly bright and golden.

He could still recall the day they met for the first time, how Duan Ling stood apprehensively in the school’s gallery in a sage-green robe. His skin had been so pale that he seemed carved from white marble, his fingers were small and soft, with well-manicured, clean and translucent fingernails, and he’d been so nervous that his fingertips were shaking as much as his eyelashes trembled. Several red welts on the back of his hand seemed to suggest that he had been beaten long ago, but the skin had already healed over.

There was a wolf-skin coat wrapped around Batu that day, and a constant impulse inside his body that he could never give vent to. As a teen, he always felt as though his blood burned a lot hotter than those around him, radiating a certain temperature anytime and anywhere. All he wanted was to go around hunting for prey to bite and tear and play with.

From the moment Duan Ling was taken into the school, Batu had turned and taken note of him. But it took him a long time standing there before walking up to him. Thus began a most horrible first meeting — thankfully, Duan Ling never held as much as a grudge.

Batu’s impression of Duan Ling mostly consisted of his focused, concentrated profile as he studied. Every day from the day they met, Batu was always sprawled over his desk, his head turned so that he could watch him. The headmaster’s endless prattling of things Batu couldn’t understand was a constant hum in his ear, while in his eyes was Duan Ling’s reflection, all his attention on the lecture.

“Earth black sky blue, universe in chaos, sun moon wax and wane, morning and night follow through, gold comes from river silt, jade comes from Kunlun …” Whenever he hears his daughter recite the books under Mu Qing’s guidance, what Batu thinks of most are the days he spent in Shangjing.

“Dad.” His daughter grabs his big hand, swinging it back and forth, calling him out of his reverie of the past, and back into the present.

Batu frowns a little and turns to his daughter.

“Where’s Master Mu?” Batu says to his daughter, “Go call for him. It’s almost time.”

His daughter runs out of the tent, and Batu rises after finishing his tea. Everything outside the Khan’s tent is bathed in a golden light, so like the many evenings when, as children, he’d waited for his family with Duan Ling.

Duan Ling would wait stubbornly for Lang Junxia, while what Batu had been guarding was the last happy moments he could spend with Duan Ling.

After all, when everyone said their goodbyes and went home, he went home to a dark, dreary house, followed by his father’s drunken verbal abuse. It really made him not want to go home at all.

Whenever Lang Junxia came late, Batu would teach Duan Ling how to wrestle or take him to the school’s rear courtyard to catch scarab beetles. He’d wrap a string around the scarab several times and leash it for Duan Ling … sometimes Lang Junxia would arrive before Batu was able to find the thing he wanted to give Duan Ling. Then, all Batu could do was wave at him while looking bored, and send him off.

“Duan Ling, Duan Ling!” Batu called out gently as he sat on the wall of Duan Ling’s house beneath a summer sky with a bottle in his hands.

When Duan Ling heard him calling, he ran out of the bedroom dressed only in his white underclothes, telling Batu to get off the wall already and to come into his bedroom.

Batu insisted on leaving, but Duan Ling was already grabbing his hand, pulling and dragging him into the bedroom and onto his bed. They lay down together, and Duan Ling pulled the blankets over them.

“This is for you,” Batu said quietly next to Duan Ling’s ear.

Duan Ling looked at it curiously.

Lying there side by side, Batu gripped the bottle and pulled off the stopper.

The lightning bugs he’d collected over the past two nights flew out all at once, sending dazzling spots of light all over Duan Ling’s bedroom, brightening the space like the Silver River in the summer night sky.

“Ah?!” Duan Ling exclaimed happily. Batu turned to look at his face and reached out to pinch his cheek. Duan Ling’s cheek was being pinched, but he didn’t seem to care, reaching out to catch the lightning bugs instead. Unable to stop himself in time, Batu’s fingers left a dusty smear on Duan Ling’s cheek. He immediately let go, instinctively wanting to wipe his fingers clean, but had no idea where he could wipe them; in the end, he could only wipe them on himself.

“Dad.” His daughter returns with the Khan’s Golden Sword in her arms. She hands Batu the sword, and so Batu takes it from her and straps it on his back.

“What is it now?” Batu walks out, sniffing himself as he does so, making sure he’s clean.

His daughter says, “I want to marry Master Mu.”

As soon as he hears this, Batu explodes. “The fuck do you know? You’re only seven! You already want to get married? Out of the question!”

His daughter goes quiet. Batu picks her up and puts her on the horse.

His wife had left the Khanate three years ago, gone home to the Helulun clan. In order to pacify their endless hostilities, she had been summoned by those in her clan ostensibly for a visit to her family, but their intent really was to remarry her to another tribal leader in the north who had recently come to power. The empire of Great Yuan, after many years of infighting over leadership and successive defeat, is already falling apart.

She left this daughter behind for Batu; she’s been called Pearl of the Grasslands, and she’s been called Princess of the Mountains. And now, with his most cherished daughter in his arms, Batu rides slowly away from the Khanate on his Ferghana horse.

Mu Qing and Chang Liujun are on their horses, waiting on the path that Batu must take.

“Great Khan, you’re up bright and early today,” Mu Qing greets him with a smile.

Batu nods back at him absentmindedly. “Where are our troops?”

A masked Chang Liujun gestures for Batu to look behind him. The iron-clad cavalry of the Golden Horde assembles in the morning light; fifty-thousand armoured horsemen had assembled, so vast in number that they extend past his vision at first glance, their armour glimmering in the sun.

With the Sword of the Khan on his back, Batu shares a mount with his daughter, and leading his strategist Mu Qing and his Major General Chang Liujun, he leaves the Great State behind and sets off on his journey south.

In the misty south, where it feels as though they’re riding through a cloud, hoofbeats are moving in his direction. Great Chen’s army had crossed the Great Wall and arrived in the centre of the grasslands. Representatives of the two empires face each other under the ceremony of two rulers meeting on a military campaign.

The sun rises, shining onto the fluttering battle banners of the Golden Horde and Great Chen. The world is quiet, with not a horse neighs to break the silence. The only sound that can be heard is the gale that rolls through the grasslands.

On the Great Chen side, someone lets out a quiet exclamation of surprise. Soon, the Heir canters out of the crowd on his mount.

It’s Duan Ling, followed by Wu Du, Zheng Yan, and a five-year-old child. The child looks a lot like Duan Ling when he had been a child, and like a piece of jade, there is already a regal air to him.

“Your son?” Batu asks.

“Nephew,” Duan Ling smiles. “My uncle’s child. I brought him along to broaden his horizons.”

“Duan Ling!” Mu Qing smiles, and he’s about to spur his horse over, but Batu bars his way.

With ten paces between them, Duan Ling and Batu look each other over.

“How come you’re not as tanned as you used to be?” Duan Ling says suspiciously.

Batu replies coldly, “Knew you were coming. Had a bath first.”

Wu Du and Chang Liujun stare at each other at a distance, and Chang Liujun smiles enigmatically, trying to say something to Wu Du with his eyes, but Wu Du just gives him a look of disdain.

“Where’d you get that bracelet?” Duan Ling asks smilingly then.

“Bought it myself.” Batu shakes his sleeve inconspicuously to drop it, covering up the bracelet. He says casually, “Has a match been made for your nephew yet?”

Duan Ling says, “Oh, that’s up to my uncle and himself. I’m not in a position to make that decision.”

As he speaks, Duan Ling turns to look at his little nephew. The boy and Batu’s daughter can’t help but consider the other curiously.

“Did you bring the treaty?” Batu says. “Where’s your military advisor? But I guess you’re your own military advisor. Never mind.”

Duan Ling nods. Batu raises a hand, giving the signal, and the two armies blow their signal horns and back away to make a clearing. Batu steers his horse around and leads Duan Ling’s party to sign their peace treaty. Today, years of fighting between Yuan and Chen finally come to an end, heralding in a brand new golden age.

