#-beginning the actual fic. also I have to do a midterm tonight and this is my treat to myself hehe

[pettyprocrastination]

whoever this beloved anon was I am so touched by your kindness! You definitely didn’t have to do this but I am so happy you enjoy this idea and I will happily expand upon it for you!

this is just a collection of word vomit bullet points for the time being but I will happily answer any and all questions about this pair!!

warnings: violence, angst, child death (Sarah Miller), foul language, the same warnings that apply to tlou, reader is Sarah's mom and described as having similar features to her. 

So the general Idea is that you and Joel are happily married before the outbreak. 

You had been Sarah's mother, his high school sweetheart he got pregnant when neither of you were old enough to have any reaction to the pregnancy test other than a fucking panic attack in one another’s arms. but you made it work 

you both worked but made time for one another and your sweet girl, going to museums every other weekend and joel insisting on swooping you off for a date every now and then 

nothing special. He knows you’re more of a diner gal than anything too fancy that makes you both feel out of place. 

On his birthday in 2003, you had planned to tell him that you were pregnant again. But the memories of your own fears of motherhood from all those years ago begin to swirl through your head again and you get cold feel. deciding to tell him the morning after

it is his birthday afterall, you want to focus on him. 

but when you’re woken up in the middle of the night because tommy needs to get bailed out, Joel kisses you sweetly one last time before promising he’ll be back and you can’t shake the feeling that something bad is happening. 

its you that shakes sarah awake that night. shouting at her to put on her shoes when she’s still rubbing the sleep from her eyes because you’ve been listening to the radio for the past two hours, calling joel again and again and again praying for him to fucking pick up but to no avail. 

Sarah, bless your little girl’s bleeding heart is the one who insists you check on the adler’s against your better suspicions and when you find the eldest looming over her daughter, blood and sinew dripping from her mouth, you grab your daughter hand and burst into a full sprint until something slams into your back and sends you tumbling onto their front lawn

its how joel finds you, struggling to keep the once sweet old woman, whose now nothing more than dead eyes and gnashing teeth straining to snap at your pulse point as you push against her while sarah shrieks before your husband runs forward and cracks her skull with a wrench. 

there’s hardly a moment of pause, just enough for him to pull you up and into his arms before he’s ushering you both into the car with an urgency. 

when the truck crashes, you get separated from them. Perhaps at Tommy’s side when the flames rise and create a wall, separating you from your husband, or maybe pulled into the mob of chaos when trying to escape from those already infected-

all joel knows is that you promise you’ll find him: just get sarah to safety and you’ll meet him at the river

Poor thing is already so frightened, held in her father’s arms with tears streaming down her face insisting they can’t leave you they just can’t but her father kisses her forehead and reassures her its going to be okay 

“we just need to be brave, okay babygirl? Your mama’s real tough, she’s gonna be alright.” 

he isn’t sure if he’s saying it to his daughter or himself. 

but when he comes to the river you aren’t there. Only a soldier who points a gun at the scared little girl in his arms and then he loses everything

its when the light is gone from his daughter’s eyes that he realizes. His voice cracked and raw from sobbing that he looks around to see his brother with drawn in shoulders and tears in his eyes but his wife is nowhere to be found. 

Tommy says you got lost in the chaos. Everything was so loud, so sudden that he turned around and suddenly you weren’t there. 

Joel wants to go back but its Tommy that stops him, that dulls the red in his vision to a sad faded pink because his brother points at the orange horizon not too far from them, so much of the city is already in flames. 

“We’re gonna find her, but not there.” 

So Joel searches. for the first year spent in the world post-outbreak its all he did. 

He became a smuggler because of it. 

Information came at a price and he needed to be able to fucking pay it, whether it be in blood or ration cards. He was willing to do anything to find you or any thin thread that lead your way. 

But it’s Tommy that asks him to give up. Not in those words of course. 

The youngest Miller knows better than to say something so cruel that would make his brother, the only person he has in this world turn on him. 

But his voice is worried when he asks him one night in Boston when he hasn’t even had the chance to wash the blood from his knuckles 

“You think she would have wanted this for you?” 

the fight that followed his words was brutal. Vicious insults and scarred fists slamming against each brother until they're both too tired and bloody to continue. Each leaning against a wall for support and Tommy’s wavering voice breaking the silence. 

“I don’t know where she is, Joel. But I do know you're gonna get yourself killed if you keep lookin’ for her.” 

All he can do is nod. 

It’s a few days later when he meets Tess. Who has heard plenty of stories about the elder miller’s brutality and wants him to put that muscle to good use for some extra profit. 

It begins his new life. One that empty and cold but one he can live. 

Until of course, Ellie comes along. The sweet and incredibly opinionated girl that makes him become something akin to the man he thought died twenty years ago. 

its when he’s traveling with Ellie, that it happens. When a warm familiarity has settled between the two because so much blood and pain has been shared he can’t help but see her as something close, something bright even though all he can force himself to utter in her reference is “cargo” 

when theyre traveling through the woods as Ellie chatters away, probing his memory about a movie that may or may not have existed thirty years ago because her descriptions of the plot are incredibly odd he hears a voice shout for them to stop and finds himself staring at a man- no, a boy- pointing a gun at them. 

Ellie stills, but Joel can see enough to know that from the lanky figure and dimpled face that he’s young. Maybe twenty, twenty-two at the oldest, but his eyes dart from Joel to Ellie with a pinprick of fear that allows Joel the time to charge forward and slam him to the ground before wrestling the gun from his hands. 

He has enough to time to tuck it under the stranger’s chin before he hears the sound of the safety being turned off and finds himself looking up and seeing a gun just inches from his face. 

Joel’s head whips around when Ellie’s voice calls out his name in fear, he turns to see another stranger holding her a gun point, shoulders drawn back and a shadow cast over their face by the had obstructing their identity. 

“You hurt one of mine, I hurt one of yours. That a fair deal?” 

Its takes him a moment to recognize you. It’s been so long since he’s heard your voice, the sweet tease when you would poke at him each time he woke up late despite the fact that you reminded him to set his alarm the night before, the times you’d chide him with a harsh “Joel Miller!” whispered in public anytime he was able to grab you a bit too passionately to be appropriate in public but the laughter in your voice let him know you were never truly mad at him. You didn’t know how to be. 

But that sweetness is buried under a cold rasp that cuts through the air as you point a rifle at the scared little girl in front of you.

“You think I won’t?” You’re older now, skin covered in scars from a life he didn’t know you got the chance to live and your eyes are cold as they regard your husband. “Put the gun down and get the fuck off of him, I won’t repeat myself.” 

Joel mumbles your name in awe. The woman he loved, the woman he mourned the one he fought so hard to find stands before him like some sort of hallucination and suddenly the world feels like its spinning until you bark orders at him again. 

“You’ve got five seconds Joel, make a fucking choice before I make it for you.” 

He looks down and realizes the boy under him, the one with the bleeding nose and snarling face has your eyes and his dimples. 

“One.” 

The one above him has Sarah’s hair. Soft brown curls that shine under the sun. 

“Two”

Wait. No, they both do.

“Three.” 

Twins. Jesus fucking Christ you had twins. 

“Four.” 

Joel holds the rifle up above his head and the one boy standing snatches it from his grasp, tossing it to the ground and kicking it far from his reach. He slowly stands, allowing your son- dear god your son- to scramble to his feet. 

Your voice softens just for a moment. “You okay, Duke?” 

Blood stains the bottom half of his face from where Joel slammed his fist into the boy’s nose just moments before, but he nods nonetheless. 

Now, they both stand on one side of you and he can see the resemblance clear as day the same way he would whenever Sarah was by your side.

When you order him to hand over his bag, he does so without question before telling Ellie to do the same. 

She watches him with wide eyes, her hands still up in the air but gaping at her companion as if he had grown a second head. 

“Joel!” “Just do it, alright?”

He doesn’t miss the way you watch their interaction with narrowed eyes until she tosses her bag to you and you slowly lower your gun. 

“Now, you want to tell me what the fuck you think you’re doin’ at my home?” 

[ddaengtae]

see you around || jjk

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

genre: college, strangers (idiots) to lovers, fitness instructor! jungkook, fluff, smut

word count: 13.9k

summary: you know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar and obsess over with your friends, but know there’s about a one percent chance they’ll ever talk to you or even know who you are?  that’s precisely what jeon jungkook was to you; a piece of delicious eye candy that you could daydream about all you wanted, but had to accept that it was too unrealistic to ever happen.  or so you thought.  after an embarrassing accident at the gym that makes your worlds collide, maybe you had been wrong about your chances all along.

a/n: when i came up with this idea in my head, i guessed it would be around 5k words.  guess my hands slipped.  this is only my second bts fic, but after getting good feedback for my first one, i decided to give it another try and this is what happened.  i tried to edit closely, but there may be a few types so i’m sorry!  thanks for reading & pls lmk what you think. :)

Another week, another million reasons to be stressed.  It really seemed like that was the never-ending pattern of the college lifestyle.  The weekend was never long enough to truly allow yourself to unwind.  Sure, those two days were great, but how was two days enough to destress from the agony of multiple all-nighters to keep up with the shitload of work that all of your professors always deemed it acceptable to assign?  There was no way for you to prove it, but you believed in a conspiracy theory that all of the professors would meet up at the beginning of each semester and choose to make all of their huge assignments due on the same days just to fuck all of their students over.  There could be no other explanation for the hell that was midterms season.

While during your first two years of college you would barely be hanging on by a thread during the busiest weeks of the semester, you were now a junior and had at last adopted a regime that helped you burn off some steam when the tension became all too much.  Somewhere along the way, you started to realize that inhaling mozzarella sticks and Red Bull at two in the morning the night before an exam did very little to make you feel better and that it would probably be a better idea to take up a healthy lifestyle and better time management skills sooner rather than later.  In the process of getting your life together, one Tuesday evening in the spring of your sophomore year, one of your roommates had convinced you to accompany her to a group fitness class at the gym on campus.  To your surprise, you fell in love with it and the feeling of adrenaline and accomplishment that came along with making it through the hour.  From that day on, you vowed to yourself to make it to the gym most days of the week.

There was something about group fitness classes that made you feel much more comfortable than going to the gym and working out on your own.  Perhaps most glaringly, the classes were dominated with like-minded girls who just wanted some peace of mind for an hour.  Most of the instructors were girls too, except for a few guys who seemed to understand why a lot of women chose to avoid the rest of the gym.  It was quite unsettling to work out by yourself on the main floor and be surrounded by conceited guys who always seemed to either be undressing you with their eyes or judging you because, god forbid, you couldn’t squat three-hundred pounds like they could.  The whole place just always reeked of toxic masculinity, or so that was what you had thought until you found out about the group fitness classes that the facility also held.  They seemed to be a sort of heavenly escape from the rest of the place that resembled a fraternity initiation ceremony.

That was precisely where you found yourself this Monday evening.  In dire need of a break from studying, you found yourself sitting on the floor of the group classroom surrounded by your equipment and waiting for your favorite instructor to arrive.  The concept of a high-intensity circuit training class had initially terrified you when you first decided to try it out last semester, but it had quickly become your favorite class and one that you attended every week without fail.  It was incredibly satisfying to track your progress and watch your body evolve as you adapted to be able to lift heavier weights and make it through the cardio outbreaks without feeling like you were going to drop dead every second.

Taking a long sip of your water, your eyes remained down on your phone as you heard the door of the room open and close again.  As it was still ten minutes before class, you didn’t think much of it and assumed it was probably just more people piling into the room and rushing to get their equipment ready.

“Uh, hi guys!  The usual instructor for the class is unfortunately sick so I’m filling in for her tonight,” an unfamiliar-- but yet also eerily recognizable-- male voice echoed through the room.  “I was just recently certified so this is actually the first class I’ll be teaching here.  I promise I’ll try to live up to her hype.”  The unknown source let out an awkward laugh, which was met with relative silence from the rest of the room.

The moment your eyes moved up to fall upon the new instructor, your breath hitched in your throat, causing the water you had been attempting to drink to flow down the wrong pipe.  This wasn’t just any unmemorable college boy filling in to instruct the class.  There at the front of the room stood none other than Jeon Jungkook.  The breathtaking Jeon Jungkook was going to be leading the class and you were supposed to be able perform-- let alone breathe-- properly?  Oh no.

You and Jungkook were not friends by any means.  Hell, it was highly likely that the boy didn’t even know who you were.  You know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar, yet know there’s about a one percent chance that they will ever know who you are or ever speak to you?  The ones you tell all of your friends about and you go out of your way to use your FBI-level stalking skills to find their social media in hopes of finding out more about them so you can daydream about your nonexistent, fantasy future together?  The ones you’re always hoping you’ll cross paths with while walking to class because even a glance of them will make your day a little more exciting and give you something to talk about with your friends?  That was what Jungkook was to you.

Jungkook had become known as ‘hot coffee shop boy’ amongst your friend group after you had noticed him studying in the same coffee shop as you one day in the fall of your sophomore year.  As you always chose to study at the least favorite and therefore least populated coffee shop on campus, it was shocking the first time someone as beautiful as Jungkook sat down at one of the tables across from yours and settled in to do his homework as well.  His presence offered you a paradox; while seeing him looking like a model wearing his oversized clothes and sighing at his laptop screen was certainly a distraction at times, it also served as a form of motivation to force you to focus because you didn’t want him thinking you were slacking off.  He seemed to enjoy the quiet ambience of the specific shop because after that first day, he began to frequent it almost as often as you, always sitting at the same table by the third window.  On some occasions, one of his friends who always seemed to be changing hair colors would accompany him.  After some research completed by your enamored friend Jennie who sometimes accompanied you, she discovered his name was Park Jimin.  He quickly became known as ‘iced chai’ after that seemed to be his regular coffee order.

It was an exciting day amongst your friends on the first day of classes in the spring of your sophomore year when Jungkook happened to enroll in the same Earth Science lecture as you to satisfy the science gen-ed requirement at your university.  Rocks and rivers weren’t exactly interesting, but the back of Jungkook’s head from the row in front of you certainly was.  The group chat really blew up the day he spun around in his chair and asked you if he could borrow a pen.  They were right that it would’ve been easier for him to just ask one of the people next to him, but you were smart enough to not think into it too much.  Maybe you just seemed like the type of person to carry around an abundance of stationery materials (you weren’t, and you ended up not taking any notes that day after giving him the only pen you had).

So here you were, practically choking on your water as Jungkook started to set up his own equipment at the front of the room.  How dare he invade your safe space?  You suddenly felt as if you barely remembered how to do a jumping jack, let alone have the facilities to pick up a weight.  

After organizing his weights at the front of the room, Jungkook’s eyes began to scan the participants in the room, likely counting how many people had shown up.  The moment his eyes met yours, your whole body froze in place.  Oddly enough, his seemed to do the same.  His doe eyes became wide and his mouth fell into an ‘o’ as he looked at you for a few seconds too long, and you swore there was an expression of recognition on his face.  Before you could convince yourself that anything of the sort had truly happened, Jungkook was blinking rapidly and shaking his head at himself before his eyes darted away to scan and count the rest of the room.

“Alright everyone, we’re going to get started in a minute here,” Jungkook announced a minute later, looking down at his phone as he connected his music and began blasting it through the speakers.  “Just remember to follow my lead and please don’t hesitate to wave me over if you have any questions or are struggling with form.  I’ll try to keep an eye on all of you and come over to help you out anyway.”  His eyes crinkled into crescent moons as he offered the class a big bunny smile.  Oh god, you were going to pass out.  “We’re going to be starting with a pretty intense cardio circuit here to bring those heart rates right up and set the tone for the rest of class.”  Great.  Your heart rate was already accelerating through the roof just at the sight of him.  “Try to keep up, but if you need to grab some water or take a break at any point, please don’t hesitate to do so.  We’re going to get started in 3… 2… 1… Go!”

To your surprise, you were able to make it through the first couple of circuits without too much trouble.  You made it your mission to zone in on each of the exercises you were doing, and that every time you were forced to face forward you would fixate your gaze on the back of the girl in front of you.  It was shockingly easy to forget about the beautiful man in front of the room while you were gasping for breath after numerous rounds of burpees and mountain climbers.  The goal was to look calm and fit without calling attention to yourself.  Outside of your heavy breathing that was likely being drowned out by Jungkook’s loud music, you could say you were succeeding.

About twenty minutes into the class, Jungkook signaled a transition into an upper body circuit.  While you were delighted to get a break from cardio and to allow your heart rate to calm down for a bit, following the exercises now required you to face forward and watch for his cues.  This would be fine as long as you didn’t focus on his gorgeous face that was currently glistening with sweat in the most pleasing way possible, right?

“Alright, we’re going to start off here with some overhead shoulder presses for the first minute.  I’d recommend something on the lighter side, but make sure you’re challenging yourself.”  With a slight nod of his head, Jungkook picked up his own weights and counted down the class to begin the first exercise of the circuit.

Shoulder presses weren’t bad.  You could do this.  Inhaling a deep breath, you made an attempt to wipe your sweaty palms off on your leggings before picking up your dumbbells and getting in position to begin your shoulder presses.  After the first few reps, you quickly fell into a rhythm that was both comfortable yet challenging, feeling that delicious burn in your shoulder muscles.  At the halfway mark through the minute, your eyes had remained glued to the same girl in front of you.  You finally felt a sense of peace.  One look at Jungkook couldn’t hurt, right?

Wrong.  

Against your better judgement, you decided to shift your eyes to the front of the room and take a good luck at a combination of both Jungkook’s back and the reflection of the front of his body through the mirror before him.  

The string of events that occurred immediately after that moment was a blur.  As Jungkook pressed his set of dumbbells above his head, his baggy shirt slid up his body, exposing his sweaty, toned abs that looked as though they were sculpted by the gods themselves.  What was likely an audible gasp escaped from your lips as your eyes remained frozen on the sight in front of you.  It was unclear if it was your mesmerized state, your sweaty hands, or a combination of both, but seconds later, the dumbbell in your right hand slipped out of your grasp and quickly went crashing downward.

“Oh my... Fuck!” 

There was a moment of dissociation before you realized that the loud cry had, in fact, come out of your mouth, and that the dumbbell that had glided out of your hand had, in fact, come crashing down onto the big toe of your right foot.  Your head was spinning as you began to process the throbbing feeling radiating throughout your entire foot, as well as the weight of what had just occurred.  Within moments, the eyes of all of the participants were on you, as well as the eyes of the one person whose attention you really did not want in such an embarrassing moment.  No, no, no.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Jungkook’s panicked voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke into his headset and he quickly dropped his weights on the ground.  “Um, okay, the rest of you can keep going!  I’m going to get someone else to come in within a few minutes so I can help her.”  Within moments, he was shoving his way through the room until he was right in front of you and pulling the microphone away from his mouth so the rest of the class wouldn’t hear your interaction.  “Are you alright?  Oh my god, you shouldn’t be putting pressure on it.  Let’s get you out of here and get some ice.”

You genuinely thought you were going to pass out.  It had little to do with your toe, and a whole lot to do with Jungkook’s sudden closeness.  His concerned face was just inches away from yours as his eyes scanned yours for any sort of explanation for what had just unfolded.  His presence was intoxicating.  You could smell the combination of his cologne and sweat, and you had yet to tear the image of his gleaming six-pack out of your mind.  Oh my god.  That had really just happened.  The first impression you made on Jungkook, AKA hot coffee shop boy, was you making an absolute fool out of yourself and possibly breaking your toe while doing a simple exercise.  You were never going to live this one down.  You were going to throw up.

When you hadn’t responded to Jungkook within a few seconds, he took it upon himself to drape an arm over your shoulders and pull your body against his side.  “Here, lean against me so you’re not putting weight on it.  I’m going to bring you to the first-aid room and get you some ice…  At the very least.”

It was quite possible that your brain had chosen it was better to black out the memory as Jungkook began to pull you out of the room, yelling to one of the workers at the front desk to quickly find someone else to take over the class.  Your legs felt like jelly as they moved beside his, only functioning out of muscle memory rather than true volition.  Here you were, body pressed against that of the guy you had admired from afar for over a year.  In any other circumstance, this would have been like a dream come true.  Instead, you wished the ground would swallow you up and put you out of your misery.

It wasn’t long until you were pulled into what was likely the first-aid room and instructed to sit on top of the counter by a very stressed Jungkook.  The more you thought about it, the more horrible you felt.  Not only was this the Jeon Jungkook of your fantasies, but it was also the Jeon Jungkook who had informed the class before it had started that this was the first class he had ever led.  You had quite literally ruined his first class, and had set an appalling example of what he would expect going forward.  If your toe hadn’t been throbbing, you would have seriously considered running right out the door.

“Okay, if you don’t mind, just take off your shoe and sock while I try to find an ice pack,” Jungkook commanded as he nervously raked a hand through his already-messy hair, frantically rifling through the cabinets.  Your eyes watched his back as you followed his instructions, guilt filling your entire body.  He seemed stressed.  Nervous, even.  It made sense, if you thought about it.  Your foolish accident had just become his responsibility, and he was a new employee.  You would be nervous too.

“Found one,” he breathed out, hitting it against the counter a couple of times to activate the coldness.  As he turned around to face you, his eyes wandered down to your exposed toe.  “Oh no, that looks pretty swollen.  Does it hurt really badly?  Are you okay?”

“It doesn’t feel great, but I’m okay.”  No, no you were not okay, but you needed this to be over.  Meeting his eyes, you realized those were the first words you had spoken to him since this whole debacle had unraveled.  He probably thought you were crazy.  Taking the ice pack from him, you chewed on your lower lip.  “I’m… I’m really sorry.”

Jungkook furrowed his brow as he looked up from your foot to meet your gaze, tilting his head to the side.  “Huh?  You have no reason to be sorry.  Accidents happen.  I get it… I’m pretty clumsy too sometimes and have hurt myself much worse than this for much stupider reasons.  Really, don’t worry.”  He was rambling, and if you hadn’t been so distraught, you would have perhaps realized just how nervous he really seemed.  Offering you a shy smile, his eyes averted away from yours as his cheeks flushed a shade of bright red.  Redder than they should have been from just working out.

Looking down at your foot, you placed the ice pack on top of it and shook your head.  It was difficult to form words with him so close, but you knew you had to if you wanted to redeem yourself at all.  You already had created a mental plan to avoid him at all costs and hide from him whenever that wasn’t possible, but this was the least you could do.  “No, I’m really sorry.  You said at the beginning that this was your first class and I… I kind of ruined it for you.  I’m sure you were really excited about it.”

Jungkook remained occupied with your toe as he moved the ice pack to the side, feeling around the bones and moving it gently in various directions to see how bad the pain was.  “I don’t think it’s broken.  Definitely pretty swollen, but not broken.  However, I’m clearly not a doctor so you might want to get a second opinion.”  Standing up straight, he offered you a warm smile.  “But seriously, don’t worry about it.  There’s always going to be more classes for me to teach and I wasn’t just going to let you suffer there.  I’m happy to help.”

God, not only was he gorgeous, but he was also this friendly?  It was possible that he was just being nice to keep you calm and keep his job, but regardless, he just seemed so perfect.  So perfect that you feared being so close to him, for your endless flaws felt as if though they were being magnified.  Clearing your throat, you forced yourself to return the smile.  “Thanks.  I really appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.”  You needed to escape.  You needed to get out of there so you could cry to your friends about just how mortified you were and how you now really never stood a chance with hot coffee shop boy.  “I should probably get going.  Don’t want to hold you up any longer.”

“You’re not holding me up at all, I promise,” Jungkook responded a bit too quickly, but yet again, you were too focused on your own embarrassment to notice.  Crossing his arms over his chest, the tall man tilted his head to the side.  “How are you going to get back to your dorm?  Do you have a ride?  You definitely shouldn’t be walking on your toe.”

Fuck.  He had a good point.  Regardless of the pain flowing through your foot, you were willing to walk on it just to escape this situation.  However, you knew you couldn’t tell him that.  “I, uh, one of my roommates has a car and I was going to call her to pick me up.”

“I have my car here.  I could drive you.”

Wait, what?  Had he really just offered you a ride?  If you had met his gaze, you would’ve seen that he looked just as surprised that such an offer had slipped out of his lips so casually.  Instead, you stared down at your lap as you attempted to process his suggestion.  If the situation had been even slightly less humiliating, a car ride with the Jeon Jungkook would have sounded like one of your fantasies come to life.  However, at the current moment all you could imagine was the intense awkward silence that would likely fill the car as you contemplated how to successfully fling yourself out of the window.  That would not do right now.  You were not in the right headspace to muster up any coherent form of small talk.  The offer was likely just extended out of pity anyway.  He was a good guy and deemed that that would be the righteous thing to do.  No need to burden him and actually make him follow through with it.

“No, no.  I wouldn’t make you do that.  I’m going to text my friend right now,” you assured him, weakly smiling as you moved the ice pack to the side to retrieve your removed sock and shoe.  “You have a workout to finish anyway.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Jungkook insisted, watching intently as you carefully put your sneaker back on and tied it up at lightning speed.  When he realized you had no plans of speaking again, a defeated sigh pressed through his lips.  Why was he so set on helping you?  “Okay, okay.  As long as your friend is coming soon, that’ll work.  I can walk you to the lobby though.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to let you just run out of the room alone, you forced yourself to nod your head in agreement.  You were being dramatic.  You could handle one more minute in his presence before you imploded.  “Sure, thanks.”  The response came off a bit snappier than you had intended, but did that really matter at this point?  You weren’t going to be able to show your face around him ever again to begin with.

Once you pushed yourself off of the counter, Jungkook encouraged you to lean most of your weight against him as he led you out the door.  As you were already on the first floor of the facility, the walk to the lobby luckily didn’t take too long.  Upon arrival, you plopped down in one of the plush chairs by the door, fishing your phone out of the pocket of your hoodie and pretending to draft a text.  In all honesty, the moment Jungkook disappeared, you intended to wobble your way back to your dorm by twisting your foot to the side to avoid putting pressure on the big toe.  You were well aware that you were going to look ridiculous, but nothing could be more mortifying than what you had already experienced.

Jungkook stood over your chair, rubbing the back of his neck as he rocked from side to side on his feet.  Something about him just exuded nervous energy, and it was making you feel even more on edge.  “You’re sure your friend is able to come soon, right?”

Nodding your head in response, you lifted your hand into a thumbs-up that you regretted the second your hand formed it.  God, you might as well have hit him with some finger guns.  Could you be any cringier?  “Yes, don’t worry.  She’s on her way.  Really, thank you though.”

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his athletic shorts, Jungkook’s eyes scanned your face one last time.  It was almost as if he was searching for any hint of a lie, but if he had been, he wasn’t able to find it.  “Okay, okay… If you insist.  I’m sorry this had to happen to you.  I hope it heals quickly.”  His lips stretched into that signature bunny smile you had witnessed so many times while seeing him with his friends in public, but it almost looked a little more… Bashful.  “I’ll see you around, okay?”

No, no he would not.  You weren’t even sure that he had recognized you from being at the same coffee shop so often, but regardless, you had already planned to avoid the location at all costs.  You couldn’t stand the thought of him possibly approaching you out of pity to check and see if you were okay.

Instead of expressing any of these concerns, you twisted your lips into a small smile and nodded your head at him.  “Mhmm.  See you around.”

After lifting his hand in a wave, Jungkook smiled at you once more before turning on his heel and slowly starting to make his way back toward the main area of the gym.  You watched as he began to disappear, as you planned on rushing out the door the moment he was out of sight.  Right before he rounded the corner, his body twisted to face you once more.  If you hadn’t been so fixated on your own embarrassment, maybe you would’ve noticed the way his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red before he nervously laughed to himself and rounded the corner quickly so he was out of your line of vision.

The moment he disappeared, you gathered your belongings and rose to your feet a bit too quickly, immediately noticing how you forgot to avoid putting pressure on your toe.  Fighting through the pain and fighting to maintain any sense of pride you had left, you began your walk-- or rather, wobble-- home.

God, you needed some wine.

The rest of the week passed by without much trouble, but maybe that was due to your advanced avoiding skills.  Due to having three midterms throughout the week, most of your time was spent holed up alone studying.  While you usually would do most of your studying in your favorite quiet coffee shop, you made it a point to steer clear of it at all costs.  You were well aware that Jungkook also spent a lot of his time in that specific location, and you weren’t ready to show your face to him if it could be prevented.  He had been right; your toe wasn’t broken, but instead just badly bruised.  While your toe may have been fine, your ego certainly wasn’t.  After stumbling home after the incident on that Monday evening, your roommates had a laughing fest at your expense over a few too many bottles of wine.  They attempted to convince you that what had happened really wasn’t that embarrassing, that Jungkook seemed to be really sweet about it, and that such a chaotic event would be ‘the most epic story to tell people about the start of your relationship at your wedding.’  Although you indulged in their pipe dreams for the time being, you were going to stick to your plan: avoid Jungkook at all times possible until enough time had passed that he likely forgot about your humiliating catastrophe.

After a week of cramming for exams and perfecting your evading abilities, you were beyond ready to take a night to unwind and destress. That was precisely why you found yourself out at one of popular college bars by your campus with your friend Jennie on Friday night.  The pair of you weren’t exactly the type to go out and let loose very often as you tried your best to prioritize your studies, but once you allowed yourself to get dressed up and had a few vodka-crans running through your veins, you understood why a lot of college students went out so often and remembered why you used to so much during your freshman year.  The sensation of being tipsy and laughing with your friends was truly therapeutic and a much-needed antidote to counteract the toxic environment of never-ending stress.

Having been at the bar for over an hour, it started to get quite crowded.  As you twirled your straw around in your half-empty drink, you watched as Jennie began to look around at all of the new faces in the bar before freezing and pursing her lips. “Okay, not to make you freak out or anything… But hot coffee shop boy AKA sexy fitness instructor boy AKA Jeon Jungkook is here,” she whisper-yelled at you as she leaned toward your ear.  “He seems drunk… Like really drunk.”

Blinking rapidly as you tried to process this new information, you pulled back from her and began to shake your head.  This certainly was not what you needed to hear right now, but the alcohol in your system calmed you down at least a little bit so you didn’t immediately book it out of the place.  “So what you’re telling me is that I need to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the night?”  Despite your fears, you really wanted to get a glance of him.  Although the bar was quite large, you told yourself it would be too risky.  If experience had taught you anything, it was that even one glance at him could be fatal for you.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Jennie scoffed, shoving your shoulder before taking a long sip of her drink.  Her gaze remained set on the area of the crowded bar that you refused to look toward.  “He’s…” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened.  “Okay, I might be a little drunk, but I’m almost positive he keeps looking over here.”