This translation is by foxghost, on tumblr and kofi. I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, it was reposted without permission. Do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

Written by Feitian on Weibo in May 2019 to celebrate the reprint of 2013: Dawn of the World. If you’re wondering what a Rosary Pea is, the Chinese word for it is literally “red bean”, but it’s not the same red bean you eat. The kind that you can make bracelets out of are toxic. The full title of this extra is Rosary Peas Grow In the South. ↩︎

[phantomwarrior12]

Morning Possibilities

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Warnings: Slightly NSFW (nothing explicit), implied post and implied pre-

------------------------

He looks so peaceful.

The Young Wolf reaches, tentatively tracing the cheek bone of her Warlord. 

It's rare to be this close to him, conscious at least. They share a bed, they press close together, tucked beneath the warmth of moonlight but when dawn breaks, one of them is swept away to a duty that beckons.

But not this morning.

Zavala has given her leave for the day. Shaxx has delayed his Crucible for a few fleeting hours.

They'd been up a bit later last night, reacquainting themselves with the warmth and passion they've missed for months.

And now, beneath the rising sun, the Young Wolf is lost. Lost in the sense she could admire him for hours and never grow tired of it. Lost in his warmth, the weight of his touch along her waist. Lost in his Light intermingling with her own and it's soothing in its own right.

She shifts her head a fraction closer, pressing a soft kiss to his brow. Another along the bridge of his nose and then the tip of it.

"Good morning," he rumbles and she can't help her smile.

His head angles upward against the pillow and she leans in. His breath fans against her skin before she sits up a fraction, pressing her lips against his own.

He inhales through his nose, a sort of surprise at the contact before he returns her kiss. His fingers drift up her side, ghosting over skin until they settle along her cheek.

The kiss deepens and Lord Shaxx pushes up onto an elbow, guiding her onto her back and suddenly she's not the one initiating.

He draws back just enough to breathe, his eyes finding her own in the sunlight, "I said, good morning."

She breaks into a smile, reaching up to trace along his cheekbone once more, "Morning."

"Did you sleep well?"

She nods, angling her head. Her Warlord leans down, holding short of her lips and smiles softly.

"You were fairly vocal last night, dearest. Why the sudden silence?"

She snorts, looping her arm around his neck to drag him down a few inches to steal a kiss before she finally speaks. 

"When there's something to say, I'll say it."

Another kiss while his hands roam along her form until she gives him a gentle shove just to create some space. The sun has begun to rise and that means they both need to get up - despite her hopes that one day, they'll get to spend an entire day in bed.

Her Warlord lays back down as she sits up, tucking the blanket close around herself as she scans the bedroom for where she left her clothes.

They'd been so eager, she really isn't sure where the articles of fabric ended up.

"Something pressing this morning?" He asks as the palm of his hand smoothes along her spine, keeping her in bed a bit longer as she leans back into the contact.

"Not necessarily–"

"Then what's the harm in staying here a bit longer?"

"The Crucible–"

"Arcite is handling the preparations this morning." He sits up, sliding up alongside her to press a tender kiss to her shoulder. "I anticipated a late night and if I can help it," his fingers trace along her skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake, "I wasn't going to give up some spare time with you."

She smiles, angling her head toward him, "You never let Arcite handle things."

"Not true but I will concede his involvement in administrative duties is usually…rare." Another kiss, "That should speak volumes, my little Hunter."

"It certainly does," the Young Wolf angles herself more toward the Warlord. She tilts her head and captures his lips in a loving kiss.

His hand finds its way to her jaw, a sweet caress along skin that sends her heart aflutter with warmth and affection.

This. This is how she could spend a day. Laying in Lord Shaxx’s arms. Gentle kisses and passionate love-making. Just the two of them. A day of respite and relaxation.

But given the current state of, well, everything, it's quite impossible.

She's drawn from her daze by Shaxx withdrawing a few inches though his fingers linger.

"Where has that mind of yours drifted off to?"

He could tell?

Of course he could. She realizes she's grown more tense, her hand is clenched into a fist around the sheet. 

A kiss to her forehead, a gentle squeeze to her shoulder.

"Talk to me, Guardian," he urges softly.

"...just longing for something I can't have, my Titan. That's all." She whispers, reaching over to take his hand in hers.

The contact grounds her a bit more. Whereas she was once swimming in his affection, she's forced herself back into a state of awareness. 

The sun has risen higher, the birds call through the windows and there is a breeze wafting through the screens. The day promises to be a cooler one - she prefers those, really.

"And what's that?" His voice sounds so calm, so resoundingly firm despite the last twelve hours. His sweet nature hasn't ebbed but the soft spoken, sleepy partner has faltered. 

He's back to being Lord Shaxx, Crucible Handler. 

"A day where the only thing we have to do is make ourselves meals and then slip back beneath these blankets."

He chuckles, winding an arm around her before tugging her into his lap, the blanket a barrier between their forms.

"Oh? And how would we spend this day?"

She snorts, smiling up at him but tilts her head with a knowing look all the same.

"Ah. That does sound like a memorable day." He toys with a strand of her hair, "Perhaps it may be more achievable than you think?"

Her brow furrows in confusion, silently prodding him to explain himself.

"I'm sure Saint wouldn't mind taking over the Crucible for a day while I indulge a day at your side."

Her smile settles back into place as she straightens a fraction.

"And Commander Zavala has mentioned he wishes you'd rest once in awhile. Perhaps we speak to him. I'm sure the Vanguard has need of you in the next week or so but after? We'll find a day where I get to keep you here."

She sits up a bit more, pressing an eager kiss to his lips.

He returns it, of course. Gathering her closer as the kiss shifts to something relieved and tender and appreciative. Something so unique that her Warlord can't contain his smile.

They can have a day to themselves.

She can get a day of respite and her Titan's affection.

"Seems you like this plan, dearest."

"More than you know," she whispers, abandoning her hold on the sheets to cradle his face.

"I'll make the necessary preparations." He vows, leaning back until they are resting on the mattress and she is sprawled along his frame. "But for now, we should tide ourselves over."

A soft snort.

"We should," she agrees as he flips them.

And tide, they do.

-------------

Taglists are open! Send an ask/leave a comment to be added!

Forevers: @halo-2​ @reaped-winnower​ @forgotten-by-the-stars​ @sugarcoated44​ @cayde-6​ @avrosaetos​

Shaxx's Guardians: @ataraxia101​ @squirrel-stars​ 

[edupunkn00b]

Just Like Magic, Ch. 2: Speak

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2: Speak - [ AO3 ] Rated G - Implied hunger/malnourishment, food - 1458 WC

It took more than a year since you first asked, @typically-untypical, but today seemed like an excellent day to finally make good on your request <;3. ---

“'Everything?'” Janus’ face was serious but his eyes were kind. “That’s quite a lot.”

“Well, I…” Logan buried his hands into the unexpected warmth of the Mage’s cloak. It was a lovely garment, tightly woven and well-kept. Even after traveling, the edges were still daffodil yellow, not a speck or stain or even wear along the edges. His cloak must be enchanted, as well. Logan chanced a hopeful smile. “Perhaps I should say everything you are willing to teach me.”

Janus laughed, a low, rich sound that softened the rock of worry sitting in his chest. “That is still quite a lot.” He reached over and squeezed Logan’s hand. “It would be my pleasure to teach you anything you’d like to know.’

Eyes wide, Logan cast his eyes around his hut. Pyrocasting would require more time, and a staff. The utility of whatever charms were placed on this cloak was immense. It was sturdy and warm and soft, but still lightweight. The protection spells Janus wore around him like armor would certainly have helped him when he was younger, and—

“But first,” Janus’ voice interrupted his frenetic list building and Logan turned his eyes and attention back to the Mage. “You must eat and I would advise resting more. We shall continue your lessons in the morning.”

Nodding, Logan pulled back the cloak and blanket he’d been huddled under. A shiver ran over his body but he grit his teeth and inched his way forward to sit at the edge of his bed.

“Logan,” Janus laid a hand on his arm, halting his progress. “Where are you going? I just said you should rest.”

He blinked at the Mage, mouth working silently before he shook his head, confusion fogging his thoughts. “I… must gather. I—I haven’t even anything to offer you,” he stammered, gesturing at the empty shelf near the window.

“Relax.” Tucking the blanket and his cloak around his student once more, Janus nodded and picked up a small satchel Logan hadn’t noticed before. He sat down on the bed, then set the bag down between them and reached inside. His hand came back with a bright yellow apple, a small roundish parcel wrapped tightly in burlap, and several cinched linen bags, each about the size of his palm. Janus passed Logan the apple and smiled. “Have this while I prepare us something more substantial."

“I… You…” Logan stumbled over his words, clutching the apple close to his chest. Its sweet fragrance reached him and his mouth watered. He pressed the apple back into Janus’ hands. “You are my guest, I should be—”

“I am your friend,” Janus corrected, taking Logan’s hand and firmly pressing the apple back into his palm. “And friends share. I have two more in my bag and the tree where I found this grows just outside your village. If you wish, we can gather more together in the morning. Your very first lesson is that your magic will grow or wane with your own strength. When you care for yourself, you care for your magic. Now,” he said, standing and tucking in a bit of the blanket he'd mussed by the movement. He smiled and raised the wrapped packets in his hands. “I am going to prepare some soup and tea that we can enjoy with this flatbread.”

Knees tucked up to his chin, Logan held the apple with both hands, close enough to his nose that its scent filled each breath. He watched Janus as he moved about his hut, setting a small pot of water on a hook over the fire and spreading the sachets he’d retrieved from his bag on his worn table. Without looking up, Janus murmured, a soft humor in his voice, “I expect you to finish that apple before your soup.”