“Maybe because you’re staring at him and drawing attention to us,” you scolded, narrowing your eyes at her.  “Please stop before I jump over the actual bar and hide behind it.”

Jennie laughed at your dramatic suggestion, eyeing your nervous persona up and down.  “Relax, relax.”  She looked over your shoulder yet again.  “Oh, wait.  He’s on the move now so I don’t think you have to worry.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, you took an extra long sip of your drink.  “Thank god.  I don’t need to relive my earlier trauma on a night out.”

“Wait, fuck.  I think--”

“Ah, is that toe girl?!”

Your whole body froze as you heard the close proximity of a very familiar male voice behind you.  You wanted to believe that your initial guess of what was occurring wasn’t true, but the mixture of shock and amusement on Jennie’s face as she looked over your shoulder at the sight behind you confirmed that your worst nightmare was, in fact, true.

Sucking in a deep breath and downing the rest of your drink before placing it down on the bar, you gave yourself a mental pep talk before slowly turning on your heel to face the source of the voice.  If there hadn’t been a decent amount of alcohol in your system, you were quite certain that you would’ve passed out right then and there.

There before you stood Jungkook with a cheeky grin spread across his lips and arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at, unfortunately, you.  He was sporting a pair of tight, ripped black jeans and a matching black t-shirt.  The clasping of a beer bottle in one hand and the way his arms were folded made his bicep muscles protrude in a manner that had you ready to start drooling.  Jennie had been right; his face was glowing a bright shade of red, likely due to a great deal of alcohol consumption.

Clearing your throat, you forced your lips into a shy smile as you folded your hands together in front of you.  You wished you hadn’t finished your drink so you had something more natural to do with your hands.  It felt as if though your heart was going to explode through your chest, but he was here now and there was no escaping.  “God, is that really what I’m known as now?”

“I mean, kind of.”  Jungkook let out a loud laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so.  How was he so fucking gorgeous?  And why the fuck was this beautiful man going out of his way to talk to you on a night out?  “But I won’t call you that anymore.  It’s Y/N, right?”

Your brow furrowed as your mouth opened in surprise.  Wait, what?  Jungkook knew your name?  It felt like your mind was moving at a million miles a minute trying to process just how that could be possible.

A hand reached out from behind you to squeeze your shoulder, Jennie stepping forward and revealing herself after you had forgotten about her existence for a minute.  Her lips were twisted upward into a mischievous smile.  “I see a couple of my friends from one of my classes.  Gonna go say hi to them.  I’ll meet up with you later.”  After not-so-discreetly wiggling her eyebrows at you, she mouthed what appeared to be “good luck” before sauntering off.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now.”  Jungkook chuckled quietly as he watched Jennie walk away before setting his eyes back on you and smiling warmly.  You were convinced that his smile was going to be the death of you.  “Hopefully you won’t try to run off as quickly as you did the other day.”

“I did not run off!” you scoffed immediately, crossing your own arms over your chest as you feigned offense.  Once again, thank god for alcohol, for you were well aware that this conversation would not be happening without it.  He was right, but you hadn’t realized he had noticed your urgency in escaping that day.  ‘I… I wasn’t even aware that you knew my name.”

“Suuure you didn’t.  You couldn’t get away from me fast enough,” Jungkook teased, leaning forward a bit to nudge his shoulder against yours.  The area of skin he touched immediately felt like it was on fire, as did your cheeks.  “But of course I know your name.  We had Earth Science together last year and you’re always studying at the same coffee shop by North campus that I do.  You’re kind of hard to miss.”

You?  Hard to miss?  Not to mention, the Earth Science class was a lecture with over one hundred students in it, and the professor hardly ever took any form of attendance.  Sure you could say the same thing about you knowing his name, but that was only because you had gone out of your way to find out who he was after becoming captivated by him upon seeing him at the coffee shop.  This didn’t make any sense.  Were you dreaming?  Hallucinating?

Raising an eyebrow at him, you decided to keep your response simple.  “You’ve never talked to me, though…”

“I know, I know.”  Jungkook unfolded his arms and clasped both of his hands around his beer bottle, staring down at his fingers as he tapped them against the glass.  Maybe it was the dim lighting in the bar, but you could’ve sworn his cheeks darkened as he avoided your eyes.  The aroma of cologne and beer coming off of him at the close proximity had you feeling light-headed.  “I’ve always wanted to.  Planned to talk to you at the coffee shop this week, but you were nowhere to be seen.  You just… I… You’re really pretty and you’re always smiling and I kind of freaked out when I saw you taking that class on Monday.  I’m pretty shy and not exactly the most confident person so I have no idea why I’m saying this right now… Definitely all of the beer I’ve drank… But I probably shouldn’t be overstepping or saying any of this anyway since I’m starting to realize that you’ve probably been avoiding me or think I’m weird or something.  Sorry for offering to drive you home the other day… I realized after that that probably seemed creepy coming from a total stranger.”  He looked to the side as he began to nervously tap his foot against the floor.  Something that sounded like a nervous laugh pressed through his lips.  “Fuck.  This is why I barely ever drink.”

Your body remained frozen as you stared at the side of his face, fully aware of the fact that your jaw had dropped and you were visibly gaping at him.  No.  There was absolutely no way that those words came out of his mouth and he meant them.  It had to be the excessive amount of alcohol in his system, right?  Or maybe he was just sweet talking you to try to get laid.  That had to be it, right?  You weren’t sure if you were going to throw up, pass out, or do both at the same time.  The vodka taking over your own system was preventing you from being able to form any sort of coherent thought.  Still, he deserved a response.

“What?  I don’t think you’re weird at all,” you reassured, chewing on your lower lip as you tried to read the expression on his face.  God, you really could have come up with something better than that.

Jungkook’s doe eyes at last met yours again, a disbelieving look in his eyes.  “Then why’d you lie and say your friend was picking you up and end up walking home on a possibly broken toe instead of letting me drive you home?”

Oh my god, he had seen you do that?  You were certain he was completely out of sight when you had dragged yourself out of the building.  To be fair, you hadn’t taken into account the fact that the place was covered with windows that would have given anyone access to see outside the front of the building, but why would he have been looking anyway?  Just as you thought that day couldn’t have gotten any more embarrassing, it did.  

The mix of alcohol in your system and your heart pounding in your chest was quickly becoming too much to handle and making you lose control over your faculties.  Maybe that was why you blurted out, “I-I don't know��� You make me nervous.”

“You make me nervous too!”

Before you could even begin to comprehend the weight of his words, another male figure popped up beside Jungkook and draped an arm over his shoulders.  His bright pink hair made him easily identifiable.  It was iced chai, also known as Park Jimin.  If Jennie had noticed he was there, she certainly would have been freaking out.

“There you are!  I’ve been looking for you.  You just disappeared on me,” Jimin informed Jungkook, his gaze quickly moving to set on your distraught form.  If you hadn’t been so out of sorts, perhaps you would’ve noticed the look of recognition in his eyes as they set on you.  “I’m sorry, is he bothering you?  He never usually goes out with us and gets drunk like this, so I’m sorry if he’s a little chaotic.”

Shaking your head at Jimin, you offered him a comforting smiling.  You could feel Jungkook’s concerned eyes burning a hole into the side of your face.  “No, no.  He’s not bothering me at all, don’t worry.”

“Oh, thank god.  I was worried he might do something stupid.”  Jimin let out a sigh of relief, looking between the pair of you.  Could that ‘something stupid’ be what had just occurred?  At last, he gave Jungkook a firm pat on the shoulder.  “We have to get going right now.  Hoseok thought it’d be a good idea to down five tequila shots in a row after all of the beer we drank back at the dorm.  He has his head down on the bar with his eyes closed and I want to get him out of here before he starts puking everywhere.  Afraid you might end up in the same state if you keep drinking at this pace too, dude.”

“I’m fiiine,” Jungkook snapped back at him, rolling his eyes as he shrugged Jimin’s arm off of his shoulder.  He peered at you for a quick second before his eyes averted downward, the nerves that had been there before refusing to go away.  After taking a few moments to ponder what his friend had just told him, he let out a defeated sigh.  “Fine.  We can go.  Only because it’s Hoseok though.”

“I’ve already requested the Uber so we should head outside now,” Jimin urged, glancing over toward where Hoseok likely was sitting at the bar.

“Um.” Jungkook at last forced himself to look at you, his lips curving upward into the slightest smile.  It seemed forced though, and you knew it was because you didn’t have the opportunity to elaborate on and finish the conversation you were having before Jimin butted in.  You also felt as if though you were about to self-implode and needed some time to comprehend what had just unfolded.  “Sorry.  I have to get going, I guess.  I’ll see you around though, okay?”

Nodding your head in agreement, you allowed yourself to return a reassuring smile.  “Okay.  I’ll see you around.”  This time, it was possible that you meant it.

After he gave you one last anxious look, he turned on his heel and followed Jimin’s lead, disappearing out of your sight.

Where the fuck was Jennie?

After scoping out Jennie in the corner of the bar, you had convinced her that it was absolutely necessary to immediately take an Uber home to debrief on what had occurred.  Within half an hour, you had managed to arrive back safely to your dorm and had replaced your uncomfortable clothes with pajamas and your vodka crans with a bottle of wine.  Although your mind felt quite foggy from trying to piece together everything that Jungkook had said, you were able to provide Jennie with at least the majority of the details.

“Wait, hold on.  Let me think about this.”  Jennie threw herself back against your bed, staring up at the ceiling after her head hit the pillows.  “So basically what you’re telling me is that you are to Jungkook what Jungkook is to you?  Like he pretty much admitted to admiring you from afar and being too afraid to talk to you all of this time?” she questioned, eyes wide in amazement.  “God damn, why can’t shit like this happen to me?  This is like some fairytale shit.  You’re so fucking lucky.”

Taking a big swig directly out of the bottle of cheap rosé, you let out an exasperated sigh.  “I don’t know.  It seems too good to be true.  Like, what if he was just really drunk and didn’t know what he was saying?  You even said he seemed really drunk.  Or like, what if he was just being nice because he was trying to get laid?”

“Y/N, don’t be ridiculous.  I know this all seems so unreal because we never thought something like this was possible, but the things he said to you were way too specific to just be a fluke.” Jennie sat up straight again and pulled the bottle of wine out of your hands, taking a sip herself.  “Besides, I was watching you guys from across the bar.  He looked absolutely smitten with you and ridiculously nervous, drunk or not.”

“Fuck, I’m so much better at just daydreaming about guys than actually knowing how to talk to them and attempting to form actual relationships,” you groaned out, closing your eyes and resting your head on Jennie’s shoulder.  “What am I supposed to do?”

“I hate to break it to you since I know this is very out of character for you, but you’re going to have to make the next move.  He laid his cards on the table, and now the ball is in your court.”  Jennie allowed her head to fall on top of yours and passed the bottle of wine back to you.  “Based on what you explained to me, you didn’t really provide him with a whole lot of reassurance that the feeling was mutual and he’s probably feeling super embarrassed right now… Like, definitely more embarrassed than you felt after the whole gym incident.  You have to let him know that you’re interested in him too.”

Letting out a huff, you tapped your fingers against the glass of the bottle of wine.  Jennie did have a valid point, as much as you hated to admit it.  Regardless of Jungkook’s intentions and just how drunk he may have been, he had seemed incredibly flustered after rambling on and exposing what he had to you.  As much as there was still a part of you that was convinced that he hadn’t meant what he said, there was a bigger part of you that was excited about what this could possibly lead to if you followed through with it.  You would have to throw away your nerves and muster up the tiny bit of confidence you had if this was ever going to happen.

“Okay, so what’s the game plan?”

The plan you and Jennie had concocted ended up being a lot more difficult to follow through with than you had initially imagined.  The original scheme involved you approaching him at the coffee shop you both always studied at, but despite the numerous occasions you dropped by and spent hours studying there over the next week, he was nowhere to be found.  It was almost as if he had adopted the same avoiding technique you had the week prior after being embarrassed at what unfolded at the gym.  You weren’t exactly surprised, but it was making this whole thing a lot more complicated for you.  Furthermore, the longer it dragged out, the more anxious you got that maybe this was all a bad idea and that you had misunderstood what he said at the bar.

After a week with no luck, Jennie had convinced you that maybe it would be a better idea to try to track him down at the gym.  Despite going almost every day and keeping your eyes peeled for him, he was nowhere to be seen.  It wasn’t until a few days later that it dawned on you that the group fitness class schedule was posted online, and that it was possible that he now had some classes that were officially assigned to him.  Sure enough, upon checking the recreation website, you quickly discovered that he did have a couple classes that he was set to teach.  While this information certainly was helpful, it was quite unfortunate that every class he led happened to be at the ass-crack of dawn.  God, were you really interested in the type of guy who gets up extra early to work out?  Apparently so.

So that was precisely how you found yourself rolling up to the gym at 6:45am on a Tuesday morning, eyes heavy with exhaustion as you searched for the room the class was being held in.  Your heart was pounding and your palm was sweaty against your water bottle, but you were too dedicated to turn around at this point.  You had spent over a week trying to track him down, and you at last had.

When you entered the room, Jungkook had not arrived yet.  There were already quite a few girls in the room setting up their equipment, so you followed suit.  As most participants were often too intimidated to take the spots up front and center in front of where the instructor stood, you took it upon yourself to do the honors.  Of course you knew this would make Jungkook want to run the other way, but the thrill of making him as nervous as you were that last time was too exciting to turn down.

The door of the room opened and closed once more, and you didn’t even have to look up to feel his presence.  Here we go.  “Hi, everyone!  Welcome to class.  My name is Jungkook and I’ll be your instructor toda--” His voice cut off at the end of his statement, and when you finally allowed your eyes to set on him, he was already looking at you with wide eyes and tinted cheeks.  Within a millisecond, his eyes found the ground and he apprehensively took his spot directly in front of you.  The poor guy didn’t have a choice.  “U-Um, if you guys have any questions before we get started, please don’t hesitate to wave me over!”  You had a very strong feeling he was praying you wouldn’t wave him over.

The plan you had created before arriving was to wait until after class was over to ask him if he could talk for a few minutes.  You knew it wouldn’t be fair to put him on the spot before class, and you didn’t exactly feel comfortable confessing your feelings for him in front of twenty other girls who were probably drooling over him as well either.  

You managed to follow through with the plan, not communicating with Jungkook at all before and throughout the class except for a few soft smiles and some attempted eye contact.  The eye contact thing didn’t go over so well though, for whenever you did manage to get Jungkook to lock eyes with you, he’d immediately turn bright red and force himself to look everywhere but at you.  His nervous stammering through the microphone when giving instructions was almost too cute to handle.

When the class finally did come to an end and you were a sweaty mess, you sucked in a deep breath as you watched the rest of the participants start to put away their equipment.  Setting your eyes on Jungkook, you smiled slightly.  “Hey, can we talk?”

Jungkook looked up from his phone, eyes wide and clearly panicked.  He scanned your face carefully, almost as if he was trying to guess what your intentions were.  At last, he swallowed the lump in his throat and shoved his phone into his pocket.  “U-Um, sure, I guess.  Let’s just wait until everyone clears out.”

Nodding in agreement, you sat back and watched as the rest of the participants put their materials back in the closet and slowly began to file out of the room.  With each person that left, you could sense Jungkook getting more and more anxious.  He seemed to be mindlessly checking things around the room, his eyes darting back and forth between the door and any part of you that wasn’t your eyes.  By the time the last girl exited, your heart was pounding in your chest as well.

Clearing your throat, you watched as Jungkook walked to the front of the room to shut the door, seeming to take as long as humanly possible to pull it closed.  Just as you were about to speak the pitch you had practiced in your head and to Jennie numerous times over the past week, he opened his mouth.

“Look, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here and I know that I might have been a bit overbearing when I was drunk last week, but if you’re just here to make me nervous and make fun of me and my awkward self for having a crush on you, you can just leave.”  He at last whipped around to face you, a sad expression taking over his features as he began to pace back and forth, running a hand through his sweaty hair.  He resembled something like a wounded puppy, and the longer you stared at him, the more you noticed just how exhausted and agitated he looked.

That definitely was not what you had expected and you felt awful that he had spent over a week thinking that you were probably teasing him with your friends for what he had said to you at the bar.  Furrowing your brow, you pushed yourself up to your feet and crossed your arms over your chest.  The planned speech was not going to do in these circumstances.  You would have to cut straight to point.

“I dropped that weight on my foot because I’ve been ridiculously attracted to you for over a year and got embarrassingly flustered at the sight of your shirt riding up during class.”

Jungkook stopped dead in his tracks, clasping both of his hands behind his head as he at last allowed himself to look at you.  His eyes were wide in shock, his head tilted just slightly to the left.  “Wait, what?”

“I didn’t want you to drive me home because I was already so embarrassed and was so nervous that I would’ve only embarrassed myself more trying to talk to you without making a complete fool out of myself.”

As you spoke again, Jungkook hesitantly took a couple of steps in your direction.  It seemed as if though his expression was slowly softening, and what almost appeared to be a small smile was fighting to form on the corners of his lips.  “I asked you to borrow a pen that one time in Earth Science with plans to work up the nerve to talk to you at the end of class when I had to give it back, but instead I just kept it and ran out of the room because I got too nervous.”

Unable to hide your own smile now, you allowed yourself to take a step toward him.  The closer you got to each other, the more the tension in the room built.  “I lied and said that I had an extra pen that day, but really I gave you my only one and just didn’t take notes that whole class.”

At last, that familiar bunny smile stretched across Jungkook’s whole face, his chest bubbling in laughter as he threw his head back.  “I once tried to ‘accidentally’ drop a book near you at the coffee shop in hopes that you’d pick it up and talk to me, but instead I just dropped it and tripped over it.”  Another step forward.

Giggling quietly, you chewed on your lower lip as you advanced forward.  “My friends and I have collectively referred to you by the code name ‘hot coffee shop boy’ ever since the first time I saw you there.  Also, ‘sexy gym instructor boy’ since last week.”

Jungkook’s eyes were boring into yours at this point, his body inching forward just slightly as his toes finally bumped against yours.  The tension-- not just from what was happening at the moment, but also from a year of pining after each other-- was so close to bubbling over.  “My friends and I know you as ‘hot coffee shop girl.’  Also, ‘toe girl’ since last week.”  The warm smile on his lips had twisted into a sort of mischievous smirk.

Leaning your head forward the slightest bit, your breath hitched in your throat as you could feel the warmth of his breath against your lips.  “If I haven’t made it clear yet, I’m extremely into you.”

Jungkook’s eyes-- which had darkened quite a bit over the last minute-- flickered down to your lips, his own head leaning forward an inch.  With this movement, the tip of his nose brushed against yours.  “And if I haven’t made it obvious yet, I’m extremely into you too.”

Before you could utter another word, Jungkook closed the minimal space remaining between the two of you by crashing his plump lips into yours.  His hands moved up to cup your cheeks, one moving along the back of your head to tangle into your hair.  Your own hands gripped to the front of his shirt as you stumbled back a bit due to the impact, your back bumping against the mirror in the front of the room.  The tension that had previously been building had popped the moment his lips met yours, but as his fingers tugged on your hair and his tongue found its way between your lips, you felt it resurfacing, this time between your legs.  You felt a bit flustered getting turned on this quickly by him, but when you put it into perspective, you had been waiting for this moment to unravel for over a year.  As your hands slid up the front of his shirt to rest on his defined core, you were certain you could feel his length getting hard against your thigh.

Pulling away after a minute, Jungkook rested his forehead against yours and stared deeply into your eyes as he breathed heavily.  There was a playful smirk on his lips as he dropped the hand from your face and rested it on your hip.  It was nice to see that he had finally let his guard down.  “So, I have to ask.  Are you more for sex first or a fancy date first?  I’m happily offering both, but we’re both kind of coming off a bit impatient here.”

Biting your tongue to hold in your laughter, you couldn’t ignore the way that the heat in the pit of your stomach was quickly sinking down lower between your legs.  “You know, if you hadn’t been so difficult to track down this past week, I may have taken you up on that fancy date first.”  You ghosted your fingers over his stomach, eliciting a surprised jolt out of him.  “But after you made me wait so long, I think you just might have to fuck me first.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened in surprise at your lewd words before he smirked and pressed his body against yours a bit harder, leaning forward to kiss a trail of wet kisses down your jawline.  “I’m happy to be at your service, but we’re kind of out in the open here.  I could drive us back to my room, that is if you’ll actually get in the car with me this time.”

Rolling your eyes at his teasing comment, you shoved at his chest.  Regardless, you couldn’t deny the fact that you were feeling incredibly impatient and weren’t sure you would be able to handle the wait while he transported you across campus.  Chewing on your lower lip, your eyes scanned the room.  “Equipment closet.  It’s spacious enough, it locks, and there’s no windows.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jungkook muttered under his breath, eyes searching your face for any hint of a lie.  When he didn’t find any, he smirked and pulled back, grabbing your hand in his.  “You know, I had planned on doing a lot of things today, but fucking in an equipment closet at the ripe hour of eight in the morning certainly wasn’t one of them.”

“Get used to it, hot coffee shop boy.”  Smirking to yourself, you allowed him to drag you towards the closet, pressing your back against the door after he closed and locked it behind you.  “Are you complaining?”

Rapidly shaking his head, Jungkook leaned forward and peppered kisses along your neck and collarbone, only pulling back to tug your shirt and sports bra over your head.  “No, no.  Just concerned you’re going to be the death of me before I even get started with you.”  Taking a step back, he pulled his own shirt over his head before allowing his eyes to rake up and down your body.  A combination of lust and admiration filled his eyes as he stepped toward you again.  “God, you really are so beautiful.”

Despite the fact that you had both been completely open with each other and the current situation being far from romantic, you felt your cheeks heating up at his compliment.  Shaking your head, you poked him in the stomach.  “Speak for yourself.  That’s the reason why I almost broke my toe.”

Throwing back his head in laughter, Jungkook stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting your body up and placing you down on top of a few stacked crates full of equipment.  “Mmm, I can make it up to you right now.”

Leaning forward, you pressed a few kisses along the corners of his lips and his jaw.  “And how are you going to do that?”

“Shhh, patience.”  Jungkook grinned as he bent down, slowly kissing a trail down your neck and collarbones.  When he reached your breasts, he slowed down his pace, carefully taking one of your nipples between his lips and softly sucking at the skin.  Once he established a rhythm that he was satisfied with, he lifted a hand and latched it around your other breast, kneading the skin between his fingers.

Letting out a soft moan, you threw your head back in pleasure and closed your eyes.  Your hands fastened around his neck, gently tugging at the hair on the back of his head.  The longer his lips and hands worked at your breasts, the more the heat between your legs throbbed.  “How am I supposed to be patient when I’ve waited so long for this?”

Jungkook’s eyes flickered up to meet yours, his lips making a popping noise as he removed them from your breast.  “You make a fair point.”  Kissing down your stomach, he urged you to lift your hips as he tugged your leggings and panties down your legs and allowed them to fall into a pile on the floor.  Kneeling down on the floor, his lips trailed their way up the inside of your thigh.  “Mmm, so wet already and I’ve barely even touched you.”

Whimpering softly at the feeling of his lips so close to where you needed them, you bucked your hips upward in an attempt to feel any sort of friction.  “P-Please.”

Chuckling quietly, Jungkook’s dark eyes remained on yours as he ghosted his lips over your dripping pussy.  The shy, insecure boy that he claimed to be earlier was nowhere to be found.  Instead, he was now indulging in the power he held over you.  “Who made you this wet?  Tell me.”

“You, J-Jungkook.  You did,” you whined out, attempting to push down on the back of his head.

Jungkook flashed you a satisfied smirk, nodding his head.  “That’s all I needed to hear, babe.”  Without another word, he gripped his hands around your thighs roughly and lifted your legs to drape over his shoulders.  Leaning forward, he closed the remaining space and attached his lips to your pussy.  Rather than making you wait any longer to have the tension relieved, he immediately went to work on your throbbing clit, gently sucking at the sensitive bundle of nerves.  Once he was pleased by the moans leaving your lips and the clenching of your thighs, he pulled his lips off and replaced it with his tongue.  Expertly circling his tongue on your clit, he reached one hand down and, without warning, began to pump one of his fingers in and out of your pussy.

“F-Fuck, oh my god, Jungkook,” you moaned out loudly, pulling harshly at his hair with one hand and reaching the other up to pinch at one of your nipples.  “R-Right there.”

“Mmm, need to get you stretched out and ready for my cock,” he murmured against your heat, quickly inserting another finger and curving them at the perfect angle to hit your g-spot with every pulse.  After circling your clit with his tongue a few more times, he encircled the bud with his lips yet again, this time humming against it to add an extra feeling of friction.

The sensation of his tongue and fingers working on your pussy and the sight of his glistening face was quickly becoming too much to handle.  With every movement, the bundle of nerves in your core was getting closer and closer to snapping and sending you into that blissful state you so longed for.  Biting down on your lower lip roughly, you closed your eyes tightly.  “I-I’m close.”

“Open your eyes.  I want you looking at me while you cum all over my tongue,” he rasped out after pulling back slightly, only leaning back down once you obeyed his command.  After a moment, he wet two of his fingers on his tongue before quickly beginning to circle them on your clit, moving his tongue in and out of your cunt at the same speed.

“F-Fuck, Jungkook!” you yelled out, forcing your eyes to remain open and fixed on his as you were quickly sent over the edge and into a state of ecstasy.  Your walls spasmed around his tongue as your vision became blurry and filled with stars.  The feeling was only prolonged as Jungkook kept moving his tongue until you couldn’t take it anymore and reached forward to push his head back slightly, left completely breathless as you stared at him.

Getting off his knees and onto his feet, Jungkook stared down at you in awe, leaning forward to press his forehead against yours.  The sight of your release on his lips that he refused to wipe off had your core already begging for more.  “God, that was so fucking hot.  You’re so fucking beautiful.”  Letting out a deep breath, he pecked your lips a couple times.

“How are you so fucking good at that?” you muttered against his lips, blindly reaching forward in search of the tie on his sweatpants.  Once you found it, you tugged roughly at it, sitting up straighter to urge both his pants and boxers down his thighs.

Chuckling to himself, Jungkook assisted you and pulled the articles of clothing down the length of his legs, stepping out of them once they reached the floor.  “I’d like to think that I’m a gentleman in the streets and a freak in the sheets…” His eyes wandered around the room for a moment.  “Or in the gym equipment room, apparently.”  

Rolling your eyes and giggling at his joke, you pulled him forward again to peck his lips.  “You know, if you moved to the side and let me get up, I’d happily return the favor.”  Your eyes wandered down the front of his body until they set on his hardened cock resting against his stomach, the sight of it causing you to clench your thighs together.

Shaking his head in response, Jungkook flashed you a shy smile.  God, how could he be so sexual yet so cute at the same time?  “As enticing as that sounds and as much as I would never turn that down on any other occasion, I’m afraid I���m not going to last if I don’t fuck you right now.”  Stepping forward, he looked down before cursing under his breath.  “Fuck, I don’t have a condom on me.  We don’t have fuck to if you’re not comfortable.”

“Wow, you didn’t bring a condom with you to your 7am fitness class?  How irresponsible of you,” you joked, shoving his shoulder before pulling him closer to you.  “I’m on the pill and I’m clean, so as long as you’re clean it’s fine with me.”

“You know, you’re going to regret teasing me,” he warned, laughing softly as he nudged his nose against yours.  “But yes, I’m clean too.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you raised a mocking eyebrow at him.  “Oh yeah?  And why am I going to regret it?”

Without another word, Jungkook reached down and grabbed his cock with one of his hands.  Rather than pushing it right inside of you, he instead slowly started to rub its angry red tip up and down your folds.  His eyes remained on yours, a teasing smirk tugging at the edges of his lips.

Biting on your tongue to suppress your whimpers, your eyes wandered down to the area between your thighs.  “W-What are you doing?”

Pressing his lips against your jawline, he let out an amused chuckle.  “Nothing until you tell me what you need.  Use your words, sweetheart.”

Reaching around him, you dug your nails into the skin on his upper back.  It wasn’t in your character to beg during sex, but the sight of the tip of his cock glistening in your juices from your first orgasm was enough to make you give in.  “P-Please fuck me, Jungkook.”  You forced yourself to lock eyes with him, hoping that the desperation you were exuding would be enough to make him cave.

Grinning in amusement against the skin of your neck, he nodded his head.  “Good girl.”  Sliding his cock down your folds one last time, he slowly slid it inside of your entrance once he reached it, a loud groan escaping his lips as he pushed all the way inside of you.  “F-Fuck, you’re so tight.”

Moaning out in pleasure at the feeling of fullness, you whimpered as you watched the sight of his cock disappearing inside of you.  The spectacle alone was enough to make the heat in your core reemerge, and your body was pleading for him to do more.  “M-Move.  F-Faster, please.”

Grabbing one of your legs, he extended it upward and propped it over his shoulder.  After getting a good grip on it, he quickly began to thrust in and out of you.  “Yeah?  You like that, babe?” he breathed out, his eyes screwing shut in pleasure before he buried his face into your neck again.

Dragging your nails down his sweaty back, you were sure you were going to leave some marks behind.  It only took a few moments for the feeling of overstimulation to wash away, and a new, deeper pleasure to replace it.  With your leg hanging over his shoulder, his cock managed to hit you at just the right angle with every thrust.  Using your grip on his back to press your body closer to his, you took the opportunity to wrap your free leg tightly around his waist.  The new position made it so his cock brushed against your clit every time he pulled it out of you, the feeling nearly having your eyes rolling to the back of your head.  “O-Oh my god, right there.”

Jungkook’s half-lidded eyes remained fixed on yours as he lifted one hand off of your thigh, pressing his index and middle finger together and moving them toward your mouth.  “Open.”  Once you complied, he inserted his fingers into your mouth.  His teeth dug into his lower lip as he watched the way you closed your lips, swirling your tongue around his digits a couple of times before sliding your lips back up and releasing them with a loud ‘pop.’  There was a mesmerized look in Jungkook’s eyes as his thrusts slowed for a moment.  “J-Jesus fuck, that was hot.”

A cocky smirk initially tried to spread across your lips, but it was washed away the moment he began to circle his lubricated fingers over your clit, his cock pounding in and out of your pussy at a pace that had you ready to unravel at any second.  “I-I’m close.”

Letting out what sounded like a combination of a groan and a whimper, Jungkook leaned forward and brushed his lips over yours.  “Cum all over my cock for me, babe.”