“Thank you,” Logan whispered, then bit into the apple, a small smile pulling at his lips as he chewed.

~~~

Janus smiled to himself when he finally heard the tentative little snap of his new student finally eating something. He was entirely too thin, gaunt, even, and Janus suspected his overuse of magic was only a small part of it.

The water heated quickly over the fire and Janus added dried herbs and mushrooms, and a sachet of dehydrated carrots and potatoes to the water. The aromatic steam spread through the small hut and he moved the pot away from the direct heat to allow the soup to simmer without over boiling.

The small, worn pot appeared to be Logan’s only cooking tool, so Janus retrieved a fire kettle from his own bag. The heavy cast iron pot with a locking lid was as large as his entire satchel. He smiled again when he heard a little surprised gasp from his student at the incongruity. Again, the water boiled quickly, and Janus found a small stone mug on an otherwise bare shelf and filled it and his own from his bag before sprinkling tea leaves into each.

Janus brought the tea to Logan’s bedside and sat next to him. “Let it steep, but the mug is perfect for warming your hands against while you wait.”

Turning the simple stone mug in his hands, Logan nodded. “My mother made this.” Janus nodded slowly, letting Logan decide if he wished to say more. Living alone in this part of the South was an aberration. The rest of the homes in this village were clearly designed for large families and Logan’s isolation was notable.

And concerning.

Logan blew across the hot liquid and finally took a careful sip, humming, either in thought or from the tea, Janus couldn’t be certain. They sat together in a comfortable silence for several minutes while they finished their tea.

“My mother died when I was young,” Logan finally said, staring down at the tea leaves in his empty cup. “Too young. I…” He sighed, turning the cup in his hands and frowning at it. “I dreamt she died. The same dream. Every night, for weeks. For a long time, I… I wouldn’t explain why I’d wake up crying. But finally, I woke up again in the middle of the night and… I told her what I’d dreamt.”

Janus watched the colors of Logan's aura swirl around his face as he stared down into his cup, the blues deepening, with a flash of almost white at his temples. He didn’t need to have Logan’s gift to predict what the man would say next.

“She was dead the next morning.”

He looked up at Janus, eyes pleading, whether for understanding, or for redemption. “I didn’t mean to kill her. But it wasn’t the first time something came true when I said it. Because I said it.”

Janus nodded. “It must have taken a great deal of courage to speak the spells in her book of shadows."

Logan frowned and shook his head. “That… that book wasn’t my mother’s. It… it appeared here one day. It… woke me and… And I…”

“Did you dream of the book?”

Logan opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking. He nodded.

“And you see something in your tea leaves now.” Logan’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “Don’t you?” Janus put down his cup and reached out and covered Logan's hands with his own. “Don’t tell me what you see, and we’ll find out if it comes true or not.”

Logan swallowed hard and looked down into the cup. His mouth trembled but he nodded.

“Now,” Janus stood and offered his hand. Logan took it and peeled back the covers, this time without shivering from the sudden cold. Janus smiled and helped him up, then settled him into a seat at the table. “Have some soup and tell me more about the book.”

They talked for hours, and Logan finished two bowls of soup and an entire loaf of flatbread. He was showing Janus the large lettering of the vision spell, the first he’d tried in the book when the door suddenly shuddered under the weight of heavy pounding.

“Abborrito!” A rough voice shouted through the heavy wood and Logan stared into his still-empty tea cup then back up at Janus. “Open the door!” the angry voice continued. Low murmurs filtered in under the gap between the bottom of the door and the packed dirt floor of Logan’s hut.

“We know you have a Mage in there! Send him out” Janus stood and picked up his staff. He tapped it twice against the floor and muttered under his breath. The door suddenly stopped shaking under the force of the man’s fist outside, but they could still hear his pounding. And his angry voice.

Janus smiled and squeezed Logan’s shoulder. “Let’s be neighborly and see what your visitors might need, shall we?”

[mxchellesworld]

Discuss!

Spencer Reid x Reader

Synopsis; Where the team discusses the question ‘do you kiss after head’, you find out Spencer has too little experience to answer the question so you help him out

Warnings; smut, oral (male receiving), sub!spencer, praise, slight degradation 

a/n; LMAO im so sorry for disappearing again life has been actually kicking my ass but anyways lately i’ve been thinking about subby early season spence so here we go,, hope you enjoy!

***

Another Friday night and the team was out bar crawling after an easy case. But this time all members were there as it reached 11pm which was rare. Usually Hotch and JJ would have been home by 10:30 and Spencer wouldn’t have been there at all. But there was something light in the air which had all parties concerned sitting packed in a booth, laughing after each sip of their drinks. 

Since it wasn’t your first rodeo together you knew how the night went. It started off with Rossi offering to buy the first few rounds, always whiskey but he made an exception for Penelope. Then again who would deny her anything. 

Once the drinks were flowing and lips got a little loose, the questions would start popping in at the top of your heads. However these were not your run of the mill, ‘hows so and so doing?’ ‘done your taxes yet?’ oh no. The name of the game was discuss where you would all think of a question which would help you dig just a tiny bit deeper into your coworkers sex lives. 

Maybe if you were all sober then you’d avoid thinking of each other in such positions, pun intended, yet in this state your prying minds were open and your stomachs were ready to grow abs from bending over in laughter. 

You raised the margarita glass up clinking it with a fork to get the tables attention. Everyone including Aaron had a smile on their face, ready to hear the intrusive question for the night. 

“Ok my fellow profilers, doctor, and tech genius,” you added pointing at Spencer then Pen, “Do you kiss your partner after they give you head? Discuss!” you finished in your most formal voice. 

Right as you took a swig of your drink the mixed responses of yes and no filled your small space. 

“Why wouldn’t you? You guys especially, if someones willingly trying to swallow then you damn well owe them a kiss,” Emily finished earning nods and ‘exactly’s from JJ, Pen, and yourself. 

“Ok but thats weird. I just can’t explain it but its a no go for me,” Morgan finished. This only gained him a scoff and raised voices, “Hotch man help me out here,” he said looking over to the man hiding his smirk behind the amber liquid. 

“I have to agree with the ladies here Derek,” he said curtly. 

The girls yelped and hooted at Hotch for siding with them while Morgan sat with his arms crossed being the singular person left out as even Rossi agreed. Meanwhile you noticed the presence next to you had shrunk back and wasn’t too active in the conversation. 

“So Spence do you kiss your partner after they,” you trailed off shaking your fist by your cheek and poking your tongue in the side. 

He coughed as he instantly sat up quicker. Even under the dim lights of the bar you could still see the blush creeping up from his neck to his ears and the slightest tint on his cheeks. 

“Oh I uh- I never-” he said looking anywhere but your eyes. 

“You don’t kiss them?” you said raising your brows. 

“No! I-i mean yes. I would I think b-but I haven’t had the chance to actually partake in such.. activities,” he finished finally taking a look into your eyes. 

You could tell he was waiting for you to laugh in his face for being so inexperienced but you felt far from it. If anything you wished you could be the one to show him things. 

That sweet boy had you wrapped around his finger and he didn’t even know it. Maybe it was his naivety considering how exceptionally smart he was. Or maybe it was the cute sweater vests he wore and now he nervously tucked his hair behind his ears. All you knew was that you wanted Spencer Reid and tonight was your night to make it happen. 

You hummed taking in the information, “Well that’s not a bad thing Spence. Everything takes time,” you said putting your hand on his arm for comfort and giving him a smile. 

Going to turn back to face the table you almost didn’t hear Spencer go to speak again, “Do you?” 

Got him.

“Why don’t you find out pretty boy,” you said with a wink as you downed the rest of your marg. In the corner of your eye you could see Spencer shifting in his seat, subtly moving his bag to cover the slowly growing tent in his slacks. 

As the night went by you couldn’t help but really give him a show. You had popped open a button or two on the long sleeve you had on, since it was getting stuffy in the booth. Though when you leaned forward and jutted your chest out, the soft inhale of a breath from the man next to you was just serving as motivation to get bolder. 

For the last hour you called it quits on the alcohol and drank a few glasses of water before you drove home. Spencer had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since your little interactions. 

The team had all gotten up to say their goodbyes. Rossi going by and giving everyone a kiss on each cheek. Derek having to quite literally rangle Penelope from talking to passing by groups on their way out. Then there were two. 

You turned to the side where Spencer was nursing on his coke, “Hey pretty boy, it’s late, let me give you a ride home,” you said grabbing your belongings. 

“Y-yeah ok. Thanks Y/n,” he said getting up. You’d noticed how he still had the burnt orange bag over his crotch. He couldn’t still be hard could he? Well you’d love to find out. 

As gentlemanly as he was, Spencer opened the door for you to exit the building first. The whip of fresh night air cooling on your exposed chest and legs under your skirt. 

You unlocked your car and stepped in, Spencer waiting to hear the little beep signaling his side was open. As he sat down you heard him let out a little whimper. Your head shot over to look at him, you could tell from the flush on his cheeks he didn’t mean to let the noise out. 

Holding in your chuckle you started the ignition and pulled out of the lot, “Can I put on some music?” 

“Yeah I don’t mind,” he said looking over at you with his lips in a line. If it was anyone else, they’d probably think he was uncomfortable but you loved his tiny awkward smiles. 

The ride to his apartment was mostly silent besides a rare quip from Spencer about paper work or fact about an older building you had passed by. It fascinated you to no end hearing him talk. Spencer was a hand speaker, meaning he always used his hands waving them around and making gestures. The pale digits had you captivated. Probably a driving hazard but you couldn’t help but let your mind wander. 

You pulled up into one of the visitor spots and put the car in park. You looked over to see Spencer almost contemplating something. You’d seen the look on his face before when he was looking over puzzles. 

“Somethin on your mind Doc?” you said with a small smile. As cute as he looked when he was nervous, you’d never want him to feel uncomfortable around you. 

“Would you-,” he cleared his throat, “Wo- Would you maybe want to c-come inside?” 

“Of course Spence I’d love to,” you finished with a reassuring nod. 

As he led you upstairs you were giddy with anticipation. So what if nothing happened. He was your friend first and you were glad he was letting you into his personal space. Even if you wanted nothing more than to have him writhi-

“Y/n?” 

The door closing snapped you out of your thoughts. You didn’t even realize you were in his living room. The dark green walls and shelves bursting with books put a grin on your face, “Sorry Doc, just caught up in my thoughts. What did you say hun?” 

His brows practically raised to his hairline from hearing the pet name. While he was used to the names coming from Garcia they took a whole different light coming from your lips. 

“I was asking if you wanted water or something,” he said fiddling with the keys in his hands. Eyes darting everywhere but your face so you wouldn’t be able to see the flush rising on his cheeks. 

“No I’m fine thanks for asking though,” you said taking a seat on the worn leather couch. 

You reached for the tv remote making a face at Spencer to ask for permission. He nodded and you settled back turning on an old sitcom that played late at night. 

As the episode ended you both sat in silence. Again you didn’t mind but you could practically hear the cogs moving in Spencer’s brain. 

You were about to speak when he cut you off before you could even get a word out, “What did you mean by ‘why don’t you find out’.”

Gaining confidence you moved closer to where he was on the couch, slow enough for him to stop you in case he wanted to back out. 

“Well you have options pretty boy,” you said moving a leg to straddle him. Your hands instinctively going to his brown locks. You could’ve sworn you heard a little moan leave his chapped lips. Noted. 

“W-what are the options,” lust blown eyes looked up to yours. 

“One, you can put that mouth to good use on me,” you said trailing your finger over his bottom lip, “and let me cum over that pretty face.” 

His eyes shut hearing your words and you weren’t having it, “Nuh uh eyes on me honey,” instantly they were back on yours. 

“Or number two. I can suck you off and let you cum down my throat, but,” you paused making sure to roll your hips on his growing length, “ you have to give me a nice big smooch after.” 

The hands on your hips pulled you closer as he bucked his hips into you as you finished the sentence. It was clear which option was preferred. 

You moved to slide down in between his legs. You let your hands trail down his clothed thighs, causing him to jump. 

“Tsk such a needy boy,” you said mockingly, “Am I not going fast enough baby?”

“Please Y/n,” he all but whimpered. It was like music to your ears. 

Your hands went to his belt, looking up in his eyes for a final sign of permission. Once he nodded you quickly undid it and he lifted his hips to help get his pants down. You palmed him over his boxers, feeling the wet patch where he was already leaking pre cum. 

“Is this all for me Spence? Does the thought of my lips around you make you this hard,” you said taking him out of the striped confines. 

“Oh god please just,” he cut himself off. You could see his hands curling fists besides his legs. 

“Please what baby? I can’t give you anything unless you ask.” Your hands continued their task of leisurely stroking his length. 

“Fuck please put your mouth on me,” he rushed out, hips bucking to prove his point. 

The answer was good enough for you so you wasted no time in leaning forward and taking him in your mouth. Both of you let out content sighs as you tried to take him further. 

You looked up to see him with his head leaned back, eyes scrunched closes in pleasure. 

You pulled off with a pop, letting your hand work him over. “Better keep those pretty eyes on me before I decide you can’t finish.”

He looked down with a flash of worry, that was quickly replaced by a loud moan as you spit down on his cock before taking him in your mouth again. 

For a germaphobe, Spencer loved how nasty it was. He was thanking god or whatever higher being there was for giving him his eidetic memory because the sight below him was something he’d never wanna forget. 

Your eyes were teary and you had spit dribbling down your chin but he wanted nothing more than to give you more than just a kiss after you finished. Or well after he finishes. 

You could tell he was close by the way he was throbbing on your tongue. Again taking him out of your mouth you used both hands to jerk him off. 

“You’re doing such a good job baby. So good for me. You wanna cum in my mouth pretty boy?”

“God Y/n I’m so close please please please,” he whimpered out. 

“Cum for me baby, be my good boy Spence,”  you said before taking him down your throat. He was big, not girthy but long and it was a struggle but you’d be damned if you didn’t try to take him all. 

Hollowing your cheeks you bobbed your head quickly, egging on his release further. His hands finally found a place in the back of your head. Pushing you down further as he came. 

“F-fuck Y/n I’m gonna”

His moans and whines were a symphony of sounds you’d have on repeat in your head forever. 

You swallowed the salty release but before you could even wipe your lips you were being pulled up by Spencer placing his lips on yours. You moaned into the kiss, his hands gripped the sides of your face not wanting to let you go. 

The need for air made you both pull back. You looked at one another, chests heaving and looking like you ran a marathon. 

Then a sad look came across his face. 

“Spencer what��s wrong?” 

“You didn’t get any pleasure,” he said looking like a hurt puppy. Oh your sweet boy. 

“It’s ok baby, I can take care of myself,” you tried to shrug off.

He was quick to push you back on the couch, taking the spot you were previously in. His warm lips trailing down your exposed thighs. 

“I wanna do it, but only if you kiss me after.” 

[writtendaydreamm]

One Rule

Daniel had one rule he followed on race weekends. No sex.

Warnings: 18+, NSFW, smut

It was a Grand Prix weekend and the first one y/n’s been able to attend all season. While Daniel was excited to have his girlfriend cheering him on during qualifying today, he wasn’t too thrilled about what a tease she’s been as of late. She was proving to be quite the distraction. Not exactly what he needed leading up to a big race.

It was a bit out of character for y/n. She normally tried to be as unassuming as possible during race weekends. The last thing she wanted was to jeopardize Daniel’s focus or performance. She mostly stayed out of sight and out of mind allowing him to get into the right headspace. She understood being a driver’s girlfriend required sacrifice. Fortunately for her, Daniel never asked for much. He really only had one rule during race weekends. No sex.

Now, if you know Daniel, you know he’s not really a follow-the-rules type of guy. He was more of a rule-breaker if anything. So for him to even have a no-sex rule at all, meant it was something he took seriously.

This all started very early on in his career after a horrible performance during a race he happened to have sex prior to. Needless to say, that race was one of the worst he’s ever had. Whether that incident was a fluke or if the sex really did affect his performance, only God knows. Either way, since then Daniel made it a rule to never have sex before driving. Whether that be for free practice, qualifying, or the actual race.

In accordance with his no-sex rule, the couple kept it PG these past few days sharing nothing more than some chaste kisses. It was driving Y/n up the wall. This rule never really bothered her before. But it had been so long since she and Daniel got to spend any real time together. It’s probably been around a month since they last saw each other in person. Every part of her missed him. His presence. His touch.

If she weren’t so desperate for him, she’d be impressed by his willpower. If the roles were reversed she would’ve given in by now. Y/n was not making it easy for him at all. Teasing him every chance she got. But to no avail. Dan still hasn’t budged

Y/n was just about ready to accept defeat until last night when Daniel’s resolve started to show signs of wavering. In a last-ditch effort to try and turn Daniel on enough so he’d finally fuck her, y/n wore nothing more one of than his t-shirts to bed. She was hoping for the best, but not expecting much. Daniel was already settled under the covers, headphones on, and ready for bed by the time she got there. But around a few minutes after she joined him, he got up to take a shower. Odd, since he had already taken one just before bed. Then after hearing a faint but familiar grunt coming form the bathroom, it clicked. He was taking a cold shower to get rid of his boner.

So when Y/n got dressed this morning, she didn’t choose the skimpy summer outfit she was wearing by chance. It was a calculated decision. One that would hopefully break whatever was left of Daniel’s resolve so he’ll finally toss that no-sex rule out the window.

When y/n asked him to tie her top from behind, Daniel nearly lost it right then. All he wanted to do was pepper kisses all along her neck and shoulder. How he wished he could just turn her around and pepper kisses along her breasts that were supported by nothing more than this flimsy top. But remembering his rule, he took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts aside.

Today was qualifying and Daniel was determined to earn a starting position within the top 5. He needed to be laser-focused on driving his race car at its limit today. Getting everything he can out of it. He had half a mind to lock y/n up in his car for the rest of the day the way she was acting right now. She was being a total tease the entire drive from their hotel to the circuit. Doing all the things she knew would turn him on. Like playing with his curls. Lightly massaging that spot on the nape of his neck. Running her hands over his thighs. Hiking her already short skirt up even higher.