“J-Jungkook, f-fuck!” The sound of his raspy command and the feeling of his cock inside of you was all it took to push you over the edge again.  Your second orgasm hit you even harder than the first, a sensation of rapturous bliss overtaking your senses as your toes curled and your thighs were left convulsing around his body.  While your mind went foggy for a few seconds, the strain that was left in the back of your throat suggested that you had yelled out in pleasure quite loudly.  The euphoria was dragged out even longer as Jungkook had yet to reach his own high, his thrusts becoming sloppier as you stared up at him with hazy vision, gasping for breath.

“I-I’m close too,” Jungkook whimpered out, eyes screwing shut as your walls continued to twitch around his cock in the aftershock of your orgasm.  “W-Where do you want me to cum, babe?”

Coming back to your senses, you blinked a few times until your vision returned back to normal.  Finally processing his request, you used quite a bit of your strength to push him back a bit, ignoring the confused look on his face.  Using the space in front of you, you pushed yourself off of the elevated surface before getting down on your knees.  “My mouth.”  Reaching forward, you grasped his shaft in one hand, pumping his length a few times before leaning down and capturing his tip between your lips.  After circling your tongue around it a few times, you hollowed out your cheeks and began to bob your head up and down.

“O-Oh my… F-Fuck, Y/N.” Jungkook quickly adapted to the new sensation, his hands reaching around your head to tangle into your hair and urge your head down his cock further.  He locked eyes with you from above, his legs trembling around your head.  Taking notice of just how close he was, you forced your mouth down further to accommodate the rest of his cock in your mouth, swallowing around his length at the bottom.  The motion and the feeling of the tip of his length hitting the back of your throat was enough to make you gag, and that was all it took to push Jungkook to his climax.

Jungkook was a groaning mess above you as he released his load down your throat, unconsciously thrusting into your mouth further a couple of times to ride out of high.  After a few more spurts of his hot cum filled your mouth, you worked your mouth back up his length.  Once your lips popped off of the tip of his cock, you pulled back and swallowed thickly, the salty taste of his release lingering in your throat.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Jungkook reached down and grabbed your hand, pulling you up onto your feet in front of him.  Despite the crude nature of what had just occurred, the smile stretched across his lips seemed so… Innocent.  “Well… That happened.”  He reached up and pushed the sweaty hair that was sticking to his forehead out of his face.

Laughing softly at his words, you bit your lip and crossed your arms over your chest.  “I mean, that’s certainly one way to work out at the gym.”

Jungkook’s whole body shook as he erupted into laughter, leaning down and beginning to grab all of your discarded clothing articles off of the ground.  He sorted through them and handed you back yours, beginning to redress himself after.  Once he was dressed, he grabbed a towel out of one of the crates and made sure the area was clean.  “Don’t forget we worked out before too.  That’s two whole workouts.  We’re going to need to fuel up with some electrolytes or coffee or something.”

Forcing your damp leggings back onto your sweaty body wasn’t exactly the easiest or most enjoyable thing to do, but you managed.  Once your shirt was back on, you looked back over at him and feigned an exaggerated amount of excitement.  “Oh my god, am I going to be able to get coffee with hot coffee shop boy?”

“Only if hot coffee shop girl would be so willing to accompany him,” Jungkook jived, nudging your shoulder with his before unlocking and pulling open the door of the closet.  To your relief, the room was still empty and there seemed to be no one lurking outside of it.  Grabbing his backpack at the front of the room, he slung it over his shoulder.  “It might be a good idea for us to shower first, though.  I have a strong suspicion that we probably smell prettttty bad.”

Grabbing your own bag and water bottle, you laughed in amusement as you followed him out the door of the classroom and into the main area of the gym.  “I have a feeling you’re right.  Should we shower and plan to meet up after?”

Walking through the lobby, Jungkook held open the main door for you before following you outside.  It was much brighter out now than when you had arrived at the facility almost two hours prior.  Time really does fly by when you’re having fun.  “I feel like we can’t really be trusted with the whole ‘see you around’ thing and going our separate ways just yet after the shit we both pulled avoiding each other the past couple weeks.  Plus, I’m not quite done with you just yet.”

Snickering at the reminder of your past dramatic behavior, you nodded your head in agreement.  “So what did you have in mind?”

Stopping in his tracks, Jungkook turned to face you.  “So first, I was thinking you could come back to my place and we could both shower there.  I could provide you with some clothes for the time being, but if you need to change later, I can bring you back to your place.”  The corners of his lips began to twitch upward.  “However, that would require you getting into my car with me, and history suggests that doing so ‘makes you nervous,’ or something like that.”

“Hmm, I’m pretty sure I remember something about me making you nervous too.  I think some weird drunk guy told me that.”  Scoffing at his flirtatious teasing, you playfully shoved his chest.  “Anything else planned?”

“Hey, that ‘weird drunk guy’ is the reason we’re here today,” he scoffed, grabbing one of your hands off of his chest and lacing his fingers with yours.  “Then I was thinking we could go to our favorite coffee shop.  But… And I know this is kind of a wild idea... I’m thinking we sit at the same table for the first time instead of dropping pens and books to try to get each other’s attention from across the room.”

Squeezing his hand, you began to follow him as he led the way to what you assumed was going to be his car.  “A bold suggestion, but I’m into it.  Might have you drop a book at my feet and I’ll stare at you across the room longingly just for old time’s sake.”  When you reached a shiny black SUV, Jungkook unlocked it and walked around the passenger side, opening the door for you.  “So I’m guessing these plans involve us skipping classes today?”

“Well, obviously.”  Jungkook flashed you a bright grin as you climbed into the car, shutting the door gently once you were in the seat.  He ran around the front of it and quickly hopped into the driver’s seat, leaning over to look at you once inside.  “And then once the evening comes, as I suggested earlier, I would still love to take you out to dinner, if you’d let me.”  Despite everything that had just unfolded and all of the confessions you both had shared, there still appeared to be a glimmer of nervousness and hesitation in his eyes.

Leaning to the side, you reached over and placed your hand on top of his.  Your lips formed into a reassuring smile.  “I would love to.”

Jungkook lifted your hand that was over his to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against your fingers.  “Good.”  Turning to face forward, he started the car and began to back out of the space.  As he looked at the pathway in front of the gym, he directed a mischievous smirk at you.  “Remember that time you walked back to your room on a swollen toe to avoid getting into my car with me?  Good times.”

Letting out a groan, you covered your flushed face with both of your hands.  “If you don’t shut up, I’m about to hit you with a ‘see you around’ and roll right out of the side of your car while it’s moving.”

“Okay, okay.  I’m sorrrry,” Jungkook laughed to himself, grabbing the wrist closest to him to pull your hand off of your face.  “As compensation for your shame, I will make another embarrassing confession.”  He knitted his brow together as he thought for a few moments before chuckling to himself as a memory came to mind.  “I once accidentally liked one of your Instagram pictures that was like… 72 weeks old and almost considered moving to another country and changing my identity.  I unliked it right away and you probably didn’t even notice, but I was stressed.  There.  Does that make you feel better?”

Gnawing on the inside of your cheek to hide your smile, you glanced at the side of his face.  “Mmm, a little bit.  I think I’m going to need you to keep going.”

Jungkook scoffed as he placed your hand that he was holding down on his thigh, shaking his head in disbelief.  “How is that fair?  I think I deserve some form of payment if I’m going to keep exposing myself too.”

“Fine, fine.”  You gently squeezed his thigh, your mind sifting through all of the embarrassing things you had done in the past due to your embarrassing infatuation of the boy who was now sitting beside you.  “I tried to order you, like, a sort of secret admirer coffee on Valentine’s Day, but the barista ended up giving it to the wrong guy and I ended up leaving the shop because I was so mortified.”

“Aw, I’ve always wanted to have a secret admirer,” Jungkook teased, parking the car in front of his building.  “God, we really could go on forever with these embarrassing stories, huh?”

Nodding your head, you reached your hand up and playfully poked at his dimple.  “It sure seems that way.  We’re kind of the worst.”

Unbuckling his seatbelt and hopping out of the car, he met you at the front of it and draped an arm over your shoulders.  “Good.  Just gives me another reason to keep you around longer.”

And while ‘see you around’ hadn’t been a promise that either of you kept before, keeping you around from then on certainly was one that he fulfilled.

[tennessoui]

I absolutely love your KUWSK snippets and had to read them all after discovering the first part on ao3! (I should also work but I'm non stop giggling instead)

May I ask for: anakin being stressed out (big deadline coming up, handling the kids, work & cooking being too much) so obi-wan wants to help him out? Like he tries to cook for the family for once but I remember you saying that he can't cook to save his life? maybe rope the twins into it as well as a nice bonding moment

hello!!!! i've been meaning to write this for ages and i kept getting side-tracked/didn't have the time to sit and write a proper ficlet, but I did today! Here's 1k now, and I'll post the whole thing tomorrow afternoon(ish) on ao3. I mis-remembered the prompt until it was too late to really change directions, but so this is more of a sick!fic than a stressed out!fic but I do promise KUWSK Obi-Wan does step in even when Anakin is not sick to help with the kids, the clean up after cooking, helping them with homework, keeping the house tidy etc etc

anyways here is the beginning of sick fic! (SET about a month before The Kiss, 2 years after Obi-Wan and Anakin and the twins move in together)

-

It’d be much easier to take care of Anakin when he’s sick if he would actually admit to being sick.

“Skywalkers don’t get sick,” he’d insisted just a day ago. Obi-Wan had raised a very pointed eyebrow towards the twins who are looking quite pathetic, sniffling in their beds and coughing into their fists.

“That’s their Amidala genes,” Anakin had said and then sneezed into his elbow.

Obi-Wan had known at that moment that the next few days would be very awful for everyone involved.

But Anakin is making it much worse than it has to be, he really is. Thank god it’s midterm week, so Obi-Wan can finagle his TAs into proctoring the exams. Thank god he has four TAs for his biggest lecture module, so that they can grade them all too, which means Obi-Wan just has to read through and mark up his capstone students’ midterm essays.

Which he can do from the comfort of his own house turned Emergency Skywalker Walk In Clinic.

The twins had woken up with a fever and a sore throat on Wednesday. They’d never been sick in the two or so years they had all lived together, and Obi-Wan, admittedly, had not known how to handle it.

Anakin, in a surprising twist of fate, had been much more level-headed about the whole thing. He’d called the school to let them know the twins wouldn’t be coming in, and had asked Obi-Wan to run to the pharmacy before his classes to pick up some meds for them. And perhaps a thermometer.

(“I can’t believe you’re forty-four and you don’t have a thermometer.”

“Well, that’s not fair. I have one in the kitchen.”

“That’s different and you know it--”

“Of course it's different, I was just theorizing that perhaps having a kitchen thermometer actually makes up for not having a person thermometer.”

“Yeah, and instead of giving the kids baths and changing their sheets, we can just baste them in their own fever juices too!”

“I’m going, I’m going.”)

He’d calmed down in the face of Anakin’s own composure, but then on the way to the pharmacy he’d listened to a podcast episode about devastating and lifelong effects certain illnesses can have on children, and he had managed to work himself up into a stressful tizzy by the time he parked the car.

The amount of products he’d bought, Obi-Wan can admit now, was a little over the top. Anakin had certainly laughed when he’d come back through the door, not even bothering to take his coat or shoes off--even though the no-shoes-inside rule is his rule--and started unpacking the four plastic bags worth of medical supplies.

“Well, now I’ll feel bad if the kids aren’t sick until June,” Anakin had said, picking up one of the cough syrups to examine the label.

“That kind will make them sleepy, but this kind tastes like grapes,” Obi-Wan had muttered. “And this kind is okay to give to children under four.”

“The kids are--”

“I know how old the kids are,” Obi-Wan had snapped. “This is called being prepared.”

“This is called diagnosable,” Anakin had laughed and then ducked out of the way when Obi-Wan chucks a package of band-aids--he’d panicked, okay--at his head. “Hey,” he’d said after a moment, coming forward and placing his hand on Obi-Wan’s elbow. The contact had burned through the layers of clothing he’s wearing. “They’re going to be fine, Obi-Wan, really. I’ll be home all day taking care of them, and I’ll make chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight.”

“I can make chicken noodle soup for dinner,” Obi-Wan had protested. “You don’t have to do everything.”

“Obi-Wan, they’re already sick,” Anakin had shaken his head with a grin. “The point is to try and feed them something they’d want to at least try to keep down.”

“I hate you,” Obi-Wan had sighed with a quirk of his lips.

“I love you,” Anakin had said, as if that was something he said on the regular, reaching out to take the thermometer from his hand. Obi-Wan’s grip had gone slack though, causing the thermometer to clatter to the counter. “Like a brother,” Anakin had tacked on hurriedly and then winced.

“Right,” Obi-Wan had coughed, wondering why the addendum made his chest feel tight and strange, like missing a step on the stairs. “Well. Yes. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Anakin had said, looking even more mortified.

“Right. Ah. So. I’m. Going to campus. If the twins need anything else, please let me know. I’ll pick up whatever you need for...dinner on my way home. Just text me.”

“Will do,” Anakin had agreed, staring resolutely at the cabinets over Obi-Wan’s shoulder. “Bro.”

And to his credit, Anakin had texted him with a long list of things they’d need from the store.

He’d just also failed to mention his own rapidly declining health. Obi-Wan had arrived home to Anakin coughing up a storm in the dining room and the twins bundled up and bleary-eyed in front of the television.

The chicken soup had not been made that night because Obi-Wan had not allowed Anakin anywhere near the kitchen. Instead he’d fed the children toast and applesauce and let them keep watching their show until bedtime.

Anakin had been left alone for the most part, as Obi-Wan had been convinced that Anakin would see reason himself and stop working as he started feeling progressively worse.

That had, of course, been too much to expect.

“I can’t believe you’re twenty-eight and don’t know how to listen to your body when it’s trying to tell you you’re sick,” Obi-Wan had said, lowering and slowing his voice in a bad imitation of Anakin.

“I don’t sound like that!”

“You’re right, you couldn’t get through that whole sentence without coughing at the moment."

“I’m going to bed.”

“Please do. And for god sakes, Anakin, leave the laptop down here."

“Good night, Obi-Wan."

[jaehyunhour]

sacred heart | mark lee

genre + idol → slow burn, angst, smut, college au, college!mark (x fem!reader), ft. slight johnny x reader

word count → 5.1k

warnings → mentions of sex, explicit language, alcohol consumption, college party, blasphemy, oral (m/receiving), unprotected sex (always wear a condom pls guys), sex in a church.  

summary → mark lee is warm ocean water and you are unrelenting cold air — together you are a hurricane.

“What’s a pretty young thing like you doing inside Sacred Heart this late on a Friday night?”

“Father Fitz hid a spare key in the birdhouse outside for me in case I ever felt like being with Christ.”

“You’re so holy, Mark.”

a/n → i’m trying a new style/format for my fics hehe, normally my fics are written in all lower case but this one is actually capitalized properly so~~ let me know if it makes any difference. also this fic is purely an act of self-indulgence because i go to a jesuit institution and think a lot about going to my college campus’s church with mark.

Mark lets out a frustrated sigh as he pulls his keys out from his pocket. It’s been a long day — he had a sociology midterm in the morning, left his meal card in his room so he couldn’t get cafeteria lunch, and broke a glass beaker in his Chemistry lab. All he wants to do is get back into his room, have a bowl of instant ramen, get into bed and sleep early. But as soon as the door swings open and he looks inside, he’s met with your beautiful yoga short clad ass laying in Johnny’s bed. His dick twitches in his pants at the sight and he lets out a sigh. You turn over to lay on your back, making eye contact with Mark as he stands stunned at the door.

To many, Mark Lee is just your typical Christ-loving Chemistry major Mama’s Boy. He has no real enemies, treating everyone as his equal and giving them the respect they deserve. He chose to attend a Jesuit institution despite his Christian upbringing because he wanted to “see another side of our Savior.” He is so painfully average to most, but to you he is everything. He is the most passionate, intelligent, and hard-working person you have ever met. His love for Christ shines in all of his relationships, he is kind and caring and thoughtful. He makes your heart skip a beat and your pussy clench.

You give Mark a smile as he takes in your entire figure — your cheeks are flushed pink, hickies littering your neck and your hair is a mess. You still haven’t come down from your post-sex high and Mark can tell.

“Mark! You’re here!” You say excitedly, jumping up off the bed to pull him into a hug. He doesn’t reciprocate, his hands staying still at his sides as you pull back, pushing his hair out of his face and fixing his glasses for him.

“You didn’t come to lab today,” Mark mumbles, pushing you off him as he heads over to his desk. The bedroom door slams behind him, making you jump, as you watch Mark grumpily dump his things out on his desk before slipping into bed.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was going to come I swear, but I came over to get something from Johnny and then… I forgot,” you pause for a moment. “Do you have the lab?”

“Yeah, it’s in my notebook, I can send you pictures tomorrow. Where’s Johnny?”

“He went to go get food. I saw you left your meal card and I didn’t want you to eat ramen for dinner, so I had him go get fried chicken for us.” you sit on the edge of Mark’s bed, your hand reaching out to play with his hair. He relaxes into your touch and lets out a content sigh. Mark knows this is so wrong — you’re sleeping with his roommate, he’s heard you guys before, but he can’t help the overwhelming warmth that overtakes his body when you act like this with him. You care so much for him, and Mark wishes you would just get over Johnny and be with him.

“Bad day, baby?” you ask. Mark nods with a slight pout on his lips. His eyes are shut closed, unwilling to open them and stare at the love bites all over your neck and chest left by Johnny. He would rather live in blissful ignorance than face reality. You lean down, pressing a kiss to his forehead and just as you pull back, Johnny walks through the door holding your food.

“Honey, I’m hooooome,” Johnny says in a sing-song voice. You shoot up and out of Mark’s bed quickly, running over to Johnny and wrapping your arms around his neck. He sets the food down on the table in the middle of the room, placing his hands on the back of your thighs and lifting you up. You wrap your legs around his waist and let out a giggle as he kisses you.

“Did you miss me?” Johnny asks, squeezing your thighs. You nod in response. “I bet you did, you dirty little wh—“

“— Can we just eat?”

During dinner, Johnny asks you to spend the night and Mark knows he isn’t going to be getting the rest that he deserves after the shit storm of a day he had. Every time you spend the night, you and Johnny talk late into the night, kissing and touching underneath the covers. It wouldn’t bother Mark if he could at least see you — see the look on your face as you cum undone on Johnny’s fingers, your teeth biting down on your fingers to try and keep the noise in — but he has to pretend he doesn’t know what’s happening. And tonight is no different. Mark stares at the wall of his room, back turned towards you and Johnny, and he listens as Johnny eats you out at 4 in the morning. He can hear the sloppy wet noises as Johnny’s fingers thrust in and out of your pussy, the sound of the bed shaking slightly as your entire body convulses when you cum, and the whimpers muffled by your fingers as you reach your high. Both his dick and his heart hurt as it all goes down, and Mark wonders if he’ll ever be the reason for your early morning muffled whines.

The following week, you get to lab before Mark does. You bought him his favorite sandwich from the cafeteria as an apology for not showing up to lab the week before, and did the pre-lab assignments for this lab and the next to take some weight off his shoulders. When Mark walks into lab just barely on time, and sees you sitting patiently at your assigned table, he can’t help the smile that forms on his face. Your heart begins beating faster at how happy Mark is to see you, and the butterflies in your stomach are flying rapidly. Mark wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans as he walks over to you, and you do the same underneath the table. He takes a seat, and before he can even get a word in, you’re already talking.

“I brought you your favorite sandwich,” you say, handing him the neatly wrapped sandwich. “And I already did the pre-lab today and for next week, so you don’t have to worry about it. I’m sorry again about last week!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mark says, shrugging his backpack off and placing it on the floor next to him. He unwraps the sandwich, quickly taking a big bite and letting out a satisfied groan at the first bite. “God, how did you know this is what I get?”

“Well, I actually didn’t know. I went to go get a sandwich for lunch today, and I was talking to Julio, the deli guy, and you know how I overshare… I told him you were upset at me for missing lab, and he handed me this sandwich and said ‘para tu amante’ and then I left.”

“What’s amante mean?”

“Lover,” you explain. Mark chokes on the sandwich and your eyes widen, as your hand instinctively moves to pat his back.

“Did you correct him?”

You shake your head no and Mark raises an eyebrow at you, continuing to eat the sandwich as you wait for your instructor to arrive and begin class. “Why would I?”

“Well, I just figured, you and Johnny—“

“— Johnny isn’t my boyfriend, he’s just a pretty boy to mess around with. Plus, you’re really the only one who knows that I’m involved with him.”

“I’m not your boyfriend, either,” Mark mumbles.

“But you’re more to me than Johnny is.”

Before Mark can respond, or even process what you’ve said, your professor walks through the lab doors and begins instructing you guys on your lab. Mark can’t focus very hard on the tasks in front of him, your words loud in his mind, so he lets you take the lead on the assignment. It’s the least you could do for abandoning him the week before.

The following week, Mark walks into his room after another long day half-expecting to see your yoga clad ass laying in Johnny’s bed yet again, but this time — your beautiful ass is laying in his bed. You’re half asleep already, trying so hard to stay awake as you wait for Mark to get home. You hold one of his plushies in your arms, snuggling close to it and Mark’s body relaxes at the sight.

“Where’s Johnny?” Mark asks, puncturing the comfortable silence. You jump awake at his words and sit up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes and running your fingers through your hair.

“He had to go pull an all-nighter at the library for his Comp Sci midterm project, he left like 3 hours ago.” You explain. Mark knows that Johnny’s Comp Sci midterm project isn’t due for another two weeks, and he hates that Johnny lied to you just so he could go stick his dick in someone else after already having you. But Mark doesn’t have the heart to tell you he’s lying, he’s afraid he’ll never see you in his bed again if you stop seeing Johnny, so he plays along.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, because this is quite the view,” Mark begins, motioning to your half-naked body in his bed. “But why are you still here?”

“I wanted to see you,” you mumble, sinking back into his bed. You shift onto your side, and Mark slips into his bed, laying on his side to face you. Mark locks eyes with you, lips parted slightly and tongue poking out of his mouth to lick his lips.

You reach a hand out to play with his hair, an action all too familiar for Mark but his heart still races as if it was the first time. “How was your day, baby?”

Mark sighs at the pet name. “It was okay, I s’pose. It just felt so long, I couldn’t wait to get home and sleep.”

“Sorry, I should’ve just gone home when Johnny left, you would be asleep right now, but I missed your face.”

“That’s okay, I’m not complaining,” Mark responds. You twirl the ends of Mark’s hair between your fingers, tugging slightly to see if he’ll react but he doesn’t. He’s too busy memorizing every feature of your face, his eyes traveling from the part of your hair down to your neck and taking a mental photograph of what your neck looks like without Johnny’s markings all over it. You are so beautiful to him. “Hey, Y/N?” Mark asks, shattering the silence between you two. Your fingers stop moving as your eyes shift from the ends of his hair back to his face, locking eyes with him again.

“Can I ask you something?”

You nod.

“Have you ever thought about ending things with Johnny?”

“I have.”

“Why?”

“Sometimes I think about falling in love and I know I don’t want to be in love with him.”

“And have you ever… nevermind, it’s stupid.”

“No, no, it’s not stupid. Ask me,” you say.

“Have you ever… thought about me, like that?” Mark mumbles shyly, flopping down onto his back to avoid your gaze, but he can feel your eyes staring at him still.

“I’ve thought about you in a lot of different ways,” you admit. “Some are nice, and others, well…”

“Well?”

“Let’s just say, Father Fitz is getting real tired of hearing my voice at Sunday confession.”

“Oh,” Mark says quietly, his dick stirring at his pants at the thought of you thinking such unholy things about him that you feel the need to confess at Sunday confession. He knows you aren’t particularly religious, only choosing a Jesuit college because of the scholarship money, so it must be really dirty if you really do attend confession just to talk about him.

“Mark?” You ask. Mark shifts his body onto his side again, locking eyes with you for the final time that night. His eyes are wide and glossy, a direct mirror image of yours. “Can I kiss you?”

Before Mark can process the question, he’s nodding his head yes. The hand that was previously playing with Mark’s hair now rests on his cheek, and you lean down and capture his lips in yours. His lips taste like cherry chapstick and you smile into the kiss. Your hand leaves his cheek, trailing down to his stomach, slipping underneath his shirt as your fingernails scratch at his abs. He lets out a gasp and your tongue slips into his mouth, kissing him with more passion and fervor. Mark has never kissed anyone like this before and he’s a bit unsure of what to do, but his tongue meets yours and he follows your lead. Your hand trails down to the waistband of his underwear, but his hand shoots out quickly to stop you.

You pull away, concerned etched on your face, but before you can ask if he’s okay, he’s already speaking. “We shouldn’t,” Mark says. “Johnny might come back and see.”

“Right,” you say, nodding. You lay on your back on his bed, staring at the glow in the dark stars Mark has on his ceiling. “Did you stick those yourselves or did it come with the room when you moved in?”

“I put them myself, I really like stargazing but have never had anyone to go with, so I do this until I find someone special enough to go stargazing with.”

“Am I special to you, Mark?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go stargazing with you one day,” you say, cuddling into Mark’s side and closing your eyes. You yawn, and within minutes you’re knocked out. Mark waits to hear your quiet snores to know you’re fully asleep, before picking you up and putting you to sleep in Johnny’s bed. He knows Johnny won’t come home tonight, but just in case he does, he doesn’t want to have to explain why you were asleep in his bed, cuddling him.

“God, you drive me fucking crazy,” Mark says, tucking you into Johnny’s bed and pressing a kiss to your forehead, then jumping back into his bed and willing the tent in his pants to go away so he can sleep peacefully.

When Mark says you drive him fucking crazy, he means it. He’s so infatuated with you, it drives him up the wall. He can’t stand the way you and Johnny walk all over him — you guys act like a couple around him, he hears you fool around, but as soon as Johnny has gotten his nut in you’re in Mark’s bed, cuddling him and kissing him. He feels like he’s getting Johnny’s sloppy seconds, he’s playing the part of boyfriend that Johnny refuses to play.

But it’s such a comfortable role for him. He loves the way you kiss him when Johnny isn’t around. He loves the way you baby him outside of this tiny dorm room, the way you take care of him in lab and make sure he’s eating and getting the rest he needs to function. He loves the way people think you’re dating and the way you don’t correct them. He loves when you sneak out of Johnny’s bed once he knocks out, just to come tuck him into bed and kiss him goodnight. He’s a masochist: he loves the pain and pleasure that comes with being in love with you.

Mark knows this isn’t sustainable. He knows this isn’t healthy but he doesn’t reach his breaking point until he decides to attend the end of semester Tri Delta party. After months of being in this game with you, the semester is finally over and he will have a month long break from you before you guys are ultimately stuck with each other again next semester in yet another chemistry lab. Mark isn’t one to party, preferring to stay indoors and binge watch whatever show he’s been trying to finish, but he hopes that he will run into you there, that you will finally kiss him in public and he will be more than just your dirty little secret. More than just his roommate’s casual fuck, his midnight kisser, his lab partner.

He walks into the sorority house and is immediately uncomfortable. The music is loud, lights are flashing, and he just wants to go back home and get into bed. But he refuses to leave until he sees you, has a few drinks at the very least, and kisses you once for someone to see. He doesn’t care if it’s Johnny, or if it’s one of the sorority girls, he just wants someone to see you and Mark together. In public. He’s spotted by one of your friends and she runs over to him and pulls him into a hug. He recognizes her from his Ethics lecture, and from the polaroid photo you have of her in your phone case.

“Mark! What are you doing here?” She asks, loud voice competing with the loud music in the house.

“I’m just trying to have a little fun, I s’pose,” Mark responds.

“You look like a fish out of water! Do you want a drink or anything?”

“I’ll probably have one later… Have you seen Y/N?”

“She’s here somewhere! Hey, what’s up with you two? Are you guys together or what?”

“Uh,” Mark pauses for a second, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. “Something like that.”

“She’s always got these huge hickies all over her neck. You’re a dog, Mark! Have some fun tonight,” she pulls him into another quick hug and walks away.

Mark sighs, wiping the sweat from his forehead before traveling deeper into the party. He scans the living room carefully, looking for your small frame, but he doesn’t see you anywhere in there. He sees many different couples, kissing and touching and grinding in the middle of the living room to the beat of the song. He’s glad you’re not in there, with someone random, but he just prays that you aren’t upstairs inside someone’s room getting stuffed by someone who isn’t him. It should be him.

And his prayers are answered. He walks into the kitchen and sees you. You aren’t out in the living room dancing with someone random, you aren’t upstairs inside someone’s room getting stuffed by someone else. You’re sitting up on the kitchen counter, drink in hand, as Johnny stands between your legs with one of his arms wrapped around you. Johnny pulls you close to him, and you smile as your other arm wraps around his neck. There’s an uncomfortable tightness that builds in Mark’s chest as he sees you there with him. You’re not one for public affection, to tell people who you spend time with behind closed doors, and Mark can already feel the rumors of you and Johnny beginning to circulate.

You feel someone staring at you, and tear your gaze away from Johnny to the entrance to the kitchen. You see Mark standing there, in his tight jeans and a black button up, and your heart swells at the sight. He’s wearing contacts, a sight all too familiar for you, and his hair is styled back and you can see his forehead. He looks absolutely incredible. Without thinking, you push Johnny off of you and you smile brightly as you make your way over to Mark. Mark doesn’t return your smile, instead he turns around and walks straight out of the party. You stand stunned in the middle of the kitchen, smile dropping from your face. Johnny comes up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and bringing his lips to your ears.

“Let’s go upstairs, honey,” Johnny asks, rutting his hips against your ass. Your heart hurts and you just want to see Mark.

“I-I’m gonna go, sorry Johnny, I’ll see you later. Maybe,” you say quietly, barely audible over the music. You shrug Johnny off your body, downing the rest of your drink and walking towards campus in search of Mark. The air is cold, it’s nearly midnight and the fog is settling low as you walk in no particular direction. You walk past all of the lecture halls, past the science building, wondering where Mark could be until you see the church in the distance.

You walk into the church using the side door and are met with Mark sitting in one of the pews in the middle of the church. You shrug your jacket off, placing it on the coatrack near the door and walk towards him slowly, your footsteps echoing in the empty church.

“What’s a pretty young thing like you doing inside Sacred Heart this late on a Friday night?’ you ask.

“Leave me alone,” Mark responds.

“I asked you a question, baby.”

“Father Fitz hid a spare key in the birdhouse outside for me in case I ever felt like being with Christ.”

“You’re so holy, Mark.”

You stand in front of him in the pew, wrapping your arms around his neck as you slither into his lap. Mark’s arms instinctively wrap around your waist and he sighs, looking at your face. The moonlight shines through the stained glass windows, illuminating Mark’s face. His cheekbones sit high on his face, sitting prettily and one of your hands reaches for his face to trace all of his features. By now, Mark has taken his contacts out and is wearing his glasses again.

“Why do you have to hurt me?” Mark asks quietly.

Your breath gets caught in your chest at Mark’s sudden forwardness. He’s never been so forward or open with you about anything before and it leaves you shocked. Deep down, you knew what you were doing with Mark wasn’t right, but you didn’t think you were actually hurting him. Tears brim in your eyes as you think about a response, you knew you weren’t in any position to be crying, Mark is the one who’s being hurt. One of his hands wipes the tears from your eyes before returning back to your waist.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Then why can’t you just end things with Johnny? Do you know how much it fucking sucks to feel like I’m getting his sloppy seconds?”

“I’m sorry,” you say. You slink into Mark’s body, resting your head in the crook of his neck and willing the tears to go away. “I shouldn’t be crying, Mark, I’m sorry. You don’t deserve any of this, I’ll end things with Johnny. I promise.”

“Stop crying,” Mark says, pressing a kiss to your exposed shoulder. “Don’t cry, c’mon, baby.”

You pull back, sniffling slightly while wiping the tears from your eyes and letting out a giggle. You hold Mark’s cheeks in your hands before leaning in and pecking him on the lips.

“What was that for?”

“That’s the first time you’ve ever called me baby. I like it,” you respond.

“Did Johnny ever ca—“

“— Never. I never let him.”

“Y/N, I really think I’m in love with you.”

“I know.”

“Do you lo—“

“— Yes. You’re special to me, Mark. You know that.”

“Can I kiss you?”

You nod, and in an instant his lips are on yours. He kisses you as if he’s been wanting to kiss you for his entire life, even though he had kissed you just two days ago in his bed. But this time it’s different, Johnny isn’t in the bed next to you. He knows he won’t hear you cum around Johnny’s fingers tonight, because you’ll be cumming around his. Tonight, you are his, and he’s going to treasure this moment.

Mark slips his tongue into your mouth, yours coming out to play with and tease his. Your hips grind down against his, your fingers slipping into his hair and tugging slightly. He lets out a groan and tightly grips your hips, pulling you closer and pushing you down harder. A whine slips past your lips, muffled by his, and you can feel the wetness pooling in your underwear.

It isn’t until Mark pulls away, lips attaching to your neck and beginning to leave hickies that you realize where you are. The stained glass windows remind you that you are in a sacred place, Mark’s safe space, and you are actively sinning.

“M-Mark, we’re still in the church, let’s go back to yours,” you suggest. His hips buck up, his hard on begging to be released from the confines of his jeans.

“Don’t care,” Mark mumbles against the skin of your neck. “I won’t make it back to my room.”

You push Mark off of you slightly, and he looks concerned. He’s about to ask if you’re okay, when you sink down onto your knees in front of him. Mark pushes his pants and underwear down quickly, cock springing out and hitting his lower stomach. Your hand reaches out to touch him, and you spit on the tip, letting it dribble down the side of his cock.

“Oh my god,” Mark says with a whine. He can’t believe the sight in front of him: you on your knees for him in the middle of the church, hand wrapped around his dick pumping him slowly, and tongue kitten licking at the tip.

“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, Mark,” you say, before wrapping your lips around the tip entirely and taking him further in your mouth. You go as far down as you can, his tip hitting the back of your throat. Mark throws his head back, his hands coming up to hold your head still as he thrusts into your mouth.

“F-fuck, you feel so fucking good. So so good, oh my God.”

Mark thrusts into your mouth slowly, memorizing the feeling of your wet hot mouth wrapped around his hard dick. You’re so good to him, and in this moment, Mark knows he doesn’t want anyone else to ever suck his dick. He looks down at you with his lip pulled between his teeth, you’ve pushed your pants down slightly and your hand is shoved inside of your panties rubbing at your clit. You whine around Mark’s dick, the feeling of your fingers rubbing quickly on your clit bringing you closer and closer to your high by the second. You’ve been waiting for the day you finally get to see Mark like this, and you can’t believe it’s finally happening. You pull back, Mark’s dick slipping out of your mouth, and your fingers move faster.

“Fuck, Mark, I’m gonna cum,” you whine.

“Let me see you cum, baby. Wanna see you get all messy for me.”

And with that, you let out a loud moan and cum in front of Mark. You clench around nothing, the emptiness frustrating, but you relax and slump onto Mark’s thigh as you come down from your high.

“Get up, baby,” Mark says. You nod, standing up as your legs tremble slightly. Mark pulls your pants and underwear the rest of the way down, helping you step out of it before pulling you back onto his lap. You grind against him, wet pussy covering his dick and bringing him so much pleasure.

“You know, when Father Fitz gave you the keys to the church to be with Christ, I don’t think this is what he meant, Mark.”

Mark pushes his cock into you, and lets out a groan at the feeling of your pussy tightening around him. You let out a sigh of his name, head coming to rest on his shoulder.

“Your pussy is God.”

Mark quickly begins thrusting up into you, fucking you with all of the pent up rage he’s been holding in from hearing you fool around with Johnny for the last few months, and you can’t help the moans that fall from your lips. Your hands rest on Mark’s shoulders, gripping tightly as he drills into you, your hips rolling forward to meet each of his thrusts. You let out a particularly loud moan of his name, head lolling onto his shoulder. You press a kiss to his neck, taking the skin into your mouth and between your teeth, leaving a beautiful purple mark on his neck as he moves his hips to thrust into you in a particular angle.

“Fuck, I’m not going to last,” Mark says, hips already beginning to fail in their rhythm as he gets closer and closer to his high.

“Mark, please cum inside me,” You say, one of your hands reaching for Mark’s hand, bringing it to your clit. His thumb rubs messily at your clit, bringing you closer to your own high. His eyes travel all over your body, taking in the sight in front of him. Your neck is covered in marks that he has left, your pussy is wrapped tightly around his dick, his fingers are rubbing at your clit, your hair is all over the place because of him, and you’re cumming around his dick saying his name. His. Not Johnny’s.

At the feeling of your pussy tightening around him, and the sound of you calling his name, Mark’s hips stutter and push his dick all the way into you. He cums in thick white ropes, filling you with his cum as his hands grip your hips tightly, whining as he says your name. You both sit there, breathing heavily as you try to come down from your high. Mark’s dick softens inside of you, and you smile at him as you try to regulate your breathing.

Your cheeks are flushed pink, hickies littering your neck, and your hair is a mess. Your post-sex look is nothing new to Mark, he’s seen it a million times, but this time it’s different. This time, you’re dazed and satisfied because of him. He feels his heart swell in his chest at the realization, and he brings you in for another soft kiss.

“Baby, we should probably leave the church,” you suggest.

“Probably,” Mark says. He leans over, still inside you, pulling your underwear and pants up off the floor to help you redress. You both whine softly when he pulls out, and he quickly slips your underwear on for you. His cum drips out of you, pooling in your underwear as you pull your pants back up. Mark redresses, holding your hand as he walks out of the church, locking it behind him and hiding the key back in the birdhouse.

He instinctively begins walking towards his dorm, but you pull him in the opposite direction.

“Y/N, I live on the other side of campus,” Mark says.

“I know,” you respond. “We’re going to the soccer field.”

“Why?”

“It’s the best spot on campus to look at the stars. I went earlier this week so I could take you there.”

“But it’s cold,” Mark whines. You roll your eyes, slipping your jacket off and placing it over his shoulders.

“There you go. C’mon, let’s go.”

[dreamypeaches]

self-care (kinktober day 2) | pope heyward x reader

summary: pope’s commitment to school has left you feeling lonely. you decide to help pope destress and unwind with some self-care, only for him to turn the tables.

warnings: smut (it’s kinktober y’all), cursing 

word count: 1.3k

a/n: it’s big pope heyward loving hours here, but when is it not. I’m gonna try and write a bunch of kinktober fics this weekend so I’m not constantly posting them when everyone has already gone to bed. hopefully i actually can accomplish that

Times were hard in the mind of Pope Heyward. It was his final semester of undergrad, and he needed to leave off on a good note. Amidst cramming for midterms, finishing up labs, and just the general stress of being alive, he also had med school applications to deal with. All you could do was watch as the man you loved became so filled with stress that you couldn’t even hug him without it leaking onto you.

It had taken quite a toll on your sex life as well. When he wasn’t in class or studying, he was so exhausted that he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, which didn’t happen often. He stayed up late most nights cramming, fueled by coffee and pure anxiety. You were left to your own devices, your hand becoming your new lover. Compared to Pope, it was like trying to fuck yourself with a noodle, incredibly unfulfilling.

Not only were you craving the sweet release that only Pope could give you, but you knew he could use it as well. He was wound so tight, it was time for him to explode. So you hatched a plan. You were going to make Pope cum so hard he would see God. But of course, Pope was always full of surprises.

He had taken his usual Saturday night position, slouched over his desk as he furiously typed and flipped through pages of his textbook. When you had moved in together, he’d set up his study space in the living room, ensuring that he didn’t disturb you during his late-night study sessions. But tonight, you wanted to be disturbed. He’d already been there for a couple hours, not paying you any mind, which was perfect. You’d spent those couple hours preparing. You were shaved and waxed, applying some of his favorite scented lotion across your smooth skin. You’d gone for a simple look, adding the tiniest amount of mascara and lipstick. The most important part was the lingerie. You’d bought this set a couple weeks ago online, and it finally arrived at your doorstep that morning, perfect timing.

You admired yourself in the floor-length mirror, not ashamed to say that you would totally fuck yourself. You just hoped Pope would feel the same way. Slinking out of your bedroom, you lean against the hallway wall that enters into the living room. Pope’s back is turned to you, his body silhouetted by the light of his laptop.

“Pope,” you call

“Yeah?” He replies. He doesn’t even start to turn towards you. You sigh, tapping your head against the wall in frustration.

“Can you look at this?”

“Look at what?”

“Just fucking look!”

You see his shoulders sag slightly at your tone, a sigh escaping his lips as he turns towards you. His at first questioning look turns to one of shock and awe as he takes in your appearance.

“Holy shit,” He breathes. You smirk, the reaction exactly what you wanted.

“Like what you see?” You say seductively. His mouth opens and closes as he grasps for words.

“Yes...” He starts, making you bite your lip as he undressed you with his eyes, “But I can’t, love, I’m sorry. I really need to finish this.”

You’re sensual stance sags as your shoulders slump, pouting at your boyfriend.

“But Pope!” You say, elongating the o as you march over to him. You push his chair back from the desk and swing your legs over his lap to straddle him. Arms wrapping around his neck, you give him your best, irresistible puppy dog eyes.

“It’s been literal weeks since we’ve done anything! I haven’t even given you a shitty, quickie hand job. I miss you, lovely. More than that, I fucking need you, and you need to destress. Can’t you just relax for one night?”

You angle your chest upwards, practically shoving your exposed cleavage into his face. His eyes are stuck to the view as his tongue darts out to lick his lips. Pleasure fills your gut as you watch his eyes darken with lust, his hands coming to grip your hips harshly.

“You’re right, love, I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been paying enough attention to you. You’ve probably had to take care of yourself a lot, haven’t you?”

You let out a whimper at his lower tone, nodding in agreement with his words. He quickly adjusts you, lifting your hips and moving until you’re straddling his thigh. The basketball shorts he’s wearing were already ruined from the way your heat was pooling against him.

“Why don’t you show me how you take care of yourself?” He asks though it’s less of a question and more of a command. You simply nod, words escaping you as his grip on your hips tightens, forcing you to grind down more on his thigh. Unwrapping from around his neck, you grip his shoulders as you slowly start to rock against him. Your clit catches on a seam on your panties, a light moan leaving you as it does.

“That’s it, baby, I want you to feel good. I’ve been neglecting you for too long, I have to make up for lost time.”

He starts to pepper kisses across your jaw and down your neck, leaving love bites across your cleavage. The way he nips as the skin before soothing it with his tongue makes your mind go fuzzy. Pope really was everything for you. He could be so sweet and gentle, caring for you like no one else had, but also drive you wild with pleasure and fuck you until you couldn’t walk. He really is the ultimate package.

The grip on your hips is almost bruising now as he urges you to move faster, your moans starting to fill the air as you chase your release on his thigh.

“Fuck, that pussy is so wet for me. Tell me how it feels, baby? How does my thigh feel against your pussy?”

“F-fuck, Pope, it feels so good. I’ve missed your body so much.”

“Don’t worry, love, I’m going to make it up to you. I promise,” He whispers against your neck as he continues to place soft kisses. You tighten your hold on his shoulders, grasping for any amount of stability as you grind down on him, the coil in your gut tightening quickly. Burying your face in his neck, a string of curses and moans leave you as you rub yourself on him, the edge so close yet so far away.

“Please, Pope, help me. I want to cum so bad. Help me cum, baby!” You beg. You feel him smile against your temple.

“As you wish, love.”

His thumb finds your clit, rubbing slow circles against it that greatly contrasts your furious grinding. You shout out at the added sensation, moaning his name against his throat. You feel the vibrations of his chuckle, screaming as he presses harder against your sensitive bundle.

“Oh my FUCK, I’m gonna cum.”

“That’s right, love, let it out. Cum all over my thigh.”

You do exactly that, biting against the juncture of his shoulder and neck as your orgasm washes over you. He helps you ride it out, moving your hips for you as your body seems to go limp with pleasure.

“So good for me, love, so good. But that’s only the beginning, I’ve got a month's worth of orgasms to make up for.”

He doesn’t give you much time to recover before he stands, throwing you over his shoulder as he does. Landing a firm slap against your ass and earning a giggle, he makes his way to the bedroom where he throws you down onto your shared bed.

He gazes down at you, already fucked out, legs spread revealing your soaked panties. You shrink against his loving gaze, the passion in it almost overwhelming.

“What the fuck is wrong with me, not taking advantage of having the most beautiful woman in the world.”

You blush, pulling your lip between your teeth as you beckon him over. He abides and hovers over you, lips ghosting against yours.

“Don’t worry, love, we’ve got forever to take advantage of each other.”

taglist: @hoodpankow @toriswrites @httpstarkey @rae131415 @https-luna @solllaris @khiaraaa-in-spacee @rudypankow-whore @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch @dontjinx-it @rudyypankow @joshy-obx @rafej-cambanks @diverdcwn @anxietyandtacos @thedemonsimpofcamphalfblood @obx-slut @girlsru1eboysdroo1 @stfukie @rekrappeter @butgilinsky 

[robinrunsfiction]

Thanks @padawanryan​ for the tag! Rules: list the first lines of your last 20 stories. See if there are any patterns. Then tag your favourite authors.

The summer rain kept a beat steadier than half the bands on the Warped Tour could manage. - Tired

“Shit!” You gasped as soon as the knife sliced through the skin on your thumb. - Give Them Blood

(YN) was sitting at the kitchen table working on her algebra homework when the music that had been coming from the garage for hours finally stopped. - It’s A Love Story

“Thanks for coming with me tonight, I don’t mind going to shows alone, but if I don’t have to, I’d rather not,” (YN) smiled at her friend Dallon. - Certified Bad Boy Dallon Weekes

A cold wind blew through New Jersey, but inside (YN)’s childhood home, it was cozy and warm. - To The Vows You Take

“For your midterm, you will be completing a research paper. To make it easier on you, I’ve decided that it will be a group project. To make it harder though, I’ve selected your partners and topics at random. If you like your partner and topic, congratulations the universe is smiling in your favor. If not, welcome to the real world, don’t worry, it sucks for everyone at some point in time,” the professor deadpanned from the front of the room. - For You

The line literally out the door was the last straw for (YN). - The Untitled Jim Adkins Coffee Shop AU

“Alright, so this is the concept we came up with for the video. It’s a lot different from anything else you’ve done so far,” the director Marc started as everyone sat around a large conference room table. - If I Fall Down

Gerard paced his room, the clock on his bedside table reminded him that he’d been awake for damn near 48 hours. - Just Sleep

You were at your locker, gathering your books at the end of a very long, tiring week when you heard the teasing begin. - You’ll Never Fight Alone

(YN) chewed their lip nervously as they stared at the half-drunk coffee cup before them. - You Must Like Me For Me

You yawned as you sat up. You’d dozed off in one of the booths in the diner because the Venom Brothers and Fun Ghoul were out and for once it was actually quiet. - A Little Help

If you thought too long about it, it was sorta strange. - Had A Little Bit But I Want Some More

To be in a band meant that your bandmates were your most intimate friends. - Hold You Here

As you walked into your apartment building after work one night, you noticed something on the floor in front of the mailboxes. - Happy Birthday

“And cut!” The director shouted. “Hey (YN), can you give the guys some touch ups?” - Wipe Off That Makeup, What’s In Is Despair

“Good morning, Your Highness,” a pleasant voice roused (YN) from her sleep. “Big day today!” - Ivy

“I’m so bored!” You groaned from where you were sprawled on the tour bus couch. “Raaaay, I’m bored, help me!” - Worth It

You’d gone past the place a dozen times, slowing down each time, trying to catch a glimpse of something, someone that would confirm your suspicions. - Vampire-Tines Day 2021 Day 3

It was another bitterly cold night, but Gerard couldn’t feel it, and it didn’t matter anyway. - Vampire-Tines Day 2021 Day 2

So I dunno if there’s really a pattern, but I feel like I have a really consistent voice across all fics. Or maybe that’s just the voice I read words in? I dunno. Also I’m surprised I’ve written over 20 fics this year, It doesn’t feel like I have. I did skip over a scene that I’d posted of Kobra Kid x Killer Lux (my Danger Days OC) because it wasn’t a real fic, it was again, mostly just a scene. Not tagging anyone because I’m tired, but if you wanna do this, go ahead, and also tag me so I can see!

[winrene]

wenrene fanfic masterpost

(last updated 15/07/2020)

(these are all from ao3, i can try and make one from aff too if anyone wants it, but i don’t really read on there) 

Completed

let's get away tonight by daybreaking - “you should really stop showing up like this,” joohyun reprimands, wry and dry, but her hands are reaching out to take the spare helmet anyways. “my parents will know about it someday.” seungwan just grins under her helmet, cheeks full and pressing against the insides of it. she pats the space behind her on the motorcycle. “yeah, someday.”

oneshot, 3,341 words, highschool au

i'll be your naughty girl & i got to have ya babe by throwaway18 - seungwan thinks joohyun is too much of a prude to be able to beat her in a dance-off. and joohyun is certain she's the only person capable of getting into seungwan's nerves.

oneshot, 6,800 words, dancer/rivals au

much ado about nothing by numot94 (futureplans) - seungwan's front-door neighbour is the most beautiful woman she's ever seen, and one day she'll definitely work up the courage to ask her out. in the meantime, though, she'd be happy to get through a conversation without embarrassing herself.

39 chapters, 180,319 words, neighbour au (this is simply gorgeous, one of the best wenrene fics of all time in my opinion, again highly suggest reading their other wenrene fics)

tell me why my gods look like you (and tell me why it’s wrong) by irwens - joohyun waits tables. seungwan is a cook. they work at the same restaurant.

oneshot, 3,333 words, restauraunt au

when you move, i'm moved by birdii (birdmint) - when you're an idol dating a ballet dancer, finding time to appreciate each other is difficult. seungwan and joohyun do their best.

oneshot, 2,195 words, ballet/solo-artist au

playing pretend by xpenguinqueenx - yeri needs a fake girlfriend to meet her parents, and wendy agrees to fill the spot, but mostly because she wants to eat her yogurt in peace. irene is not enthusiastic about their new 'relationship.'

oneshot, 10,026 words, ordinary-life au

this structure fell about our feet (and we were free to go) by redcapesarecoming - the seven times irene and wendy met in an airport

oneshot, 4,740 words, airport au

recessional by birdii (birdmint) - seungwan calls joohyun for a ride to the airport. it's the first joohyun has heard from her in five years.

oneshot, 4,045 words, modern au

rain will make the flowers grow by 8moons2stars - after red velvet splits up, joohyun and seungwan find each other again.

5 chapters, 5,334 words, canon-divergence au (highly suggest reading this author’s other wenrene fics too)

death of the author by numot94 (futureplans) - all seungwan wanted was to escape reality at least for a little while and go live in some fairy tale where everything goes right and everybody’s happy. still, she didn’t expect it to actually happen! now that she’s found herself in the fairy tale kingdom overnight, she’ll do her best to keep the story on track and make sure princess joohyun gets her happily ever after with the prince. of course, nothing is ever that simple, is it?

11 chapters, 35,134 words, fantasy au

the purity club by changdeol - joohyun bae is the president of their school's christian union who thinks she has all the answers. seungwan son proves her wrong.

37 chapters, 152,278 words, highschool au

sweet like honey by hyunsvelvet - son seungwan is in desperate need of a job. when she gets hired as the new secretary for up and coming forensic lawyer bae joohyun, who has developed a habit of firing secretaries, she's determined to keep this job. she pictured joohyun to be cold and distant, but upon meeting her seungwan can't help but notice her warm personality and begins to wonder how she's the same person known for firing secretaries after hiring them just weeks before.

25 chapters, 48,900 words, lawyer au

and i could see for miles, miles, miles by jisooosname - based off of the prompt: in which joohyun runs an advice podcast show and one day, seulgi asks for her advice and she gives an advice so bad that seungwan hunts her down

oneshot, 5,547 words, college radio-host au (fluff and good feelings all around, a very adorable read)

never mind your bleeding heart by numot94 (futureplans) - the first time seungwan saw joohyun, she’d just turned 13 and the older girl was 14, a few weeks away from her birthday. she fell in love instantly.

3 chapters, 32,742 words, childhood au (yes yes i know another numot fic, but god their writing is amazing i can’t help but suggest it cause i just love everything they write)

hey jealousy by fated_addiction - "you know they're not dating." or when wendy struggles with definitions.

oneshot, 1188 words, canon au (i have a thing for this author’s introspective writing. it’s like a drug, also i’m a sucker for lowercase. highly suggest their semicolon and check one series)

a kiss (to build a dream on) by seungvvannie (galaxygerbil) - there are other things and other people that should fill up Irene’s time, but maybe… maybe just for now, it can be her in Irene’s heart. just her on irene’s mind. everything else can wait until tomorrow. wendy just wants tonight.

oneshot, 3,845 words, fallout au

pisces by espressochoreom - in which a 24-year-old joohyun is at a laundromat on a gloomy tuesday morning when she recognizes someone across her washer. it's none other than the girl who had her earnestly question her sexuality in high school—son seungwan. the last time joohyun heard from her was six years ago, months after they graduated from high school, when she told her that she was planning to move and stay in canada for good. but of course, that's not the case anymore. seungwan happens to be in the same laundromat building, and from there they attempt to catch up where they left off. the awkwardness is so consistent; it's laughable.

oneshot, 2,447 words, laundromat au (kinda)

vague hope by beatosuffers - irene only knows one thing: emotions are prohibited.

oneshot, 6,475 words, nier:automata au

yesterday, today, tomorrow by sparksfly7 - there are two new girls this year. one is tall and round-cheeked and sweet-looking. the other one – from canada, with her collection of instruments and powerhouse voice – won’t leave irene alone.

oneshot, 2,796 words, canon au

let it shine by sparksfly7 - “it’s just – i planned to talk more, to give people a good impression, but…” irene trails off, clearly frustrated. “i don’t know.” she drops her head, her hair falling over her face. even the pink streaks in it look duller, as if her mood has washed out the dye. “there was nothing wrong with how you acted.” wendy sits down next to her on the bed. “being quiet isn’t a bad thing.”

oneshot, 2,064 words, canon au

see you soon by leirskald - seungwan tries to be okay with everyone leaving for the new year's holiday, but it's hard when she's the one left behind.

oneshot, 1,237 words, canon au

trust these butterflies by rosybutterflies - the circus just isn't that fascinating for irene bae anymore, having been in it since she was young. but the butterflies in her stomach tell her otherwise every time she's with one of the newbies, son seungwan.

2 chapters, 17,527 words, circus au

in her eyes by blkvelvets - now is definitely not the time to get hooked on a dumb freshman with a smile that could light up planets.

oneshot, 2,387 words, highschool au

i wanna come home to you by newboldtrue - irene says, “thanks for not thinking i’m a serial killer. i guess.” “thanks for letting me throw up the worst new year’s eve of my life in your apartment,” room 53 returns, and irene cracks a tiny smile at that. or, irene doesn't know her upstairs neighbor, really, but it's 5am and she won't stop ringing the doorbell;

oneshot, 1,599 words, neighbours au

the scent of you by ashensprites - seungwan, a private investigator, is hired to find a child who went missing almost 15 years ago.

16 chapters, 38,253 words, private investigator au

the downfalls of procrastination by lovelines (alliwantisthetruth) - fun fact #1 : seungwan has exactly 3 midterms coming up this week. fun fact #2 : seungwan has not started to study for any of her midterms. fun fact #3 : joohyun might kill her before she has the chance to sink her gpa. college au where seungwan is a smart but hot mess(TM) and joohyun cannot tolerate messes but for her, she does. somewhat.

oneshot, 1,413 words, university au

close your eyes, see through mine by sindubu - "her name is joohyun, and if that were the case...." her heel comes up to rub at the bridge of her nose. "why is she even here?" junior shrugs. "the intricacies of repressed lesbianism, my young, sapphic friend, is shockingly not in my field of expertise."

4 chapters, 9,070 words, conversion therapy au

feel my heart come undone by sindubu - wendy is homesick.

oneshot, 1,390 words, canon au

Ongoing

i’m different by throwaway18 - when wendy returns to seoul, being mistaken as a homeless person has been far from her expectations.

6/? chapters, 27,871 enemies to lovers/baker au

my heart and this night (makes this game flicker) by daybreaking - seungwan just got dumped and her roommate is trying to make her feel better by playing cards with her, but she just keeps winning and whispering, "sorry."

4/? chapters, 33,782, university au (an absolute favourite of a fic, it is so so good)

colored out the line by baechuzz - it’s been a while since joohyun had seen sooyoung blooming with happiness and love since her soulmate died. so when joohyun met wendy for the first time and during their handshake, a little dandelion blossomed on her wrist—she decided not to say a word and step back on the sidelines. even if wendy was her soulmate.

4/5 chapters, 27,628 words, soulmate au

somebody wants you by winterbreath - wendy doesn’t need anybody to tell her that this is a bad idea but she needs something to draw attention to the coffee shop; and irene needs a pretend-girlfriend. except Irene is a brat—and can someone please just send wendy to hell.

12/? chapters, 71,840 words, fake/pretend relationship au (another one i love a lot, definitely suggest reading this author’s other fic too, especially their all this love series)

shared space by sapphicirene - seungwan needs a new roommate, and joohyun is searching for an apartment. joohyun wonders if it's bad luck or fate that draws her back to seungwan after all these years.

4/? chapters, 11,259 words, college au (i’m not going to lie, this hasn’t been updated since 2018-12, but the chapters that are written are very lovely, so i think it’s worth a look!)

tea party for two by scarletstring - as a veteran female escort, wendy expects to be between the sheets, receive her pay, and then leave -- all within the hour. but wendy can't tell if this particular client knew that when she was spending her time preparing her tea instead of telling her to take her clothes off.

8/? chapters, 114,713 words, female escort au

noisy thoughts by scarletstring - irene moves in to her new apartment, where she meets her interesting roommate.

15/? chapters, 172,654 words, college au (scarlet is currently on hiatus, but their fics are one of the best things you could read)

just my cover, sweetheart by newboldtrue - wendy threw a disbelieving glance at the woman in her passenger seat. “have i had lunch? i just attended my own funeral, haven’t much been in the mood for eating.” or, son seungwan is leaving her life as a hitman in the past--but when a dead woman criticizes her epitaph and offers her one last job, she finds herself agreeing to help. wendy isn't quite sure what she's signed herself up for.

6/? chapters, 14,319 words, 1950s hitman au (hasn’t been updated in AGES, since 2018-08, but it is honestly a really worthwhile read)

[chaoskatya]

unfinished brooke x katya hatefuck fic

hi yall :^) so ive had this sitting in my drafts for a WHILE and ive barely dented the actual planned plot but still i felt like it was kind of a waste of what i did write to not ?? idk do something with it? this was originally written for AQ’s rarepair event but irl stuff got in the way so it never got finished, and i kinda lost the inspo to finish it (for now? idk) so here it is, posted unedited in however it was when i last touched it

brooke x katya hatefuck, (well, planned, i obv hadnt written that far) inspired by pics of trixie and brooke together that one time they were weirdly hanging out a lot irl and that one outfit brooke has that looks like that one outfit katya has the polkadot one u know it

“Ugh, I swear, Vi! She really has something against me! I think she hates me!”

Katya punctuates her sentence with a flail of her arms for emphasis before flopping back onto her bed. Violet just rolls her eyes at her roommate’s dramatics, as per usual. This is the third time they’ve had this conversation this week.

“So she’s a little icy, what of it? It’s not like you’re not used to having a mega bitch around, you live with me,” Violet responds plainly, not even bothering to look up from her laptop, “and I don’t think anybody could hate you, Kat.”

Katya huffs at that. “No, I swear, she hates me.”

Katya Zamolodchikova is absolutely sure of three things in her university life: One, Trixie Mattel is her best friend. Two, nothing gets in between her and Trixie. Three, Brooke Lynn Hytes is absolutely making her best fucking attempt.

Katya and Trixie had met last year, Katya being a sophomore in visual arts and Trixie a freshman in musical theater, when Katya had accidentally crashed Ginger’s (kind of pathetic) attempt at being a tour guide for the freshmen of her course. They’ve only known each other for a year, but ever since then the two quickly became inseparable and a year had felt like a lifetime. All of their friends knew, and Katya held it close to her heart, that nothing could possibly stand in their way. That is, until the beginning of this semester.

Trixie had been elected as class representative at the start of their sophomore year, which did not surprise Katya one bit. But that meant that when Canadian exchange student Brooke Lynn Hytes had arrived for the semester, it was Trixie’s job to show her around and make her feel welcomed. And being that Brooke’s degree in classical dance meant her and Trixie had quite a few overlapping classes, the two hit it off and had gotten closer and closer since. It’s only half way through the semester, yet Katya feels as though she’s slowly becoming more and more of a background character in Trixie’s life. They still text each other when they can, but hangout times have slowly grown increasingly thin and so has Katya’s sanity. Not that it’s Trixie’s fault, of course…

“I can’t explain it. But I promise, it’s almost like she’s purposefully occupying Trixie from me! Every time it looks like we might get a chance to even just talk, she’s there coming round the corner asking Trixie for help in one of their classes or for show recs or whatever. And she always looks me dead in the eye, with her stupid fucking smirk, like she knows what she just did! I can’t explain the feeling I get when I see her!”