Daniel knew exactly what she was doing. It’s not like she was being shy or discreet at all. And as much as he wanted to give her what she wanted, to rip the delicate fabric off her and take her in the back seat of his McLaren right then and there, he couldn’t shake the thought of his no-sex rule from his mind.

Swallowing hard, Daniel used every last bit of his self-control to resist her. He was so tense, his grip on the steering wheel had turned his knuckles white. Relief washed over him seeing the circuit was only a few minutes away now. He wasn’t sure how long his will would’ve lasted.

When Daniel finally parked the car, there was no denying the very visible tent that had formed in his jeans.

“Y/n,” Daniel groaned irritatedly. There were going to be cameras everywhere. There was no way he could walk out of his car like this.

She quickly feigned innocence. “What?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You know what. I can’t go out on the paddock like this right now.”

“Well all you have to do is let me help you take care of that then,” y/n pouted.

“Y/n, c’mon now. You know we can’t,” Daniel reminded her. His voice lacked any actual conviction though. “I just need a second to relax.”

Daniel closed his eyes, started to take deep breaths. In and out. In and out. It seemed to work as the tightness in his jeans started to let up.

That feeling didn’t last long though as y/n used this moment to feel him up through his jeans. Daniel’s eyes shot open as he inhaled sharply at the feeling. His hand gripped her wrist tightly but made no effort to remove her hand.

Y/n’s pussy throbbed at the feeling of how hard Daniel was for her and at how miserably he was failing to contain himself.

“The last time I fucked a girlfriend before a race I had the worst race of my life y/n,” Daniel warned her weakly.

“Well obviously, your ex wasn’t a good enough fuck,” y/n countered, her hand squeezing him through his jeans just a little. “If you won’t fuck me then at let me at least suck you off baby. How about that?”

Daniel couldn’t think straight. His mind wanted one thing, and his dick wanted something else. Her suggestion seemed like a good idea. It would be like a loophole. It wasn’t technically the same kind of sex that his rule referred to. A blowjob should be fine, right?

He took a glance around the parking lot to make sure no one was there. His McLaren was tinted pretty dark, but not dark enough to conceal them completely. A little part of him hoped someone would be outside so he had a reason to resist her. But a much larger part of him was incredibly eager to feel y/n’s lips around him.

“Fuck it,” Daniel grunted under his breath, throwing caution to the wind. He released his tight grip on her wrist and instantly took her lips in his for a hungry kiss.

Y/n smiled against his lips as she started palming him through his jeans. She pulled away, shifting in her seat to better face him. Her hands eagerly began undoing his belt and jeans.

Once she got them undone and Dan helped her pull them down mid-thigh, his dick sprang up. Wasting no time, y/n began pumping him with her hands.

Dan threw his head back in pleasure. He ran a hand through her hair, fingers lightly raking her scalp. As good as this felt right now, he knew how much better her lips would feel around him. His hand on her head began pushing her face towards his dick.

Y/n scoffed at his impatience but she figured she’d teased the poor guy long enough. Rather than fighting his hand, she allowed him to guide her head closer and closer to his dick. When she got close enough, y/n dribbled a little spit onto it.

“Fucking hell, y/n,” Daniel moaned. He may have controlled his urges for her all weekend, but it wasn’t easy. He was ready to let go and reach m the release she was about to bring him to.

When y/n finally wrapped her lips around him, he bit his lip hard to hold in another moan daring to slip out. She focused on his tip, swirling her tongue around it. Her hands pumping the rest of his dick her lips had yet to run across.

When she felt satisfied with the attention had given the tip of his dick, she released him from her mouth with a pop. The cool air from the AC still running was a stark contrast to her warm, wet mouth.

Her tongue licked a stripe from the very base of his dick, up to the tip before taking him in her mouth again. She did this a couple more times before finally sinking her mouth down on as much of his dick as she could handle. He gathered her hair into a makeshift ponytail so as to keep it out of her way and to give him a better view.

Daniel could no longer hold in his moans when he felt her start hollowing out her cheeks adding extra suction as she bobbed her head.

“It feels so fucking good, baby.”

Y/n began moving her head up and down faster at the praise.

“Yeah baby, just like that. Just like that,” Daniel instructed her, his voice hoarse and husky. Both hands were now on her head helping to guide her up and down at the exact pace he needed. He was getting close.

Y/n took her mouth off him, needing some air. Daniel let out a low groan as he saw what a wreck she looked like. Her eyes were tearing, lipstick smudged, saliva all around her mouth. What a fucking sight. With his hand still on the back of her head, he brought her face to his for a wet, sloppy kiss. Y/n kept pumping his dick with her hand as their tongues battled for dominance.

Daniel pulled away first, missing the feeling of her lips on his dick. Y/n went right back to sucking on him bringing him closer to his peak.

With both hands holding her head steady, he started moving his hips up into her mouth. Daniel couldn’t control himself anymore. It started off slow and steady. But quickly, it grew rough and fast. Y/n gagged a few times as he hit the back of her throat. Her hands were on his thighs bracing herself as he chased his orgasm.

“I’m close y/n, I’m so close,” Daniel groaned.

His hips were unrelenting as he fucked her face. The rhythm he had going turned erratic. After a couple of firm thrusts, he reached his orgasm coming in her mouth. A satisfied moan left his lips as his hands let go of her head. Y/n tried to swallow as much of his load as she could before bobbing her head up and down his dick a few more times for good measure.

“That felt so fucking good y/n,” Daniel said still trying to catch his breath. He stroked her hair lovingly, trying to tame the mess he created.

Y/n just pecked him on the lips before plopping back into the passenger's seat. After fixing themselves up, the couple walked hand in hand towards the paddock. They shared one last kiss before Daniel went off to prepare and suit up for qualifying.

Out there on the track, he was surprisingly the most relaxed he’s been in a long time. He was in tune with his car and making better decisions on the fly. His lap times decreasing with every lap he finished. At the end of the last round of qualifying, Daniel managed to secure the third starting position for tomorrow. The best starting position he’s had with McLaren so far.

Maybe that no-sex rule was doing more harm than good.

When he entered his McLaren motorhome he was immediately greeted with a big hug from Y/n. “You did so amazing out there Danny.”

“Reckon it had a little something to do with that mouth of yours aye,” Daniel said cheekily, running his hand along her back.

Y/n slapped his chest playfully. “Well, I mean at least now you know that stupid rule of yours was just bull shit.”

“Nah I’m not so sure,” Daniel started, before shooting her a wink. “I think we need to test it out again tomorrow before my race. See how well I perform then.”

[thepokyone]

No Corner of the Universe

Pairing: Loki x gn!Reader

Warnings: violence, fluff, mentions of torture

Words: 1.1k

A/N: Well I dropped off the face of the earth for a while, but here's an anon request for you. I hope you like it!

You weren't sure how long you had been in the concrete cell. Two days, three? Long enough that the shackle around your left ankle, which was secured to a spot in the middle of the room, had began to chafe and bleed.

You weren't certain what caused everything to go wrong. The mission was supposed to be routine. But the truth was, unless the Avengers found you soon, you were going to die in this cell.

You pulled your knees to your chest, stomach still churning from the murky water you had drank earlier that day. You knew better than to drink water that color, really, but it was the first they had given some to you since you arrived and you knew how fast dehydration could kill. At least the water, however dirty, would buy you some time.

You lifted your head as the door scraped open, dragging along the stone floor. "You don't look so good," your guard said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Did you just come here to gloat, or were you planning on torturing me again? Because if it's the latter, I'd rather you just get it over with," you said, an unusual lack of bite in your voice. You didn't have the strength to fight them anymore. Lack of food, water, and what you were certain was a serious concussion was enough to do that to a person.

"Actually, I had something quite different in mind," he said, spinning the key to your chains around his finger. "Are you well enough to walk?"

"What?" you asked dumbly, baffled. There was something odd about this whole interaction, though you couldn't quite place your finger on what it was. It was probably the concussion. Or your feeling like you needed to vomit. Or both.

The guard frowned at you. "If I free you, can you walk?"

"Yes," you said, if only because you didn't want his hands anywhere near you.

He grinned at you in a way that didn't quite suit his features. "Good." There was a shout from down the hall. "Ah, it seems they've already found him."

"Who?" Your fear was rapidly being replaced with confusion. Confusion was not, however, replacing the nausea.

The guard gestured to himself. "Me. Well, him. I just borrowed his face."

"Loki?" you asked tentatively.

"Well, as they've discovered my disguise," he said, a flash of green magic washing away the guard's likeness and leaving Loki in its place. "Hello, dear. Are you alright?"

"Not really," you said, letting out a shaky breath. "I've got a concussion, I think. And I feel sick."

"Let's get you out of here, hmm?" He smiled warmly at you, but something dark flickered behind his eyes. He quickly unlocked the shackle around your ankle and helped you to your feet. You leaned against him for support, knowing he was able to carry three times your weight and then some.

"You're not going anywhere." There was a horde of guards at your door, all of them with their guns aimed at you and Loki.

Loki's voice was icily calm. "I would ask you if you know who I am but frankly I don't care. You harmed them, so you die."