Katya’s hit full ranting steam now, half hanging off her bed still flailing as animated as ever.

Violet shuts her laptop and turns to face her. “Mama, sounds like you hate her. Sure it’s not just in your head because you’re jealous the amazon’s occupying your barbie?”

There’s a beat of silence. “Jealous? I guess?” Katya scrunches up her face and sits up. “I mean, how could I not be? With her stupid long legs and her flowing blonde hair, like god, Vi, she’s practically perfect! And have you seen her dance?”

Katya turns to pose her question, but Violet is just staring, giving her a look she can’t decipher. She continues,

“So then, fine, of course I’m jealous, but that’s because Trix is my best friend. I barely see her anymore, and when I do she’s always there and I just get so riled up! And I’m sure Trix has started to notice because god I just can’t stand it when she’s near, it just sets me alight in an awful way. I’ve never felt this way about anybody before!” And it’s true, Katya really does not think of herself as someone capable of fully hating someone else. But by god, is Brooke really testing that.

Violet scoffs, turning away to open her laptop once more. “Look Mary, all I gotta say is that that’s an awful lot of emotion for some best friend jealousy. Also, you have a lecture starting in ten minutes.”

Fuck! Katya checks her watch and immediately jumps up to scramble for her belongings, deeply thankful for her roommate’s type A tendencies yet internally chastising herself for allowing her ranting to consume her time like that. She quickly kisses Violet on the cheek and bids her farewell before putting on her boots and heading out of their dorm room to make her best effort to speed walk to class.

But as luck would have it, not that Katya has a lot of it, she quite literally walks right into the subject of their prior conversation. Well, speak of the devils…

“Oh! Trixie, hi!” Katya laughs, immediately reacting to steady Trixie from where Katya had almost knocked her over with the door. From the way she was standing, she figured she had opened the door just as Trixie was about knock.

“Katya! Thank god, I was worried you wouldn’t be in,” Trixie smiles back brightly, smoothing her fluffy golden hair back into place. (Not that it’s ever really out of place, Katya thinks to herself.) 

Katya smiles at her, a sight for sore eyes she thinks, but when she realizes Brooke is standing at the end of the hall waiting for Trixie, her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Whether Trixie noticed Katya’s tension or not, she didn’t let on. At least Brooke had the decency to wait at a reasonable distance.

“Uh, yeah, I was just heading out though,” Katya replies, trying her best to look sympathetic. She doesn’t mind that she’s running late anymore, just feels bad she even has to go. “But did you need something?”

Trixie looks equally as sympathetic. “Yeah, uh, listen, I’m really sorry. I know we haven’t been able to hang recently and I’m really sorry for that, midterms and all…”

“Hey, it’s alright, I knew you were busy. It’s no problem, really.” That’s a lie.

“But now that it’s over, let’s celebrate! Let me make it up to you? Be my date to the Edwards party tonight?”

Katya’s smile softens. As much as she was planning to trade in the party for a well-deserved movie night in with Violet and Pearl, she finds she really can’t say no to Trixie, especially not when she’s looking at her like an apologetic puppy. Whipped.

“Down for anything with you, Barbie. Meet you at the dorm hall at 8?”

Trixie squeals and picks Katya up by the middle, “AAAAAAAH yes!! See you bitch!!”

Katya squirms violently to be put down but laughs it off anyway. She really can’t be too mad at her best friend.

“Anyway, I gotta run, see you later Trix!” She rushes to hug Trixie quickly once more before escaping as briskly yet casually as she can out the door. This fails her when all semblance of casualty is lost as she passes the point where Brooke is, all tall and blonde and beautiful even just standing around. As she passes, her gaze quite obviously steels ahead to avoid looking Brooke in the eye, but she can’t fail to catch the quite obvious smug smirk the Canadian has posed on her painted lips.

----

Katya managed to make it to class with only 5 minutes late, thankfully just as her professor was entering the other door. She plops down into her usual seat with an audible groan and immediately drops her head in her hands.

Brooke. Stupid fucking Brooke Lynn Hytes. Lately, Katya’s wandering thoughts always go back to her. There hasn’t been a time where her idle time hasn’t been haunted by a certain ballerina chipping away at her precious concentration. She sees perfect long blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and tone legs that go all the way up. 

If she’s being completely honest with herself, she is just a bit jealous of Brooke but not for the reasons Violet insinuates. I mean, sure, she misses Trixie to bits. But that’s only one of the many straws on the camel that is Katya’s completely rational anger. 

It’s not that she’s perfect, either, but that sure adds another straw. Seemingly introverted, but able to capture the hearts of anyone in her path through quick and honest charm. Graceful and poised, where Katya is not, and tall and curvy, where Katya is not. Katya really doesn’t understand how someone can attend 7am dance classes with a flawless mug and still leave rehearsals with not an eyelash out of place, it’s inhuman.

No, it’s that no matter how much others testify on her behalf, Katya does not understand it. She doesn’t know what she did, but she has somehow done something to aggravate Brooke against her, and it bothers her endlessly that she doesn’t even know what she did to incur such spite. Katya doesn’t see any of the charm or kindness that others profess, only smug smirks and cocky passive-aggressive jabs and a seemingly passionate desire to find any way she can to poke Katya’s buttons and prompt some kind of response. She’s lucky Katya has a lot more self control than most, and she’s restrained herself from biting back thus far.

She thinks back to the first time she spotted Brooke, on the first day of the semester when Katya had gotten bored and decided to drop in on Trixie’s representative duties despite explicit instructions not to intrude. She had found her in one of the gardens of the student commons, and instinctively made her way to run up and tackle her before realizing Trixie wasn’t alone and stopping dead in her tracks.

Trixie was sitting next to someone Katya didn’t recognize, which was a surprise in itself because Katya knew next to everybody personally in their modestly sized arts college.  The girl was sitting next to Trixie on a bench, both hands holding one of Trixie’s own as Trixie appeared to animatedly be telling some story. Trixie then finally noticed Katya frozen standing awkwardly at some distance and paused in the middle of her speech to yell at Katya and becon her over. 

“Katya! This is Brooke Lynn, a Canadian exchange student for the semester. Brooke, this is Katya, my best friend!”

Brooke lazily shifted her gaze from Trixie to give Katya the once over, glancing her up and down. Whatever she saw, she suddenly stood up and crowded into Katya’s space, gazing down at her intensely directly from the advantage their clear height difference gave her.

“Well, it’s certainly nice to meet you… Katya.” 

And on her lips, the same painted red smirk. The same stupid smirk that would continuously haunt her until…

“Kat, you with us girl?” Hissed Pearl in her ear, jabbing her hard in the side.

[writerofmanyfandoms]

Secrecy

Summary: Requested!Obi-Wan KenobixPlusSized!Reader! Modern AU. Obi-Wan is your literary professor, and you have fallen hard. With undeniable tension, you have to decide to make the first move or not.

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x PlusSized!Reader

Word Count: 2400

Warnings: SMUT, fluff, student-teacher, language, body worshiping.

Author’s Note: I honestly can't say how much I love writing for plus-sized readers! It is one of my favorite things! As someone who is plus-sized, I would have a hard time reading fics sometimes. And these stories always made me feel better! Just know that every body type is beautiful! Also, a Tony Stark x PlusSized!Reader is coming out tomorrow! The story was a little late, but I wanted to make sure it was good! Once again, thank you all for being patient! Side Note, I never include protection when I write, but just know that birth control is usually involved. But keep it, safe folks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or the characters. Also, I do not own this GIF, found on GIPHY

It was a beautiful autumn day, at least to you. The sky was filled with dark storm clouds, there was an amazing breeze, and best of all; the leaves were vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and brown. You had gotten lucky with your seat in the class. Not only was it at the very front, close to the professor’s desk, but it also happened to be beside a window, with the best view of campus.

Pitter Patter Pitter Patter

The sound of rain caused you to tear your eyes from your professor, and over to the window. Autumn was simply the best, and days like this made you want to go back to your apartment and watch some Netflix.

“Hey, can you remind me to check out that book from the library?” The sound of your best friend interrupted you, and you turned your head to look over at her.

“Of course, Ahsoka, what would you do without me?” You teased, offering her a sly grin. Ahsoka had been your roommate your freshman and sophomore years, and the two of you had developed a bond like no other. Even now, she had a key to your own apartment, as you did hers. Ahsoka was to thank for you getting to your Senior Year, so close to finally finishing your degree. She was the one who helped push you through. It also worked out since the two of you were majoring in the same thing, so you shared similar classes.

“Professor Kenobi!” A girl called out, rolling your eyes as the girl behind you leaned in closer.

It was no secret that the Professor was a seriously handsome man. Even you had a hard time not fantasizing about all of the things you would want to do with him. Though the sound of your classmate snapped you back to reality.

It wasn’t as if you were an insecure girl. You had your low self-esteem moments, but what girl didn’t? You had a thick body type, and you were constantly bullied as a kid for it. As you grew older you began to love yourself and your body, but you had your moments. Especially now. When someone so beautiful was oh so obviously flirting with the sophisticated looking man.

Obviously, Professor-Student relationships weren’t allowed, but you could dream, couldn’t you?

“Yes, Miss Reeves?” He asked, looking up from his book, moving his glasses to the top of his head. For some reason, you just couldn’t get the sight of him intimately out of your head.

"So, our report for The Handmaid's Tale is due next Friday, correct?" Gabby asked, once again, causing you to roll your eyes.

If she had been listening than she would have known it was actually due two Fridays from now.

"The next Friday, but I will accept papers early. Make sure you really leave in-depth reports. I want to know your thoughts about the dystopian world, and how it is more realistic than some would think."

Easy enough. You read that book so many times and binged the series like crazy on Hulu. It was definitely going to be an easy A for you.

“Well, with that, I will let you go a little early! I will be here for a bit, so feel free to come to my desk if you need help with your report.” Obi-Wan said, sitting on his desk and smiling at the class. Man, not only was he good looking, but he had a sexy voice.

“Hey, I need to see if this outline is okay? Will you stay with me?” Ahsoka asked as she pulled out her folder from her bag.

“Yeah, I can. My shift doesn’t start until this evening, so I have time to kill.” You informed her, zipping your bag and pulling it over your shoulders.

Of course, the line to talk to him was long, mostly filled with people who needed help, while others were there just to flirt.

As Ahsoka spoke to him, you tried your hardest not to look at him for too long, but it was hard. You had never felt this type of attraction to any man before, and you couldn’t explain it.

"Miss Y/L/N, would you mind? I would like to talk to you." He said before you and Ahsoka could get out of there. You nodded your head at Ahsoka, telling her to go ahead, you would be fine.

"Yes, sir?" You questioned, raising your eyebrow as placed his books in his bag.

“It’s nothing serious, in fact, it is good news. I just wanted to congratulate you. You have the highest grade in my classes, and I know you have a real passion for literature. I wanted to see if you would want to become my aide. I need some help catching up with grading and tutoring, and you were the first person I thought of.”

You tried your damn hardest to not blush as he spoke to you, but you couldn’t help it.

“I would love to, thank you!” You said beaming, smiling as slid a paper and pen over to you.

“That’s great! Could you write down your number? I will get in touch about when you are available.” You were more than willing to give him your number, and as you handed him the paper your hands brushed against his and lingered far longer than they should have.

As soon as you exited the classroom you were filling Ahsoka in on all of the details. Of course, she didn’t know about your crush on Obi-Wan Kenobi, but then again, you tried to keep it a secret from even yourself.

---

It had been two days and still no text or call, though you were only mildly disappointed. Between midterms and your shift at the campus café, you barely had time to think. As you were studying for a midterm at the library, Ahsoka delivered a warm chai latte and some freshly baked sugar cookies.

“Here, to get you through the next couple hours! Are we still on for dinner at Chilis tonight?” She asked, setting the stuff down on your table.

"Oh my god, you are an angel! And of course! It's a tradition to spend our Saturday nights there. Want to sit?" You asked, finally tearing your eyes from the computer.

"No, I have to get to the store because someone called in. So, I am filling in for a couple of hours." Ahsoka informed you with a pout.

“Awww, well good luck! See you later!” You said, waving her off.

As soon as you were about to get back to your studying, your phone vibrated. Seeing who it was, it felt as if your heart had skipped a beat.

‘Hey, it’s me, Professor Kenobi. Just wanted to see if you were available to grade some papers this afternoon. I know it’s a Saturday and last minute but let me know! Thank you.’

‘Good morning. Of course, I am available.’

‘Great! Would it be okay if we graded at your place? I am doing some remodeling at my house, so it isn’t very peaceful or quiet.’

‘Yes, that will be fine. My apartment is the Grove apartments close to campus, number 5B.’

‘That works out, thanks again.’

It didn’t take you long before you packed up your materials and rushed back to your apartment. You definitely couldn’t let it look messy. Crush or no crush, it had to look nice.

As soon as you got home you straightened up. Luckily you didn’t live like a slob, so it was relatively easy. Your small black cat protested though, angrily meowing as you vacuumed the floor.

“Oh, hush Salem, it’s fine.”

You were quick to shower and change, keeping your look very professional. You wanted to look cute, but not like you were trying too hard. Although you knew nothing would come from this. As soon as you poured some homemade chai lattes, you heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Professor Kenobi! Come in!" You greeted, opening the door.

“Please, just Obi-Wan or even Obi right now. No need to be so formal Y/N. It smells nice in here.” He commented, admiring your apartment. “And you have a cat, he’s cute! What’s his name?” Obi-Wan smiled, leaning over to scratch his head.

"Thank you, I made some chai lattes. I wasn't sure if you liked them, but they are one of my favorite things to drink. And his name is Salem. Unoriginal, I know. But it honestly fits him." You say, placing the two mugs that were full on the coffee table in front of the couch. You gestured for him to sit and to put the papers down.

Nervous couldn’t even begin to describe how you were feeling. However, it also felt natural and nice.

“No, I like that. Salem is a good name. And no worries, chai lattes are my favorite too.” He said, drinking a sip. “It’s very delicious!” Obi-Wan exclaimed, before handing you a stack of assignments and a pen. “The answer sheet is in there, and if you have any questions let me know.”

“Would it be okay if I put on a show? Netflix helps me focus.”

“Only if it’s Friends. I always watch that when I grade.”

“Really? That’s funny, I have Friends on in the background 99 percent of the time.” You said with a laugh, quickly turning your favorite sitcom on.

It really was odd, how things just seemed to fit together between you two. Conversation flowed easily, and you were surprised to find out he wasn’t too much older than you were. It was his first year as a professor and were surprised when he said he finished college as quick as he could.

It was starting to get dark, and before you knew it time had slipped away. You sent a quick text to Ahsoka, saying you weren’t feeling good and to reschedule for brunch tomorrow. You felt bad, but you knew you would make it up.

“Wow, I am impressed Y/N! We actually got through the stack I brought. I knew I should have brought more.” He joked, causing you to laugh. “But if I am being honest, I really wanted to have a different conversation. You see, I sort of know about your feelings for me.” As soon as he said that you felt as if you would actually get sick. "And I know that it's against the policy, but I have feelings for you as well. I know we can't do much until after the semester, but-."

You didn’t even give him time to finish. Your lips were against his, and you near moaned as he wrapped his arms against your soft body.

"Damn Y/N," Obi-Wan said with a grin, pulling away to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. I understand if you want to quit.” You began, but this time he was hushing you with a kiss.

“Let’s just enjoy this. We’re just two people with mutual feelings.” His kiss tastes like chai spice, and he smelled like books and a familiar scent of cologne. It was intoxicating, and you were quickly wrapped up in your arousal.

Everything was happening so fast, and it didn’t take long before you were both in the bedroom, taking each other’s clothes off. As he went to remove your blouse, you shook your head, nervous at first.

“Come on, it’s okay. I think you are fucking beautiful. I love your body, and I definitely want to see it. Would that be okay?” He asked gently, kissing as your neck.

A shiver ran down your back as you nodded, and he gently removed your blouse and bra. “See baby? You are gorgeous. I love this. Let me take care of you.” He whispered, easing you onto the bed and nestling himself between your legs.

He made quick work, running his tongue on your clit softly, teasing you with a finger. "Obi-Wan." You moaned, gripping the sheets beneath you. With every moan, Obi-Wan quickened his pace, until he had three fingers working your pussy, and his tongue lapping at your clit. It was all so much, so good, and you screamed out his name as your orgasm pulsed through your body. "Oh, my goodness, that was amazing." You breathed out, causing him to chuckle.

With a quick transition, Obi-Wan was laying on his back, his cock already rock hard. You were about to protest, never have ridden before, and not wanting to hurt him. However, you were both filled with so much lust, you wanted to please him.

"Come here, baby." He moaned, easing you on his cock. Your hips swayed slowly, his hands traveling all over your body. "You are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen! I love this." He moaned, one hand grasping at your tit, the other on your waist to help speed you up. Despite your initial thoughts of being on top, you were more than enjoying this. His cock felt so good, and you loved the way he loved on your body.

With every move of your hips, you knew he was getting closer, and you relished in that. You loved that you were the one driving him crazy, getting him closer to his own pleasure. “Fuck, Y/N. I am about to cum.” Obi-Wan moaned, holding on to you tightly as he began to fill you up.

“Wow.” You both panted out, smiling at each other. “That was amazing.” You say, before moving so you both could get clean.

"It was more than amazing," Obi-Wan told you, kissing your forehead as the two of you freshened up.

"We are definitely going to have to keep this thing going in secret. I don't think I could wait until the break to have you again." He said with a laugh, although you couldn't agree more. You felt a real connection with him, and the sex was out of this world.

"Well, you are more than welcome to watch Friends with me. I have some leftover Chinese." You said, pulling on an oversized sweater.

"That would be perfect," Obi-Wan commented, pulling you in close giving you another soft kiss on your lips. "You are perfect." He complimented, wrapping his arms around you.

[tommyquackson]

The Plant That Grew From the Root of All Evil |P. Parker| Part 2

summary: you’re no good girl, no you’re quite the opposite, chaos itself even, yet somehow, he still affects you // in which a villan and a superhero cross paths

warnings: murder, violence, witchcraft and possesions?, cursing of curse, and torture (lowkey intense) 

pairing: peter parker x villan!reader

authors note: this isnt exactly a love fic?? cause like it was more about their lives than eachother.. but idk i may change the last part and have them end up together, let me know though...

“Hey Pete, we still going to Mays for sunday dinner?” Ned asks his best friend and roommate. Peter is jolted out of his deep thoughts and research.

“Oh uh yea, text may and tell her we’ll be there in like in like 30 mins. I’ll text Tony.” He says finishing up reading the article he was on.

“What’re you working so hard on? Like we just finished midterms.” Ned walks behind peter to see what he’s reading.

“It’s just, some girl. You know Angel?”

“Angel....Oh! The badass lady villain you’ve been fighting?”

Peter gives his best friend a look of confusion.

“Uh..I mean, that bad criminal that’s wreaking havoc and that the amazing spider-man is gonna take down?” Ned corrects with a guilty smile on his face.

“Yea, well i found out she’s got, like i don’t know powers? I guess”

“What kind of powers?” Ned pulls up a chair to sit.

“I’m not sure” Peter rubs his face in thought. “Like strength and speed but it’s not like crazy noticeable. She-she-her eyes like glow? yea they glow like red and it’s creepy and I have no idea where she even came from.”

“Why don’t you ask that girl from high school? Remember everyone said she was like a pagan or something and she practiced dark magic and stuff. Maybe she knows something about it. What was her name? Something like-“

“Y/n!” Peter knows exactly who that is. She’d always been extremely quiet. She stayed in the library most days and seemed to always be studying dark magic and weird stuff like that.

How was he supposed to find you though, you’d dropped out of school 2 months before graduation. You didn’t have any friends and no one knew anything about you.

“I have no idea where she could even be” Peter says defeated.

“Oh she works part time at the library next to the little park. It’s just a train ride away. Can’t take more than 10 minutes.” Ned says moving to pull up the place on Peters laptop.

“Ned, you’re the best man in the chair a hero could ask for” Peter says winking at him, making ned swell with pride. “We can go tomorrow after classes, now come on. May and Tony are waiting”

Your day job was nothing short of fairly boring, you worked at the library near a small community college so you really only had to deal with students trying to study and little kids reading picture books. The library was fairly big so each librarian handled their own section. You handled the history and “magic/religion” section. But since that section was usually only littered with students trying to write a history paper, you stayed at the front desk on your floor.

Today, you’ve been at work since 9am and it’s already 3pm. You don’t get to leave until 8. You’re sitting at the desk, filing through the books that are recorded as late. You hear the door to your section open and you look up to greet whoever’s there.

“Hello, welcome to Green Acres, History and Magic/Religions section what can I do for you?” You speak kindly to the 2 college aged boys who walked in with their backpacks.

“Hey, this is probably super weird, but we actually wanted to talk to you” The smaller, white one speaks as he gets to the desk.

“Umm-“

“Sorry my friend Peter, made that seem really weird. I’m Ned, we went to high school with you. We just had a few questions and we figured given your occupation you’d be the best to help us” The larger one says stepping in front of “Peter”.

How’d they know you worked here, you haven’t talked to anyone from high school. Which occupation is he talking about, do they know about your secret identity. If so, how you’d been so careful.

“Okay...well what’d ya wanna know?” You relaxing into your chair a bit.

“We have questions about like powers... A friend of mine, she um, well they started behaving strangely and I was wondering if you could help figure out what was wrong?” Peter says tapping his long fingers on the desk.

“oh, sorry i’m in the magic and historical and section you’d be better off asking Mrs. Alice in the health and personal care section.” I say wondering why this boy would need my help. I’m not a doctor.

“oH! Yea I know, but my friend, we uh, we suspect that it has something to maybe do with possible magic?”

“You think you’re friend has gotten in to magic?” You raise your eyebrow.

“I know it sounds crazy but please you’re the only person i could think of to help me”

“Why because everyone at Midtown thought I was a dark and evil witch” You speak standing up from your desk and walking towards the shelves.

“No! No- I just, you used to study witchcraft and i figured since you work in the history section you could tell me if this has happened before. I didn’t mean to imply your a witch, that would be rude but I-“

“Who said they were wrong” You wink before guiding the boys towards a dimly lit section. “So, What’s happening with your friend” You say pulling out your favorite books.

“Well, she uh she’s much stronger than she was before, and she’s faster and more agile. She also has this um, this like type of glow around her? It’s like black and then her eyes glow red”

“Mhm, whole eye or just the iris?” You speak turning to one book.

“iris”

You look at the pages that detail when spells go wrong. Nothing describes the right situation. You turn to entities that may be possibly possessing the friend.

“I’m not seeing anything, wait, you said she has a glow around her kinda like an aura right?” You slam the book closed and move to this super large book about entities and witchcraft.

“Yea..”

“Holy fuck. Your friend, might just be the Grand One. The Grand One is someone chosen by the evil sprites to possess the grand power. It can be anyone, or anything at anytime for any reason. But they tend to sway towards people who have practiced and studied dark magic. If this chick gets anymore powerful, which i’m assuming she will, if you’re telling me the truth, she can wreak extreme havoc on New York. But that’s all if you believe in that mumbo jumbo anyway.” You slam the book closed and put it back on the shelf before walking away to your desk again. It was different outside, you could see through the large windows that the atmosphere had changed.

“Um. Thanks y/n, you helped out a lot” Peter and his friend Ned smiled as they left my building, whispering to each other.

You’d forgotten about the Grand One. It was simply just a dream you’d had when you were little. Telling you what would become of you. The people you would hurt and the chaos you’d reign. You thrived in chaos, reveled in it even, but it was a certain chaos. It was the frustration of everyone around you, knowing they’re just not smart enough, or strong enough not worth enough. It was the slow, dark, treaterous journey to the depths of hell that got your blood really moving.

At least, that’s how it was in the dreams. In real life, you weren’t exactly sure what was going on. You were too busy living day to day hoping that it’s all gonna be enough one day.

But what if, no, she wouldn’t have chosen you, she shouldn’t have chosen you. You weren’t meant to be the one to destroy the city. You weren’t Loki, you were just Hells Angel, low-level villanary. So why was the world trying to make you more powerful. It’s not what you wanted. But who dares be ungrateful when the gift of the Grand One is bestowed upon them, it certainly was quite a gift.

You shake your head and get back to work, waiting until it’s time to go home. When the time does come for you to go home, once again the atmosphere of the world has changed. It seems almost, sinister in a way. Like everyone knows it’s all ending tonight, they’re just not sure how or why.

You step through your house and hear thunder begin to roll outside, Shovel darts across the room and behind your legs. You weren’t expecting storms tonight, just then a strike of lightning lights up the entire room and you hear Eddie flip out upstairs.

fight

destroy

You spun your head around to see who could possibly have whispered that in your ear. You grab a knife you have and slowly inspect your room and apartment, you find nothing.

take

kill

THERE IT WAS AGAIN! A whisper, barely there but still strong enough to have you almost trembling in fear.

y/n

“who are you? what do you want” You felt so cheesy yelling those cliche lines.

you

Suddenly, you’re pushed down to your knees, when you look up you see her. She looks just like the picture in the old book you’d shown Peter and Ned just hours before. Her old face clouded in a dark fog like aura. Her eyes were red and empty, her long boney finger reached for you.

i have traveled years

to show you your destiny

my fate is now yours

Was this bitch really speaking in haikus right now? And what was she talking about? She continued to repeat her haiku from hell and seemed to get closer to you.

“If you’re the Grand One, does that mean i’m the one who you’re gonna possess?” You ask at her. She doesn’t answer just gets louder and closer.

You get a splitting pain in your head, it feels like someone is driving a knife between your cranium. You scream out and cover your ears as the witch gets louder and louder.

Then everything is silent, the witch is gone and so is the pain in your head. You look around and you feel normal. You sit on your bed in shock.

Was she in you now? Were you possessed? What would happen now?

you’ve always been possessed

i’ve been here for some time now

you recognize that voice! That’s Hells Angel, her voice drops am octave lower than yours and she speaks slowly but more confident. You’re going crazy.

You hear a knock on your door.

“Y/n? Are you okay? It’s Eddie, We-uh- I heard you screaming”

You stumble to the door and rip it open trying to fix your hair.

“Eddie, hey. Yea i’m fine. Just got a little frustrated with um, the TV. You know how Family Fued can get” You out on your best fake smile and lean against the door frame. Trying not to let Shovel out. “Are you okay? I know you don’t like storms and that lighting was weird” You speak trying to change the subject.

“Oh yea, just uh, caught us, me. It caught me off guard. Well, just wanted to check on you. So uh, goodnight y/n. Let me know if you need anything” He bods before sticking his hands in his hoodie pockets and walking up the stairs at the end of the hall.

You shut the door and walk back to your bed, ready to just go to sleep. You settle in and close your eyes almost asleep.

tonight’s the night 

“oh for fucks sake”

taglist: @detroitconnorfangirl @unicorn-sparkles123 @shallowshawn

[thenarcolepticone]

The Fine Line

by TheNarcolepticOne

AO3

Summary: Heroism can't always be defined by what anyone can do on their own. Sometimes you need divine intervention. And sometimes, that same divine intervention can make a man take desperate measures to ensure the safety of the one they love.

Characters: APH America, APH Nyo!England.

Warnings: Violence.

A/N: Hey, so this is my Secret Spectres present for Mary ( @anglaland on Tumblr) based on the topic of Forgotten History. I tried really hard not to aim for the witch trials event, so this was the next best thing I could think of that's semi freaky. I'm a little late posting it but it's midterm week so I've been trying my best to keep my focus on school and classes. I hope you like it. There are some OOC elements but I hope that's not too distracting. Also, warnings on violence on this once. I mean, this isn't quite as violent as many other fics out there but I just gotta be sure people are aware.

##

The full moon bore down its radiant beam right onto his people like a spotlight as if the Eyes of God were staring down into each of their hearts and judging them every second they took a breath.

The evening air was permeated with white smoke, which stemmed from the torches hoisted up into the sky amid the fall wind. It was an odd tradition to always use torches (America liked to preserve tradition), but they never actually had any practical use. Full moons were the best time to begin the Hunt, and it provided enough light to see miles away, without the torchlight.

America’s grin was unmistakably visible on his face and defined itself against the white spotlight above; he felt the wild adrenaline rush seep its way into his blood as he eagerly went to lead the charge into the forests toward the neighboring towns to begin the search. The witch search.

The Purification.

And, as such, America was determined to ensure that there wouldn’t be any witches that would be able to leave tonight without facing the Final Judgement. America felt as if there was something supernatural taking his hands like strings, guiding him to be the leader like he was destined to be. But of course, that supernatural figure being God himself, allowing him the power to vanquish the evils tonight with the command of with his own Right Hand.

Now, witches, unsurprisingly, were a common evil amid his own community of Colonists. They threatened the safety of his own people across all town and overall, the livelihood of his own future as a nation. Did America want to be a nation of women being controlled by demons! Of course not!

So, in this instance, he already vowed himself to be the self-volunteered protector of these villains. After all, America needed to be sure that when England returned, he would be able to show her that he could take care of himself. And maybe then, could see her as something much more than a simple nation in need of help.

America, the game changer of the world. That was a title that had many merits by just saying it aloud and it made him almost giggle with delight.

But, of course, the end goal was still in progress. No title like that could start without a clean foundation, and so America made it a point to be thorough with his search party tonight so that he could sleep easy before England’s return.

“There!” a voice called from the crowd that was behind America and he turned his head to look in the direction indicated. There was only about 9 of them all together, but the voice was distinctly coming from the youngest in the group at age 18. America tended to trust the younger ones, as they often showed themselves to be much more perceptive than the older men. America himself didn’t look a day over 17.

Sure enough, there was an isolated cottage in the middle of the undergrowth, well concealed within the hemlocks. The brightness of the moon had provided the right amount of light to uncover its location where it would have not been noticed otherwise. The lights were off inside, but it could very well only be a ploy meant to throw them off their search.

With a rush, America grabbed his pitchfork and began for the cottage.

“This way,” he called to his people and they all went to follow him. It was an unquenchable itch that made Alfred practically run to the doorstep and it was practically impossible to calm him down because of this. 

The hero of the story. The one to rid the land of something that could potentially be the death of him and his remaining citizens. These were legendary tales meant to be carried through the voices of parents to children from times to come.

And no, America did not like to consider this quest to be of only seeking the death of others. That was something that monsters did. America only had to kill out of necessity; out of survival against those devils that liked to hide behind the form of a woman.

It was because of this cockiness that he ended up being the one who instigated the first knock on the door (or perhaps better described as banging). America couldn’t help but tap his foot on the ground, waiting for anyone to answer. There had to be an answer because if there was no answer, someone had something to hide from him.

Nothing. America gave another heavy knock.

After a moment of waiting, America forced the door open and the crowd of men only followed him like sheep following their shepherd. Tonight was a night that this could be justified; if the people inside weren’t witches, they had nothing to fear. This was already suspicious enough.

The house was old and rickety the second the group stepped onto the aging wood. Their footsteps were very audible, which provided enough intimidation, America thought.

The environment around them was covered in a light layer of dust and after bringing the torches into the room and America could practically smell something off about this place. There was a knocked over the table in the kitchen and a kettle that looks as if it had also been used as it was billowing with steam. Recently.

In short, it appeared as if the house hadn’t had any occupants for the longest time, but the room’s ancient status contradicted itself with more mysterious information that was found. One of the older men had spotted the glowing fire embers still sizzling in the fireplace. When this was pointed out, the men began to split up. Perhaps the perpetrator didn’t go far.

“You can’t hide forever, witch,” another one of America’s men threatened, jostling the knob of a door a little to scare them out. “Come out and face God.”

The sound of another door opening with a followed cry in fear broke the silence. America burst forth down the hall, spotting an adjacent room where the noise was the loudest and walked in.

Upon entering, he spotted two silhouettes huddled in the corner of the room, hiding under a desk and cowering behind a chair. The man who had found them shoved the chair out of the way and brought the light up to their faces, revealing their identities.

Had the room been in total darkness, they would have not been noticed. But the moonlight was on America’s side that evening and the forms that were in front of him were not what he had expected.

In fact, one of them was the least expected person he had expected to see alone in the woods. England was there, dressed only in her nightgown with a younger girl in her arms, head leaning against England’s bosom with tears and mucus running down her nose and sniffling.

“Alice,” America said immediately. Confusedly. “Why are you here? I thought you were not to arrive until a week’s time.”

“Is it not obvious?” England said, eyes never leaving his. “This girl has lived here all by herself for the last year. She’s been alone, unable to fend for herself and absolutely helpless,” England went to pet the girl’s hair.

“She needs a mother figure. And from what I understand, you and your people were the ones who took her mother away from her.”

“Me?” America widened his gaze at the accusation. “How could I be the one to take her? Unless the child’s mother had committed a crime of her own I do not understand why she would --”

“You’ve burned her,” hissed England, holding the girl close to her with a protective grip. “You’ve burned the girl's mother for being a witch. How could you even think to do that to a child, Alfred? And--”

“And?” one of America’s men stepped up with intimidating height. “If her mother was a witch, that means that her judgement has been made. Christ has forgiven her mother of the transgressions she had put upon the earth.”

The man’s eyes flickered to the shaking girl, who was staring right back at him with a shaky expression.

“If her daughter is also a witch too, she will also need to face against the wrath of Christ himself.”

“She is not a witch!” England yelled, turning her gaze to America pleadingly. “Alfred, please. The girl only needs a mother. She is innocent. Just move on and find some other witch!”

“That is not up to me to decide,” America huffed, practically grabbing the young girl’s arm as she screamed. With annoyance, America brought his hand up to slap the girl. And she fell silent.

“What is her name?” America asked. Clearly, there were no answers coming out of this girl and her whiny attitude.

“...Jessica,” England murmured. “Please, Alfred. Please. She is only 14 years old. She’s not--”

America paid no mind as he let his own “Right Hand of God” guide him. His hand went to pinch the young woman in several places, ranging from her arms, legs and pubic area. The girl screamed all the same, causing America to grow more annoyed. It seemed, for the most part, England spoke the truth.

With a final glance, he noticed a few very peculiar lumps on the teen’s chin. They were oddly colored and popped from the skin as if it were the plague itself.

Warts.

“Alfred,” England tried again as she came closer, but she was roughly shoved back against the wall by the men surrounding them but she ignored them. “Alfred you can’t!”

“It is out of my hands,” America mused. “She is a witch.”

The men shouted in victory at their prize and England only lamented in despair. America shoved the screaming teen into the arms of her captors, who began to tie her up and carry her to the jailhouse. America went right up to England so that she may be pacified enough to keep her place. All the men had left, leaving the two alone to their devices.

“Move out of the way,” she snarled at America. She was a few centemeters taller than him, but clearly wasn’t quite at her normal figure; she was much skinnier. Weaker. It provided a much bigger advantage to America, who so easily shoved her into the wall a second time, causing her own glasses to fall off her face with a loud ‘clink’ against the wood as well as her head to also smack harshly against it.

The moonlight from outside highlighted the features of her face in the most romantic way, and almost blended into the color of her skin. It was like porcelain; glistening but fragile.

England groaned opened her eyes again slowly to try and focus, blearily looking in the direction of America’s face. And with a very exhausted attempt, tried to shove him back in order to catch up with the men after Jessica.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” America warned, suddenly grabbing a hold of her neck and squeezing enough to make her gasp and fall to her knees. “God is watching and I said I wanted to protect you from women like that, remember? The cursed ones?” America cooed. “She’s put a curse on you, England and I have to save you. If you followed her, you’d be hanged along side her for sure!”

England gasped, hands attempting to grab a hold of America’s squeezing wrist. He wasn’t squeezing too hard to prevent her from fully breathing but her inhaled breath was raspy.

“America,” she coughed. “You can’t... do this. If God watches... then surely he would drag you to Hell.”

America only rolled his eyes, watching her blink a little slower as he squeezed tighter.

“One day you’ll understand, England,” he murmured. “I’m doing this all to make sure you’re safe. No harm will come your way; not while I’m here.”

[whitebear-ofthe-watertribe]

That Which Holds Us - Chapter 4

Pairing(s): Adrien / Marinette, Nino / Alya

Summary: It has been several months since Ladybug and Chat Noir discovered their true identities. Now that they are not trapped by secrets, they can finally be their full selves around each other and have never been closer. Marinette is going into her final year at university, Adrien is exploring new classes and passions, and their friends Alya and Nino seem to be moving towards a happy future together. It all feels like things could not be better.

But of course, nothing in life is quite so perfect.

When Adrien starts having vivid nightmares and visions about his mother, old questions begin to resurface. Will he be able to find the answers, or will these ghosts from the past tear apart the heroes of Paris for good?

Reminder, you can also read / follow this fic at AO3 here, and FF.net here.

Previous Chapters

Chapter Word Count: 7,802

Enjoy!!!

The first couple weeks of school had ushered in a gentle change in the weather. Gone was the blazing heat of Summer. Now, the nights were cool, and the days not too warm. The late afternoon sun filtered through the still-green leaves of the trees on the Quad, dappling the ground with soft light.

Adrien let out a massive yawn. He was seated near a tall open window in the campus library. His computer and a couple large textbooks were spread out on the desk before him. Barely into the semester and he’d already managed to collect quite the stack of homework. Plus, he’d been tasked a massive project of working with the CEOs of Valentino to make sure their visions for the upcoming winter shows were catered to. And on top of everything else, his father had insisted he play no small part in the event planning for the evening’s party, despite the fact that he was supposed to only be working part-time.

Adrien was worn out.

With a sigh, he hunched back over one of the books, trying to find the line he’d just read so as to get the quote right for his essay. Staring at the page, it took him several moments to realize he’d skimmed right over the line. Giving his head a little shake, he refocused on the words and mouthed them as he typed them out.

He paused again as another yawn took hold, his vision blearing a little. Leaning back in his chair, he looked out the window, watching people make their way up the wide paths. A guy was throwing a frisbee across the open space, and his large dog loped happily after it. A couple people lounged under the towering trees, napping in the grass. Birds were chirping softly high above.

Adrien’s hair tickled his forehead in the soft breeze that floated through the window. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling. Maybe he should rest, just for a short break. He was so tired. His breathing slowed to a gentle rhythm.

And all else faded away.

He was running.

His lungs were burning. The effort of each breath was a fight all on its own.

Darkness surrounded him. He stared around, frantically trying to find one tiny pinprick of light. Something. Anything.

But there was nothing. An endless horizon of absolute nothing.

On he ran. Desperate. There had to be a way out.

The darkness was suffocating.

He had to escape.

“Adrien?”

The voice pierced his heart. He came to a halt, gasping for breath. Turning, he saw her, glowing a soft, deep blue as if the light came from within.

The only light he could see in the sea of darkness.

His mother.

“Mom?”

“My love, can you hear me? I’ve missed you.”

“Mom please, what can I do?” he begged. 

He tried to move towards her. But his feet stayed put. He couldn’t move.

The darkness was swallowing him up.

“Adrien please come home. Please save me, you must save me!”

“Mom!” he cried, struggling frantically. “Mom what do I do!”

He tried to claw his way forward. She reached out her arms to him, as if to embrace him. But she didn’t come closer.

“Please Adrien, help me! HELP ME!” 

She was screaming.

The nothingness was devouring him. He struggled against it, but he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe.

“Adrien! ADRIEN SAVE ME!”

Her screams echoed like they were in a vast hall. They didn’t fade away. They grew and grew, filling the empty space. He was being smothered, crushed under the weight of the oppressive darkness.

“No! Mom no! Please!”

The screams built in his head. There was nothing else. Only nothingness and the screaming, screaming, screaming.

“No!”

He felt like his skull would shatter from the pressure.

“NO!”

Adrien jerked awake, startled by his own shout. His heart was pounding in his ears, and beads of cold sweat were running down the back of his neck. 

Looking around, it took him a moment to regain his bearings. No longer was he surrounded by the oppressive darkness. The soft light coming through the windows felt almost blinding in comparison.

A few people were peeking out at him from around bookshelves and over desk dividers. One of his neighbors muttered, “Dude, it’s not even midterms yet. Chill.”

Surreptitiously, Plagg poked his head out from one of the small pockets in Adrien’s bag. 

Adrien glanced at him, knowing they both had felt that darkness.

Reaching his shaking hands up to cover his face, Adrien tried desperately to slow his breathing, which had been coming out in ragged gasps as if he’d just finished battling an Akuma.

‘It was a dream. It’s just another dream. It’s not real.’

A buzzing vibrated through his desk, making him jump. 

Looking around, he saw his phone lighting up with an incoming call. Letting out a harsh breath and mentally shaking himself a little, he reached out to pick it up. Marinette’s picture filled the screen. He pressed the green button and put the phone to his ear.

“Hey,” he said quietly, grimacing a little when his voice had a bit of rasp, as if he really had been screaming.

“Hey,” she said, and her voiced echoed weirdly. “I’m just about to jump in the shower and get ready for tonight. I wanted to make sure you were still coming by later to eat some real food before we go over there?”

Adrien realized that she must be on speakerphone in her bathroom.

“Um, yeah. Yeah absolutely, I’ll be there.” 

He pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time. He must’ve fallen asleep for longer than he’d thought. The shadows in the library had lengthened somewhat. There were only a couple hours until the two of them were expected at the Agreste manor.

“You ok?” he heard Marinette said after a short pause and he returned the phone to his ear.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No, it’s nothing, it’s just… I dunno, you sound a little off.”

“Hm,” he grunted. “I’m fine, I just dozed off without meaning to.”

“You haven’t been getting enough rest, huh?” she said.

“Uh-uh. Actually, thanks for calling, or else I might’ve slept right through the party.”

“Ugh, and abandoned me to the wolves? How rude.”

“I know,” he smiled a little, using his free arm to gather up his things and shuffle them into his bag. “Terribly ungentlemanly of me.”

“We don’t have to go, you know,” Marinette offered.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, even though she couldn’t see him. 

“Oh? And how would we manage that?”

“Well, if you’re already tired then you shouldn’t push it, especially when we have Nino’s gig tomorrow. We could just… say something came up, and stay home and just chill for the night. We’d put on a movie and order in, I could draw, you could take a cat nap… We could just... relax?”

He had to admit, she made something so simple sound incredibly enticing.

“Plagg would love that,” he grinned. “But I think we’ve already committed to tonight. They’re officially expecting us, now.”

“I’m sorry, Adrien,” she sighed, her tone serious.

He frowned. 

“For what?”

“I shouldn’t have just accepted Monsieur Agreste’s request like that without talking with you first.”

“You’re still worried about that?” Adrien paused in cleaning off his desk. “Please tell me you haven’t been beating yourself up about it this whole time?”

“I mean…” Marinette groaned. “Yeah? Kind of? I know how touchy things are between you two, I just didn’t know how to… say no.”

“He has that sort of effect on people,” Adrien said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and setting off between the towering bookcases. “Don’t worry about it, Mar. He would’ve found a way to make me come whether you’d been there or not. He’s been putting the pressure on for months.”

“I know, but still…”

“I’m not mad at you. It’s not your fault,” he said gently, a small smile tugging at his lips. “If anything, I’m just glad you’ll be with me for it. At least now I’m guaranteed to have one person there that I like to talk to.”

“…You sure?”

“Sure that I like to talk to you? Well, I mean I don’t think we could’ve been such good partners all these years if you bored me.”

“Ha ha. Very funny, Kitty.” He heard a soft rumbling and guessed that she’d just turned on the water. “You know what I meant.”

“It’s alright, Marinette. You did nothing wrong.”

“Kay,” she sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Mar.”

“I’m sorr– okay.”

“It’ll all be fine, alright?”

“Yeah, sorry, it will.”

“Marinette!”

“I’m sorry aH! SORRY! I CAN’T MAKE IT STOP!”

Adrien let out a bark of laughter and shot his free hand up to cover his mouth, muffling the noise as he hurried past the reception desks. 

A librarian threw him an irritable look at his outburst.

“I’ll see you in a bit then?” she asked.

“Yep.” He kept smiling despite himself as he pushed open the library doors and made his way down the stone steps. “Let’s get this slow torture over with.”

The time from when Adrien left campus to the start of the party seemed to fly by. All at once, he found himself dressed in an elegant suit and tie standing beside Marinette in front of his old family home. Taking in a deep breath, he steeled himself to enter the house he hadn’t seen the inside of in years.

Marinette reached over to him and wrapped her warm, reassuring fingers between his.

He looked down at her and found that her small encouraging smile gave him the strength he needed to step forward onto the property. 

Arm in arm, they made their way into the crowd of guests that stood under the glowing lights that criss-crossed overhead. Adrien thought it made the place seem warmer than he knew it to be. A dozen cocktail tables had been set up throughout the courtyard; waitstaff wearing dark red vests mingled around, carrying trays of everything from drinks to appetizers. Rhythmic melodies wafted from speakers scattered about the garden, controlled by a DJ off in one corner.

Adrien was forcibly reminded of when Nino had been at those exact turntables all those years ago, Akumatized as the Bubbler for his birthday.

The people were dressed in beautiful attire, as one would expect at a party hosted by one of the most highly esteemed fashion designers in the world. While some men wore classic black and white tuxes, many had forgone the traditional in favor of more bold designs with bright colors and patterns. The women were even more splendid, wearing elegant dresses in all the styles and hues one could imagine – and in some cases, even more fabulous suits than the men. Many people danced along to the music. Everyone seemed to be glittering under the lights and stars above.

Marinette let out a soft gasp, and Adrien turned to see her taking it all in with her mouth hanging open in awe.

He grinned as he watched her. If he wasn’t so tense about being in this place again, he would’ve been permanently star-struck by his Lady.

She had pulled her dark hair back into a sleek ponytail. A long silver chain hung around her neck and shimmered with tiny crystals as it traveled down the plunging neckline of her midnight blue dress. Floor length and long sleeved, it clung tightly to her body and flowed down into a short train that brushed along the ground. Her hem was embroidered with thousands of tiny silver stars that mirrored the night sky.

If he was to be perfectly honest, the longer he gazed at her, the less he could remember how to breathe properly.

“How are you feeling?” Marinette said quietly, turning to look at him.

“I’m fine,” he shrugged.

“At least this is just for an evening, right?” she offered. “And tomorrow you can guarantee that we’ll see people we enjoy, and you won’t have to worry about anything else.”

Adrien smiled.

“Trying to keep my mind on the positive, huh?” he chided with a smirk.

“Is it working?”

“A little, but now I’m just thinking of how much I’d rather be there now.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and stood on her tiptoes to give him a swift kiss.

“Well, if it isn’t two of my favorite people!” came a rumbling voice, and Adrien looked around to see a tall man with dark skin and long braided hair making his way towards them, beaming.

“Izzy, you’re here!” Marinette exclaimed happily, moving forward and releasing Adrien’s hand to be drawn into a tight hug.

“Of course!” Izzy said, moving to pull Adrien into a hug as well. “You don’t think Monsieur Agreste would neglect to invite his best material supplier, would you?”

“He’d be mad if he did,” Adrien said, relaxing a bit more in the presence of a familiar friend.

“So, how’s that new design project coming along, Mar?” Izzy asked. “Do you have a murder on your hands yet?”

Marinette let out a strangled noise, throwing her hands up in the air dramatically.

“Oh no, don’t get her started Izzy,” Adrien chuckled, reaching his arm around her shoulders.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “He’s behaving better than I think he ever has, but that’s not saying much. He’s still an absolute ass, and I hate that he’s such a good designer, because half the time just being near him makes me want to smack him!”

“Ah, so the fact that no one is dead yet in this situation means it’s going well, hm?” someone asked, and they turned to see one of Adrien’s work partners, Zacharias, coming their way while balancing four glasses of champagne for them.

“I mean, we’ve made it further than I thought we would without me throwing my pincushion at him, so yeah I think it’s going alright,” Marinette laughed, taking one of the glasses from him and standing on tiptoes to place a swift kiss on his cheek.

Ever since Adrien and Marinette had started dating, she and Zacharias had gotten along swimmingly, and would often share their designs with one another for feedback.

Taking his own drink from his friend, Adrien tilted his head back and downed it all in one swig. He put the empty glass on the tray of a waiter that was floating by while simultaneously grabbing another. Turning back to the conversation, he caught Marinette’s eye. Her eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, and he picked up on her concern. Nodding apologetically, he sipped more slowly at the second champagne.

“Señor Adrien!” someone called out.

Looking up, Adrien saw Valentino’s CEO, his assistant, and several executive editors making their way towards him. His stomach plummeted as he moved forward to greet them. It was their project that had been causing him more stress at work than he’d had to deal with in quite some time.

He had not been aware they would be attending his father’s party.

“How wonderful to see you all,” Adrien said welcomingly, putting on as natural an air as possible. “It is an honor to have you all visiting this weekend.”

“The pleasure is all ours, my dear boy,” one of the editors said, flashing him a smile. “We wouldn’t miss meeting with you in person after you have put so much work into our account.”

“You give me too much credit, Madame,” Adrien offered her a nod, before turning to reach for Marinette’s hand and pulling her into the conversation. Marinette was the only one who caught sight of the mildly panicked look he flashed her before turning back to the group.

“May I introduce my partner, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist, more for her stable support than anything else. “She is in her final year at the International Fashion Academy.”

Marinette accepted the hand of the CEO, who put it to his lips for a swift kiss.

“Delighted, Señorita,” he said. “I am sure we are all looking forward to seeing the work you will produce. Anyone whom Señor Agreste approves of must be an exceptional talent.”

“Th-thank you very much!” Marinette stammered.

Adrien saw that her cheeks had gone bright red. Catching her eye, he grinned.

“Now Adrien,” the CEO continued. “I do hope you will join us tomorrow morning for a meeting? I believe it would be incredibly valuable to go over some of these plans with you in person.”

“Oh…” Adrien was rather taken aback by this. He usually made a point to avoid working on weekends if he could help it – there were already more than enough commitments on his plate without it – but there would be no way out of this.

“Of course,” he said, quickly reattaching his smile. “I would be entirely pleased to make some time for you.”

“Excellent,” the CEO nodded approvingly and held his hand out for Adrien to shake once more. “Then we shall see you in the morning. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Señor Agreste.”

“You as well,” Adrien bowed a little as the group carried on to another table.

“I will send the schedule your way immediately, Señor Agreste,” the assistant said as she trailed after them.

Turning back to Marinette, Adrien groaned and lowered his head pathetically onto her shoulder.

“Feeling a little sorry for ourselves, are we?” she asked, and he could hear the amusement in her tone.

“Extremely,” he said, his own voice becoming muffled as he leaned into her. “Nothing like taking an already busy weekend and replacing any time I had to sleep in with work meetings.”

“Is there anything I can help with?” Zacharias offered.

Adrien shrugged, lifting his head away from Marinette to glance at him. 

“I doubt it. They have all been very particular about wanting me exclusively, though who the hell knows why.”

“It’s because you’re good,” Marinette said, grinning up.

“Zacharias is good,” Adrien grumbled.

“Yeah, but you have the name to go with it,” Zacharias pointed out.

Adrien turned to him with a small frown, but he knew that Zacharias was right. 

They had spoken openly about this before. There had been a time when Zacharias had resented Adrien for the privilege that came with the reputation of his namesake. But over their years of working together, Adrien had made it clear how much he refused to use his father’s power for anything. He had also pushed the hardest for Zacharias to get into his current higher position in the Agreste company, and as they had gotten to know each other and work together, they had become good friends.

If Adrien had his way, he would turn any and all of his power within the company to Zacharias. He certainly had earned it.

“Oh, cheer up, Adrien,” Izzy said, patting him heartily on the back. “It’ll only be a few hours of meetings. You don’t have to worry about it like you’re saving the world or anything.”

 “You’re right, that’s just my night job,” Adrien said, and they all laughed.

He exchanged the briefest of smirks with Marinette. Oh, if only they knew…

The four of them found their way to a corner of the courtyard and continued discussing Marinette’s semester assignment, enjoying the various appetizers that came their way. From time to time, people that Adrien and Zacharias had worked with on various projects came up to say hello. 

Adrien was feeling significantly calmer. If the evening was to consist mostly of making conversation with people he genuinely liked, he began to hope that the party might not be so uncomfortable as he’d been dreading.

“Good evening, Adrien,” someone said behind him, and he turned to find his father’s assistant, Nathalie, looking as prim and professional as ever.

“Hello Nathalie,” he replied, offering her a smile. “Everything is going well, I trust?”

“As well as it can,” she said, nodding. “I wanted to inform you that dinner is about to begin in the main banquet hall for those in higher standings with the company. I must go and check in on the head chef to confirm that we are ready to proceed. Your father is presently in a meeting with some of the executives.”

“Business as usual,” Adrien sighed.

It was another element of his father’s events that he’d always hated; the “higher-ups” would dine with his father on obscenely expensive cuisine, while all the other guests were left outside to their party. It was just another way to sew division. Though on some level, he could never really decide which group of guests had the true short end of the stick.

“Indeed,” Nathalie continued, unphased by his tone. “Would you please go to his office and let him know that he must be in the banquet hall to welcome the rest of his guests with an opening toast soon?”

Adrien’s jaw clenched with a slight pang of irritation. He’d been hoping to keep the interactions with his father to a minimum. All the tension that had been ebbing away with the help of Marinette and their friends came rushing back to him. But instead of letting it show, he simply nodded to Nathalie.

“I will inform him shortly,” he said.

Nathalie nodded, and turned to disappear through the sea of guests.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Marinette said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Adrien shook his head. Wrapping his own hand around hers, he kissed her fingers gently. 

“No, it’s ok,” he said. “You keep catching up with Izzy and Zacharias. I won’t be long.”

“Alright,” she said, giving his fingers a squeeze before letting him go.

Adrien wove his way through the party and climbed the stairs up to the large front doors, which stood open. Inside was filled with nearly as many people as there were outside. Glancing around the entrance hall, he noticed that nothing much had changed since he’d moved out. He had refrained from stepping foot in this place ever since, considering it a freedom to be rid of the confining walls and enforced solitude of his boyhood. Being back now brought on a flood of long-buried memories, and he shook his head a little to clear his mind.

He beelined towards the doors of his father’s study. Knocking softly, he turned one of the knobs and stepped inside.

Gabriel was pouring over his desks with a handful of the company executives. All of them were dressed as splendidly as the party-goers outside. One of them was talking about something to do with how the Fall Collection was being received.

Adrien cleared his throat loudly, causing them all to look up. “

I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” he said formally, putting on an apologetic smile. “I wanted to inform you all that dinner is about to begin.”

“Thank you, dear Adrien!” said one of the women whom Adrien recognized from the long years she and his father had worked together. “You are very right to pull us away. This evening is about letting loose a bit and celebrating, after all!”

Everyone murmured their agreement, thanking Adrien as they moved towards the door. Some shook his hand or kissed his cheeks in greeting. 

Gabriel was the only one who remained in place, watching him.

“Father, Nathalie just asked me to remind you of the welcoming toast you are supposed to give.”

“Thank you, Adrien,” his father said, gathering everything up off his desk and storing it away. “I appreciate you coming to tell me. Somehow the evening has grown later than I’d realized.”

Adrien nodded, but as he turned to leave, he caught sight of the Miraculous Grimoire sitting on one of the smaller tables. He paused, staring at it, and wondered for the umpteenth time where exactly his father had gotten ahold of it. He had always suspected if Gabriel had any real knowledge of the true powers it held within.

Gabriel followed his gaze and moved to pick up the book. 

“I trust you and Mlle. Dupain-Cheng are enjoying yourselves?” he asked, moving across the office to the Gustav Klimt style portrait of Adrien’s mother, and pulling it forward to access the safe hidden behind.

“Yes, it seems everyone is having a good time.” Adrien followed his father slowly, watching while he entered the code to the safe. “It’s nice to see the house so full of life again.”

“Yes, well…” Gabriel sighed, opening the safe door and placing the book and several other documents onto its shelves, beside a photograph of Adrien’s mother. “It’s still a lot of work to try and please so many people. I find it rather exhausting to be honest, but I suppose it’s necessary to keep the company happy.”

Adrien grunted noncommittally in response, and was turning to leave once again when a flash of blue within the safe caught his eye. He shot out his arm, blocking his father from closing the door. 

Gabriel looked him in mild curiosity, but Adrien ignored him.

It had been years since he’d seen inside the safe for himself. When he was a boy, he’d had no reason to find the small jeweled peacock significant… but he knew that jewel, now. He’d just seen it while leafing through Master Fu’s copy of the Grimoire a few weeks earlier. Made out of turquoise and azure glass, the jewel reflected the lights in a way that made it seem almost alive. Almost magical. And all at once, Adrien knew exactly what it was.

His father was in possession of the Peafowl Miraculous.

Adrien stared at it in utter amazement. It was impossible. How on earth could his father of all people have something so precious? So dangerous?

Without thinking, Adrien reached out his hand and lifted the Miraculous off the shelf. It was strangely warm for something that had been sitting unhandled in a cold safe.

“It was your mother’s,” Gabriel said, his voice making Adrien look up in surprise. Gabriel was watching him closely, his expression guarded and unreadable. “She left it behind when she… when she disappeared.”

“Where did she get this?” Adrien asked uncertainly. 

Did his father know of it’s true power? Had his mother known? Was it really possible that his mother had been, like himself, a Miraculous wielder?

“Tibet,” Gabriel said. “In the same place I got my book of… inspiration.”

Adrien glanced at the Grimoire. Beside it lay a stack of travel documents he hadn’t noticed before, as well as a book on traveling through Tibet.

“Apparently, it is an ancient Chinese artifact. One of a kind and very, very valuable. It was one of your mother’s greatest treasures.”  

“But she didn’t take it with her when she… left?”

Gabriel pondered him.

Adrien looked back at him searchingly.

After a long moment, Gabriel sighed and held his hand out for the Miraculous.

Adrien hesitated. He knew that he should get the jewel back to Master Fu as soon as possible, restoring it to the safe care and protection of the Guardian. But he couldn’t just take it from his father. Something that had been so dear to his mother would never be relinquished easily, and to steal it would raise all kinds of concern and attention…

Finally, after what felt like a moment of eternity, he released his hold on the Miraculous, and Gabriel returned it to the safe.

Locking the door and repositioning the large painting to hide it, Gabriel took a step back to look up into Adrien’s mother’s eyes.

Adrien stood beside him, regarding the painting as well.

“When Emilie disappeared, it was the most painful day of my life,” Gabriel said suddenly.

Adrien looked around at his father in astonishment; it had been years since he’d heard his mother’s name spoken out loud.

“It was… as if she’d taken half of my heart, half of my very soul with her. I didn’t know where to go, what to do… I…” 

He paused, unable to make the words come to him.

Adrien hadn’t seen his father like this since he was a child. It was like the cold and aloof demeanor had suddenly cracked, and he could actually catch a glimpse of the man his father used to be. For that brief moment, he felt the urge to comfort his father in the same way he’d wished anyone had comforted him when he’d been in pain all those years ago. 

Reaching his hand up, he placed it hesitantly on his father’s shoulder.

“I’ve done everything in my power to… find her.” Gabriel continued. “To bring her back home, for both our sakes. But every time I get close to the answer, it’s stolen away.” 

His hands balled into fists as he said this, and suddenly the aching sadness was replaced with an incredible fury that caused Adrien to actually step back, flinching his hand away from his father as though he’d been burned.

A strange energy hung in the air, a darkness that made Adrien feel like he was back inside one of his nightmares.

The screams of his mother echoed through his mind.

All at once, the atmosphere around his father had shifted, and any hint of emotion from what they had been speaking of vanished. Gone was any shadow of the father Adrien had spent so much of his life longing for. He was Monsieur Gabriel Agreste once again, as cold and rigid as the polished marble that filled the mansion in which they stood.

“Enough of this, Adrien,” Gabriel said, his voice hard as he turned to leave his office. “We have a party to attend.”

He stopped and waited by the large doors, holding them open.

After a moment, Adrien followed him, his mind racing. But just as he stepped past his father, he heard a disturbance halfway down the grand staircase. Security was converging on several guests that were harassing a mortified looking waiter. One of them had his fist clenched on the waiter’s shirt collar.

Gabriel stiffened.

Looking at him, Adrien saw a strange gleam come into his father’s eyes. It sent a chill down his spine.

“Please inform Nathalie that I will be with our guests shortly,” Gabriel said, a strange note in his voice. “There is one last thing I must attend to… it should not take long, I’m sure, and the guests are well enough entertained without me there for another moment or two.”

And with that, Gabriel swept back into his office and shut the doors with a snap, leaving Adrien outside.

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and turned to find Marinette waiting just inside the large entrance doors, looking unsure. 

When she spotted him, she smiled with relief and hurried to his side.

“I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do,” she said, wrapping her arm through his. “Some people were moving into the banquette hall, some were staying outside, I dunno. Zacharias introduced me to a few of those lead designers your father was talking about, so that’s exciting! I was more nervous than I thought I’d be, though. They said they would keep an eye on me and my work this year, like that’s more pressure I need right now… Hey...” 

She paused her nervous rambling finally to peer up at him. “You look even more stressed out than before. Like you’ve seen a ghost or something… Are you ok?”