"You don't even have a weapon, how are you-" the guard was cut off mid-sentence by a knife through his throat. He let out a shocked sort of gurgle, tumbling to the floor.

"I'll be just a moment, darling. Try not to add a gunshot wound to your list of injuries," Loki said, sending you a reassuring smile.

The room seemed to explode in a second, filled with the sound of gunshots and the violence of Loki's anger, the sheer whirlwind of noise and action enough to finally send you scrambling for the bucket in the corner, vomiting what was left in your stomach of the water and bread.

Around you, the clamor ceased and Loki knelt by your side, ensuring your hair was out of the way and rubbing a soothing hand across your back. You let out a pained groan, grimacing at the sour taste in your mouth, and Loki made a comforting noise. Magic flashed around you, cleaning the grime from your body and replacing your tattered clothes with fresh ones. "Shh, you're alright."

He scooped you up easily, ignoring your feeble protests and walking nimbly around the bodies that had fallen in the wake of his anger, down several long hallways, and straight out the front door. There was an ambulance waiting, and you heard the overlapping voices of your teammates as you were transferred to a stretcher.

"I told you fools that brute force was not the way about this," Loki said, brushing them off. You didn't hear much more after that; one of the medics gave you a sedative and when you came to again you were in the hospital, Loki seated by your bedside.

"I'm alive," you mumbled, flexing your fingers. You already felt better, despite the throbbing pain in your head.

"Yes, quite," Loki said, pulling his chair closer. "Though the bad water you drank was quite closer to killing you than anything else. The remainder of your wounds, apart from the concussion, were quite minor."

"How'd you find me?" you asked.

"Dearest, there is no corner of the universe that you could be taken where I would not find you, even if all the armies of Asgard stood in my way," Loki said, brushing his thumb across your cheek. "Magic is, of course, the short answer."

"Of course," you said, laughing for the first time in days. "Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks," he said seriously.

"Still, I thought- I thought I was going to die in there." You looked up at the ceiling, blinking back tears.

Loki's voice was a whisper. "I feared I would be too late. That I had lost you before I even got a chance to…"

"Chance to what?" you asked when he trailed off.

"Tell you the truth," he said finally. "Tell you that my heart is yours, solely yours, to do with as you will. Because that is something you must know, even if I could never deserve you."

"Is that your way of saying you love me?" you said with a watery laugh.

"Was that not obvious?" His thumb brushed across your cheek again. "Darling, had I lost you, I would have razed the earth."

"Didn't you try to do that before?" you asked him cheekily.

"Ah, but I did not love you then," Loki said. "Had that been my reason before, things would have turned out quite differently."

"I'm glad you didn't, then. There's still so many places I have to show you," you said.

"Is that your way of saying you love me?" he asked, reusing your words.

You smiled. "Yes, I think it is."

He pressed his forehead to yours. "Then I will do my best to be worthy of you."

"You already are," you said softly, and brought your lips to his.

[muichiroslover]

Heyo could I request a ban x reader

Where ban and y/n first started dating before elaine so when elaine got into the picture she was a little jealous of their relationship and would try and break them up. And so one day ban and y/n got into an argument, the next day y/n and all of her stuff was gone. Elaine thinking it was a perfect time to take ban tries to comfort him but all he can think about is y/n. So eventually he finds y/n and apologizes in which y/n forgives him.

HAPPY ENDINGG

(Srry If its 2 long u don't have to do it if u dont want 2) (also I do not hate elaine xD)

Hi hi!! Yes I love this idea I love me some angst with happy ending 👀 I hope this is to your liking butterscotch!! <33 enjoy (●’◡’●)ﾉ♥︎♥︎

(Sorry it’s a little late ☹︎)

Pairings: Ban x reader

Warnings: Mentions of blood and wounds (not bad)

Genre: Angst with happy ending

_______________________________________________

You and ban had been a couple for as long as you could remember, at first it was kind of hard to approach him when you guys first met but when you guys had warmed up to each other you guys were absolutely inseparable

You guys did everything together and you were so well known your couple name around towns were “The bandit couple”

As you guys explored the world one night Ban brought up news about this drink that could give you immortality, using the sly line

“Then we can be together forever”

To which you laughed and hit him playfully, but he was entirely serious, you sighed and ended up agreeing to your adventurous boyfriends plan, if it wasn’t real at least you guys would have a fun time

So you guys began your journey to the fairy kings forest, when you guys had finally got to the tree you looked up and groaned

“That’s a huge tree, do we have to climb it?” You ask and he snorts as he already begins getting his hands and legs ready to climb

“You don’t have to, you can wait down here” he says smugly and you glare at the back of his head

“No I’m coming, I might as well see it through” you mutter annoyed to which he laughed

“That’s my girl” he says and you look away in embarrassment, feeling flustered at the comment which almost sent the blue haired man flying off the tree in amusement

As you guys climbed and finally made it to the top a girl, a little one at that looked at you both with a straight face as she puts her hand up and a huge wind blows you guys off

You scream in fear as you get blown far back and far above the ground, Ban grits and teeth and clicks his tongue as he grabs you as you guys start falling and takes the impact

You quickly got off of him and looked at him, tears almost in your eyes

“Oh my god! Ban! Ban I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for you to take the impact! Ban!! Ban-“ you frantically said to the man on the ground who’s eyes were closed

“If you keep calling my name out like that it’d be plain bullying if I didn’t wake up” he groans as he slowly sits up and you quickly hug him to which he chuckles and embraces you back

“Alright let’s try again” he says and your eyes widen slightly

“But ban-“ you begin and he just looks at you with his normal goofy smile you can never turn down, you sigh, deeply may I add and look at him

“Okay..I trust you” you say and he grins even wider as he grabs your hand and stands up as you guys started running towards the tree

The same thing happened a few times, it hurt, a lot but Ban never let you get too injured, always taking the impact of the fall even if you tried to fight with his grip in the air

The last time you guys got up there Ban grabbed his weapon and your eyes widen slightly thinking he was gonna attack the little girl

But he manipulated his staff and instead grabbed the cub with his weapon, You gasped as you two got quickly bounded by trees and the girl took the cup from Bans hand

The girl stands in front of you guys seemingly doing something then she lets us both go, Ban started explaining why you guys wanted immortality and those of such, You didn’t expect him to tell her his whole life’s story but

“Well shes too strong Y/n, let’s just go back” he says smiling at you as he holds out his hand, you smile lightly and nod as you grab it and you both head back down the tree

You guys were camping near the tree those days you were climbing it, you decided you’d stay another week since the fairy kings forest is actually quite pretty and you wanted to explore a bit before leaving since this opportunity may never come again

One night as you laid asleep in your sleeping bag you felt moving, you opened your eyes groggily to see your boyfriend quietly leaving the tent, you thought nothing of it, maybe he was going to pee or he was extra hungry or there was something dangerous nearby

Ignoring it you let yourself fall back into a deep slumber

But as the days and nights continued he kept sneaking out, you started getting suspicious so on the 4th night he snuck out you waited a little bit pretending you were sleeping and after a few minutes you slowly crept out of the tent

You looked around whispering your boyfriends name, this could be a huge misunderstanding after all

You went all around the forest and no sight of Ban

You went back to the tent and looked in, maybe you missed him?? But nope he wasn’t in there

You finally stopped in front of the tree and looked up, remembering the girl that resided there, logically speaking she was older then both of us since fairy’s live longer

“He didn’t” you whisper, you didn’t want to think, no you absolutely were wrong, must be seeing the wrong picture

Your boyfriend of years and hardships is not sneaking out at night to meet up with another girl, no it sounds absurd even thinking about it

‘I’ll just climb and check and I’ll be wrong, I’ll take the wind blow’ you think nodding your head reassuring yourself

You start climbing up the tree as quietly as possible, when you finally made it up and peaked up your mouth fell agape as you saw Ban and the girl chatting and laughing, all close

It surprised you so much that you lost grip on the tree and fell back, you rolled down the tree as if it was a hill, your limbs flying to and fro as you finally hit the bottom

You groaned quietly in pain

“What was that?” Ban says as he stops his conversation with Elaine hearing a soft thump

Elaine looks to the side

“ I didn’t hear anything?” She says and Ban shrugs as they continue to talk

You on the other hand shakily get up as you look at yourself, your arm was bleeding but you don’t know from where, your left ankle was sprained for sure, and your back was killing you it probably had a horrible bruise forming

A tear slipped out as you limped to the tent, you sat down as you grabbed bandages and started cleaning your wounds, the blood was coming from a gash just below your shoulder, probably from a sharp branch

You put a stick in your mouth as you took a deep breath, you grabbed some of Bans alcohol and poured it over the cut, you bit down harshly on the stick but no scream made it through, tears can’t say the same though

You spit out the stick as you breathed hard, every breath of air seeming like you haven’t had oxygen for a while, you take a bandage and wrap it around your arm securely

Usually you would make herbs for wounds and etc, but your hands were shaky, mind a daze and eyes blurry from tears

You wrapped up your sprained ankle and just let your back be in pain because there wasn’t much you could do about the pain back there