“I… I don’t know,” he said, staring unseeingly out into the crowd of guests in the courtyard.

He had no idea what to feel.

“What happened in there?” Marinette asked, serious now.

But before he could answer, they were shoved to the side by the boisterous group from the stairs who were being ushered outside by security. One of them – a sour man Adrien recognized as an agent from past photoshoots – was dabbing a handkerchief to a dark wine-red stain that was blossoming over his pale, snakeskin patterned vest. He seemed rather tipsy as he loudly exclaiming something about “… the audacity of it all, they should fire that imbecilic waiter on the spot!”

Marinette threw a frown at the man, but otherwise ignored them, pulling Adrien out of their way. They were now in one of the hall’s corners, hidden behind a tall marble pillar.

Adrien leaned against it.

“Ok, now tell me,” Marinette demanded, her hands holding his face gently as she gazed up at him in concern.

“I… I don’t even know where to begin…” Adrien’s mind was still reeling. “Marinette, listen… you’re never gonna believe this but –”

A piercing scream from just outside cut him off.

They both whipped their heads around to stare in the direction of the doors. There were shouts of confusing coming from the courtyard, and then another scream came. And another.

Exchanging glances, Adrien and Marinette rushed out from behind the pillar and hurried to the double doors to look out over the courtyard.

The scene that met them was utter chaos.

Guests were running and crying out in terror. Several cocktail tables had been knocked over. A throng had gathered at the front gate as people tried desperately to get off the Agreste premises, away from an Akuma that was laughing drunkenly in the midst of it all.

Adrien, having just witnessed the scene inside, recognized the agent that had been escorted out by security moments before. 

The man – though he could hardly be called that now – had grown to be several feet taller, his legs fused together and elongated into the horrible, pale white body of a giant snake. Wine-red scales made patterns down to the tip of his tail. He still had the use of his arms, though his head had grown a cobra’s hood, and his face stretched into a wide, flat snout.

“You can run, but you can’t hide from the Beau Constrictor!” the Akuma said, laughing again as he lashed out at the people sprinting past him. There was an undercurrent of hissing with every word he spoke.

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a swift nod.

Marinette rush off, soaring lithely over the railing of the front steps to find, as Adrien knew, a place to transform.

Adrien stayed where he was.

“Everyone inside, NOW!” he shouted, pulling one of the heavy entrance doors closed with a boom and ushering the nearest guests into the hall through the other. “Take cover! Get out of range!”

People followed his instructions without hesitation. Those nearest to him raced up the steps to hurry inside. Others sprinted around the corners of the mansion. He hoped they would have enough sense to find refuge through the side doors below.

His shouts had earned the Akuma’s attention, and Adrien narrowed his eyes as he searched for where the vile butterfly might have lodged itself… There. The vest the man had been futilely trying to rid of the spilled wine was still donned over his torso.

The Akuma’s tail flashed forward and snatched up one of the guests, who shrieked in fright. He began coiling himself tightly around her body. In the span of half a second, he had her bound.

Adrien watched in horror, unable to move fast enough to save her as the creature unhinged his jaw to reveal razor sharp fangs, preparing to bite.

“Hey!” Adrien heard a familiar voice shout, and looking around, he saw Ladybug swing into the courtyard and land upon the DJ’s platform. “This is a private party, and I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t add a slimy, overgrown reptile to the list!”

“Don’t you know?” the Beau Constrictor hissed, lowering his victim as he turned. “Insects are a main food source for snakes.”

“Well, I plan to be nobody’s meal tonight,” Ladybug retorted, launching herself forward to prevent the snake from biting any more people.

Adrien turned away from the fight then, hurrying down the stone steps to dive behind one of the thick shrubberies that lined the edge of the property.

“Let’s do this Plagg,” he said as his Kwami emerged from an inner jacket pocket to hover before him.

“Does this mean no more party hors d'oeuvres?” Plagg asked grumpily, but Adrien ignored his quip.

“Transforme moi!”

The electric current coursed along his skin, and in a flash of green light, Chat Noir leapt out of hiding. He could not afford to give more thought to what he’d just seen in his father’s office. He had to focus on what was happening now.

Drawing his staff into his hands, he sped across the courtyard.

Ladybug was swinging around the Akuma, staying just out of his reach as he thrashed around to catch her. His massive tail had collided with one of the outer walls, creating enormous cracks along the stone.

“Mind if I slither in?” Chat called.

Wielding his staff in a great arc above his head, he brought it down with a sharp crack on the serpent’s tail.

The Akuma howled in pain.

Chat dove out of the way as the Akuma bared his fangs and struck at him, lightning fast. He missed him by inches.

“Sir, why don’t we just try to calm down?” Chat called, finally cracking a smile as he rolled to his feet and took another shot at the monster. “Let’s not ruin such a lovely evening! How’s about we just k-hiss and make up, huh?”

Letting out a snarl of rage, the Beau Constrictor finally snatched hold of Ladybug’s arm.

She let out a yelp of pain as he twisted and launched her towards the trunk of a tree. Before the collision, she managed to catch onto one of the tree’s branches.

“Now now, no need to throw a hissy fit!” Chat quipped as he flew towards the Akuma and managed to land a satisfying hit on his jaw.

Spitting angrily, the Akuma reeled from the pain, his tail whipping around.

“Scum!” the Beau Constrictor hissed bitterly as Chat landed beside Ladybug. “I don’t know what I expected from a couple pathetic idiots who waste all their time defending the most worthless people of Paris.”

“Nobody is worthless,” Ladybug called, her yo-yo whirring as she paced towards him. “No one deserves to be taken advantage of!”

Chat flanked around to the other side, watching for her to give a signal.

“On the contrary, pest,” the Akuma snarled. “Some people just aren’t made to have power. They are made to serve those with power. If there were no one beneath me, the system would fall apart.”

“Yeah, your system of suppression,” she snapped, and Chat heard genuine irritation in her tone. “Monsieur, I think you need to take a long, hard look at who you consider to be beneath you. Because from where I’m standing, someone who takes pleasure in hurting others is right there at the bottom of the barrel.”

“Then for now, I’ll just take my pleasure in hurting you,” he said, slithering towards her, his revolting mouth curving into a smile that made Chat’s skin crawl. “And maybe later, I’m sure there are other ways I can get my pleasure.”

“That’s disgusting,” Chat said, gagging. “I swear, the way men behave these days to make up for their ereptile dysfunction is just pathetic.”

Ladybug shot an amused look in his direction.

“Come on, chaton,” she called, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just skin this snake and move on with our evening, shall we?”

“With pleasure! Oh no, he really ruined that word for me now…”

Shuddering, Chat sped forward, dodging around the massive tail to reach for the cursed vest.

The Beau Constrictor twisted out of his reach, snapping his fangs at him.

Chat deflected the bite with a kick. He rebounded and whirled through the air before landing on the cobblestone.

A flash of glowing blue caught his eye as he turned back around to face the monster. Whipping his head around in surprise, though, he saw nothing.

‘Strange,’ he thought, frowning as he turned back to the fight. ‘I could’ve sworn I saw –’ 

“Chat, look out!” Ladybug cried.

Once more, he dove to the side just in time, the Akuma’s razer teeth barely missing him.

He reeled back, shaking his head to rid it of whatever he thought he’d seen.

Ladybug flung her yo-yo out and managed to wrap it around the Akuma’s wrist. She yanked him towards her, using the force of his momentum to land a fresh blow across his wretched face.

He retaliated quickly. Before she could dodge away, his scaly tail slammed her in the chest. She landed flat on her back, winded.

Chat winced on her behalf. Using his staff, he blocked the tail from hitting her a second time.

“Snake it off, M’lady,” Chat called as he danced out of the Akuma’s way, leading him further from where she was struggling to her feet.

She shot him a withering glare. 

“Seriously?!” she wheezed.

“Oh please, that was hisss-terical and you know it.”

“Just focus on the Akuma!”

Allowing himself a smirk, he quickly chose another point to target, hoping to give Ladybug the in she needed to snatch up the vest.

The Beau Constrictor lunged at him.

Chat raised his staff, blocking the Akuma’s bite. His fangs glanced off the metal with a clang. Driving the end of the staff into the ground, Chat swung up and kicked at the Akuma’s shoulder.

He dodged and landed a hit to Chat’s ribs.

Chat grimaced, retaliating with his own quick jab, holding the Akuma’s attention.

Seeing what he was doing, Ladybug rallied herself and took a running leap forward. She landed on the Akuma’s back, holding on tight as he thrashed around in frustration. He tried to grab her and throw her off, but she dodged away.

Chat crouched down, preparing to spring.

“Adrien…” a familiar voice whispered, right behind him.

“Ah!” Chat let out a yelp, twisting around in shock.

No one was there.

Eyes wide, he gazed around the courtyard. He knew that voice… the voice which had been haunting his dreams… his nightmares… it couldn’t be possible.

“Chat Noir! Are you alright?” Ladybug called to him, flashing him a look of concern as she tried to strongarm the Beau Constrictor from behind with her yo-yo.

Chat shook his head again, trying to clear his mind. A cold sweat had broken out along his skin, and his heart pounded in his chest.

“I – I’m fine!” he called, not entirely convincingly.

He had no time for this. He needed to focus.

As he stepped forward, a piercing scream reached his ears. He froze, a chill running down his spine as it echoed around him. Shadows blurred at the edges of his vision, and he blinked hard, trying to drive them away.

‘What’s happening…?’

He stumbled, trying to focus on the Akuma before him.

“Adrien, save me!”

The voice rang so loudly that he brought his hands up to clench his head. A sharp pain jolted along his knees, and distantly he knew he was no longer standing.

The shadows had engulfed his vision, drowning out everything else around him.

“Please, Adrien! The darkness… it’s too strong!”

The screaming echoed around him, as if it came from every direction.

And suddenly, there she was. Standing before him, surrounded by that brilliant blue glow.

‘This isn’t real,’ he thought desperately. ‘This is just another nightmare, you aren’t here!’

“Chat, what’s wrong?!”

“Help me, Adrien! I can’t escape on my own!” 

His mother looked though she were engulfed in blue flames. They licked around her, caressing her skin as she dissolved away into the shadows.

“Save me!” 

Her screams grew louder and louder as she was pulled away.

He squoze his eyes shut, willing the reverberations to stop. Every bone in his body felt as if they were shattering.

“Chat Noir, I need your help! What are you doing?!”

The darkness pressed in on him, impenetrable. He was suffocating.

“Adrien!”

The noise was too much. He would die at any moment.

“CHAT!”

“ADRIEN!”

With a roar, Chat Noir raised his clawed hand into the air.

“CATACLYSM!” he yelled, and with a pulse of magic, he brought his fist crashing to the ground.

In an instant, the darkness around him fractured. Blinding light pierced through the shroud.

As if from a great distance, he heard a shout of “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The world came roaring back into focus.

Chat stumbled, shaking his head, trying to clear it of the screams that still echoed through his ears.

The man who had been Akumatized was sitting on the courtyard’s newly mended cobblestones, restored to his normal self and gazing around in bewilderment. His was the only pair of eyes not trained towards Chat Noir.

The guests who had not managed to escape out the front gate – and there were plenty – were staring in his direction. Every face was a mixture of shock and something else. Anger? Disapproval? … Fear?

Many of them had their phones out, recording pictures and videos of everything that had happened.

Ladybug was kneeling beside the Akumatized man, her hand on his back as she murmured gentle words of comfort. Her eyes were on Chat, though, and worry was etched into her face.

Chat stumbled to his feet, his breathing labored as his heart thundered in his chest. He was shaking.

As he stared back at Ladybug, movement at the top of the mansion’s steps caught his eye. He saw his father emerge from the hall within. But Gabriel did not look angry about his grand party being the scene of an attack; on the contrary, his expression was that of intrigue. His hands were clasped behind his back and all at once, Chat felt as though he were a small boy again, stealing himself for his father’s harsh reprimanding.

The familiar, sharp beep-beep of his ring sent a visceral jolt of fear through Chat Noir as he stared into Gabriel’s cold eyes. Without sparing another glance to the crowd surrounding him, he spun on his heel, struck his staff to the ground, and launched high into the cool night air. He did not even look back to see if Ladybug would follow him or stay to help smooth things over.

His feet raced over the rooftops of Paris, as fast as the thoughts that sped through his mind.

His father had a Miraculous in his possession. The Miraculous had belonged to his mother, Emilie. He didn’t know if Gabriel was aware of its true power. He didn’t know if his mother was a wielder.

Of only one thing he was absolutely certain; he needed to consult Master Fu as soon as possible.

Two new chapters in one day?! Aw yeahh!!!

It's a shorter one (compared to my usual standards) but it's packed with a lot of things so there's that! I already had most of this written when I posted Ch 3 earlier, so I figure'd might as well just wrap it up ;) Super pumped to keep sharing this with you guys, it's only gonna get more intense and exciting from here!!!

If you’re reading this after 9/18/2019 this chapter has been HELLA updated and is now twice as long as it was originally! I hope you enjoy this way more, because the story to come is pretty great!!

[petersspidey]

Dead Serious

Request: hey could you do one with peter, where the reader is studying and, he just wants to hangout with her so he gets whiny and so the reader says "let me finish and we can make out for much long as you like" and then they do. Lots of fluff please :)

A/N: I think I have a problem where because my favourite thing is friends who eventually get together, I never write an “hey we’re already dating" type fic, and this would totally be a prefect one of those but LOL IMA NOT DO THAT STILL. Yikes, sorry if this wasn’t what you were looking for. Lol I'm also gonna do a smutty Part 2.

Word Count: 1338

Masterlist

Part 2 // Part 3

T-48 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEMISTRY EXAM

“And students, please remember that your midterm will be in exactly two days starting precisely when the bell rings, so do not be late,” your teacher said.

Peter leaned over next to you, “Are we studying tonight?”

“I can’t, but how about tomorrow night?” You whispered, trying to make sure the teacher doesn’t hear you.

“What? Got a hot date tonight or something? Too good to see me?” Peter joked.

“If you count a hot date as studying for my French midterm tomorrow, then yes,”

“Y/L/N, Mr Parker, do you have something to share with the class?” Your teacher called back at you.

“Actually, I was wondering if you could go over the different types of reactions one more time, I was struggling with memorizing them and I was just asking Peter for help, but it would be great if you could go over them,” you lied.

Your teacher eyed the two of you before turning around to the chalk board and began writing out different reactions.

“Nice save,” Peter whispered.

“Well one of us had to say something, and since you can’t lie for your life, that duty falls on me,"

“I can so lie,”

“Sure Peter, and I have a pet unicorn,”

“Hey!”

“We go over this all the time, you can’t lie, and that’s exactly why you need me as a best friend,”

“What about Ned?” Peter asked.

“He needs me for the same reason too,”

T-40 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM

Peter: Hey Y/N

Y/N: How may I be of service

Peter: Can you paint me like one of your French girls?

Y/N: Peter, why can’t you just let me study?

Peter: Because i’m bored

Y/N: Go bother Ned, i’m busy.

Peter: He has a midterm tomorrow too, he won’t answer my texts.

Y/N: Well how about this, you let me study now and I will entertain you tomorrow after we study ;)

Peter: ugh fine

Peter: But what’s with the winky face?

Y/N: Peter.

Peter: Sorry!

T-39 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM

Peter: I’m still curious about the winky face

Y/N: How’s this Parker, you leave me alone tomorrow and I'll go down on you when we finish studying

Peter didn’t respond for a while

Y/N: Peter did you die?

Peter: You aren’t serious

Y/N: Dead serious.

Y/N: I’ll see you tomorrow ;)

T-24 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM

You were sitting in chemistry, barely listening to your teacher ramble on about the different formulas you will need to know for tomorrow when Peter elbowed you to get your attention.

“Are you ready for your French exam?” He whispered.

“No! I’m so nervous. I can read it really well and understand it when someone speaks to me, but I have to write the entire exam in French and I don’t know if i’ll actually do well,”

“Y/N, you doodle in French for gods sake, I think you’ll be fine,”

“I know, i’m just nervous,”

“Listen to me, you’re going to do extremely well, as always. You’ve been taking French for years, you’ve got this in the bag,”

“Mr Parker! Something you would like to share with the rest of us?” the teacher interrupted.

Peter froze, he began stammering out a few words in response to the teacher when you cut in, “Sorry Ms, I was quizzing Peter on elements and their correlating atomic number. We didn’t mean to speak that loud,”

“Studying is for your free time, M(r)(s) Y/L/N, not class time. Please pay attention and study some other time,”

“Of course Ms. Our apologizes,”

The teacher turned back to the board and continued talking about what she had previously written.

“You need to quit talking so loud. There are only so many lies I can tell,”

T-21 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM

At lunch you ran into the car and joined Peter and Ned at your lunch table.

“So?” Peter said

“How did you do?” Peter added.

“Fabulously! I know I did well. I’m about 95% sure I got an A on the exam. I’m so proud of myself. I actually understood what I was reading and what I wrote. I'm feeling really confident about it,"

“That’s awesome Y/N! I told you you’d do great. I’m proud of you,” Peter said.

“Let’s just wait and see how well I do on the chemistry midterm, and then you can decide whether you’re proud of me or not,”

“We’re still on for our study date tonight, right?" Peter asked.

Ned looked up from his notes where he was studying for his exam in the afternoon.

“Wait, you two are going on a date? Finally. Took you two long enough. You can cut the sexual tension In here with a knife,”

“What?” You choked out

“We-we’re not going on a date. We said study date, Ned," Peter said.

“I'm going to Peter’s tonight so we can study for our chemistry exam tomorrow,”

“Ha, I get it, you guys are studying YOUR chemistry. Have fun kids, use a condom,” Ned said, standing up and beginning to collect his things, “Well i’m going to the library where there’s less tension floating through the air. Enjoy ‘studying’ tonight guys,”

You and Peter sat silently and waited Ned walk away.

Neither of you were really sure of what to say.

“So do you want to just walk to my place after school together then?” Peter said, eventually breaking the silence.

“Yep!” You agreed.

T-16 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM 

It was 4pm by the time you and Peter actually began studying, you were lying on his floor with your textbook and notes open around you while Peter was sitting at his desk.

You spent some time quizzing each other and going over notes before Peter began getting bored. This was once of his best subjects so he really didn’t need to study as hard as you did for this class.

T-13 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTEM CHEM EXAM

You had been studying for three hours and Peter had started whining approximately two hours previous.

You were still on Peter’s floor surrounded by your study notes. Peter had moved to his bed and was lying down.

“Y/N," He whined.

“Yes, dear,” you said, not taking your attention away from what you were reading.

“How much longer do we have to study? i’m booooorrreeeddd. We already know all of this,”

“You already know all of this,” you corrected him.

“But Y/N, you know it toooooo,”

“Peter, hon, if you don’t shut up, or just help me study I might lose my mind,”

“You’ll have to make me stop talking,”

“Okay Peter, how’s this? Let me study now, and later we can make out for as long as you’d like, and maybe I'll even go down on you,”

Peter sat up, “Wh-what?”

“I feel like at this point, my lips on yours is one sure way that you won’t be talking,”

“I-i- are you serious?” He questioned.

“Dead serious Parker, give me half an hour to review the rest of my notes and you can have your tongue down my throat for as long as you’d like,”

Peter’s eyes widened, and he shut up. You didn’t hear a peep out of him for the next half hour.

T-12 HOURS UNTIL THE MIDTERM CHEM EXAM

When you were finally done reviewing your notes, you put them back into your folder and stood up.

Peter sat on his bed, watching you.

“Were you really serious before, or were you just trying to get me to shut up?” Peter asked.

“I told you, Parker. I’m dead serious,”

[paradisobound]

Young and In Love

Summary: Written for the Phandom Big Bang 2017! 

When the coffee shop in the basement of Dan’s university is suddenly closed one evening, he uses his phone to track the next closest one. But who was to know that his life would change entirely when he stepped inside? A story of love, heartbreak, and everything in-between, we follow Dan through the journey of growth and acceptance. 

Word Count: 9,194 (this was supposed to be 5-7k, whoops) 

Pairing: Punk!Dan Howell and Present!2017!Phil Lester

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, self-hatred, slight mentions of depression, and light-smut (it stops before the actual act of sex)

Authors Note: When I first signed up for the PBB, I had no idea what I was getting into. I did the smallest word count possible (and still went over, mind you lol) and put a lot of time and effort into this story. I went through so many emotions with this, most of the time them being how this wasn’t going to be good enough. But I had some amazing encouragement from so many people and that’s what pushed me through! I just really wanted to say that I thank everyone for making my first PBB one to remember! I definitely want to do this every year I’m in the Phandom from this point on! I also really want to thank my amazing beta Gabbie ( @tiredofbeingnice123 ), who stepped in when my first beta could no longer do the job. And for my artist @yolkoii who has done that beautifully done piece for this fic located at the top! I really just hope that at the end of the day, everyone enjoys this and has a great time reading it! Happy reading! :) 

“You get ready, you get all dressed up / To go nowhere in particular / Back to work or the coffee shop / Doesn’t matter cause it’s enough / To be young and in love”- Young and In Love by Lana Del Rey 

Dan found the little cafe on the corner of 1st and 2nd Main Street by complete chance. Most of the time, he would never go into a cafe; his persona just wouldn’t fit the pastel and hipster aesthetic that can sometimes go with such a place. But today, he didn’t have much of a choice. He had just finished his Uni lecture: a three hour long class talking about the importance of Shakespeare, and why his works are still timeless. He was already falling asleep, but he needed a caffeine boost if he wanted to get through the next class that would begin in an hour. He would usually go to his Uni’s cafe, but it was closed for the evening.

So really, the next best thing he could do was Google the next closest cafe, and walk over. It turned out to be only three blocks away.

When he approached the entrance, he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him at breaking his typical routine. He felt himself nervously twitch, and he tugged at the side of his beanie that was covering the tip of his ears, forcing it further down. It was chilly outside today; a typical February afternoon for London. When he awoke in his flat that morning, the sun had tricked him into thinking that the weather would be warmer, leaving him wearing a thin black hoodie that the air went through.

He put his hand on the door and pushed it open, grunting a bit at the heaviness of the glass paneled door. The minute his leather-studded boot touched the dark wooden floor, he could almost feel everyone’s eyes on him. He brushed it off, shaking his head slightly. He pushed the thoughts about people’s stares and silent judgment aside; the whole idea that this wasn’t his typical scene was making him slightly self-conscious.

As he walked further inside, he bit at his tongue ring in his mouth, and then bit his lip, and tugged at his lip ring. He let go of the ring just in time to see that he was stood in line behind a group of other people. Upon a quick look up, he noticed a member of the group was staring at him, but then quickly looked away.

He bowed his head, adjusting his backpack that weighed heavy against his shoulders. Maybe if he didn’t look up, he wouldn’t notice that some people were staring?

He wasn’t sure even sure how he got to the counter, as he felt like he was walking through thick fog. He set his backpack on the countertop and fumbled around in the messy bag for his wallet.

“While you’re looking for your wallet, can I start an order for you?”

Dan looked up and spoke before his eyes could focus.

“Black coffee, please.”

He went back down to pawing through his bag as he heard the random clicking and tapping that came with every cash register. After what felt like ages, he found the tattered black leather square at the bottom of his bag.

He quickly opened it and looked up just in time to be met with bright blue eyes. His breath hitched, and when he went to ask the price, his words got stuck in his throat. He coughed slightly.

Why did he have to be so awkward? Better yet, why was this guy so goddamn beautiful?

“That’ll be $1.99,” the worker said, putting his hand out to take his payment before Dan could even register what was happening.

Dan gave him a small smile and nodded. He dug through his run-down wallet and pulled out two crumpled dollar bills.

“You can wait over there for your drink,” The worker said, pointing to a small area where people were gathered around with straws and cardboard cup sleeves.

“Can I get a name?”

Dan nodded.

“Dan,” he spoke out, thankful that this time he remembered his own name.

The man nodded and smiled back, before asking for the next customer.

Dan shuffled down the line and waited for his coffee at the counter. But the whole time, he couldn’t take his eyes off from the man with blue eyes.

He mentally cursed himself for not looking at the man’s name tag.

Not too long after, his drink was handed to him, and he was grabbing his cream and sugar before heading off. However, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he needed to come back so he could see this man once more.

The following week went by in an almost blur for Dan. He got pulled aside in his Law class for not turning in a paper that was due three classes before. When he was questioned about it, he felt a pang of guilt for not trying harder; he just didn’t have the motivation anymore.

At the end of the week, he had a meeting with each of his professors. The decision to do this came after he got an email from his advisor saying that as of late, he was failing every class. He didn’t want to be known as the guy who flunked out of Uni, so he figured he would try and get some extra-credit to help bring his GPA up before midterms.

The first three professors seemed sympathetic and helpful. They offered him different lectures he could go to so he could earn extra-credit, and even to gain a better understanding of material. But it was the fourth professor that got on his nerves.

It was his English professor, and although Dan enjoyed English, it was clear that the professor did not enjoy Dan. The meeting ended abruptly, with his professor telling him to just focus on the class and he’ll end the semester with a solid B.

And then the fifth professor––his law professor––was the worst of them all. The professor did nothing but scream at him for not caring about the class and not doing his work. When Dan explained to him how he wasn’t even sure if Law was what he wanted to do, the professor suggested he drop out of the program.

This led to Dan making an appointment with his academic advisor for the next day. He figured that his advisor would help him figure out what he truly wanted to do, but the meeting turned awry fast.

The normally-kind older lady snapped at him, telling Dan to ‘knock off’ his ‘persona,’ because if he wants to be a lawyer, he can’t act the way he does now. When Dan tried to explain to her that he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be a lawyer anymore, she told him that he needed to calm down and they’d schedule a meeting at another time.

Dan walked away from the meeting upset and angry. He was beginning to see university as a thorn in his side rather than something he’ll actually find useful in his life.

He doesn’t want to be a fucking lawyer anyway.

And frankly, he’s thinking about dropping out.

He actually doesn’t know why he hasn’t already.

In this time of pure existentialism, he’d headed down to the basement of his building to get an afternoon pick-me-up of coffee. When he got there and saw that the shop closed, he stopped and thought of where he could go.

And that’s when he remembered that coffee shop that he went to before. The one with the attractive worker.

He walked out of the building, listening to his music, and headed in the direction towards the cafe. He hasn’t been here since the last time –– quite honestly, he had forgotten about it momentarily. But now he was kind of…excited(?)…to go there. Maybe the attractive employee would be there again; though, it’s not like he’d have the courage to talk to him, other than to give his order anyway. The cafe’s sign came into view and he walked up to the door, pushing it open and smiling to himself until he looked up and noticed that the only working was a blonde female.

Dan snapped out of his thoughts only to realize that he was blocking the way to the counter. Still craving his coffee, he headed up to the counter where he subconsciously looked around for the worker from the day before.

“Um…,” he began without realizing it. “Just by total chance…I mean, not to sound creepy or anything…but is a guy with blue eyes working here today?”

He wanted to hit himself over the head. What was he thinking asking that? He couldn’t believe that those words had even came out of his mouth.

The girl, whose name tag read Louise, looked at him up at him and furrowde his brows. Her face was clearly showing slight shock at the question, “Oh, Phil?” She asked, and Dan just nodded, because maybe that is his name. “He’s working the night shift tonight. He’ll be working from 8 to 8 overnight.”

“Oh, okay.” Dan answered, trying to stay cool as he made a mental note to come back here tonight to work on his homework instead of stay in his flat.

“Any particular reason you’re asking?” She asked.

Dan stood back slightly and stuttered for a moment.

“He, uh…h-he makes me a special drink.” Louise cocked an eyebrow.

“Does he now?” She asked with a smile now forming. “That’s such a Phil thing, oh my. Well, can I get you anything that will make up for you not getting your special drink from Phil today?”

Dan smiled in his head, feeling a tiny bit giddy from just the way she spoke. But he kept his composure as he answered, “A black coffee is fine,” even though it came out as more of a mumble.

She looked at him and replied, “Such a tame drink. That’ll be $1.99 by the way.”

Dan went back to the cafe at around midnight. He was going to come earlier, but he found himself trying to pick out a nice outfit and freaking out, as if he was going on a date. He opted for a pair of Adidas track pants and a hoodie, so he at least looked like your average “college-student-who-needed-a-fix-of-coffee-in-order-to-stay-awake-to-write-a-paper.”

Truth be told, Dan probably wouldn’t have done the paper if it wasn’t for this. It’s a paper based on some subsection of law, and he’s supposed to interpret them.

Okay, so it was the paper that was due three classes ago; he really just didn’t want to do something that boring. However, he decided that he might as well do it if he wanted a reason to go to the cafe.

Dan didn’t even know why he felt a need to come back to the cafe just to see this ‘Phil’. Sure, he often thought about the way ‘Phil’ looked when he first saw him, but Dan had never gone to the work of going to see someone just because he thought they were cute.

He walked into the cafe and was a bit taken back at how eerily quiet it was in there. There wasn’t any music. No one else was there, and there isn’t even any sign of ‘Phil’ behind the counter.

He took a seat in the dimly-lit cafe in a booth and began to set up his work station for the night. He had everything ready when he hears a loud gasp, followed by what sounded like metal clanking onto the ground.

Dan jumped and turned around to see a worker bent down towards the floor. He was cursing under his breath as he picked up the metal objects that fell out of his hands. Feeling bad that he may have caused this, Dan got up and rushed over to the counter.

“I’m so sorry if I scared you.”

The male looked up and laughed, before throwing the dishes into the small sink on the side of the counter.

Dan smiled inside his head because the male looking back at him was definitely Phil.

“No,” he said shaking his head as he laughed, “it’s not you, I promise; I’m just not used to seeing anyone here at this time of night. Every time I work the night shift, I normally use the time to wash everything up and get it clean.”

Dan looked at him, almost guilty.

“I just need to finish a term paper, but I can leave if it—”

Phil shook his head.

“It’s all good; I actually think I’ll enjoy the company for once.”

Dan smiled at him.

“I might not be good company.” Phil stood up straighter and just shrugged.

“I don’t believe that.”

Phil then cleared his throat and pointed towards his abandoned seat.

“You better get working then. And I should too actually.”

Having forgotten about that stupid paper, he nodded sadly before giving Phil another brief smile and heading over to his spot.

The time flew by after that. Really, he didn’t even realize that it was close to 5 a.m. until he felt his eyes begin to close, and his body begin to sag and lean in the booth. He desperately needed something to help him out because he was threateningly close to falling asleep here, and that would be embarrassing.

As if right on cue, Dan heard the sound of squeaking and he woke up momentarily to see Phil sitting across from him.

“You look like you need a little bit of a push.”