You sat silently in the tent waiting for your boyfriend to arrive, he did not arrive till the morning, about an hour and a half before you would usually wake up

When he opened the tent and saw you staring blankly at his empty sleeping bag he went to you and was about to touch your shoulder to ask you what was wrong but you jerked back

He was surprised as you looked at him, your eyes puffy, a huge sign you were crying

“Y/n what-“

“Where were you last night Ban?” You ask and he goes silent

“No in fact where were you the past 4 nights??” You ask and he sighs

“Y/n I just went out to explore and hunt, the foods not gonna come to us-“

You scoff, tears forming up, if he’s lying then is it true that he..

“You’re lying Ban, you’re lying to me” you grit out and he looks at you a little confused but mostly surprised

“What?”

“You were up there in that tree with that girl..” you say dangerously quiet and he sighs his head falling as he realizes he’s been caught and it looks totally wrong too

“Y/n..” he begins and you shake your head

“No no dont Y/n me, why did you lie and why were you sneaking out?!” You shout

“Y/n we were just talking I swear, I lied because I didn’t know how you would react-“

“HOW I WOULD REACT? HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF I WAS SNEAKING OFF LATE AT NIGHT AND MEETING UP WITH SOME GUY BAN?? HUH??!” You ask pushing him back but you wince as the wound near your shoulder moves

Ban notices this then notices the bandage on your arm and ankle

“Y/n what happened?” He asks quickly as he pulls your ankle into his palm to examine it, but you pull it back quickly

“You’re not even answering me, I-I can’t believe this, I can’t.” You say as you lay down in your sleeping bag, you were extremely tired from staying up the whole night already

You laid on the opposite side you usually lay on because of the wound on your other shoulder and thankfully it was the side not facing Ban

You guys didn’t speak for the whole day and when night came you woke up only to see Ban gone

“Y-You’re kidding” you whisper, you quickly get out, you run to the tree as you go up the route you began to remember with your mind at this point

You climbed up skillfully fast ignoring the roaring pain in both your ankle and shoulder, you peaked up and not to your surprise you see Ban and Elaine speaking under the oh so romantic fairy lights

With no sound you climbed back down, you walked to your tent and went in, grabbing your bag you grabbed your herbs, bandages, clothes and canned foods, leaving some for Ban even in your mood

You rolled up your sleeping bag and dig the dirt under as you grabbed your bag of coins, you and Ban always hid your money in case of any intruders, you guys were bandits after all

You take your money and put it in your bag as you get out the tent and leave

Ban returned back in the morning, he had asked Elaine what he should do to fix things and what a girl usually would like in this type of situation, you guys had never fought so bad to the point you didn’t speak the whole entire day

He was scared you were actually done with him, he had a few picked flowers in his hand and he took a deep breath as he opened the tent

But his eyes widen when he sees your stuff gone and your sleeping bag rolled up, he drops the flowers as he looks around frantically

“Y/N?? Y/N WHERE ARE YOU?!” He yelled, he ran everywhere around the forest looking for you, but you were no where in sight

By the time night fell he still couldn’t find you and it felt like his whole world was collapsing in front of him, he couldn’t think and he couldn’t even yell anymore bc he was sure he lost his voice by how loud and long he was screaming your name

He quickly wiped a tear that rolled down his cheek as he quickly climbed the tree, Elaine looked over at him worriedly

“You didn’t come at our usual time I was worried” she said and looks away blushing slightly

“She left Elaine! She left and I can’t find her anywhere” he says as he falls onto his knees and the tears finally come out

“She left me Elaine I-“ he says hoarsely

Elaine frowns sadly as she goes over and hugs him

“Well Ban...maybe she wasn’t the right one..there’s other people who can make you happy” she says

“Her injuries, she had bandages on her right arm and an injury on her ankle as well! She can get really hurt out there I have to find her” he cried

“Ban she left you, maybe it’s time to move on” Elaine says hintfully and lets go of Ban as she flies to the cup, she gives it to Ban and smiles at him

“Really?” He asks and she nods blushing a bit, he drank it slowly and when Elaine wasn’t looking he poured some inside of a glass bottle

“Ban I like-“ Elaine begins but Ban gets up

“I’m sorry Elaine I think this is the last time you’ll be seeing me, I checked every inch of the forest last night so that means Y/n has left the forest, I’m gonna be leaving as soon as I make it to the tent and get my stuff” he says to the girl who’s face falls in despair

“W-What wait but Ban she-“ she began

“She left? She had a good reason, if I was in her position I’d be upset too I can’t blame her” he says running a hand through his hair

“B-BUT SHE-SHE” Elaine tries to plead but stops when she sees Ban smile at her

“No matter what she did or does, she’s the only one my heart races for, in life or in death Y/n is my one true love so...wherever she goes I’ll chase her” he says and with that he jumps off the tree

Elaine falls to her knees as she watches the spot Ban once stood in, her head falling down as tears fell on to the tree

Ban had gotten to the tent and began packing all his stuff he got his money bag from under his sleeping , though he wonders where you hid yours and leaves

He travels for towns and towns looking for you, he had finally found you but much to his dismay you got captured since you were injured and were in a pretty tight situation as you were on death row

He watched as you and other prison mates were in a yard just doing your own things, you were laying on a bench staring at the sky

“Pssst”

You look up quickly and look around not seeing anyone, you were about to lay back down

“Pssst Y/n!”

You look around again noticing the familiar voice

“I must be going crazy” you mutter as you hold your forehead

“You’re not! Look over here!”

You slowly look to the side of the fence you were near and your eyes slowly landed on a bush, soon blue hair popped up from behind the bush and Ban gave you that grin of his

“Ban!” You say, a smile on your face, but you quickly replace it by a scowl and look away from him

He smiles slightly at that

“Y/n come on look at me” he whispers and you begrudgingly look over at him and he smiles, causing you to get flustered and your scowl to shake trying not to smile

“What are you doing here, you better hurry up and escape before they catch you too” you whisper not looking at him, instead watching the guards

He laughs

“As if I would leave you in a jail cell, come on let’s go” he says and you look at him stupidly

“Let’s go? No thanks death row isn’t that bad” you say coldly and he sighs

“Fine, guess we have to do this the hard way” he says shrugging

“HEY GUARDS” He shouts and your eyes widen as you sit up and block him with your body as the guards and inmates look at you

“UHH YEAH GUARDS, UHM YOUR ZIPPERS DOWN” you say and cringe deeply when the guards both look down and one coughs as he zips up his zipper, the inmates laughing

When everything died down you looked at Ban deadly

“Are you crazy?” You whisper

“Crazy for you”

Your mouth closes as you try to not blush but it’s inevitable as your brows unfurrow and a small smile takes over

“There’s that smile I love” he says and you roll your eyes as you huff slightly

“You better explain, I’m not giving you another chance so don’t you lie to me” you say and he nods quickly like a dog, you can basically see the tail behind him wagging

“Now step back babe, you’re boyfriends here to save you” he says smugly and you roll your eyes as you back up

He takes out his staff and in a swift motion breaks the fence, the guards all look over

“HEY” one shouts and you gasp as Ban quickly scoops you up and starts running

“It’s okay! I’ll take this bandit off your hands!” He shouts amused as he runs, he runs into a forest and does many turns eventually losing the guards who had to return back before any other inmates escaped

He puts you down lightly and you cross your arms to which he snorts

“I can run you know” you say and he shakes his head as he leans down and takes out a jar of green stuff

“They’re not as good as yours but they should do” he says and he gently takes your leg as he pulls up the inmate suit and sees your swollen ankle

“Tch stupid guards didn’t even treat it” he mutters as he takes some of the green cream and slowly and gently rubs it over your ankle

You can’t lie this felt really good but

“The first night I went up to try to plead for the youth drink” he says and you look at him

“The second night I went up to try and bribe for the youth drink”

“The third night I spoke to her, I tried to get to know her so she can see we have no bad intentions but one night wasn’t enough”

“The 4th night she had decent trust in me, so we continued talking”

He sighed as he started wrapping the bandage around your ankle softly, you don’t think you’ve ever seen Ban this gentle

“And the 5th night?” You ask and he looks to the side, you noticed a slight blush

“The 5th night I asked advice on what I should do to make you forgive me..” he mutters and your mouth falls agape slightly, it slowly forms into a small smile

“I’m sorry for not letting you explain..” you say and he shakes his head

“No, I can see how this looked from your perspective” he says as he rolls up your sleeves and switches the old bloodied bandages on your arm

You chuckle softly

“So I guess we can’t be together forever” you say sighing and as he rubs the herb cream on your bruised back he raises his eyebrow and pulls out a glass bottle with pink liquid

“Sorry but you’re not escaping me so easily” he says and you gasp as you grab the bottle and look at it

“This is really it??” You say looking back at him and he nods proudly

You slowly open it and drink it, but you didn’t feel that different

“Did it work?” You ask and he shrugs to which you deadpan

That day you both held hand as you jumped off a cliff, when you landed you guys sat up as you laughed and high fived, it worked

After a few months both you and Ban were caught purposely cause life began to get boring, you both sat in the same cell, after 33 executions you both are still alive in confinement

“I win” you say as you cross an all three X’s on the tic tac toe you made on the dirt in the ground

“You’re cheating” Ban replies and you laugh

Soon the door blows open and you two looked over to see a short man with blonde hair, you both smiled as Meliodas smiled back at you two

“Glad to see you two are still lovebirds”