He pushed Dan a mug of something and Dan opened his eyes wider to evaluate what it was.

“What—?”

“It’s a caramel macchiato,” Phil said with a smile, “my favorite.”

Dan stretched before reaching down and taking the mug in his hands. He brought it up to take a sip when Phil suddenly exclaimed, “Don’t drink it yet!”

Dan looked at him, confused. Phil sheepishly added, “I just made it and if you drink it now, you’ll burn your mouth.”

Dan set the mug back down and smiled,

“Thank you for giving me the warning.”

“I’m not going to let you injure yourself, Dan, just because you’re half asleep.”

“How did you know my name?”

“You told me the last time you were here and I took your order. I didn’t mean to sound creepy.”

Dan shook his head.

“No, no! Please don’t think that I thought of that way,” he said, “I’m just tired and my brain is fried. I have a class at ten, and I probably should go home and sleep. But if I do, I’m literally going to dream of these fucking laws and I’m so sick of it.”

“Oh…you’re in University?”

Dan nodded.

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”

“I’m studying law and I hate it,” Dan quickly explained.

Phil pursed his lips.

“Oh, that makes sense. I completed my degree in English Language and Linguistics about two years ago.”

Dan’s ears perked up in that statement. His brains began to go through possibility after possibility of Phil’s words. He was still thinking when he caught Phil yawning across from him.

“I hate these long shifts,” Phil spoke, “They always get the best of me.”

“Make a coffee for yourself?” Dan suggested, pointing down to his own drink on the table.

Phil shook his head. “I’ve had enough coffee for the night.”

Dan went to speak again when the door to the shop opened and a middle aged gentlemen walked inside wearing a business suit. As Phil got up to serve him, Dan caught himself staring at the man and thinking to himself that that could be him one day. He could be that man wearing a suit and ordering a coffee at five in the morning.

And man, he wasn’t sure if he wanted that.

He was still thinking when he watched Phil waltz around behind the counter as he made the man his drink. He replayed Phil’s words about him having a degree already over in his head and he bit the inside of his cheek.

Maybe Phil could help him out? Sure, he didn’t quite know if he wanted to be a lawyer, but he could still pass all of his classes. And maybe by some luck, Phil had taken similar ones which meant that he could help him out.

Unfortunately, that was such a long shot and frankly, Dan didn’t know if Phil would even be up for that. He didn’t even know if Phil wanted to be around him. Dan’s appearance can be striking to most, but that doesn’t mean he’s a terrible person to be around — maybe Phil was just talking to him to be nice?

Okay, that was definitely what Phil was doing. But maybe he would be willing to help Dan out?

Dan was still in his thoughts when the middle aged man left and walked out the door, allowing for the heavy glass door to bang on the way out. He turned his attention back to his essay, and with a defeated sigh; he knew that his fifteen page paper was not going to happen when he was only on the seventh page now.

He was about to close his laptop down and pack up his things until he heard the squeaking of shoes come back over to him again. Phil plopped down on the other side of the booth and sighed, “I’m ready to go home and sleep.”

Dan nodded. “Yeah, me too. I should probably go and get some rest before my class.”

“Did you finish your paper?”

“Yes,” he lied.

Phil smiled at him. “I had faith that you could do it.”

Dan caught himself smiling as he packed up his items into his backpack. He zipped up his bag and was ready to stand up when Phil spoke up.

“It was fun to…hang out with you,” he said hesitantly, “if you can call this hanging out? Anyway, I enjoyed talking with you! Believe it or not, you made great company; even if you didn’t talk much.”

Dan nodded, at a loss for words. He looked down and realized he still hadn’t drank the drink that Phil had made. He went to grab it when Phil beat him to it and picked up the cup.

“Let me put this in a to-go cup!”

Dan watched as Phil hurried to behind the counter and dumped his drink into a cup and put the cover on it. He wrote something on the side of the cup with a black marker, and Dan couldn’t help but be curious of what it was.

When Phil came back over with the drink, Dan took it in his hand and adjusted his backpack, his body feeling weak from exhaustion.

“Come again, please!” Phil chirped.

Dan nodded and replied, “I definitely will.”

He turned around and headed for the door when he remembered that Phil had written something on the side of the cup. Looking at it, he found himself smiling at the note.

Enjoyed talking 2 U. +447911123456

Dan knew it was a cell phone number when he looked at it, and really, he was more than that Phil gave it to him.

Too bad he lied to Phil about finishing the paper that he was never going to do.

Dan wasn’t even slightly shocked when he got an email from his academic advisor three days after he attempted to complete his overdue essay. It was an urgent email that read he needed to make an appointment her—in her own words—“ASAP DANIEL.”

So he emailed her back, and they decided they’d meet at 3:45 pm on that Wednesday afternoon.

He walked into her office, taking a seat in the cushioned chair before relaxing back and expecting the worst to come out of her mouth. And sure enough, it did.

“Dan,” she started with her hands folded against the desk she was leaning on, “I just got emails from your professors — and you’re failing four out of your five classes.”

Dan felt his heart race in his chest: how could he failing almost all of his closing? From what he remembered, he was borderline-passing — right?

“And,” she continued without a pause, “unless you turn yourself around completely, as of right now, you’re going to fail out of university.”

He stared straight ahead at her, momentarily forgetting how words work. He never thought it was ever come to this; that he would go from getting in unconditional, to uni, to now flunking out.

“What can I do?” he finally said.

“Maybe get a tutor to help you if you’re struggling that much?” She asked sympathetically, “Our university offers great tutoring programs that you can join to get the academic help that you need.”

As soon as Dan got the email for the tutoring office on campus, he began to question if this effort was even going to be worth it. He knew that he didn’t want to be a lawyer, yet he was continuing with the program anyway. And furthermore, he didn’t even know if this would make any difference in the end if he wasn’t sure this was his path anyway.

But then his phone vibrated in his pocket and pulled it out, looking at the screen. It was a photo that Phil sent him of a design of a cat that Phil had made with special technique within the coffee. The caption with it was, look at the new trick I just learned!

And that is when everything clicked inside Dan’s head and his fingers worked faster than his mind.

To Phil: you said you have a degree, right?

From Phil: Yep! One in English language.

To Phil: Do you think you could help me out?

Dan gnawed at his lip as he waited for Phil’s reply. He was unsure if Phil was willing to help him, and he was honestly scared that he was going to look like a lost cause in front of Phil when all he wants to do is impress him.

Dan looked at the screen long enough to see the bubble with three dots pop up, meaning that Phil was typing and Dan would get his answer soon.

From Phil: With what?

It was then that Dan realized that maybe it would be easier to just meet Phil at work and explain it to him there. He knew that he couldn’t disrupt Phil when he was working; but if he was texting, that meant he was on a break of some sort.

He picked up the pace as he walked down the sidewalk towards the all familiar cafe. The heavy glass door once again seemed to stop him. He used most of his muscles to push it open, before cursing himself for not being in shape.

He spotted Phil right away. The raven-haired boy was sat at a booth, with a donut half-eaten on the table. Dan took a deep breath as he prepared himself to ask Phil this simple question; one that was now beginning to seem as a terrible decision.

“Hey, Dan!”

And no turning back now.

Dan smiled at Phil and rose his hand to wave at him and replied, “Hey.”

Dan slid into the other side of the booth across from Phil, trying to not act any more awkward than he probably already was.

“What did you need me to help you with?” Phil asked in his normal bubbly voice.

“Oh,” Dan spoke, trying to play it off. “So, um, I’m not doing good in uni right now.”

“Oh no!”

“Yeah,” Dan added, “and so…I need some help. You see, I’m failing majority of my classes and I…gosh this is embarrassing. I was wondering if you are feeling up to it…um, if you could look over my class list and see if maybe we took any of the same classes an––”

“Dan,” Phil interrupted him his ramble, “of course I can tutor you! What classes do you need help with?”

Dan opened his backpack and fished out his class list. He placed it on the table. Phil looked it over, reading through the classes and the descriptions of each before tapping his fingers against the wood.

Dan could feel himself becoming anxious as he waited for Phil’s answer. When it finally came, the relief seeped through his veins.

“I took three out of these five classes so I can definitely help you out!”

Dan smiled brightly, feeling the color go back into his skin. “That’s so great to hear!”

“I’ll see if I can find my old files of notes for these classes,” Phil said with a cheery attitude, “When did you want to start?”

“As soon as possible!” Dan chimed in. “I need the help as soon as you’re available.”

“Well, how does tomorrow evening sound?” Phil asked. “I’ll text you after my shift ends today to discuss the details. But as of right now, I need to head back to work, as my break is over.”

Phil stood up and shoved his phone inside his jeans pocket before taking the remaining bites of his donut.

“Talk to you later, Dan!” he spoke with a mouth full of donut.“Glad to be of help.”

Dan blushed and smiled as Phil turned his back and waltzed.

“Glad you’re willing to help me.”

Stuffing everything back into his backpack, Dan quickly threw the bag onto his shoulders. Glancing one last time behind him towards Phil, who was currently turned around behind the counter and putting together some frozen drink, Dan found himself smiling. Maybe his life would turn around after all.

Standing in front of the building, Dan looked over the address that Phil had texted him for the millionth time. He’s been looking at it since his taxi dropped him off here almost a half hour ago. Dan was nervous person by nature, so standing here was tweaking his anxiety in ways he couldn’t explain. His hard exterior was crumbling under the weight of his own fear of humiliating himself in front of Phil.

After finally deciding that the address was correct, he embarked on the three foot journey to the door of the building. Grabbing the handle, he sighed when it was locked. Looking around the outside, he found a voice box and looked over the names on the list besides the bottom. Phil’s name came up as “Lester, P.M” and because he was the only name with a P somewhere, Dan knew it had to Phil’s. Pressing the bottom, he heard the static before a matted, “hello?” came through.

“It’s Dan.” Dan spoke with a slight tremble in his voice.

“Oh, yes! I’ll unlock the door for you!”

Hearing the click of the door, Dan let go of his finger on the bottom and gripped the handle instead. The door freed easily and he walked inside of the building. He remember Phil’s directions in the text he was sent. He was told to take the stairs to the second level and he’ll be the first apartment on the right side. So he did exactly that.

At the top of the stairs, Dan stood for a moment to catch his breath before knocking on the door that read “2” in a brass number. Not even one knock in, Phil opened the door and greeted him with a hot chocolate in his hand.

“Hello!” Phil exclaimed cheerily, “I hope you like hot chocolate because I made it fresh just for you!’

Dan flashed a nervous smile before taking the drink in his hand and walking inside. As he took his first few steps in, he couldn’t help but notice how clean everything was. From the floors to the areas around him; everything was spotless. A bookshelf glistened against the wall next to a window with clean white curtains. The walls were a dull white that made the entire room seem huge even though Dan wasn’t fooled by the size. The kitchen, from the corner of it that Dan could see, was completely pristine and Dan felt a little shamed being there. He felt too tainted to be in such a pure, nice place.

“Okay,” Phil said breaking the silence. “I found my old notebooks, and I’m hoping that my notes will help us; so let’s begin!”

Both of them sat down on the grey couch that donned the center of the room. Dan took a sip of the hot chocolate, which scorched his mouth before he sat it down on the coffee table –– but not after Phil had threw a coaster with a corgi under the cup.

Digging through his backpack, he pulled all of his notebooks out and spread them on the coffee table carefully. He really hoped that all of this worked for him. He’s come too far now.

Nearly two hours and two hot chocolates later, both Dan and Phil are laying on the couch. They were tired beyond comprehension, and their minds were completely fried from the crash course that Phil had been giving. Dan’s brain hurt; he couldn’t tell if it was a good hurt or not, and he was ready to sleep for hours now. He felt like he learned a lot from Phil, so he hoped it would show when he went into class the following day.

“I could go for a drink,” Phil said, pushing himself off from the couch before padding across the living room to the kitchen. Dan waited in anticipation for Phil to come back with whatever he was grabbing –– Dan secretly hoped it was something strong. Much to Dan’s dismay, Phil came back with a bottle of white wine.

“Do you like wine?” Dan nodded and watched Phil pour two glasses full of wine, before bringing the drinks over to Dan. Taking the glass, Dan took a long sip of it and sighed with the content and he was already feeling relaxed from just knowing he was drinking wine.

“I wish I would have pursued my degree better,” Phil stated without a warning. He was swishing the alcohol around in glass and watching it create a mini hurricane against the sides.

“What do you mean?” Dan asked.

“I got my degree and then never did anything with it,” Phil stated, “Here you are, going to be a lawyer and you’ve got such a promising career path. And what did I do? I went for English and walked away with a useless degree.”

“I’m sure it’s not all that useless…”

“It clearly is when I’m working as a barista in a mediocre job when I could be a promising author or even a journalist.”

Dan furrowed his brows, “I’m sorr––”

Phil put his hand up and stopped him. “No, don’t be sorry for me. I just work in a shitty job and have to deal with shitty people and I make minimum wage.”

“Phil…”

Phil drank down his entire glass of wine and he slammed the glass onto the table, luckily not breaking it, before getting up and walking back into his kitchen. A few moments later, he came out with a bottle of whiskey and said lowly, “I need something stronger.”

While Phil was pouring himself a new glass of liquor, Dan felt something inside of him break. Seeing how down Phil was about his own degree made Dan suddenly think, ‘why the hell was he wasting all this money on something he didn’t even want?’

He didn’t want to be a lawyer. Hell, for the longest time he told his parents he wasn’t even going to university. So why was he still going? Why was he still doing this? It didn’t make any sense to him anymore.

“I’m sorry for suddenly getting so snappy,” Phil said with a chuckle. “This just brought up some memories for me. But I promise you that my college experience was great!”

Dan smiled at Phil before shrugging and replying, “It’s fine. I get those thoughts a lot too.”

There was a silence between them before Phil picked up his phone and sucked in a breath.

“Oh gosh, it’s already after midnight. Do you want to travel back to your apartment or would you like to spend the night here? You can borrow my clothes; we look about the same size.”

Dan felt a blush creep over his pale cheeks as he looked down at the floor. He knew it was just a friendly gesture because it was late and terrible things can happen at night, but Dan couldn’t help but think of it otherwise.

However, Dan had to admit that he didn’t feel like getting a taxi this late at night and risk sharing it with a drunk who might throw up on him.

“I’ll stay here,” he said, and quickly added, “as long as I’m not intruding!”

“Oh, of course not! Let me get you some pajamas!”

Abandoning his spot on the couch, Dan watched as Phil ran to the room behind them and rushed inside. After hearing some rustling on the other side, Dan watched Phil come out with a pair of superman pajama bottoms and a white shirt. He couldn’t help but chuckle because they were nothing like his normal attire.

“This is all I have that you would be remotely interested in,” Phil said with a laugh, “You can change in the bathroom. I’m probably going to finish my drink and then head off to bed. I forgot I had to be to work at six — I’m gonna be exhausted at work tomorrow. I’ll be gone before you even wake up, so you can invite yourself out whenever you’re ready.”

Dan nodded and thanked Phil before heading into the bathroom and undressing, putting on his ‘new pajamas’ instead. When Dan came back out, the couch was pulled out to show a bed that was already made up by Phil. Smiling, he got down onto the bed and curled up, just as he heard the movement of Phil in the bedroom behind him.

Dan had a dream that night; one where he was able to see his future quite clearly. And he wasn’t a lawyer. In fact, his dream involved the idea that he didn’t even complete university but he was happier than he’s ever been.

Which was why when he left for university that morning, Dan walked into the dean’s office and told him he was dropping out of university. He felt a giant weight that was lifted from his shoulders, and he couldn’t even believe that he hadn’t done this before. This was truly what he needed all of this time.

He walked out with a letter in his hand that said the simple phrase:

“On behalf of all of us in the department of law, we wish you the best in your future endeavors.”

Crumpling the letter in his hands, he threw it in his backpack and walked out with his head held high. However, the realization soon hit him.

What was he going to do about Phil? He has just dropped out of university and Phil was tutoring him. Doesn’t that mean that Phil won’t have to tutor him anymore? Well of course it did, though it would also mean that he’d have to see Phil’s disappointment that he gave up. But Dan didn’t really give up — he just realized that what he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do.

But he couldn’t tell Phil this. No, he had to keep up the charade so Phil wouldn’t be upset.

Which was exactly why Dan went back to Phil’s apartment that night and continued to be tutored. And he did the same thing for the next couple of weeks. He gave no hints to Phil that anything different had happened. Soon, Dan began to develop stronger feelings for Phil.

On one particular night of their tutoring, they were both sat on Dan’s couch in his apartment. It wasn’t anything like Phil’s, but it was still something. Dan’s papers scattered in front of him, and Phil was reading through some of his old notes. But Dan couldn’t help to notice the beautiful stare of Phil’s eyes on the paper. They were perfect blue and white orbs that looked like the ocean. When he moved, his black hair cascaded down his forehead and he tucked it impatiently back into place. Dan also noticed that when he concentrated, Phil would purse his lips a little bit, which made Dan went so badly to kiss him.

But he knew that doing so would be out of line. He didn’t even know if Phil liked him back. He could ask Phil on a date, but that would take so much effort; and if Dan got rejected in the end, what was it all worth?

“Are you still with me, Dan?” Phil asked with a chuckle. Dan snapped out his trance and laughed nervously.

He replied, “Sorry, my brain is a little fried.”

Phil relaxed his shoulders and dropped the paper onto the table along with the others, “Yeah, I’m gonna have to say the same.”

Phil looked at the time; it was already 10:30 pm. He sighed.

“I have to go to work soon,” Phil said. “My shift starts at midnight. I’m working a half-shift to cover for Louise, since she has a little one and can’t afford to be gone the full night.”

“That’s nice of you,” Dan commented before he could even think of his words.

And see, that’s where the other problem lies: Dan wasn’t like Phil in any way. He had this tough persona that took years to build after constant attacks from his classmates in school. He had built up this character because he was sick of the shit he was getting put through.

But Phil wasn’t like that. He was a soft-hearted man with the capability to be nice to every person he saw.

They would simply never work.

For the rest of their time together, they went back over some of the notes before Dan left the apartment to allow for Phil to get ready for work. On the way out, he spotted a couple walking by; they both looked like they had their lives together; something Dan never learned how to do, considering the absence of a good parental figures in his life. He resorted to cheap clothing he bought on sale, and he felt as if he was irresponsible in almost every sense.

But noticing that couple made something inside of him change. For Dan, maybe this pesona didn’t work anymore. He wasn’t getting anywhere in life by being like this: being a punk. He wasn’t going to get a stable job or do anything he wanted to.

It was time for a change.

As soon as he stepped foot into his apartment, he walked into the bathroom and took out a few of his piercings; just to see how he looked. When he didn’t like what he saw, he stuffed the metal back into place and went to bed.

Dan woke up the next morning at a decent time: 9:45 am. He was already struggling to stay awake, wishing that he could just go back to bed. Checking his phone that was laid on the opposite side of his bed, he saw a text from Phil:

From Phil: They convinced me to work a double so come visit!

Deciding that was as good of an ‘excuse’ to visit Phil, Dan quickly climbed out of bed, got dressed, and then left his apartment, walking the direction of the cafe.

When he arrived, he noticed that it wasn’t busy for this time of morning. Slowly pushing the door open, he could hear Phil’s voice clear as day…and Louise’s as well.

       “I can’t just ask him Louise, he probably doesn’t even like me that way.”

“Oh, come on, Lester, I’m sure he does,” Louise said. “Although I have to say that the punk persona is a little much.”

“Hey!” Phil exclaimed. “I like his persona. I think it’s cute because he such a nice guy.”

Dan blushed furiously at the conversation; one that he clearly wasn’t meant to hear. He turned around and walked out of the cafe, hoping he wasn’t noticed before sending a message to Phil.

To Phil: Something came up and I won’t be able to come to the cafe. Come over later tonight to make it up?

After a moment of time, Phil replied back.

From Phil: Sure!

Smiling brightly to himself, Dan headed back to his apartment where he ate some cereal and then ordered pizza for lunch as he waited for Phil to arrive.

“I’m so tired,” Phil stated, already morphing himself onto Dan’s couch.

“I’m sorry,” Dan said biting his lip. “You can leave if you get too tired.”

Phil shook his head and replied, “I’m fine, just complaining.”

Dan laughed, raising up his wine glass and taking a sip of it.

When Phil had arrived, Dan didn’t know what he should do. He had just heard earlier that Phil liked him, but he didn’t know how to approach the subject. Should he just ask Phil on a date, or would that be too forward? Does he tell Phil that he liked him? Now that he thought of it, that would be really forward too.

“You’re cute when you’re thinking,” Phil stated, suddenly moving forward on the couch, angling his body towards Dan’s.

“You think I’m cute?” Dan asked, a blush threatening his cheeks.

Phil nodded, “Dan, forgive me for just coming out with this, but I do like you.”

“I like you too.”

“No,” Phil stated, “I really like you, Dan. As in I want to be more than just friends. After speaking with my coworker today, I knew that I couldn’t deny my feelings for you anymore. I really, really like you.”

Dan watched as Phil began to move in, and suddenly their lips were connected into a kiss that was barely there, but at the same time, almost too much. Dan smiled to himself as he tasted sweets, coffee, and wine on Phil’s lips; he tasted just as how he imagined.

Phil’s hand came up, holding Dan’s jaw in place as the kiss deepened. Dan was in complete shock that this happened; he wasn’t sure if what he was doing was even okay. He had a few other kisses in his life, but nothing with someone he really liked and wanted to be with.

Phil pulled back from the kiss, both of them panting in heavy breaths. Before either one could process what to do next, Dan was leaning in and reconnecting their lips again. And with the unspoken agreement, both of them knew what was going to unfold that night as they got up and walked, still connected, into Dan’s bedroom. Phil shut the door behind them with the hand that was on Dan’s cheek and their night finally begun.

It was only during the middle of the night that everything changed. Dan was asleep, unknowing of Phil’s movements. Needing to go to the bathroom, Phil got up and padded around the apartment until he found it. Using the toilet as silently as possible, he headed back out before spotting something that caught his eye.

On the coffee table in Dan’s living room was a crumpled piece of paper that had a red-letter heading on the top. Phil didn’t mean to be nosey, but he found himself walking to the paper and picking it up. Uncrumpling it, his eyes skimmed the page and anger flamed inside of his body.

With a few silent tears running down his cheeks, he crumpled the paper back up and went back into Dan’s bedroom. He noted Dan sleeping peacefully in the bed, his lower half covered by a blanket after the amazing intimacy that they had shared. Phil felt sick. He bent down and grabbed his clothing, dressing as quickly as he could. On the way out, he contemplated leaving a note but instead he just shut the door behind himself and left.

Dan’s eyes opened the following morning, filled with exhaustion and bliss. Turning on his side, he looked around for Phil. But he noticed quickly that the other side of the bed was cold. Upset, Dan fought back tears before getting up and wrapped the blanket around himself, feeling suddenly exposed.

How could Phil had left him like a one-night stand? He thought last night had meant something?

Reaching around for his phone, he unlocked it, expecting Phil to say he had got called into work early. Instead, he was left with nothing. No explanation. But he needed to find out why Phil left.

Dan felt dirty. Used. Defiled. Any other synonyms of words that possibly meant any of the ones he was already thinking. He wanted to get up and scrub away the touches from Phil that had meant so much last night. He wanted to cry because he felt something so deeply with Phil and he didn’t want it to disappear.

He whipped the blankets off from his torso and stood up from his bed. Rushing around to find some clothes, he immediately got dressed and grabbed his cell phone again. Shoving the device into his pocket, he grabbed his wallet and walked out of his apartment.

He was going to find Phil.

The first place Dan thought to go was to the cafe, as Phil seemed to always be there. And of course, to his luck, Phil was there. He was stood behind the counter with his apron tied around his waist.

A sudden fire rushed through him, like venom coursing through his veins. He rushed to the counter and snapped, “Why did you leave?”

Phil’s head snapped up and he put on a fake smile.

“Dan, if this is about last night…”

“Of course this is about last night!” Dan yelled, beginning to make a scene. “How could you just leave me this morning like a cheap one-night stand?”

“This is not the time for this!”

“No, Phil, it is! I think I deserve an explanation!” Dan snapped, frustrated. “No messages? Not even a note? What about a voicemail? You couldn’t explain to me where you were going?”

“No, Dan, because I think it’s better that we don’t see each other right now.”

The words slapped Dan across the jaw, causing a sudden pain in his heart — one that he felt would be there for a while. He felt sick to his stomach because suddenly, this was becoming terrifyingly real.

“What…Phil…?”

“No, Dan,” Phil said, suddenly moving from outside the counter to face him. “I’m done with your lying. How could I? How could you? You used me and lied to me!”

“I didn’t want to lie to you, Phil!”

“Oh yeah?” Phil asked, tears welling inside of his eyes. “Then why didn’t you tell me? Why did you lead me to believe that you actually cared about the work I was doing with you? Why couldn’t you have just told me you dropped out of Uni?”

Dan stared at him, almost surprised.

“Because it was supposed to be…”

“Supposed to be what, Dan?” Phil asked, a tear sliding down his cheek.

Dan went to speak again when Phil lifted his hand up to stop him.

“No,” Phil spoke icily. “You know what? Maybe your persona fits you a little too well, Dan. You lied to me and led me on and I don’t like that. If you would have just came forward and told me, maybe I wouldn’t be forced to do this. But right now, I think it’s best that we don’t see each other.”

Dan felt his heart fall from his chest and shatter against the tiled floor. Phil wiped his eyes a few times before walking back behind the counter and throwing his apron on the granite surface and rushing into the back.

Dan looked around, noticing that everyone was staring at him because what just unfolded.

Maybe Phil was right. Maybe this entire thing was Dan’s fault.

Turning around and not making eye-contact with anyone, he quickly exited the cafe and headed down the street, ignoring the stream of tears that freely chased down his chin.

Back at his apartment, Dan stood in front of the bathroom mirror. His normal brown eyes were now swallowed in darkness, and the surrounding white was a bloodshot red from all the tears. His hair––which was perfectly straightened before––was now a disheveled mess. For a brief moment, he didn’t recognize the man looking back at him.

The first piercing falls onto the porcelain with a clank, and soon after, the next surgical steel bars follow suit. When all of the metal was laid around the sink countertop, Dan looked into the mirror and saw his image as a normal, clean cut teenager; one who just wants to find his place in life.

Taking the piercings in his hand, he opens his medicine cabinet and grabs an almost-empty pill bottle. Opening the top, he throws them in and then closes it, shoving the bottle away. Slamming the medicine cabinet shut, the mirror cracks like a spider-web.

Now he really didn’t recognize himself.

Walking out, he heads to his living room and goes for his secret cabinet of liquor under his coffee table. The last time he was in the cabinet was with Phil.

Grabbing a bottle of whiskey, he cracked the top open and began to chug it. It burnt the entire way down his throat, and when he pulled away for air, he was choking and wincing. But he put the bottle to his lips again and drinks once more.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he picked it up to see that he had one missed call from his grandma; someone who he hasn’t spoken with in a long time. Unable to answer it, he instead grabbed his phone and contemplated texting Phil.

Maybe if he just texted Phil why he did what he did, everything would be fixed?

He opened the message app and his thumb hovered over Phil’s name, but he doesn’t have the courage to press it. Instead, he locked his phone and threw it somewhere across the room. He watched it land on the floor, and sighed. The bottle weighed heavily in his hand, and he took another swig.

Dan twitched from the cold air as he descends down main street, his boots scuffing against the pavement. His was coming from his first-ever job interview for a job at a local bookstore he applied for. He was pretty sure it went well; his mind told him it did anyway.

…Alright. So there’s a slight pang in his step. He pushed down the negative thoughts in favour of having a nice afternoon, and turned a corner down the street. He was going to pick up lunch from a pizza shoppe.

Seeing the familiar red awning, he walks under it and opens the main door. When he went inside, he was immediately hit by the scent of pizza. He was content like this; being able to walk into a place and not have everyone stare at him.

He was sure that some of the holes where his piercings were would close eventually, but he was okay with that; he learned to love himself without them.

Dan stepped up the counter, confidently saying his name for his order before hearing a soft voice echo it from behind.

“Dan?”

He turned around, looking for the person that the voice belonged too. Phil was stood in the back of the line for pizza. He was wearing a red sweater—one that appeared to have reindeer on it—and a pair of black skinny jeans. Dan could have laughed when he saw Phil; it was nearing the end of April, not December.

Grabbing his small pizza and paying the cashier, he walked back to talk with Phil.

“Hey,” he quietly spoke.

Phil smiled at him. “How have you been?”

“Good.”

“You took out your piercings…”

“I didn’t feel like they suited me anymore.”

“Look,” Phil began, “I’m sorry for snapping at you a few days ago in the café. I was upset that you hid that secret from me, but…but I get it now. I get why you did it. At the time, I was just so angry that I couldn’t think straight. But Dan…I really am sorry for that.”

Dan shrugged, “It’s fine…I mean, it’s not fine, but I’m glad you apologized. It means a lot actually.”

“What are you doing on this side of town?” Phil suddenly asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I had an interview at the Willow Root bookstore. I decided to stop by and get some pizza.”

A smile broke out on Phil’s face, “That’s awesome to hear! I got a job working for the newspaper now, and they let me off from work early. I thought I’d swing by and grab a pizza myself.”

Dan looked between the sizzling hot box in his hand, and Phil; who was stood in front of him.

“Do you want to come back to my apartment and split the pizza with me? I’m sure I won’t be able to eat it by myself?”

Phil smiled.

They were lying next to one another on Dan’s bed, both of their torsos wrapped in the duvet cover. Dan was nearly asleep, his body exhausted from what had occurred. Phil was laying next to him, looking at him with his bright blue eyes.

“You know, I was wrong about you,” Phil said softly. “Your piercings make you look beautiful. Why did you take them out?”

Dan swallowed nervously. “Because of what you told me.”

“Do you still have the piercings?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s put them back in,” Phil said sitting up. “You shouldn’t have had to change for me, Dan.”

Dan shrugged, feeling the sheet move down his body as he turned over.

“I don’t think I need to,” he answered.

“Why’s that?”

Dan sighed and replied, “Because you made me realize that I wanted to be a different person. When you said what you did, it made me see that I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t who I wanted to be anymore. I wanted to be someone different.”

Phil smiled at Dan and rolled over closer to him. “I’m glad that I helped you realize that.” He paused and added, “And I’m even happier that you walked into the coffee shop those few months ago.”

Dan smiled, because he was happier than ever now. He had Phil back in his life and he knew now that Phil was here to stay. He was content with all of this. With his new life filled with no piercings, and a new attitude that launched the rest of his adulthood.

And last, but not least, he was happy that his university’s coffee shop was closed that one day in February.